MLK Books for Teens
Teens can celebrate MLK day by reading books that reveal the truths of racism - from period narratives to modern day struggles - a dramatic account of the Emmett Till case or an inspiring book of quotations from famous blacks.
A Heart Divided, by Cherie Bennett
When sixteen-year-old Kate, an aspiring playright, moves from New Jersey to attend high school in the South, she becomes embroiled in a controversy to remove the school's Confederate flag symbol.
Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case, by Chris Crowe
Presents a true account of the murder of fourteen-year-old, Emmett Till, in Mississippi, in 1955.
Stretch Your Wings: Famous Black Quotations for Teens
A collection of black quotations and African proverbs, arranged in such categories as: Knowing Who I Am, Family: Joy or Nightmare, Making Better Choices, What about Racism, and Hold Fast to Dreams.
The Return of Gabriel, by John Armistead
In the summer of 1964, a thirteen-year-old white boy whose best friend is black is caught in the middle when civil rights workers and Ku Klux Klan members clash in a small town near Tupelo, Mississippi
A Wreath for Emmett Till, by Marilyn Nelson; illustrated by Philippe Lardy
"...a searing poetry collection about Till's brutal, racially motivated murder. The poems form a heroic crown of sonnets--a sequence in which the last line of one poem becomes the first line of the next." (Booklist)