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How many of these have you read?

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Alex Gino's George was the most challenged book for the third year in a row, according to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, which released the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2020 today.

Gino's story of a transgender child falls into the category that typically is most cited for challenges around the country: LGBTQIA+ content. But for 2020, George was the only Top 10 title that listed that as a reason (although overall, LGBTQIA+ content was cited most often). The change in the list for 2020 directly reflects the state of the nation, particularly around race and politics.

"This list suggests there was a shift away from challenging LGBTQ books, and that is certainly not the case," said Nora Pelizzari, National Coalition Against Censorship director of communications. "It was just the precipitous rise in challenges to books about race and racial equity and, and racism. That's the story."

Frequently cited reasons to have books removed from shelves and classrooms in 2020 included Black Lives Matter, antiracism, and political viewpoint, as well as the use of racial slurs.

"Two years ago, eight of 10 books were challenged for LGBTQ concerns," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, IOF director. "While George is still No. 1, reflecting the challenges to LGBTQ materials that we see consistently these days, there's been a definite rise in the rhetoric challenging antiracist materials and ideas. Our list reflects that, as well as consideration of older texts in light of some of the uses of language in those books.

"We're seeing a shift to challenging books that advance racial justice, that discuss racism and America's history with racism, as exemplified by S tamped, for example, or books that address the black experience with police violence, The Hate U Give and All American Boys as an example of that. I think the list is reflecting the conversations that many people in our country are having right now, and it's a reflection of our rising awareness of the racial injustice and the history of racial injustice in our country."

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi was No. 2 on the list, challenged "because of the author's public statements and because of claims that the book contains 'selective storytelling incidents' and does not encompass racism against all people." Reynolds was also in the No. 3 spot for All American Boys, which was cited for having "divisive topics" and involving a subject that was "too much of a sensitive matter right now."

Kendi released a statement on Stamped's appearance on the list:

"I am proud of the work that Jason Reynolds and I have done on Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, and not at all surprised to hear it is one of the ALA Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2020.

"Stamped delivers a research-based history of racist and antiracist thought directly to young people who have the potential to create an antiracist future of equity and justice for all.It is ironic that our book is being challenged since it documents how generations of Americans have challenged the idea that the racial groups are equals and have fought to suppress the very truths contained on every page of Stamped. The heartbeat of racism is denial, and the history in Stamped will not be denied, nor will young people's access to this book be canceled.

"We must provide readers of all ages, races, backgrounds, and political affiliations with the tools to discuss racism today and to know America's racial story. We must end the indoctrination that this nation is post-racial and colorblind that adults impart onto young people when we don't discuss racism with them and challenge books that do. The fact that Stamped is being challenged proves just how necessary and effective it is for young people. I'm grateful to the librarians, educators, organizations, booksellers, parents, and-most of all-young people who have championed this book over the past year. We stand by you in this fight."

Pelizzari expects to see the trends revealed in this year's list to only be more amplified as school returns to a normal schedule next year and public libraries reopen across the country.

There is legislation being proposed across the country that is trying to limit what schools can teach, whether or not they can discuss LGBTQ issues, for example. Whether those bills pass or not, it shows a level of organization and commitment behind these issues that suggests they will continue for a while. And librarians shouldn't expect challenges to only come from one side of the political divide.

"There's sort of the traditional view of censorship is that conservatives want to censor books, and liberals want you to be able to read everything," Pelizzari said. "Over the last several years, that has not been the case. We've actually seen a lot of progressive voices, or people who would consider themselves liberal, pushing to ban books for reasons of what we'll call social justice.

"It's never really been true that one side is censorious, and the other side is not. Censorship is an equal opportunity issue."

Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak came in at No. 4. No stranger to the Top 10 list over the years (it was No. 25 on the most challenged of the decade 2010-2019), Speak has been challenged in the past for its "explicit sexual content." In 2020, however, it was challenged for being "thought to contain a political viewpoint" and "to be biased against male students." It was the first time the OIF had heard such a complaint, according to Caldwell-Stone.

New to the list (at No. 6) was Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story of Racial Injustice, challenged for "divisive language" and because it was said to promote "anti-police views."

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (No. 7) and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (No. 8) both made the list for use of racial slurs and "negative effect on students."

Caldwell-Stone says these challenges to "classics" are a reflection of the critical evaluation of books and curricula that is happening in schools. The OIF does not support removing any books from library shelves.

"It's firmly our position that books ought not be censored in any way, but rather that the opportunity to discover and read diverse authors should be expanded in schools, so that you can illuminate and interrogate the older texts by reading the newer texts that reflect other viewpoints, diversity of points, that reflect the views and ideas of BIPOC authors in particular," she said.

The number of challenges tracked by the OIF was down dramatically, as well, from 377 reported challenges to 566 books in 2019 to 156 and 273 books in 2020. Caldwell-Stone attributes this to the pandemic and schools and public libraries being closed. The OIF estimates it knows of about 25 percent of the challenges filed in schools and public libraries. Caldwell-Stone calls the list a snapshot but a fair snapshot of what is happening around the country.

Here is the complete Top 10 list:

The ALA OIF provides confidential support during censorship challenges to library materials, services, and programs. Anyone can report censorship, even if they are not seeking assistance. Report censorship by filling out the online form, or contacting OIF assistant director Kristin Pekoll at 800-545-2433, ext. 4221, or kpekoll@ala.org.

Kara Yorio

Kara Yorio (kyorio@mediasourceinc.com, @karayorio) is news editor at School Library Journal.

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"George" Tops Most Challenged List for Third Year in a Row: "Stamped" Takes No. 2 Spot

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While LGBTQIA+ content remains the top reason for book challenges overall, the Top 10 Most Challengedtitles in 2020 were also cited for Black Lives Matter andantiracist content, as well as the use of racial slurs and having a negative impact on students.

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Many tweens and young teens will see themselves in these middle grade and YA selections.

As many middle school librarians know, recommending titles to 11- to 14-year-old students can be a delicate balancing act, taking into account reading difficulty, complexity of plot, and maturity of content. Additionally, these students need works that can help them navigate tough topics and coming-of-age experiences surrounding their identity, friendships, family, and, at times, trauma. To feel validated in their school experience, many students also need books that reflect their family, culture, and home life.

As librarians search for titles that "match" a reader, some may find themselves leaning on young adult books that are more appropriate for older teens-books that may lack readability or cross the threshold of maturity for a particular child. But real life does not begin at high school. This roundup offers titles that address real-life topics at an accessible level for tweens and young teens. Featuring several #OwnVoices narratives, these books will diversify collections and help students who fall in between the two age categories see themselves represented in their school library program.

GINO, Alex. Rick. Scholastic. 2020. ISBN 9781338048100.
Gr 4-7 -Rick starts middle school with one close friend, Jeff. When Jeff objectifies girls, makes homophoboic remarks, and dictates what is cool, Rick begins to outgrow the relationship. As Rick begins to question whether he is asexual, he starts attending the Rainbow Spectrum group after school but hides it from Jeff. Saturday afternoons with his Grandpa Ray, who reveals his secret love for cosplay, support Rick's need to speak his own truth. While Gino's narrative focuses on an asexual protagonist, it also answers questions and builds deeper understanding about the LGBTQIA+ spectrum for young readers.

JUNG, Mike. The Boys in the Back Row. Levine Querido. 2020. ISBN 9781646140114.
Gr 5-7 -As best friends and bandmates, Matt and Eric are inseparable. An unexpected opportunity to participate in the band competition at World of Amazement leads them to simultaneously hatch a plan to attend DefenderCon. As they prepare for their last great adventure before Eric moves to New York, the boys endure bullying, homophobia, and toxic masculinity. Jung creates a protagonist who feels confident in his love for band and the bond of male friendship.

KIM, Jessica. Stand Up, Yumi Chung! Penguin/Kokila. 2020. ISBN 9780525554974.
Gr 4-7 -Yumi struggles to fit in at Winston Preparatory Academy, and her home life revolves around an intense schedule supporting the family's once-successful Korean barbecue restaurant. Yumi feels passionate about working on comedy routines but her parents are more concerned with grades and a scholarship to her school. When an opportunity to join a comedy camp unfolds, Yumi takes the seat of a student who never arrives, and a new identity. Quirky humor and the journey of a shy middle schooler finding confidence through her talent will resonate with students.

McANULTY, Stacy. Millionaires for the Month. Random. 2020. ISBN 9780593175255.
Gr 5-8 -When Felix and Benji find a wallet and "borrow" $20 before returning it, they are challenged by billionaire Laura Friendly: With a penny doubled exponentially each day for an entire month, the boys must spend the entire amount of $5,368,709.12 without telling anyone or risk losing the real reward. Readers will find themselves entertained by the unbelievable challenges and hard lessons brought on by spending under strict rules. Offering opportunities for deeper discussion on privilege and integrity, this title is also guaranteed to prompt the ever popular "What would you do?" conversation.

Monica Cabarcas is a middle school librarian in Charlottesville, VA, and a reviewer for SLJ.

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Reading in Between: 13 Diverse Titles for Middle School Readers | Great Books

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Many tweens and young teens will see themselves in these middle grade and YA selections. As many middle school librarians know, recommending titles to 11- to 14-year-old students can be a delicate balancing act, taking into account reading difficulty, complexity of plot, and maturity of content.

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from Facing History and Ourselves

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Women's History Month each year is a fabulous time for teachers to recommit to integrating the experiences of women and girls into instruction on history and contemporary society all year.

Check out the following 9 classroom resources that offer a historical look at women making history in various contexts and/or a bridge that helps you and your students explore connections between women's history and women's experiences today.
Teaching Ideas Linking Women's History to Contemporary Society
Kamala Harris, Shirley Chisholm, and the Power of Representation
In 2020, Kamala Harris made history as the first woman, the first Black American, and the first American of Asian descent to be elected Vice President of the United States. Harris is an inspiring "first" in many ways, but the path to her election was paved by many other women and people of color. One such woman was Shirley Chisholm who-in 1972-became the first woman to seek a major party's nomination to run for president of the United States.

