{"product_id":"black-boy-smile-a-memoir-in-moments-9780306923982","title":"Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments","description":"\u003cb\u003e2023 One Maryland One Book Finalist \u003cbr\u003e Winner of the 2022 Paris Book Award for General Nonfiction \u003cbr\u003e New York Public Library's Best Books for Adults\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eShelf Awareness 2022 Best Books of the Year \u003cbr\u003e Kirkus Review's 2022 Best Nonfiction Books and 2022 Best Books About Black Life in America \u003cbr\u003e Aspire TV's Top 5 Celebrity Memoirs of 2022\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"If I had two wishes, it would be that D. Watkins spend an entire book writing through the terrifying wonder of Black boyness in America, and for every human to read and share this book. I am shaken. \u003ci\u003eBlack Boy Smile \u003c\/i\u003echanged my relationship to writing and me.\"―\u003cb\u003eKiese Laymon, author of Heavy and winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e At nine years old, D. Watkins has three concerns in life: picking his dad's Lotto numbers, keeping his Nikes free of creases, and being a man. Directly in his periphery is east Baltimore, a poverty-stricken city battling the height of the crack epidemic just hours from the nation's capital. Watkins, like many boys around him, is thrust out of childhood and into a world where manhood means surviving by slinging crack on street corners and finding oneself on the right side of pistols. For thirty years, Watkins is forced to safeguard every moment of joy he experiences or risk losing himself entirely. Now, for the first time, Watkins harnesses these moments to tell the story of how he matured into the D. Watkins we know today--beloved author, college professor, editor-at-large of \u003ci\u003eSalon.com\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003e and devoted husband and father. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlack Boy Smile\u003c\/i\u003e lays bare Watkins's relationship with his father and his brotherhood with the boys around him. He shares candid recollections of early assaults on his body and mind and reveals how he coped using stoic silence disguised as manhood. His harrowing pursuit of redemption, written in his signature street style, pinpoints how generational hardship, left raw and unnurtured, breeds toxic masculinity. Watkins discovers a love for books, is admitted to two graduate programs, meets with his future wife, an attorney--and finds true freedom in fatherhood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Equally moving and liberating, \u003ci\u003eBlack Boy Smile\u003c\/i\u003e is D. Watkins's love letter to Black boys in concrete cities, a daring testimony that brings to life the contradictions, fears, and hopes of boys hurdling headfirst into adulthood. \u003ci\u003eBlack Boy Smile \u003c\/i\u003eis a story proving that when we acknowledge the fallacies of our past, we can uncover the path toward self-discovery. \u003ci\u003eBlack Boy Smile\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of a Black boy who healed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Legacy Lit\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/16\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780306923982\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256","brand":"D. Watkins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42776196087989,"sku":"9780306923982","price":15.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_cd6d93b5-e4c9-438b-962a-9d01e2575d94.jpg?v=1679411017","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/black-boy-smile-a-memoir-in-moments-9780306923982","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}