9 March 2016

Why Black Female Characters (and Authors) Matter – Part 2

Last month I wrote a post about the need to have more diverse literature in schools, especially books with black female characters and/or books by black female authors. In that post I created an awesome, but incomplete list of books that would be great additions to many school curricula and libraries. I put out a request to you all to tell me about books that I should add to my list, and boy, did I get a ton of responses!

I decided to created this second list of books based on recommendations I received in my inbox. Of course, there is never going to be a “complete” list, but the whole point of this is to show that there are books out there that represent many diverse perspectives that all children, regardless of race, should be reading. Over on Good Read, another list of over 700 books was created just for the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign!

Thanks again for your recommendations. This time around, I have books grouped for children, teens and adults. Hooray for diverse literature!

Children

Dancing in the Wings By Debbie Allen

Firebird By Misty Copeland

Big Hair, Don’t Care By Crystal Swain-Bates

The Princess and the Pea By Rachel Isadora

Rapunzel By Rachel Isadora

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County By Janice Harrington

I Love My Hair By Natasha Tarpley

Teens/Young Adults

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Pointe by Brandy Colbert