In this Teaching Idea, students learn about Shirley Chisholm's ground-breaking career, her legacy, and the significance of Vice President Kamala Harris's election.

The Equal Rights Amendment: A 97-Year Struggle
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) fell just short of the 38 states required for ratification by the 1982 deadline set by Congress. Recently, however, activists have pushed to revive the campaign to ratify the ERA. Whether or not the ERA becomes a part of the Constitution as a result of the current process, it is important for students to learn about the amendment given the challenges it has faced and what it says about American history and contemporary society.

This Teaching Idea provides an overview of the ERA and an opportunity for students to explore some of the history behind the struggle around its ratification.

Brave Girl Rising: A Refugee Story
This Teaching Idea was created in partnership with Girl Rising, a non-profit organization that uses stories to change the way the world values girls. This resource invites students to engage with the story of a Somali-born girl named Nasro who lives in the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya. Students are invited to examine the challenges she faces and the strength she discovers. They also explore how an individual's story, told with rich imagery and language, can spark empathy and ethical reflection on an issue whose vast scale can be difficult to grasp.

Teaching Units on Women's Resistance in History

Stitching Truth: Women's Protest Art in Pinochet's Chile
Stitching Truth: Women's Protest Art in Pinochet's Chile is the story of the sisters, wives, and mothers who made up the women's protest movement in Chile during Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990). It is an incredible story of courage and resistance. Facing what would seem like insurmountable odds, the women challenged silence and terror imposed by Pinochet, his military, and his secret police.

Intended to make the material appropriate for classroom use, this case study includes connections questions for student reflection, suggested further reading, and primary source documents.

Fundamental Freedoms: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Surveying Eleanor Roosevelt's early years and then concentrating on her life-long commitment as an activist, Fundamental Freedoms tells of Eleanor's pivotal role in creating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.

As demonstrated throughout all four parts of this resource, Eleanor was no ordinary person: she redefined the role of a first lady as she established her own career as a nationally-syndicated journalist and continually spoke out on behalf of the underprivileged.

Holocaust and Human Behavior
Our seminal case study Holocaust and Human Behavior contains an array of rich resources concerning the experiences of women and greater themes surrounding gender that emerged in the time. Explore the role that the resources below can play as you teach about women's history this month and all year:

Seeking a Strategy that Works
Nested within the Choosing to Participate section of Holocaust and Human Behavior in which the case study's core moral lessons are extended to other contexts, this reading and its accompanying discussion questions explore violence against women in Pakistan and around the world. Questions provoke students to consider how they can learn more and challenge violence against women within their own communities.

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Facing History and Ourselves invites educators to use our Teaching Idea, Kamala Harris, Shirley Chisholm, and the Power of Representation in the classroom.

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Women's History Month each year is a fabulous time for teachers to recommit to integrating the experiences of women and girls into instruction on history and contemporary society all year. Check out the following 10 classroom resources that offer a historical look at women making history in various contexts and/or a bridge that helps you and your students explore connections between women's history and women's experiences today.

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Teaching about Native American Women Leaders

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Teaching about Native American Women Leaders

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One news story that kept coming up throughout the summer and fall of 2018 was about the role of women in the 2018 midterm elections. Predicting the " women's wave" that would mark a " breakthrough moment" in our democracy, reports and articles often separated the " unprecedented number of women" on the ballot into demographic groups. They said that 2018 was the year of the Latina, the year black women are taking power, the year two Muslim women join Congress. " There's never been a Native American Congresswoman," The New York Times announced in the spring. "That could change in 2018."

On the whole, this media narrative was a good thing. Women across the country were being recognized for their willingness to engage and lauded for their commitment to run. Instead of ignoring intersectional identities, mainstream media embraced them.

But the story these articles present is incomplete-and, given the history of Native women particularly, it's our job as educators to flesh it out.

Granted, the United States Congress is a powerful body. But the language of "record numbers," "groundbreaking," and "historic" is flawed: These words ignore the long history of Native women in leadership roles.

You can push back against it by giving students a thoughtful foundation to help them understand how leaders who are women of color-and Native American women leaders, specifically-are presented in the media.

Because language and representation matter. And the profiles our students find of these women influence the ways they see other women in power. Here are a few steps you can take to ensure that your students have a sense of the broader story.

Start the conversation by directing students to the media narratives about Native American women.

Students might, for example, compare the way one woman is described in different stories. Business Insider introduces "Sharice Davids, an openly gay Native American lawyer," and her opponent, "GOP incumbent Kevin Yoder." Students can compare these descriptions to one another and to the introduction of Davids in Indian Country Today: "Sharice Davids, Ho Chunk, is running for Congress." What does each story assume its readers will think is important? What does each story assume its readers will think is unusual?

Challenge students to research Native women and leadership expectations in Indigenous communities for an essay or presentation assignment.

If you live in a community with a clearly accessible and available Indigenous nation, contact the nation and invite their cultural director or leaders to speak with your class about the role of women leaders in their current governmental and social structure.

These secondary sources can help you and your students understand this subject better:

Learn about Native women leaders from their own words.

Students can round out their understanding by turning directly to the source and learning how Native women leaders themselves have described their experiences. Here are four to start with:

LaDonna Harris. Nation: Comanche. Political and social activist, founder of Americans for Indian Opportunity. In her KNME-TV "New Mexico's Makers" interview, students will find quotes like this one: "When I got [to Washington, D.C.] and saw that women who were in government couldn't travel because it's not acceptable to go unchaperoned...Can you imagine? A woman that was in government, they couldn't climb the ladder, the federal ladder even, and I thought that was so grossly unfair. That's really what motivated me to get into the women's movement, because when you see discrimination in one form, you can't accept it in another."

Wilma Mankiller. Nation: Cherokee. First woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. In her speech "Challenges Facing 21st Century Indigenous Peoples," she says, "Cooperation has always been necessary for the survival of tribal people and even today, cooperation takes precedence over competition in more traditional communities. It's really quite miraculous that a sense of sharing and reciprocity continues in our communities into the 21st century, given the staggering amount of adversity Indigenous people have faced."

Sharice Davids. Nation: Ho Chunk. Candidate for U.S. Congress. Students might check out her campaign announcement video or her interview with The Kansas City Star on Facebook Live, during which she explains, "My lived experience has taught me how to listen better, how to be as inclusive as possible when thinking about approaches to problem-solving and leadership."

Deb Haaland. Nation: Laguna Pueblo. Candidate for U.S. Congress. In a CNN interview, she says, "We need to have good relations with our community in order to be successful." Students can also watch her campaign announcement video.

Finally, teach students to be skeptical when news outlets proclaim that "record numbers" of Native women in leadership positions is "historic" or "groundbreaking."

Talking to high school students about Native women leaders is an ideal opportunity to introduce the way that the intersections of gender, race and power for Native women-and women of color more generally-are presented in mainstream media.

When they compare contemporary media representations to their research, students should find that the headlines don't tell the full story of Indigenous women's leadership. The focus on "firsts" neglects how common it is for Native women to be leaders within their nations and communities.

Indigenous women have traditionally held leadership positions in their nations and continue to do so today. What is "historic" and "groundbreaking" is white settler American culture finally starting to pay attention.
Morris teaches writing and Native American/Indigenous Rhetorics at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

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Teach About Native American Women Leaders

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One news story that kept coming up throughout the summer and fall of 2018 was about the role of women in the 2018 midterm elections. Predicting the " women's wave" that would mark a " breakthrough moment" in our democracy, reports and articles often separated the " unprecedented number of women" on the ballot into demographic groups.

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How can I begin to talk about exceptional writing by trans women authors when, to a certain degree, any trans woman's published work is exceptional inasmuch as it has somehow made its way into existence? In the hands of cis authors, trans people's lives and identities are so routinely erased, stereotyped or idealized that publication at all might be considered both a political and a literary achievement, one that revises our imaginations simply by representing that which is otherwise barred. The grace with which the authors on this list dispense with stock figures and clichéd narratives is the beginning of what distinguishes their work, but only the beginning.

Quebec scholar Viviane Namaste has written about what she calls the "autobiographical imperative," which describes the routine assumption that the only story trans people have to tell is the story of how and why we are trans. Likewise, poet and memoirist Max Wolf Valerio and performance artist and activist Mirha-Soleil Ross have argued that, in more politicized contexts, trans writers are tokenized at best and ignored at worst-especially when our work does not conform to feminist and queer political and aesthetic norms. Then there are the normativities of white supremacy and racism, middle class respectability and 'taste,' and the pervasive fear and hatred of sex workers, which inevitably condition discussions around which trans stories get told, and how.

All of the below debut novels contend with these pressures, and each produces its own solutions. Some don't focus on trans characters or themes, at least not explicitly, raising the shocking possibility of thinking of trans writers simply as writers. One takes place in a world that seems at times almost entirely trans, where cis people appear as mostly unremarkable exceptions. Many focus on relationships and conversations among trans people, presenting trans lives and worlds that are subtly and complexly drawn. In some, being trans is neither the primary or most salient aspect of a protagonist's identity or of the plot. In different ways, all of these books speak back to and/or undo discourses that would speak for trans people.
1. Ryka Aoki, He Mele A Hilo: A Hilo Song
Ryka Aoki's He Mele A Hilo: A Hilo Song is a gorgeously rambling ensemble tale of postcolonial living in Hawaii, which is by turns meditative and sorrowful- but mostly comic, verging on hilarious. In fact, Aoki had me laughing before I'd even begun to read the story proper, with the Mahalo! that welcomes the reader, not without irony: "Use the Glossary at the back of the book and soon you'll feel like a local!"

