POC Author and Book Suggestions, A-K

(This is a work-in-progress and we welcome your input. Not all of the authors' books are listed here--if you think something should be added, or if you have any other suggestions, please leave a comment!)

(MG=Middle Grade, YA=Young Adult, NF=Non-Fiction, CH=Children's)

Listed by Author: (click here for L-Z list)

A
Abi-Ezzi, Nathalie

A Girl Made of Dust

Achebe, Chinua

Things Fall Apart
No Longer At Ease
Arrow of God
A Man of the People
Girls at War

Abdel-Fattah, Randa

Does My Head Look Big In This? (YA)
Ten Things I Hate About Me (YA)
Where the Streets Had a Name (YA)

Adams, J. (Jewel)

The Journey (YA)

Adams, Stacy Hawkins

The Jubilant Soul Series
Spirit and Soul Series

Adetunji, Tijuanna

Dear Daughter Series

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi

Purple Hibiscus
Half of a Yellow Sun
The Thing Around Your Neck

Adiga, Aravind

The White Tiger
Between the Assassinations

Adina, Shelly

All About Us series (YA)

Agarwal, Shilpa

Haunting Bombay

Ajmera, Maya

Faith (CH)

Alexie, Sherman

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (YA)
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
Flight
Reservation Blues
War Dances
Indian Killer

Allende, Isabel

Paula (NF)
The Sum of Our Days (NF)
My Invented Country (NF)
Portrait in Sepia
The Island Beneath the Sea
Inés of My Soul
The Infinite Plan
Of Love and Shadows
The House of the Spirits
Daughter of Fortune
City of Beasts (YA)
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon (YA)
Forest of Pygmies (YA)

Alvarez, Julia

Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA (NF)
Return to Sender (MG)
Finding Miracles (YA)
Before We Were Free (YA)
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (YA)
In the Name of Salomé
In the Time of the Butterflies
Saving the World
Yo!

Anderson, Jessica Lee

Border Crossing

Anaya, Rudolfo

Bless Me Ultima
Albuquerque
The Legend of La Llorona
Heart of Aztlan
Serafina's Stories

Anderson, M.T.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation (YA)

Angelou, Maya

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Gather Together In My Name
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
The Heart of a Woman
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
A Song Flung Up To Heaven

Armah, Ayi Kwei

The Healers
Osiris Rising
Two Thousand Seasons
Why Are We So Blest?
The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born

B
Baldwin, James

Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
Notes of a Native Son
Go Tell It On The Mountain
Down at the Cross
Another Country

Bambara, Toni Cade

Those Bones Are Not My Child
The Salt Eaters
This Bridge Called My Back
Gorilla, My Love
Raymond's Run

Banerjee, Anjali

Invisible Lives
Imaginary Men
Maya Running (MG)

Bantwal, Shobhan

The Forbidden Daughter
The Sari Shop Widow
The Dowry Bride

Beals, Melba Patillo

Warriors Don't Cry

Belli, Gioconda

The Inhabited Woman
Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand
The Scroll of Seduction
The Country Under My Skin

Bhagat, Chetan

2 States
One Night @ the Call Center
Five Point Someone
The 3 Mistakes of My Life

Bolaño, Roberto

The Savage Detectives
By Night in Chile
The Romantic Dogs
The Skating Rink
Amulet
Distant Star
2666
Last Evenings on Earth

Booth, Coe

Kendra (YA)
Tyrell (YA)

Brice, Carleen

Orange Mint and Honey
Children of the Waters
Walk Tall: Affirmations for People of Color

Brown, Dee

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (NF)

Brown, Linda Beatrice

Black Angels (MG)
Rainbow 'Roun Mah Shoulder
Crossing Over Jordan

Bruchac, Joseph

Codetalker
March Toward the Thunder
(Complete list of works here)

Budhos, Marina

Ask Me No Questions (YA)

Burney, Claudia Mair

Wounded
Murder, Mayhem, & a Fine Man
Death, Deceit & Some Smooth Jazz
Zora and Nicky
The Exorsistah
Exorsistah: X Returns

Butler, Octavia E.

