Summer Reading Recommendations
This summer has brought an explosion of demand for books written by Black authors, and it has been reported that Black-owned bookstores are already experiencing record sales for June. For Americans looking to educate themselves on the Black experience, it can be tough to know where to start. One way to think about it would be to ask yourself these 2 questions: What do you want to learn about? and... How do you learn best? For this roundup of award-winning authors and directors, look to these 10 categories to help narrow down the type of content that suits you best. From poetry, to novels, to reading appropriate for young adults, all recommendations are chosen for this issue to further our understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Contemporary Novels
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Autobiography
Becoming by Michelle Obama
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Classics
Collected Essays by James Baldwin
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Poetry
The Complete Poetry by Maya Angelou
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Louisiana Authors
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
The Tradition by Jericho Brown
*Won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Young-Adult Friendly
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Young-Adult adaptation plus a feature film version available
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Young-Adult adaptation available
Documentary
13th directed by Ava DuVernay, Netflix
I am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin, directed by Raoul Peck and narrated by Samuel L. Jackson
How did we get here, America?
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones
*Won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Read online at nytimes.com, or listen to the podcast series. Episode 5, parts 1 and 2 highlight the struggles of a Black farming family from New Iberia, Louisiana
Podcast Series
Code Switch
The United States of Anxiety
Nonfiction
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