Harry was kicking it at the store when he met Mr. Yates. Actually, he didn't know it was Mr Yates at first, until he was invited for coffee and found out that yes indeed this man was Mr. Steven Yates, the very high mukka-mukka computer guy who went just buy one huge chunk of Hamakua coastline.

Written in and out of Settler/standard and Hawaiian Pidgin English, Aoki's book at times troubles the distinction between the two. With a backdrop of conquest, trade, settlement and mixing on the islands, Aoki problematizes contemporary economic, politic and indeed metaphysical/epistemological arrangements while weaving a tale that nests many stories within one. Is He Mele a Hilo a story about the sudden arrival of a powerful tech billionaire, and the effects, both good and ill, he has upon on a community? Is it the story of Noelani Choi's Hula troop, her desire to make a performance about the life of Jesus Christ? Or about Nona Watanabe's perfect tasting chicken, the envy it inspires and her longing for more from her widowed boyfriend, Harry? Yes and yes and yes, and really that is just the scratching the surface. He Mele A Hilo proffers a view of the world that is historically and metaphysically rich as well as joyfully, if not uncritically, optimistic.
2. Jeanne Thornton, The Dream of Doctor Bantum

'Do you ever think,' asked Tabitha, 'about what it would be like to get outside of time?'

Julie blinked at her.

The Dream of Doctor Bantum, Jeanne Thornton's debut novel, is one of the more occultly and lushly melancholy books you are likely to fall into obsessive love with. How could you not? It is a fantasy novel in which the fantastic seems entirely immanent to the grist of small town life and first (or is it second?) love. In it, a young Texan girl, Julie Thatch, falls into desperate love with a woman who very nearly incarnates Tabitha, her recently and mysteriously dead older sister. Within the romance that ensues, which is also a struggle to the death with a mysterious cult, Thornton plunges us into desire's strange temporality, one laced with both premonition and echo, and encompassing an impossible, inevitable confusion of familiarity, loss and discovery.

Ultimately, The Dream of Doctor Bantum is a meditation on the power and limits of magical thinking and the indiscernibility of perception from desire and belief. What lover doesn't wish time could stand still, or hasn't yearned for the return of a lost beloved? Who has suffered and not wished to be free from the violence encoded in memory?
3. Sybil Lamb, I've Got a Time Bomb

Sybil... had at least almost 20% more mind powers than when she'd climbed up here. It had been well over a year now since the hospital. She'd been dead well over a year and she was doing amazing! It was time for her to find whatever city Cake was in and destroy it so they could be together.

Sybil Lamb's I've Got a Time Bomb has its origins and inspiration in Lamb's self-published zines (including How to Kill Queer Scum and Detransition Now) and her visual "of North American Travelling Strippers and... Freight Train Culture." Set in an alternate post-apocalyptic/post-Katrina reality, I've Got a Time Bomb begins when protagonist Sybil D'Lye sustains brain injury after being bashed on her way home from a gay wedding. From that point, it unfolds as a dreamily baroque, trashy and picaresque auto-fiction across an "Amerika" and "Canadia" almost entirely populated by trans women who also happen to be punks, strippers, mad scientists, anti-capitalist protesters and squatters. Lamb's book is poetic, sexy, hilarious and scathingly on point in its translations of our dystopic present into something that passes for fiction-and it is also a stunningly illustrated, lucid dream of contemporary discourses on the human, gender, race, and capital. Fans of Lamb's work are prone to saying there is nothing else out there like it, and they're pretty much right.
4. Jia Qing Wilson Yang, Small Beauty
Awarded an Honour of Distinction in the Writers' Trust of Canada 2016 LGBT Emerging Writers competition, Jia Qing Wilson Yang's Small Beauty is quiet and beautiful like the Ontario countryside in which it is largely set, and is similarly rough-hewn, remorseless and haunted. Abjuring dominant representations of trans lives as urban, white and all about transition, Wilson Yang crafts the intricate, compelling and elliptically unfolding story of Mei, a young mixed race woman pulled between rural and urban allegiances, as well as obligations to her relations, living and dead, blood and chosen. Evocative of classic Canadiana, Wilson Yang's book offers a fresh revisioning of the settler/colonial gothic, with one foot in a magic realist lyric and the other in regionalist gritlit.

'Hey Sui Mui, you got big shoulders from before hormones. You gonna help me move this week?' Connie grins at Mei, egging her on at the drop in. Mei could swear Connie is deliberately offensive around her, especially when she's bored. There is no programming at the drop-in tonight, and dinner is late.

Beginning with her arrival in the home she inherited from her recently passed cousin, Mei's narrative is a waking from the numbness of past grief and a movement into a reckoning with both grief's pain, and the inevitability of its recurrence. Moving with her memory-one step forward for every two steps back-the book is both difficult and moving in its portraits of taken-for-granted racisms and explosive forms of transphobic violence, as well as in its unwavering attention to Mei's uncertainty as to how to live. It is a beautifully designed and exquisitely written novel, one with stolen boats and ghosts; trans women who don't take shit from anyone, except when they do; transgenerational traumas; and one surprisingly overdetermined goose.
5. Torrey Peters, The Masker
Given Torrey Peters's conviction "that the publishing industry doesn't serve trans women," it is perhaps unsurprising that she self-published her first book, The Masker, and gives it away to other trans women for free on the Internet. This is despite her having bona fides from McSweeney's, Best Travel Writing and WaveForm, as well as a stint as an editor at Topside Press.

'Look at that,' she says, 'that's some Silence Of The Lambs shit!'

She's looking at a very tall, older trans woman dressed like a dominatrix on the other side of the room.

Even if Peters clearly writes for other trans women first-and committedly and brilliantly-positive representation this is not. Rather, her novella is a wickedly canny interrogation of what we might like to think "positive representation" means, and the lengths we might go to make it so. Gorgeously and creepily illustrated by Sybil Lamb, this short, sharply drawn novella is set at the intersection of MtF cross dresser, transsexual and fetish feminization cultures. Like I've Got A Time Bomb, The Masker reads the world askew and from below, skewering respectability politics through their soft underbelly. The view afforded is at times both hemmed in and slightly feverish as Peters's set piece plays desire against identity, putting a new spin to Kate Bornstein's famous maxim, "Never fuck anyone you wouldn't want to be." And though we're all-all of us trans women, that is-familiar with how that story is supposed to play out, Peters's tale goes its own wryly awry way.
6. Imogen Binnie, Nevada

When you are trans, you are supposed to know everything about men and everything about women and the ways they interact and the important differences that lubricate the dating book market and how ultimately everybody is fundamentally the same but also fundamentally different. And when you first transition? For the first couple years, you totally think you do...

White, punk, dyke, fuck-up Maria Griffiths is nobody's prop for deconstructing gender, learning a valuable lesson about fluidity, or reassuring themselves of their own cis-certainties. Instead, she is an utterly convincing, entirely likeable-if highly flawed-twenty something (post)punk who is pretty aware she is slacking her way through her job, and her relationship with her girlfriend, in favor of being in a primary relationship with her own impatient narcissism. She is bored with being trans, and even more bored with explaining transness to cis people, and she is hilarious and smart ass as she tells you so.

Of course that is just the pregame show. The real fun starts only after she's driven halfway across the country in the car stole from her ex-, and finds someone she mistakes for an avatar of her younger, pre-transition self.

It is hard to talk about Imogen Binnie's Nevada as anything but a game changer. A recipient of the Dr. Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award and shortlisted for Lambda's Transgender Fiction Award, Nevada is the first novel I read in which trans women were depicted believably and on our own terms. I should put quotations marks around the last part of that sentence because I cannot count the number of times I've heard it, or something very much like it, from other trans women.

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Trish Salah's Six Debut Novels by Trans Women

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How can I begin to talk about exceptional writing by trans women authors when, to a certain degree, any trans woman's published work is exceptional inasmuch as it has somehow made its way into existence?

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12 of the Best Books by Trans Authors That You Need to Read

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12 of the Best Books by Trans Authors That You Need to Read

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Toni Morrison frequently told interviewers that she was "writing for Black people...I don't have to apologize." Her implication was that other readers had to keep up; she wouldn't slow down to explain Black culture to non-Black readers. The latest generation of trans writers has followed a similar path, eschewing 101 explanations of what it means to be transgender in favor of crafting vibrant, dramatic, and dynamic stories of how trans people live.

For years, the majority of trans writing published in the United States was confined to memoirs of transition-often written to satisfy cisgender readers' curiosity about the medical and social process of gender confirmation. By contrast, this current crop of trans authors has been working in every genre, taking on every stage of trans life across widely varied cultures, classes, and epistemologies. Want a graphic memoir of an Indian-American trans woman's life in Brooklyn? You've got options. Interested in poetry that lyrically documents the experience of Black trans men in the South? Make space on your bookshelf. Fantasy? Plenty of that, too.

The majority of trans writers are still working in small communities with limited distribution, but indie presses such as Arsenal Pulp, Metonymy, and Topside Press have found success by centering trans writing at the core of their lists. Trans authors of previous generations-like Leslie Feinberg or Louis Sullivan -whose far-sighted work had fallen out of publication, have posthumously found new publishers. Even the big five publishers have taken note. In the larger reckoning with questions of whose stories have been privileged, editors have turned their attention to the potentials of trans literature, and the coming year or two will see a number of exciting trans debuts.

Among this current flourishing of trans literature, here are 12 books that you can pick up at your local bookstore today.

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12 of the Best Books by Trans Authors, According to Torrey Peters

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Toni Morrison frequently told interviewers that she was "writing for Black people...I don't have to apologize." Her implication was that other readers had to keep up; she wouldn't slow down to explain Black culture to non-Black readers.

