When her best friend, who is black, is the only student suspended for taking a knee at the season's first football game, Eleanor must decide whether or not she wants to jeopardize her new relationship with the star quarterback by protesting the school's actions.
Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal are making a name for themselves by teaming up to write Own Voices YA novels that feature both perspectives - black & white - on race relations in our country. I enjoyed their first collaboration, I’m Not Dying with You Tonight, a novel set around the riots in Atlanta, so I was eager to pick up their second joint writing project, Why We Fly, which was inspired by cheerleading squads who have faced repercussions after taking a knee in the wake of Colin Kaepernick’s bold move on the NFL sidelines.
Eleanor and Chanel are childhood best friends, and also cheerleaders on their high school’s squad. Eleanor spent most of her junior year sidelined after suffering a concussion on a basket toss gone wrong, but now she is ready to get back into the game. Chanel, a Type A personality with big plans for her future, is determined to make cheerleading captain, lead her team to a Nationals win, and then get into the top tier school of her choice.
However, senior year isn’t going to go quite as these girls planned. When the squad takes a knee in the name of one their high school’s alums who is making waves in the NFL by kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality against black people, they inspire many, but anger more. Are they prepared to, in this case, kneel for what they believe in and face the repercussions? How will this single act affect their lives going forward?
What I love about Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal’s collaborations is that they take hot button issues that everyone is talking about, and turn them into easy-to-read, relatable novels that teens can pick up and find themselves within. While I’m Not Dying with You Tonight was the more exciting and compelling novel, Why We Fly is a more controversial conversation starter. Is it okay to kneel during our country’s national anthem? Should students face consequences for making a statement? If so, what sort of actions warrant repercussions? These are all questions that will spark the minds and opinions of teens as they read this thought-provoking novel.
On the other hand, as an adult reader, Why We Fly felt under-developed and “safe,” not taking matters far enough. The story and its characters are lacking passion, and while the squad does take a knee, it reads as if they just got caught up in the emotion and momentum of the movement instead of truly understanding and standing behind what it all means. Teenagers are often like that, but when a book is trying to make a statement and inspire young adults to stand up and be heard, Why We Fly’s protagonists fall short.
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Rating: *** Stars (I liked it) Reviewer: Brooke, Public Relations Librarian
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GENRE: African American Fiction; Multiple Perspectives; Realistic Fiction; Sports Fiction
THEME: Facing Racism (Whether individual or systemic, racism is a lived experience for the characters in these books.)
TONE: Thought-Provoking
STORYLINE: Character-Driven; Issue-Oriented; Own Voices
CHARACTER: Culturally Diverse; Religiously Diverse
SUBJECT: African American Teenagers; African Americans; Best Friends; Cheerleading; Friendship; High School Students; High Schools; Jews; Race Relations; Racism; Schools; Social Action; Teenage Girls
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