In celebration of Black History Month, we’ll be highlighting a diverse range of books, all written by Black American authors, all of which celebrate and prioritize Black Joy. We’ll be featuring a title every day through the month of February.

Kleaver Cruz, creator of the Black Joy project, says that “Black joy is resistance. Amplifying Black joy is not about dismissing or creating an ‘alternative’ Black narrative that ignores the realities of our collective pain; rather, it is about holding the pain and injustices we experience as Black folks around the world in tension with the joy we experience in pain’s midst. It’s about using that joy as an entry into understanding the oppressive forces we navigate through as a means to imagine and create a world free of them.”

Today’s work is Shauna Grant’s Mimi and the Boo-Hoo Blahs, a graphic chapter book that is perfect for beginning readers! Mimi is having a tough day, a case of the Boo-Hoo Blahs! Can her friends help her work through her feelings so she gets back to feeling more like herself? The sequel to Mimi and the Cutie Catastrophe, this playful comic confection is engaging and fun, a great choice for the newly independent reader, or for reading out loud together!

Stay tuned for a new book tomorrow!