Amari and the Night Brothers

Black representation is an increasing trend in middle-grade and YA fantasy literature. Historically, these genres have been populated by majority white characters, with characters of other races either featured in the background or not at all. Influential social movements such as #BlackLivesMatter, which began in 2013, created a greater awareness of the lack of diversity in the publishing market. As a result, readers demanded more diverse representation from authors and publishers. The trend towards greater Black representation is owed partially to increased readership participation online. Readers utilized social media platforms like Twitter to voice their criticisms publicly and campaign directly for better representation.

Because young adulthood is considered to be a gateway to self-discovery, it is important for young audiences to see themselves represented in the books they read. Seeing characters who mirror their experiences increases confidence and self-acceptance in readers. As a result, publishers felt an increased pressure from readers to host titles featuring diverse identities. Alston, like many other authors of color, has stated that he often felt that he was not allowed to write about his experiences as a Black man because he did not see stories like his reflected in the fantasy stories he grew up with. He cites Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give (2017) as a particularly influential YA title for him to this end (@bb_alston. “So I had planned to wait...” Twitter, 16 June 2020). The unapologetic authenticity with which Thomas portrays the Black experience in her novel encouraged Alston that there is space for stories like his in the middle-grade and YA market. Amari mirrors many of Alston’s own experiences growing up.

In writing Amari, Alston felt that it was important for the novel to be grounded in real-world issues, including the issue of “othering” (“Read a Q&A with B. B. Alston.” Booktopia, 19 Jan. 2021). “Othering” occurs when members of one group, particularly if that group is a majority, treat members of another group as “alien” in a discriminatory way. In the novel, Amari is “othered” in both her ordinary and supernatural worlds. As a Black student on scholarship at a private school, Amari faces bullying from her peers because of her race and economic status. In the supernatural world, Amari is treated with extreme prejudice by those who believe her magic makes her inherently bad. Her experiences in her two worlds parallel each other: The secondary world in this fantasy novel is not an escape from Amari’s problems, but rather an extension of the prejudices she has already faced. Alston uses this to call attention to real-world parallels. Readers like Amari can find empowerment in her journey to self-acceptance, while readers dissimilar from Amari have the opportunity to learn about and empathize with experiences different from their own.

Alston also uses Amari’s perspective to challenge conventions in the historically white children’s and YA fiction genres. It has been noted that certain subtleties of language use in physical character description unintentionally suggest white as the norm; for example, in many books written by white authors, a character’s race is only specifically mentioned if they are a race other than white. Doing so “others” these characters because identifying the race of non-white characters when it is not explicitly mentioned for white characters suggests that white is the default. In Amari, Alston challenges this by often identifying white characters explicitly. This challenges the idea of white as default and encourages readers to consider Amari’s perspective as a young Black girl.