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Let's Talk About Race, Racism & Racial Justice: Teen Fiction Resources
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Anger Is a Gift
by Mark Oshiro
A young adult debut by the popular social media personality and critic reflects the racial and economic struggles of today's teens in the story of high school junior Moss, who in the face of a racist school administration decides to organize a protest that escalates into violence. Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award.
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Dear Justyce
by Nic Stone
A sequel to the best-selling Dear Martin finds incarcerated teen Quan writing letters to his neighbor, Justyce, about the former’s experiences in the American juvenile justice system while the latter attends Yale University. Simultaneous eBook.
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The voting booth
by Brandy Colbert
Preparing to vote for the first time, Marva is indignant when she observes a fellow teen turned away from the voting booth and teams up with him to fight a corrupt system and search for a missing cat. By the award-winning author of Finding Yvonne. 35,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook.
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Ghost Boys
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till.
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Here to stay
by Sara Farizan
When a cyberbully sends the entire high school a picture of basketball hero Bijan Majidi, photo-shopped to look like a terrorist, the school administration promises to find and punish the culprit, but Bijan just wants to pretend the incident never happened and move on
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I Am Alfonso Jones
by Tony Medina
The ghost of fifteen-year-old Alfonso Jones travels in a New York subway car full of the living and the dead, watching his family and friends fight for justice after he is killed by an off-duty police officer while buying a suit in a Midtown department store.
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This is my America
by Kim Johnson
Sending weekly letters to an organization she hopes will save her innocent father from death row, 17-year-old Tracy uncovers racist community secrets when her track star brother is wrongly accused of murder. A first novel. Simultaneous eBook.
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Monster
by Walter Dean Myers
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records–as a film script–his experiences in prison and in the courtroom as he tries to come to terms with the course of his life.
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We are not free
by Traci Chee
Growing up together in the community of Japantown, San Francisco, four second-generation Japanese American teens find their bond tested by widespread discrimination and the mass incarcerations of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II. 50,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook.
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Piecing Me Together
by Renée Watson
Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, Jade would rather participate in the school's Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk girls
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Slay
by Brittney Morris
Hiding her identity as the developer of an elite online role-playing game, a talented teen, one of the only black students in her school, is targeted with violent racism when an in-game dispute escalates into a player’s murder.
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The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
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Tyler Johnson Was Here
by Jay Coles
Accompanying his twin to a party that is thrown into chaos by a shooting, Marvin, a multicultural teen, is horrified when his brother goes missing and is found dead, possibly at the hands of a racist police officer.
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When I Was the Greatest
by Jason Reynolds
Avoiding the violence that has given his neighborhood a bad name, urban youth Ali spends busy days attending school, boxing and helping his family while looking out for a troublesome friend and a Tourette's-afflicted brother only to be brutally targeted in the aftermath of a misunderstanding.
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X : A Novel
by Ilyasah Shabazz
Co-written by the best-selling author of Malcolm Little and daughter of Malcolm X, a novel based her father's formative years describes his father's murder, his mother's imprisonment and his challenging effort to pursue an education in law.
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Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
by Ibi Zoboi
Edited by the National Book Award finalist and featuring contributions by a prestigious group of best-selling, award-winning and emerging African American young-adult authors, a timely literary collection shares modern insights into what it is like to be young and black in today's America.
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The black kids
by Christina Hammonds Reed
Enjoying the luxuries of a privileged life in 1992 Los Angeles, a black high school senior is unexpectedly swept up in the vortex of the Rodney King Riots while her closest friends spread a rumor that could derail a fellow black student’s future. A first novel. Simultaneous eBook.
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Light It Up
by Kekla Magoon
A follow-up to the award-winning How It Went Down finds the community of Underhill thrown into upheaval by the police shooting of an unarmed 13-year-old girl, a mistake that triggers clashes between justice-seeking protestors and white-supremacist demonstrators.
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I'm not dying with you tonight
by Kimberly Jones
Told from two viewpoints, Atlanta high school seniors Lena and Campbell, one black, one white, must rely on each other to survive after a football rivalry escalates into a riot
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Genesis Begins Again
by Alicia D. Williams
This deeply sensitive and powerful debut novel tells the story of a thirteen-year-old who must overcome internalized racism and a verbally abusive family to finally learn to love herself.
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