Booklist for Ideal Bookshelf 1165: Antiracist YA
So many thanks for all your recommendations! Here's the Young Adult stack. As with the kids set there are very specific books on being an antiracist and being Black in America, but also some about being discriminated against for other qualities (including magical powers! see: Children of Blood and Bone), and how to love everything about yourself ❤️. I was thinking of this as something that might hang in a classroom or school library, and hoped to appeal to many different students.
As always, there are way more I could have added, so please add to the list in the comments below! (And the more you tell us all about a book, the better! ;D) Oh and thanks to your input I moved Stamped and It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime over here to the teens section.
I included a few books written for adults but that are also great for teens. And don't forget, adults are TOTALLY ALLOWED to read YA books!
You can also buy/order these books from Black-owned bookstores, and here is a sortable list to find one in your area! The list below links to buy the books on Bookshop.org, which financially supports local, independent bookstores. (Official disclosure: We are an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.)
- A Different Mirror (for Young People): A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki & Rebecca Stetoff
- A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
- All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely
- All the Stars Denied by Guadalupe García McCall
- An Indigenous People's History of the United States (for Young People) by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, adapted by Jean Mendoza & Debbie Reese
- Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone
- Fire From the Rock by Sharon Draper
- Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
- I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina, illustrated by Stacey Robinson & John Jennings
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Internment by Samira Ahmed
- It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
- Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
- Kindred: A Graphic Novel by Octavia E. Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings
- March Book One by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell
- Monster: A Graphic Novel by Walter Dean Meyers, adapted by Guy A. Sims, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
- Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
- Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson
- Slay by Brittney Morris
- Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
- Swing by Kwame Alexander
- Tell Me Who You Are by Winona Guo & Priya Vulchi
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- They Called Us Enemy by George Takei with Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott, illustrated by Harmony Becker
- This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell & Aurélia Durand
- Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Blackmon Lowery
- Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals
- We Are Not Yet Equal by Carol Anderson, illustrated by Tonya Bolden