In turbulent times, literature is one way to explore difficult issues, such as racism and inequality. To help facilitate conversations, BCLS staff have curated a list of books across our physical and digital collection for our patrons of all ages.
Hoopla Collections:
OverDrive Collection:
Books for Children, Teens, and Adults
Our staff also recommends these books from our print collection. For availability or to place a hold, please check our online catalog:
Adult Nonfiction
Becoming - Michelle Obama
Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America - Richard Rothstein
How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi
Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism - Robin DiAngelo
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Bryan Stevenson
Stamped from the beginning : the definitive history of racist ideas in America - Ibram X. Kendi
So You Want to Talk About Race - Ijeoma Oluo
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America - Michael Eric Dyson
The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson
Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People - Mahzarin R. Banaji
Children’s Books
A is for activist - Innosanto Nagara (board book)
Colors of Us - Karen Katz (picture book)
Something Happened in My Town - Marianne Celanno (picture book)
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement - Carole Boston Weatherford
Let it Shine : Stories of Black women freedom fighters - Andrea Davis Pinkney
Not My Idea - Anastasia Higginbotham
Let’s talk about Race -Julius Lester
Teen Fiction
All American Boys - Jason Reynolds
All American Muslim Girl - Nadine Jolie Courtney
American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
American Street - Ibi Zoboi
Dear Martin - Nick Stone
Dreamland Burning - Jennifer Latham
The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas
I’m Not Dying With You Tonight - Kimberly Jones
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds
Love, Hate and Other Filters - Samira Ahmed
Monster - Walter Dean Myers
On the Come Up - Angie Thomas
Out of Darkness - Ashley Hope Pėrez
Piecing Me Together - Renée Watson
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Tyler Johnson Was Here - Jay Coles
Teen Nonfiction
Black Boy - Richard Wright (e audiobook available on Hoopla)
Dark Sky Rising - Henry Gates (e audiobook available on Hoopla)
The 57 Bus - Dashka Slater
March - John Lewis (trilogy)
Racial Profiling - Alison Behnke (e audiobook available on Hoopla)
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide - Carol Anderson
Wreath for Emmett Till - Marilyn Nelson
Adult Fiction
American Marriage - Tayari Jones
Another Country - James Baldwin
Beloved - Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Copperhead - Alexi Zentner
Dry Grass of August - Anna Jean Mayhew
Everywhere You Don’t Belong - Gabriel Bump
A Good Neighborhood - Therese Anne Fowler
The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros
Line of Sight - James Queally
Mercy Seat - Elizabeth Winthrop
Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead
Push - Sapphire
Red at the Bone - Jacqueline Woodson
Sing, Unburied, Sing - Jesmyn Ward
The Travelers - Regina Porter
Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead
Washington Black - Esi Edugyan