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21 Books to Read by Queer Women of Color

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21 Books to Read by Queer Women of Color

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I love reading bi and lesbian books, but that subcategory is...pretty white, as a whole. There are some amazing women of color writing queer women books, but they can be hard to find. This is far, far from a definitive list! These are only the books that I personally have and can recommend. (Titles are listed below the graphics.) Please add in your own recommendations for queer women of color books in the comments!

Fiction:

Fabulism & Magical Realism:

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Poetry:

Historical/Alternate History:

Werebears:

Vampires:

Sci-Fi:

Fantasy:

Comics:

Memoirs:

Let me know in the comments what queer women of color books I've missed!

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21 Queer Women of Color Books You Have To Read!

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I love reading bi and lesbian books, but that subcategory is...pretty white, as a whole. There are some amazing women of color writing queer women books, but they can be hard to find. This is far, far from a definitive list! These are only the books that I personally have and can recommend.

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56 Books by Women and Nonbinary Authors to Read

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56 Books by Women and Nonbinary Authors to Read

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A few years ago, because I was having trouble finding upcoming books by women of color to read and review, I compiled and published a list of such titles. If I was having trouble, I thought, then others surely were, too. Maybe they'd also find the list useful.

A lot of people did, as it turned out. The list became one of Electric Literature's most shared pieces, as it did when I compiled a new list the next year, and the year after that. This list is now in its fourth year, and has expanded to include nonbinary writers of color; it gets larger each year, and I'm told it's used to help inform books coverage in other publications, that high school teachers and college professors look to this Electric Literature list when forming syllabi. This fills me with such complicated joy: my hope is that, one day, publishing will be so inclusive that a list like this will become less useful.

For this short while, I want to forget about trepidation. Instead, I want to celebrate these 55 novels, collections, and memoirs.

I know I'm far from alone in dreading what this next year will bring, what wild varieties of hatred will be directed at marginalized people. But for this short while, I want to forget about trepidation. I want to push that hatred to the side. Instead, I want to celebrate, with delight and wonder, these 56 novels, collections, and memoirs, all of which are publishing in 2020.

About the methodology: these are 2020 books by women and nonbinary writers of color that I personally happen to be excited about. It's one list, inevitably incomplete. (If you see a book missing, please feel very welcome to post about it on social media, preorder it from your local bookstore, request it from your library, or, perhaps, all of the above.) Also incomplete is the term "of color," a flawed, complicated label with varied and ever-changing valences in and outside of the U.S. Finally, I love reading poetry, and such books of poetry are coming up in 2020-Natalie Diaz! Danez Smith! Monica Sok!-but I'm not as aware of what's forthcoming from poets, so I've limited myself to prose.

Here you go. It's 2020 now: there's so much to look forward to.

JANUARY

It's difficult to think of a more joyful way to start the year than with Zora Neale Hurston's stories, brought together for the first time in a single volume. The book includes eight "lost" stories from archives and periodicals, and I can't wait.

A first novel about migrations that takes place in Beijing and the U.S., and one Colum McCann calls heart-wracking, fierce, and intelligent.

Koh's parents lived in America for a decade before they moved to Korea to find work, leaving their two children behind. Koh's mother wrote her letters, but in a language Koh couldn't fully understand until, years later, she began translating the missives, a discovery she details in this book.

Saavedra is one of Granta's "best young Brazilian writers," and this partially epistolary novel follows a recently divorced man receiving obsessive letters from an anonymous woman.

FEBRUARY

Part memoir, part cultural criticism, the poet and essayist's Cathy Park Hong's first book of prose had me underlining and annotating nearly every page. Claudia Rankine says that "to read this book is to become more human."

A capacious and devastating collection of essays that have to do with migration and belonging, bringing together writers such as Natalia Sylvester, Bix Gabriel, and Jennifer S. Cheng.

MARCH

A new book from the mighty Louise Erdrich! This novel is based on the life of Erdrich's grandfather, a night watchman who fought in the 1950s against Native dispossession.

In this debut novel, a staff writer at a tech publication leaves Silicon Valley to live with her boyfriend in upstate New York. George Saunders calls Chang "one of the most important of the new generation of American writers."

I've admired Card's writing a long while, and in These Ghosts Are Family, a Jamaican family contends with a faked death, a stolen identity, and the revelation of decades-old secrets.

These essays from the bestselling Irby come with an irresistible endorsement from Jia Tolentino, who says there is "truly no one like Samantha Irby for making you actually choke (on poop jokes) laughing out loud."

A debt-riddled millennial woman drops out of college to support her family by taking a well-paid, mysterious job in a remote Michigan town. The job, it turns out, involves participating in a secret program of medical experimentation.

Entertainment columnist Streeter's book is subtitled "A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like 'Journey' in the Title." A book of widowhood, mixed marriage, grief, and race.

Goenawan's second novel is centered on the people living in the aftermath of a tragedy in Japan. Sharlene Teo says it's an "elegantly cryptic, poetically plotted" whydunit.

From the delightful Leesa Cross-Smith, whom Roxane Gay has called "a consummate storyteller," a collection of 42 very short stories.

Chung is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and clinical supervisor, and she's written a novel about a woman with multiple personalities trying to help an imperiled close friend.

The recipient of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, the bestselling Jemisin is publishing a speculative novel chronicling a world in which "every great city has a soul."

APRIL

Afterlife is, at long last, the first adult book from Alvarez in fifteen years. Elizabeth Acevedo says it's "a stunning work of art that reminds readers Alvarez is, and always has been, in a class of her own."

A powerful first novel about an immigrant family trying hard to survive the American Gold Rush. I read it in one exhilarated tear; I'm already looking forward to rereading it.

Starling Days first published in 2019 in the U.K., where it was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award. In The Paris Review, Spencer Quong says it's an "exploration of depression without clear resolution," one that can show how to "be with an emotion without anticipating its meaning."

A children's book about Black women who fought for women's right to vote, from the unfailingly brilliant Evette Dionne, editor-in-chief of Bitch.

Kyuri, Miho, Ara, and Wonna are four women-a bar entertainer, an artist, a hair stylist, and a newlywed-who live in the same apartment building. Helen Oyeyemi says it's "as engrossing as a war chant, or a mosaic formed with blades."

I've looked for Thammavongsa's work ever since we read together at a release party for the wondrous literary magazine NOON, and How to Pronounce Knife is her first story collection, one that Madeleine Thien praises as "a major work and a lasting one."

Another one I've anticipated for a while, this nonfiction book follows a group of evangelical Christian harvesters working a Nebraska wheat farm inherited by the Japanese American Mockett.

A woman in contemporary Seoul descends into a psychosis in which she channels other women. This very short novel, with just 144 pages, has already sold over a million copies abroad.

MAY

The acclaimed Lalami has previously published four novels, and now, in her first nonfiction book, she explores the idea of conditional citizenship. Maaza Mengiste says "reading this book was like encountering America for the first time."

Sharma's novelis set in Trinidad and the Crow Nation in Bighorn, Montana, and spans the late 1700s to the early 1800s. I heard Sharma read from this book last summer, and have awaited it ever since.

Meredith Talusan,

I'm a longtime admirer of them. editor Talusan's short writing, and this is a memoir of her life as a trans person with albinism. This book, a debut, is profound and moving.

First partially published in 2016 by Willow Books, and now with new stories, Deceit and Other Possibilities is a reissued collection from Counterpoint. The stories I read in 2016 are a marvel; I'm excited to read the rest.

From National Book Award-winning, bestselling Acevedo, the novel-in-verse Clap When You Land is about two girls who lose their father in a plane crash.

Natalia Sylvester,

Sylvester's most recent book, Everyone Knows You Go Home, was unforgettable. Running is her young-adult debut, in which the fifteen-year-old Mariana Ruiz's father runs for president of the U.S.

Mira Jacob says this memoir in essays "captures what it means to be a citizen of a country that may never claim you as its own, to imagine your own brilliant fullness beyond its peripheral gaze."

I deeply loved Tracy O'Neill's first novel, The Hopeful, telling the story of a figure-skating prodigy whose athletic dreams become unobtainable; Quotients, her newest, includes a mixed-race couple, the dark web, surveillance, and love.

This book draws together more than a decade of Khakpour's essays about being an Iranian American immigrant and refugee.

JUNE

A fifth novel from the astonishingly prolific Guillory, who has published four bestselling, captivating books in the past two years. If you somehow haven't read her previous fiction, or caught her giving book recommendations on The Today Show, you have six months to do so before seeking out her newest.

Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo, The Book of Rosy

A nonfiction account of a family of Guatemalan migrants separated at the border of Arizona. The Book of Rosy is told by Rosayra Pablo Cruz, the mother of the family, and Julie Schwietert Collazo, co-founder of Immigrant Families Together, a grassroots organization working to reunite mothers with their children.

Jean Kyoung Frazier,

A pregnant eighteen-year-old pizza deliverer becomes obsessed with a customer, a mother new to the neighborhood. This first novel comes bearing comparisons to Convenience Store Woman and The Idiot.

I've been anticipating this memoir since I read a 2017 piece by Haile detailing her solo hike, as a Black woman, of the Appalachian trail. The book incorporates and expands upon that long hike. Update: This book's publication date has been moved to 2021 so expect to see it on the list again next year!

The title of this novel comes from the moment when its protagonist, a Palestinian American girl, tells her mother she's queer: "You exist too much," her mother says. A bildungsroman of desire, shame, and addiction.

A thriller set in motion when Jivan, a Muslim girl in India, is falsely accused of perpetrating a terrorist attack on a train. Colum McCann calls it "rare and powerful."

The Vignes twins run away from home as teenagers, and grow up to lead unusually different lives: while one sister is raising her Black daughter in their old hometown, the other sister lives as a white person, with a white husband who doesn't know who she is. From the widely acclaimed, bestselling Bennett.

