Onyx and Beyond

McBride, Amber. Onyx and Beyond

October 1, 2024 by Feiwel & Friends

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
 

Onyx and his mother live in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia in 1968 with his Gran. He loves to collect rocks, and his Gran comments that he is her "griffin" and will come into his wings and fly. Onyx and his mother go to Washington, D.C., on April 5, and witness the protests by the Black Student Movement after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Two years later, Gran has died, and Onyx's mother is struggling with early onset dementia. His father, who works in a bookstore has never lived with the family, is nearby, as is his Grandma Emma and several cousins. He attends a Catholic school, and is spending an increasing amount of time doing laundry, getting groceries, and caring for his mother. When he finds out that Social Services wants to do a wellness check on his, he starts to panic, and begins to collect materials to make himself wings so that he can fly. He manages to earn a little money sweeping for the local barber shop, but the church ladies notice that he is always alone. His grandfather had also suffered from early onset dementia, so Gran had wanted to keep Onyx's mother at home. As his mother's condition worsens, Onyx believes that if could steal a sliver of a rock from the museum, it might cure her, but when he attempts a heist with several friends, his father catches him. He and his mother move in with Grandma Ellen, and Onyx finally realizes the importance of reaching out to friends and family when he needs help. This is based on the author's father's story of growing up during this time. 
Strengths: How gorgeous is that cover? It just begs to be put on display. We're starting to see a few more books about the 1970s, like Parson's Clouds Over California or Amos' Cookies and Milk, and since there are relatively few books with Black characters from that time period, I would love to see a lot more of these. My students don't always understand exactly how racism was shown at the time, and these texts are a good supplement to the history of the time period. Onyx's struggles to take care of his mother are heartbreaking, and the portrayal of a strong community was good to see. I'm always interested in books that are set in a very particular place, and I now sort of want to teach in George Washington Middle School; what a gorgeous piece of Art Deco architecture! 
Weaknesses: Onyx's belief that he can fly, and that he would be able to break in and steal a bit of stone from a museum, makes him seem much younger than 12. I would love to see more straight forward, realistic fiction books that deal with racism in a historical context. McBride's writing is beautiful and poetic, but the complexity of text might make understanding the unfamiliar historical aspects more difficult for struggling readers. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Zoboi's My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich or this author's Gone Wolf.