This Book Won't Burn

This Book Won't Burn by Samira Ahmed is the story of one young woman standing up to racism in her new school. 

After her dad abruptly abandons her family and her mom moves them a million miles from their Chicago home, Noor Khan is forced to start the last quarter of her senior year at a new school, away from everything and everyone she knows and loves.

Reeling from being uprooted and deserted, Noor is certain the key to survival is to keep her head down and make it to graduation. 

But things aren’t so simple. At school, Noor discovers hundreds of books have been labeled “obscene” or “pornographic” and are being removed from the library in accordance with a new school board policy. Even worse, virtually all the banned books are by queer and BIPOC authors. 

Noor can’t sit back and do nothing, because that goes against everything she believes in, but challenging the status quo just might put a target on her back. Can she effect change by speaking up? Or will small-town politics—and small-town love—be her downfall? 

Ahmed has written a very powerful book that should be read by all lovers of books!

Ahmed, Samira. (2024). This Book Won't Burn. New York: Little Brown & Co.

That Flag

That Flag by Tameka Fryer Brown, illustrated by Nikkolas Smith, is the story of two school friends whose parents feel very differently about the flag outside of one of their homes. 

While Bianca and Keira are best friends at school, Keira's parents will not allow her to go to Bianca's house because of the confederate flag in the front yard. 

When the school takes a field trip to the local museum for an exhibit called Stars and Bars, Keira's father follows her through the exhibit while she absorbs the meaning and history of that flag. 

Brown has created an age-appropriate story of what the confederate flag stands for in our history and today.

Brown, Tameka Fryer. (2023). That Flag. New York: Harper.

All This Could Be Different

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Matthews is the story of one woman trying to make it on her own in a system that exploits immigrants. 

Graduating college during a recession, Sneha agrees to move to Milwaukee for a job as a consultant. She has little other choice as she needs a job to get a green card once her school visa expires. 

She has been in the United States most of her life. Her parents moved back to India after her father was set up to take the blame for a scam his business partner pinned on him. Since then, Sneha has been reluctant to trust anyone.

Building a life for herself, dating and living through mid-West winters, this beautifully human novel will stay in your head for a long time. 

Mathews, Sarah Thamkam. (2022). All This Could Be Different. New York: Viking.

Here to Stay

Here to Stay by Sara Farizan is the story of high school jealousy leading to a racial slur. 

Bijan Majidi gets called to fill in for an empty spot on the varsity basketball team. When one of the senior players fouls out, Bijan is put in. He is a good player who is getting his chance to prove himself - but the player he is replacing blames Bijan for showing him up.

The next day everyone at school receives an email of Bijan dressed as a Jihadi. Suddenly his loyalty and Americanism is being questioned. 

Farizan is known for her wonderful characters who have to deal with the problems of being non-white in America. Her writing is beautiful, poignant and compelling, Read all of her books.

Farizan, Sara. (2018). Here to Stay. New York: Algonquin.

The Sweetness of Water

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris, set at the end of the US Civil War is a tale of hope, heartbreak, friendship and endurance.

The war has ended, Union soldiers are in the South making sure that the formerly enslaved people know that they are free to leave if they wish. Tensions are still high as white land owners face the change, Black workers try to understand their options, and town folks adjust to a new reality.

George Walker and his wife Isabelle live on a property outside of the town of Old Ox, Georgia. Being from a family that moved South from Nantucket, George has never had enslaved workers on their land. They never needed workers as George inherited enough from his father to never have to work. He does enjoy wandering his property.

As George wanders, thinking of the news of his son who when to fight in the war, he comes across two brothers camping in his woods. Prentiss and Landry were born on the neighboring farm. When they were told of their freedom, they left. 

George and Prentiss develop a kind of friendship. Isabelle has taken to Landry - a calm, large man who does not talk much due to an injury (read: beating) when he was younger. 

