Review: All Boys Aren't Blue

 

Title: All Boys Aren't Blue

Author: George M. Johnson

Out now

Before I review, let me note that I am about as far away from the intended audience of this YA memoir you can get. 

               This book should be in every high school library and classroom library.  It is an important book.  It is a needed book.

               Johnson’s memoir detail their growing up in New Jersey and coming to terms with self  -  as a Black queer boy.  It’s true that the book is graphic in places – Johnson writes of their rape and their loss of virginity. (honesty if you think writing about being abused is porn, you need help).  It’s also true that Johnson seems to anticipate the calls to ban the book that some people have voiced.  He makes it clear why he is relating such events in such away.  

               More importantly, and the reason why it should readily accessible to students, in particular queer students of color, is that though honesty and, sometimes, bluntness, Johnson showcases the struggle of identity and the importance of expecting oneself.  And this important because there are not enough memoirs for queer young adults, queer young adults of color especially.  This book is needed.  Without a doubt this book is needed.  Johnson’s openness and bluntness are needed because it shows queer students that they are not alone in wrestling with serious questions. 

               Because of their relative openness and bluntness, Johnson is able to speak to the reader.  There is no sugar coating, and difficulty topics – such as abuse and losing one’s virginity -  are addressed in such away that are not preachy or pornographic or anything like, but almost like a way passing done knowledge over how to deal with  - emotionally and for one self’s – such issues.  There should be such raw honesty about such issues.  Furthermore, considering how sex ed is taught or in some cases not taught, it is important that Johnson wrote about sex, thus allowing students to gain knowledge, knowledge that they might have been denied access to or been to frightened to ask about.

               It’s possible to think after reading this book that Johnson wrote this book, this way because such a thing was not available to them  while growing up, and they went to ease the path for others. 

               It is an important and needed book.

               It is, however, in terms of sentences and some other issues not a great book.  While Johnson’s bluntness is needed, the sentences and paragraphs too many times need to be fixed.  If you look over the Goodreads reviews, several reviewers point out that Johnson tells as opposed to shows.  The reason for this might be that allows for a greater connection to the reader, fair enough.  But the wording in several paragraphs is downright bad.  For instance, one review pointed out that Johnson claimed to have invented the term “honey child”.  After reading this review, I went and re-read the passage. The passage is worded in such a way that reader can  easily see it as Johnson taking credit for the term.  It is interesting that they only mentions their sister in passing – while this is undoubtedly due to the age difference it does stand out as no reason is given.  Sometimes when Johnson lets facts drop – like how they were  the only child to go to an expensive private school in the family. I wanted a little more awareness of how this might have affected their relationship with their family.  Additionally for a book that in part challenges the societal idea of masculine and male, the text at times seems to endorse it, not shocking when it is teen Johnson’s experiences, but a bit strange when adult Johnson is speaking.  Perhaps these last two criticisms are unfair for a young adult memoir.  The unclear meaning in passages, however, is not.

 

Yet, despite the flaws, this is a very important book.  It is a book that should be accessible to students.  It should be read. 

 

(Note – some will have noticed that I use they/them pronoun when referring to Johnson while the biographical information on the book flap and the book description use the he/his pronoun  They/them seems to be Johnson’s preferred pronoun as of this review’s writing.)