Kindred
Patternist series
Bloodchild and Other Stories
Lilith's Brood
Fledgling
Wild Seed

C
Cameron, Ann

Colibri (MG)

Campbell, Maria

Halfbreed
People of the Buffalo
Little Badger and the Fire Spirit
The Book of Jessica
Stories of the Road Allowance People

Carlson, Lori M.

Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States (anthology)
Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories for Today (anthology)
The Sunday Tertulia

Carpentier, Alejo

The Kingdom of This World
The Lost Steps
War of Time
The Rite of Spring

Carvell, Marlene

Who Will Tell My Brother?
Sweetgrass Basket (MG)

Castillo, Ana

Sapogonia
So Far From God
The Mixquiahuala Letters
The Guardians
Peel My Love Like An Onion
Loverboys
I Ask The Impossible
My Father Was A Toltec and Selected Poems

Cervantes, Jennifer

Tortilla Sun (MG)

Cezair-Thompson, Margaret

The True History of Paradise
The Pirate's Daughter

Chadda, Sarwat

Devil’s Kiss (YA)
The Dark Goddess (YA)

Chang, Jung

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

Cheva, Cherry

She's So Money (YA)

Choi, Sook Nyul

Year of Impossible Goodbyes (MG)
Echoes of the White Giraffe (MG/YA)
Gathering of Pearls (YA)

Cisneros, Sandra

The House on Mango Street
Caramelo
Woman Hollering Creek

Clarke, Austin

The Polished Hoe
The Origin of Waves
The Question
The Survivors of the Crossing
The Meeting Point

Clarke, Breena

River, Cross My Heart
Stand the Storm

Clifton, Lucille

Generations (NF)
Everett Anderson’s Good-bye (CH)
The Book of Light
The Terrible Stories
Blessing The Boats: New and Collected Poems 1988-2000
An Ordinary Woman
Good Times

Compestine, Ying Chang

A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts (YA)
Revolution is Not a Dinner Party (MG/YA)

Conde, Maryse

I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem
Tree of Life
The Last of the African Kings
Who Slashed Celanire's Throat?: A Fantastical Tale

Crutcher, Chris

Whale Talk (YA)

Culleton, Beatrice

In Search of April Raintree
In the Shadow of Evil
Spirit of the White Bison

Curtis, Christopher Paul

The Watsons Go To Birmingham (MG)
Bud, Not Buddy (MG)

D
Danticat, Edwidge

Breath, Eyes, Memory
The Farming of Bones
The Dew Breaker
Brother, I'm Dying

Daswani, Kavita

Indie Girl

Davis, Angela

Angela Davis: An Autobiography

Davis, Kyra

So Much for My Happy Ending
Sophie Katz Mystery Series

Deedy, Carmen Agra

14 Cows (CH)
Martina, The Beautiful Cockroach (CH)

de la Pena, Matt

Ball Don't Lie (YA)
We Were Here (YA)
Mexican White Boy (YA)

De la Cruz, Melissa

Blue Bloods Series (YA)
Fresh Off the Boat (YA)

Diaz, Junot

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Drown

Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee

The Mistress of Spices
Sister of My Heart
One Amazing Thing

Divine, L.

Drama High series

Dolamore, Jaclyn

Magic Under Glass (YA)

Douglass, Frederick

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (NF)
My Bondage and My Freedom (NF)

Dove, Rita

Thomas and Beulah
American Smooth

Dowdy, Cecelia

Chesapeake Weddings
First Mates

Draper, Sharon M.

Copper Sun (YA)
The Jericho Trilogy (YA)
Hazelwood Trilogy (YA)
Romiette and Julio (YA)
Double Dutch (YA)

Du Bois, W.E.B

The Souls of Black Folk (NF)
Black Reconstruction (NF)

Dungy, Camille T.

Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (anthology)

E
Edwardson, Debby Dahl

Blessing's Bead (MG)

Elkeles, Simone

Perfect Chemistry (YA)

Elliott, Zetta

A Wish After Midnight (YA)

Ellison, Ralph

Invisible Man
Shadow and Act
Going to the Territory

Emecheta, Buchi

Second-Class Citizen
The Bride Price
The Slave Girl
The Joys of Motherhood

English, Karen

Francie (MG)

Erdrich, Karen Louise

Love Medicine
The Master Butchers Singing Club
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
The Plague of Doves
Tracks
The Beet Queen
The Bingo Palace
The Antelope Wife
Jacklight
Grandmother's Pigeon (CH)
The Birchbark House (CH)
The Range Eternal (CH)
The Game of Silence (CH)
The Porcupine Year (CH)
Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country (NF)

Esquivel, Laura

The Law of Love
Like Water for Chocolate
Malinche
Between the Fires

F
Felin, M. Sindy

Touching Snow

Flake, Sharon G.

