Books
As the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and the multi-award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming and Beneath a Meth Moon, Jacqueline Woodson knows her way around a good book. Now, the novelist has recommended 38 books for you to read on her "Author's Bookshelf" at The Strand Bookstore in New York City.
A famed poet and novelist, Woodson has two new books of her own out in 2019. The first, an Amazon Original Story titled Before Her, tells the story of her meet-cute with her partner, Juliet Widoff. The second, Red at the Bone, is out Tuesday from Riverhead Books, and traces the impact of teenage pregnancy on two families in Brooklyn.
Her Author's Bookshelf at The Strand focuses on books by authors of color, and includes YA novels, works of poetry, and political nonfiction.
Take a peek at the 38 books on Woodson's Author's Bookshelf below, and then check out the full list on The Strand Bookstore website. Be sure to share your favorite books from the list with us on Twitter!
'With the Fire on High' by Elizabeth Acevedo
Teen mom Emoni Santiago has worked hard to give her daughter, Emma, a good life. She has dreams of being a chef, but first, she'll have to make it through her senior year of high school.
'White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism' by Robin DiAngelo
Why can't white people talk about racism — their own or other people's — without getting defensive? That's the question Robin DiAngelo sets out to answer in her bestselling work of nonfiction, White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.
'Wait for Me' by An Na
Mina, the teenage daughter of Korean immigrants, must balance her mother's wishes for her life with her own dreams, which include a romance with her family's new employee — a Mexican American migrant named Ysrael — in this YA novel.
'The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers' by Brigett M. Davis
A memoir of mid-century Detroit, Bridgett M. Davis' The World According to Fannie Davis tracks the building of the author's family through her mother's illegal gambling business.
'Another Brooklyn' by Jacqueline Woodson
In Jacqueline Woodson's 2016 novel, protagonist Autumn returns home to Brooklyn, 20 years after her family first relocated there from Tennessee. But she must confront her memories of growing up in the city as part of a quartet of motherless girls.
