Black Boy Joy

Keziah’s favorite thing to do is solve puzzles. He loves all sorts of puzzles and the feeling of completing one. When his family plans to move to a high-rise apartment in Lagos, Keziah is angry because he does not want to move and is scared that he will not make friends in the new place. He dreads going to see the new apartment but does find the elevator thrilling because he has never been on one before. While his parents check out the apartment, Keziah goes exploring and mistakenly goes into a service elevator. The elevator takes him down, much faster than expected, and colors start to form around him. Keziah faints, and when he wakes up, he is in another place.

The first thing Keziah hears is a lizard telling him to get up. He never knew that lizards could talk, but he accepts the little creature’s help. Keziah exits the elevator and walks down a hallway. On both sides of him, he sees children in closed cubicles, playing by themselves. Soon, he meets a woman who puts him in a group with several other children, and they are shuffled into a large room together. Keziah is paired off with a girl named Adanna. The lizard explains that the spaceship malfunctioned once and became stuck in its current location forever. It is now used as a place where children from all over the universe are sent. Each of them, in one way or another, has lost sight of what matters or otherwise lost their way.

Keziah finds out that Adanna lives in the same place that he will be moving to and hopes to see her again. The pair are taken into a room where they must solve a jigsaw puzzle without a picture. They manage to finish the puzzle in time, and it turns out to be a picture of the spaceship they are on. The final task they must complete involves a series of five puzzles that will each provide a clue as to why the spaceship malfunctioned. If they can solve it, they will be able to go home and be the first children to do so.

Adanna and Keziah work together to solve each puzzle in sequence, each using their own knowledge and skills. The spaceship disappears, and Keziah wakes up in the service elevator again, with the lizard still in his pocket. He tells his parents that he is excited to move because he feels like he has already made friends here.

CJ wakes up in a hospital bed after falling off his skateboard while attempting a “540 McTwist.” His mother, who is a nurse, hovers over him and begins lecturing him almost immediately. CJ knows that she is scared more than anything. Later, CJ’s friend Taye and a few others come to visit, but they are shooed away when CJ’s mother shows up again.

When it is time to leave the hospital, CJ is discharged to a different world. During his hospital stay, the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CJ must come to grips with the fact that everything, including his school and skate park, is now closed. He also hates having to stay at home with his mother all day. When Taye shows up at his door a few days later on her skateboard, CJ is shocked but happy to see her. She explains that she has been delivering food from the food bank to people in their homes and asks CJ if he wants to help.

CJ follows Taye around as they skateboard through the city, carrying groceries. CJ has never seen Taye boarding this way before and admires her skills. When they approach a stairwell, Taye soars down and continues, while CJ gets hung up at the top. Terrified of hurting himself again, he walks down the stairs instead of riding. For a week afterward, he does not want to talk to anyone and stays in his room, feeling embarrassed.

Finally, CJ’s mother comes to see what is wrong and admits that she and everyone else are scared right now. Nobody knows what is going to happen, and working at a hospital during a pandemic is dangerous, but helping others helps CJ’s mother move past her fear. She suggests that CJ consider putting others before himself to move past his fears. The next night, after finishing their drop-off route, CJ says goodbye to his friends. He makes his way to the stairwell and fights through his fear, telling himself that the only audience he needs is himself.

Malcolm Jamal Jennings’s 13th birthday is coming up tomorrow, and they cannot stop thinking about it. Malcolm’s grandmother, fondly known as Big Nanny, taught them how to sew when they were five years old. Since then, Malcolm’s love of fashion has expanded and developed, and they have a reputation among their friends and family as someone who is always creative and daring with what they wear. Malcolm came out as gay years ago, and his friends and family were accepting of it. Now, they realize that they are nonbinary and hope to find the courage to announce it at their birthday party tomorrow.

Malcolm works on their outfit, sewing together a suit jacket and pants with a floral pattern. They originally planned to wear a suit-dress hybrid but decided to change it at the last minute. At school, Malcolm’s best friend, Janet, encourages them to come out at the party and asks them about it throughout the day. While Malcolm is at school, Big Nanny finds the sketch of their original outfit design. She decides to change Malcolm’s outfit, sewing a train onto the suit and pants that Malcolm created. After school, Malcolm’s father surprises them by taking them and Janet out for pizza. When Malcolm gets home, they are taken aback by Big Nanny’s work but still nervous about the idea of wearing the outfit, particularly around their father. Big Nanny tells Malcolm about how his father’s best friend is gay and how that never bothered Malcolm’s father. She believes that he will be equally understanding about Malcolm and encourages them to practice coming out.

The next day, friends and family gather at Malcolm’s home to celebrate their 13th birthday. Malcolm puts on the outfit and walks out to greet their guests, announcing their identity as a nonbinary person who will use they/them pronouns. Malcolm’s father claps in response, and everyone then cheers. Loved ones of all kinds commend Malcolm’s bravery and express their support. The party is then fully underway, and Malcolm spends the day dancing and celebrating who they are.

Kassius (Kash) prepares for a football game with his friends before the upcoming holiday celebration. Everyone in Kash’s world, including Kash, has a unique superpower, called Fuerza. Kash’s Fuerza is the ability to open portals to any location, and he uses this ability to help with the game. Despite the importance of the game, Kash’s primary focus is on his crush, Maya (whose Fuerza is time travel), and whether she is going to say yes to his invitation to the Kwanzaa ball. He has a cake prepared with a “yes” side and a “no” side and plans to show it to her after the game. Using their Fuerza, Kash and his friends perform swift and unexpected maneuvers to win the football game. Afterward, Kash gives Maya clues that lead her to the cake, and while Maya ironically does not like the type of cake that Kash chose, she does choose the side that says “yes.”