- Taelor J.
- Thursday, June 23, 2022
Have you every read a book that you would love to share with a young person in your life but knew the content or denseness of the information may be too difficult for them to fully comprehend? The publishing industry is beginning to take notice and adapting more of the popular adult nonfiction books for young readers. Authors like Jason Reynolds are teaming up with adult authors and using their skills with the younger audiences to translate these stories into something "cool".
Speaking with young people about tough issues like race relations and social justice has become increasingly more important but can certainly be challenging. There are many great books to help adults learn and discuss these tough issues but many of them can be too complex and inappropriate in content for younger audiences.
These issues are important and heavily impact the lives of young people and they can greatly benefit from some of these amazing stories shared in the adult book world. Thankfully more and more of these books are being adapted for middle grade and YA readers allowing adults and young adults to share these stories together. Below you can find the titles of 4 adult books which focus on social justice and their YA counterparts.
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White Rage
The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide
Anderson, Carol (Carol Elaine)
Format: Book
Description: 246 pages ; 24 cm
"As Ferguson, Missouri, erupted in August 2014, and media commentators across the ideological spectrum referred to the angry response of African Americans as 'black rage', historian Carol Anderson wrote a remarkable op-ed in the Washington Post showing that this was, instead, 'white rage at work. With so much attention on the flames,' she wrote, 'everyone had ignored the kindling..."
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We Are Not Yet Equal
Understanding Our Racial Divide
Anderson, Carol (Carol Elaine), author.
Format: Book
Description: 270 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
"This young adult adaptation of the New York Times bestselling White Rage is essential antiracist reading for teens. From the end of the Civil War to the tumultuous issues in America today, an acclaimed historian reframes the conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposed to black progress in America..."
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The Other Wes Moore
One Name, Two Fates
Format: Book
Edition: First edition.
Description: xiv, 233 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
Two kids with the same name were born blocks apart in the same decaying city within a few years of each other. One grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, army officer, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation.
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Discovering Wes Moore
Format: Book
Edition: First edition.
Description: 160 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
"The author, a Rhodes scholar and combat veteran, analyzes factors that influenced him as well as another man of the same name and from the same neighborhood who was drawn into a life of drugs and crime and ended up serving life in prison, focusing on the influence of relatives, mentors, and social expectations that could have led either of them on different paths."
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Stamped from the Beginning
The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Format: Book
Description: viii, 582 pages ; 25 cm
"The National Book Award winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society.
Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America -- it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit..."
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Stamped
Racism, Antiracism, and You
New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2020, ©2020.
Format: Book
Edition: First edition.
Description: xvi, 294 pages ; 22 cm
"The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. Racist ideas are woven into the fabric of this country, and the first step to building an antiracist America is acknowledging America's racist past and present. This book takes you on that journey, showing how racist ideas started and were spread, and how they can be discredited"--Dust jacket flap.
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Just Mercy
A Story of Justice and Redemption
Format: Book
Edition: First edition.
Description: x, 336 pages ; 25 cm
"#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX * A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice--from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time..."
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Just Mercy
Adapted for Young Adults
Format: Book
Edition: First edition.
Description: 277 pages ; 22 cm
"In this young adult adaptation of the acclaimed bestselling Just Mercy, which the New York Times calls "as compelling as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so," Bryan Stevenson delves deep into the broken U.S. justice system, detailing from his personal experience his many challenges and efforts as a lawyer and social advocate, especially on behalf of America's most rejected and marginalized people..."
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Want to read more YA books focused on Social Justice?
Take a look at the following booklist:
We Are Not Yet Equal
Dark Sky Rising
We Are Not Yet Equal
Say Her Name
Say Her Name
Dark Sky Rising
A Few Red Drops
A Few Red Drops
A Few Red Drops
This Book is Anti-racist
This Is My America
This Is My America
This is My America
Stamped--Racism, Antiracism, and You
All American Boys
All American Boys
I Am Alfonso Jones
Discovering Wes Moore
Discovering Wes Moore
Long Way Down
Long Way Down
All American Boys
Long Way Down
Long Way Down
Stamped
Black Brother, Black Brother
Black Brother, Black Brother
Black Brother, Black Brother
Just Mercy
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give
#OwnVoices at Richland Library is a way for African American staff to provide thoughtful and well written book reviews, book lists and blog posts to promote African American authors and their work about the African American experience. The series invites our customers to learn one more way we are continuing the conversation in our community and speaking our voice. Find more resources on race, equity and inclusion, here.