Diverse Characters

The crossover book cover

The crossover

Kwame Alexander

eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

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.

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Say her name book cover

Say her name

Zetta Elliott

811.6/Elliott
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists insisting that Black Lives Matter. Elliott engages poets from the past two centuries to create a chorus of voices celebrating the creativity, resilience, and courage of Black women and girls.

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Dear Martin book cover

Dear Martin

Nic Stone

eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face the reality of race relations today and how they are shaping him.

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The hate u give book cover

The hate u give

Angie Thomas

eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died.

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The poet X : a novel book cover

The poet X : a novel

Elizabeth Acevedo

eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

"Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, Xiomara Batista has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. She pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers--especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. Mami is determined to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, and Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. When she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, she can't stop thinking about performing her poems"--Dust jacket.

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Dread nation book cover

Dread nation

Justina Ireland

eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

When families go missing in Baltimore County, Jane McKeene, who is studying to become an Attendant, finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy that has her fighting for her life against powerful enemies.

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If you come softly book cover

If you come softly

Jacqueline Woodson

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Woodson Jacquel
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

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.

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Children of blood and bone book cover

Children of blood and bone

Tomi Adeyemi

eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

Seventeen-year-old Zélie, her older brother Tzain, and rogue princess Amari fight to restore magic to the land and activate a new generation of magi, but they are ruthlessly pursued by the crown prince, who believes the return of magic will mean the end of the monarchy.

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Watch us rise book cover

Watch us rise

Renée Watson

eBOOK
Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Read Woke, Young Adult

Frustrated by the way women are treated--even at their progressive New York City high school--two best friends start a Women's Rights Club, post their essays and poems online, and watch it go viral, attracting positive support as well as trolls.

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Lola gets a cat book cover

Lola gets a cat

Anna McQuinn

jE Mcquinn
Picture Books, Black Lives Matter, Diverse Characters, Animals

More than anything Lola would like a cat, but first she must learn how to care for it.

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I love the Lola and Leo books by Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw. The books in these two series are always the perfect size and length for lap or small group sharing with toddlers. -Casey