The Unboxing of a Black Girl by Angela Shante is a beautiful but weighty collection of poetry. The majority of the poems in this collection deeply resonated with me, focusing on the experiences of Black Girlhood and Womanhood. Angela effectively conveyed her personal experiences through her art. I particularly appreciated the inclusion of footnotes to provide further context on the places, people, and topics referenced in her collection. It's worth mentioning her reference to THE WHIZ, a cult classic, and the inspiration it provided for a few of her poems. The collection delves into various themes, including the loss of innocence, being raised by a single mother, the significance of community, pop culture, identity, and the experience of receiving a perm, among others. As a Black Woman, I found the content to be quite profound, despite the brevity of the poems. Overall, I consider it to be a strong 4-star read. I believe that my African American Literature professors would have found this book compelling, especially during my college years.

This poetry set is emotional, insightful, brave, and magical,

Though many poetry books can offer something similar, the world will never have enough voices of Black women. Angela Shanté rises to the top because this isn’t just a book of poetry it’s an experience. With the footnotes around things to research, some of the things I already knew like the Wiz just made me smile.

The way that we’re invited to feel the words on our tongue reminds me that Blackness is beautiful and of the oral tradition. The structure of not only each poem, but the parts, the titles, and the book as a whole are something to be studied.


And though you’re not supposed to have a favorite….

“Black Feminism and Respectability Politics”

is mine.

I’m sure people will come back to this book for many years to come.

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Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

The Unboxing of a Black Girl is a fantastic read. That being said, I am not the target audience for this book. As someone who is not part of the target audience I still really liked the authors writing style and I think the list of resources given is amazing!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

What an beautiful peace of work. This is the first poetry book that I have read in a while. It was so well laid out and the content was also amazing and relatable. Looking forward to getting a physical copy of the book.