Tag Archives: race

Blended by Sharon M. Draper

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Realistic Fiction
308 pages

Isabella is caught right in the middle.  Her parents are divorcing and she can’t live with both of them.  The fact that they both love her and want her with them does not change the fact that she has to have a backpack in each house, shift gears from one family to another each week, and even practice piano on different instruments.  Things get even more complicated when Izzy’s friend is the target of racial harassment.  She’s just as scared as Imani, but being half white and half black changes the way she’s treated.  Her identity has always been linked to music, but her race and family life play a role too.  It’s not until two major life events force her to think about just how much.

I highly recommend this book to any middle school reader who cares to confront issues of race and identity.  This book is also for any reader who can empathize with the feeling of being pulled in so many directions that you don’t know exactly who you are or where you belong.

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds

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Realistic Fiction/Young Adult
316 pages

When a quiet Black high school student is beaten by a police officer, the town erupts into chaos.  Everyone in town has an opinion, leaving the victim and a witness completely dumbfounded.  Rashad just wishes the incident never happened, but Quinn can’t unsee the brutality he witnessed.

The story is told in alternating points of view which makes it impossible not to see how much the boys’ lives overlap, even though they were blind to each other’s experience.  There is great suspense and emotion as both boys seek a way to survive the conflict and figure out what their unique justice is going to be.  Neither one of them can move on, but they are going to have to see a path through.

I highly recommend this book to mature middle school students who are ready to consider issues of race and justice.  Although the topic is heavy, these characters wrestle with them as the thoughtful high school students they are.  There is an element of hope that if anyone is going to get American society to see the truth, it will be honest young people.