Black & African American

The Poet X

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo

Description: The Poet X is a verse novel about an Afro-Latina girl growing up in Brooklyn as she questions her faith, struggles with her family, and learns how to share her voice as a poet.

Includes: #latinx #afrolatinx #dominican #versenovel #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #youngadultliterature

Citation: Acevedo, E. (2018). The Poet X. New York: Harperteen.

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With The Fire On High

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo

Description: With The Fire On High is a coming of age contemporary novel about about an Afro-Latina teen mom who dreams of becoming a chef. While taking care of her baby girl and her abuela, she makes amazing meals and joins a culinary arts elective at her school. There she is mentored by the head chef who encourages her to apply for a prestigious trip abroad to apprentice under a chef in Spain. This story is full of hope and joy. It also includes a love story had has great examples of consent.

Includes: #latinx #afrolatinx #dominican #teenmom #cooking #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #youngadultliterature

Citation: Acevedo, E. (2019). With The Fire On High. Quill Tree Books.

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Children of Blood and Bone

Children Of Blood And Bone

Author: Tomi Adeyemi

Description: Children of Blood And Bone is a fantasy novel set in an alternative world. It follows two female leads and one male lead as they fight to bring magic back to their lands. The novel discusses state-sanctioned violence and slavery. It draws on Nigerian folklore.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist #slavery #magic #alternativeworlds #fantasy #class #youngadultliterature

Citation: Adeyemi, T. (2018). Children of blood and bone. Henry Holt Books for Young Readers.

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Crossover

Crossover

Author: Kwame Alexander

Description: The Crossover is a verse novel about family, basketball, growing up, and the consequences of following the rules. This book centers around a male protagonist.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #versenovel #sports #contemporary #middlegradeliterature

Citation: Alexander, K. (2014). The Crossover. Houghton Mifflin.

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The Weight Of The Stars

Author: K. Ancrum

Description: The Weight of the Stars is a slow burn romance between two girls. This book follows two female protagonists, one who is obsessed with dreams of traveling to outer space and another whose mother is currently an astronaut on a one way trip to the edge of the solar system. After a horrific accident, the two acquaintances slowly form a friendship and more.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #LGBTQIA+ #biracial #lesbian #contemporary #sciencefiction

Citation: Ancrum, K. (2019). The weight of the stars. Imprint.

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The Black Flamingo

Author: Dean Atta

Description: The Black Falmingo is a verse novel about a biracial Black Jamaican and Greek gay teen growing up in the United Kingdom. He struggles to feel like fits in to either side of his identity until he starts University and finds a way to express himself through drag, under the drag name The Black Flamingo.

Includes: #jamaican #british #greek #black #versenovel #contemporary #LGBTQIA #drag #biracial #maleprotagonist #youngadultliterature #youngadult

Citation: Atta, D. (2020). The black flamingo. Balzer + Bray.

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Felix Ever After

Author: Kacen Callender

Description: Felix Ever After is a contemporary coming of age novel with a Black trans boy main character. The novel’s protagonist is Black, queer, and trans and grapples with how those identities affect how others perceive him in the world and his fears that these intersecting identities might mean that he will never find his happily ever after. This story has blackmailing, love triangles, revenge, and learning to love who you are. This book is written by a trans Black author.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #transprotagonist #bodypolitics #LGBTQIA #youngadultliterature #contemporary

Citation: Callender, K. (2020). Felix ever after. Balzer + Bray.

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The Belles

The Belles

Author: Dhonielle Clayton

Description: The Belles is a fantasy novel set in an alternative world where everyone is born with gray skin, straw-like hair, and red eyes except for an elite group of women who have the power to manipulate bodies, personality, skin color, hair, and a number of other traits. The novel includes royal intrigue, discussions of body politics, and a subtle critique of slavery through the guise of fantasy.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #bodypolitics #beauty #slavery #fantasy #magic #alternativeworlds #youngadultliterature

Citation: Clayton, D. (2018). The Belles. Disney-Hyperion.

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Tiny Pretty Things

Authors: Dhonielle Clayton & Sona Charaipotra

Description: Tiny Pretty Things is a contemporary young adult novel set in a prestigious ballet school in New York City. It follows three ballet dancers who are competitive and ruthless in their goals of becoming the best prima ballerina. One dancer is the only Black ballet dancer at their school, another is white, and the final is biracial Korean American.

Includes: #Black #eastasian #korean #biracial #multipleperspectives #femaleprotagonist #ballet

Citation: Clayton, D. & Charaipotra, S. (2015). Tiny Pretty Things. HarperCollins.

