Snapped

This one definitely tackled some big issues (more so than her other three) and I really appreciated her author's note at the beginning. Elliot Reed has received her dream job - she working her late father's favorite pro-football team, the Mustangs. She thought it was going to be a cakewalk but when the hunky quarterback blacks out the NFL logo on his jersey AND kneels during the anthem for a game she knows that she has her work cut out for her. Soon she's having to work directly with Quinton to "restore" his image and run damage control. People all over the country are sending hate mail, spewing vitriol, and slandering him every chance they can. What Elliot doesn't expect is that sparks will fly with Quinton. He's filling a hole she didn't know she had in her life. Touching, deep, funny, and extremely relevant. I could have done without some of the side characters (Elliot's friends) - but I have a sneaking suspicion they are due for their own books soon - if Vonnie doesn't get one next! Love this series. 

Caste

Wow - this compelling (soon to be award winning) look at the caste system in America, India, and Nazi Germany will give Americans a LOT of food for thought. Impressively researched; there is no way you won't be changed after reading this. When most people think of caste they think of India and the untouchables but Isabel Wilkerson dives deep into it's meaning the pillars that support it and then holds it up to a mirror so that we can see just caste driven American society is. It's.... upsetting, but honestly we're long past due for a reckoning; a coming to terms with our shameful past (and present). This book should be required reading. You can't unlearn what's in here but hopefully you can change your perception, your worldview, and start applying it for the betterment of ALL Americans (not just the white ones). Truly an awe inspiring book. 

The Nickel Boys

This book really packed a punch in a short amount of pages. When bodies are found at an old reform school - it takes Elwood back to his youth. Back to the Jim Crow era reform school (The Nickel Academy) in Florida that still gives him nightmares. From the racist staff, the hard manual labor, the merciless beatings, and the utter lack of hope it's something he's actively not thought about in decades. But when his old school makes national news for an unmarked graveyard filled with dead kids - Elwood knows he has to speak. Maybe after all these years he's finally found his voice. Alternating between his youth at the Nickel Academy and decades later when he's a successful businessman in New York; this story of race, redemption, hate, and hope will stick with readers long after the final page has turned.

Stamped

One of the most necessary books I have ever read. Even though this remix of the original version is written for teens, the writing style and the prose make it accessible to everyone. Powerful, searing, and eye opening; I wish everyone could read this book and open their hearts. So many ideas we have about race aren't ours and we've been lied to time and time again without us even knowing. It goes much deeper and farther back than we realize. We need to work hard at becoming antiracist, not just once, but every day. A punch to the gut, but absolutely necessary to wake you up to the history of racism and to the possibility of what the future could be without it.

Dear Martin

LOVED THIS! So very timely! Fans of "The Hate U Give" and other Black Lives Matter young adult books will eat this up. Dear Martin examines, race, inequality, privilege, stereotypes, standing up for  yourself, and double standards. I could not stop listening to this audio-book, it was only four discs long and I was riveted. I had to know what happened, I got emotionally invested in this story. Justice attends a fancy private school in Atlanta and is one of the few black kids there. He's on the debate team, well liked, and dating the hottest girl in school but after he is wrongfully arrested while trying to help his girlfriend he can't stop seeing the disparities around him. The racial inequality, the snide remarks, the higher arrest rates, the differences in income, how has he never noticed all this before? Justice struggles to make sense of everything when another tragedy strikes, one that nearly breaks him. A wonderful read that challenges the listener (or reader) to really think about how far we have to go. Required reading.

Democracy in Black

A book that really makes you face the harsh realities of racism in this country and for me a perfect read for Black History Month. I knew I took my "white privilege" for granted before, but reading this made me ashamed to be a white American. This is one of those books that will light a fire under your ass and make you want to do something. Author, Eddie S. Glaude Jr. compiles a collection of essays; part memoir, history, and manifesto. This nonfiction book seeks to impassion readers to take action and abolish the value gap, that is the whites are valued more than blacks. He writes, "...we must close the value gap and uproot racial habits by doing democracy, once again, in black." He is very critical of President Obama and other black liberals and voices concern that there aren't more to carry on the power, the youth must take on the movement. An empowering read.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.