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Browse: Home / Black main characters

Black main characters

Feb

19

2021

Celebrate Black History Month with
Paper Boat Booksellers

From Paper Boat Booksellers in Seattle, WA: February is Black History Month, and we are celebrating this year’s theme of Family: Representation, Identity & Diversity by featuring books from wonderful black authors that tell the histories and stories of African Americans in U.S. history. We encourage our customers to ask their bookseller for recommendations as …

Feb

18

2021

We Wait for the Sun written by Katie McCabe, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa

If you love Blueberries for Sal, take a look at this! It has the same potential as a classic, with sensory details and family connection that are wonderfully evocative plus gorgeous illustrations to bring the magic of the scenes to life. It is based on scenes from Mighty Justice by civil rights lawyer and activist …

Feb

17

2021

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

The Paragon Hotel has been my favorite historical fiction recommendation since it first published. It has so many things to love, a daring escape across the country, a crime to solve, a child to find, and characters to love. Set in segregated Oregon, you’ll find out things you never knew, while turning the pages as …

Feb

5

2021

Kim Johnson author photo by JBoy Photography

Untended Roots: An Original Essay by 2021 PNBA Award Winner Kim Johnson

This Is My America released at the beginning of a reckoning that’s been long overdue—the untended roots of race in America. These origins draw parallels not only to slavery and mass incarceration but to open wounds festering below the surface. My novel was born from many early lessons on race as a Black girl growing …

Aug

24

2020

Tiny Imperfections
by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans

I loved this smart, funny peek inside the high stakes world of San Francisco private schools. It has everything: social satire, family drama, friendship, a lot of laughs, a touch of romance, and lots to think about after. If you’ve been looking for that Where’d You Go, Bernadette feeling, try this. Bonus: The co-authors live in …

Aug

18

2020

Viewers Love “Lovecraft Country”

Sunday night marked the debut of “Lovecraft Country,” an HBO series based on Seattle author Matt Ruff‘s novel of the same title. The series is produced by a stellar team that includes Misha Green (who wrote the first episode) and Jordan Peele. Here’s the summary of the show: Based on Matt Ruff’s novel of the …

Jul

29

2020

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

This summer a highly anticipated title is the YA debut by the author of the adult title Mem. Morrow sets her story in a contemporary alternative world where portions of the population have various mythical abilities and identities. Inherent in these identities are built in assumptions and prejudices, the most heightened of which are towards “sirens,” …

Jun

18

2020

Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World
by Mildred Pitts Walter

One of my childhood favorites. Justin doesn’t like to do “women’s work,” but a few days at his grandfather’s ranch teaches him more lessons than he can ask for! Great middle grade read! –Derrick, The Well-Read Moose, Coeur d’Alene, ID Revisit old book friends and introduce them to new readers at The Well-Read Moose and …

Jun

17

2020

Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

What a clever and realistic accounting of how we demonstrate what it looks like to stand up and be a true friend: through sickness and health, through buggers and bullies, swiping pocket change and wiping out on skateboards, first crushes and first kisses. This story is told through ten vignettes of individual kids who are …

Jun

15

2020

A Good Kind of Trouble
by Lisa Moore Ramée

Compelling narrative. Fantastic pre-teen middle reader that does an excellent job of exploring race and race-related issues via the clever mechanism of a young Black student who begins her middle school journey with some color-blind ideas and anti-Black biases that prevent her from forming meaningful relationships with other Black students. Great book to approach students …

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