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Black Voices & Culture: Books for Young Teens
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Updated January 10, 2024
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LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County)
Happy Valley Library
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The crossover
Alexander, Kwame
Paper Book
Series streaming now on Disney+, with executive producers including NBA great LeBron James! The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning middle grade bestseller! Basketball and heartache share the court in this slam-dunk novel in verse. "With a bolt of lightning on my...
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The door of no return
Alexander, Kwame
Paper Book
From the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winning author Kwame Alexander, comes the first book in a searing, breathtaking trilogy that tells the story of a boy, a village, and the epic odyssey of an African family. In his village in Upper...
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Eb & Flow
Baptist, Kelly J.
Paper Book
A ten-day suspension has tweens De'Kari and Ebony seeing the world with a fresh perspective. Don't miss this poignant novel in verse from the award-winning author of Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero. Two kids. One fight. No one thinks they're wrong. ...
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Sincerely Sicily
Burgess, Tamika
Paper Book
From debut author Tamika Burgess comes the captivating and empowering story of Sicily Jordan--a Black Panamanian fashionista who rocks her braids with pride--who learns to use her voice and take pride in who she is while confronting prejudice in the most unexpected of places. ...
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King and the dragonflies
Callender, Kacen
Paper Book
A 2021 Coretta Scott King Honor Book! Winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature! Winner of the 2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry! In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy's grief takes him...
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The only black girls in town
Colbert, Brandy
Paper Book
A Bank Street Best Book of 2021! From award-winning YA author Brandy Colbert comes a debut middle-grade novel about the only two Black girls in town who discover a collection of hidden journals revealing shocking secrets of the past. Beach...
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Class act
Craft, Jerry
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Jerry Craft returns with a companion book to New Kid, winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Kirkus Prize. This time, it's Jordan's friend Drew who takes center stage in another laugh-out-loud funny, powerful, and...
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New kid
Craft, Jerry
Paper Book
Winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature! Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle...
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School trip
Craft, Jerry
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Jerry Craft is back with the newest adventures of Jordan, Drew, Liam, and all the characters that fans first met in New Kid, winner of the Newbery Award and the Coretta Scott King Author Award! In this full-color contemporary graphic novel, the gang from...
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The probability of everything
Everett, Sarah
Paper Book
A heart-wrenching middle grade debut about Kemi, an aspiring scientist who loves statistics and facts, as she navigates grief and loss at a moment when life as she knows it changes forever. Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how...
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Ghost Roast
Gibbs, Shawnee/ Cannon, Emily (ILT)/ Gibbs, Shawnelle.
Paper Book
Ghost Roast delivers a paranormal adventure full of first crushes, lost histories, and the impossible task of fitting in when your dad is a professional ghosthunter. A stand-alone YA graphic novel from authors Shawneé and Shawnelle Gibbs and artist Emily Cannon! For as long...
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Ellie Engle saves herself
Johnson, Leah (Young adult author)
Paper Book
From award-winning YA author Leah Johnson comes her magical middle grade debut: a laugh-until-you-cry, cry-until-you-laugh story about an ordinary girl whose life is turned upside down by some extraordinary powers. Ellie Engle doesn't stand out. Not at home, where she's alone...
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Freewater
Luqman-Dawson, Amina.
Paper Book
Winner of the John Newbery Medal Winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award An Indiebound Bestseller A New York Times Bestseller Award-winning author Amina Luqman-Dawson pens a lyrical,...
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Hands
Maldonado, Torrey
Ebook
"Gorgeous and gripping, Hands is a poetic page-turner. You might just finish it in one sitting. Torrey Maldonado understands the kids he writes for at the deepest level." --Adam Gidwitz, Newbery Honor-winning author of The Inquisitor's Tale The author of What Lane?<...
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Tristan Strong punches a hole in the sky
Mbalia, Kwame
Paper Book
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Godsset in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods. *"Mbalia expertly weaves a meaningful portrayal of family and community...
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Gone wolf
McBride, Amber
Paper Book
Award-winning author Amber McBride lays bare the fears of being young and Black in America, in this middle-grade novel that has been compared to the work of Jordan Peele and praised as "brilliantly inventive storytelling" by Publishers Weekly. . In...
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Curlfriends: New in Town (a Graphic Novel)
Miller, Sharee
Paper Book
New Kid meets The Baby-sitters Club in this graphic novel series opener about the Curlfriends, four inseparable Black girls who show us the meaning of true friendship-and being your true self. Charlie has a foolproof plan for the first day at her new middle school. Even...
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A good kind of trouble
Ramâee, Lisa Moore.
Paper Book
From debut author Lisa Moore Ramée comes this funny and big-hearted debut middle grade novel about friendship, family, and standing up for what's right, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give and the novels of Renée Watson and Jason Reynolds. Twelve-year-old...
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Ghost
Reynolds, Jason
Paper Book
A National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. Ghost wants to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school track team, but his past is slowing him down in this...
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Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you
Reynolds, Jason
Paper Book
Don't miss this "fresh and conversational" (TIME Magazine), "potent and provocative" (The San Francisco Chronicle), #1 New York Times bestselling exploration of racism--and antiracism--in America. ...
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A long time coming : a lyrical biography of race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama
Shepard, Ray Anthony
Paper Book
This YA biography-in-verse of six important Black Americans from different eras, including Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama, chronicles the diverse ways each fought racism and shows how much-and how little-has changed for Black...
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Fast pitch
Stone, Nic
Paper Book
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field. Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the...
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Genesis Begins Again
Williams, Alicia D.
Ebook
"Reminiscent of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye." --The New York Times "One of the best books I have ever read...will live in the hearts of readers for the rest of their lives." --Colby Sharp, founder of Nerdy Book Club "An emotional, painful,...
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Before the ever after
Woodson, Jacqueline
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARD National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson's stirring novel-in-verse explores how a family moves forward when their glory days have passed and the cost of professional sports on Black bodies...
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Remember us
Woodson, Jacqueline
Paper Book
National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson brings readers a powerful story that delves deeply into life's burning questions about time and memory and what we take with us into the future. It seems like Sage's whole world is on fire the summer before she starts seventh grade....
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