Recommended Reads for Youth

Recommended Reads are a monthly series of books that can be found in our collection.

Recommended Reads for February 2025 

Early Learners 

DB093511 Be a King: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream and You by Carole Boston Weatherford. Presents key moments of Dr. King's life and encourages young people to be more like him by standing for peace, having a dream, and other acts. For grades K-3. Audiobook.

BR022031; DB090685 Crown: an Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick D. Barnes. A celebration of the magnificent feeling that comes from walking out of a barber shop with newly cut hair. For grades K-3. PRINT/BRAILLE and Audiobook.

BR022040 Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed. When young Mae dreams of her future, she sees herself as an astronaut looking down on Earth. Encouraged by her loving parents, Mae pursues her goal. Inspired by the life of Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space. For preschool-grade 2. PRINT/BRAILLE.  

BR022012; DB086753 Radiant Child: the Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe. Biography of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). Highlights his unique, collage-style paintings and discusses his childhood in Brooklyn, where tragedy struck. Jean-Michel persevered and continued to create neo-Expressionist pieces to become a highly successful artist. For grades K-3. PRINT/BRAILLE and Audiobook.

DBC26479 Opal Lee and What it Means to be Free: the True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth by Alice Faye Duncan. "Grandmother of Juneteenth" Opal Lee spent decades urging all people to recognize Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating when news of Black freedom from slavery came to Texas. Discover Opal Lee's moving story, and learn about this important historic event and the holiday's full message--freedom is for everyone! For grades K-3. Audiobook.

DB108460 The Queen of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes. MJ is more than ready for her first day of kindergarten! With her hair freshly braided and her mom's special tiara on her head, she knows she's going to rock kindergarten. But the tiara isn't just for show--it also reminds her of all the good things she brings to the classroom, stuff like her kindness, friendliness, and impressive soccer skills, too! For preschool - grade 2. Audiobook.

Children

DB112719 Figure it out, Henri Weldon by Tanita S. Davis. Henri has attended a special school for her learning disability, dyscalculia, but when she is mainstreamed, she finds herself struggling to balance other parts of her life, and not just in math class--a family feud, drama on the soccer team, and a passion for poetry. For grades 4-7. Audiobook.

DB121485 Race to Fire Mountain by Remi Blackwood. Jarell has never quite known where he belongs. He's ignored at home and teased at school for wanting to draw instead of playing sports with the other boys. The only place he's ever felt truly at ease is his local barbershop where the owner hangs Jarell's art up on the walls. When Jarell discovers a hidden portal in the barbershop, he's transported to a magical world that's unlike anything he's seen before. But it's not just the powerful gods and dangerous creatures that makes this world different- -it's that everyone believes Jarell is the hero they've been waiting for. For grades 3-6. Audiobook.

DB108227 It's the End of the World and I'm in my Bathing Suit by Jason Reynolds. When the electricity goes out, twelve-year-old Eddie and his friends set out to investigate what is going on when they make the startling discovery that they are the only ones left in their neighborhood- -and perhaps the only people left anywhere. For grades 3-6. Audiobook.

BR024979; DB113097 In the Key of Us by Mariama Lockington. While twelve-year-old Andi has suffered from anxiety attacks ever since her mother died ten months ago, Zora starting hurting herself whenever she feels out of control; they are both at Camp Harmony, an elite summer music camp, trying to deal with their problems and also the stress of competition- -but as the summer passes they find themselves increasingly drawn to each other, and maybe not just as friends. For grades 5-8. Braille and Audiobook.

DB120038 Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford. Carole and Jeffery Boston Weatherford's ancestors are among the founders of Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in slavery, their family tree can only be traced back five generations before going dark. And so from scraps of history, Carole and Jeffery have conjured the voices of their kin, creating an often painful but ultimately empowering story of who their people were. Shaped by loss, erasure, and ultimate reclamation, this is the story of not only Carole and Jeffery's family, but of countless other Black families in America. Coretta Scott King Honor Book. For grades 5-8. Audiobook.

BR019319; DB072370. Zora and Me by Victoria Bond. A fictionalized account of the childhood of African American writer Zora Neale Hurston and her best friend Carrie in Eatonville, Florida, as they learn about life, death, truth, lies, and pretending. Includes a brief biography of Hurston's life. For grades 4-7. Coretta Scott King Award. Braille and Audiobook.

Tweens & Teens

DB118889 Victory. Stand! Raising my Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith. On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships. In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest. YALSA Award for Excellence in Non-Fiction for Young Adults; Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book; National Book Award Finalist. For Grade 7 and up. Audiobook.

DB122085 The Unboxing of a Black Girl by Angela Shanté. Set in New York City in the '90s, Angela Shanté's poems and stories paint a mosaic of childhood that is shaped by the past and reverberates into the present. As Shanté navigates the city through memory, this timeless book illuminates the places where Black girls are nurtured or boxed in, through stories and poems about expectations, exploitation, love, loss, and self-realization. For senior high and older readers. Audiobook.

DB119832 Everyone's Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni. Within the walls of Wodebury Hall, a boarding school in the English countryside, reputation is everything. But aspiring photographer Iyanu is more comfortable observing things safely from behind her camera. For Iyanu's estranged cousin, Kitan, life seems perfect. She has money, beauty, and friends like queen bee Heather. But as a Nigerian girl in a school as white and insular as Wodebury, Kitan struggles with the personal sacrifices needed to keep her place and the protection she gets within the exclusive popular crowd. Then photos from Iyanu's camera are stolen and splashed across the school the week before the Valentine's Day Ball each with a juicy secret written on it. With everyone's dirty laundry suddenly out in the open, the school explodes in chaos, and the whispers accusing Iyanu of being the one behind it all start to feel like déjà vu. Each girl is desperate to unravel the mystery of who stole the photos and why. But exposing the truth will change them all forever. For senior high and older readers. Audiobook.

DB115751 A Long Time Coming: a Lyrical Biography of Race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama by Ray Anthony Shepard. 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 Americans since our country's founding. For Grade 7 and up. Audiobook.

DB117115 The Forest Demands its Due by Kosoko Jackson. When the murder of his classmate at an elite school seems to be forgotten overnight, seventeen-year-old Douglas must confront centuries of secrets in the school's past and a vengeful creature in the forest surrounding the campus. Regent Academy has a long and storied history in Winslow, Vermont, as does the forest that surrounds it. The school is known for molding teens into leaders, but its history is far more nefarious. Then a student is murdered-- and by the next day no one remember him having existed, except for student Douglas Jones and the groundskeeper's son, Everett Everley. Search for the truth, Douglas awakens a horror hidden within the forest: a vengeful creature seeking blood as payment for a debt more than 300 years in the making. For senior high and older readers. Audiobook.

DB113792 Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury. Told in alternating timelines, seventeen-year-old Daisy and her mother move into her deceased uncle's mansion, only to find horrors waiting inside, and ten years later, Brittney investigates the mystery behind the Miracle Mansion that turned her mother's life around. For senior high and older readers. Audiobook.