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by Meagan  A lot has been happening over the last few weeks as citizens participate in Black Lives Matter protests locally and across the world. Click here to read an official statement from our Library Director, Peter Bromberg. In light of these events, we wanted to lift up black voices with this list of great books that you can use to educate and inspire yourself. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and The City Library has many more titles to help you research and understand the history that has brought us to this moment. Reading literature has been proven to make people more empathetic, so we hope by reading about people who might look differently than you or have a different life experience you can then empathize with what others are going through right now. These books are all own-voices. For those unfamiliar with the term, own-voices means that every one of these authors writing about Black characters is also Black. Some authors are Afro-Latino, some are Nigerian, some are Queer, but all authors listed below are Black. We hope you are taking care of yourselves and finding the resources you need to cope right now. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. SPOTLIGHT  Dread Nation (and its recently-published sequel The Deathless Divide) by Justina Ireland Imagine if the Civil War ended not because of the Emancipation Proclamation and the South surrendering, but because the dead of Gettysburg came back as “shamblers” (zombies) and began infesting the world. Instead of being granted their freedom, Black people are being forced to fight the shamblers, and the South has devolved into separate militarized city-state fortresses free to rule however they want. There’s talk of freedom in the West, but the Native populations of the west have been decimated after also being forced to fight the shamblers, so all anyone hears are rumors. It might be an alternate history, but the ramifications are shockingly realistic and events are eerily similar to our own. I highly, highly recommend this book to everyone, and pay attention to Ireland’s Author’s Notes. The book might not be realistic fiction, but many, many events Ireland discussed are based in reality. Realistic Fiction The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas All American Boys - Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely Dear Martin - Nic Stone Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America Tyler Johnson Was Here - Jay Coles I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This - Jacqueline Woodson Field Guide to the North American Teenager - Ben Philippe America Street - Ibi Zoboi Hurricane Child - Kacen Callender The Poet X - Elizabeth Acevedo Let Me Hear a Rhyme - Tiffany D Jackson Odd One Out - Nic Stone The Crossover - Kwame Alexander Watch Us Rise - Ellen Hagan, Renee Watson Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender A Good Kind of Trouble - Lisa Moore Ramée Graphic Novels March - John Lewis Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet - Ta-Nehisi Coates New Kid - Jerry Craft Bingo Love - Tee Franklin Fantasy / Sci Fi
The Belles - Dhonielle Clayton Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adiyemi Dread Nation - Justina Ireland Miles Morales - Jason Reynolds Pet - Akwaeke Emezi Adult for Teens The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison How Long ‘til Black Future Month - NK Jemison Kindred - Octavia Butler Queen of the Conquered - Kacen Callender Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston The Water Dancer - Ta-Nehisi Coates Mama Day - Gloria Naylor Historical Fiction Crossing Ebenezer Creek - Tonya Bolden Inventing Victoria - Tonya Bolden Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred D Taylor The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 - Christopher Paul Curtis Passing - Nella Larsen Flygirl - Sherri L Smith Riot - Walter Dean Myers NonFiction Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates I know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou All Boys Aren’t Blue - George M Johnson Pathfinders: The Journeys of 16 Extraordinary Black Souls - Tonya Bolden Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow - Henry Louis Gates Jr *Find these and more titles in our City Library catalog.
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