First Lines Fridays: July 8, 2022

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?  The rules are as follows:

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

If you’re using Twitter, don’t forget to use #FirstLinesFridays!

First Lines

The story of how I entered the world was a foreshadowing.

When my aunt first saw my head full of beautiful, jet-black, curly hair crown from my mother’s womb, she ran into the hospital’s hallway where my family waited.

“It’s a girl! It’s a girl!” she yelled, to my grand-mother’s excitement and to my father’s slight disappointment.

Do you know what book this is?

Still guessing?

Well, the book reveal is…





All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

From Bookshop.org:

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

2 thoughts on “First Lines Fridays: July 8, 2022

    1. Haha that’s ok…there have definitely been times where I didn’t even know the first lines from a book I’d already read. I hope you enjoy this one when you get to it!

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