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 Johnnie Christmas’ Swim Team, a middle grades graphic novel that follows Bree as she moves across the country, starts a new middle school and takes the only elective that fits her schedule: Swim101! As a new member of the Mighty Manatees, and with the help of a former swim captain, Bree overcomes her fears of swimming and brings new life to the struggling team – will it be enough to beat their prestigious prep school rival? Drawn from the author and illustrator’s own experiences, this one is not to be missed!
Stay tuned for a new book tomorrow!