In We Inherit What the Fires Left, award-winning poet William Evans delivers an urgent, emotionally candid exploration of race, family legacies, and Black fatherhood in modern American suburbs.
In When Crack Was King, journalist Donovan X. Ramsey delivers a humanizing, kaleidoscopic account of the crack cocaine era told through four powerful survivor narratives. By cutting through political myths and confronting systemic racism, this vital work of history uncovers the roots of today’s mass incarceration and police brutality.
A masterpiece that reimagines antebellum slavery with striking grace. Following an enslaved girl’s heart-wrenching march from the Carolinas to Louisiana, this novel beautifully interweaves historical brutality with magical realism and allusions to Dante’s Inferno.
Eleanor Shearer’s River Sing Me Home is a breathtaking, 5-star historical novel exploring the aftermath of the British Emancipation Act of 1834 in the Caribbean. Following a mother’s harrowing quest across Barbados and Trinidad to find her stolen children, this lyrical narrative beautifully captures the cruelty of slavery and the triumph of redemption. An essential addition for high school libraries exploring global Black histories and diverse perspectives.
Don P. Hooper’s gripping YA debut, True True, is a powerful, addition to high school libraries. Following a Black Brooklyn teen navigating a hostile Manhattan prep school using Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, this fast-paced contemporary novel masterfully tackles institutional racism and performative diversity. It is an enticing, thought-provoking read that will keep students hooked while sparking vital conversations about equity, identity, and resilience.