Reddit mentions: The best teen prejudice & racism fiction books

Well, in that case!

• Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! by Fannie Flagg
  
  This is my favorite book of all time. It draws you in and makes you feel like the characters are family. I also really enjoy the underlying themes of ethics in TV and new technology contrasted against small-town America. Sad and funny and heartwarming.
  
  
• Blankets, by Craig Thompson
  
  The autobiographical comic of a teenage boy and his overbearing parents, his relationship with his little brother and his first love. It perfectly captures the confusion of growing up and dealing with the lot life gives you.
  
  
• The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
  
  Wickedly funny, but also a melancholy look at racial tension and prejudice. The audiobook is fantastic!
  
  
• Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
  
  Dark, very wtf, confusing at times, but overall a really cool take on the Wizard of Oz universe. Dark City meets Heat meets Wizard of Oz.
  
  
• The Secret of Platform 13, by Eva Ibbotson
  
  A fun, whimsical story about spoiled children being terrible. Ibbotson's books are all really great in that bad people aren't just misunderstood or lonely. They are also assholes. And everyone calls them on it. It is really refreshing in children's/YA books.
  
  
• The Solitaire Mystery, by Jostein Gaarder
  
  This book changed my teenage existence. It's very simple, yet beautifully crafted. It's everything Alice in Wonderland fans have built that mythos into, without any of the pretentiousness/needing to be zany for zaniness' sake.
  
  
• Deerskin, by Robin McKinley
  
  This is my favorite dark fairy tale. The beginning gets into some heavy stuff, but it has everything that I love: a strong lady protagonist, excellent character growth, and dogs. SO MANY DOGS. Dogs are the real love story.
  
  
• The Raging Quiet, by Sherryl Jordan
  
  I stole this from my high school library because I didn't know where to get my own copy. It's a really excellent look at disability in the middle ages, couched in a very sweet romance.
  
  
• The Blue Castle, by LM Montgomery
  
  This is the ultimate vicarious experience book. The protagonist goes from mousy and trod-upon to "I don't care what you think, I'm gonna run away with misfits and unemployables and have a grand time, thankyouverymuch". It's everything you want to happen in a non-contrived, excellently paced way.
  
  
• Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  
  The first of a classic series! They're short, which is nice, and very dated but still so much fun. Tarzan is the ultimate early 20th century Mary-Sue but it works for him.
  
  
• The Mount, by Carol Emshwiller
  
  I really enjoyed the world built in this book. It's silly at times without trying to be, but it's a cool horse-flavored dystopian coming-of-age story.
  
  
• Tamora Pierce's Tortall series (17 books total in 3 quartets, a duo and a trilogy. They can be read separately but I feel chronologically gives the best experience.) This is the first one. They're the ultimate female-lead sword and sorcery books.
  
  The first quartet focuses on a young girl who pretends to be a boy so she can become a knight. The second is about an orphaned country girl who discovers she can communicate with animals just in time to help with a war between humans and immortal monsters. The third is about the first girl allowed to train as a knight and a non-magical war.
  
  The duo is about a spymaster's daughter stuck in a civil war based on the British occupation of India.
  
  The trilogy is set in the past and is a series of intense mysteries/police dramas. Pidgeons are carriers of the dead in this mythos and the main character can hear their voices.

You wanna have a good cry? Well...okay.

Grief and Loss

Bridge to Terabithia

Katherine Patterson's masterpiece is rightly remembered as one of the saddest books ever written for an elementary-aged audience. A young boy strikes up a friendship with his new neighbor, a girl his own age, bonding over the fact that their individual interests make them outsiders among their classmates. Together, they form a "kingdom" they christen "Terabithia" in the woods behind their houses. Tragically, the girl dies accidentally and the boy must what he's learned and move on.

Mick Harte Was Here

Notable in that the tragedy happens in the first act, this novel follows teenaged Phoebe as she struggles with the reality that her brother died in a bicycle accident.

On My Honor

Probably the shortest, but also arguably the most brutal, of these books. After promising his father he would only ride his bike out to the rocky ridge, Joel follows his daredevil friend Tony to the Vermillion River. Joel challenges Tony to a swimming race. Joel surfaces, Tony does not. And Joel must face their parents.

Just for You to Know

A young girl, the oldest in her large family, finds herself in over her head when her mother dies in childbirth.

The Man Who Loved Clowns

If somewhat dated, this tragic novel follows thirteen-year-old Delrita as she struggles to come to terms with not only her parents' untimely deaths in a car accident, but also her maternal uncle Punky, who has Down's Syndrome.

Turtle On A Fencepost

The sequel to The Man Who Loved Clowns follows Delrita as she tries to find her place in the world, and her desperation to connect with her Aunt Queenie. She finds a kindred spirit in an unexpected place.

