Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known

Gr 9 Up–Johnson’s voice fills a void in teen literature, and his newest collection of essays about Black and queer folks from the 1920s unequivocally belongs on shelves across the country. A complement of art from Palmer and Johnson’s text profiling these individuals speaks to erasure of their sexuality or their race in the culturally rich time of the Harlem Renaissance. Yet the book is more than a collection of biographies, because Johnson provides his perspective on who they were and how he sees himself through their lives. Deeply moving, the book rewrites history and biography, giving space to knowing the full lives of people, such as Josephine Baker and Zora Neale Hurston. Johnson’s creative approach adds an alternative to traditional nonfiction for teen readers that blends commentary and research. This mash-up gives space to think about how people have affected history but also what made it into history books—and who was left out, and why. Contemplative and equally vibrant, each essay is unique, and as a whole, the book shines as an untold history of famous individuals. Read individually or separately in one sitting or spread out, the valuable perspective serves more purpose than just being shared in February and June.