Great Books for the Classroom by Black Authors

In this Unabridged Podcast discussion, we recommend some books by Black authors that we think would be a great fit in the classroom. We talk about recommendations for Kid Lit, Middle Grade, and YA Lit, and we touch on books by several of our favorite authors, including Jacqueline Woodson, Kwame Alexander, and Ibi Zoboi.

Bookish Check-in

Ashley - Anna Solomon’s The Book of V

Jen - Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Sara - Sandhya Menon's When Dimple Met Rishi

 

Our Recommendations

-Kid Lit

*Quvenzhané Wallis’s A Night Out with Mama

*Kwame Alexander’s The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson

 

-Middle Grade

*Jerry Craft’s New Kid

*Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming and Harbor Me

 

-YA Lit

*Ibi Zoboi's American Street and Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix

*Renee Watson’s Piecing Me Together

 

Give Me One - Movie to Watch with Your Kids

Ashley - Shrek series

Jen - Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Sara - Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

 

Other Mentions

Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning

Black Lives Matter Movement

Nic Stone's article "Don’t Just Read About Racism—Read Stories About Black People Living"

Nic Stone's works, including Dear Martin, Odd One Out, Jackpot, Clean Getaway, Shuri

Kwame Alexander's works, including the Crossover series (including The Crossover, Booked, Rebound), Solo, and Swing

Ibi Zoboi's My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X

Angie Thomas's On the Come Up

Angie Thomas's Concrete Rose (January 2021)

Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying

Jacqueline Woodson's The Day You Begin

Jason Reynolds's Miles Morales: Spider-Man

 

 

Click here for a full transcript that you can read while listening, provided by otter.ai.

 

Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.

 

 

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