African American Fiction and Literature for Young Adults

Fiction

Adams, Lenora. Baby Girl. 2007. (YA Fiction Adams.L)

When Sheree, a tough high school teen, finds herself in a difficult situation, she turns to her mother, her friends, and her boyfriend, who calls her Baby Girl and treats her like she's disposable. It’s then, she realizes that help is within herself.

 

Adoff, Jaime. The Death Of Jayson Porter. 2008. (YA Fiction Adoff.J)

In the Florida projects, sixteen-year-old Jayson struggles with the harsh realities of his life which include an abusive mother, a drug-addicted father, and not fitting in at his predominately white school, and bring him to the brink of suicide.

 

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Chains : Seeds Of America. 2008. (YA Fiction Ander.L)

After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.

 

 

Anderson, M. T.. The Astonishing Life Of Octavian Nothing, Traitor To The Nation. Volume One. The Pox Party. 2006. (YA Fiction Ander.M)

Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War.

 

 

Baldwin, James. Go Tell It On The Mountain. 1995. (Fiction Baldw.J 1995)

James Baldwin's portrayal of black people in Harlem caught up in a dramatic struggle, and of a society confronting inevitable change.

 

Billingsley, ReShonda Tate. Nothing But Drama. 2006. (YA Fiction Billi.R)

Four girls from different backgrounds find faith and friendship after joining Good Girlz, an afterschool church youth group.

Brown, Linda Beatrice. Black Angels. 2009. (YA Fiction Brown.L)

Three Southern children, two black and one white, escape from their homes during the horrors of the Civil War and, after meeting in the woods, gradually come to rely on each other as they make their way slowly north, enduring hunger, fear, sickness, and constant danger, before arriving in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

 

 

 

Booth, Coe. Kendra. 2008. (YA Fiction Booth.C)

High schooler Kendra longs to live with her mother who, unprepared for motherhood at age fourteen, left Kendra in the care of her grandmother.

 

Cain, K. Teenage Bluez : A Collection Of Urban Stories. 2005. (YA Fiction Stories Teenage)

The characters of these six stories discover life’s difficulties the hard way; facing crises that range from juvenile detention to the deception of love.

 

 

 

Carter, Nikki. Cool Like That. 2010. (YA Fiction Carte.N)

Gia has been accepted into a summer enrichment program in New York City, and she's pumped! Especially since her mom and her annoying stepsister won't be around. And best of all? Her best friend, Ricky, is joining her so they're going to spend the entire summer together.

 

 

Cle, Troy. The Marvelous Effect. 2007. (YA Science Fiction Cle.T)

Louis Proof is an ordinary inner city teenager. He loves eating, hip-hop, hanging out with his best friend, Darius, and racing radio-controlled cars. But Louis Proof is about to become anything but ordinary. He is about to become CLE -- a Celestial-Like Entity. He will be strong, difficult to harm, and, with his Alonis vehicle, able to race faster than he ever imagined. He'll need all of his new talents because CEs -- Celestial Entities-- are coming to Earth with a plot that could destroy our familiar world, and Louis is the only one who may be able to stop them.

 

Crowe, Chris. Mississippi Trial, 1955. 2003. (YA Fiction Crowe.C)

Hiram finds himself at odds with his grandfather over the murder of Emmett Till.

 

 

Curtis, Christopher. The Watsons Go To Birmingham--1963 : A Novel. 1995. (YA Fiction Curti.C & J Curti.C & Juv CD Fiction Curti.C)

In 1963, ten- year –old Kenny and the rest of the Watson family leave their Michigan home to visit his grandmother in Alabama, where her church is bombed.

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