Reading to Celebrate Black History Month

Published towards the end of the Black Arts Movement, If Beale Street Could Talk follows the romance of Tish and Fonny, and the emotional bonds that hold families together. The novel was James Baldwin's first novel to center around a love story. Baldwin, an American writer and activist, is largely known for his novels and essays such as The Fire Next Time, Notes of a Native Son, and Giovanni’s Room....

The Revolution of Birdie Randolph is a coming-of-age story that follows Dove, a sixteen-year-old girl whose life is thrown into disarray after one fateful summer. It is written by Brandy Colbert, a predominant young adult fiction and nonfiction American writer. Some of her other works include Pointe, Little & Lion, and The Only Black Girls in Town....

Filled with anecdotes and analyses, We Should All Be Feminists contains Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s thoughts on what it means to be a feminist in a book-length essay. Adichie is a Nigerian author and feminist who has inspired a new generation to read African literature. Some of her other works include Zikora, Notes on Grief, and Purple Hibiscus...

Set in Florida, The Nickel Boys follows the real story of Dozier School, a reform school that ceased after 111 years of instruction due to an investigation that exposed the cruelty and abuse done to its students. The Nickel Boys is Colson Whitehead’s follow up to his book The Underground Railroad, and both books won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2020 and 2017, respectively. ...

The author of The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas follows up with On The Come Up, a young adult novel that takes place in the same universe. It follows the life of Bri, a sixteen-year-old rapper who wants to follow in her father's footsteps. She navigates controversy, internet fame, and defies the odds in order to ‘make it’ in the world of underground hip-hop. “I loved the storyline and all the ch...

Inspired by the history of abuse and power within the music industry, Tiffany D. Jackson’s Grown tells the story of Enchanted Jones, a teenager who dreams of becoming a singer. After waking up with blood on her hands and no memory, Enchanted’s dreams turned into nightmares. Similar to Grown, some of Jackson’s other books include Monday’s Not Coming, White Smoke, and Allegedly....

Xiomara, also known as "X,” is a fifteen-year old living in Harlem who loves writing poetry. The Poet X shows X as she navigates the tension in her family, her inferiority to her brother, and the crush she has on her lab partner. Elizabeth Acevedo is an Afro-Latina author who has won multiple book awards. Some of her other books include With The Fire On High and Clap When You Land....

A graphic novel illustrated like the classic hair magazines that idealized hair relaxers, Hot Comb offers a glimpse into a black woman's coming of age journey. Hot Comb is Flowers' debut graphic novel, and helped make her mark as a cartoonist.

Co-written by Jason Reynolds (Library of Congress' national ambassador for young people's literature) and Ibram X. Kendi (one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020), Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You takes readers on a historical journey of race and racism through a fast paced narrative. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You is a remix of Stamped from the Beginning, another book by Ibram X. K...

Set in 1941 Ohio, a young girl named Pecola is often bullied due to her mannerisms and dark skin. She develops an obsession for blue eyes, which she equates with whiteness. “Morrison's The Bluest Eye is a masterpiece of storytelling in American literature," says Mr. Matthew Allen, an English teacher at ACIT. "Not afraid to shy away from difficult topics… this is a great entry point to begin a f...