When George hires Prentiss and Landry to help him start a small peanut farm - paying them the wage he would pay any man - some of the people in town do not agree with his ideas.

Harris has written a beautiful book. It is set in a hard time in US history, but he shows the positives and negatives of people at the time. My dread of reading of the time period were unfounded. Though there are hard parts of the book, he does not dwell on them, but gives his characters room to grow and have hope. Read this book.

Harris, Nathan. (2021). The Sweetness of Water. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is the tale of twin sisters and their diverging lives. 

Stella and Desiree Vignes were born in Mallard, Louisiana in the 1950s. Most people born there stay their whole lives. 

At sixteen, their mother takes them out of school so they can help support the family. That is when they leave and move to New Orleans. From there they separate, creating very different lives for themselves.

Ten years later, Desiree moves back home, bringing her daughter Jude. She has not seen or herd from Stella in years. Desiree hires someone to track Stella to find out what happened to her.

Spanning forty years and the width of the United States, Bennett explores the history of passing, racism and identity in this beautiful family epic. 

Bennett, Brit (2020). The Vanishing Half. New York: Riverhead Books.

You'll Never Believe What Happened To Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism

You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar is a funny but sad look at white people in the United States.

Filled with hilarious true stories from Lacey's life, many from work, this book presented by two sisters is not only a look at how far we have to go, but at a close sibling relationship. Amber tells the stories, Lacey interjects when necessary to keep her on track.

This project came about because so many white people have so many stupid, racist things to Lacey, that she started to keep a journal. She and Amber talk about them on the phone: Amber is in New York City and Lacey in in Omaha, Nebraska (their home town). 

This is a look at the crazy things that happen everyday if you are Black in America. Go buy a copy today, laugh while you learn what not to say to your Black coworkers and friends!

Ruffin, Amber & Lacey Lamar. (2021). You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism. New York: Grand Central Publishing.

The Office of Historical Corrections

The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella & Short Stories by Danielle Evans is a book of powerful stories. These amazingly well written stories vary but all have aspects of race or racism. They are smart, timely and haunting.

Included:

Happily Ever After

Richard of Your Gave Battle in Vain

Boys Go To Jupiter

Alcatraz

Why Won't Women Just Say What They Want

Anything Could Disappear

The Office of Historical Corrections

After reading this collection, I will be reading everything else that Danielle Evans has or does publish! I just ordered her collection titled, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self.

Evans, Danielle. (2020). The Office of Historical Corrections. New York: Riverhead. 

An Unkindness of Ghosts

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon is a look at racism in a science fiction setting.

Aster is part of the forth generation of people on the spaceship Matilda. Stories say it left a dying planet many years ago and will someday reach a (possibly) livable new world.

The ship is massive and carries the remainder of humanity. The floors are set up in a hierarchy that evokes the antebellum South.

Aster has been trained to be assistant to General, the ships main doctor. She has a pass to leave her own deck to see patients. And she has an forgotten part of the ship to do experiments with plants and healing.

With the help of her friend, Aster is trying to decode her mother's journals. Rumor says her mother killed herself, but no one ever found her. Aster is sure she was working on something that got her killed.

Solomon has created an unforgettable story of race and misogyny in outer space. People trapped in their roles, assigned by their skin color and gender. Reader will think of this story long after they have finished the book.

Solomon, Rivers. (2017). An Unkindness of Ghosts. New York: Akashic Books.

Lies We Tell Ourselves

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley is the story of integration in a Virginia high school in 1959. The story is told in two perspectives - Sarah, one of the ten black students going to the white school, and Linda, a white student whose father is the voice of the town paper and the segregationists.

In February of 1959, the town of Davisburg could no longer postpone allowing black students into the white high school. The mayor had closed the school to prevent integration, but by court order school had to be reopened. Ten of the top honor students from Johns High School transferred to Jefferson High School.

