The August Teen/Tween Book Club Book Is.....

Ibram X. Kendi is a special friend to the Alachua County Library, having given multiple talks here for the community. He is a former professor at UF, and has since moved on to found Antiracism Institutes at American University and Boston University. Jason Reynolds is the author of some of the most popular new YA books, including our Battle of the Books title, Long Way Down. He also filmed a super cool video series over the spring and summer for the Library of Congress to encourage and inspire young authors. I absolutely admire both of these men, and was VERY excited to witness their collaboration in this book. 

Stamped  is not a history book, as Reynolds will say again and again throughout its pages. It is written so lyrically and stylistically its nearly impossible to believe you are reading nonfiction. His passion for the voices he exposes lifts up off of the pages, like a love note to the inspirational Angela Davis. Reynolds breaks down the ideas that have allowed discrimination based on race to promulgate, and outlines the various schools of thought espoused by civil rights and freedom fighters, some you will know, some you will not. He and Kendi examine what it means to be antiracist, and how some Black thinkers contributed to racist concepts, and how they evolved to become more antiracist. 

While the topic is tough, the book is not sad. The book is beautiful, lyrical, and hopeful. I look forward to a lively discussion about it. We have this book as an eBook, an audiobook, and hard copies, or feel free to support these fantastic authors. The book has been at number 1 on the New York Times YA Bestseller List for over 18 weeks. There will be a graphic novel released in the upcoming months. 

Please join my Goodreads Teen/Tween Book Club group at:

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1106082-teen-tween-book-club

Originally Posted by JessicaM on August 10, 2020

By Blogger on August 3, 2021