I absolutely adored this anthology! It’s rare to find a book that makes you feel so seen, and this one did just that. I know I’ll be recommending it to everyone for years to come. I grabbed a copy the day it was released, and I’m beyond happy I finally got around to reading it.

This collection brings together an incredible lineup of Black authors—some familiar to me, some new—and each story offers a unique take on what it means to be nerdy, weird, or simply passionate about what you love. The range of perspectives was fantastic, from cosplayers and anime lovers to kids obsessed with competitive spelling and crafting. The mix of genres, from fantasy to contemporary and everything in between, made for such an engaging and dynamic read.

Some of my absolute favorites were:

✨ Nina Evans, in the Round – Kalynn Bayron
✨ Betty’s Best Craft – Elsie Bryant
✨ Cole’s Cruise Blues – Isaac Fitzsimons
✨ Wolf Tracks – Roseanne A. Brown

Each of these stories resonated with me for different reasons, but the overarching theme was so powerful—there isn’t just one way to be Black. People might expect you to fit into a box, but it’s not your job to live up to anyone’s expectations. You’re not weird for loving what you love, and there will always be people who accept you exactly as you are.

If you’ve ever felt out of place, awkward, or like your interests made you an outsider, this book is for you. Also, as a self-proclaimed weeb, I absolutely loved all the anime references sprinkled throughout!

"I hope these stories can reveal that truth and beauty for you"

This anthology really had me at the intro, so many of the stories resonated with me but some of them really touched my soul.

My favorite stories in no particular order:

🌟Our Joy Our Power by Julian Winters: This story made me feel so much joy and showed so beautifully that there is nothing wrong with you taking up space in something you love and how if you look closely there are others out there who love your hobby as passionately as you do.

🌟The Book Club: Shari B. Pennant
This story really had me on edge and the buildup was amazing! 🥰

🌟Nina Evans in the Round: Kalynn Bayron
My thoughts were summarized into OMG they did it again! Legit crying here, Kalynn's work always gets me.

🌟Requiem of Souls: Terry J Benton-Walker
My jaw is still on the floor by all the nuance, revelations, and succeses in this story.

And some quotes:
💭Breaking news: It isn't. Kindly dump your micro-and macroagressions to the left.
💭the ones who exist when, sometimes, thats the hardest thing for us to do.
💭On a scale of one to ten, how bad is your dancing? -2 .All this melanin and no rhythm? Tragic
💭How could you not look at us shine?
💭God Shouldn't have to tell you to protect your kid.

Honestly, this is one of the fastest books, ive partially devoured so far this year, and Im so glad I did because im so excited to read the remaining stories and how this book highlights so many parts of myself that people used to make fun of.

Im glad there is a place to rejoice in nerdiness, in awesomeness, in being different in all kinds of spaces.

Thank you to @turnthepagetours for this amazing opportunity and @penguinteen for the Digital ARC!

Loved the celebration and centering of Black teen nerdiness, as well as how much of a mix of topics and types of fantasy-elements that were included.

read this for my book club with my sister, and it was fun. the stories are great! i'm not sure what else to add tbh, it was fun, and great for young readers.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I tend to start out every anthology review by saying that it's hard to rate anthologies! I really love the concept of this one and the fact that it was created to give Black kids and teens with nerdy or geeky interests a sense of community and literary role models. Some of my favorite YA authors are represented here, too! That being said, here's a list of my favorite stories in this anthology and what they're about:
- Nina Evans, in the Round by Kalynn Bayron - A musical theater lover fights against type-casting discrimination from her school's play director.
- Initiative Check by K. Arsenault Rivera - Can a magical DnD session heal the wounds of an old friendship?
- Corner Booth by Leah Johnson - A short and sweet story about two Dictionary Dynamo app rivals who fall for each other in a diner.
- Betty's Best Craft by Elise Bryant - Can a craft-based school assignment heal the wounds of an old friendship? Yes, this one has a very similar plot to "Initiative Check," but they were both fun in their own unique ways!
- Cole's Cruise Blues by Isaac Fitzsimons - A trans boy tries to figure out who he wants to be while flirting with a boy he meets on a cruise ship and bonding with his cute younger stepsister.
- Catalyst Rising by Tracy Deonn - A girl discovers that she's the Philosopher's Stone in this short story that left me wanting more! Seriously, this felt like the first chapter of a novel; someone please tell me that Deonn is writing a longer version of this?
- Requiem of Souls by Terry J. Benton-Walker - A chilling story about a flutist who discovers he can summon ghosts with a song.
- Wolf Tracks by Roseanne A. Brown - A heartwarming story about a werewolf who falls for his best friend and how this changes his relationship with his father.
There are 18 stories in this collection and I've only described 8 of them, so hopefully that gives you an idea of the variety of genres, topics, and kinds of geekiness that are present here. If you're a fan of any of the authors featured, I think this anthology is worth a read.

A fun anthology with various Black authors. Cool.Awkward. Black is perfect for every teen this holiday season. It's a powerful book.

I absolutely loved this! Novels like these are hard to rate just because of how contrasting the ratings between stories can be. I did overall think this was well done though. I started giving short reviews to each short story but promptly gave up around halfway when I realized how many there were.