In a short book for children and young adults, the poet and advocate Alok Vaid-Menon draws on their experiences as a gender-nonconforming artist to reimagine the gender binary.

JULY

The first book from the Plimpton Prize-winning Ford, Crooked Hallelujah follows a family of Cherokee women from Oklahoma to Texas. An epic of mothers and daughters.

Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, Big Friendship

Sow and Friedman, cohosts of the very popular podcast Call Your Girlfriend, have written a book about their decade of close, deep friendship.

AUGUST

A story collection from Swamy, a Steinbeck Fellow and two-time O. Henry Prize recipient. Laura Furman says the book is written with a "rich understanding that recalls such renowned storytellers as Katherine Anne Porter and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala."

Following on Emezi's first novel, the singular Freshwater, as well as their young-adult book Pet, comes another book for adults, this time centered on a Nigerian named Vivek.

A memoir of Jaouad's illness and recovery from leukemia, and of figuring out how to live in the aftermath of years of chemotherapy and the cancer ward.

Luster is about a young artist in Bushwick who gets involved in a couple's open marriage. Zadie Smith says it's brutal and brilliant.

SEPTEMBER & LATER

Fall is traditionally a big time for books, a season when publishers release a lot of high-profile titles before the holiday rush. This fall, with the elections coming, I keep hearing that significantly fewer books than usual will publish; I'm so glad, though, that it's fewer, not zero! While it's too soon in the year to have so much as a cover of most of these autumn titles, here are some writers whose writing I love, and who have books publishing between September and the end of the year:

Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, Black Futures

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Likes

Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Finding My Voice (reissue)

Jaya Saxena, Crystal Clear

Mary H.K. Choi, Yolk

Danielle Evans, Office of Historical Corrections

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56 Books By Women and Nonbinary Writers of Color to Read in 2020 - Electric Literature

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A few years ago, because I was having trouble finding upcoming books by women of color to read and review, I compiled and published a list of such titles. If I was having trouble, I thought, then others surely were, too. Maybe they'd also find the list useful.

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If you enjoy reading Electric Literature, join our mailing list! We'll send you the best of EL each week, and you'll be the first to know about upcoming submissions periods and virtual events.

This is the fifth year I've put together a list of books I'm anticipating by women writers of color, a catalog I started assembling because, in 2016, I found I had trouble finding such upcoming books. It occurred to me that if I published this list, others might find it useful.

The list turned out to be one of Electric Literature's most shared pieces for the year, and, to my surprise and delight, I'm often told it helps inform school syllabi and other publications' books coverage. My extravagant hope is that, one day, publishing will be so inclusive, so much more reflective of an increasingly and splendidly diverse country, that we'll have no need for such a list. Today, plainly, is not that day; as recently as 2018, white people wrote 89 percent of the books published by major publishing companies.

One day, publishing will be so inclusive that we'll have no need for such a list. Today, plainly, is not that day.

A few words on methodology: this is one list, necessarily incomplete, of books I'm personally anticipating. If you see a book missing and want to support it, a good way to do so is by preordering it from your local independent bookstore, requesting it from the library, shouting about it from social-media rooftops, or hey, all of the above.

In the past couple of years, I'd expanded the list to nonbinary writers; this year, though, I've increasingly heard from nonbinary writers that it can be preferable to avoid grouping nonbinary people with women. Accordingly, though I'm eagerly anticipating 2021 books from nonbinary writers of color including Akwaeke Emezi, Rivers Solomon, and Emery Lee, this year I limited this list to forthcoming books from women. The term "of color" is also a flawed, complex label with ever-changing valences-one increasingly replaced by the more specific "Black, Indigenous, and of color," or BIPOC-and I imagine these categories will keep adapting to better suit our rapidly shifting world.

Please join me in rejoicing over these 43 upcoming novels, memoirs, and collections by women writers of color: though the year ahead looks terribly uncertain, we'll have these books, and hallelujah.

JANUARY

I've been looking forward to this awhile: a memoir and first book from the Whiting Award-winning Nadia Owusu, one that traverses countries and languages. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah says Aftershocks is "a majestically rendered telling of all the history, hurt, and love a body can contain."

This debut novel is about a newlywed couple in Cleveland whose marriage ends shortly after their first child is born. When the father returns to Saudi Arabia, the mother, afraid of losing her daughter, disappears with their child.

I first read Geller's work in a striking New Yorker piece in which she annotated the first page of the first Navajo-English dictionary with her history. In this memoir, Geller returns home after her mother dies, finds eight suitcases filled with her mother's life, and sets out to better understand her family history.

From the former editor-in-chief of Jezebel, this book examines the history of feminism. Patrisse Khan-Cullors-cofounder of Black Lives Matter-says Beck "illuminates the broad landscapes of systemic oppression and demands that white feminism evolve lest it continue to be as oppressive as the patriarchy."

FEBRUARY

O, The Oprah Magazine says that, in this debut story collection, "like Danielle Evans and Lauren Groff, Moniz is unafraid to expose the darkened corners of the Sunshine State, and of female desire." Moniz's work has appeared in The Paris Review, McSweeney's, and elsewhere.

I've admired Engel's writing a long time, and her new book deepened that admiration. An exquisitely told story of family, war, and migration, this is a novel our increasingly divided country wants and needs to read.

A debut collection from Small Beer Press, Never Have I Ever combines fabulism, horror, and science fiction. Charlie Jane Anders says that "these gorgeous stories will help you to glimpse a world that is both stranger and more immense and varied than any you've visited before."

I love Jarrar's writing, and Love Is an Ex-Country is a memoir about a cross-country road trip inspired by an Egyptian belly dancer's 1940s journey across America. The book is also, wonderfully, about claiming joy. Carmen Maria Machado calls it "a perfect, unforgettable howl of a book," and Myriam Gurba says Jarrar is "the Arab femme daddy" of her dreams.

This Close to Okay is about two strangers, a therapist and a man on a bridge, who share a life-changing weekend. Cross-Smith's writing is reliably a delight-Roxane Gay has called her "a consummate storyteller"-and in a time of such isolation, a novel about strangers coming together seems especially appealing.

Carroll, a WNYC cultural critic and podcast host, has previously published interview-based books; now, she's written a memoir about growing up as the only Black person in her New Hampshire town, and about adoption, belonging, and racism. I would pick this book up based on the title alone.

A debut story collection about people in China as well as the country's diaspora, from a Wall Street Journal reporter who was previously a correspondent in Beijing and Hong Kong. Madeleine Thien says that "Te-Ping Chen has a superb eye for detail in a China where transformation occurs simultaneously too fast and too slow for lives in pursuit of meaning in a brave new world."

MARCH

From the author of Halsey Street comes an explosive saga about two North Carolinian families on different sides of a high-school integration initiative. An unfailingly generous and compassionate novel.

In my household, we are such admirers of Choi's fiction that we tussle over who gets to be first in reading advance copies of her books. Yolk is about two sisters carving out lives in New York City, and about the evolution of their complicated relationship after one of the sisters receives a cancer diagnosis. Moving and funny and trenchant.

Kaitlyn Greenidge,

If you're not already reading Kaitlyn Greenidge's writing, you're missing out. I remember first hearing Greenidge read a decade ago at the Sunday Salon reading series in New York, and knowing I had to keep following her work. Libertie, Greenidge's second novel, is inspired by the life of one of the first Black woman doctors in the U.S. during Reconstruction-era Brooklyn.

A young-adult thriller about an Ojibwe teenager who becomes involved in an FBI investigation of a lethal drug, Firekeeper's Daughter has drawn comparison to books by Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.

Another book I've anticipated for a while, Of Women and Salt is a debut novel about the daughter of a Cuban immigrant, Jeanette, who takes in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Garcia has worked as an organizer in migrant rights movements, and Terese Marie Mailhot says Garcia's novel is a "true and profound work on migration, legacy, and survival."

In Oyeyemi's new novel, a couple and their pet mongoose get on a sleeper train called The Lucky Day, and it seems as though they're the only people on the train. Mysteries and improbabilities abound; if you're familiar with Oyeyemi's wildly inventive fiction, you know it's impossible to know what happens next.

I've been on the lookout for Hala Alyan's work ever since I read an unforgettable poem of hers last fall. From the winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award, The Arsonists' City is a story of a far-flung family that returns to Beirut when the patriarch decides to sell their ancestral home.

Silence Is a Sense is a novel about a Syrian woman left mute by the trauma of war and migration. She leads an isolated life in an English city until she begins writing for a magazine and venturing into surrounding communities.

A ghost-beset, angel-haunted novel, Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer is about a woman trying desperately to help her sibling. Tiphanie Yanique says the book "begins in prayer and does what prayer does-gives us hope, reveals our deepest griefs, and sometimes even redeems."

Set in a fictional town in Africa called Kosawa, Mbue's expansive, suspenseful new novel is about a community that fights back against dictatorship and environmental pollution. A saga told from the perspective of a generation of children, as well as the family of a girl who grows up to become a revolutionary.

APRIL

I've been waiting for this book since reading Zauner's incandescent short piece about grieving her mother's death. Zauner, who is also known as the indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast, has written a memoir about food, mourning, race, music, and Koreanness.

You might have seen a lot of Enjeti's name lately, as she's the co-founder of They See Blue, a grassroots organization focused on South Asian American voters. They See Blue has been heavily involved in the elections in Georgia, and a good way to thank Enjeti for her work would be to preorder her first book, Southbound, a collection of essays about social change and identity. She's also publishing her first novel, The Parted Earth, in May.

A new book from the formidable Elissa Washuta, this time an essay collection about land, colonization, and witchery. Melissa Febos says it's "a bracingly original work that enthralled me in a hypnosis on the other side of which I was changed for the better, more likely to trust my own strange intelligence."

