We believe that education is so important in helping us to understanding people’s lives and the issues that they deal with every day, in understanding racism, institutional racism, systemic racism, for example… In the wake of the protests around the world about the death or George Floyd, many have asked for book recommendations suitable for young people and we’ve had some brilliant suggestions from our Facebook group, Raising Teens in Lockdown. Here’s are a few of them. Thanks to everyone on for contributing.

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah

The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging by Afua Hirsch

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y Davis

There’s a great piece by Gary Younge about his year of reading books by African women. He writes: “Faced with an array of choices and limited time, when it comes to literature, there’s a part of me that I’m not particularly proud of that chooses not to make the effort, even when there is little to no translation necessary. Somewhere deep in my subconscious I must have decided that books by African women would be harder than those by some other demographics. They weren’t. On some level I must have had reading African women down as self-improving but not necessarily enjoyable, when in fact it was mostly the latter and often both.”

There’s also a really good list here on the embracerace website.

Please leave a comment if you have any others to add ❤️