Black History Month

03 Feb Black History Month

Black History Month 

Black History Month is a great time to celebrate the history and culture of African-Americans. PGTPL recently received a grant from Indiana Humanities and the Lilly Endowment, Inc. to purchase materials to advance racial equity. Today we’re featuring five books from that collection with appeal for teen readers!

Teen books from the Advancing Racial Equity Grant

If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson was first published 20 years ago, but it is a timeless tale of first love. Ellie, who is Jewish, and Jeremiah, who is Black, are star crossed lovers. They find each other at school, and come from completely different places, but that does not matter to them. However, it matters to the world around them. This love story is absolutely beautiful. If you enjoy this book, there is also a sequel titled Behind You.

Black Enough, edited by Ibi Zoboi, is an anthology of short stories about being young and Black in America. These brilliant authors absolutely bring readers into what it is like to grow up in America. These stories are beautifully told and certainly necessary to read. The book features an introduction and a biography of each auther, including Ibi Zoboi, Justina Ireland, Varian Johnson, Rita Williams-Garcia, Dhonielle Clayton, Kekla Magoon, Tochi Onyebuchi, Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Renée Watson, Tracey Baptiste, Coe Booth, Brandy Colbert, Jay Coles, and more.

This Book is Anti Racist by Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by Aurélia Durand, contains 20 lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action and Do The Work. This book is an absolutely amazing guide to help you become anti-racist. You can journal along, and dig deeper into yourself and is a wonderful resource for any young activist. This Book is Step 1 in learning how to go beyond performative activism.

Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott, illustrated by Loveis Wise, is a collection of poems to empower. In the introduction, the author takes us through her process and why she wrote these poems. The introduction and each poem is accompanied by a gorgeous illustration. These beautifully written, incisive poems show what it’s like to struggle and live beautifully as a Black woman in America.

Colorblind by Johnathon Harris, illustrated by Don Hudson and Gary Leach, is a story about racism in graphic novel format. Johnathon tells us his story of heartache, racism, hope, and optimism. He tells us how as a young boy, that his family taught him that by following the great leaders in African American culture, he could overcome his own prejudices and at last truly break free of the restraints of racism. Johnathon hopes that his story about overcoming racism will help others to see multiculturalism in our society and not color.

Finally, the titles above are just a few of those we have purchased in order to help advance racial equity. These exceptionally written books provide so much insight into what it is like to grow up Black in America. We have added quite a few nonfiction and fiction books, documentaries and other categories as well. Please feel free to put these titles and more on hold.

If you have any questions, or would like to check out one of these titles, please feel free to follow the links or contact us by email: askus@plainfieldlibrary.net or by phone: 317-839-6602.