Black History Month Curriculum Resources, Young Adult Fiction

In celebration of Black History Month, the Curriculum Resource Centre (CRC) is featuring a list of resources to help us learn about and honour the accomplishments of blacks throughout history and appreciate the diversity of our community.

Each week during the month of February, the CRC will be highlighting important works; this week we are featuring Young Adult fiction. Be sure to check out these titles!

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
(Interest Level: Grades 10-12)

Tavia is already at odds with the world, forced to keep her siren identity under wraps in a society that wants to keep her kind under lock and key. Nevermind she’s also stuck in Portland, Oregon, a city with only a handful of black folk and even fewer of those with magical powers. At least she has her bestie Effie by her side as they tackle high school drama, family secrets, and unrequited crushes.

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes
(Interest Level: Grades 5-9)

A powerful coming-of-age story about two brothers, one who presents as white, the other as black, and the complex ways in which they are forced to navigate the world, all while training for a fencing competition.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
(Interest Level: Grades 5-9)

The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning classic about a boy who decides to hit the road to find his father. Set in 1936, in Flint, Michigan, times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him.

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
(Interest Level: Grades 5-9)

The 2015 Newbery Award winner is about the Bell twins, stars on the basketball court and comrades in life. Both twins adhere to the Bell basketball rules: In this game of life, your family is the court, and the ball is your heart. When life intervenes in the form of a new girl, the balance shifts and growing apart proves painful.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
(Interest Level: Grades 9-12)

Newbery Medalist and Coretta Scott King Award winner about eleven-year-old Elijah who is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. But things change when a former slave steals money from Elijah’s friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Elijah embarks on a dangerous journey to America in pursuit of the thief.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
(Interest Level: Grades 8-12)

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer.

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes
(Interest Level: Grade 5-9)

When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Deja can’t help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?