Black Lives Matter
The crossover : a basketball novel
Kwame Alexander
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Read Woke, Sports, Poetry
Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.
Tristan Strong punches a hole in the sky
Kwame Mbalia
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Read Woke, Adventure
Seventh-grader Tristan Strong tumbles into the MidPass and, with allies John Henry and Brer Rabbit, must entice the god Anansi to come out of hiding and seal the hole Tristan accidentally ripped in the sky.
Added by Casey
Last last-day-of-summer
L. R. Giles
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Read Woke, Adventure, Science Fiction
When adventurous cousins Otto and Sheed Alston accidentally extend the last day of summer by freezing time, they find the secrets between the unmoving seconds are not as much fun as they expected.
Added by Casey
Bud, not Buddy
Christopher Paul Curtis
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Read Woke, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Classics
Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.
This won the Newbery Award when I was about the same age as Bud. It's just as meaningful now as I remember it being at 11. -Casey
The Parker inheritance
Varian Johnson
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Read Woke, Mystery, Adventure
Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, in the old house that belonged to her grandmother, who died after being dismissed as city manager for having the city tennis courts dug up looking for buried treasure--but when she finds the letter that sent her grandmother on the treasure hunt, she finds herself caught up in the mystery and, with the help of her new friend and fellow book-worm, Brandon, she sets out to find the inheritance, exonerate her grandmother, and expose an injustice once committed against an African American family in Lambert.
Varian Johnson tells a touching story featuring multiple difficult conversations about systemic racism and oppression, with grace and humor. Dedicate yourself to unlocking the mystery here and you won't be disappointed. -Casey
One crazy summer
Rita Williams-Garcia
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Read Woke, Historical Fiction
In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.
Added by Casey
Dragons in a bag
Zetta Elliott
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Read Woke, Fantasy, Adventure
In Brooklyn, nine-year-old Jax joins Ma, a curmudgeonly witch who lives in his building, on a quest to deliver three baby dragons to a magical world, and along the way discovers his true calling.
Dragon's in a Bag is truly magical--don't miss out! -Casey
Dragons in a bag
Zetta Elliott
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Read Woke, Adventure
In Brooklyn, nine-year-old Jax joins Ma, a curmudgeonly witch who lives in his building, on a quest to deliver three baby dragons to a magical world, and along the way discovers his true calling.
Varian Johnson tells touching story featuring multiple difficult conversations about systemic racism and oppression, with grace and humor. Dedicate yourself to unlocking the mystery here and you won't be disappointed. -Casey
The Watsons go to Birmingham-- 1963
Christopher Paul Curtis
eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Black History, Historical Fiction, Classics
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Added by Casey
The fire next time
James Baldwin
305.896 /Baldwin
Black Lives Matter, Nonfiction, Memoir
At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document from the iconic author of If Beale Street Could Talk and Go Tell It on the Mountain. It consists of two "letters," written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as "sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose," The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of literature.
Added by Melody
Poetry that is devastatingly beautiful and fabulous storytelling make this 2014 Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winner a powerful read. Pick this one up, you'll be glad you did. -Casey