The Amazing Book Challenge encourages readers to broaden their reading interests by discovering new subjects, series or authors. There are twelve themes, one for each month, for 2021. Click here for more information.
May 2021
Read a book with the theme of anti-racism.
Fiction
Americanah : a novel
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Separated by differing ambitions after falling in love in Nigeria, Ifemelu experiences triumph and defeat in America, while Obinze endures an undocumented status in London until the pair is reunited in their homeland years later
America is not the heart
by Elaine Castillo

Hero arrives in the United States from the Philippines to stay with her uncle Pol, who has offered her a fresh start and a promise not to ask about her past during the violent political history of their home country.
The leavers : a novel
by Lisa Ko

"One morning, Deming Guo's mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant named Polly, goes to her job at the nail salon and never comes home. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left with no one to care for him. He is eventually adopted by two white college professors who move him from the Bronx to a small town upstate. Set in New York and China, the Leavers is the story of how one boy comes into his own when everything he's loved has been taken away--and how a mother learns to live with the mistakes of her past"
The sellout : a novel
by Paul Beatty

After his down-trodden hometown is removed from the map of California to save the state further embarrassment, a young man undertakes a radical course of action to draw attention to the town, resulting in a racially charged trial that sends him to the Supreme Court
The water dancer : a novel
by Ta-Nehisi Coates

A Virginia slave narrowly escapes a drowning death through the intervention of a mysterious force that compels his escape and personal underground war against slavery. By the National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me. Read by the author. Simultaneous. Tour.
Such a fun age : a novel
by Kiley Reid

A story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both
No-no Boy
John Okada
The vanishing half
by Brit Bennett

Separated by their embrace of different racial identities, two mixed-race identical twins reevaluate their choices as one raises a black daughter in their southern hometown while the other passes for white with a husband who is unaware of her heritage.
How long 'til black future month?
by N. K Jemisin

Offers a collection of the author's short fiction, including "The City Born Great," where a young street kid fights to give birth to an old metropolis's soul
The nickel boys : a novel
by Colson Whitehead

Follows the experiences of two African-American teenagers at an abusive reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida
Nonfiction
Me and white supremacy : combat racism, change the world, and become a good ancestor
by Layla F Saad

The host of the “Good Ancestor” podcast presents an updated and expanded edition of the Instagram challenge that launched a cultural movement about taking responsibility for first-person racism to stop unconsciously inflicting pain on others
White rage : the unspoken truth of our racial divide
by Carol Anderson

From the end of the Civil War to the tumultuous issues in America today, an acclaimed historian reframes the conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposed to black progress in America
Do better : spiritual activism for fighting and healing from white supremacy
by Rachel Ricketts

The racial justice educator and spiritual activist outlines mindfulness-based practices for dismantling racism at both personal and community levels, sharing actionable, sustainable recommendations for overcoming obstacles, healing and mitigating harm. 150,000 first printing. Illustrations.
How to be an antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi

Combines ethics, history, law, and science with a personal narrative to describe how to move beyond the awareness of racism and contribute to making society just and equitable
Between the world and me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Told through the author's own evolving understanding of the subject over the course of his life comes a bold and personal investigation into America's racial history and its contemporary echoes.
Breathe : a letter to my sons
by Imani Perry

A Princeton University professor of African-American studies explores the terror, grace and beauty of coming of age as a Black person in contemporary America, sharing insights into what it means to parent children in a persistently unjust world.
Pedagogy of the oppressed
by Paulo Freire

"First published in Portuguese in 1968, [this book] was translated and published in English in 1970. Paulo Freire's work has helped to empower countless people throughout the world and continues to possess a special urgency as the creation of a permanentunderclass among the underprivileged and minorities in urban centers around the world continues. The 50th anniversary edition includes a new introduction by Donaldo Macedo, an afterword by Ira Shor, and interviews with Marina Aparicio Barberán, Noam Chomsky, Gustavo E. Fischman, Ramón Flecha, Ronald David Glass, Valerie Kinloch, peter Mayo, Peter McLaren, and Margo Okazawa-Rey to inspire a new generation of educators, students, and general readers for years to come."--Page [4] of cover
Minor feelings : an Asian American reckoning
by Cathy Park Hong