Cool akward black boook review
So before we begin I want to say thank u to pengiun teen for sending me an e-arc of cool awkward black edited by Karen strong! Thank u so much!! For those who don’t know this is a collection of short stories and some of them were good and some weren’t. Which one u ask I’ll list the ratings of each stories down below! Some of them I found to be a bit short and wanted more and some I felt were too long!
——————————————————————-
Here r the star rating for each stories in the amazing short story collection:
1. our joy, our power by Julian winters ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. The book club by Shari b pennant ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3. Nina Evans in the round by kaylan baryon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4. Earth is ghetto by ibi zobio ⭐️⭐️⭐️
5. Initiative check by k arsenault Rivera ⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. Corner booth by Leah Johnson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
7. Betty’s best craft by Elise Bryant ⭐️⭐️⭐️
8. The panel shows the girl by Amanda joy ⭐️⭐️⭐️
9. Spirited filled by Jordan ifunko ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
10. Coles cruise blues by issac Fitzpatrick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
11. High strangeness by Desiree s Evans ⭐️⭐️⭐️
12. Catalyst rising by Tracey deonn ⭐️⭐️⭐️
13. Requiem of souls by terry j Benton-walker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
14. Honor code by kwame mbaila ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
15. Drive time by Lamar gills ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
16. Wolf tracks by Roseanne a brown ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
17. The hero’s journey by tochi onyebuchi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
18. Abyss by Amerie ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall I would say check this anthology out if u are looking for some sci-fi some fantasy or even some romances but totally check out the trigger warnings before reading this because some of this books deals with homophobia which I wasn’t a huge fan of but I would totally by myself a copy of this book and can’t wait to add it to my collection!

I have such a love for this book. I usually enjoy anthologies but this one just felt like it was written so well and it was so fun and nerdy and just everything I enjoy. Definitely one I will recommend.

Not all voices are heard - especially not the geeks, never mind African American geeks (or nerds, is there a nice terms for geeks or nerds?). These stories share fresh voices from many points-of-view. Slightly geeky myself, I loved hearing about teens who are fascinated with cosplay, aliens, reading, the arts - you name it. Written by an impressive array of authors, these stories show how awkward or marginalized young people find how to be comfortable in their own skin and/or find their people. Growing up is not easy, and being a teen is often like floating in social limbo. If you're not like everyone else, it's easy to get stuck in that limbo. The important message for these young people is "you're not alone." Another important message from these stories: geeks ARE cool!

Amazing collection of stories about being Black and not dealing with trauma. Black boy/girl/NB joy! Each story was impactful and important.

Such a fantastic anthology! I loved all of these stories and I highly recommend! I really enjoyed all the difference characters and I liked how each story was still developed in terms of world/magic even if they were short!

Cool. Awkward. Black. accomplishes what it seeks to do: challenge the concept of the Black geek. We have wizards, comicon loving kids, witches, anime kids, theater lovers: the list could go on and on. Each story had something I liked about it. There wasn't a single dud in the mix. However, there were some I liked more than others.

Some of the stand out stories for me were:
"Initiative Check" by K. Arsenault Rivera
"Corner Booth" by Leah Johnson
"Requiem of Souls" by Terry J. Benton-Walker
"Wolf Tracks" by Roseanna A. Brown

All in all, a well rounded and profound collection.

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This was the perfect way to start my year. An amazing book by amazing authors. I know it’ll be a hit.

I'm usually not a big fan of anthologies or other story collections but this was great. The stories were just long enough for the reader to become completely enveloped but just short enough that you were never bored, sometimes left wanting even more. I picked up this collection especially to read anything more by Jordan Ifueko and Leah Johnson but I really enjoyed almost every story by every author. There's all different types of nerdy covered here, definitely a bit of something for everyone.

I really enjoyed this anthology celebrating authors of color. The different stories of nerds and just awkward unique own selves.

There’s different story genres so there’s a taste of did things to keep you reading and enjoying. I love anthology’s that mix it up and keep you entertained and this book does that.

From my instagram post: For anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE Anthologies. The different stories and voices excite me as well as the exposure to new authors. I also really love stories that show the vastness of the human experience and if they are all written by Black Authors, well, that’s the cherry AND the coconut whipped cream on top of the experience for me.

Cool.Awkward.Black edited by @karenmusings entered into the pantheon of my anthologies (pictured behind it) from the moment I cracked open this book. These stories are seriously amazing, giving us such a range in what they each brought to the table. I completely ate up this book and I think you all will too. I had not one but THREE favorite stories (actually, there could be a fourth) and I wouldn’t be ashamed to beg the authors to give us full novels (I kind of already did on twitter).

Anthologies are always hit or miss for me when they are comprised of several authors, but I felt like this anthology was the ode to my Black, queer, nerdy heart. I related to so many of these stories and experiences. I don’t even think that I can pick a favorite because I could easily see myself in all of them. This right here is why representation matters!

First off, I would like to say that the idea of this book was brilliant. It never occurred to me that there was such a lack of representation for Black people in areas(geeks/nerds) like this and I hope to see more books like these in the future. Overall, I did enjoy a majority of the stories. I found most of them to be very fun and often would make me laugh or smile. There were only a few stories that I wasn’t the biggest fan of. This isn’t because they were bad or poorly written. It’s because I had a hard time understanding the story itself.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Negalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest opinion. All opinions are my own.

This was such a lovely collection of short stories. I loved them all! Nina Evans, in the Round had me tearing up at the end, it was such a feel good story. I hope we continue to see more anthologies like this one and Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space. I love anthologies and have gotten a fair number of queer ones so it's only time for ones by various ethnicities/races. I hope we continue to see these voices given their times and money. I hope we also see ones that have multiple marginalizations as well.

Really can't express how much I loved this collection and I will be obtaining a copy as soon as I can!

Rep: All Black MCs, a good majority are queer.

CWs: Racism, religious bigotry, misogyny, sexism.