Reading Progress:

Grown is a map for the next generation

by Eva Kay

This is a true ode of love to Black girlhood. You may laugh, you may tear up a little, and you just might remember long-forgotten lessons from your younger self. It’s okay to take pause and just enjoy. In Grown, you are the main character on a journey, no matter at what age, stage, or how many times you read it.

If you are a Black girl on this chilly island they call Great Britain, Grown: The Black Girls’ Guide to Glowing up is the book that will warm and affirm you, like a hearty bowl of soup that also makes you feel seen. Written by Melissa Cummings-Quarry and Natalie A. Carter, and illustrated by Dorcas Magbadelo, this is a true ode of love to Black girlhood. You are given advice by those who have been there and done the living to tell the tale. Grown opens an honest and self-reflective dialogue on how to unapologetically love yourself in an anti-Black, misogynistic country. 

You will delight in Magbadelo’s beautiful visuals of girls and women. From their different hairstyles to their bodies and their demeanours, they are all familiar. Every page is deeply reflective as Cummings-Quarry and Carter share their own experiences and hardships in the way older sisters would. Carter takes us back to a time when she was the only Black girl in her ballet class and therefore treated differently. Cummings-Quarry shares childhood memories of her mother combing her hair on a Sunday afternoon.

You are given advice by those who have been there and done the living to tell the tale.

Each chapter explores a different dimension of identity, self-care, relationships, career prospects, spirituality, and finances, with all of them highlighting the great and the not-so-great aspects of growing up as a Black girl. Cummings-Quarry and Carter aren’t afraid to use language that describes our experiences with a freeness that does not exist the media’s lexicon. The way Black people in Britain communicate and celebrate themselves has been constricted by the white creative industry, an industry that still equates Blackness to wickedness and thus limits the vastness of our many modes of expression.

That freeness is so beautifully evident right from the beginning. The contents page promises chapters titled “Is that you, yeah?”, “Reclaiming your time”, and “Secure the Bag”, all unequivocally establishing that Grown as a book that is wholly for Black girls. The knowledge in this guide does not only gift us relatability but the solace in knowing that there is access to help whenever you feel pressured to confirm. “Remember you are not alone—we’ve all been there,” Grown counsels.

Several contributions by other inspirational Black women are woven in, all brilliant in their fields. To name a few, we are given the legendary voices of RT Hon Dianne Abbott MP, Audrey Indome, and Melanie Brown:

  • “You are enough. The world will try to tell you otherwise, but anytime they do, just remember it’s your features they want, it’s your skin they want, it’s your natural sauce they want.” Audrey Indome (pg. 211)

  • “Knowledge is power but knowing who you really are is the real power.” Melanie Brown (pg. 9) 

  • “What I would say to young girls growing up today is to dream big and do not set a limit to your ambitions! Just because you cannot see someone who looks like you in a certain role does not mean you cannot do it.” Rt Hon Dianne Abbott MP (pg. 199)

Grown even recommends movies, books, and artists that centre Black women and girls. Books like Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. TV shows and films like InsecureAkeelah and the Bee, and The Proud Family. Music albums like A Seat at the Table by Solange and R.E.D by Tiwa Savage.

You also get journalling spaces that allow us a moment to pause and reflect on topics such as “outlining your friendship boundaries … your non-negotiables … things you’d like to have in a friendship … and deal-breakers.”If you have ever faced a microaggression and were unsure on how to speak about it, you are encouraged to “write it out.” In Grown, you are the main character on a journey, no matter at what age, stage, or how many times you read it. “Grown. It’s a mood. It’s a mindset. It’s a mantra. It’s a lifestyle. It embodies everything that makes us who we are,” offers the guide. 

Many Black women in the UK—including those who may buy Grown for their younger nieces, sisters, daughters, granddaughters, and cousins—will relate to the difficult subjects broached within. You may laugh, you may tear up a little, and you just might remember long-forgotten lessons from your younger self. It’s okay to take pause and just enjoy. 

In Grown, you are the main character on a journey, no matter at what age, stage, or how many times you read it.

By Eva Kay

EVA KAY is a Kenyan master’s graduate living in London. A lover of all things fantasy, romance, and mystery, find her on Twitter @evangelionreads and Instagram @booksevangelionreads.

MELISSA CUMMINGS-QUARRY and NATALIA A. CARTER are best friends and co-founders of Black Girls’ Book Club, a platform they created to celebrate literature by Black female writers and bring Black women with the same passion for books together to discuss and enjoy. Find them on Twitter and Instagram @bg_bookclub.

DORCAS MAGBADELO is an illustrator, product designer, and independent business owner. Her art explores the different complexities of Black female identity. Grown is her first illustrated book. Find her at @dorcascreates on Twitter and Instagram.

Grown is a map for the next generationGrown: The Black Girls’ Guide to Glowing Up by Melissa Cummings Quarry and Natale A. Carter
Published by Bloomsbury Children's on 30 September 2021
Genres: Self-help, YA
Pages: 256
five-stars

Your big sis in book form, Grown is the ultimate fully illustrated guide to navigating life as a Black teenage girl. With a foreword from the inimitable Spice Girl Melanie Brown and contributions from inspirational Black women such as Diane Abbott MP, Dorothy Koomson, and Candice Carty-Williams and illustrations from Dorcas Magbadelo, Grown is a celebration of Black British girlhood that will empower teens everywhere. Being a teenager and trying to understand who you are and what you stand for is hard. Period. But if you're a Black girl, it can be even tougher. Grown: The Black Girls' Guide to Glowing Up was written with one thing in mind sis. You. From understanding identity to the politics of hair to maintaining squad goals to dealing with microaggressions to consent to figuring out what career you might want, Grown has got your back. Grown. It's a mood. It's a mindset. It's a mantra. It's a lifestyle. It embodies everything that makes us who we are.

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