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Shiny Broken Pieces

Authors: Dhonielle Clayton & Sona Charaipotra

Description: Shiny Broken Pieces is a contemporary young adult novel set in a prestigious ballet school. It is the sequel to Tiny Pretty Things. It follows three ballet dancers as they compete for a spot within the American Ballet Company. One dancer is the only Black ballet dancer, another is white, and the final is biracial Korean American.

Includes: #Black #eastasian #korean #biracial #multipleperspectives #femaleprotagonist #ballet

Citation: Clayton, D. & Charaipotra, S. (2016). Shiny broken pieces. HarperCollins.

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Little & Lion

Author: Brandy Colbert

Description: Little & Lion is about a bisexual Jewish Black girl coming to terms with her identity and her white step brother who is dealing with his recently diagnosed bipolar disorder. Both are falling for the same girl. This book also has lesbian characters, a prominent biracial Korean/Black character who wears a hearing aid, interracial relationships, references to abortion, and discussions around what it means to be loyal and what it means to care.

Includes: #bisexual #LGBTQIA #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #contemporary #mentalhealth #bipolar #judaism #youngadultliterature

Citation: Colbert, B. (2017). Little & Lion. Little, Brown.

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The Voting Booth

Author: Brandy Colbert

Description: The Voting Booth is a contemporary novel about two Black teens voting for the first time. The book is told through alternating perspectives over the course of one day (voting day). The female protagonist is a Black 18 year old who is very politically active and has been helping register voters in the months leading up to the election. She attends a private predominately white school and has a white boyfriend who has become increasingly distant and is refusing to vote. The male protagonist is a biracial Black and white boy whose family is extremely politically active and whose older brother was a community organizer before he was killed by gun violence. The two struggle to cast their vote due to complications with their voter registration and issues of voter suppression. They become closer as the day goes on.

Includes: #black #africanamerican #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist #voting #votersuppression #youngadultliterature

Citation: Colbert, B. (2020). The Voting Booth. Disney-Hyperion.

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Tyler Johnson Was Here

Author: Jay Coles

Description: Tyler Johnson Was Here is a contemporary novel about a gay African American teen whose twin brother is shot and killed by the police.

Includes: #gay #LGBTQIA #maleprotagonist #africanamerican #black #policebrutality #mentalhealth #trauma #youngadultliterature

Citation: Coles, J. (2018). Tyler Johnson Was Here. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

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Color Me In

Author: Natasha Diaz

Description: Color Me In is a contemporary novel about a biracial Black and white Jewish teen who is white passing. When her Black mom and Jewish dad split up, she moves to Harlem where she has a hard time fitting in with her family and her new community. She is stuck between two cultures, that of her new Black community and that of her posh private school. When her dad decides to throw her a belated bat mitzvah instead of a Sweet 16, she doesn’t know where she belongs.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #biracial #femaleprotagonist #contemporary #judaism #jewish #youngadultliterature

Citation: Diaz, N. (2019). Color me in. Delacorte.

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Pet

Author: Akwaeke Emezi

Description: Pet is an Afrofuturistic novel with a Black trans girl main character. The novel’s protagonist is Black, queer, and trans and lives in a futuristic utopian society that has rid itself of many forms of systemic inequity. Despite this semi-utopia, the protagonists grapples with the hidden monsters within her society and what it means to be a teen who sees the truth when all the adults around them are in denial. This book is written by a trans Black author.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #transprotagonist #bodypolitics #LGBTQIA #youngadultliterature #contemporary

Citation: Emezi, A. (2019). Pet. Make Me a World.

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I Wanna Be Where You Are

Author: Kristina Forest

Description: I Wanna Be Where You Are is a contemporary love story. It follows a female protagonist who is set on attending the dance conservatory of her dreams. Her mom, on the other hand, forbids her from applying. She devises a plan to road trip two hundred miles to the nearest audition. Her annoying neighbor and his dog tag along.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #contemporary #ballet #femaleprotagonist

Citation: Forest, K. (2019). I wanna be where you are. Roaring Book Press.

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Dark Sons

Author: Nikki Grimes

Description: Dark Sons is a verse novel told through alternating perspectives of Ishmael from the Bible and a contemporary Black teen boy. Both grapple with the abandonment of their fathers and their love of their half-brothers despite the fact that their father’s seem to love their half-brothers more.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #christianity #family #versenovel #contemporary #biblical #youngadultliterature

Citation: Grimes, N. (2007). Dark Sons. Jump At The Sun.

