Books give much needed insight...

Between Spring Break and Covid-19 (still happening) I've been doing some reading which is not something new for me but my book numbers have definitely increased. Reading books by Black authors has always been important to me. It's like traveling or meeting new people; I appreciate learning and understanding about culture, people and places.

I prefer fiction and have learned from books like Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds. I am appreciative of  Jacqueline Woodson, Renee Watson, Angie Thomas, Aisha Saeed, Sharon M. Draper,  Nic Stone, and Hena Khan. Mildred D. Taylor is one of my favorite authors with her Logan family series about life in segregated Mississippi. All have enlightening me on their own race experiences through fiction. There is one scene in Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen that helped me feel what it was like to be approached by an officer.  I could feel her fear.  Me reading that in no way gives me the real experience yet it gave me a huge sense of the negative adrenaline rush if your driving while Black.

I am reading How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi and I find it interesting to learn about the history of racism and I'm waiting on White Fragility by Robin J. DiAngelo from the library. I want to read I'm judging you by Luvvie Ajayi. Non-fiction takes me forever though like I'm still working chapter by chapter through Eat to Beat Disease-fantastic book but does not call to me in the same way.

It's the fiction stories that fly by for me and teach me about another person's experience.

Jerry Craft's graphic novel New Kid: demonstrates how horrifying school can be for students of color because of teachers, administrators and students.  I am so glad this one won a Newberry Medal and hope that opens it up for more readership.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates: I liked Between the world and me and thought this beautiful fiction writing was an amazing piece of magical realism that brought new depth to the time of slavery. I look forward to whatever Coates writes next.

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline: Native dystopian about how we continue to dehumanize and hunt Indigenous people. Well-told story and I fell in love with some of the characters and wanted to read more...

I can make this promise by Christine Day: I purchased this book for school and read it right away. There are not many realistic fiction books about BIPOC and this debut book shares the difficult times today that Edie experiences through bullying, misappropriation of Native stories and artifacts and her own curiosity about her ancestors.

Genesis begins again by Alicia D. Williams: Also ordered through school and brought it home straight out of the box. This amazing debut book talks about the hard topic of skin color through the eyes of Genesis who has dark skin tone like her father and she wishes so much she were light-skinned like her mother. The learning that went on as Genesis tries to figure out her life was mind-blowing for both of us. She gets such mixed messages from family, friends, and enemies that it's hard for her to know what is real. She tries bleaching and whitening creams and relaxers and plays mind games with herself. So good.

All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brenden Kiely: Jason Reynolds has a gift.  This alternating POV narrative sat on my shelf for awhile bc I ordered for school just because it was Jason but then read a review that said it was better suited for high school. It is but only due to some perfectly placed swear words. This story places three people at the scene of a crime; Rashad the victim and Quinn the bystander as a police officer over-the-top reacts to a simple misunderstanding and wrestles Rashad to the ground, pummeling him into submission over a bag of potato chips.  Rashad spends time in the hospital as his family,  friends, neighbors, and basketball team come to grips with what really happened.

For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama J. Lockington: I finished this book just last night; its a powerful story of adopted Makeda living with her white family in the desert as her adoptive mom struggles with mental health.  It's difficult for children to not take the burden of their parent's anger and frustration and Makeda and her sister Eve spend too much time parenting their mother as their papa travels overseas playing for the symphony. Makeda dreams of her birth mom as she tries to deal with racism in her everyday life in New Mexico.

I encourage you to go out and find these books either at your public library or a small independent book store. Here is a list of Black-owned book stores for you to access. I'm not a fan of Amazon until they pay their fair share of taxes-I understand Bezos is willing to lose customers because he supports the Black Lives Matter movement but I 'd like to see that in taxes back or better work support, unions, etc. Right now as our smaller stores work to recover from Covid closures its a great time to support them.