“The Griot of Grover Street” by Kwame Mbalia
The editor and driving force behind this collection contributes a story which is split is three parts spread across the length of the book. It is the story which most effectively gives the overall collection its title as it is the tale of a boy named Fortitude Jones who is enlisted by a mysterious stranger named Mr. G who claims to have arrived from a different realm known as The Between to assist him in retrieving all the joy which has been lost from his jar.
“There’s Going to be a Fight in the Cafeteria on Friday and You Better Not Bring Batman” by Lamar Giles
This whimsically titled story is not actually a superhero story as that title might suggest. It is, instead a gentle but firm poke at the long history of patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes which has characterized the comic book superhero industry since its inception. The title references a Friday ritual taking place in the cafeteria of the school Cornell attends: a battle of wits over the various relative merits of superheroes with a caveat in the form of a list of ultra-famous superheroes who have been banned from the debate. Pressed with the difficulty of coming up with replacements for names on the list like The Hulk, Black Panther, and Spider-Man, Cornell finds himself saved by from his inherited blindness to the obvious by a young female comic book fan.
“The McCoy Game” by B.B. Alston
Cousins Jamal and Andre receive letters written just before their shared grandfather passed away which contains a cryptic message about how McCoys don’t die as well as coordinates for where both boys should come alone. Shortly afterward, the reading of the will informs them both that one or the other will inherit his house. What they discover waiting for the at the secret meeting place turns out to be a robot (technically a Key Droid) who instigates a contest to determine which boy will get the house and which boy will get…something much better.
“Extinct” by Dean Atta
This submission to the collection differs substantially from the others in that it is a narrative told in verse. Over the course of four short poems, a non-linear tale of a trip to the National History Museum told in the first-person by Dylan and big sister Tabitha. Although the big attraction is the dinosaur exhibit, it is the extinct dodo behind glass as it relates the death of their mother that initiates the emotional center of the story.
“The Legendary Lawrence Cobbler” by Julian Winters
The most emotionally intense story in the collection, however, is—arguably, of course—this story of young Jevon Lawrence and his plans to win the Turner Middle School Baking Competition. Over the course of the story Jevon learns more than just how to follow his family’s legendary secret recipe for cobbler, but a big secret about his grandmother he never knew that stimulates his decision to finally come out as gay to his father. Which results in an even bigger surprise than the one buried deep in his grandmother’s past.
“Got Me a Jet Pack” by Don P. Hooper
At the other end of the spectrum—light on emotional intensity but long on sheer imaginative storytelling—is another story about a boy and his dad. And also his other. Rodney is just an ordinary average kid who loves basketball and fears Ms. Wallace, the scary neighbor who lives in the creepy house on the other side of the fence. For the longest time she has been the weirdest part of his life. And then comes the day when he discovers what his parents really do and that he has to help rescue his father from the aliens that kidnapped him.
“Embracing My Black Boy Joy” by Jerry Craft
This entry is very light on plot, but the point is the message and the medium used to convey that. It is the only illustrated story in the collection, submitted by the writer of the first graphic novel to ever take home the highest honor in kid lit, the Newbery Medal. It is a graphic short story using just black & white illustrations to convey its message of the essential quality of finding joy in one’s life and holding onto it tightly.
