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This recommended booklist offers fiction and non-fiction books for all ages wishing to examine race and identity. The library booklist provides readers with names of books and other material recommended by the staff of Western Counties Regional Library. All recommendations are posted at www.westerncounties.ca under Recommended Reading with links to the catalogue.
Shame on Me by Tessa McWatt
Interrogating our ideas of race through the lens of her own multiracial identity, critically acclaimed novelist Tessa McWatt turns her eye on herself, her body, and this world in a powerful new work of non-fiction. Now, through a close examination of her own body – nose, lips, hair, skin, eyes, bones, and blood – which holds up a mirror to the way culture reads all bodies, she asks why we persist in thinking in terms of race today when racism is killing us. This book is adult non-fiction.
The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. This book is adult fiction.
The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole
In the tradition of Ta-Nehisi Coates, a bracing, provocative and perspective-shifting book from one of Canada's most celebrated and uncompromising writers, Desmond Cole. Urgent, controversial, and unsparingly honest, The Skin We're In is destined to become a vital text for anti-racist and social justice movements in Canada, as well as a potent antidote to the all-too-present complacency of many white Canadians. This book is adult non-fiction.
Happy in Our Skin by Lauren Tobia
A delightfully rhythmical read-aloud text is paired with bright, bustling art from the award-winning Lauren Tobia, illustrator of Anna Hibiscus, in this joyful exploration of the new skin of babyhood. A wonderful gift book for new mums and toddlers, all children can see themselves, and open their eyes to the world around them, in this sweet, scrumptious celebration of skin in all its many, many, wonderful forms. This book is children's fiction.
A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
A is for Activist is an ABC eBook written and illustrated for the next generation of progressives: families who want their kids to grow up in a space that is unapologetic about activism, environmental justice, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and everything else that activists believe in and fight for. This is a children's eBook.
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o
When five-year-old Sulwe's classmates make fun of her dark skin, she tries lightening herself to no avail, but her encounter with a shooting star helps her understand there is beauty in every shade. This book is children's fiction.
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi
Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he's seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood escalates into tragedy. Suddenly, at just 16 years old, Amal's bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This book is young adult fiction.
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Phillipe
A hilarious young adult contemporary realistic novel about a witty Black French Canadian teen who moves to Austin, Texas, and experiences the joys, clichés, and awkward humiliations of the American high school experience, including falling in love. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon, When Dimple Met Rishi, and John Green. This young adult novel is an excellent choice for accelerated tween readers in Grades 7 to 8, especially during homeschooling. This book is young adult fiction.
Viola Desmond’s Canada by Graham Reynolds
In 1946, a Black Halifax businesswoman, Viola Desmond, was wrongfully arrested for sitting in a white's-only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. In 2010, 64 years later, the Nova Scotia government recognized this gross miscarriage of justice and posthumously granted her a free pardon. A groundbreaking book aimed at providing both general readers and students of Canadian history with a concise overview of the narrative of the Black experience in Canada, from slavery under French and British rule in the 18th century to the practice of racial segregation and the fight for racial equality in the 20th century. This book is young adult non-fiction.