Black joy & identity books

Young adult

Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. Racist ideas are woven into the fabric of this country, and the first step to building an antiracist America is acknowledging America's racist past and present. This book takes you on that journey, showing how racist ideas started and were spread, and how they can be discredited. Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds with research from renowned author Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas-and on ways you can identify and stamp out racist thoughts, leading to a better future.

Young adult

Dhonielle Clayton

"Six . . . authors bring the . . . warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of . . . stories that shine a bright light through the dark"--Provided by publisher.

Young adult

Mildred D. Taylor

Sadistically teased by two white boys in 1940's rural Mississippi, a black youth severely injures one of the boys with a tire iron and enlists Cassie's help in trying to flee the state.

Young adult

Echo Brown

A William C. Morris Award Finalist "Brown has written a guidebook of survival and wonder."—The New York Times "Just brilliant."—Kirkus Reviews Heavily autobiographical and infused with magical realism, Black Girl Unlimited fearlessly ...

Young adult

Tiffany D. Jackson

Now he’s dead, the police are at the door, and all signs point to Enchanted. “Never have I read a story that so flawlessly hits the highest high and lowest low notes of Black girlhood in pursuit of the American Dream.” —Nic Stone, ...

Young adult

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Someone who holds all the aces. And they're planning much more than a high-school game...Unputdownable and utterly compulsive, this high-octane thriller takes a powerful look at institutionalized racism.

Young adult

Tiffany D. Jackson

Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried. When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best—and only—friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less help. As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she’s gone?

Young adult

Brittney Morris

An honors student at Jefferson Academy, seventeen-year-old Kiera enjoys developing and playing Slay, a secret, multiplayer online role-playing game celebrating black culture, until the two worlds collide.

Young adult

Nicola Yoon

AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A charming, wholehearted love story that's sure to make readers swoon."—Entertainment Weekly "Nicola Yoon writes from the heart in this beautiful love story."—Good Morning America “It’s like ...

Young adult

Mark Oshiro

Something will have to change—but who will listen to a group of teens? When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes again, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.

Young adult

Ibi Aanu Zoboi

The story that I thought was my life didn’t start on the day I was born Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white. The story that I think will be my life starts today Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it? With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both. source: https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780062996503/punching-the-air/

Young adult

Tiffany D Jackson

When her classmates discover her biracial identity, Maddy, a white-passing senior, becomes the target of their bullying and discovers she possesses secret powers that pose a risk to all who wronged her.

Young adult

Nic Stone

' Angie Thomas, bestselling author of The Hate U Give 'Powerful, wrenching and compulsively readable' John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars 'Earnest, funny, achingly human, and unshakably hopeful' Becky Albertalli, author ...

Young adult

J. Elle

Instant New York Times bestseller! “A remarkable, breathtaking, earthshaking, poetic thrillride.” —Daniel José Older, New York Times bestselling author of Shadowshaper ​In this riveting, keenly emotional debut fantasy, a Black teen ...

Young adult

Ibi Aanu Zoboi

A collection of short stories explore what it is like to be young and black, centering on the experiences of black teenagers and emphasizing that one person's experiences, reality, and personal identity are different than someone else's.

Young adult

Walter Dean Myers

Follows a family's two hundred forty-one year history, from the capture of an African boy in the 1750s through the lives of his descendants, as their dreams and circumstances lead them away from and back to the small plot of land in South ...

Young adult

Morgan Parker

"17-year-old Morgan is a black teen triumphantly figuring out her identity when her conservative town deems depression as a lack of faith, and blackness as something to be politely ignored"--

Young adult

Mildred D. Taylor

"Cassie Logan, first met in Song of the Trees and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, is a young woman now, searching for her place in the world, a journey that takes her from Toledo to California, to law school in Boston, and, ultimately, in the 60s, home to Mississippi to participate in voter registration. She is witness to the now-historic events of the century: the Great Migration north, the rise of the civil rights movement, preceded and precipitated by the racist society of America, and the often violent confrontations that brought about change. Rich, compelling storytelling is Ms. Taylor's hallmark, and she fulfills expectations as she brings to a close the stirring family story that has absorbed her for over forty years. It is a story she was born to tell." --

Young adult

Jacqueline Woodson

After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions.

Young adult

Ryan Douglass

An Instant New York Times Bestseller! Get Out meets Holly Jackson in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee. Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere.

Young adult

Justina Ireland

In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead.

Young adult

Candice Iloh

A Finalist for the National Book Award When Ada leaves home for her freshman year at a Historically Black College, it’s the first time she’s ever been so far from her family—and the first time that she’s been able to make her own ...

Young adult

Beverly Jenkins

Josephine Josephine Best has it all figured out. Just seventeen, she's been to college, she has her own hairdressing shop, and she refuses to be distracted by any of that courting nonsense. At least until nice George Brooks begins to pursue her. Jojo isn't looking for romance, but she permits George to call on her. The Soldier Adam Morgan has always been a Casanova, and no girl is immune to his charm. But when he comes home wounded from the War Between the States, it's a girl he used to call "Pest" who's turning his head. All grown up, Jojo is being courted by another soldier, and Adam knows it would be foolish to play with her heart. Even so, he just can't get the headstrong young lady off his mind. For her part, Jojo can't deny her growing feelings for Adam. But he's always been such a flirt -- he can't possibly be serious about her. Besides, she has George falling all over himself to please her. As the war rages on, Adam's feelings for Jojo grow stronger, but Jojo's determination to resist him does, too. One thing is clear, though: Jojo is a girl who always gets what she wants, sometimes in spite of herself.

Young adult

Nic Stone

Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce--the protagonist of Dear Martin--Quan's story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions.