The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze

Barnes (I Got You) weaves together stories of spirituality, injustice, unrealistic expectations, and police brutality into a powerful tale. Despite being in middle school, Black 13-year-old Henson Blayze is tapped to play on his Great Mountain, Miss., hometown’s high school football team, prompting residents of his mostly white, sports-obsessed community to begin treating him like a celebrity. Though his father is wary of the increased scrutiny, Henson revels in the attention. Then his friend, Black fifth grader Menkha, is brutalized by state troopers, and Henson vacates the football field mid-game in response. As the townspeople’s idolization sours, and as Henson and the surrounding Black communities rally around Menkha seeking justice, Henson finds himself in the middle of a citywide scandal that exposes Great Mountain’s history of tokenism and systemic racism. Multilayered plotting adroitly tackles issues of racist caricature—particularly surrounding the town’s misuse of Indigenous imagery—and revisionist history. Henson’s indomitable first-person POV anchors the narrative, throughout which Barnes depicts a self-assured protagonist courageously coming into his own. Ages 10–up. Agent: Regina Brooks, Serendipity Literary. (Sept.)