An Anti-Racist Reading List for Adults and Children
As librarians, we have always believed that one of the innumerable benefits of reading is to develop empathy and social awareness. As a resource to the community, we have compiled a list of anti-racism books for adults and children. There has been a surge of interest in these books, many of which are now topping bestseller lists, and we will be adding more copies of these titles and others to the collection. A few of these titles are available immediately with no wait as audiobooks or eBooks through Hoopla and others may be available on Overdrive/Libby. If you have any suggestions or would like further recommendations from a librarian, please email pelhamlibrary@wlsmail.org.
Adult Non-Fiction
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi (audiobook immediately available on Hoopla)
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (audiobook immediately available on Hoopla)
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color-Blindness by Michelle Alexander (eBook immediately available on Hoopla)
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad (audiobook and eBook immediately available on Hoopla)
The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson
They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery
Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts
Locking Up Our Own by James Forman
The Miner’s Canary by Lani Guiner and Gerald Torres
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
YA and Middle Grade Non-Fiction
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (Young Reader’s Edition)
The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults) by Bryan Stevenson
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
YA and Middle Grade Fiction
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Clean Getaway by Nic Stone
New Kid by Jerry Craft (available immediately as an eBook on Hoopla)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (available immediately as an audiobook on Hoopla)
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (available immediately as an eBook and audiobook on Hoopla)
The Only Black Girls in Town by Randi Colbert
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Blended by Sharon Draper
Children’s Picture Books
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Something Happened in our Town: A Child’s Story of Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins and Ann Hazzard (available immediately as an audiobook on Hoopla)
Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham (available immediately as an eBook on Hoopla)
Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester
Don’t Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller
The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Daddy There’s a Noise Outside by Kenneth Braswell
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
I am Enough by Grace Byers (available immediately as an audiobook on Hoopla)
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman
Movies
Just Mercy
The Hate U Give
When They See Us
Central Park Five
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