10 young adult books that are perfect for Black History Month and beyond
Ebony LaDelle is the author of "Love Radio", and the founder of Coloring Books, a literature and literacy company aimed at amplifying storytellers from marginalized communities. Follow her @ebonyladelle and @coloringbookslit.
Happy Black History (29-days-in-February-because-we-got-a-leap-year) Month!
Black History Month is a reminder of the strides Black Americans have made in this country despite the cards we've been dealt, and it's also a month to display the pride we feel as a people -- that in spite of what we've endured, we're still able to overcome so much, birth beautiful art, find joy, and celebrate us and our contributions to society, showing the true resilience of a community.
Black culture is American culture, and with book bans spreading throughout the United States, it's vital we all do our part to make sure teenagers are reading books that show a breadth of experiences so that they can feel seen or begin to understand the world around them, a world in desperate need of their voice and advocacy to create the changes they're looking to see in their lifetimes.
Despite the many avenues available to consume Black history and culture in today's world -- through social media posts, TV, movies, and podcasts -- such topics are not always taught fully in schools, and some teens graduate high school without learning about all of the barriers Black people have faced throughout history and the inequalities many experience daily. Reading about an experience depicted by a Black author can help shatter stereotypes and give young people a richer understanding of what it means to be Black.
In general, reading as a practice is also one that offers benefits for all, including potentially reducing stress and helping strengthen brain health in young people. A small study published in the Journal of American College Health in 2022 proposed that "recreational reading was associated with reduced psychological distress" and "improved mental health" among Canadian university students across the school year, and a study published in the journal International Psychogeriatrics in 2021 suggested that reading may even help prevent cognitive decline later in life, regardless of education level. Additionally, an analysis of five studies published in the journal PLOS One in 2022 discussed how "recalling, reading, and discussing fiction" might potentially "have a positive impact on measures of mood and emotion."
Below are 10 young adult reads that are perfect for Black History Month and beyond. In this list, you'll find a 128-page biography, a short horror story collection where Black girls get respectable endings, novels in verse and graphic novels that are short but leave a mark, as well as romance that will carry you away, all written by Black authors.
Scroll to check them out.
Audiobook: 'Love Radio' by Ebony LaDelle
Starting us out with a little joy, I'm recommending my own book, "Love Radio," in audiobook form -- because while I have trouble gushing about it, I can gush about it being an Audie Awards finalist for 2023, with Joniece Abbott-Pratt and JaQwan J. Kelly lending their incredible voices to this read. "Love Radio" is a story of two teens who meet at the Detroit Public Library and fall for one another after three dates, but at its core, "Love Radio" is also so much more. It's a story of community, of two Black teenagers who are allowed to be imperfect and the friends and family that hold them down, even if they may not look like your typical American family. It's a story of love -- for a person, your family, your city, but most importantly, yourself.
Historical fiction: 'The Awakening of Malcolm X' by Ilyasah Shabazz and Tiffany D. Jackson
This novelization of the Civil Rights activist's adolescence begins with a young Malcolm making a dumb decision that lands him in prison. It's in these dire circumstances that he self-reflects and finds his path through vignettes of things he learned as a child. His father, also an activist, told Malcolm at an early age he'd be a leader, and Malcolm held on to those lessons and affirmations as he befriended other inmates, read everything he could get his hands on as he began to understand the importance of education, and discovered Islam with his siblings and maintained a close relationship with them, even while incarcerated. It's also where he began to gain a deeper understanding of the world around him and how he'd be treated as a Black man, which led to him turning into the activist he ultimately became. A great introduction into learning the young life of Malcolm X before he became a prominent figure, co-authored by his daughter Ilyasah Shabazz and Tiffany D. Jackson.
Fantasy: 'So Let Them Burn' by Kamilah Cole
This is the fantasy I'm riding for in 2024. This Jamaican-inspired tale takes place after a war for independence and follows two sisters, one chosen to use her connection to the gods to save her country, the other living in her shadow but desperate to make her own mark. Cole will pull you into this fantastical and magical world with dragons and ancestral calling, rooted in beautiful Caribbean traditions, all the while infusing it with colonialism, honor and despair -- a reminder of what happens to a people forced to pick up the pieces of their own liberation.