Pets

Old Yeller

Fred Gibson's novel is more than a story about a boy and his dog. It is a story about a boy becoming a man, and how becoming a man is not easy at all.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Billy's quest to gain dogs, not just any dogs, but hunting hound dogs, is a classic and rightly so. The story of Billy, Old Dan and Little Ann is one that is not to be forgotten.

Shiloh

Phyllis Naylor's beloved quartet about a boy and his beagle was one of my favorites growing up. Marty's struggle to rescue Shiloh from the abusive Judd Travers is just the beginning, with later books exploring themes of faith and forgiveness.

Stone Fox

Young Willy must gather all his strength to win the National Dogsled Race and win desperately needed money for his grandfather's farm, with his beloved Searchlight as lead dog.

A Childhood Lost

These books are often similar to those under Grief and Loss but I felt that it was important to separate these as they feature heavy themes of racism, discrimination, and war.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963

Told from the point-of-view of the bookish nine-year-old Kenny, the titular Watsons get into their fair share of misadventures in Flint, Michigan, but for the most part, things are relatively peaceful. The most strife comes from teenaged Byron. But a family trip to Birmingham flings the family head-on into the thick of the Civil Rights Movement, including the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Let the Circle Be Unbroken

The Road to Memphis

These three books are part of a series, telling the story of an African-American girl named Cassie who grows up during the Great Depression in the Deep South and sees first-hand just how ugly Jim Crow can be.

Number the Stars

Lois Lowry's novel tells a dramatized version of the efforts of the Danish Resistance, with special emphasis on the evacuations to Sweden.

Abuse

Call Me Hope

Twelve-year-old Hope struggles with the emotional abuse brought on by her mother and copes by "awarding points" for specific insults.

It sounds almost like My Name is Not Easy.

>Luke Aaluk and his younger brothers Bunna and Isaac are sent by their mother to Sacred Heart, a Catholic boarding school to the south of their Alaskan community, where Eskimo and Indian students are enculturated in white customs and values. Isaac, who is technically too young to be enrolled, is promptly sent off into foster care without the consent, or even notification, of their mother. Luke and Bunna make an attempt at escape, but they are tracked down by one of the more open-minded priests and convinced they should give the school another chance.

there's a book like this, a YA one by Joyce Carol Oates. It's about a kid who makes a school shooting joke and his whole life gets ruined. This is it, it's actually pretty great.

I have this book that would be perfect for Black History Month and learning (and its also red). It doesn't have free shipping though so I also have this red book that I've been wanting to read for a long time!

/u/kyriya happy Lunar New Year!

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I've been wanting to read Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi - and it comes out tomorrow!

It's listed as "Teen & Young Adult" on Amazon, but the description definitely makes it sound like fantasy to me.

Precious Gold, Precious Jade

http://www.amazon.com/Precious-Gold-Jade-Sharon-Heisel/dp/0823414329

monster by Walter Dean Myers? runs off to check out bookmoch

edit: or you know, whatever you think is interesting :)

Monster really affected me when I was younger. Highly recommended.

EDIT - Not so much about being in prison, but a good read none the less.

Some suggestions:
Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan.

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina (but this might be a little young for your kids)

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

I'd also second Feed.

Stones in Water? http://www.amazon.com/Stones-Water-Donna-Jo-Napoli/dp/0141306009

It releases in March

https://www.amazon.com/Children-Blood-Bone-Legacy-Orisha-ebook/dp/B074DZ9MKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1518075358&sr=1-1&keywords=children+of+blood+and+bone

Definitely cant choose a favorite but what Ive read most recently is The Black Witch and the sequel The Ironflower. Its about prejudice and racism but placed in a fantasy setting. The main character goes through an education about the world around her and you evolve with her as she discovers her prejudices and reacts to them. Also with a bit of romance thrown in of course. :D

Heres the link to Amazon

Other series includes The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth as well as The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce. But also the Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. Oh, and The Last Unicorn, oh and Crowns Duel by Sherwood Smith. !OOH and the Deeds of Paksenarrion series by Elizabeth Moon. hnng okay, I'll stop..

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Edit: I had to add the Dragonbone Chair... I can't believe I forgot that series.. ((If you like Game of thrones or Lotr, you'll like this))

It might be Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates.

The Carnissa:

\> Secretly raids beauty parlors for resources to veil her abominable, coal-splattered face. Does not change at all and just soaks up toxins in the product.

\> Rigs radio stations to play recordings of ancient Satanic propaganda as well as hymns of witchcraft and vampiric melodies (not that Twilight bullshit, the actual stuff).

\>Genetic mutation has prevented her from growing even a strand of protein. Her skin is terribly frail and she baffles reality by surviving.

\> Survivor trauma of melanin genocide and racial grudge has devastated her mind to where she can only be appeased by the extermination of all whites and albinoes.

\> Constantly peepes over Tyrone and monitors his every action, including the bitches that associate with him.

\> Probably murdered Obama as well.

Note: Play this song while you read this.