Reading is the one act that stimulates my intellectual growth.
My love for words, languages and phrases increased after reading Richard Wright’s Black Boy in high school. I morphed inside as I scanned the lines with such glee at the vivid imagery of Wright burning his grandmothers’ house at age 4 and hiding squeamishly under a smoked out porch.
Sharp images, such as that one, were constructed to catch my eye. I realize my appetite for reading manifested as a result of encountering characters I could relate to. In my youth, I could not relate to, or understand, those fictional beings shoved in my face and whose lives did not mirror my own.
Starting from a position of reading stories with kindred characters, I challenged myself to branch off into other types of themes, genres, subjects and authors. I would curl up with a Richard Wright novel, but could also nestle under a tree with Shakespeare’s Othello. As the body needs food for nourishment, the mind gains the same through the act of reading.
As it relates to youth, it’s important to give them options of books to read.
Don’t assume they know the authors who are writing in the young adult category. MADE OF SHADE compiled a list of few authors that are a favorite amongst teens, which also serves to provide parents with a list of classic books in the adult fiction and non-fiction realm. There are also asterisks for authors who have content for readers who struggle a bit with literacy:
Great Authors for Young Adults
Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers *
Buried Onions by Gary Soto
Catwalk by Deborah Gregory
12 Brown Boys by Omar Tyree
Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes*
Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bill Wright
Hotlanta (Series) by Denene Millner, Mitzi Miller
Paul Robeson: The Life and Times of a Free Black Man by Virginia Hamilton*
Tears of a Tiger by Sharon M. Draper
The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake*
Drama High: Frenemies by L. Divine
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It by Sundee T. Frazier
CLASSIC HOT READS (Adult Non-fiction and Adult Fiction)
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown
Autobiography of Fredrick Douglass by Fredrick Douglass
Letters To A Young Black Brother by Hill Harper
Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley
Just Above My Head by James Baldwin
Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B. Du Bois
Education and Empowerment: The Essential Writings of W.E.B. Du Bois by Dr. Randall Westbrook
The Will to Change by bell hooks
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs
The Black Woman: An Anthology by Toni Cade Bambara
Open Letters to America: Essays by Kevin Powell
Mama by Terry McMillan
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
They Came Before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima
Why I Love Black Women by Michael Eric Dyson
One More River to Cross by Keith Boykin
Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
Makes Me Wanna Holler by Nathan Mccall
Peace from Broken Pieces by Iyanla Vanzant
Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell
Sula by Toni Morrison
Invisible Life by E. Lynn Harris
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Black Betty by Walter Mosley
Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem by bell hooks
Mississippi to Africa: A Journey of Discovery by Melvin J. Collier
Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism by Cornel West
Black Feeling, Black Talk / Black Judgement by Nikki Giovanni
The House on Childress Street by Kenji Jasper
The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
Decoded by Dream Hampton
Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits by T.D. Jakes
Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith by Roland S. Martin, Zina Martin and Kenon White
The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 by Lucille Clifton, Kevin Young, Michael S. Glaser and Toni Morrison
