Diverse Book Recommendations Ranging from Murder Mysteries to Finding Your True Self
These books illustrate the obstacles and challenges that people from diverse backgrounds face encounter when they attempt to make sense of society's intricacies. In addition, it exhorts readers to accept diversity, combat racism, and strive for an inclusive society.
Diverse Children's Book
Elbert in the Air
by Monica Wesolowska - Jerome Pumphrey
A heartwarming story about unconditional love and rising above those who stand in the way of being who you are.Shortly after he is born, Elbert floats up into the air. Before long, his mother must stand on her tip toes to reach him and toss toys into the air at playtime. While everyone in town, from the school nurse to the mayor, is full of advice for keeping her boy down, Elbert's mother knows her son is meant to float. And so, she lets him.
But as life becomes more and more difficult for a floating boy, and people understand him less and less, Elbert has to make a decision: Stay bound to the ground or float higher in the hopes of finding the world--and community--he's always wished for.
About the Author Monica Wesolowska
Monica Wesolowska is the author of the memoir Holding Silvan: A Brief Life and the picture book Leo + Lea. She teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley Extension and Stanford Continuing Studies and lives in Berkeley with her husband and two boys.
About the Author Jerome Pumphrey
Jerome Pumphrey is a designer, illustrator, and writer. He studied graphic design at the Art Institute of Austin and has worked as a technical writer, freelance graphic designer, and illustrator. Since 2016 he has been a graphic designer at The Walt Disney Company where he uses design and illustration to visually tell stories in print, digital, and immersive experiences for Disney global business development. Together with his brother, Jarrett, Jerome is a creator multiple books, including The Old Truck, The Old Boat, and Creepy Things Are Scaring Me.
Diverse Teen/Young Adult Book
The Black Queen
by Jumata Emill
Nova Albright, the first Black homecoming queen at Lovett High, is dead. Murdered the night of her coronation, her body found the next morning in the old slave cemetery she spent her weekends rehabilitating.
Tinsley McArthur was supposed to be queen. Not only is she beautiful, wealthy, and white, it's her legacy--her grandmother, her mother, and even her sister wore the crown before her. Everyone in Lovett knows Tinsley would do anything to carry on the McArthur tradition.No one is more certain of that than Duchess Simmons, Nova's best friend. Duchess's father is the first Black police captain in Lovett. For Duchess, Nova's crown was more than just a win for Nova. It was a win for all the Black kids. Now her best friend is dead, and her father won't face the fact that the main suspect is right in front of him.
About the Author Jumata Emill
Jumata Emill is a journalist who has covered crime and local politics in Mississippi and parts of Louisiana. He earned his BA in mass communications from Southern University and A&M University. He's a Pitch Wars alum and a member of the Crime Writers of Color. When he's not writing about murderous teens, he's watching and obsessively tweeting about every franchise of the Real Housewives.
Diverse Adult Book
A Country You Can Leave
by Asale Angel-Ajani
"From page one, A Country You Can Leave is a riveting, exasperating, and deeply heartbreaking tale of mother-daughter strife and resilience." -Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming
A stunning debut novel following the turbulent relationship of a Black biracial teen and her ferocious Russian mother, struggling to survive in the California desert.
When sixteen-year-old Lara and her fiery mother, Yevgenia, find themselves homeless again, the misnamed Oasis Mobile Estates is all they can afford. In this new community, where residents are down on their luck but rich in humor and escape plans, Lara navigates what it means to be the Black biracial daughter of a Russian mother and begins to wonder what a life beyond Yevgenia's orbit.
About the Author Asale Angel-Ajani
Asale Angel-Ajani is a writer and a professor at the City College of New York. She is the author of two nonfiction books, Strange Trade: The Story of Two Women Who Risked Everything in the International Drug Trade and the forthcoming Intimate: Essays on Racial Terror. She has held residencies at Millay Arts, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and Playa and is an alum of VONA and Tin House. A Country You Can Leave is her first novel.