Lists

100 Must-Read Books About #carefreeblackfolks

Excellent books featuring black main characters that aren't primarily about race and "the struggle."

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Obviously, the hashtag #carefreeblackfolks cannot completely apply to a book someone would want to read; a book about a carefree person is going to be pretty boring. A book’s protagonist still needs a conflict, but their troubles do not have to be race related, or about, as we tend to refer to it, The Struggle. Intersectional, representational literature is significant and important in publishing, but sometimes everyone wants to put race and racism in the backseat and see the stories that unite us in the human experience. These are rarely stories that completely remove the idea of race as it is addressed in daily life (perhaps with the exception of the picture books, usually starring one adorable child being excited about their day); they simply do not make race and the struggle of American Blackness the story. These are love stories, and stories of redemption. They’re stories of intrigue, terror, and the future. They’re stories of the ordinary and extraordinary. They are our stories. adult fiction bring-on-the-blessingsBring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins Tell Me Something Good by Jamie Wesley Love On My Mind by Tracey Livesay Rumor Has It by Cheris Hodges The Mothers by Brit Bennett Loving Day by Mat Johnson Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson The Tempest Tales by Walter Mosley The Strange Fate of Capricious Jones by Robert Roman When Washington Was in Vogue by Edward Christopher Williams Radio Silence by Alyssa Cole Busted by Shiloh Walker Field of Pleasure by Farrah Rochon Holding Holly by Julie Brannagh Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust The Root by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun Ascension by Jacqueline KoyanagiAscension by Jacqueline Koyangi 32 Candles by Ernessa T Carter What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage Dancing on the Edge of the Roof by Sheila Williams Madam President Jerry Beller B-Boy Blues by James Earl Hardy Bliss by Fiona Zedde The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor YA Everything, Everything by Nicola YoonLiving Violet by Jaime Reed Keeping Her Secret by Sarah Nicolas Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz The Broken Bridge by Philip Pullman Love is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson Jason and Kyra by Dana Davidson What They Found: Love on 145th Street by Walter Dean Myers Pointe by Brandy Colbert The First Part Last by Angela Johnson Liar by Justine Larbalestier Neverlove by Angela Brown Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz This Side of Home by Renee Watson tiny-pretty-thingsTiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton Endangered by Lamar Giles Niko by Kayti Nika Raet Indigo Summer by Monica McKayhan The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds Tyrell by Coe Booth Show and Prove by Sofia Quintero Tankborn by Karen Sandler The Blazing Star by Imani Josey (December 2016) American Street by Ibi Zoboi (February 2017)   Middle reader and chapter books Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper coverOut of My Mind by Sharon Draper Pinned by Sharon G. Flake The Kayla Chronicles by Sherri Winston Twintuition: Double Vision by Tia and Tamera Mowry The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex Shadows of Sherwood by Kekla Magoon President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan The Encyclopedia of Me by Karen Rivers Close to Famous by Joan Bauer Plum Fantastic by Whoopi Goldberg, Deborah Underwood, and Maryn Roos Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste Finding Someplace by Denise Lewis Patrick From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot   Picture books the-snowy-dayThe Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library by Julie Gassman and Andy Elkerton Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe Grace For President by Kelly DiPucchio and LeUyen Pham Little Robot by Ben Hatke The Rain Stomper by Addie Boswell and Eric Velasquez I Got the Rhythm by  Connie Schofield-Morrison, Frank Morrison Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire by Sundee T. Frazier Come On, Rain! By Karen Hesse and Jon J. Muth Honey, I Love by Eloise Greenwood Anna Hibiscus’ Song by Atinuke Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen I Had a Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty Hank’s Big Day: The Story of a Bug by  Evan Kuhlman and Chuck Groenink Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella by Robert D. San Souci and Brian Pinkney Please, Puppy, Please by Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee and Kadir Nelson   Comics Princeless V1Goldie Vance, Vol 1 by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill Princeless, Vol 1: Save Yourself by Jeremy Whitley Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Vol 1: BFF by Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare and Natacha Bustos Storm, Vol 1: Make it Rain by Greg Pak, Victor Ibanez, and Matteo Buffagni Cleopatra in Space, Book One: Target Practice by Mike Maihack and Cassandra Pelham Aya by Marguerite Abouet, Clément Oubrerie, Alisia Grace Chase, Helge Dascher, and Tom Devlin Watson and Holmes Vol 1: A Study In Black by Karl Bollers, Justin Gabrie, and Rick Leonardi Prince of Cats by Ronald Wimberly   Nonfiction year of yes by shonda rhimesThe Black Washingtonians When Harlem Was in Vogue by David Levering Lewis Kid President’s Guide to Being Awesome by Robby Novak and Brad Montague Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson Around the Way Girl by Taraji P. Henson Have a favorite that’s not on this (very much non-exhaustive) list? Share it in the comments!