Author: FINDER, SYDNEY

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Call #: 305.8 COA) NONFICTION
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
______________________________________________
The 57 bus by Dashka Slater
(Call #: 920 SLA) NONFICTION
If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.
_______________________________________________
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (Call #: B ERL) BIOGRAPHY
The devastating story of war through the eyes of a child soldier, Beah tells how, at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and became a soldier.
_______________________________________________
Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum (Call #: B ERL) BIOGRAPHY
At fifteen, sick of her unbearable and increasingly dangerous home life, Janice Erlbaum walked out of her family’s Brooklyn apartment and didn’t look back. From her first frightening night at a shelter, Janice knew she was in over her head. She was beaten up, shaken down, and nearly stabbed by a pregnant girl, but it was still better than living at home.
_______________________________________________
American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
(Call #: GN GEN) Graphic Novel
A graphic novel which examines issues of self-image, cultural identity, transformation, and self acceptance as Jin Wang moves with his family from Chinatown to an upper class suburb in San Francisco.

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen –Year Old Boy With Autism by Naokia Higashida
(Call #: B HIG) BIOGRAPHY
Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism It is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Parents and family members who never thought they could get inside the head of their autistic loved one, at last, have a way to break through to the curious, subtle, and complex life within.
__________________________________________________
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang (Call #: B JIA) BIOGRAPHY
Ji-li's deeply moving story should be on the shelf of every person's library. Her courage in the face of adversity and her steadfast loyalty to her family are truly inspirational for young and old alike.
__________________________________________________
My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young Woman’s Story by Hachemi Latifa
(Call # : B LAT) BIOGRAPHY
My Forbidden Face provides a moving and highly personal account of life under the Taliban regime. With painful honesty and clarity, Latifa describes her ordered world falling apart, in the name of a fanaticism that she could not comprehend, and replaced by a world where terror and oppression reigned.
__________________________________________________
The Other WesMoore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore (Call #: B MOO) BIOGRAPHY
Two kids with the same name lived in the same decaying city. One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation.
__________________________________________________
Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (Call #: B NOA) BIOGRAPHY
The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime New York Times bestseller about one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.
__________________________________________________
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
(Call #: FIC STO) REALISTIC
Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face the reality of race relations today and how they are shaping him.
__________________________________________________
Odd One Out by Nic Stone
(Call #: FIC STO) REALISTIC
High school juniors and best friends Courtney and Jupe, and new sophomore Ray, explore their budding attraction for one another.

READ WOKE
Book List

What is READ WOKE?
“It’s a feeling. A form of education. A call to action, and our right as lifelong learners, It means arming yourself with knowledge to better protect your rights. Learning about others so you treat people with respect and dignity, no matter their religion, race, creed, size, gender or color.”
A Woke Book:
Challenges a social norm
Gives voice to the voiceless
Provides information about a group that has been disenfranchised
Seeks to challenge the status quo
Has a protagonist from an underrepresented or oppressed group

Coined by the Meadowcreek Media Specialist, Cicely Lewis

Look Me In The Eye: My Life With Aspergers by Robison John Elder (B ROB) BIOGRAPHY
Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Americanized: Rebel Without A Green Card by Sara Saedi (Call # : B SAE) BIOGRAPHY
At thirteen, bright-eyed, straight-A student Sara Saedi uncovered a terrible family secret: she was breaking the law simply by living in the United States. Only two years old when her parents fled Iran, she didn’t learn of her undocumented status until her older sister wanted to apply for an after-school job, but couldn’t because she didn’t have a Social Security number.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight For Justice by Bryan Stevenson (Call B STE) BIOGRAPHY
In this young adult adaptation of the acclaimed bestselling Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson delves deep into the broken U.S. justice system, detailing from his personal experience his many challenges and efforts as a lawyer and social advocate, especially on behalf of America's most rejected and marginalized people.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Brown Girl Dreaming by Woodson, Jacqueline
(Call #: B WOO) BIOGRAPHY
Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel–Fattah (Call #: FIC ABD) REALISTIC
Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full-time and everyone has a reaction including her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard
(Call #: FIC GIR) REALISTIC
All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she’s always been. So why does everyone have a problem with it? They think the way she looks and acts means she’s trying to be a boy.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
by Alexie, Sherman (Call # : FIC ALE) HUMOR
Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Americanah by Ngozi Adichie
(Call #: FIC ADI) REALISTIC
Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena
(Call #: FIC DEL) SPORTS
Danny's tall and skinny. Even though he’s not built, his arms are long enough to give his pitch a power so fierce any college scout would sign him on the spot. He’s got a ninety-five mile an hour fastball, but the boy’s not even on a team. Every time he gets up on the mound he loses it.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
None of the Above by I. W. Gregorion
(Call #: FIC GRE) REALISTIC
Homecoming queen Kristin Lattimer has a hard enough time dealing with her body, but her visit to the doctor reveals a difficult truth. Kristin is intersex, which means that though she looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy "parts" and after her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, her identity is thrown into question.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
(Call #: FIC ITU) HISTORICAL
Follows the true story of Dita Kraus, a fourteen-year-old girl from Prague who after being sent to Auschwitz is chosen to protect the eight volumes of books prisoners have smuggled past the guards.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Border by Schafer Steve
(Call #: FIC SCH) HISTORICAL
After the slaughter of their families in Northern Mexico, teens Pato, Arbo, Marcos, and Gladys narrowly escape into the Sonoran Desert, pursued by the La Frontera gang.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Never Fall Down: A Boy Soldier’s Story of Survival by Patricia McCormick
(Call #: FIC MCC) HISTORICAL
Cambodian child soldier Arn Chorn-Pond defied the odds and used all of his courage and wits to survive the murderous regime of the Khmer Rouge.

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
(Call #: FIC REY) REALISTIC
When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. The story is told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
(Call #: FIC SAE) REALISTIC
Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez (Call #: FIC SAN) REALISTIC
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college, and they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
(Call #: FIC MAG) REALISTIC
When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
(Call #: FIC VOL) REALISTIC
After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson
(Call #: FIC WAT) REALISTIC
Tired of being singled out at her mostly-white private school as someone who needs support, high school junior Jade would rather participate in the school's amazing Study Abroad program than join Women to Women, a mentorship program for at-risk girls.