★ 11/18/2024
Poet and educator Keith (How the Boogeyman Became a Poet) delivers a poignant, hip-hop-fueled collection of poetry that’s equal parts memoir, love letter, and rallying cry to Black boys. Often marginalized by society and labeled a “knucklehead” as a child, Keith highlights in this powerfully affirming assemblage the ability to use language as an essential force for rising above various societal challenges. Throughout, the self-proclaimed nerd (“for real for real, I wanna be known as that artsy-fartsy intellect”) tackles topics surrounding toxic masculinity, police violence, and generational trauma and invokes “the spirit of everything African within me” to declare freedom from these issues using varying poetic styles. Keith’s personal journey—including his adolescence as a Black gay youth living a camouflaged existence where “girl-friends were my girlfriend” and the freedom that came with living “onstage, unafraid”—is interwoven with poems depicting other Black boys’ treatment in a society that marks them from birth as targets. Searing language and palpable messaging permeate this dazzling, from-the-heart poetry collection that’s sure to inspire the eponymous knuckleheads and beyond to find their voice and use it for liberation. Ages 14–up. Agent: Annie Hwang, Ayesha Pande Literary. (Feb.)
A poignant, hip-hop-fueled collection of poetry that’s equal parts memoir, love letter, and rallying cry to Black boys. Searing language and palpable messaging permeate this dazzling, from-the-heart poetry collection that’s sure to inspire the eponymous knuckleheads and beyond to find their voice and use it for liberation. — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A love letter in verse to Black boys and men. Will resonate deeply with readers and poets on a path of self-discovery. — Kirkus Reviews
Keith addresses himself, his readers, and society the same—all knuckleheads, bumbling to adulthood in an attempt to individualize and define ourselves. These poems are prescient and relevant when socioeconomic injustice and blatant racism have come to the forefront of the country’s political landscape. — School Library Journal
This is an ambitious work delivered in a triumphantly easy-to-read package for both the devoted poetry lovers and the young poetry-curious. — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Keith's perspective on growing up a Black man in America is an excellent addition to all YA shelves. — Booklist
03/28/2025
Gr 9 Up—This collection of poems starts like a letter to a friend: "Dear Knucklehead,/ have you ever had a planet lodged in your belly/ that could barely fit" and closes with: "Dear Knucklehead,/ I was a poet who was afraid to publish./ I was worried about seeing my words printed in a book," addressing the magnitude of self-doubt that can grow into self-deceit and disabling fear if not given voice, a platform to be heard, and an audience. Taken whole, the poems are an encapsulation of the ways society defines otherness, from the perspective of a gay Black poet who calls himself "a social agent of change." Keith addresses himself, his readers, and society the same—all knuckleheads, bumbling to adulthood in an attempt to individualize and define ourselves. These poems are prescient and relevant when socioeconomic injustice and blatant racism have come to the forefront of the country's political landscape. Readers are encouraged to reclaim language and redefine meanings, especially in terms of masculinity. Keith says the poet is a "superhero with a cape made of metaphors" who uses the power of words to identify the uniqueness behind brown and Black skin, to explore identity and courage. His provocative and confrontational poems are not afraid to expose issues of "Black voyeurism," and he does not shy away from exalting in the love of his partner in works like "I Dreamt About My Man." Interspersed with bold black-and-white sketches, the free-form verse demands to be read aloud, shouting to be heard, as the writer tells readers to "wipe the crust of bondage from your eyes/ remember your dreams and forget the lies." VERDICT Recommended for all library collections serving teens, especially where spoken word and slam poetry are popular.—Rebecca Jung
Tony Keith, Jr.--poet, rapper, and hip-hop educator--uses his cultural observations, edgy politics, and sharp ear for concise wordplay and fast rhymes to get the attention of the audience that needs him most: disenfranchised Black school kids he affectionately calls "knuckleheads." With brash and evocative poem titles like "If You Fail to Plan, Then Plan to Fail," "Because When I Write, I'm Dangerous," and "I Don't Have to Imagine Being Black," Keith weaves personal verses of navigating the world as a gay Black man with themes of healing and empowerment. Energetic, enthusiastic, and empathetic, Keith is a veteran of the slam poetry circuit, and one can imagine him commanding the stage like he commands this audiobook. B.P. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine
2024-11-09
A love letter in verse to Black boys and men.
In this collection, poet Keith reclaims the labelknucklehead in a series of entries addressed to Black boys and men, who are often prejudged by society. In this work that is part memoir and part inspirational advice, he writes about the healing role poetry had and continues to have in his life. The first letter offers readers an affirmation—an intentional invitation to the unheard to join him on this journey and a declaration that he sees and understands them: “whatever force from whatever source / that created the planet that can’t fit inside of you / is the same blast that brought about the one / rotating inside of me too.” The poems fluidly move through history, harking back to the author’s African roots. There are pieces about his childhood: Fighting was central to much of his young life due to other people’s toxic understanding of masculinity. A noteworthy piece on silence demonstrates how policing and prisons silence Black boys and men; another poem speaks to the power of language. Other entries describe falling in love and Keith’s marriage to his husband, serving as a beacon of hope for the queer and questioning. Black-and-white illustrations are interspersed among the poems in this thematically wide-ranging collection, which flow well into one another.
Will resonate deeply with readers and poets on a path of self-discovery.(Poetry. 14-18)