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See No Color

Author: Shannon Gibney

Description: See No Color is a contemporary young adult novel told through the point of view of a 16-year-old biracial Black teen girl who is a transracial adoptee and a baseball player. When she finds the letters from her biological father that her parents kept from her, she begins to question who she really is and what it really means to be Black.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #adoption #transracialadpotee #contemporary #biracial #baseball #sports #youngadultliterature

Citation: Gibney, S. (2015). See no color. Carolrhoda Lab.

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Dread Nation

Dread Nation

Author: Justina Ireland

Description: Dread Nation is an alternative history of the United States set during the Civil War, in which the corpses of the dead begin to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville. In this world, African American and Native American people are required to attend combat school to learn how to kill the undead. This story follows a female protagonist as she attends one such school and eventually finds herself in a fight for her life against not only zombies, but other powerful enemies as well.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #alternativehistory #zombies #civilwar #biracial #nativeamericans #youngadultliterature

Citation: Ireland, J. (2018). Dread nation. Blazer + Bray.

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Dancer

Author: Lorri Hewett

Description: Dancer is a contemporary love story (written in the late 1990s). It follows a Black female protagonist who is deeply dedicated to her study fo ballet. Her parents are both working class and her father is the custodian at her elite private school where she attends on scholarship. She is the only Black student in her ballet school until a boy joins her classes and begins to dance with her despite his real loves being hip hop dance and break dancing. His aunt was a Black ballet dancer in the 1950s and offers to help teach her how to improve her dancing so that she will be competitive during her auditions into some of the larger dance conservatories in NYC, Seattle, and San Francisco.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #contemporary #ballet #femaleprotagonist

Citation: Hewett, L. (1999). Dancer. Puffin Books.

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Let’s Talk About Love

Author: Claire Kann

Description: Let’s Talk About Love is a contemporary love story between an African American bi-romantic asexual girl and a Japanese American boy.

Includes: #bisexual #asexual #biromantic #LGBTQIA #africanamerican #black #asianamerican #japanese #femaleprotagonist #contemporary #interraciallove #youngadultliterature

Citation: Kann, C. (2018). Let’s Talk About Love. Swoon Reads.

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For Black Girls Like Me

Author: Mariama J. Lockington

Description: For Black Girls Like Me is a contemporary Middle Grade novel told through the point of view of a Black 11-year-old girl who is a transracial adoptee. When she and her family move to New Mexico, she leaves behind her only friend who understands what it is like to be a Black transracial adoptee. Told through lyrical prose and verse, this middle grade book deals with microaggressions, family dynamics, connectedness, and hope.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #verse #adoption #transracialadpotee #contemporary #middlegradeliterature

Citation: Lockington, M.J. (2019). For Black Girls Like Me. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR).

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How It Went Down

Author: Kekla Magoon

Description: How It Went Down tells the story of the death of a Black boy at the hands of a white officer and the community’s response to that act of police brutality and murder. Told through multiple perspectives this book has conflicting stories and new information as the community tries to find the full truth of what happened and make sense of the tragedy.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist #policebrutality #grief #trauma #gentrification #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Magoon, K. (2014). How It Went Down. New York, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR).

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Light It Up

Author: Kekla Magoon

Description: Light It Up tells the story of a community during the aftermath of an act of police violence against a 13-year-old Black girl who was shot and killed by the police. Told through multiple perspectives, this book discusses the repeated nature of police brutality and the community reckoning with the idea that police violence against Black people by the police keeps happening and nothing is changing.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist #policebrutality #grief #trauma #gentrification #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Magoon, K. (2019). Light It Up. New York, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR).

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A Song Below Water

Author: Bethany C. Morrow

Description: A Song Below Water is a grounded fantasy novel set in the Pacific Northwest city of Portland. The book follows two Black teenage girls, one who is a siren and the other who is an unknown magical being. Forced to keep her siren identity secret due to the stigma placed on Black women sirens, one protagonist uses American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate when her voice feels like too much. The other main character, who is discovering her magical connection, uses ASL to communicate when performing as an underwater mermaid in the local renaissance fairs. This book also deals with the ivtersectionalities of race and womanhood.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #sayhername #sirens #americansignlanguage #ASL #fantasy #magic #alternativeworlds #youngadultliterature

Citation: Morrow, B.C. (2020). A Song Below Water. Tor Teen.

