Courage Is Contagious: And Other Reasons to Be Grateful for Michelle Obama [Pre-Order Hardcover or ebook]
Edited by Nick Haramis
Genre: Non-fiction, Essays

I received an advance uncorrected proof from Random House Publishing. The opinions expressed here are surely my honest own.

I cried. That’s my lede. I straight up cried during some of these essays because yes, all of this. Michelle Obama is such an inspiration and reading so many different people talk about how she inspires them just hit so poignantly. From Chimamanda Full Name to Janet Mock to two eighth graders telling their stories of what she means to them, this book is full of amazing feeling and energy.

Of course, not every essay is a stunner. The foreword by Lena Dunham is a joke, what with her, again, making everything all about herself, with a dose of cutting down other women and bonus ableism for good measure. And Gloria Steinem’s essay ends with a call to be color- and gender-blind, a sentiment that has no place in a discussion about a proud Black woman.

But, really, when you get down to it, two out of about fifteen (the number of total essays in the proof; there are still at least two more to come) is pretty good for a book of only 128 pages. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone. Every single person who finally felt like they had a voice in the White House, every person who learned what it was to have an actually caring First Family, and every single person who discovered that they could do their best, even when their best means just surviving. Everyone should get this book.