I chose this book for my December challenge of reading a book that won an award in 2020. Since I had about a 7 hour trip home, I decided to listen to the audiobook during the drive. Boy, am I glad I chose this book. This is a beautiful story about a Black adolescent boy who is navigating through loss of his brother, his own grief as well as his parents, what it means to be a "man", and the underlying question that has haunted him for months, "What if I'm gay?" Not just that, but what does it mean to be a Black gay kid in a small town in Louisiana? The author did such a beautiful job talking in the voice of King, our adolescent protagonist, and nothing about King feels too "grown". He makes dumb decisions based on his emotions. He is impulsive. He is trying to figure things out, and the whole time I wanted to hug him. I wanted to hug him and Sandy, his gay white friend, who is dealing with his own hell at home. Callender does such a wonderful job showing King navigate through all the different stages of grief, some times bouncing back and forth, and his grief felt real. I cry easily anyway, but I think I cried every other chapter in this book. This was heartbreaking, heart wrenching, and heart warming in a little over 200 pages. If you ever get a chance to read it, do it. I promise you will not be disappointed.