Growing up Black and Female

On the occasion of the publication of Disgruntled by Asali Solomon, I want to make you aware of some other books about growing up as an African-American girl. Set in different time periods, there are certain themes that carry through. Responsibility, otherness, friendship, and family are all explored.

In Solomon's Disgruntled, Kenya is an outsider everywhere from the beginning. In her all-black elementary school in the 1980's, she is mocked for celebrating Kwanzaa instead of Christmas. Her father, an Ivy-League dropout, works on his magnum opus of Black philosophy while her mother juggles her career as a librarian with traditional expectations at home. After a series of traumatic events, Kenya and her mother move to the suburbs, where Kenya attends a posh, private, and mostly white school. While she has some superficial friends, Kenya feels alienated here, too. Wesleyan College feels much like high school, but when the money runs out, Kenya has to figure out what she wants in an ending that surprises as it comes full circle. Witty and thought-provoking where it could have been just grim and sad, this is a winner from an author to watch.

Mary Monroe has written a popular book about girlhood in the 60's titled God Don't Like Ugly. Annette Goode thinks being overweight and plain is justification for the sexual abuse she suffers at the hands of her mother's boarder, at least, until she befriends Rhoda Nelson, the undertaker's daughter. Rhoda decides the abuse must stop, and the girls' friendship drives this fast-paced tale. These characters have been so popular that they have appeared in a string of sequels starting with God Still Don't Like Ugly.

Bonnie J. Glover's The Middle Sister takes place in East New York during the 1970's. Pamela is the sister of the title, looking for wisdom from David Carradine's character in the popular TV show Kung Fu after her father leaves. This absence sends her mother into a spiral of mental illness, and soon the family has to move to the projects. In this moving, compelling novel, Pamela has to decide who she is and how to relate to the world around her.

Flyy Girl by Omar Tyree is probably the lightest of the bunch, chronicling the romantic adventures a teenage girl in the early 1980's. Tracy, like Asali Solomon's Kenya, grows up in a suburb of Philadelphia, but that's where the similarity ends. Tracy is sexually confident, sassy, and boy crazy. It takes the intervention of some college girls and witnessing the fate of a friend's sister to keep Tracy from making a real mess of her life in this fast-paced and atmospheric tale.

Coming-of-age novels are always popular, and these are just a few. Feel free to suggest your favorites in the comments section.