Pocket Change Collective, Books 1-6 (Multi-Book Review)

Thank you so much to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me complimentary physical copies of the first Pocket Change Collective books to read and review! I am very conscious and interested in ways that we can make the world and society better, I also work for a social enterprise, so the Pocket Change Collective books really stood out to me! I knew that there would be a lot of value in these books and I can’t wait to tell you a little more about each of them.

“Pocket Change Collective was born out of a need for space. Space to think. Space to connect. Space to be yourself. And this is your invitation to join us.”

⤖ Concrete Kids ⬻

Title: Concrete Kids
Author: Amyra León
Cover artist: Ashley Lukashevsky
Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Date published: October 13, 2020

Concrete Kids is an exploration of love and loss, melody and bloodshed. Musician, playwright, and educator Amyra León takes us on a poetic journey through her childhood in Harlem, as she navigates the intricacies of foster care, mourning, self-love, and resilience. In her signature free-verse style, she invites us all to dream with abandon–and to recognize the privilege it is to dream at all.

Even though I read this book five months ago, I can still feel the mark it left on me. Generally, I do not read poetry because a lot of its meaning is lost on me. But the occasional work will come along that I will understand on a deeper level. Concrete Kids was definitely one of those works. There was so much pain in the words Amyra León wrote… Concrete Kids will leave its mark on me for years and years to come.

⤖ Taking on the Plastics Crisis ⬻

Title: Taking on the Plastics Crisis
Author: Hannah Testa
Cover artist: Ashley Lukashevsky
Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Date published: October 13, 2020

In this personal, moving essay, youth activist Hannah Testa shares with readers how she led a grassroots political campaign to successfully pass state legislation limiting single-use plastics and how she influenced global businesses to adopt more sustainable practices. Through her personal journey, readers can learn how they, too, can follow in Hannah’s footsteps and lower their carbon footprint by simply refusing single-use plastics.

The plastic crisis is a cause that I am very passionate about… therefore, it only came as a slight surprise that I cried while reading nonfiction book. I tend to cry at documentaries and awareness campaigns that have to do with the planet and animals as well. Since I’m familiar with the subject, there were some things that I already knew in Taking on the Plastics Crisis. However, Testa outlined some things that I had not yet been aware of and I’m so grateful for that!

⤖ This Is What I Know About Art ⬻

Title: This Is What I Know About Art
Author: Kimberly Drew
Cover artist: Ashley Lukashevsky
Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Date published: June 2, 2020

Pocket Change Collective is a series of small books with big ideas from today’s leading activists and artists. In this installment, arts writer and co-editor of Black Futures Kimberly Drew shows us that art and protest are inextricably linked. Drawing on her personal experience through art toward activism, Drew challenges us to create space for the change that we want to see in the world. Because there really is so much more space than we think.

I wasn’t quite sure how This is What I Know About Art fit in with the rest of the books in the Pocket Change Collective from the cover and title alone. Once I read the synopsis and the book itself, however, it all became very clear. This book is about art and working in the arts, but it also talks about elitism and racism in the arts. I’m so grateful for all of the things that Kimberly Drew points out in This is What I Know About Art.

⤖ Beyond the Gender Binary ⬻

Title: Beyond the Gender Binary
Author: Alok Vaid-Menon
Cover artist: Ashley Lukashevsky
Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Date published: June 2, 2020

Beyond the Gender Binary, spoken word poet Alok Vaid-Menon challenges the world to see gender not in black and white, but in full color. Taking from their own experiences as a gender-nonconforming artist, they show us that gender is a malleable and creative form of expression. The only limit is your imagination.

Prior to reading Beyond the Gender Binary, I’d been meaning to pick up some nonfiction/resources on gender and what it means to be non-binary. Therefore, I definitely had one of those “I called this book to me by putting my request out into the universe” feeling when Beyond the Gender Binary crossed my radar and the publisher sent me a copy to review. I definitely learned some new things about gender in this book, and I’m glad to have been introduced to Alok Vaid-Menon in this way as well!

⤖ The New Queer Conscience ⬻

Title: The New Queer Conscience
Author: Adam Eli
Cover artist: Ashley Lukashevsky
Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Date published: June 2, 2020

In The New Queer Conscience, LGBTQIA+ activist Adam Eli argues the urgent need for queer responsibility — that queers anywhere are responsible for queers everywhere.

I was glad to see that there was another LGBTQIA+ focused book in the Pocket Change Collective collection, especially since Adam Eli talks about a different aspect of the LGBTQIA+ community. The author is also Jewish, which added a perspective that I had not encountered before while also reminding me that I need to pick up more nonfiction (and fiction) works by Jewish authors.

⤖ Imaginary Borders ⬻

Title: Imaginary Borders
Author: Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
Cover artist: Ashley Lukashevsky
Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Date published: June 2, 2020

In this personal, moving essay, environmental activist and hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez uses his art and his activism to show that climate change is a human issue that can’t be ignored.

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez discusses climate change in an interesting way due to his hip-hop background. I am accustomed to hearing about climate issues from policymakers, forums, through documents…but Martinez’s way of discussing these issues resonated with me in a different way. I found some of the topics to be more approachable because of how I clicked with Martinez’s writing!