

Review of The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Whitehead, inspired by a real-life reform school that abused and terrorized boys for over a century, shares a tale of racial injustice,...
Mar 13


Review of Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
Lula Dean focuses on the incredible power of books and truth-telling as characters discover their bravest selves and confront difficult...
Jan 22


Review of Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
Annis is a young Southern woman enslaved, sold, and abused in the years before the Civil War. In Let Us Descend , she leans on the...
Sep 12, 2024


Review of James by Percival Everett
Percival Everett's James is a fascinating retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of enslaved Black character...
Sep 3, 2024


Review of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
The mystery bookends feel largely unimportant to the story, the cast of characters sometimes feels endless, and the story meanders, but...
Mar 6, 2024


Review of All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby
I didn't feel drawn into this novel of the horrifying serial killing of children of color in a small Virginia community and the...
Feb 14, 2024


Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
ICYMI: This is an irresistible story and set of characters, but with fascinating depth. The issues Reid explores are enormous and are...
Feb 1, 2024


Review of Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
Come and Get It is the story of an RA and the consequences of her actions related to privacy and safety; the book dabbles in issues of...
Jan 31, 2024


Review of Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
This darkly funny story made me cringe while staying riveted by the main protagonist's deeply faulted reasoning, criminal actions, and...
Nov 21, 2023


Review of They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies that Raised Us by Prachi Gupta
In her memoir, Gupta explores the stressful, tragic disconnect between the "perfect minority" image her father demanded of the family and...
Nov 8, 2023


Review of Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison
The slim novel Blue Hour explores ambivalence about motherhood, unflinching details of the experience of miscarriage, relationship...
Sep 26, 2023


Review of This House Is Not a Home by Katlia
Katlia's story is based on actual events, detailing the displacement of Indigenous people and the devastating consequences of greed, the...
Aug 24, 2023


Review of Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy
David Joy's mystery, Those We Thought We Knew, set in the North Carolina mountains, explores issues of racism, corruption, generational...
Aug 10, 2023


Review of A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America by Timothy Egan
In this narrative nonfiction, Egan explores the Klan's explosive growth and power in the 1920s in states like Indiana and beyond, while...
Aug 8, 2023


Review of Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Adjei-Brenyah's novel explores in disturbing detail a version of a society that may feel familiar: a corrupt, greedy prison system; the...
Jul 12, 2023


Review of Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle #1) by Tracy Deonn
The first in the series sets up a strong young Black heroine who bucks tradition as she explores her own heritage, flexes her newfound...
Jun 8, 2023


Review of Maame by Jessica George
Jessica George's debut Maame takes on big issues of race, culture, and the challenges of growing up between two cultures while shining in...
Feb 2, 2023


Review of Blackwater Falls by Ausma Zehanat Khan
I was intrigued by the issues raised in Blackwater Falls--police corruption, racial conflict, religious fervor and faith, secret...
Dec 22, 2022


Review of Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Geraldine Brooks's Horse digs into issues of race across three timelines, linked by a special bond between an enslaved man and a horse in...
Nov 2, 2022


Review of The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
The Personal Librarian is historical fiction about the real-life figure of Belle da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan's personal librarian who...
Jul 20, 2022