I've loved Quade's writing for years, and her first novel, Five Wounds, is about five generations of the New Mexican Padilla family and a new baby. "All the fabulous mess of humanity is, somehow, in these pages," says C Pam Zhang.

In this graphic nonfiction book, subtitled as "An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans Resistance," queer and trans organizers, artists, leaders, and others speak in their own words about their experiences with resistance and justice.

Huang's second novel is about a tailor living in post-Tiananmen China who hopes to send his son Feng to the U.S. to study. He asks an American customer for help sponsoring Feng, and what results for the tailor and his family shines a light on vast, abiding disparities in opportunity.

A woman who desperately wants a child, and whose previous pregnancies have ended in sorrow, turns to magic in the form of a powerful family's healing abilities. Caul Baby is a debut novel from Jerkins, who has written two previous nonfiction books and is a contributing editor at Zora.

Whereabouts is the first novel in almost a decade from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lahiri, and it's about a woman who both wants to belong and has trouble forming lasting ties. Intriguingly, Lahiri first wrote this book in Italian-a language she started learning relatively recently-then translated it into English.

MAY

The incredible Abrams has not only devoted herself for years to voting rights in Georgia and elsewhere, but she also has written nine romantic-suspense thrillers under the name Selena Montgomery. While Justice Sleeps will be the first novel she'll publish as Stacey Abrams, and the book is centered on lifetime appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on what can happen when one person has too much control over the country. May this book absolutely thrive.

A debut memoir-in-essays about love and art, featuring the work of Anne Carson, Frank Ocean, and Agnes Martin, among others. "There are so many times in my past when reading Pop Song could have saved my life," says Esmé Weijun Wang. "It may very well save yours."

Feng's debut is about a ten-year-old girl in a small Chinese village in 1986 whose parents live in America and have promised to return by her twelfth birthday. A novel about longing and secrets and immigrant compromises, one Garth Greenwell calls one of the most beautiful debuts he's read in years.

JUNE

I'll jump to read Ford's writing, and this is her first book, a memoir about her childhood with a father in prison. Her writing shines with extraordinary insight and grace, and Somebody's Daughter is a book so many of you will want to read.

A debut novel about two young Black women who meet in the predominantly white world of publishing in New York, from a writer who's worked as an editor at Knopf. Attica Locke calls The Other Black Girl "the funniest, wildest, deepest, most thought-provoking ride of a book."

AUGUST

This is another book I've been anticipating for years, as I've long admired Kat Chow's work with NPR Code Switch. Chow's memoir is a debut centered on her mother's death, and Jacqueline Woodson says it's "a love song to loss, to family, to the power of writing things down and remembering."

The President and the Frog is about the former president of an unnamed Latin American country, and a long conversation he has in his lush presidential gardens with a journalist. De Robertis's large-hearted fiction is always a boon, and I'm so glad we'll have more of it soon.

In this debut memoir, Qu tells the story of how, as a teenager in Queens, she was sent to work in her family garment factory, and was punished for doing her homework. Qu alerted the Office of Children and Family Services, and what resulted had lasting consequences she explores in what Alexandra Chang calls "a sympathetic, brave portrayal of the confusions, difficulties, and hurts that come with growing up between worlds."

FALL AND BEYOND

Perry is another writer whose work I've loved following for years. She is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, and her remarkable writing and scholarship mostly focus on Black thought and imagination. The nonfiction South to America takes readers on a trip through the American South, which, Perry argues, is the American heartland.

Transitional is the first book from the groundbreaking Black trans activist and model Bergdorf, who was named Changemaker of the Year by Cosmopolitan. Described as a gender manifesto arguing that everyone experiences transitions of many kinds, Transitional also examines the history of gender throughout the world.

NAACP Image Award Nominee Natashia Deón's first novel was a revelation, and she returns with The Perishing, a portrait of a Black immortal woman in 1930s Los Angeles trying to save the world.

This collection of essays by culture writer Blay celebrates influential Black women throughout history, including Josephine Baker, Rihanna, and Cardi B.

Chibundu Onuzu,

From the writer of the moving Welcome to Lagos, this novel follows the life of a biracial woman who learns that her father was a radical who became a controversial leader of his West African country.

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43 Books By Women of Color to Read in 2021 - Electric Literature

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If you enjoy reading Electric Literature, join our mailing list! We'll send you the best of EL each week, and you'll be the first to know about upcoming submissions periods and virtual events.

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Awesome Black Women Everyone Should Know

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Awesome Black Women Everyone Should Know

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Over the past two years our team has had the privilege of attending numerous events where we have met an increasing number of inspiring Black women who have been successful in a variety of fields. In May 2017, Aleria co-founder, Paolo Gaudiano, wrote an article on Forbes celebrating 28 awesome Black women and began a list on our website for anyone looking for speakers and to contribute to the increase in representation and inclusion of this community. Since then the list has grown significantly and been featured on Forbes, Fortune, and Medium. We decided to change the format of the page into the table below, which is interactive allowing you to filter, sort, and search as needed.

Whether you are planning an event, looking for advice, seeking talent or simply want to increase the diversity of your network, the list of women below will prove useful. Consider following each of them on social media, sharing their content, asking them to speak and hiring them for their specialties. We encourage you to circle back to this page, subscribe to our Medium blog for updates or follow the entire list on Twitter with one click.

Take a look at the starter lists below or scroll down to see the full list. This list is ever growing. If you have suggestions for additional women that should be highlighted, please drop us a line.

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Over the past two years our team has had the privilege of attending numerous events where we have met an increasing number of inspiring Black women who have been successful in a variety of fields.

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March is Women's History Month, a time for us to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of extraordinary, influential women. In particular, we remember the women poets who have helped shape American poetry-innovative poets including Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Plath, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Adrienne Rich, and kari edwards. Here we've curated a collection of poems, videos, audio, essays, books, lesson plans, and ephemera in tribute to these and other women poets writing today.

Celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the 19th Amendment with poems from the women's suffrage...

A special commemoration with the New York Philharmonic for the 100th anniversary of the passage of...

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March is Women's History Month, a time for us to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of extraordinary, influential women. In particular, we remember the women poets who have helped shape American poetry-innovative poets including Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Plath, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Adrienne Rich, and kari edwards.

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A great site for helping students find new books based on lexile and interest.

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Access various reading and math resources and educational tools related to Lexile and Quantile levels for teachers and parents.

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This gorgeous slideshow was created by Carrie Friday @CarrieFriday and showcases dozens of stellar books by living +inclusive authors if you need some recs (mostly middle grades book snacks, but many YA titles, too).

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If you're not yet convinced you want to run book clubs in your classroom, listen to this quick (5 minute) mini-lesson that addresses "Why Book Talks?"

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National Writing Project Support for Black Lives Matter National Recognition Week + Black History Month

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National Writing Project Support for Black Lives Matter National Recognition Week + Black History Month

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Upcoming Visit with Kwame Alexander, BLM at School, Poetry Resources, and More

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Kwame Alexander's newest novel Becoming Muhammad Ali, co-authored with best-selling author James Patterson, takes up the childhood of Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky. Tyler Jones, a teacher-leader with the Louisville Writing Project, interviews Kwame about this knockout novel for this month's Write Time.

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Pop Culture Classroom Blog Resources on BHM

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Pop Culture Classroom Blog Resources on BHM

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Each February, we celebrate the essential contributions of the African diaspora to our shared American experience during Black History Month.
Pop Culture Classroom has created free original comics and shareable graphics to inspire. You'll also find recommended reading from other sources and other kinds of pop culture that students - and adults - will love.

Discussion Topics from Pop Culture Classroom

Understanding the context of history and current events is an essential skill in today's media-saturated world. This list of discussion prompts and resources from the Pop Culture Classroom Blog can help engage student engagement and critical thinking.

Black History Comics

Comic books can make complex social and historical subjects more accessible and engaging for students with a variety of reading-comprehension levels.

Download Pop Culture Classroom's 2021 African American History Educational Comic Collection. The collection includes nine unique and compelling comics that highlight important people, places, and events in the history of the U.S. - and our home state of Colorado.

Download Black History Comics from Pop Culture Classroom

United States

Colorado

Selected Readings from Others

March

By John Lewis (Author), Andrew Aydin (Author), Nate Powell (Illustrator, Artist)

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Download a Free Teaching Guide from Pop Culture Classroom

The Silence of Our Friends

By Mark Long and Jim Demonakos; illustrated by Nate Powell

Publisher: First Second

Icon: A Hero's Welcome

by Dwayne McDuffie(Author), MD Bright (Illustrator)

Publisher: DC

Invisible Men: The Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books

By Ken Quattro

Publisher: Yoe Books

Encyclopedia of Black Comics

By Sheena C. Howard(Author), Christopher Priest (Author, Afterword), Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Foreword)

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

African-American Classics

By Langston Hughes (Author), Zora Neale Hurston (Author), W.E.B. Du Bois (Author), Jean Toomer (Author), Paul Laurence Dunbar (Author), Alice Dunbar Nelson (Author), Charles W. Chesnutt (Author), Claude McKay (Author), Florence Lewis Bentley (Author), Frances E.W. Harper (Author), Tom Pomplun (Editor), Lance Tooks (Editor), Kyle Baker(Artist), Afua Richardson (Artist), Trevor Von Eeden (Artist), Jeremy Love (Artist), Randy DuBurke (Artist), Stan Shaw (Artist), Milton Knight (Artist), Arie Monroe (Artist), Jim Webb (Artist), Shepherd Hendrix (Artist)

Publisher: Eureka Productions

Shareable Black History Month Graphics

Teaching Resources from Others

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Black History Month 2021 Pop Culture Education Resources

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Each February, we celebrate the essential contributions of the African diaspora to our shared American experience during Black History Month. Pop Culture Classroom has created free original comics and shareable graphics to inspire. You'll also find recommended reading from other sources and other kinds of pop culture that students - and adults - will love.

