Who Put This Song On

July 1, 2019

Gr 8 Up-Seventeen-year-old African American teen Morgan lives in the California suburbs and attends a private evangelical Christian high school. Her race makes her stand out in this very homogenous space. She is really into music and sees events in her life through that lens. Her music and clothing choices cause her to be seen as "not really black" by her peers, even though she very much sees herself that way, experiencing common microaggressions in her everyday school life and beyond. She has developed a close crew of outcast friends, but the one thing she isn't comfortable telling them about is her suicide attempt over the summer. Medication is now making her life much easier. This title is based on the lived experiences of the author, a poet, which lends a poignant truth to the narrative. In spite of this, the representation of a suburban African American teen in these specific "outsider" circumstances is needed. In addition, this title will serve to open up conversations about black girls and mental health. VERDICT A worthwhile purchase for any collection where teen contemporary realistic fiction is popular. Give to fans of Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X.-Kristin Lee Anderson, Jackson County Library Services, OR

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 22, 2019
In this thoughtful novel set against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential election, Morgan Parker, 17, is a self-proclaimed “super-emo” kid living with anxiety and depression in Southern California. One of the only black kids at her conservative Christian school (a “high school inside a church inside a PacSun”), Morgan regularly experiences racist microaggressions from her teachers and peers, who comment on the music she listens to and the clothes she wears, and how “white” she acts. After a devastating event the previous summer landed her in therapy and on antidepressants, Morgan is determined to “get happy” and learn to love her “intense, ridiculous, passionate, and sometimes hilarious” self and her blackness, whatever it takes. When the election and a project for history class show Morgan how much she doesn’t know about black history, she decides to educate herself and her classmates on what it means to be black in America. Drawing on her own teen experiences, Parker (There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé for adults) adroitly touches upon matters of respectability and “presentableness,” stigmas against discussing mental health issues in the black community and among young adults, and internalized and societal racism. Ages 12–up.

Starred review from July 15, 2019
Seventeen-year-old Morgan is determined to live her truth as a quirky black girl in a predominantly white, small town in Southern California while struggling with depression and anxiety. Morgan has more than her fair share of teen angst. She's regularly the only black person in the room, frequently told that she's "not really black." She takes medication for depression and anxiety. Her history teacher is clueless about black history and idolizes Ronald Reagan. For a Goodwill clothes-wearing "emo" girl in a sunny Southern California suburb, Christian school is "like going to high school inside a church inside a PacSun." And Morgan is tired of having to act like she's religious. She has doubts about faith and her ability to handle life, and if she were white, she'd be cool in a late-'90s teen film kind of way. But a black manic pixie dream girl is not something her peers embrace as cool. With music as a solace and constant companion, Morgan and her motley crew of friends navigate love, bullying, and an uncertain future. Poet Parker offers readers a heart-filled, laugh-out-loud hilarious YA fiction debut. Morgan's pain and passion electrify every page. Her life feels like a mess, but faced with racism, rejection, and everyday growing pains, her hope and determination still shine through. A funny, clever, wild ride of a story about growing up and breaking free. (Fiction. 12-adult)

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Starred review from September 1, 2019
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Seventeen-year-old Morgan is struggling with depression, and her family just doesn't understand. When she tells her doctor that it sucks being alive sometimes, he thinks it's because she doesn't have a boyfriend, and even though she's in therapy following a failed suicide attempt, her mother thinks she just needs more Jesus. But when she meets David, he gets it. Within their new friend group, there is a traveling notebook where they record their thoughts, feelings, and affirmations for each other. In many ways, Parker's debut models what introspective teens may go through when questioning the world around them. Through this story based loosely on her own life, she takes readers on a journey of self-exploration, full of all the universal teenage angst and drama that surround school, identity, sex, rejection, and friendship. This is all layered into Morgan's coming-of-age realizations about her Blackness as she becomes interested in researching specific periods of her identity's history, hoping to understand how it?and she?fits into present-day America. When, thanks to a terrible teacher, she makes a huge scene at school, her actions may seem familiar to readers. This fresh read provides a positive and inclusive take on mental health and wellness and offers readers some tools to survive on their own.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)