Review: A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee

Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she’d also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.)

But in junior high, it’s like all the rules have changed. Now she’s suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she’s not black enough. Wait, what?

Shay’s sister, Hana, is involved in Black Lives Matter, but Shay doesn't think that's for her. After experiencing a powerful protest, though, Shay decides some rules are worth breaking. She starts wearing an armband to school in support of the Black Lives movement. Soon everyone is taking sides. And she is given an ultimatum.

Shay is scared to do the wrong thing (and even more scared to do the right thing), but if she doesn't face her fear, she'll be forever tripping over the next hurdle. Now that’s trouble, for real.


If I had to pick a book that every middle school kid should read it would be this one. Shayla is a lot of things. She's a girl with two best friends was settling nicely into middle school until her friends started changing and she doesn't understand why. One friend wants to branch out and eat lunch with other girls, and her other friend has suddenly become "pretty" and Shayla is battling jealousy. Shayla is as also growing to understand the Black Lives Matter movement and hoe we feelings about the movement differs from her classmates. 

This book shows readers of the young black males being feared for their size and a judged by children and adults alike. We see black teenagers fighting as hard as they can against the cruelty of the world, we see colorism, and we see a young girl trying to understand what it means to be black and what it means to be black enough. We also see the growing pains of middle school. 

Please please read this book. Tell your students to read it, tell your children to read it. tell the neighbor to read it. In this book, we learn not to judge black children, we learn that we are enough as we are, and we learn to stand up for what's right.