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Reading for Change: Antiracism Books: Adult Nonfiction

Reading for Changes — Recommended reading from Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association

  • Ewing, Eve L.
    1919
    Summary:The Chicago Race Riot of 1919, the most intense of the riots that comprised the "Red Summer" of violence across the nation’s cities, is an event that has shaped the last century but is widely unknown. In 1919, award-winning poet Eve L. Ewing explores the story of this event–which lasted eight days and resulted in thirty-eight deaths and almost 500 injuries–through poems recounting the stories of everyday people trying to survive and thrive in the city. Ewing uses speculative and Afrofuturist lenses to recast history, and illuminates the thin line between the past and the present.


  • Coates, Ta-Nehisi
    Between the world and me
    Summary:"For Ta-Nehisi Coates, history has always been personal. At every stage of his life, he’s sought in his explorations of history answers to the mysteries that surrounded him–most urgently, why he, and other black people he knew, seemed to live in fear … In [this book], Coates takes readers along on his journey through America’s history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings–moments when he discovered some new truth about our long, tangled history of race, whether through his myth-busting professors at Howard University, a trip to a Civil War battlefield with a rogue historian, a journey to Chicago’s South Side to visit aging survivors of 20th century America’s ‘long war on black people,’ or a visit with the mother of a beloved friend who was shot down by the police"– Provided by publisher.


  • Perry, Imani
    Breathe : a letter to my sons
    Summary:"Emotionally raw and deeply reflective, Imani Perry issues an unflinching challenge to society to see Black children as deserving of humanity. She admits fear and frustration for her African American sons in a society that is increasingly racist and at times seems irredeemable. However, as a mother, feminist, writer, and intellectual, Perry offers an unfettered expression of love–finding beauty and possibility in life–and she exhorts her children and their peers to find the courage to chart their own paths and find steady footing and inspiration in Black tradition. Perry draws upon the ideas of figures such as James Baldwin, W. E. B. DuBois, Emily Dickinson, Toni Morrison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Ida B. Wells. She shares vulnerabilities and insight from her own life and from encounters in places as varied as the West Side of Chicago; Birmingham, Alabama; and New England prep schools. Breathe offers a broader meditation on race, gender, and the meaning of a life well lived and is also an unforgettable lesson in Black resistance and resilience"–


  • Rankine, Claudia
    Citizen : an American lyric
    Summary:"Claudia Rankine’s bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV–everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come to bear on a person’s ability to speak, perform, and stay alive. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, Rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship. In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named ‘post-race’ society"–Publisher’s description.


  • Glaude, Eddie S., Jr.
    Democracy in black : how race still enslaves the American soul
    Summary:"A powerful polemic on the state of black America that savages the idea of a post-racial society America’s great promise of equality has always rung hollow in the ears of African Americans, but today the situation has grown even more dire. From the murders of black youth by the police, to the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, to the disaster visited upon poor and middle-class black families by the Great Recession, it is clear that black America faces an emergency–at the very moment the election of the first black president has prompted many to believe we’ve solved America’s race problem. Democracy in Black is Eddie S. Glaude Jr.’s impassioned response. Part manifesto, part history, part memoir, it argues that we live in a country founded on a "value gap"–with white lives valued more than others–that still distorts our politics today. Whether discussing why all Americans have racial habits that reinforce inequality, why black politics based on the civil-rights era have reached a dead end, or why only remaking democracy from the ground up can bring real change, Glaude crystallizes the untenable position of black America–and offers thoughts on a better way forward. Forceful in ideas and unsettling in its candor, Democracy In Black is a landmark book on race in America, one that promises to spark wide discussion as we move toward the end of our first black presidency"–


  • Prater, Loretta P.
    Excessive use of force : one mother’s struggle against police brutality and misconduct
    Summary:Police brutality and misconduct have been under the microscope for the last several years. Loretta Prater confronts the far-reaching consequences of police brutality through the personal case of her son, numerous examples of other cases, and a review of related research.


  • Kendi, Ibram X.
    How to be an antiracist
    Summary:""The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it — and then dismantle it." Ibram X. Kendi’s concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America — but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. In this book, Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to
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    Irish-American Heritage Month

    Irish-American Heritage Month — March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day and March is Irish-American Heritage Month. Here are some fiction and nonfiction ebooks and e-audiobooks about Ireland and the Irish from our OverDrive collection, which you can download or stream to you smartphone, tablet, Kindle or other device!

    How to Get a Library Card

    Any Massachusetts resident can register for a library card at any NOBLE library. Be sure to bring a photo ID, such as a current Massachusetts drivers’ license or Massachusetts State Identification Card with current address, or a photo ID plus proof of current residence.

