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Makes Me Wanna Holler:
African-American Lit for Teens
CONTEMPORARY FICTION:
Blue Star Rapture
Bennett, James (YA BENNETT)
“Politics is when you can manipulate systems to your own benefit. It’s how you get power.”
Parable of the Sower
Butler, Octavia (YA BUTLER)
After an apocalypse, a teenage prophet leads a desperate band to promises of new life.
Born in Sin
Coleman, Evelyn (YA COLMAN)
Despite serious setbacks, Keisha strives to pursue her dreams of becoming a doctor and winning Olympic gold.
Whale Talk
Crutcher, Chris (YA CRUTCHER)
There’s good & bad news about the CHS swim team. The bad: no pool. The good: one of them can swim.
Milk in My Coffee
Dickey, Eric Jerome (FIC DICKEY)
Jordan’s new life is going great—until he meets the woman who makes his heart race...and she’s white.
Bucking the Sarge
Curtis, Christopher Paul (YA CURTIS)
Luther’s just one of many people trapped in the Sarge’s Evil Empire—and he’s about to bust out, with the help of Sparky, Poofy, & the world’s scariest rat.
Romiette & Julio
Draper, Sharon (YA DRAPER)
Cyberspace brought them together. Will gangs, friends & family tear them apart?
 Tears of a Tiger
Draper, Sharon (YA DRAPER)
How do you go on, when you caused the death of your best friend?
Living Blood
Due, Tananarive (FIC DUE) Fana’s blood fulfills a thousand-year-old legacy, but there are those who will stop at nothing to exploit her power.
Money Hungry
Flake, Sharon (YA FLAKE)
“If you got money, people can't take stuff from you--not your house, or your ride, not your family.”
Who Am I Without Him?
Flake, Sharon (YA FLAKE)
10 short stories about girls & the boys in their lives.
Bronx Masquerade
Grimes, Nikki (YA GRIMES)
“Wish there was some future to talk about. I could use me some future.”
My Fine Lady
Joe, Yolanda (FIC JOE)
Imani’s dream includes rap stardom & life with Taz, but there are others who have different plans for her future.
First Part Last
Johnson, Angela (YA JOHNSON)
Everyone’s telling Bobby that the best thing to do is give up his baby—so why does it seem like the worst thing?
Heaven
Johnson, Angela (YA JOHNSON)
When the truth comes out, Marley doesn’t know who she is anymore & can only turn to the family she no longer trusts to find out.
When Dad Killed Mom
Lester, Julius (YA LESTER)
Your mom’s dead. Shot. By your dad. Now what?
Twists and Turns
McDonald, Janet (YA MCDONALD)
2 sisters’ success with their new hair salon seems solid...until a jealous rival, a greedy landlord & a scheming politician get in the way.
Waiting to Exhale
McMillan, Terry (FIC MCMILLAN)
4 friends rely on each other for support while they search for Mr. Right.
Payton Skky series
Staying Pure, Sober Faith, etc.
Moore, Stephanie Perry (YA MOORE)
Payton struggles to find her place in the world while keeping true to her faith.
Babylon Boyz
Mowry, Jess (YA MOWRY)
A found suitcase full of coke. Do you destroy it? Or let it make you rich, while destroying your community?
Monster
Myers, Walter Dean (YA MYERS)
Steve Harmon’s in jail, maybe forever. He’s on trial for murder. And he’s only 16.
Slam
Myers, Walter Dean (YA MYERS)
Slam can do it all on the court, so why does he keep shooting air balls with his life?
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Packer, Z.Z. (FIC PACKER)
“By our second day at Camp Crescendo, the girls in my brownie troop had decided to kick the asses of each & every girl in Brownie Troop 909.” 8 stories by the author.
Imani All Mine
Porter, Connie (YA PORTER)
“I ain’t told Peanut about the baby yet. I am going to look him right in his eyes. I want to see if that’s the way he’ll look at me.”
The Coldest Winter Ever
Souljah, Sister (FIC SOULJAH)
Her daddy’s Brooklyn’s top drug dealer, and she doesn’t take no for an answer. But will living the wild life give her what she really needs or get her killed?
Another Way to Dance
Southgate, Martha (YA SOUTHGATE)
The real world is bigger than a stage.
Flyy Girl
Tyree, Omar (FIC TYREE)
Tracy loves living fast & loose, until heartbreak makes her examine her values & her future.
Broken China
Williams, Lori Aurelia (YA WILLIAMS)
China’s trying to do right by her daughter, but the only place in town willing to hire a 14-year-old dropout is the strip club.
Like Sisters on the Homefront
Williams-Garcia, Rita (YA WILLIAMS)
Gayle is pregnant. Again. The first time, she kept it. This time, she’s got a one-way ticket to stay with family she’s never met.
Hush
Woodson, Jacqueline (YA WOODSON)
When someone takes your past away, who do you become?
If You Come Softly
Woodson, Jacqueline (YA WOODSON)
Jeremiah’s not looking forward to his new, mostly-white school, until he meets Ellie. When their eyes lock, they know they’re meant to be together. But not everyone agrees.
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HISTORICAL FICTION:
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Baldwin, James (FIC BALDWIN)
“He had read about colored men being burned in the electric chair for things they had not done.”
Kindred
Butler, Octavia (YA BUTLER)
She had to go back in time & save a white slave owner to save her own life.
Mississippi Trial, 1955
Crowe, Chris (YA CROWE)
Emmett, 14, whistles at a white woman & is murdered for it. Will justice be served?
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963
Curtis, Christopher Paul (YA CURTIS)
“And you wonder why we get called the Weird Watsons?”
Invisible Man
Ellison, Ralph (YA ELLISON)
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
A Lesson Before Dying
Gaines, Ernst (FIC GAINES)
“I was not there, but I was there. No, I did not go to the trial, I did not hear the verdict, because I knew all the time what it would be….”
 Their Eyes Were Watching God
Hurston, Zora Neale (YA HURSTON)
Janie sets out to be her own person, through 3 marriages & the close scrutiny of her 1930’s town.
Letters From a Slave Girl
Lyons, Mary (YA LYONS)
Can Harriet create her own life within the bounds of slavery?
The Bluest Eye
Morrison, Toni (FIC MORRISON)
A little black girl yearns for the blue eyes of a little white girl.
Nightjohn
Paulsen, Gary (YA PAULSEN)
“For us to know things, is bad for them. They thinks we want what they got . . . . That’s why they don’t want us to read.”
Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons
Rinaldi, Ann (YA RINALDI)
“Phyllis” is kidnapped & sold into slavery, but when her “owners” discover her talent for poetry, her life completely changes.
Wolf By the Ears
Rinaldi, Ann (YA RINALDI)
Harriet, daughter of Thomas Jefferson & his slave, Sally Hemings, must choose whether or not to pass as “white.”
The Land
Taylor, Mildred Pitts (YA TAYLOR)
Owning good land in the 1800’s is easy—unless you’re a young black man.
The Color Purple
Walker, Alice (YA WALKER)
“She ugly. But she ain’t no stranger to hard work. And she clean.”
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NON-FICTION:
Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America
McCall, Nathan (305.35 MCC 1994)
Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter
Hirsch, James (364.1523 HIR 2000)
The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise & Fulfill a Dream
Sampson Davis, et al (610.922 DAV)
E.A.R.L.: Autobiography of DMX
DMX (782.4216 SIM)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Angelou, Maya (921 ANGELOU)
Finding Fish: A Memoir
Fisher, Antwone Q. (921 FISHER)
Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High
Beals, Melba (J 921 BEALS)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
X, Malcolm (921 X)
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