Recognize! by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson - ADVISABLE

Recognize!: An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson, 145 pages. SHORT STORIES. POETRY. NONFICTION. Crown Books, 2021. $17.

Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

With 33 collaborators, this anthology reaches out to readers through nearly every possible format. Artwork, poems, essays, short stories, letters, comics, historical texts, and even an interview all work together to emphasize our wholeness as people.

Each contribution in this collection is an exclamation point to the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” Readers struggle with the authors as they try to put into words their feelings and experiences, as we learn to recognize what the issue is and how to address it. Because, in the end, we are each of worth and are never less than all of who we are. The mature content rating is for mentions of drugs and alcohol. The violence rating is for mentions of threats, assault, guns, shootings, and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen