Book Recommendations: Black Lives Matter

Browse our list of books for kids and young adults!

Like so many, we are deeply enraged and anguished over the senseless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Unimaginably, the times have become even more challenging and uncertain. As a country we are confronting the stark inequities of COVID-19 as it disproportionately affects communities of color. Events over the past week—a horrifying death followed by protests and violence, the lack of leadership on so many levels, and the politicization of grief—have reminded us once again that we live in a country with a legacy of social injustice and racism. BookHampton stands in solidarity with all who disavow ignorance, divisiveness, hate, and racism. 
 
Yet, we also believe that this can be a moment to listen, learn, and act together. In troubled times, independent bookstores, including BookHampton, have an important role to play. As the great Toni Morrison said, “Books are a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind.”

Here is a list of titles we’ve assembled to help frame issues of social injustice and racism, to educate and make us aware, and to interpret, illuminate, and help us understand the experience of the Black community. It is our hope that these books will inform our beliefs going forward and that together we can act on these beliefs to help repair an imperfect world and bring about lasting change. 

The Autobiography of Malcolm X By MALCOLM X, Alex Haley (With) Cover Image
By MALCOLM X, Alex Haley (With)
$19.00
ISBN: 9780345376718
Availability: On Our Shelves; Typically Ships in 1 - 2 Days
Published: Ballantine Books - January 15th, 1992

Staff Pick Badge
How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir By Saeed Jones Cover Image
$26.00
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781501132735
Published: Simon & Schuster - October 8th, 2019

The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations (Vintage International) By Toni Morrison Cover Image
$19.00
ISBN: 9780525562795
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - January 14th, 2020

Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family By Mitchell Jackson Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781501131738
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Scribner - February 4th, 2020

How to Be an Antiracist By Ibram X. Kendi Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780525509288
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: One World - August 13th, 2019

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism By Dr. Robin DiAngelo, Michael Eric Dyson (Foreword by) Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780807047415
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Beacon Press - June 26th, 2018

Between the World and Me By Ta-Nehisi Coates Cover Image
$26.00
ISBN: 9780812993547
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: One World - July 14th, 2015

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor By Layla Saad, Robin DiAngelo (Foreword by) Cover Image
By Layla Saad, Robin DiAngelo (Foreword by)
$25.99
ISBN: 9781728209807
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Sourcebooks - January 28th, 2020

Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own By Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780525575320
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Crown - June 30th, 2020

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide By Carol Anderson Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781632864130
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Bloomsbury USA - September 5th, 2017

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America By Ibram X. Kendi Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9781568585987
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Bold Type Books - August 15th, 2017

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning By Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780316453691
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - March 10th, 2020

Antiracist Baby Board Book By Ibram X. Kendi, Ashley Lukashevsky (Illustrator) Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9780593110416
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Kokila - June 16th, 2020

The End of Policing By Alex S. Vitale Cover Image
$17.95
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781784782924
Published: Verso - August 28th, 2018

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption By Bryan Stevenson Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780812984965
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: One World - August 18th, 2015

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration By Isabel Wilkerson Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780679763888
Availability: On Our Shelves; Typically Ships in 1 - 2 Days
Published: Vintage - October 4th, 2011

Citizen: An American Lyric By Claudia Rankine Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9781555976903
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Graywolf Press - October 7th, 2014

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781620971932
Availability: On Our Shelves; Typically Ships in 1 - 2 Days
Published: New Press - January 7th, 2020

So You Want to Talk About Race By Ijeoma Oluo Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9781580058827
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Seal Press - September 24th, 2019

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race By Reni Eddo-Lodge Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781635572957
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - March 5th, 2019

The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction): A Novel By Colson Whitehead Cover Image
$24.95
ISBN: 9780385537070
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Doubleday - July 16th, 2019

This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work (Empower the Future #1) By Tiffany Jewell, Aurelia Durand (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Tiffany Jewell, Aurelia Durand (Illustrator)
$14.99
ISBN: 9780711245211
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Frances Lincoln Children's Books - January 7th, 2020

Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America By Jennifer Harvey, Tim Wise (Foreword by) Cover Image
By Jennifer Harvey, Tim Wise (Foreword by)
$19.99
ISBN: 9781501878077
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Abingdon Press - February 5th, 2019