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    Favorite Halloween Stories for Younger Children

  • Bridwell, Norman.
    Clifford’s Halloween
    Summary:Clifford is an enormous red dog who dressed as a ghost last Halloween. What will his costume be this year?


  • Bunting, Eve
    Scary, scary Halloween
    Summary:A band of trick-or-treaters and a mother cat and her kittens spend a very scary Halloween.


  • Capucilli, Alyssa Satin
    Happy Halloween, Biscuit!
    Summary:The yellow puppy and the little girl find a pumpkin, try on costumes, and go trick-or-treating on his first Halloween.


  • Carlson, Nancy L.
    Harriet’s Halloween candy
    Summary:Harriet learns the hard way that sharing her Halloween candy makes her feel much better than eating it all herself.


  • Hall, Zoe
    It’s pumpkin time!
    Summary:A sister and brother plant and tend their own pumpkin patch so they will have jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.


  • Hennessy, B. G.
    Corduroy’s Halloween
    Summary:Corduroy loves Halloween. Lift the flaps and share his holiday fun! Corduroy has lots to do to get ready. He visits the pumpkin patch and finds a perfect pumpkin. He goes to the store to get everything he needs for his Halloween costume. And he decorates the house and puts out treats for all the trick-or-treaters who will knock on his door. Join in the excitement of Halloween with this holiday tale perfect for even the youngest reader.


  • Hoban, Lillian.
    Arthur’s Halloween costume : story and pictures
    Summary:Arthur the chimpanzee, after worrying that his Halloween costume won’t be scary enough, wins a prize for the most original costume in the school.


  • Hubbell, Will.
    Pumpkin Jack
    Summary:In the course of one year, a jack-o-lantern, discarded after Halloween, decomposes in the backyard and eventually grows new pumpkins from its seeds.


  • Kline, Suzy.
    Horrible Harry at Halloween
    Summary:The students in Miss Mackle’s third-grade class enjoy a day of Halloween surprises, including Harry’s unusual costume.


  • London, Jonathan, 1947-
    Froggy’s Halloween
    Summary:Froggy tries to find just the right costume for Halloween and although his trick-or-treating does not go as he had planned, he enjoys himself anyway.


  • McCully, Emily Arnold.
    The grandmas trick-or-treat
    Summary:Pip’s two grandmothers, who cannot agree on anything, take Pip and her friends trick-or-treating on Halloween.


  • Pilkey, Dav
    The Hallo-wiener
    Summary:All the other dogs make fun of Oscar the dachshund until one Halloween when, dressed as a hot dog, Oscar bravely rescues the others.


  • Roberts, Bethany.
    Halloween mice!
    Summary:Mice whirling and skipping on Halloween night are threatened by an approaching cat, until they come up with a scary trick to defend themselves.


  • Schulz, Charles M.
    Happy Halloween, great pumpkin!
    Summary:Every year Linus tries to convince the Peanuts gang that the Great Pumpkin will rise up out of the pumpkin patch and bring gifts to children everywhere. Is this the year?–Cover.


  • Shaw, Nancy
    Sheep trick or treat
    Summary:When sheep dress up to go trick-or-treating at a nearby farm, their costumes scare away some wolves lurking in the woods.


  • Silverman, Erica.
    Big pumpkin
    Summary:A witch trying to pick a big pumpkin on Halloween discovers the value of cooperation when she gets help from a series of monsters.


  • Thompson, Lauren, 1962-
    Mouse’s first Halloween
    Summary:"One spooky night in the fall, Mouse creeps out and hears bats flying flit! flit! flit! and apples dropping plop! plop! plop! and children singing ‘trick or treat!’ What could it be?"


  • Watson, Wendy.
    Boo! It’s Halloween
    Summary:A family gets ready for Halloween, preparing costumes, making goodies for the school party, and carving jack-o’lanterns. Halloween jokes and rhymes are interspersed throughout the text.

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    Hispanic Heritage Month Chapter Books

    Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15 through October 15. Here are some recommended chapter books for elementary school that feature characters with a Hispanic heritage.

  • González, Sarai
    Sarai and the meaning of awesome
    Summary:"Fourth grader Sarai Gonzalez can do anything. She can bake, dance, and run her own cupcake business. But when Sarai’s grandparents are forced to move, even Sarai’s not sure what to do. So she hatches a super-awesome plan with her younger sisters and cousin to buy back the house. But houses are more expensive than she ever thought, her sisters won’t listen, and she’s running out of time. Will Sarai find a way to save the day?"


  • Cartaya, Pablo
    Marcus Vega doesn’t speak Spanish
    Summary:After a fight at school leaves Marcus facing suspension, Marcus’s mother takes him and his younger brother, who has Down syndrome, to Puerto Rico to visit relatives they do not remember or have never met, and while there Marcus starts searching for his father, who left their family ten years ago and is somewhere on the island.


