Audiobook Review & Giveaway: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson is the YA GLBTQIA+ memoir of the year! You heard it here first. This book will win all the awards – because it made me feel all the feels. It does feel kind of weird to review a non-fiction book, but my thoughts are below! Also there are only a few days left to enter our #PrideGiveaway which includes a copy of this book and 5 other Black Queer books that all have special painted edges!

All Boys Aren't Blue

by George M. Johnson
on April 28, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Non-Fiction
IndieBound, Audible
Goodreads

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

Review

All Boys Aren’t Blue is a striking young adult memoir about growing up Black and queer. George M. Johnson puts a lot of his life into these pages, and if you listen to the audiobook, which he also narrates, I think the story hits home even more.

There is a lot of pain and joy in these pages, but that is the point. This is the life for many queer children, add on the intersectionality of being a queer Black child and you add on more challenges to be faced. There were two scenes in the book that literally made me put it down and walk away, it was really hard to listen to, but again, the pain and experience was important as a way to learn and empathize. Plus it also shows the youth how to overcome and make it through some hard shit that life can throw at you.

Whomever said words have power is definitely right. This book is powerful and Johnson states at one point that he really hopes this book ends up in the hands of a teen who needs it, and well you know what, I hope so to, because the world today is hard on our youth, but especially hard on the Black queer community. I am so proud that this memoir exists — that these experiences are available and they are real, not a fictional tv show profiting off queer pain, but truly lived. All Boys Aren’t Blue is powerful, heartbreaking, and so important.

Content Warnings: Physical Abuse, Racism, Bullying, Transphobia, Deadnaming on page, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual Abuse (familial & non-familial).