Joyful, Joyful: Stories Celebrating Black Voices

Famous writers like Alex Wheatle, Trish Cooke and Malorie Blackman join less well-known authors in this joyful anthology of more than twenty positive stories about people of colour. There are stories set in Nigeria, Uganda, Dominica, and Trinidad, but also stories about black children in the USA, Britain and Norway. The strength of a family, the straining against parental discipline (e.g. Jazmine, the Muslim girl who secretly trains to be a boxer, eventually accepted), but particularly the importance of friends, are recurrent themes. There is also a lot of food, including Dapo Adeola’s own tale about his introduction as a boy to cooking, which he now loves, and even a recipe for Jollof Rice. It concludes with Onitan, meaning ‘the Owner of the Story’, when Matilda Feyişayo Ibini gives a lot of guidance, illustrated by Terrence Adegbenle, as to how to write your own story, and dares you to do it…

All the illustrators are black, as well as the authors, and several pages at the back are filled with brief descriptions of everyone involved, including what brings each one joy and pleasure.

This is indeed a joyful book, beautifully produced, and recommended.