An award-winning poet and essayist offers a ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged exploration of the psychological condition of being Asian American.
Stamped from the beginning : the definitive history of racist ideas in America
by Ibram X Kendi

A comprehensive history of anti-black racism focuses on the lives of five major players in American history and highlights the debates that took place between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and anti-racists
The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin

The powerful evocation of a childhood in Harlem that helped to galvanize the early days of the civil rights movement examines the deep consequences of racial injustice to both the individual and the body politic. Reissue. 20,000 first printing.
They called us enemy
by George Takei

Presents a graphic memoir detailing the author's experiences as a child prisoner in the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, reflecting on the choices his family made in the face of institutionalized racism
All you can ever know : a memoir
by Nicole Chung

A Korean adoptee who grew up with a white family in Oregon discusses her journey to find her identity as an Asian American woman and a writer after becoming curious about her true origins
Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend : Essays
by Ben Philippe

The award-winning author of The Field Guide to the North American Teenager presents an adult essay collection that frankly recounts his lifetime of experience as an only Black person in predominantly white school, work and social environments. 20,000 first printing.
Anti racist ally : an introduction to action & activism
by Sophie Williams

The creator of the popular @officialmillennialblack Instagram shares practical insights into active practices of anti-racism, covering subjects ranging from the terminology of today’s world to the personal biases that shape inequality. Original. 20,000 first printing.
Hood feminism : notes from the women that a movement forgot
by Mikki Kendall

"A collection of essays taking aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement, arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women"
Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you
by Jason Reynolds

A timely reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award-winning Stamped From the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America while explaining their endurance and capacity for being discredited. 100,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook. Illustrations.
The good immigrant : 26 writers reflect on America
by Nikesh Shukla

A U.S. follow-up to the best-selling U.K. edition collects urgent essays by first- and second-generation immigrant writers on the realities of immigration, multiculturalism and marginalization in today's increasingly divided America. 25,000 first printing.
The fire this time : a new generation speaks about race
by Jesmyn Ward

Presents a continuation of James Baldwin's 1963 "The Fire Next Time" that examines racial issues from the past half-century through essays, poems, and memoir pieces by some of the current generation's most original thinkers and writers
So you want to talk about race
by Ijeoma Oluo

Examines the sensitive, hyper-charged racial landscape in current America, discussing the issues of privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word
The making of Asian America : a history
by Erika Lee

Describes the lasting impact and contributions Asian immigrants have had on America, beginning with sailors who crossed the Pacific in the 16th century, through the ordeal of internment during World War II and to their current status as “model minorities.”
When they call you a terrorist : a Black Lives Matter memoir
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

A memoir by the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement explains the movement's position of love, humanity, and justice, challenging perspectives that have negatively labeled the movement's activists while calling for essential political changes
Teen
The weight of our sky
by Hanna Alkaf

"Amidst the Chinese-Malay conflict in Kuala Lumpur in 1969, sixteen-year-old Melati must overcome prejudice, violence, and her own OCD to find her way back to her mother"
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.
The hate u give
by Angie Thomas

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
The marrow thieves
by Cherie Dimaline

In a world where most people have lost the ability to dream, a fifteen-year-old Indigenous boy who is still able to dream struggles for survival against an army of "recruiters" who seek to steal his marrow and return dreams to the rest of the world
Displacement
by Kiku Hughes

On a visit to San Francisco, Kiku finds herself transported in time back to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II
American born Chinese
by Gene Luen Yang

A graphic novel by the author of Duncan's Kingdom alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in American popular culture. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Reprint.
If I ever get out of here : a novel with paintings
by Eric L Gansworth

Lewis "Shoe" Blake from the Tuscarora Reservation has a new friend, George Haddonfield from the local Air Force base, but in 1975 upstate New York there is a lot of tension and hatred between Native Americans and whites
How it went down
by Kekla Magoon

When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree
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