Cornell
Cornell is the joyous black boy in “There’s Going to be a Fight in the Cafeteria on Friday and You Better Not Bring Batman.” The unusual title is directly related to the plot mechanics in which the cafeteria becomes a place for students to debate the merits of one superhero over another. Cornell has brought home the list of iconic superheroes that have become off-limits in these debates from Batman (who is permanently banned from all future debates) to Black Panther. Raven, a girl his brother Carter has brought home for the first time, steps in to save the day with her suggestions that he use She-Hulk instead of The Hulk, Shuri instead of Black Panther, and other female substitutes.
Mr. G
Unlike the other stories in the collection, “The Griot of Grover Street” is a three-part story that spans across the entire volume. He is attired in a black and silver cape, silver pants, and a yellow derby hat on which is stenciled an indication of what his initial stands for, “Gary the Griot.” He takes the protagonist of the story, Fortitude, on a journey through different realms in search of joy.
Jevon Lawrence
“The Legendary Lawrence Cobbler” tells the story Jevon, a black boy who finds joy in cooking, which pleases his father. But he also finds joy elsewhere, in a place fraught with the danger of disappointing his father. He finds even greater joy in the discovery that he has underestimated the breadth and depth of fatherly love.
Dylan aka “Dilly”
Dylan is the first-person narrator of “Extinct” which tells the story of a visit to the Natural History Museum comprised of five non-linear poems. The titles of four of the short works of verse which relate this story school field trip indicate the chronology of events: “Today,” “Yesterday,” “Today,” and “Tonight.” The fifth title “A Note from the Author” in which the poet steps outside the narrative to give a directive to readers to try writing something similar themselves.
Unnamed Narrator
Although most of the stories in this book are traditional self-contained short stories, a handful break from the convention. In addition to the poetic narrative and the three-part story, there is also a graphic short story that uses both comic-style art and text. The narrator of “Embracing My Black Boy Joy” is not named, but may be more viscerally complete to some readers as a result of his physical appearance being concretely defined. Notably, the graphic illustrations of this entry do not feature any colors but consist entirely of boldly contrasting black and white drawings.
