Upper Elementary – Middle & High School – Young Adult

{RL = Reading Level - approximate} 

Ibram X. Kendi, author of “Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America," and the youth chapter book, “Stamped for Kids” makes the following book suggestions for helping upper elementary/middle school kids understand race:

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

A young African American teen grapples with his identity while attending private school. Exploring the life of MKL helps him understand his own identity.

Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

One of Justyce’s incarcerated friends writes to her to explain what really happened and her innocence. She accurately describes the workings of the juvenile justice system.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

A struggling reader as a child, Woodson tells how she came to love stories and storytelling.

The Poet X  by Elizabeth Acevedo

Xiomara, a gifted young poet, performs her poems despite the disapproval of her caretakers.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

A book about two sisters. The death of one of them helps the surviving sister realize that all of us is imperfect.

The Black Friend – On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph

Written for white teens who want to be anti-racist.

UPPER ELEMENTARY:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Gr 5 – 6 (ages 10–13 RL)

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world.

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Gr 5 & up (ages 10 & up RL)

Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better. The author weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today's world, and how one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his own death.

Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham 

Gr 4 – 6 (ages 8–12 RL)

This is a picture book about racism and racial justice, inviting white children and parents to become curious about racism, accept that it's real, and cultivate justice.

We Rise, We Resist, We Raise our Voices edited by Wade Hudson & Cheryl Willis Hudson

Gr 3 – 7 (ages 8–12 RL)

Featuring poems, letters, personal essays, art, and other works from such industry leaders as Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming), Jason Reynolds (All American Boys), Kwame Alexander (The Crossover), Andrea Pippins (I Love My Hair), Sharon Draper (Out of My Mind), Rita Williams-Garcia (One Crazy Summer), Ellen Oh (cofounder of We Need Diverse Books), and artists Ekua Holmes, Rafael Lopez, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, and more, this anthology empowers the nation's youth to listen, learn, and build a better tomorrow.

Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice by Mahogany Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, Olivia Gatwood

Gr 3 – 7 (ages 8–12 RL)

"This collection of poems by women of color covers topics relating to social justice, activism, discrimination and empathy, focusing on the need to speak out and inspiring middle-graders." –Vogue

Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells – The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist by Philip Dray 

Gr 1 – 6 (ages 10–14 RL)

Author tells the inspirational story of Ida B. Wells and her lifelong commitment to end injustice. Award-winning illustrator Stephen Alcorn’s recreates the tensions that threatened to upend a nation while paying tribute to a courageous American hero.

MIDDLE / HIGH SCHOOL – YOUNG ADULT:

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Gr 9 – 12 (ages 14–17 RL) & Young Adult [Also a movie]

A novel in which 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. [Starr’s struggles create a complex character, and Thomas boldly tackles topics like racism, gangs, police violence, and interracial dating. (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)]

March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin 

Gr 8 & up (ages 13–16 RL) & Young Adult

[Trilogy of 3 paperbacks in graphic novel style by Nate Powell. Each book available separately or in a set.]

The story of the late Congressman John Lewis’s life, particularly his involvement in the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence took him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi 

Gr 7 & up  (ages 12 & up RL) & Young Adult

This is NOT a history book. This is a book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race. Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas--and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives. This book gives hope for an anti-racist future.

This Book is Anti-Racist – 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell 

Gr 6 – 10 (ages 11–15 RL) & Young Adult

Who are you? What is racism? Where does it come from? Why does it exist? What can you do to disrupt it? Learn about social identities, the history of racism and resistance against it, and how you can use your anti-racist lens and voice to move the world toward equity and liberation. Author Tiffany Jewell, an anti-bias, anti-racist educator and activist, builds solidarity beginning with the language she chooses—using gender neutral words to honor everyone who reads the book. Illustrator Aurélia Durand brings the stories and characters to life with kaleidoscopic vibrancy.

I WONDER . . .

• how did the character in the story feel about (what happened in the book)?
• how you feel after reading this book?
• where you might be in this story?
• who would you like for a friend in this book?
• was there something confusing to you in this book?
• what was the most important thing you learned from this book?
• if there is something you would like to know more about after reading this book?