Welcome to the first Weekend Picks of June - Happy Pride Month! Our posts this month will be brought to us by MCTE past-president Kia Jane Richmond from Northern Michigan University.
 Kia Jane Richmond | Dr. Kia Jane Richmond is Professor and Director of English Education at Northern Michigan University and author of Mental Illness in Young Adult Literature: Real Struggles through Fictional Characters (Bloomsbury, 2019). She is a frequent presenter at NCTE, ELATE, ALAN, CEL, and MCTE conferences and has published many articles and book chapters focused on young adult literature and teacher preparation in English Language Arts. She can be reached at [email protected]. |
Forever is Now by Mariama J. Lockington
Published by Farrar Strauss Giroux Books for Young Readers in 2023
 | The narrator of Forever is Now, Sadie Dixon, is a self-described “sad, anxious Black girl” who lives in Oakland, California. Before she and her girlfriend Aria witness a violent incident of police brutality against a woman in the local park, Sadie is working with her therapist, Dr. Candace, to manage her anxiety through cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), exposure therapy, dialogue, and journaling/creative writing. After the incident, Sadie’s anxiety symptoms worsen, spiraling into ongoing self-doubt, more frequent panic attacks, bouts of insomnia, and a new diagnosis of agoraphobia. Sadie’s story includes many issues teens expect in fiction such as friendships, family relationships, romances, and breakups. What makes this novel a standout is the deep self-discovery that Sadie shares with readers through discussions with her therapist, family, and friends. Agoraphobia and other anxiety disorders can be extremely isolating, often exacerbating symptoms. Sadie’s support system – including new neighbor Jackson Sweet and best friend Evan - helps her develop effective strategies for living with anxiety. |
| Readers will find themselves captivated by Sadie’s powerful voice, which is enriched by poems she writes and (sometimes) shares with listeners/viewers of her broadcasts on an online activist app called Ruckus. For example, during one of her live shows called “Dispatches from Insomnia Garden,” Sadie reads a poem that blends her experiences with anxiety and the issue of police brutality with a call for an “Open Mic for Joy” event: … That’s what keeps me up makes it hard for me to close my eyes most nights Thinking of all those gone gone gone bodies floating in silence no gravity, no light no escape back to love But the poet Nikki g wrote: ‘Black love is Black wealth’ And despite all the suffering-there is joy too … (267). |  Mariama J. Lockington |
Lockington’s novel features multiple characters who are members of the LGBTQ community. Sadie is bisexual, Evan is nonbinary and queer, and Aria is lesbian. Like many contemporary teen books, Forever is Now is not a coming-out story; instead, characters’ sexuality are normalized. Similarly, mental illness is not something that needs to be overcome. Rather, Sadie’s anxiety and Jackson’s depression are treated as conditions for which they develop coping strategies.
Forever is Now is a 2024 winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, which is given to a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. Mariama J. Lockington also penned In the Key of Us (2023) - a Stonewall Honor Book, and For Black Girls like Me (2019).
Forever is Now is a 2024 winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, which is given to a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. Mariama J. Lockington also penned In the Key of Us (2023) - a Stonewall Honor Book, and For Black Girls like Me (2019).
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