  • Salazar, Aida
    The moon within
    Summary:"Eleven-year-old (nearly twelve) Celi Rivera, who is a mix of Black-Puerto Rican-Indigenous Mexican is secretive about her approaching period, and the changes that are happening to her body; she is horrified that her mother wants to hold a traditional public moon ceremony to celebrate the occasion; she must choose loyalty to her life-long best friend who is contemplating an even more profound change of life or the boy she likes"


  • Blas, Terry
    Hotel dare
    Summary:"Olive and her adopted siblings, Darwin and Charlotte, are spending the summer with their estranged grandma at her creepy hotel and it’s all work and no play. They’re stuck inside doing boring chores but they soon stumble upon an incredible secret… The simple turn of a knob transports them to a distant magical world filled with space pirates. Behind the next door are bearded wizards. Down the hall is a doorway to a cotton-candied kingdom. But once the doors are opened, worlds start colliding, and only one family can save them before they tear themselves apart."


  • Torres, Jennifer
    Flor and Miranda steal the show
    Summary:"When Flor finds out that Miranda and her band could potentially put her family’s petting zoo out of business, she forms a plan to keep Miranda from an important performance that night"


  • Meriano, Anna
    A dash of trouble
    Summary:Wanting to be a part of her family’s Dia de los Muertos preparations, Leonora sneaks out of school to discover her mother, aunt, and older sisters have been keeping a secret.


  • López, Diana
    Nothing up my sleeve
    Summary:When best friends Dominic, Loop, and Z stumble upon the new magic shop in town, they know just how they will spend their summer vacation–mastering cool tricks so they can gain further access into the secret world of magic.


  • Engle, Margarita
    Forest world
    Summary:Sent to Cuba to visit the father he barely knows, Edver is surprised to meet a half-sister, Luza, whose plan to lure their cryptozoologist mother into coming there, too, turns dangerous.

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    Back to School!

    Back to school book jackets

    Here are some books for kids going back to school — or maybe going to school for the very first time!

    Recommended Reading for D-Day

    On June 6, 1944, the Allied invasion of Western Europe began when more than 160,000 Allied troops under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower landed along the heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy.

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    NOBLE Book Awards 2018: Children’s Fiction

    First place

    Reynolds, Jason
    Sunny
    Sunny, the Defenders’ best runner, only runs for his father, who blames Sunny for his mother’s death, but with his coach’s help Sunny finds a way to combine track and field with his true passion, dancing.

    Runners-up

    DiCamillo, Kate
    Louisiana’s way home
    When Louisiana Elefante’s granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn’t overly worried. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return. Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana’s life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town — including a surly motel owner, a walrus-like minister, and a mysterious boy with a crow on his shoulder — she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana’s and Granny’s heads. But that is a story for another time.) — from Amazon.
    Yang, Kelly
    Front desk
    Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang’s parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants–not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade class, the other being Mr. Yao’s son, Jason.

    Other nominees

    Brown, Peter
    The wild robot escapes
    Summary:After being captured by the Recons and returned to civilization for reprogramming, Roz is sent to Hilltop Farm where she befriends her owner’s family and animals, but pines for her son, Brightbill.


    Chokshi, Roshani
    Aru Shah and the end of time
    Summary:Twelve-year-old Aru stretches the truth to fit in at her private school, but when she is dared to prove an ancient lamp is cursed, she inadvertently frees an ancient demon.


    Hiranandani, Veera
    The night diary
    Summary:Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her diary.


    Medina, Meg
    Merci Suárez changes gears
    Summary:Merci Suárez begins the sixth grade and knows things will change, but she did not count on her grandfather acting strangely, not fitting in at her private school, and dealing with Edna Santos’ jealousy.


    Rhodes, Jewell Parker
    Ghost boys
    Summary:"After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a white police officer, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till"–


    Schwab, Victoria
    City of ghosts
    Summary:Ever since her near-fatal drowning, Cassidy has been able to pull back the "Veil" that separates the living from the dead and see ghosts, not that she wants to, and she was really looking forward to a ghost-free summer at the beach; however her parents are going to start filming a TV series about the world’s most haunted places, starting with Edinburgh with its graveyards, castles, and restless phantoms–and Cass and her personal ghost companion, Jacob, are about to find out that a city of old ghosts can be a very dangerous place indeed.