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Home and Away

Author: Candice Montgomery

Description: Home and Away is a contemporary coming of age novel about a Black teen girl from a wealthy family. She goes through a journey of thinking about her identity as Black and what that means to her. She also builds a friendship and relationship with an artsy bisexual boy.

Includes: #black #bisexual #africanamerican #black #asianamerican #contemporary #femaleprotagonist

Citation: Montgomery, C. (2018). Home and away. Page Street Kids.

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A Good Kind Of Trouble

Author: Lisa Moore Ramée

Description: A Good Kind of Trouble is a contemporary Middle Grade novel told through the point of view of a Black 7th grade girl who is regularly one of the only Black children in her classes. The community in the book is dealing with the trial against an officer who killed a Black man in their community. The book deals with issues of police brutality, what it means to have friends across difference, what it means to have friends who have the same background as you, navigating the politics of middle school, finding your voice, and standing up for what you believe in.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #policebrutality #grief #trauma #contemporary #hope #middlegradeliterature

Citation: Moore Ramée, L. (2019). A Good Kind of Trouble. Blazer + Bray.

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Street Love

Author: Walter Dean Myers

Description: Street Love is a verse novel retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in an urban context.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #femaleprotagonist #versenovel #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Myers W. D. (2006). Street love. Amistad Press.

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Beasts Made Of Night

Beasts Made Of Night

Author: Tochi Onyebuchi

Description: Beasts Made Of Night is a fantasy novel set in an alternative world. Evil mages in this world are on a quest to mold sin and guilt into magical creatures called sin-beasts. These beast can only be destroyed by aki, young sin-eaters, who take on the weight of the sin. This book follows a male protagonist who is a sin-eater and who is in a battle to save the princess whom he loves. The book draws on Nigerian folklore.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #magic #alternativeworlds #fantasy #youngadultliterature

Citation: Onyebuchi, T. (2017). Beasts made of night. Razorbill.

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Ghost Boys

Author: Jewell Parker Rhodes

Description: Ghost Boys is a contemporary Middle Grade novel told through the point of view of the ghost of a 12-year-old Black boy who was shot and killed by the police. He observes his community in mourning as they process the grief at the loss of his life. The protagonist meets a fellow ghost, Emmett Till, who was also killed through an act of anti-Black racism. The ghost of Emmett Till is based on the real life story of Emmett Till who was a real life Black boy who was lynched and killed in Mississippi in 1955. Emmett helps the protagonist process and deal with his own death and reckon with the legacy of anti-Black violence and police brutality within the history of the United States.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #history #lynching #policebrutality #grief #trauma #contemporary #middlegradeliterature

Citation: Parker Rhodes, J. (2018). Ghost Boys. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

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The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give

Author: Angie Thomas

Description: The Hate U Give tells the story of a young girl’s experience of what happens in the aftermath of police brutality. This book also deals with the experience of being split between two worlds, that of her neighborhood and Black community, and that of her mostly white private school.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #interraciallove #policebrutality #grief #trauma #gentrification #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Thomas, A. (2017). The Hate U Give. New York, NY: Balzer + Bray.

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All American Boys

By: Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely

Description: All American Boys tells the story of a Black boy and a white boy before, during, and after an act of police brutality. The story is told through alternating perspectives and deals with the Black boy dealing with all of his feelings around being attacked by a police officer and the white boy who witnessed the act of police brutality as he begins to notice the ways that privilege shows up in his community and the ways that his community is racist. The book is follows both of their emotional journeys and how they decide to move forward and rise up against anti-Black racism.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #privilege #protest #policebrutality #grief #trauma #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Reynolds, J. & Kiely, B. (2015). All American Boys. New York, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books.

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Long+Way+Down

Long Way Down

Author: Jason Reynolds

Description: Long Way Down is a contemporary verse novel told during the span of one elevator ride in which the protagonist has to decide what he is going to do about the death of his brother. The book features an African American male main character.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #intergenerationalviolence #grief #trauma #versenovel #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Reynolds, J. (2017). Long Way Down. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

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Opposite Of Always

Author: Justin A. Reynolds

Description: Opposite of Always is a time travel love story about a Black boy who will travel back in time over and over again to try to save the girl he loves. This is a book filled with Black love, Black joy, and time travel.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #lovestory #grief #timetravel #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Reynolds, J.A. (2019). Opposite Of Always. Katherine Tegen Books.

