Renée Watson - Love Is a Revolution

ALSO BY RENE WATSON

Watch Us Rise (with Ellen Hagan)

Piecing Me Together

This Side of Home

What Momma Left Me

FOR YOUNGER READERS

Ways to Make Sunshine

Some Places More Than Others

BLOOMSBURY YA

Bloomsbury Publishing Inc., part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018

This electronic edition published in 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in the United States of America in February 2021
by Bloomsbury Childrens Books

Text copyright 2021 by Rene Watson

All rights reserved
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Watson, Renee, author.

Title: Love is a revolution / by Renee Watson.

Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2021.

Summary: Harlem teenager Nala is looking forward to a summer of movies and ice cream until she falls in love with the very woke Tye and pretends to be a social activist.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020035010 (print) | LCCN 2020035011 (e-book)

ISBN 978-1-5476-0060-1 (HB)
ISBN 978-1-5476-0061-8 (eBook)

Subjects: CYAC: LoveFiction. | Dating (Social customs) Fiction. |

Self-acceptanceFiction. | Social actionFiction. | Jamaican Americans Fiction. |

Harlem (New York, N.Y.) Fiction. | New York (N.Y.) Fiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.W32868 Lo 2021 (print) |

LCC PZ7.W32868 (e-book) | DDC [Fic] dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020035010

LC e-book record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020035011

Book design by Jeanette Levy

To find out more about our authors and their books please visit www.bloomsbury.com where you will find extracts, author interviews and details of forthcoming events, and to be the first to hear about latest releases and special offers, sign up for our newsletters.

Revolution is not a one-time event... or something that happens around us rather than inside of us.

Audre Lorde

1

3 THINGS I WANT TO DO THIS SUMMER

1 . Find a new hairstyle. According to Grandma, hair is a Black girls crown. The thicker and longer the better, so I definitely wont cut it. But I like to experiment: perm it, dye it, weave it, wig it. This summer, I want to do something I havent done before. Maybe Ill get highlightschestnut ombr or copper brown. Maybe honey blonde. Subtle of course, just enough to add texture and depth.

2 . Find time to spend with Imani, my cousin-sister-friend. We have a plan to hang out with our best friend, Sadie, and binge-watch everything on Netflix that weve been putting off because of too much schoolwork. We have a long, long list, but its not all senseless entertainment. There are a few documentaries on there toomusic docu-series about some of our favorite singersbut still, its informative and educational. So our brains will be learning something.

3 . (And this is the most important) Find love.

And I want to find love because I want someones hand to hold as we roam Harlems summer streets. I want to find love because I am tired of being the fifth wheel with Imani and Asher, who act like theyre married, and Sadie and Jackson, who swear theyre not a couple but are always (no, really, always) together. Its the last week of June and the first weekend of summer break. Were just months away from being seniors, and I have only had one boyfriendif I can even call him that. He moved to Philly after just one month of us making it official. And I know New York and Philly arent oceans apart, but theyre not around the corner either. We both thought it was too much of a distance for us to make it work. And I want to find love because now I dont have a date for winter formal, or the prom.

And I want to find love because... who doesnt? Who doesnt want someone to laugh with even when something is corny and only funny if you know the inside joke? Who doesnt want someone to call at night and talk about tiny things like what are you doing? and want to get something to eat? And big things like whats the one thing you want to do before you die? and what are you afraid of? and who do you want to be in the world?

I want that.

But right now, its not about what I want. Right now its all about Imani, my cousin-sister-friend. Its her birthday, and I promised we could do whatever she wants. And of all the things Imani could want for her birthday, she jumps up off her bed and says, Nala, do you want to come with me to the talent show tonight?

What I really want to say is absolutely not. First of all, its raining. All of Harlem is drenched and somber. It would be one thing if it was just regular rain. But no. This is hot New York summer rain. This is a steamy downpour that just makes the air even more muggy and humid. What am I going to do with my hair tonight?

But a promise is a promise, so I get dressed and agree to venture out in this hotter-than-a-sauna storm because Id do anything for Imani, my cousin-sister-friend, who shares her mom and dad with me. Ive been living here since I was thirteen, when I got into a fight with Mom and I stormed out to spend the night at Aunt Ebonys and Ive been living here ever since. Im seventeen now. Six months younger than Imani, and she never lets me forget it, as if being six months older than me really counts. There is no mistaking that we are family.

Whenever we go to Jamaica to visit our relatives, people we dont even know come up to us, saying, You must be one of the Robertsons. Some people even think were sisterswe look just like our mommas, who look just like each other. Strong genes, Grandma always says. Imani and I are what Grandma calls big boned. Thats in our genes too. Imani always rolls her eyes whenever Grandma uses any other phrase for fat except the word fat. Its not a bad word unless you use it in a bad way, Imani always says. Im fat. Its just a description. It doesnt have to cast negative judgment.

And this is where we differ. I am not down with the Say-It-Loud-Im-Fat-and-Im-Proud movement. I dont have low self-esteem or anything, I just dont feel the need to talk about my weight or make statements about it or reclaim a word that was never mine in the first place.

I sit on Imanis bed. So tell me whats going to happen tonight.