The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States By Walter Johnson Cover Image
$35.00
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9780465064267
Published: Basic Books - April 14th, 2020

Citizen Baby: My Vote By Megan E. Bryant, Daniel Prosterman, Micah Player (Illustrator) Cover Image
$8.99
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781524793128
Published: Penguin Workshop - May 5th, 2020

Equality's Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America By Deborah Diesen, Magdalena Mora (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Deborah Diesen, Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)
$17.99
ISBN: 9781534439580
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Beach Lane Books - February 18th, 2020

Black Is a Rainbow Color By Angela Joy, Ekua Holmes (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Angela Joy, Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)
$18.99
ISBN: 9781626726314
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Roaring Brook Press - January 14th, 2020

The Undefeated By Kwame Alexander, Kadir Nelson (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Kwame Alexander, Kadir Nelson (Illustrator)
$17.99
ISBN: 9781328780966
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Versify - April 2nd, 2019

Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights (Scholastic Focus) By Lawrence Goldstone Cover Image
$18.99
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781338323481
Published: Scholastic Focus - January 7th, 2020

After the Shot Drops By Randy Ribay Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780358108061
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Clarion Books - January 21st, 2020

Kent State By Deborah Wiles Cover Image
$19.99
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781338356281
Published: Scholastic Press - April 21st, 2020

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight By Kimberly Jones, Gilly Segal Cover Image
$17.99
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781492678892
Published: Sourcebooks Fire - August 6th, 2019

Clean Getaway By Nic Stone Cover Image
$16.99
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781984892973
Published: Crown Books for Young Readers - January 7th, 2020

Black Brother, Black Brother By Jewell Parker Rhodes Cover Image
$16.99
ISBN: 9780316493802
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - March 3rd, 2020

My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich By Ibi Zoboi Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780399187353
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Dutton Books for Young Readers - August 27th, 2019

Genesis Begins Again By Alicia D. Williams Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9781481465809
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books - January 15th, 2019

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks By Jason Reynolds, Alexander Nabaum (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Jason Reynolds, Alexander Nabaum (Illustrator)
$17.99
ISBN: 9781481438285
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books - October 8th, 2019

Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow By Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780525559559
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - April 7th, 2020

White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America (Critical Perspectives on Youth #1) By Margaret A. Hagerman Cover Image
$23.00
ISBN: 9781479802456
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: New York University Press - February 1st, 2020

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do By Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780735224957
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - March 3rd, 2020

American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise By Eduardo Porter Cover Image
$26.95
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9780451494887
Published: Knopf - March 17th, 2020

A Black Women's History of the United States (ReVisioning History #5) By Daina Ramey Berry, Kali Nicole Gross Cover Image
$28.95
ISBN: 9780807033555
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Beacon Press - February 4th, 2020

The Fire Next Time (Vintage International) By James Baldwin Cover Image
$14.00
ISBN: 9780679744726
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - December 1st, 1992

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People By Mahzarin R. Banaji, Anthony G. Greenwald Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780345528438
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Bantam - August 16th, 2016

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race By Jesmyn Ward Cover Image
$17.00
ISBN: 9781501126352
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Scribner - June 20th, 2017

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America By Richard Rothstein Cover Image
$17.95
ISBN: 9781631494536
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Liveright - May 1st, 2018

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race By Beverly Daniel Tatum Cover Image
$21.99
ISBN: 9780465060689
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Basic Books - September 5th, 2017

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America By Michael Eric Dyson Cover Image
$24.99
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9781250135995
Published: St. Martin's Press - January 17th, 2017

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America By Gilbert King Cover Image
$18.99
ISBN: 9780061792267
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Harper Perennial - February 19th, 2013

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy By Ta-Nehisi Coates Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780399590573
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: One World - October 30th, 2018

Notes of a Native Son By James Baldwin, Edward P. Jones (Foreword by) Cover Image
By James Baldwin, Edward P. Jones (Foreword by)
$15.00
ISBN: 9780807006238
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Beacon Press - November 20th, 2012

Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow By Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9780525559559
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Penguin Books - April 7th, 2020

The Bluest Eye (Vintage International) By Toni Morrison Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9780307278449
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - May 8th, 2007

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot By Mikki Kendall Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9780525560548
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Viking - February 25th, 2020

Staff Pick Badge
Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781101971062
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 Days
Published: Vintage - May 2nd, 2017