Clayton Bolling

The Diary of a Rambunctious Black Child Clayton Bolling

The Diary of a Rambunctious Black Child is told through a riveting diary from the perspective of a ten-year-old boy named Cory Carroll. Cory has a fantastic sense of humor and pokies fun at life. His best friend is his diary. At times he feels invisibility and contentious toward his racist fifth grade teacher questioning her cruelty and intolerance against black children in her classroom. Cory doesn't know the true meaning of words like racist, bigotry or prejudice. He only heard of those words through Passing. They are foreign to him like ice is to hell. His mother tries shielding him from the wicked realities of those words. His mom decides to take the family south for summer vacation. There, Cory enters a world he's not accustoms to. He is exposed to the harsh truths of having brown skin in the south. He experienced some of these realities in the north, but not as cold, harsh and cruel in the south. Hatred, jealousy, lies, deceit, sexuality, rape, witchcraft, secrets, suicide, and murder are realities he must come to terms with. Cory learns their true meanings quickly and has reservations about life in the south. He uses his only tools listening and watching, developing his own analytical conclusions. He experiences lessons far beyond his capacity and expectations. Cory will cherish and carry these lessons throughout his life.