In his 2019 Stonewall Award-winning verse novel, The Black Flamingo, Dean Atta (I Am Nobody's Nigger, for adults) skillfully chronicles the life of Michael, a gay, British-born Cypriot-Jamaican teen.
It is clear from the beginning that this is a not an average coming-of-age story--it's more a "coming-into-one's-own" story, with Michael declaring, "finally, I am the fairy finding my own magic." Michael's clear voice establishes him as a reliable narrator who generously guides readers through his most intimate moments. The frankness and depth of Michael's very personal reflections invite high emotional investment; his vulnerabilities and strengths refreshingly focus on the "full human being" his mother affirms him to be. Throughout, Michael explores themes of in-betweenness and connection, whether in his relationships with his parents, his crushes and sexual partners or his most enduring friendship. In his search to find a space and place where he might belong, Michael joins the Drag Society at his university and eventually takes flight as the feathered and free Black Flamingo.
Atta displays a deft command of diverse poetry forms with an on-the-nose reflective palindrome poem "House of Mirrors" and a concrete poem that mimics the heart-shaped arching of flamingo necks. The Black Flamingo's straightforward, cohesive chronology creates a smooth, compact and gripping read. --Breanna J. McDaniel, freelance reviewer