JoCoLibrary - Race Reads - Youth Contemporary FictionLike this list

36 items

• Home of the Brave

  Applegate, Katherine

  Add Home of the Brave to your for later shelf

  Kek, an African refugee, is confronted by many strange things at the Minneapolis home of his aunt and cousin, as well as in his fifth grade classroom, and longs for his missing mother, but finds comfort in the company of a cow and her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Count Me in

  a Novel

  Bajaj, Varsha

  Add Count Me in to your for later shelf

  Told from two viewpoints, sixth-graders Karina and Chris use social media to stand up to racism in Houston, Texas, after an attack puts Karina's Indian American grandfather in the hospital.

• Courage

  Binns, Barbara

  Add Courage to your for later shelf

  When criminal activity increases in the neighborhood and people begin to suspect Lamont, T'Shawn begins to worry that maybe his brother hasn't left his criminal past behind after all. And he struggles to hold on to the hope that they can…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Iggie's House

  Blume, Judy

  Add Iggie's House to your for later shelf

  When a black family with three children moves into the white neighborhood, eleven-year-old Winnie learns the difference between being a good neighbor and being a good friend.

• They Call Me Guero

  a Border Kid's Poems

  Bowles, David (David O.)

  Add They Call Me Guero to your for later shelf

  Twelve-year-old Guero, a red-headed, freckled Mexican American border kid, discovers the joy of writing poetry, thanks to his seventh grade English teacher.

• The Forgotten Girl

  Brown, India Hill, 1991-

  Add The Forgotten Girl to your for later shelf

  The Forgotten Girl is both a spooky original ghost story and a timely and important storyline about reclaiming an abandoned segregated cemetery.

• Rez Dogs

  Bruchac, Joseph, 1942-

  Add Rez Dogs to your for later shelf

  Twelve-year-old Malian lives with her grandparents on a Wabanaki reservation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Each Tiny Spark

  Cartaya, Pablo

  Add Each Tiny Spark to your for later shelf

  Sixth-grader Emilia Torres struggles with ADHD, her controlling abuela, her mother's work commitments, her father's distance after returning from deployment, evolving friendships, and a conflict over school redistricting.

• Gaby, Lost and Found

  Cervantes, Angela

  Add Gaby, Lost and Found to your for later shelf

  Gaby has been feeling like a bit of a stray herself, lately. Her mother has recently been deported to Honduras and Gaby is stuck living with her inattentive dad. She's confident that her mom will soon come home so that they can adopt…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• So Done

  Chase, Paula

  Add So Done to your for later shelf

  When best friends Metai and Jamila are reunited after a summer apart, their friendship threatens to combust from the pressure of secrets, middle school, and looming auditions for a potentially life-changing new talented-and-gifted program.

• Troublemaker

  Cho, John, 1972-

  Add Troublemaker to your for later shelf

  On the first night of rioting in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, Jordan's father leaves to check on the family store, spurring twelve-year-old Jordan and his friends to embark on a dangerous journey through South Central and Koreatown…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Efrén Divided

  a Novel

  Cisneros, Ernesto

  Add Efrén Divided to your for later shelf

  While his father works two jobs, seventh-grader Efrén Nava must take care of his twin siblings, kindergartners Max and Mia, after their mother is deported to Mexico.

• The Only Black Girls in Town

  Colbert, Brandy

  Add The Only Black Girls in Town to your for later shelf

  In a predominately white California beach town, the only two black seventh-graders, Alberta and Edie, find hidden journals that uncover family secrets and speak to race relations in the past.

• New Kid

  Craft, Jerry

  Add New Kid to your for later shelf

  Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Blended

  Draper, Sharon M. (Sharon Mills)

  Add Blended to your for later shelf

  Piano-prodigy Isabella, eleven, whose black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged, and she and her stepbrother are stopped by…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero

  Faruqi, Saadia

  Add Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero to your for later shelf

  Yusuf is excited to start middle school in his small Texas town, but with the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks coming up, suddenly it feels like the country's same anger and grief is all focused on his Muslim community.

• You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P!

  Gino, Alex

  Add You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! to your for later shelf

  When her new baby sister is born deaf, Jilly makes an online connection with a fellow fantasy fan, who happens to be black and deaf, and begins to learn about the many obstacles that exist in the world for people who are different from…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Same Sun Here

  House, Silas, 1971-

  Add Same Sun Here to your for later shelf

  A twelve-year-old Indian immigrant in New York City and a Kentucky coal miner's son become pen pals, and eventually best friends, through a series of revealing letters exploring such topics as environmental activism, immigration, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Reckoning

  Hudson, Wade

  Add The Reckoning to your for later shelf

  Twelve-year-old Lamar dreams of becoming a filmmaker, but when his grandfather is killed in a racist act of violence, Lamar becomes determined to honor his legacy by documenting the fight for justice.

• The Parker Inheritance

  Johnson, Varian

  Add The Parker Inheritance to your for later shelf

  Twelve-year-old Candice Miller is spending the summer in Lambert, South Carolina, in the old house that belonged to her grandmother, who died after being dismissed as city manager for having the city tennis courts dug up looking for buried…Read moreRead more of this annotation