How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith Jr.

e-Audio, 05:03:59
Narrated by:  Tony Keith, Jr. 
Release Date: February 6, 2024
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Read from: February 8, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Murder, Death of a family member, Homophobia, Racism, Police Brutality
For Readers Interested In: Poetry, Romance, Memoirs, LGBTQ+, Narrated by the author, YA

        Poet, writer, and hip-hop educator Tony Keith Jr. makes his debut with a powerful YA memoir in verse, tracing his journey from being a closeted gay Black teen battling poverty, racism, and homophobia to becoming an openly gay first-generation college student who finds freedom in poetry. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, George M. Johnson, and Jacqueline Woodson. Tony dreams about life after high school, where his poetic voice can find freedom on the stage and page. But the Boogeyman has been following Tony since he was six years old. First, the Boogeyman was after his Blackness, but Tony has learned It knows more than Tony wants to be the first in his family to attend college, but there’s no path to follow. He also has feelings for boys, desires that don’t align with the script he thinks is set for him and his girlfriend, Blu. Despite a supportive network of family and friends, Tony doesn’t breathe a word to anyone about his feelings. As he grapples with his sexuality and moves from high school to college, he struggles with loneliness while finding solace in gay chat rooms and writing poetry. But how do you find your poetic voice when you are hiding the most important parts of yourself? And how do you escape the Boogeyman when it’s lurking inside you?

*MY THOUGHTS*

I was weary about this one because I’m not a huge fan of novels in verse, but I thought I’d give it a try. Especially since it was a Black man and he’s a debut poet. And although it didn’t turn out to be what I wanted it to be, I still enjoyed it.

I listened to the audio and it was phenomenal. I mean it seemed like I was listening to music. Since he’s into hip hop I wasn’t surprised by that, but it made the book so much fun. I didn’t have a copy in front of me to read along, but I’m a little glad. I could have thrown off the rhythm that way. Now don’t get me wrong, the e-book and physical copy are still good, but the audio just gives that extra umph. Also, he narrates it, so he knows every line break, every part where he needs a voice inflection and just everything. Whenever an author narrates it ends up just being 10x’s better.

The story itself was ok. But I do think it was a little too long. The beginning wasn’t really telling anything. So much so that I didn’t remember anything from the beginning. I had to re-read that part before I returned it. The ending was when it started to get good, but it was over right then. And that was disappointing. At the end is where he tells the info about his cousin, where he comes into his own as he begins to accept that he’s queer, and just everything falls into place for him. And I get it, that’s the climax of the story, but I think after a slow beginning it just needed some more. Even the police brutality aspect got like just a poem. And while that poem stood out in my mind, I wanted more than just one on such a big topic ya know?

Novels in verse are always a hit or miss for me, so I’m not surprised that I didn’t love this. And I’ve since then read Bless the Blood, another memoir in verse form, so I realized that the problem wasn’t me. I realized that I can like these. I had to make sure it wasn’t my bias. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, I just didn’t like it as much as I thought I was going to.

Overall, I give this