African American Young Adult

Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.

If Cotton Could Talk," is a civil war era historical fiction novel about 19th-century slave life in the South. You will be introduced to a cast of characters; Black mothers and fathers who are fearless, smart, and devoted to family and justice. Heroes and heroines whose leadership gave enslaved people hope. But before freedom comes, they must survive other slaves who prove to be untrustworthy. At the same time ruthless, hostile, hateful men are determined to keep the status quo. Pre-Civil War, 1850, enslaved people could sense that their lives were going to change. Slaves reasoned that they...

Eleven-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern travel to Oakland to meet their mother, Cecil, who abandoned their family years earlier. But even when Cecil gets them to her house, she shows no interest and seems to view them as nothing but a nuisance.

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 Black Lives Matter. Elliott engages poets from the past two centuries to create a chorus of voices celebrating the creativity, resilience, and courage of Black women and girls.

She's the only sister in a family of alpha males. Loved, treasured, and sheltered by her brothers, Kat McClain is working to heal the pain of a failed marriage to a man she loved from her teenage years and move on with her life, but she's a woman; she has needs, and she's understandably lonely. Tommy Kirby has protected her brother since he was barely a man and has been a silent staple in the McClain family for just as long. He loves his job, his life, and is loyal to his employer. More than anything, he wants a family of his own. Perhaps these two are exactly what the other desires.

In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, Renée Watson writes about her experience growing up as a young Black girl at the intersections of race, class, and gender. Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to free verse, Watson shares recollections of her childhood in Portland, tender odes to the Black women in her life, and urgent calls for Black girls to step into their power.

After Promise’s mother dies in a tragic car accident, it leaves a void in Promise’s life that she is yearning to fill. This titular novel finds Promise spiraling into a life of crime and drug affiliation by the company she chooses to keep. Also coping with abandonment and a lifelong broken commitment from her biological father, Promise ultimately has two goals: to graduate from high school and to be loved.

During the civil rights movement, the state of Mississippi created an elaborate spy network. Its mission was to preserve segregation by any means necessary—including voter interference, sponsorship of white supremacy groups, and even murder.

In this fascinating tale set in 1919, the Thomas family leaves New Orleans for Chicago as part of the Great Migration, seeking equality denied in the South. They are confident and optimistic. But hope is extinguished when they are met by 6,000 National Guard troops deployed to quell an earlier race riot. Linda and Ben prepare their nephew Trey to lead the family through the treacherous landscape of a big city plagued by segregation, police violence, and corruption. Is he ready? They devise a risky plan to challenge real estate covenants banning Blacks from buying homes in white ...

TIERRA … TWON … HYPE … SHANEECE … QUAID … FRIENDS, ENEMIES, OR BOTH? Tierra and Twon are the perfect high school couple, together two years with a rock solid relationship built on friendship and love. Twon wants to take it to the next level, but Tierra is struggling with her desire to please him and her need to stay true to a commitment she’s made to herself. In the middle of this walks Shaneece, the new girl from Connecticut who knows an opportunity when she sees one. She’s ready to take care of Twon’s needs despite her friendship with Tierra, but a delicious bad boy named ...

Andre Anderson is a Black teenager with a dream. Although he loves to play basketball and laugh with his friends, he also loves to write and wants to make his mark on the world. One summer when he is assigned to do a magazine article about race, he creates a passionate and explosive piece. Soon, he is the target of racists who brutally attack him, putting him in the hospital. With his hand and dream broken, he must figure out how to put his life back together in spite of the anger and injustice he now sees around him.

Who is the father of Shaneece's baby, and what's going to happen when the results are revealed? Hype is consumed with shock and guilt over his recently murdered cousin. He desperately needs to escape. If the results confirm he’s the father, it might push him over the edge. Twon's future is riding on these results too. He feels like he’s ready to move forward with Shaneece, but if he's not the father, do they have what it takes to make it? Shaneece wants to be a good mother, but underlying issues are threatening her focus. Can Shaneece push past her pain, or will her problems overtake ...

Eulan- has raised his niece ever since the death of her parents. He's trained her in the way of their people, the Ohrs, from the planet, Arets Yesna, even though they are stationed on earth. Now, nearly ten years later, he knows she is closer than ever to starting her work, as a protector. Knowing this, he tries to prepare himself to let her go when she is called. Will he be able to let her go out on her own? Or will he be pulled into something bigger in order to help her complete her mission? Echo- has waited impatiently for years to be summoned to do what it is she has trained for all of ...

Jeremiah feels good inside his own skin. That is, when he's in his own Brooklyn neighborhood. But now he's going to be attending a fancy prep school in Manhattan, and black teenage boys don't exactly fit in there. So it's a surprise when he meets Ellie the first week of school. In one frozen moment their eyes lock, and after that they know they fit together - even though she's Jewish and he's black.

Beautiful, powerful, successful, and the daughter of a billionaire, there’s nothing Tierra wouldn’t do for her family. Her family, especially her father, are the people she loves most in the world. Tierra knows that she can be overprotective and overbearing at times, but hey, she has learned that’s what it takes to get what you want in this life. But when her father’s health starts declining, Tierra isn’t sure what to do for the first time. Her father’s regular doctor is unavailable and the new doctor, Carter, makes her feel things she would rather not think about. Sure, he is ...

It is 1937, and Laura Ann Langston lives in an America divided—between those who work the mystical arts and those who do not. Ever since the Great Rust, a catastrophic event that blighted the arcane force called the Dynamism and threw America into disarray, the country has been rebuilding for a better future. And everyone knows the future is industry and technology—otherwise known as Mechomancy—not the traditional mystical arts.

Sixteen-year-old Bethany Greene, though confident and self-assured, is what they call a late-bloomer. She’s never had a boyfriend, date, or first kiss. She’s determined to change that but after her crush turns her down cold for Homecoming—declaring her too inexperienced—and all her back-up ideas fall through, she cautiously agrees to go with her best friend’s boyfriend Jacob. A platonic date is better than no date, right? Until Saylor breaks up with said boyfriend.

Trigger Warning: This book contains very serious situations that are encountered by its characters. Many of these situations may be triggering and/or traumatic for readers who have experienced similar situations. Please be advised before reading this novel. WHAT. HAPPENED. TO TWON??? Readers were left in suspense with the first book in this series, When Things Go Left. Everyone is reeling after Twon's split decision. The story jumps right into action with everyone finding out what happened... Will Twon make it? Or will he succumb to his pain? Hype is faced with decision after decision. ...

Seventeen year old Anastasia Francois became a ward of the state when she was only 4 years old, after her mother murdered her father in a psychotic rage. Spending most of her life in foster care, Tasia, as she prefers to be called, learned to take care of herself— that is, aside from the mysterious headaches and blackouts that result in her waking up in the aftermath of fire and ashes on occasion. When an unfortunate incident beyond her control leaves Tasia out in the cold, she has no choice but to pack up and leave for Louisiana to live with the only biological family she has left, ...

The last installment of A New Jersey Love Story Heirs to the Throne, left everyone on the edge of their seats with a shooting that shook the entire family. Sixteen-year-old Pryce is left to fight for her life after the wife of the man she’s been seeing, decided to make her pay for her sins. With the entire family by her side, praying for the best, things are about to get worse for the Knight and Jones families. In part one, Rhyes has given Malachi the ultimatum to choose between her and Princess. Unable to choose because both girls who possess something that he enjoys, Rhyes throws in the...