Community Corner
Librarians Recommend Timely Books On Race, Justice
"Our staff and patrons are craving books and movies that enlighten and educate us on race and justice."
June 4, 2020
In these times of national protests our staff and patrons are craving books and movies that enlighten and educate us on race and justice. With that in mind we have created a list of staff recommendations for kids, teens, and adults that encourage critical thinking and conversation about race as well as a deeper understanding of systemic injustices experienced by Black Americans. The following titles are a starting place for transformation through exploring racism and inequity in fiction, fact, and film.
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Here at DPPL we strive to provide access to a broad collection that represents the diversity of our community and will work tirelessly to do our part to make our library, our community, and our world a place where all are welcome and treated with dignity and respect. Many of these titles are available digitally and print copies may be placed on hold for pickup when our carry-out services begins on June 15th.
For instant access to acclaimed documentaries like P.S. I Can't Breathe and Broken on All Sides, use your DPPL library card to access Kanopy's Social and Systemic Injustice Collection.
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Fiction | Grades 4-8
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut
by Derrick Barnes
Picture Book
The Day You Begin
by Jacqueline Woodson
El día en que descubres quién eres
by Jacqueline Woodson
Picture Book
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Front Desk
by Kelly Yang
Fiction | Grades 4-8
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Ghost Boys
by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Fiction | Grades 4-8
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
A Good Kind or Trouble
by Lisa Moore Ramee
Fiction | Grades 4-8
Happy in Our Skin
by Fran Manushkin
Picture Book
Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You
by Sonia Sotomayor
¡Solo pregunta! : sé diferente, sé valiente, sé tú
by Sonia Sotomayor
Picture Book
Last Stop on Market Street
by Matt de la Pena
Última parada de la calle Market
by Matt de la Pena
Picture Book
Overdrive ebook | Hoopla Streaming Video
Let it Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Nonfiction
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
by Vashti Harrison
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness
By Anastasia Higginbotham
Nonfiction
The Parker Inheritance
by Varian Johnson
Fiction | Grades 4-8
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Parker Looks Up
by Parker Curry and Jessica Curry
All American Boys
by Jason Reynolds
Fiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro
Fiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America by Ibi Zoboi, Tracey Baptiste, et al.
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Fiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon
Light it Up by Kekla Magoon
Fictio
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Nonfiction
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden
Nonfiction
Books for Adults
American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise by Eduardo Porter
Nonfiction
An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
Nonfiction
The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement by Matthew Horace
Nonfiction
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Citizen by Claudia Rankine
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones
Biography
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Hoopla ebook | Hoopla eaudiobook
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Nonfiction | Essays
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America By Ibram X. Kendi
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Asha Bandele and Patrisse Cullors
Nonfiction
Overdrive ebook | Overdrive eaudiobook
This press release was produced by the Des Plaines Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
