#george m. johnson

[lgbtqreads]

Happy Black History Month 2024!

Happy Black History Month! Like the other eleven months, it’s an excellent time to buy queer books by Black authors! For even more recs, check out previous years’ posts! Books to Read Now Alex Wise vs. the End of the World by Terry J. Benton-Walker Alex Wise feels like his world is ending. His best friend, Loren, is leaving town for the summer, his former friend and maybe sort of crush Sky hasn’t…

[words-and-coffee]

Navigating in a space that questions your humanity isn’t really living at all. It’s existing. We all deserve more than just the ability to exist.

George M. Johnson, All Boys Aren't Blue

[yourdailyqueer]

George M. Johnson

Gender: Non binary (they/them)

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: Born 1985  

Ethnicity: African American

Occupation: Writer, journalist, activist

Note: Has HIV

[mandsleanan]

‘The book is about growing up Black and queer, and always feeling different but not having the words to express it. Over the past couple of years, at least 29 school districts have banned the book because of its LGBTQ content and for being sexually explicit.

"Any time you write a book where you write about your truth, there are going to be people who want to silence that truth," Johnson, who uses they/them pronouns, tells Morning Edition's Leila Fadel.’

[esckeyes]

PEN America and Penguin Random House are suing Florida over book bans.

Authors involved in the lawsuit are LGBTQIA writers such as George M. Johnson (All Boys Aren't Blue), Kyle Lukoff (Too Bright to See), and David Levithan (Two Boys Kissing) , as well as Ashley Hope Perez (Out of Darkness) whose historical YA is about a segregated town in Texas. Two parents from the district are also participating in the lawsuit.

There has been a concerted effort across America to ban books by queer and BIPOC authors by calling them "pornographic."

[sebastianravkin]

Another banned book recommendation

All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson

In my attempt to read the top ten banned books in 2023 this year, I have finally finished All Boys Aren't Blue.  This is a lovely collection of essays by George M. Johnson about the complexity of gender and race identities during those critical years between childhood and being a young adult.  It is a short and straight forward read. There is frank discussion of identity, marginalization, consent, and joy. For Black queer boys, this book is potentially refreshing and empowering because it directly addresses them and their isolation. However, the book is also an important read for queer teens and allies in general. 

All Boys Aren’t Blue was a Teen Vogue and a Buzzfeed recommended read in 2020, a People Magazine Best Book of the Summer 2020, A New York Library Best Book of 2020, a Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2020, and a 2020 nominee for the Goodreads Choice Award for Memoirs & Autobiographies. It was on the ALA Top 10 Rainbow Book List for 2021. 

The book was the 2nd most banned book in 2023. It has been censored because it includes LGBTQIA+ content and profanity and because of claims that it is sexually explicit.  There is discussion of bullying, consent, sexual abuse, two sexual encounters, and statutory rape. The book is written for teens and young adults and seems absolutely appropriate for that age group. 

[jonathanpongratz]

Nonfiction Book Review: All Boys Aren't Blue

  Hello LGBTQIA+ peeps and allies, How’s it going? My life is hectic as ever with grad school and work, but I’m looking forward to the holiday weekend and even took an additional day off so I can spend some serious time on the alpha read of The Ruins. Good things are coming! Anywho, back to the post at hand. It’s book review time! This time I read All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson. If…

[shesamreads]

"Within these pages, the word nigger or nigga appears, sometimes in full and sometimes abbreviated as n****. The same is true for fag and faggot, and their abbreviations. I included these slurs in the text in specific ways for specific emotional and intellectual effect. Please use the same thoughtfulness when talking about this book. If you don’t identify as Black, African American, or queer, don’t use these slurs in full, which can be harmful to others. You can use common abbreviations, like n-word or f-word instead."

This is a great reminder at the beginning of All Boys Aren't Blue. We shouldn't need reminders, but I appreciate George adding this in anyways.

Queer is the only one I can claim. I will be using the abbreviations for the other, unless directly quoting from the book.

I'm excited to get started, and I'm so happy that George is narrating his book. (Most people probably do, though, right?)

[lgbtqreads]

New Releases: September 24, 2024

Middle Grade Alex Wise vs. the Cosmic Shift by Terry J. Benton-Walker This is the sequel to Alex Wise vs. the End of the World Alex Wise is no superhero. Or at least, he doesn’t feel like one. Sure, he vanquished Death and saved his sister Mags—with the help of some new magic powers, his best friend Loren and demi-god Liam. But the apocalypse shows no signs of slowing down. Now, Alex and his…

[words-and-coffee]

You sometimes don’t know you exist until you realize someone like you existed before.

George M. Johnson, All Boys Aren't Blue

[politicaldilfs]

Vermont Governor DILFs

Peter Shumlin, Jim Douglas, Phil Scott, Howard Dean, Deane C. Davis, George Aiken, F. Ray Keyser Jr., Franklin S. Billings, Charles Manley Smith, Richard A. Snelling, Harold J. Arthur, Horace F. Graham, John A. Mead, Joseph B. Johnson, Lee E. Emerson, Thomas P. Salmon, William Henry Wills, Mortimer R. Proctor, Ernest W. Gibson Jr., Robert Stafford, Philip H. Hoff, Allen M. Fletcher

[isaacbookclub]

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

Season 2 Episode 7

[haveyoureadthispoll]

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.

[hellocanticle]

Treemonisha Wasn’t the Only One, James P. Johnson’s Lost Operas.

Naxos 8.669041 Regular readers of this blog are doubtless aware of my “underdog” interests. Whether suppressed by fascist regime, (as in London Records “Entartete Musik” series and Chandos “ARC”ensemble recordings), or just somehow eclipsed by more “spectacular” (by which I mean, “producing a spectacle” like Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring) but, as exemplified by Cedille Records’ “Avant L’ Orage”,…