Young Adult & Middle Grade Books by Black Authors About Transracial Adoption

Middle Grade books by Black Authors about transracial adoption:

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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Young Adult books by Black Authors about transracial adoption:

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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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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When The Black Girl Sings

Author: Bil Wright

Description: When The Black Girl Sings is a contemporary young adult novel told through the point of view of a Black teen girl who is a transracial adoptee. When her parents begin to discuss divorce, she sides with her mother and the two begin attending a local church with an amazing gospel choir. Simultaneously, her teacher nominates her for a talent show and she decides to join the church choir to improve her singing. There she finds more than song, she finds community.

Includes: #africanamerican #black #femaleprotagonist #adoption #transracialadpotee #contemporary #divorce #choir #singing #youngadultliterature

Citation: Wright, B. (2008). When The Black Girl Sings. Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers.

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Young Adult & Middle Grade Black Verse Novels

There are loads of verse novels out there and these are just a few by Black authors. Most of these authors have written multiple verse novels, but only one or two of their verse novels are listed here. If you would like to learn about more verse novels, look up these authors or reach out to us so that we can point you in the right direction.

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 #black #versenovel #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #youngadultliterature #youngadult

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

Image retrieved from: Goodreads.

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.

Image retrieved from: Goodreads.

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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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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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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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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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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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.

Image retrieved from: Goodreads.