Black lives matter. Black stories matter. Black voices matter. We are committed to using our platforms to lift up Black creators, now and always. Below, we have compiled a list of books by Black authors that everyone should read.
Some of these books are memoirs, reflecting the direct experience of authors. Some are novels that address important topics and themes, some are novels that serve up magic, gaming, friendship, and romance. We’ve also included picture books that can be enjoyed by all ages. Whatever you like to read, we guarantee you’ll find more than a few new books and authors to love on this list.
Black Stories Matter: Books by Black Authors You Should Read ASAP
1. The Jump by Brittney Morris
From the acclaimed author of SLAY and The Cost of Knowing comes an action-driven, high-octane novel about a group of working-class teens in Seattle who join a dangerous scavenger hunt with a prize that can save their families and community.
2. 16 & Pregnant by LaLa Thomas
The bond between two best friends is put to the test when one of them gets pregnant in this contemporary teen novel inspired by MTV’s iconic reality show.
3. Daughters of Oduma by Moses Ose Utomi
An elite female fighter must reenter the competition to protect her found family of younger sisters in this scintillating young adult fantasy inspired by West African culture, perfect for fans of The Gilded Ones and Creed.
4. Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury
The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.
5. The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris
From the author of SLAY, comes a story of two brothers. One can see into the future and one can see into the past. When Alex sees the imminent death of his younger brother, he finds himself now in a race against time, death, and circumstances, he and Isaiah must grapple with their past, their future, and what it means to be a young Black man in America in the present.
6. Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury
A rich, dark futuristic fantasy debut following a teen witch who is given a horrifying task: sacrificing her first love to save her family’s magic. The problem is, she’s never been in love—she’ll have to find the perfect guy before she can kill him.
7. The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley
An African tightrope walker who can’t die gets embroiled in a secret society’s deadly gladiatorial tournament in this thrilling historical fantasy set in an alternate 1880s London, perfect for fans of The Last Magician and The Gilded Wolves.
8. For All Time by Shana Miles
The Sun Is Also a Star meets Outlander in this vivid, utterly romantic debut novel about two teens who relive their tragic love story over and over until they uncover what they must do to change their fate.
9. Your Corner Dark by Desmond Hall
Things can change in a second: The second Frankie Green gets that scholarship letter, he has his ticket out of Jamaica. The second his longtime crush, Leah, asks him on a date, he’s in trouble. The second his father gets shot, suddenly nothing else matters. And the second Frankie joins his uncle’s gang in exchange for paying for his father’s medical bills, there’s no going back…or is there? Frankie is forced to confront the truth of the family and future he was born into—and the ones he wants to build for himself.
10. The Meet-Cute Project by Rhiannon Richardson
Mia’s friends love rom-coms. Mia hates them. They’re silly, contrived, and not at all realistic. Besides, there are more important things to worry about—like how to handle living with her bridezilla sister, Sam, who’s never appreciated Mia, and surviving junior year. When Mia is tasked with finding a date to her sister’s wedding, her options are practically nonexistent. Mia’s friends, however, have an idea: Mia needs a meet-cute.
11. Wings of Ebony by J. Elle
This book tells the story of Rue, a young teen from Houston who, after the death of her mother, finds out that she is half-god when she’s whisked away to Ghizon-a hidden island of magic wielders. When she comes back to her neighborhood in Houston one year later, she soon discovers that Black kids are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s life. Worse still, it seems that the evil plaguing East Row has come from Ghizon. Once you’ve read Wings of Ebony, you can find the heart-pounding conclusion to Rue’s story in Ashes of Gold, out now!
12. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, this book alternates perspectives between two teens: one Black, one white. Rashad just wanted to buy chips at the bodega, but he is beaten by a cop who accuses him of shoplifting. The cop’s adoptive son, Quinn, witnesses the beating, which is also caught on camera. Soon the whole town is taking sides, including Rashad and Quinn’s classmates. As simmering tensions threaten to explode, Rashad and Quinn must face decisions they never considered before, and the consequences of a single violent act. Quinn is also forced to interrogate his white privilege, and confront the truth about how the police—and the world—treat people who don’t look like him.
13. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Jason Reynolds’ beautiful novel in verse takes you through 60 powerful seconds as 15-year-old Will grapples with the decision to murder the guy who shot his brother. While this book tackles gun violence in a way that only Jason Reynolds can do, it will also help to further discussions of privilege and the systematic oppression of Black people that is so prevalent in America.
14. SLAY by Brittney Morris
Kiera Johnson is a Black game developer of a secret Black Panther-inspired multiplayer online role-playing card game called SLAY. Kiera created SLAY as a haven for Black people around the world, but when a teen is killed over a dispute related to the game, SLAY is labeled as racist, exclusionist, and a violent hub for thugs and criminals by the media. Driven to save the only world in which she and other Black teens can express themselves, Kiera must harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness.
15. For Every One by Jason Reynolds
Originally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Jason Reynolds’ For Every One is exactly that: for every one. For the dreamers. For the kids who dream of being better than they are. Kids who dream of doing more than they almost dare to imagine. Kids who are like Jason Reynolds, a self-professed dreamer. To all the kids who are scared to dream, or don’t know how to dream, or don’t dare to dream because they’ve NEVER seen a dream come true, Jason wants kids to know that dreams take time.
16. The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed
Set in Los Angeles, 1992 against the background of the Rodney King Riots, The Black Kids centers on the charmed life of Ashley Bennett. Ashley’s family is wealthy; she attends an expensive private school, lives in a fancy neighborhood of L.A., and now that it’s the end of senior year, she spends more time in the pool with her white friends than in the classroom. But when four police officers are acquitted after beating a Black man, Rodney King, half to death, she’s no longer just one of the girls—she’s one of the Black kids. Ashley tries to continue living as she always has, even as her sister gets dangerously involved in the riots and the model Black family façade her parents have constructed starts to crumble. But when a rumor Ashley starts threatens to derail the future of her classmate and fellow Black kid Lashawn, she’s forced to confront uncomfortable truths about the world, and about herself.
17. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
This modern-day twist on the King Arthur legend weaves a tale of Southern Black Girl Magic set against the backdrop of UNC-Chapel Hill. After witnessing a demon attack, Bree Matthews learns of an ancient, ongoing war against the forces of evil and joins a secret society that was founded by the descendants of King Arthur. As the only Black member of a group whose rituals and hierarchies are based on a predominantly white legend, Bree faces near-constant macro- and microaggressions from the other members of the group. But she also discovers a unique magic of her own, one that connects Bree to her mother, who died months before. Soon she must decide whether to use her power to take the society down—or join them in the fight. Once you’ve read Legendborn, be sure to pick up book two of the Legendborn Cycle, Bloodmarked!
18. Blended by Sharon M. Draper
This book explores divorce and racial identity from the perspective of eleven-year-old Isabella, who feels pulled between two different worlds: one with her dad, his new girlfriend, and her son Darren, in a fancy house, where they’re one of the only Black families in the neighborhood; and one with her mom and her boyfriend, in a not-so-fancy house that Isabella loves. It seems like nothing can bring Isabella’s family together again—until the worst thing happens. Isabella and Darren are stopped by the police. A cell phone is mistaken for a gun. And shots are fired. This latest novel from Sharon M. Draper, a master of children’s literature, is a must-read for people of all ages.
19. Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
Genesis keeps a list of the things she hates about herself. She hates the darkness of her skin, which even her own family comments on. She hates that her parents are always losing their home because her father gambles the rent money away. There are ninety-six things Genesis hates about herself, but she likes her new school. She likes the friends she makes there, and the choir teacher who encourages her. But how can she be confident in her talents when her skin is so dark, and nothing she tries can lighten it? When Genesis reaches #100 on the list of things she hates about herself, will she continue on, or can she find the strength to begin again?
20. Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper
Visitors are always a cause for celebration in Amari’s village, so her tribe welcomes the pale strangers. But the white men are slave traders; they’ve come to capture the strongest and healthiest villagers, and murder the rest. Amari witnesses horrors worse than any nightmare as she is beaten, branded, enslaved and sold to a plantation owner who gives her to his sixteen-year-old son as a gift. An unlikely friendship with Polly, a white indentured servant, leads to hope when the opportunity to escape presents itself and the girls decide together to find the thing they both want most…freedom.
21. Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals
Melba Patillo Beals became an iconic symbol of the Civil Rights Movement and the dismantling of Jim Crow in the American south when she and eight other teenagers integrated Little Rock’s Central High School in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. Throughout her harrowing ordeal, Melba was taunted by her schoolmates and their parents, threatened by a lynch mob’s rope, attacked with lighted sticks of dynamite, and injured by acid sprayed in her eyes. But through it all, she acted with dignity and courage, and refused to back down. Warriors Don’t Cry is, at times, a difficult but necessary reminder of the valuable lessons we can learn from our nation’s past. It is a story of courage and the bravery of a handful of young, Black students who used their voices to influence change during a turbulent time.
22. The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon
Sam is the son of a civil rights activist, and it isn’t always easy. When his brother Stick starts to drift away, and Sam finds literature about the Black Panthers under Stick’s bed, he’s not sure who to believe: his father, who says creating change is possible without violence, or Stick and the Panthers. Sam is tired of standing by and watching as his friends and family suffer racism in their own community, and soon he has to decide which path to chose: the rock or the river?
23. The Effigies series by Sarah Raughley
Sarah Raughley said it best “Sailer Moon meets Pacific Rim“. Four girls with the power to control the elements and save the world from a terrible evil must come together. This series is full of Black Girl Magic a definite must-read.
24. Facing the Sun by Janice Lynn Mather
This Caribbean-set story follows four friends—Eve, KeeKee, Faith, and Nia—who experience unexpected changes in their lives during the summer when a hotel developer purchases their community’s beloved beach. Ready or not, it’s time for these four friends to face the sun.
25. Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron
In the Jim Crow South, white supremacy reigns and tensions are high. But Evalene Deschamps has other things to worry about. She has two little sisters to look after, an overworked single mother, and a longtime crush who is finally making a move. Evvie has magic abilities that her family calls jubilation. And when the demons of Evvie’s past finally shake free, she must embrace her mighty lineage, and summon the power that lies within her.
26. Learning to Breathe by Janice Lynn Mather
Indira Ferguson has done her best to live by her Grammy’s rules—study hard in school, be respectful, and never let a boy take advantage of her. But it hasn’t always been easy, especially living in her mother’s shadow. When Indy is sent to stay in Nassau, trouble follows as she struggles to conceal her unwanted pregnancy from her aunt. After stumbling upon a yoga retreat, she’ll discover that home is much bigger than four walls and a roof—it’s about the people she chooses to share it with.
27. Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jason Griffin
Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW. And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is.
28. Turning by Joy L. Smith
In this raw, searingly honest debut young adult novel, a former aspiring ballerina must confront her past in order to move forward from a devastating fall that leaves her without the use of her legs.
29. Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle
Hitch meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this “mega swoon-worthy, effortlessly cool” (Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author) novel about a self-professed teen love doctor with a popular radio segment who believes he can get a girl who hates all things romance to fall in love with him in only three dates.
30. Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow
I Killed Zoe Spanos meets The Cheerleaders in this “atmospheric and multi-layered mystery” (Kara Thomas, author of The Cheerleaders) about an island town with a history of unsolved deaths—and a girl desperate to uncover the mystery behind it all.