Read Black Eyed Susan Nominees & Social Justice Books this Summer!

What Should I Read Next ? http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/ Social Justice Books https://socialjusticebooks.org Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book Anne Arundel County Public Library : http://www.aacpl.net/book-recommendation Black Eyed Susan Book Award Nominees 2021-2022:

Realistic Fiction Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

Fantasy An instant New York Times bestseller! The first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction—from debut author Roseanne A. Brown.

Realistic Fiction Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

Historical Fiction The lives of fourteen Japanese-American teens are irrevocably changed, when their families are up- rooted from their neighborhoods and forced into internment camps during World War II. Facing hardship and racism, the teens band together to form a family bent on survival and longing for freedom.

Mystery As her senior capstone project, Pippa Fitz-Amobi is determined to find the real killer in a closed, local murder case, but not everyone wants her meddling in the past. An addictive must-read mystery with shades of Serial and Mak- ing a Murderer about an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you'll never expect.

Realistic Fiction Liz Lighty has always believed she's too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom- obsessed midwestern town. But it's okay -- Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber -elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen. Realistic Fiction Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, & he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian (half, his mom’s side) his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. He’s never really fit in at home, & he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn’t exactly help matters, & try- ing to explain his medication to grandparents only makes things harder. Adib Khorram’s brilliant debut is for anyone who’s ever felt not good enough—then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay. Fantasy Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world. Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light. An enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours. "1984 meets The Umbrella Academy with a pinch of Douglas Adams thrown in." —Gail Carriger, New York Times bestselling author

Realistic Fiction Growing up in foster care, Muir has lived in many houses. And if she's learned one thing, it is to Pack. Light. Carry only what fits in a suitcase. Toothbrush? Yes. Socks? Yes. Emotional attachment to friends? foster families? a boy- friend? Nope! There's no room for any additional baggage. Muir has just one year left before she ages out of the system. One year before she's free. One year to avoid anything--or anyone--that could get in her way. Then she meets Francine. And Kira. And Sean. And everything changes. Realistic Fiction Every autumn, seasonal best friends Deja and Josiah work in a pumpkin patch together, and every Halloween they say goodbye only to reunite the following September. This year, as they are both seniors, they know that this is the last goodbye. While Josiah has resigned himself to feeling melancholy, Deja decides they should go out with a bang by searching out Josiah's crush, the beautiful girl who works in the Fudge Shoppe.

Social Justice - Understanding Each Other

Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.

History texts often teach that the United States has made a straight line of progress toward Black equality. The reality is more complex: milestones like the end of slavery, school integration, and equal voting rights have all been met with racist legal and political maneuverings meant to limit that progress. We Are Not Yet Equal examines five of these moments: The end of the Civil War and Reconstruction; The Great Migration; the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Edu- cation decision; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965; the election of President Obama.

Punching the Air From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exoner- ated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. One of the most acclaimed YA novels of 2020, this New York Times and USA Today bestseller is a must-read for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

Going beyond the story of America as a country “discovered” by a few brave men in the “New World,” Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity. “This is the book I wish I’d had when I started teaching. An Indigenous Peoples’ His- tory of the United States for Young People represents a fundamental challenge to the textbooks that celebrate ‘liberty,’ ‘freedom,’ and the ‘rise of the American nation’ but fail to recognize the humanity—or often even the existence—of the Indigenous peoples who were here first, and are still here. Our students will see the history of this country much more clearly when we put Indigenous people’s lives at the center.” Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Young Readers Edition. From the acclaimed Ojibwe author and professor Anton Treuer comes an essential book of questions and answers for Native and non-Native young readers alike. Ranging from Why is there such a fuss about nonnative people wearing Indian costumes for Halloween? to Why is it called a 'traditional Indian fry bread taco'? to What's it like for natives who don't look native? to Why are Indians so often imagined rather than understood?, and beyond.

The term "Apple" is a slur in Native communities across the country. It's for someone supposedly "red on the outside, white on the inside." Eric Gansworth is telling his story in Apple (Skin to the Core). The story of his family, of Onondaga among Tuscaroras, of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds. Eric shatters that slur and reclaims it in verse and prose and imagery that truly lives up to the word heartbreaking.

The Distance Between Us Reyna Grande vividly brings to life her tumultuous early years in this "compelling . . . unvar- nished, resonant" (BookPage) story of a childhood spent torn between two parents and two countries. As her parents make the dangerous trek across the Mexican border to "El Otro Lado" (The Other Side) in pursuit of the American dream, Reyna and her siblings are forced into the already overburdened household of their stern grandmother. When their mother at last returns, Reyna prepares for her own journey to "El Otro Lado" to live with the man who has haunt- ed her imagination for years, her long-absent father.

The Far Away Brothers The inspiring true story of identical twin teenage brothers who escape El Salvador's violence to build new lives in California as undocumented immigrants--perfect for fans of Enrique's Journey and anyone interested in learning about the issues that underlie today's conversations about DACA and immigration reform. Ernesto and Raúl Flores are identical twins, used to being mistaken for each other. As seventeen-year-olds living in rural El Salvador, they are used to thinking that the United States is just a far-off dream. When Ernesto ends up on the wrong side of MS-13, one of El Salvador's brutal gangs, he flees the country for his own safety. Raúl, fearing that he will be mistaken for his brother, follows close behind.