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    NOBLE Book Awards 2018: Children’s Nonfiction

    First place

    Lee Shetterly, Margot
    Hidden figures : the untold true story of four African-American women who helped launch our nation into space
    Before John Glenn orbited the Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as "Human Computers," calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws, these "colored computers," as they were known, used slide rules, adding machines, and pencil and paper to support America’s fledgling aeronautics industry, and helped write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Drawing on the oral histories of scores of these "computers," personal recollections, interviews with NASA executives and engineers, archival documents, correspondence, and reporting from the era, Hidden Figures recalls America’s greatest adventure and NASA’s groundbreaking successes through the experiences of five spunky, courageous, intelligent, determined, and patriotic women: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, Christine Darden, and Gloria Champine. Moving from World War II through NASA’s golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the women’s rights movement, Hidden Figures interweaves a history of scientific achievement and technological innovation with the intimate stories of five women whose work forever changed the world — and whose lives show how out of one of America’s most painful histories came one of its proudest moments.

    Runners-up

    Morales, Yuyi
    Dreamers
    "An illustrated picture book autobiography in which award-winning author Yuyi Morales tells her own immigration story"–
    Rockliff, Mara
    Lights!, camera!, Alice! : the thrilling true adventures of the first woman filmmaker
    Meet Alice Guy-Blaché. She made movies–some of the very first movies, and some of the most exciting! Blow up a pirate ship? Why not? Crawl into a tiger’s cage? Of course! Leap off a bridge onto a real speeding train? It will be easy! Driven by her passion for storytelling, Alice saw a potential for film that others had not seen before, allowing her to develop new narratives, new camera angles, new techniques, and to surprise her audiences again and again. With daring and vision, Alice Guy-Blaché introduced the world to a thrilling frontier of imagination and adventure, and became one of filmmaking’s first and greatest innovators.

    Other nominees

    Bolden, Tonya
    No small potatoes : Junius G. Groves and his kingdom in Kansas
    Summary:"The life of Junius G. Groves, a sharecropper in Kansas who grew a modest potato farm into a potato kingdom."–


    Higginbotham, Anastasia
    Not my idea : a book about whiteness
    Summary:A young white girl, with the help of her mother, struggles to understand the whys and hows of racism and white supremecy and its long history in the United States, as well as the efforts to combat it.


    Hockney, David
    A history of pictures for children : from cave paintings to computer drawings
    Summary:A History of Pictures takes young readers on an adventure through art history. From cave paintings to video games, this book shows how and why pictures have been made, linking art to the human experience. Hockney and Gayford explain each piece of art in the book, helping young minds to grasp difficult concepts. The book tracks the many twists and turns toward artistic invention, allowing readers to fully appreciate how and why art has changed and includes an illustrated timeline of inventions. All new illustrations by Rose Blake add a personal perspective on a wide variety of images. A History of Pictures will inspire creative minds and help them to understand the legacy of the pictures we see today.


    Veirs, Laura
    Libba : the magnificent musical life of Elizabeth Cotten
    Summary:Elizabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn’t hers (it was her big brother’s), and it wasn’t strung right for her (she was left-handed). But she flipped that guitar upside down and backwards and taught herself how to play it anyway. By age eleven, she’d written "Freight Train," one of the most famous folk songs of the twentieth century. And by the end of her life, people everywhere from the sunny beaches of California to the rolling hills of England knew her music.

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    NOBLE Book Awards 2018: Children’s Graphic Novels

    First place
    Simpson, Dana
    Unicorn of many hats : another Phoebe and her unicorn advenures
    Phoebe and her exceptional hooved pal are back in this all-new collection of comics! Laugh alongside the lovable duo as they question the idea of "coolness," gain a deeper appreciation for the power of friendship, and put off summer reading assignments for as long as physically possible.

    Runners-up

    Pilkey, Dav
    Dog Man : lord of the fleas
    When a new bunch of baddies bust up the town, Dog Man is called into action — and this time he isn’t alone. With a cute kitten and a remarkable robot by his side, our heroes must save the day by joining forces with an unlikely ally: Petey, the World’s Most Evil Cat. But can the villainous Petey avoid vengeance and venture into virtue?
    Selznick, Brian
    Baby Monkey, private eye
    Baby Monkey, private eye, will investigate stolen jewels, missing pizzas, and other mysteries–if he can manage to figure out how to put his pants on.

    Other nominee

    Sell, Chad
    The cardboard kingdom
    Summary:Welcome to a neighborhood of kids who transform ordinary boxes into colorful costumes. and their ordinary block into cardboard kingdom. This is the summer when sixteen kids encounter knights and rogues, robots and monsters-and their own inner demons-on one last quest before school starts again. In the Cardboard Kingdom, you can be anything you want to be-imagine that–Provided by publisher.,Follows the adventures of a group of neighborhood children who make costumes from cardboard and use their imagination to create adventures with knights, robots, and monsters.

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