Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Based on Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award–winning Stamped from the Beginning, this young reader’s edition begins in 1415 and travels into the present in five sections. This adaptation teaches readers to think critically about racism and antiracism in the United States and the Western world. A recommended reading list is included and features older and contemporary adult and young adult fiction and nonfiction titles
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
African American sixteen-year-old Starr Carter lives a life caught between her predominantly black neighborhood and the predominantly white prep school she attends. Author Angie Thomas tackles topics like gangs, racism, police violence, and interracial dating. Thomas delivers a plot with realistic, relatable characters. The first-person narrative insightfully examines two worlds in collision.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Fifteen-year-old Xiomara, a Dominican girl from Harlem, finds peace in writing poetry. Xiomara pours her innermost self into poems and dreams of competing in poetry slams, a passion she’s certain her conservative Dominican parents will never accept. Acevedo’s poetry is skillfully crafted, each verse can be savored on its own, but together they create a portrait of a young poet coming into her own. It is not difficult to see why this book won the 2019 Michael L. Printz Award and the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
-Mary L.
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