Teen Services

*also available as an audiobook

Baldwin James
*Go Tell It On the Mountain (1953)
A teenager in Harlem struggles with his religious identity.

Butler, Octavia
*Kindred (1979)
A contemporary African American woman finds herself transported to a pre-Civil War plantation.

Curtis, Christopher
*Bucking the Sarge (2004)
Luther T. Farrel has got to get out of Flint, Michigan. As his best friend Sparky says, "Flint's nothing but the Titanic." And his mother, a.k.a. the Sarge, says, "Take my advice and stay off the sucker path."

Davidson, Dana
Jason & Kyra (2004)
Jason comes to terms with his irascible, often absent father and his growing attraction to the quiet, studious Kyra.

Flake, Sharon
Who Am I Without Him? (2004)
Short stories about girls and the boys in their lives.

Flake, Sharon
Bang (2005)
A teenage boy must face the harsh realities of inner city life, a disintegrating family, and destructive temptations as he struggles to find his identity as a young man

Frost, Helen
Keesha's House (2003)
Seven teens each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and where they found home again.

Gaines, Ernest
*A Gathering of Old Men (1983)
Louisiana in the 1950's is the scene for this story of murder and defense.

Himes, Chester
Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965)
Coffin Ed and Grave Digger Jones pursue a crooked preacher.

Houston, Julian
New Boy (2005)
As a new sophomore at an exclusive boarding school, a young black man is witness to the persecution of another student.

Johnson, Angela
*The First Part Last (2003)
Bobby adores his baby daughter.

Mcdonald, Janet
Brother Hood (2004)
Sixteen-year-old Nate, an academically gifted student who attends an exclusive private boarding school, straddles two cultures as he returns home for occasional visits to see his family and "gangsta crew" in Harlem.

Morrison, Toni
*The Bluest Eye (1969)
The first novel by the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Mosley, Walter
*47 (2005)
Number 47, a fourteen-year-old slave boy growing up under the watchful eye of a brutal master in 1832, meets the mysterious Tall John, who introduces him to a magical science.

Myers, Walter Dean
The Autobiography of my Dead Brother (2005)
Jesse pours his heart and soul into his sketchbook to make sense of life in his troubled Harlem neighborhood and the loss of a close friend.

Myers, Walter Dean
Fallen Angels (1989)
Private Richie Perry does a tour in Vietnam.

Mowry, Jess
Babylon Boyz (1997)
On the grimy streets of "Babylon," Pook and Dante are faced with a difficult decision.

Porter, Connie
Imani, All Mine (1999)
"Mama says I'm grown now because I got Imani. She say Imani all mine."

Sapphire
Push (1996)
The story of Precious Jones, who has a tough life in Harlem.

Senna, Denzy
Caucasia (1998)
Biracial sisters Birdie and Cole are separated when their mother goes underground and their father flees to Brazil. Set during the 1970s.

Sinclair, April
Coffee Will Make You Black (1994)
The story of Stevie, who comes of age in Chicago during the late sixties.

Volponi, Paul
Black and White (2005)
Two star high school basketball players, one black and one white, experience the justice system differently after committing a crime together and getting caught.

Williams, Lori Aurelia
*When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune (2001)
Shayla can't figure out the new girl next door, Kambia Elaine, who tells fantastic stories.

Williams-Garcia, Rita
Every Time a Rainbow Dies (2001)
Sixteen-year-old Thulani witness a rape and becomes obsessed with the victim.

Woodson, Jacqueline
If You Come Softly (1998)
Fifteen-year-old Jeremiah is black. Ellie is white. They fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions.

Wright, Bil
Sunday You Learn How To Box (2000)
Louis Bowman, a fourteen-year-old African American boy lives in project housing.