Black Lives Matter Teen Booklist mostly published in 2019 - mid 2020 ​

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown ​ Echo Brown is a wizard from the East Side, where apartments are small and parents suffer addictions to the white rocks. Yet there is magic . . . everywhere. New portals begin to open when Echo transfers to the rich school on the West Side, and an insightful teacher becomes a pivotal mentor. (book, Overdrive ​ ​ ​ e-book) ​

Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles ​ When Marvin Johnson's twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless fun turns into a shooting, followed by a police raid. The next day, ​ ​ Tyler has gone missing, and it's up to Marvin to find him. (book, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive audiobook) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Color Me In by Natasha Diaz ​ Growing up in an affluent suburb of New York City, sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never thought much about her biracial roots. When her Black mom and Jewish dad split up, she relocates to her mom's family home in Harlem and is forced to confront her identity for the first time. (book, Overdrive e-book) ​ ​ ​ ​

Say Her Name by Zetta Elliot ​ Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists insisting that . (book) ​ ​

Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson ​ Three Brooklyn teens plot to turn their murdered friend into a major rap star by pretending he is still alive. (book, audiobook, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive audiobook) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberley Jones and Gilly Segal ​ Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she’s going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school. When both girls attend the Friday-night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together. (book, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive audiobook, Hoopla e-book) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon ​ When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white. In the aftermath of Tariq's death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up. Day by day, new twists further obscure the truth. (book, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive audiobook) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Slay by Brittney Morris ​ Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. When a teen is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. (book, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive audiobook) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow ​ Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Nevermind she's also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. (book, Overdrive ebook) ​ ​ ​ ​

Watertown Free Public Library 1 Black Lives Matter Teen Booklist mostly published in 2019 - mid 2020 ​

Who Put this Song On? by Morgan Parker ​ Trapped in sunny, stifling, small-town suburbia, seventeen-year-old Morgan knows why she’s in therapy. She can’t count the number of times she’s been the only non-white person at the sleepover, been teased for her “weird” outfits, and been told she’s not “really” black. Also, she’s spent most of her summer crying in bed. So there’s that, too. (book, Overdrive e-book) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

All American Boys by ​ Rashad and Quinn—one black, one white, both American—face the unspeakable truth that racism and prejudice didn’t die after the civil rights movement. There’s a future at stake, a future where no one else will have to be absent because of police brutality. They just have to risk everything to change the world. (book, audiobook, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive audiobook) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Dear Martin by ​ Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. (book, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ audiobook) ​

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas ​ Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it. (book, audiobook, Overdrive e-book, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Overdrive audiobook, Hoopla audiobook) ​ ​ ​

Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams ​ This is the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who is filled with self-loathing and must overcome internalized racism and a verbally abusive family to finally learn to love herself. (book, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ audiobook) ​

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America edited by Ibi Zoboi ​ An anthology that delves into the closeted thoughts, hidden experiences, and daily struggles of black teens across the country. (book, audiobook, Overdrive e-book, Overdrive audiobook, Hoopla audiobook) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

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