THE UNBOXING OF A BLACK GIRL

Listeners won't be surprised that Angela Shanté herself narrates this collection of poems and stories, a National Book Award finalist. A trigger warning at the beginning of the audiobook informs listeners of the sexual assault she writes about in several poems and the personal nature of the poems themselves, many of which were part of her MFA thesis. Shanté describes the "boxes" young Black girls find themselves in, illustrating them by reflecting upon her own experiences. The emotion she conveys in her account of what she terms "the incident" heightens its impact. While the audiobook is dedicated and directed to Black girls everywhere and uses her own childhood as a window, some of the cultural references may not be known to younger listeners. E.J.F. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2024]