BLACK GIRL UNLIMITED by Echo Brown

 

Brown, E. Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Witch, (2020), New York, NY: Christy Ottaviano Books, Henry Holt and Company. 

14-18 years according to Amazon

Thank God Echo is okay! This book was beautifully and delicately written, but I had such a hard time getting into it. The subject matter is so painful, and the “magic” aspect was confusing for me. I eventually gave up on reading it and listened to the audiobook instead and I was so glad I did. Echo Brown does an incredible job narrating her work. 

In the print version I was distracted by the mid-paragraph splits in the action and I was uncomfortable with the dialect of the mother’s speech in particular. But hearing Brown delineate the generations in this way was brilliant. According to her author bio she is an actor as well as a writer and it shows. 

There were so many rich character details in this book, which was surprising because it is all in Echo’s perspective. But her mother and the teacher who takes her in (a character that could have felt very white-savior and somehow did not) in particular were fleshed out just by their interactions with Echo.

The end of the book was as joyful as the beginning was painful and the balance definitely helped me love it. I appreciate books that understand that not everyone has the same kind of homelife and I think as an educator, it is particularly important for me to keep that in mind. 

This book is a definite pick for any school library (I just bought it for mine!) and would be an excellent bibliotherapy title for any kids struggling with family addiction issues, poverty or just the trauma of systemic racism. It also points to the liberation found in storytelling. 

Brown uses the movie Titanic as a conduit for a magical incident intended to help Echo’s brothers recognize the need to believe in themselves. This is a brilliant illustration of storytelling on top of storytelling! Black Girl Unlimited would be an excellent source for monologues for a drama class or illustrations for a creative writing class of unique methods of storytelling.