YA Books for Juneteenth

Created on June 3, 2022, 4:52 pm

Last Updated May 20, 2023, 12:34 pm

Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth” and also known as Black Independence Day) celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery. Although the Emancipation Proclamation came two-and-a-half years earlier, on January 1, 1863, many slave owners continued to hold their slaves captive. Therefore, Juneteenth became a symbolic date, representing African American freedom. Juneteenth is the oldest nationally-celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. These titles center Black characters and real-life heroes as they search for justice, love, freedom, and fun. Enjoy! [Created by Amaya A 5/2022, updated by Lauren G 5/2023]

1) Survive the Dome

Author

Jackson, Kosoko

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

"A high school junior teams up with a hacker during a police brutality protest to shut down a device that creates an impenetrable dome around Baltimore that is keeping the residents in and information from going out"-- Provided by publisher.

2) Required reading for the disenfranchised freshman

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Upon arriving at the prestigious Wooddale University, seventeen-year-old Savannah Howard comes face-to-face with microaggressions and outright racism--but if she stands up for justice, will she endanger her future?

3) Angel of Greenwood

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

Randi Pink's The Angel of Greenwood is a historical YA novel that takes place during the Greenwood Massacre of 1921, in an area of Tulsa, OK, known as the "Black Wall Street." Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Wilson is, on the surface, a town troublemaker, but is hiding that he is an avid reader and secret poet, never leaving home without his journal. A passionate follower of W.E.B. Du Bois, he believes that black people should rise up to claim their place...

4) We are not broken

Author

Johnson, George M. (George Matthew)

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

George, Garrett, Rall, and Rasul were raised by Nanny, their fiercely devoted grandmother. The boys hold one another close through early brushes with racism, memorable experiences at the family barbershop, and first loves and losses. And with Nanny at their center, they are never broken. Johnson capture the unique experience of growing up as a Black boy in America, and their rich family stories. He explores themes of vulnerability, sacrifice, and...

5) The passing playbook

Author

Fitzsimons, Isaac

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

"Fifteen-year-old Spencer Harris is a proud nerd, an awesome big brother, and a David Beckham in training. He's also transgender. After transitioning at his old school leads to a year of isolation and bullying, Spencer gets a fresh start at Oakley, the most liberal private school in Ohio. At Oakley, Spencer seems to have it all: more accepting classmates, a decent shot at a starting position on the boy's soccer team, great new friends, and maybe even...

6) Little & Lion

Author

Colbert, Brandy

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

Suzette returns home to Los Angeles from boarding school and grapples with her bisexual identity when she and her stepbrother Lionel fall in love with the same girl. As Lionel's bipolar disorder begins to spin out of control, it forces Suzette to confront her own demons. Can she save Lionel from himself-- and will he trust her enough to do so?

7) Happily ever afters

Author

Bryant, Elise (Elise M.)

Series

Happily Ever Afters

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She's rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she's a true leading lady is in her own writing--in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader. When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she's excited to finally let her stories...

8) Black was the ink

Author

Coles, Michelle

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

Despondent sixteen-year-old Malcolm finds new strength and courage as he is transported between his family's modern-day Mississippi farm and the life of his ancestor Cedric Johnson, a congressional aide in post-Civil War America.

9) Not so pure and simple

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

High school junior Del Rainey unwittingly joins a Purity Pledge class at church, hoping to get closer to his long-term crush, Kiera.

10) All boys aren't blue: a memoir-manifesto

Author

Johnson, George M. (George Matthew)

Description

Prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George Matthew Johnson details growing up Black and queer in America. Shares stories from throughout his early life and presents questions about gender, masculinity, brotherhood, family, and Black joy within each of them. Provides a look at identity and the intersectionality of a group that society often overlooks: Black queer men. Includes black-and-white photographs.

11) The invincible summer of Juniper Jones

Author

Formats:

Description

It's the summer of 1955. For Ethan Harper, a biracial kid raised mostly by his white father, race has always been a distant conversation. When he's sent to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle in small-town Alabama, his blackness is suddenly front and center, and no one is shy about making it known he's not welcome there. Enter Juniper Jones. The town's resident oddball and free spirit, she's everything the townspeople aren't--open, kind, and...

12) A blade so black

Author

McKinney, L. L. (Leatrice L.)

Series

Nightmare-verse volume 1

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

"A Blade So Black delivers an irresistible urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland ... but it's not the Wonderland you remember. The first time a Nightmare came, Alice nearly lost her life. Now, with magic weapons and hard-core fighting skills, she battles these monstrous creatures in the dream realm known as Wonderland. Yet even warriors have a curfew. Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom,...

13) One of the good ones

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

Although distraught, Happi is also unsettled by the way people have idealized the memory of her sister who was killed after attending a social justice rally -- why do people have to be perfect in order to be missed? As a way to honor the memory, however, Happi and her other sister Genny go on a roadtrip using the original "Green Book" -- but the trip reveals secrets neither sister knew about the dead Kezi.

14) Darius & Twig

Author

Myers, Walter Dean

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

"Two best friends, a writer and a runner, deal with bullies, family issues, social pressures, and their quest for success coming out of Harlem"-- Provided by publisher.

15) Who put this song on?

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, eAudiobook

Description

It is the 2008 presidential election and seventeen-year-old African American Morgan lives in a mostly white, conservative suburb and attends a Christian high school. She suffers from the isolation that brings as a person of color. When she seeks help for her depression after a suicide attempt, she begins to find her own identity and educate others on being black in America.

16) All American boys

Author

Reynolds, Jason

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints.

17) Calling my name

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook, Playaway

Description

"Taja Brown, growing up in a conservative and tightly knit African American family, battles family expectations to discover a sense of self and find her unique voice and purpose"-- Provided by publisher.

18) Love is a revolution

Author

Watson, Renée

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

Harlem teenager Nala is looking forward to a summer of movies and ice cream until she falls in love with the very woke Tye and pretends to be a social activist.

19) Off the record

Author

Garrett, Camryn

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"A teen journalist uncovers the #metoo scandal of the decade: a bigshot Hollywood director is taking advantage of cast members"-- Provided by publisher.

20) We deserve monuments

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

When seventeen-year-old Avery moves to rural Georgia to live with her ailing grandmother, she encounters decades-old family secrets and a mystery surrounding the town's racist past.