Sharp and poignant debut young adult novel from a powerful new voice. When Ossie’s basketball identity is shattered along with his knee, he’s not sure how he will face senior year at an elite, wealthy, and almost all-white private high school. This is a story of a young man on a journey to find himself — the real him beyond the basketball court, allowing himself to be something different and new from his father’s legacy and from what everyone thinks he should be. As he discovers his innate talent for writing, a new world of possibilities opens to him, allowing him to process the complexities of the world he is living in as a Black teen in 21st-century America. He is awakened to deeper thoughts of privilege and power, but also to beauty and identity.
This Thing of Ours by Frederick Joseph, (List Price: $18.99, Candlewick, 9781536233469, May 2025)
Reviewed by Jamie Southern, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina