About:
Hey, Brown Girl by Janay Harden is a coming of age young adult novel that focuses on 17 year old Raven as she navigates her family and school drama, anxiety, and transitions within friendship groups. While the main focus is on Raven, each member of the family has at least one chapter in which their personal thoughts and feelings are captured. It was a quick read but does touch on adult themes although it is marketed as a young adult novel. In fact, there are moments where I wondered if this book should come along with a trigger warning for certain themes the author chose to touch on.
Review:
Janay Harden is a licensed social worker and therapist. It is clear from the book that Ms. Harden has a background in mental health in the way that all of the problems in the book seem to be solved by therapy and self-love. The book presents several different relatable issues such as anxiety, resentment towards parents, child neglect, and drug abuse. If you have not experienced one of these issues, you’re often not too far removed from someone who has.
The friendship that Raven has built with three other black girls in her neighborhood is beautiful to read about and it makes you think fondly of your own friendships or desire that type of friendship. However, the friendship is tested when Raven is challenged to reflect on her behavior and consider whether she is always being the best friend she can be to her girls or if she is centering herself.
This challenge is amidst several other challenges – Raven’s cousin has come to live with her, she is challenged for her spot as dance team captain, and she is battling anxiety. As Raven contends with each of these issues with the help of her school assigned counselor it’s like reading therapy in book form. She learns to cope with each issue and learns to have confidence within herself to know she can be triumphant in the face of all these issues.
Ms. Harden follows along with the other family members and this is where keeping up with the plot gets tricky. I understand that the author was looking to give everyone a happily ever after and perhaps even demonstrate how each family issue can be worked out in a healthy manner, but I think it would have been best to fully develop Raven’s story and maybe make a book series out of each family member’s story.
We learn about the racial identity challenges of Raven’s mother, Blair. The abuse Phoenix (Raven’s grandmother) suffered. The neglect Carter (her cousin) experiences and more. These are all tough issues to work through and I don’t know that the happily ever after that is achieved in just a few chapters is realistic.
Overall, the book was a solid read and could be useful for anyone looking for positive ways to deal with the challenges the book touches on. It is filled with both therapeutic lessons as well as generational wisdom.
The Bootleg Book Club 