Sarah, a senior, along with nine others had to push their way through the protesting white students to enter the school. From there they were to spend each day being pummeled by spit balls, call names, tripped and when they sat down in class having the white students move away from them. Sarah is put into remedial classes due to the prejudice of the school staff.

Linda has never thought about how the blacks are treated. It has just always been that way in Virginia. When she meets Sarah and sees how she and the other students are treated, she begins to consider whether it is right.

Talley has written a moving story of part of our county's history. Though the school and characters are fictional, they represent real accounts of what lengths racists went to try to prevent integration. There were areas that didn't give in until twenty years after Brown v. Board of Education. This novel is an important reminder of the people who fought to give us the civil rights we have today. It is amazing - read it today.

Talley, Robin. (2014). Lies We Tell Ourselves. New York: Harlequin Teen.

The Hope Chest

The Hope Chest by Karen Schwabach tells the story of the final vote that passed the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, giving women the right to vote.

Violet Mayhew lives in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania with her parents. She misses her older sister Chloe and has not heard from her since she left three years ago - until today. When looking in her mother's desk for a postage stamp, Violet found a stack of letters from Chloe.

After reading the letters and deciding that it was unfair of her parents for keeping them from her, Violet runs away to New York to find her sister.

What follows is an adventure across the country - New York to Washington, DC to Tennessee. Violet meets interesting people, learns about politics and racism, and plays a part in getting women the right to vote.

Schwabach is a great author of historical fiction featuring young characters. She explains difficult concepts in our past with ease and excitement. I would recommend any of her books.

Schwabach, Karen. (2008). The Hope Chest. New York: Random House.

Say the Word

Say the Word by Jeannine Garsee is exactly the kind of book my YA Lit professor would like - it captures the emotion and angst of being a teen to the point that the reader has muscle fatigue from gripping the book.

Shawna Gallagher feels like she has three personalities - Perfect Shawna who does what she is told regardless of her own opinion, Pathetic Shawna who grovels for attention, and Evil Shawna who likes to blurt out the truth even when it hurts someone. Really she is just trying to figure out her place in the world.

Shawna lives with her dad. Her mother left the family for another woman when Shawna was seven and since then her father has filled her head with homophobic rants to the point that she started to believe them.

But when her mother's partner, Fran, calls and says her mother has had a stroke, Shawna flies to NYC (from Ohio) to see her before she dies. Her controlling father also shows up because her mother never updated her will. He proceeds to try and take everything from Fran and her two sons.

Say the Word is the story of a young woman coming to terms with what is real versus what she has been taught - challenging her beliefs about lesbians, other cultures, and her father's role in her life. It is a book that is difficult to read (partly because Shawna is so unlikable at the beginning of the book) but challenges many prejudices and leaves the reading thinking.

Garsee, Jeannine. (2009). Say the Word. New York: Bloomsbury.

Wounded

Wounded by Percival Everett is a look at prejudice in the United States.

John Hunt lives on a horse ranch in Wyoming. When he first bought his ranch, a black cowboy was a curiosity. Now most locals know him as a great horse trainer.

When a young gay man is killed outside of town, one of John's ranch hand is arrested for the murder. John never much liked the hired man but does not see him as a killer.

When the son of John's best friend from college comes to town with his boyfriend to march in a rally about the killing, tensions are high. When other hate crimes start to occur, the sheriff does little to help.

Soon the black cowboy, the Native Americans who live on a reservation at the edge of town, and David, the gay friend who is staying with John, are tied together more than ever.

Everett's look at intolerance in the face of race and sexuality takes a meandering, western novel approach to an important discussion in today's world. Balanced with ranch life, including an escape-artist mule and a three-legged coyote, this is story of life is an accurate and insightful look at the people who make up the United States.


One sentence description: The unhurried life of a black rancher in Wyoming is the setting for this riveting look at the pervasiveness of prejudice in America when local skinheads murder a gay college student.

Everett, Percival. (2005). Wounded. Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf Press.