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Another Way To Dance

Author: Martha Southgate

Description: Another Way To Dance is a contemporary love story (written in the late 1990s). It follows a 14 year old Black female protagonist who joins a summer program with the NYC School of American Ballet. Though she thinks that she is ready to dance her heart out and learn and grow in the summer program, she is not prepared to be one of only two Black dancers within her cohort, nor is she prepared to deal with the racism she encounters at the school.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #contemporary #ballet #femaleprotagonist

Citation: Southgate, M. (1998). Another Way To Dance. Laurel Leaf.

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Dear Martin

Dear Martin

Author: Nic Stone

Description: Dear Martin is a contemporary young adult novel told through conversations and letters written by the main character to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The book deals with issues of police brutality, the conflict between the different parts of one’s identity, and interracial love. The book features an African American male main character.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #interraciallove #policebrutality #grief #trauma #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Stone, N. (2017). Dear Martin. New York: Crown.

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Odd One Out

Author: Nic Stone

Description: Odd One Out is a contemporary novel about three friends and their complicated love triangle. The triangle includes bisexual love interests and three alternating perspectives.

Includes: #bisexual #lovetriangle #interraciallove #africanamerican #black #asianamerican #latinx #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist #youngadultliterature

Citation: Stone, N. (2018). Odd One Out. Crown Books for Young Readers.

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How To Be Remy Cameron

Author: Julian Winters

Description: How To Be Remy Cameron is a contemporary young adult novel told through the point of view of a Black high school junior boy who is a transracial adoptee. After being assigned an essay in his AP Literature class asking him to define himself, he dives into questions of self discovery. He is Black, gay, adopted, popular, a good son, a loving brother, and still discovering what else he is.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #maleprotagonist #adoption #transracialadpotee #contemporary #hope #joy #LGBTQIA+ #youngadultliterature

Citation: Winters, J. (2019). How To Be Remy Cameron. Duet.

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Brown Girl Dreaming

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Description: Brown Girl Dreaming is an essential verse memoir of the author’s childhood. Woodson shares the experience of growing up as a young Black girl in the 1960 and 1970s in South Carolina and New York where the civil rights movement was growing. Despite having difficulty learning to read as a child, Woodson’s love of writing grows and grows.

Includes: #black #africanamerican #versenovel #memoir #femaleprotagonist #youngadultliterature #youngadult

Citation: Woodson, J. (2014). Locomotion. Speak.

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Feathers

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Description: Feathers is a coming of age story set in the 1970’s about a Black girl whose brother is deaf and whose mother is dealing with depression. The story picks up when a new boy arrives at the protagonists school. Like her, he speaks both spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL). Unlike her, he is white. The two build a connection as she learns to re-frame her viewpoint on her brother’s deafness, her mom’s fear, and her own school community. This book also deals with the ivtersectionalities of race and disability.

Includes: #femaleprotagonist #africanamerican #black #historical #youngadultliterature

Citation: Woodson, J. (2007). Feathers. G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers.

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The House You Pass On The Way

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Description: The House You Pass On The Way is a coming of age story about a biracial African American lesbian girl in the rural south.

Includes: #lesbian #LGBTQIA #femaleprotagonist #biracial #africanamerican #black #historical #rural #youngadultliterature

Citation: Woodson, J. (2003). The House You Pass On The Way. Speak.

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Locomotion

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Description: Locomotion is a verse novel about an 11-year-old black boy in the foster care system. The book is told through 60 poems and traces the story of the protagonist as he learns how to share his voice as a poet.

Includes: #black #fosterhome #versenovel #contemporary #maleprotagonist #youngadultliterature #youngadult

Citation: Woodson, J. (2004). Locomotion. Speak.

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The Sun Is Also A Star

The Sun Is Also A Star

Author: Nicola Yoon

Description: The Sun Is Also A Star is the story of an undocumented Jamaican girl who is trying to stop her family from being deported and a Korean-American boy trying to figure out his future. The story is told in alternating perspectives, almost all of which happen over the course of one day.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist #interraciallove #immigration #gentrification #undocumented #jamaican #korean #asianamerican #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Yoon, N. (2016). The Sun Is Also A Star. Delacorte Press.

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Pride

Pride

Author: Ibi Zoboi

Description: Pride is a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The story takes place in gentrifying Brooklyn and follows the life of the main character, her four sisters, their family, and the family of the Darcy’s that move into a large house across the street from her.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #afrolatino #latinx #femaleprotagonist #gentrification #contemporary #youngadultliterature

Citation: Zoboi, I. (2018). Pride. Blazer + Bray.

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