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By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Amanda Gorman, a 23-year old Black woman, and the nation's first-ever youth poet laureate, read her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the Biden inauguration. Her poem, which you can read here in full , and her delivery of words captivated the nation and thrust her work into the spotlight.

Poetry readings during the inauguration aren't necessarily new: Four presidents-John F. Kennedy in 1961, Bill Clinton in 1993 and 1997, Barack Obama in 2009 and 2013, and Joe Biden in 2021-have had poets read at their inaugurations (). Amanda Gorman is by far the youngest, and the third Black poet ( following Maya Angelou in 1993 and Elizabeth Alexander in 2009), to participate. She finished writing her poem after the riot at the Capitol, referencing scenes directly in the text ().

Indeed, all of this alone is a reason to celebrate. But Black poetry has historical significance - living as a written form of protest that has outlasted unbeatable odds. By understanding how Black poetry has shaped our nation, we can appreciate Gorman and her words even more.

Black poetry began in the U.S. before it was even founded. In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first Black person and second woman to publish a book of poetry. An enslaved woman from The Gambia (she was renamed after the slave ship she arrived on, "the Phillis") Whatley was taught to read and write English from her captors. Throughout her teenage years, she used poetry as a way to question the political and social injustices of the era. As an enslaved woman, no one in the U.S. was interested in publishing a collection of her work. Ultimately, her "less controversial" works were published in London (National Women's History Museum). She was 20 years old. Read one of her works, "On Being Brought from Africa to America ."

Ever since, poetry has played a critical role in Black history. During the Civil Rights Movement, poets like Margaret Walker , Nikki Giovanni , and June Jordan used their work to "instill a sense of pride in one's identity, to praise freedom fighters and honor fallen leaders, to chronicle acts of resistance, and to offer wisdom and strength to fellow activists" ( Poetry Foundation ). Consider "Ballad of Birmingham" by Dudley Randall in response to the Birmingham Church Bombing by white supremacists in September 1963. Or " Riot" by Gwendolyn Brooks , commissioned by Black magazine Black Expressions in response to the protests sparked after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr ( The Stranger ). And "Afterimages" by Audre Lorde is a moving narrative of grief and despair after the brutal murder of Emmett Till .

Even today, Black literary leaders offer poignant narratives of the liberation we all strive for. I recommend by , 's "," or "" by . But that doesn't come without a cost. Black literary leaders were routinely censored and banned. Many people don't realize that poet Maya Angelou is one of the most banned authors in the U.S. due to the topics in her autobiographical work " I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings " ( New African ). A school board in Alaska just banned this book last year ().

Furthermore, dozens of prominent African American writers were profiled by the FBI between 1919 and 1972 ( The Guardian ). One such writer was Claude McKay , a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance who wrote poems, like "," that protested racial and economic inequities ( Poetry Foundation ). The FBI would keep accounts of their travels, review their works before publication on the sly, and apparently considered "whether certain African Americans should be allowed government jobs and White House visits, in the cases of the most fortunate," and "what the leading minds of black America were thinking, and would be thinking" ( The Guardian ). Surveillance of Black leaders is still happening today , but it is nevertheless encouraging to see Gorman sharing her work in that moment.

I reached out to Natalie Patterson (she/her/Queen), a Poet & Teaching Artist ( natalieispoetry.com ) who leads workshops for youth. She stresses poetry's importance in Black history: "Poetry is a tool for liberation. It is access that can not be taken away. The act of writing is an act of manifestation. It is communing with the creator. It is one of our most powerful tools. Perhaps that is why it is not celebrated and elevated as it should be."

And that is up to us - to celebrate it and elevate it, particularly for the next generation. It doesn't just connect them to our history but gives them the tools to write their own. Patterson reflects on her work: "I think of the many young people I have taught, particularly the ones who were incarcerated. I think of how giving them a single sheet of paper and a pen allowed them to come to terms with some things, make peace, discover new things about themselves and the world. I think about how that is perhaps the best teaching I've ever done, to give them the tools, permission to be honest, and then get out of their way.

Storytelling is in our DNA. It is our inheritance and legacy."

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Support Black poetry - Anti-Racism Daily

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Amanda Gorman, a 23-year old Black woman, and the nation's first-ever youth poet laureate, read her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the Biden inauguration. Her poem, which you can read here in full, and her delivery of words captivated the nation and thrust her work into the spotlight.

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Quick Video on Conferring and Small Groups with Readers 

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Quick Video on Conferring and Small Groups with Readers 

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Sample Mini Lesson around Reading Non-Fiction Argument (TCRWP)

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Sample Mini Lesson around Reading Non-Fiction Argument (TCRWP)

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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project

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Talking with Students about BLM Protests (TCRWP)

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Talking with Students about BLM Protests (TCRWP)

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from Common Lit

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

Explore some of the key voices of black writers and poets in this literary text set.

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. Explore some of the key voices of black writers and poets in this literary text set.

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from Journeys in Film

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Honoring Black History Month on Flipgrid

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Honoring Black History Month on Flipgrid

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Our Education Innovation Leads regularly host events to support your professional development. They're thrilled to share pedagogy-rooted best practices, answer your questions, and help you empower your class.

This month's events will give special attention to teaching Black History, not only in February, but throughout the school year - as well as the histories of other diverse audiences. Take a look at the full calendar here, where you can participate in each of these events below:

Jan. 27: Kick off Black History Month with our Educator Innovation Leads

Feb. 4: Educator Professional Development

Feb. 11: Community Conversation on "Sparking Inquiry for Learning Through Media Literacy"

Feb. 18: Community Conversation on "Inspiring Collaborative Projects for Celebrating History"

Feb. 25: Community Conversation on "A Virtual Journey Celebrating African American History"

Lastly, at 2 p.m. PT on Tuesday, Feb. 23, the EdLeads will host their next Race, Equity, and Justice panel on "Teaching Black History in Culturally Responsive Ways" with author Keila Dawson and educational thought leaders Ken Shelton, Natasha Rachell, and Yaritza Villalba.

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Honor Black History Month on Flipgrid - Flipgrid

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Our Education Innovation Leads regularly host events to support your professional development. They're thrilled to share pedagogy-rooted best practices, answer your questions, and help you empower your class. This month's events will give special attention to teaching Black History, not only in February, but throughout the school year - as well as the histories of other diverse audiences.

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From Boxes to Bins: Organizing Classroom Libraries (TCRWO 2019)

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From Boxes to Bins: Organizing Classroom Libraries (TCRWO 2019)

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Boxes to Bins by Shana Frazin - September 19, 2018

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Virtual Unit CODES per your Department CHair for UoS

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Virtual Unit CODES per your Department CHair for UoS

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Natalie's Video on how SHE is using the Virtual Units

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Natalie's Video on how SHE is using the Virtual Units

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Tips for using the Virtual Units of Study

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Black Lives Matter at School Week (Feb 1-5, 2021)

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Black Lives Matter at School Week (Feb 1-5, 2021)

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Racial Equity in Education

Across race and place, educators, parents and allies are coming together to ensure that every Black student and educator can live, grow and thrive with support, love and joy. The goal of Black Lives Matter at School is to spark an ongoing movement of critical reflection and honest conversation and impactful actions in school communities for people of all ages to engage with issues of racial justice. Find stories, resources and ideas highlighting Black Lives Matter at School from across the country.

Get a Black Lives Matter at School poster here!

VIDEO: An Uprising for Educational Justice

Jesse Hagopian and Denisha Jones, editors of Black Lives Matter at School, discuss antiracist education with contributor Brian Jones.

Black Lives Matter at School - Resources

Talking About Race

Check out resources to help facilitate conversations about race, including classroom appropriate lesson plans, guides on how to have tough conversations with peers and students, and more.

Standing Together

See how cities like Milwaukee, Rochester, and Seattle have passed community and union resolutions - and then mobilized to support Black Lives Matter at School.

Art and Activism

Art and video, and ideas to engage classrooms and communities to support racial and social justice.
READ MORE

Find 2022 Black Lives Matter at School Events Near You

Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore... these are just a few of the scores of cities and communities across the country where educators, students and community organizations are participating in 2022 Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action events.

Click on the map below to find details on local events and actions!
Red pins on the map indicate 2020 events, blue indicates 2021 events and green indicates upcoming events for 2022.

Portland Educators Engage Community Through Black Lives Matter at School

Thousands of teachers and students participated in Black Lives Matter at School events and actions around the country last month. In Portland, Ore., educators both celebrated progress they made around racial justice in education over the past year, and highlighted the hard work that remains in their schools and communities.

"Teachers want more culturally responsive curriculum, especially for black and brown students," said Nichole Watson, who teaches 5 th grade at Rosa Parks Elementary. "We want to be able to plan, organize and create safe spaces for educators of color. And we want to help our union to be proactive when it comes to racial equity - rather than defensive."

Read More

As in many U.S. communities, the Portland week of action took place in the context of a local police shooting and death of a young black man, as well as disparities in school resources that too often correlate to race and ethnicity, and rates of disciplinary actions that are disproportionately higher for students of color."Our school district has some pretty significant inequities in resources and staffing," said Suzanne Cohen, the president of the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT). "Educators have known about it for it forever. The neediest schools are not always getting what they need."In the 2010 census, Portland was 76.1% white (non-Hispanic: 72.2%) and 6.3% Black or African American."Black Lives Matter is not just because we have a population of black kids," said Watson. "It's as much for kids who are not black - we need to be having these conversations and discussions."

Pledge to grow the movement for racial justice in education. CLICK HERE ›

Adolfo Garza-Cano, who teaches at Woodlawn Elementary School, said Portland educators were inspired by educators in Seattle who pushed for a Black Lives Matter Week of action and wore Black Lives Matter shirts at school. He said many Portland educators wanted to take part in a similar show of solidarity. "There was pushback from administrators, parents and the districts," said Garza-Cano.