Nonfiction: 'Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir' by Walela Nehanda
There hasn't been a memoir like this in the young adult space that compares to the likes of Audre Lorde's "The Cancer Journals," but Nehanda has changed that with their memoir, a searing look at a cancer patient dealing with medical racism after being diagnosed with leukemia. Nehanda uses both poetry and essays to convey the hospital system as they navigate what feels like a death sentence, all while experiencing the unfortunate aspects of this country's health care system when you're Black, queer, non-binary and have a disability.
Nonfiction: 'Star Child' by Ibi Zoboi
I can't stop recommending this book enough, a young adult biography on one of the greatest Black science fiction writers of our time, Octavia Butler. Author and fellow Cancer Ibi Zoboi writes about a young and determined Butler, her dreams, and what she ultimately set out to do, writing works that put a Black girl at the center of any post-apocalyptic world she penned to paper, a world not much different than the one Black girls have to live daily. (The astrology reference is relevant here, by the way: Butler and Zoboi share a birthday.)
Romance: 'We Deserve Monuments' by Jas Hammonds
Another story with romance at the center, "We Deserve Monuments" offers so much more -- it's equal parts love, grief, family secrets and generational trauma as seen through Avery's eyes as she and her family travel to Georgia to stay with her sick grandmother, aka Mama Letty, for the summer. While Avery is trying to understand the budding feelings she has for her grandmother's next door neighbor Simone, she's also coming to learn the town's hidden racist history and how much of it is connected to her own family. Somehow, while uncovering this racist past, we get to experience Avery and Simone falling in love, despite living in a town where the intersection of Blackness and queerness makes you an even greater target. Through these characters, the author shows us queerness can and should exist everywhere, that this country's past should never be buried, and that sometimes it takes a young person to uncover family truths.
Horror: 'The Black Girl Survives in This One' by various authors, edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell
This book is going to make you feel things -- namely, fear. You might also feel hopeful, considering this horror anthology features Black girls in stories that don't end poorly (for them). You'll see them fighting demons, witches, and generational curses, showing Black girls always know how to save themselves (and this world too). If that isn't enough to persuade you, they got the queen of horror herself, Tananarive Due, to pen the foreword. This book isn't yet available -- it's due out April 2 -- but you can preorder it now to support the multiple Black authors featured in the anthology .
The Black Girl Survives in This One, by various authors, edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell
- $19.99
- (Preorder)
Novel in verse: 'Long Way Down' by Jason Reynolds
These days, it seems nearly every single one of us knows a teenager affected by gun violence in some way -- and if we don't, the news serves as a constant reminder of the threat of school shootings that young people face daily. In "Long Way Down", Reynolds invites us to reckon with feelings of grief, especially when you're on the brink after losing someone you love dearly. Through verse, he is able to convey the full range of Will's emotions, a seventeen-year-old who has tragically lost his brother to gun violence, and how he finds a way to cope with his new reality.
Illustrated/graphic novel: 'Inheritance' by Elizabeth Acevedo, illustrated by Andrea Pippins
This visual (or illustrated) poem is a love letter to the beauty of Black hair, and also documents the history of negative remarks Black and Afro-Latine people have heard over the years about needing to straighten or tame their hair, whether in school, in corporate America or sometimes even at home. While parts of me feel we've come a long way since the CROWN Act was enacted in 2019 -- prohibiting discrimination based on hair style and hair texture -- I'm still gutted every time I read an article of a teenage girl being told her hair was too much of a distraction or a teenage boy being suspended and taken to a disciplinary school because his hair is too long. This book reminds us all that all coils are beautiful and a true mantra for curly kids everywhere.
Illustrated/graphic novel: 'Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice' by Derrick Barnes and Tommie Smith, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
A graphic novel and biography of American sprinter and Olympic medalist Tommie Smith, this format as a graphic novel is pure gold (pun intended). We follow Tommie's story from the moment his feet leave the blocks, including his backstory of growing up in a Southern family with 13 siblings, and parents who taught and showed him the value of hard work, discipline, consistency, focus and so much more -- values that could be applied in the workforce, in track and in life. Tommie applied these principles while dealing with a muscle injury and death threats, and at the end, we not only see him win the gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics for the 200-meter sprint, but proudly and boldly throw his fist in the air to protest the injustice Black people faced in the very country he was running for.
Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice, by Derrick Barnes and Tommie Smith, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
- $10.89
Constantine E. Kanakis, M.D., MSc, MLS, a member of ABC News' medical unit, contributed to this article.
