LibraryAware African-American Authors 2016

MS = Middle School Readers HS = High School Readers

He said, she said : a novel (HS)
by Kwame Alexander

Staging a civil protest at school, football star Omar T-Diddly Smalls and politically minded Claudia Clark overcome respective differences to work together and then discover an unexpected attraction. A first young adult novel by the author of Indigo Blume and the Garden City.

Tyrell (HS)
by Coe Booth

While living in a homeless shelter with his disconnected mother and little brother, Tyrell has to come to terms with the life he has been given and a father in prison, thus seeking to improve his situation, Tyrell believes that money is the answer and starts to consider illegal pursuits to get it.

Like Vanessa (MS)
by Tami Charles

It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a thirteen-year-old African American girl in Newark's public housing, dreams of following in the footsteps of the first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams; but the odds are against her until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter.

Pointe (HS)
by Brandy Colbert

Four years after Theo's best friend, Donovan, disappeared at age 13, he is found and brought home, and Theo puts her health at risk as she decides whether to tell the truth about the abductor, knowing that her revelation could end her lifelong dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer.

Panic (HS)
by Sharon M. Draper

Lured by a handsome stranger and false promises of a movie role, Diamond is kidnapped and subjected to horrors beyond her imagining, while her family and friends endure a torturous vigil of worry while waiting for news.

Pinned (MS/HS)
by Sharon Flake

Adonis is smart, intellectually gifted and born without legs; Autumn is strong, a great wrestler, and barely able to read in ninth grade--but Autumn is attracted to Adonis and is determined to make him a part of her life regardless of what he or her best friend thinks.

Endangered (HS)
by L. R. Giles

When Lauren (Panda), a teen photo-blogger who publishes her work anonymously, gets involved in a deadly game that includes a blackmailer's threat to expose her identity, she's forced to step out of the shadows to protect herself and other classmates on the Admirer's hit list.

Bronx masquerade (HS)
by Nikki Grimes

After Wesley reads an intimate poem to his high school English class, other students envy this power of self-reflection and start writing their own poetry, causing deep secrets, fears, and feelings to be revealed and facades to vanish.

The perfect place (MS)
by Teresa E. Harris

Forced to live with her eccentric great aunt after her father's abandonment, Treasure, her mother and her little sister struggle to adapt to a new family dynamic while gradually rediscovering feelings of home.

The rock and the river (MS/HS)
by Kekla Magoon

In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father’s nonviolent approach to seeking civil rights for African-Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party.

Monster (HS)
by Walter Dean Myers

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

For every one (MS/HS)
by Jason Reynolds

An inspirational poem written to the dreamers of the world, which was originally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and later as a tribute to Walter Dean Myers.

Flygirl (MS/HS)
by Sherri L. Smith

Dreaming of being a pilot her whole life, Ida Mae Jones sees her chance during World War II, but she cannot be accepted into the WASP because she is black, forcing Ida Mae to choose between her racial heritage and chasing her dream.

Black boy/white school (HS)
by Brian F. Walker

When 14-year-old Anthony "Ant" Jones from the ghetto of East Cleveland, Ohio, is awarded a scholarship to attend a prep school in Maine, he finds that he must change his image and adapt to a world that never fully accepts him, but when he returns home he discovers that he no longer truly belongs there either.

This side of home (HS)
by Renée Watson

Twins Nikki and Maya Younger always agreed on most things, but as they head into their senior year they react differently to the gentrification of their Portland, Oregon, neighborhood and the new--white--family that moves in after their best friend and her mother are evicted

After Tupac & D Foster (MS/HS)
by Jacqueline Woodson

Listening to rap music and thinking they understand challenging times on the streets, Neeka and her best friends in their safe community in Queens come to realize differently after befriending D, a young girl with a hard past and numerous foster families, who begins to open up about her real life experiences and struggles.