PAT surveyed its members. "The response was HUGE," said Cohen. "They really wanted to focus on curriculum, especially how you discuss what is happening with police shootings."

PAT educators formed a Black Lives Matter committee and came up with specific goals and event ideas. They also began gathering existing lesson plans and developing some of their own.

Cohen says other key issues PAT and the committee wanted to look at included:

More professional development for all teachers, including how to identify and understand their own implicit bias,

Restorative justice and what that looks like when done right, and

How to recruit teachers of color from the Portland area.

Watson responded to the PAT survey. She quickly became active in the formation of the committee, which in turn created a PAT Racial Equity Task Force focused on supporting and connecting educators of color.

"We have affinity groups and mixers and social hours," said Watson. "We debrief and we strategize. And under that task force umbrella, we organize around celebrating Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action."

Rather than developing a Black Lives Matter at School plan of action and then asking the community for support, Watson said the task force reached out to community organizations and asked what they needed.

"We reached out to as many black community organizers as we know," said Watson. "And we asked: What are you doing that you need help with that a teachers' union like ours could help with? Especially if has to do with students, or student work, or student art, etc."

"We are talking to nonprofits and leaders in the community who are already doing the work, locally, statewide and nationwide," said Garza-Cano. "We shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel when there is already so much talent and experience out there."

For this year's week of action, PAT focused on three core activities and events: Developing and sharing lesson plans and curriculum, a film series and an art show in partnership with a community organization.

Early in 2019, PAT leadership and the Racial Equity Task Force worked with members of the Portland School Board on a resolution that would include language endorsing Black Lives Matter at School. The process broke down.

"They took our language and made their own edits and revisions and asked if it was satisfactory for us," said Garza-Cano.

Garza-Cano, Watson and other PAT leaders felt the language was too watered down. They asked the board to table the issue.

"Black Lives Matter is very politicized and triggers a lot of conversation," said Watson. "We wanted to make sure the conversation was positive.... We aren't giving up because we don't yet have common language."

Moving forward, Watson said PAT wants to work more with parents and community organizations. "Let's have a community event where we sit down and provide food and child care and say, 'Let's see what kind of resolution YOU would like to bring before the board?' "

Read Less

INTRODUCTION TO THE YEAR OF PURPOSE - BLACK LIVES MATTER AT SCHOOL

In addition to the BLM at School Week of Action (that is organized during the first week of February), educators, students, and parents are encouraged to participate in ongoing activations and reflection throughout the school year.
​
In the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and others named and unnamed, a great Uprising for Black Lives has swept the nation and the world, inciting new urgency and radical possibilities for advancing abolitionist practice and uprooting institutional racism. The uprising has helped create a national discussion about what public safety could be. For too long public safety has been defined as spending more money on the legal punishment system and funding for more police in schools and communities. We believe it is vital to redefine public safety in terms of the holistic social and emotional wellbeing of students and educators. During this time of the coronavirus pandemic, public safety has to also mean not opening schools until the science supports it can be done safely, COVID-19 testing at schools and in communities is widely available, personal protective equipment is funded and supplied for educators and students, schools are provided functioning ventilation systems, and so much more.

The Uprising for Black lives has prompted the Black Lives Matter at School movement to expand its proposed activities to a "Year of Purpose," in addition to the annual Week of Action held during the first week of February. The centerpiece of the Year of Purpose is asking educators to reflect on their own work in relationship to antiracist pedagogy and abolitionist practice, persistently challenging themselves to center Black lives in their classrooms. In addition, educators will be asked to participate in intentional days of action throughout the school year uplifting different intersectional themes vital to making Black lives matter in schools, communities, and beyond (see the days of action below).
READ MORE

NEA activists launch series of video "primers" for anti-racist white educators

Luke Michener and Terry Jess are both white, male educators who teach at Bellevue High School in Washington state. They feel they have little to add to conversations about race with students and colleagues of color that those students and colleagues don't already know themselves, based upon their own experiences.

On the other hand, Terry and Luke feel they do have a lot to offer other white educators who are committed to racial equity in education but may not know where to begin.

Inspired by their own work with students, as well as conversations they had at the 2017 NEA Conference on Racial and Social Justice, Terry and Luke set about creating a series of YouTube videos they hoped could provide other white educators with ideas, insights and tools to better engage in racial equity work in their own schools and communities.
READ MORE

Take Action

Racial Justice in Education

Pledge to take actions that will address access and opportunity for all students by highlighting inequities, increasing awareness, and organizing for change.

Show Your Support

Resources

Talking About Race

Resources to help facilitate conversations about race, including classroom appropriate lesson plans, guides on having tough conversations with peers and students, and more...

Learn More

Lesson Plans

Black Lives Matter at School resources for educators, including books, videos, K-12 lesson plans and a 2020 curriculum resource guide.

Learn More

School Board Activism

Tips on working with school boards and making your advocacy for students the best it can be, including a step-by-step guide to getting a resolution passed in your school district

Learn More

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Black Lives Matter at School - NEA EdJustice

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Racial Equity in Education Across race and place, educators, parents and allies are coming together to ensure that every Black student and educator can live, grow and thrive with support, love and joy.

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CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

This year we're excited to celebrate Black History Month by bringing together a month of black author programming, launching new diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, providing curated book lists and resources, and continuing our own work with the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion firm: Prismatic.

As we enter Black History Month during our company's 50th anniversary year, we aim to amplify underrepresented voices and perspectives to make tangible changes and forward progress that allows for Tattered Cover to continue to grow, learn, and serve as a haven for knowledge, community, and conversation for the next 50 years.

#SUPPORTBLACKAUTHORS
(click any event photo to read more or register for event)

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CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH This year we're excited to celebrate Black History Month by bringing together a month of black author programming, launching new diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, providing curated book lists and resources, and continuing our own work with the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion firm: Prismatic.

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TCRWP Book Clubs Institute Padlet (2021)

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TCRWP Book Clubs Institute Padlet (2021)

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Suggested Sequence of UoS (TCRWP 2020-2021)

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Suggested Sequence of UoS (TCRWP 2020-2021)

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2020-2021 K-8 Suggested Sequence of Units of Study

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Spelling High Frequency Words Assessment (Grades 3-8 TCRWP)

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Spelling High Frequency Words Assessment (Grades 3-8 TCRWP)

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Spelling - High Frequency Words Assessment.pdf

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Reading Levels L-Z Running Record Assessment (TCRWP)

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Reading Levels L-Z Running Record Assessment (TCRWP)

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Pre 2020 TCRWP General Running Record Assessments L-Z.pdf

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Reading Unit Performance Assessments Grades 6-8 (TCRWP 2019-20)

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Reading Unit Performance Assessments Grades 6-8 (TCRWP 2019-20)

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Unit Assessment Options - Reading - G6-9 - 2019-2020.pdf

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Benchmark Indepedent Reading Levels K-8 (2019-20 TCRWP)

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Benchmark Indepedent Reading Levels K-8 (2019-20 TCRWP)

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Benchmark Independent Reading Levels K-8 2019-2020

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Where do events take place?

Read-Ins can happen just about anywhere, from homes, to libraries, to schools, to community centers and beyond. Each year NCTE asks event-holders to fill out a "report card" giving us details on where the event took place, how many people participated, and what books were read. You can see a calendar of events from 2019-2022 here, as well as listings from previous years: 2018 events; 2017 events.

Thank you to all that participated in the 2022 African American Read-In! View the 2022 Report Card.

Find a 2023 African American Read-In event in our event calendar and submit your event to be included!

What do you do for an African American Read-In?

The format of these events varies widely, but all events have a few things in common:

Texts written by African American authors are shared.

Participants either listen to or provide the readings.

A count is taken of who attends, and that count is documented in the "report card" as a measure of the global reach of this program each year.

Beyond these commonalities, events have included:

Readings by authors

Poetry slams

Musical acts, performances, reenactments, or plays

Film screenings including discussions of paired texts

A common reading in advance of a single text, like a book club

Writing or art-making and the sharing of that by participants

Featured guests such as local leaders or community heroes

Book drives to collect books by African American authors to share with schools

Activities for young children (e.g., bedtime stories)

Media coverage to raise the profile of local authors

Ongoing community outreach after the event that spreads the love of literacy

Awards of recognition for African American authors within the community

What books are good to read?

It's a sign of the success of programs like the African American Read-In and other campaigns to support diverse authors that the answer to this question is slowly growing each year. Here are some booklists from previous years that might spark your interest, but these are by no means comprehensive.

One important note to consider: the African American Read-In was started specifically to create a bigger audience for African American authors. So in the spirit of supporting this core mission, these booklists do not include texts that feature African American characters but that are not written by African American authors.

History of the National African American Read-In

At its November 1989 meeting, the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English accepted the Issues Committee's recommendation that the Black Caucus sponsor a nationwide read-in on the first Sunday of February. At the request of educators, Monday was designated for educational institutions. Dr. Jerrie Cobb Scott, an active member of NCTE and the Black Caucus, brought the idea to the committee. It was envisioned that following a decade of rigorous campaigning for participants, the African American Read-Ins would become a traditional part of Black History Month celebrations. In 1990, the National Council of Teachers of English joined in the sponsorship of the African American Read-In Chain. The commitment for nationwide promotion extends from 1990 to the present.
Dr. David E. Kirkland explains the importance of the Read-In:

Questions?

Contact us at: aari@ncte.org

"It is important for all of us to see ourselves in books." - Dr. Jerrie Cobb Scott, founder of the African American Read-In

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Where do events take place? Read-Ins can happen just about anywhere, from homes, to libraries, to schools, to community centers and beyond. Each year NCTE asks event-holders to fill out a "report card" giving us details on where the event took place, how many people participated, and what books were read.