Blame it on the Black Star

by Gabriel Morley

Westbrook Washington is a bright 14-year-old African-American boy from Mississippi. He is not worried when his 19-year-old brother, Corey, is shipped off to Iraq with the local National Guard unit “because the war is pretty much over anyway.” But West is surprised when he begins receiving letters from Corey who details his experiences in Iraq and his disillusionment with the war. When Corey is killed by a roadside bomb, West is tasked with writing Corey's obituary for the local newspaper. In the meantime, he teams up with Corey's best friend Ray Ray to find the local Army recruiter who talked Corey into joining the Army so they can beat him up. Along the way, swept up in the anger and confusion over his brother's death, Westbrook steals every American flag in town and burns them at an abandoned train yard. When a WWII veteran who lives near the train yard is critically injured by the fire, both boys realize the potential consequences of their actions and come to understand that childhood is behind them. I'm a librarian and wrote this book because I could not find contemporary, meaningful books for young adult boys. I wanted to write a book that dealt with the experience many boys are facing – an older brother who joins the Army and is then immediately sent to war. One day you are a high school kid, the next day you are being shot at in a foreign country for no reason.

150 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll admit I only got about 40 pages into this book, but it was not good. I'm not sure the world needs a book about Black teens written by a middle-aged white guy. The military aspects of the book didn't seem to ring true either. I had the sense that the author just didn't know what they were talking about on multiple levels, and that made it hard to continue reading.

[Erin Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

why

[Kirby W.]

How DARE YOU?! The unmitigated GALL to actually publish some absolute malarkey like this as if you could come CLOSE to comprehending the deeply complex and nuanced existence of a Black boy juxtaposed an arrogant, entitled one as your own. If you really cared about the coming to age experiences of Black boys , you should have just read some classics by REAL BLACK MEN who were BLACK BOYS! Such as those written by Richard Wright and James Baldwin. Write from your OWN experience! Do not attempt to superimpose the one you simply wish to write about on character archetypes you don't understand.