Books like All American Boys by Jason Reynolds

The Hate U Give tracks 16‑year‑old Starr Carter, a Black teenager from a poor Bronx neighborhood who attends an elite private school, as she confronts police violence, social media battles, and community turmoil after witnessing her friend’s shooting.

A powerful story of a Black family's battle for dignity, family, and land in Depression‑era Mississippi, seen through the eyes of eight‑year‑old Cassie Logan.

Steve Harmon, a sixteen‑year‑old charged as an accomplice to murder, records his prison and courtroom experiences as a film script while confronting his self‑perception and fate.

A gifted and rebellious runner is pulled onto a top middle‑school track squad, where he must confront personal and family challenges while discovering his true potential.

Justyce McAllister, a high‑achieving African‑American student, finds himself at the center of a police brutality incident that forces him to confront race, identity, and justice in contemporary America.

In a tense sixty seconds, a young boy faces a choice that will determine whether he seeks revenge for his brother’s death or walks away from violence.

In Harlem, Xiomara Batista learns to use her voice and verse to fight for herself and her dreams, turning lyrical poetry into her most powerful tool.

Explores the evolution of racist and antiracist ideas in America, tracing their European origins to contemporary society.

A thirteen‑year‑old African‑American girl confronts internalized racism, a volatile family, and homelessness while trying to build confidence in a new school and choir, aiming to rewrite a life full of self‑critique.

In Brooklyn’s Bed‑Stuy, twenty‑six‑year‑old Ali and his sister Jazz may be careful, but when they attend a misguided party one becomes seriously hurt and another is marked with a deadly threat.

A 1941 Mississippi drama in which a black youth, assaulted by two white boys, turns the tables with a tire iron and seeks escape with Cassie's help.

In 1976 Georgia, white fifth‑grader Gabriel and African‑American girl Frita form an unlikely friendship, confronting bullying and prejudice together as they begin school.

Thirteen‑year‑old Rose Lee Carter dreams of a life beyond Mississippi’s cotton fields, yet her hopes clash with the reality of Emmett Till’s murder and the unjust acquittal of his killers in 1955, forcing her to choose between personal destiny and a growing civil‑rights movement.

A mystery thriller about a group of runaway teenagers investigating a murdered prostitute in a corrupt Montana town.

Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland; and then back to Ferguson to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today. In an effort to grasp the magnitude of the repose to Michael Brown's death and understand the scale of the problem police violence represents, Lowery speaks to Brown's family and the families of other victims other victims' families as well as local activists. By posing the question, "What does the loss of any one life mean to the rest of the nation?" Lowery examines the cumulative effect of decades of racially biased policing in segregated neighborhoods with failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and too few jobs. Studded with moments of joy, and tragedy, They Can't Kill Us All offers a historically informed look at the standoff between the police and those they are sworn to protect, showing that civil unrest is just one tool of resistance in the broader struggle for justice. As Lowery brings vividly to life, the protests against police killings are also about the black community's long history on the receiving end of perceived and actual acts of injustice and discrimination. They Can't Kill Us All grapples with a persistent if also largely unexamined aspect of the otherwise transformative presidency of Barack Obama: the failure to deliver tangible security and opportunity to those Americans most in need of both.

In 1926 South Carolina, nine‑year‑old Darby Carmichael writes a story for the local paper that champions racial equality, sparking debate in Marlboro County.

Lu, a determined high‑school runner, leads his track team to the championships, but both literal hurdles and unexpected obstacles test his leadership and the meaning of victory.