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The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze

Author Derrick Barnes
Hardcover
$17.99 US
Penguin Young Readers | Viking Books for Young Readers
5-1/2"W x 8-1/4"H | 13 oz | 12 per carton
On sale Sep 23, 2025 | 272 Pages | 9781984836755
Age 10 and up | Grade 5 & Up
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Author of the Newbery Honor book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut and National Book Award finalist Victory. Stand!, Derrick Barnes tackles timely issues of race and prejudice in this powerful, nuanced middle grade novel about an accomplished Black boy who strives to be seen as human.

In the small town of Great Mountain, Mississippi, all eyes are on Henson Blayze, a thirteen-year-old football phenom who many have wondered if he was super-human. The predominately white townsfolk have been waiting for Henson to play high-school ball, and now they’re overjoyed to finally possess an elite Black athlete of their own.

Until a horrifying incident forces Henson to speak out about injustice.
Until he says that he might not play football anymore.
Until he quickly learns he isn’t as loved by the people as he thought.

In that moment, Henson’s town is divided into two chaotic sides when all he wants is justice. Even his best friends and his father can’t see eye to eye. When he is told to play ball again or else, Henson must decide whether he was born to entertain people who may not even see him as human, or if he’s destined for a different kind of greatness.

Derrick Barnes’s groundbreaking novel masterfully combines a modern-day allegory with classic-style tall tales to weave a compelling story of America’s strange obsession with the Black body, relegated to labor or entertainment. Spanning the 1800s to today, it shows how much has changed over centuries. . . and, at the same time, how little.
“With humor, honesty and a touch of magic, Derrick Barnes gives a powerfully told tale of self discovery and community, a delightful ode to boyhood, manhood, sonhood, fatherhood and the blues.”
—Sabaa Tahir, National Book Award-winning author of All My Rage

"Derrick Barnes has been one of greatest writers in the nation for a while, but this book cements him as one of the most genius storytellers the world has ever witnessed. The skill, mystery, and propelling prose here are absolutely once in a generation."
—Kiese Laymon, Carnegie Medal-winning author of Heavy: An American Memoir
© Isaiah Anderson - Eyesun Photography
Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his graphic novel Victory. Stand!-Raising My Fist For Justice, which also won the YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. In 2020, he became the only author to win the Kirkus Prize twice for the New York Times bestseller, I Am Every Good Thing, which also won a Charlotte Huck Award and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor. Derrick is also the creator of the New York Times bestselling companion picture books, The King of Kindergarten and The Queen of Kindergarten. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers.
Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his graphic novel Victory. Stand!-Raising My Fist For Justice, which also won the YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. In 2020, he became the only author to win the Kirkus Prize twice for the New York Times bestseller, I Am Every Good Thing, which also won a Charlotte Huck Award and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor. Derrick is also the creator of the New York Times bestselling companion picture books, The King of Kindergarten and The Queen of Kindergarten. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers. View titles by Derrick Barnes

About

Author of the Newbery Honor book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut and National Book Award finalist Victory. Stand!, Derrick Barnes tackles timely issues of race and prejudice in this powerful, nuanced middle grade novel about an accomplished Black boy who strives to be seen as human.

In the small town of Great Mountain, Mississippi, all eyes are on Henson Blayze, a thirteen-year-old football phenom who many have wondered if he was super-human. The predominately white townsfolk have been waiting for Henson to play high-school ball, and now they’re overjoyed to finally possess an elite Black athlete of their own.

Until a horrifying incident forces Henson to speak out about injustice.
Until he says that he might not play football anymore.
Until he quickly learns he isn’t as loved by the people as he thought.

In that moment, Henson’s town is divided into two chaotic sides when all he wants is justice. Even his best friends and his father can’t see eye to eye. When he is told to play ball again or else, Henson must decide whether he was born to entertain people who may not even see him as human, or if he’s destined for a different kind of greatness.

Derrick Barnes’s groundbreaking novel masterfully combines a modern-day allegory with classic-style tall tales to weave a compelling story of America’s strange obsession with the Black body, relegated to labor or entertainment. Spanning the 1800s to today, it shows how much has changed over centuries. . . and, at the same time, how little.

Praise

“With humor, honesty and a touch of magic, Derrick Barnes gives a powerfully told tale of self discovery and community, a delightful ode to boyhood, manhood, sonhood, fatherhood and the blues.”
—Sabaa Tahir, National Book Award-winning author of All My Rage

"Derrick Barnes has been one of greatest writers in the nation for a while, but this book cements him as one of the most genius storytellers the world has ever witnessed. The skill, mystery, and propelling prose here are absolutely once in a generation."
—Kiese Laymon, Carnegie Medal-winning author of Heavy: An American Memoir

Author

© Isaiah Anderson - Eyesun Photography
Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his graphic novel Victory. Stand!-Raising My Fist For Justice, which also won the YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. In 2020, he became the only author to win the Kirkus Prize twice for the New York Times bestseller, I Am Every Good Thing, which also won a Charlotte Huck Award and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor. Derrick is also the creator of the New York Times bestselling companion picture books, The King of Kindergarten and The Queen of Kindergarten. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers.
Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his graphic novel Victory. Stand!-Raising My Fist For Justice, which also won the YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. In 2020, he became the only author to win the Kirkus Prize twice for the New York Times bestseller, I Am Every Good Thing, which also won a Charlotte Huck Award and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor. Derrick is also the creator of the New York Times bestselling companion picture books, The King of Kindergarten and The Queen of Kindergarten. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers. View titles by Derrick Barnes

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