The Skin I'm In (MG)
Money Hungry (MG)
Begging for Change (MG)
Who Am I Without Him? (YA)
The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street (CH)

Ford, Aisha

Flippin’ the Script
Pride and Pumpernickel
The Wife Degree
Stacy’s Wedding

Fuentes, Carlos

The Orange Tree
Terra Nostra
The Death of Artemio Cruz
The Old Gringo
The Eagle's Throne

Fuller, David

Sweetsmoke

G
Gaines, Ernest

A Gathering of Old Men
A Lesson Before Dying
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman

Garcia, Cristina

I Wanna Be Your Shoebox (MG)
Dreaming in Cuban
The Aguero Sisters
Monkey Hunting
The Lady Matador's Hotel
A Handbook to Luck

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

America Behind the Color Line (NF)
The Signifying Monkey (NF)
The Trials of Phillis Wheatley (NF)
Colored People: A Memoir (NF)
The African American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century (NF)

Ghosh, Amitav

Sea of Poppies
The Hungry Tide
The Imam and the Indian
The Glass Palace
The Calcutta Chromosome
The Circle of Reason

Giovanni, Nikki

Black Feeling, Black Talk
Black Judgement
Re: Creation
Sacred Cows ... And Other Edibles
Those Who Ride the Night Winds

Glover, Bonnie

Going Down South
The Middle Sister

Gonzalez, Christina Diaz

The Red Umbrella (YA)

Gourevich, Philip

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families (NF)

Griffith, Marilynn

Sassy Sistahood series
Rhythms of Grace
Songs of Deliverance
Mom’s the Word

Gurnah, Abdulrazak

Paradise
Desertion
By the Sea

H
Hamilton, Virginia

Bluish (CH)
Cousins (CH)
M.C. Higgins, the Great (CH)
Zeely (CH)
The House of Dies Drear (CH)
Justice and Her Brothers (CH)
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
Her Stories: African American Folk Tales, Fairy Tales and True Tales
A Ring of Tricksters

Hammad, Suheir

Breaking Poems

Hansberry, Lorraine

A Raisin in the Sun
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black
Les Blancs

Harris, Eddy L.

South of Haunted Dreams
Mississippi Solo
Native Stranger
Still Life in Harlem

Harris, Violet J.

Using Multiethnic Literature in the K-8 Classroom
Teaching Multiethnic Literature in the K-8 Classroom

Hearn, Lian

Tales of the Otori

Hegamin, Tonya C.

Pemba’s Song (with Marilyn Nelson) (MG)
M+O 4EVR (YA)

Hernandez, David

No More Us For You (YA)
Suckerpunch (YA)

Hijuelos, Oscar

Our House in the Last World
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien
Empress of the Splendid Season
Dark Dude

Hill, Lawrence

The Book of Negroes/Someone Knows My Name
Any Known Blood
Some Great Thing
The Deserter's Tale (NF)
Black Berry, Sweet Juice (NF)

Hosseini, Khaled

A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Kite Runner

Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki

Farewell to Manzanar (YA)

Hughes, Langston

The Weary Blues
Not Without Laughter
The Ways of White Folks
The Big Sea
Fine Clothes to the Jew
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (CH)

Hurston, Zora Neale

Their Eyes Were Watching God
Tell My Horse
Every Tongue Got to Confess
Jonah's Gourd Vine

I
Ilibagiza, Immaculee

Left to Tell

Ishiguro, Kazuo

Never Let Me Go
A Pale View of the Hills
Remains of the Day
An Artist of the Floating World
When We Were Orphans

J
Jacobs, Harriet (aka Linda Brent)

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Jal, Emmanuel

War Child: A Child Soldier's Story

Jemisin, N.K.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Jin, Ba

The Family
Living Amongst Heroes
Cold Nights
Ward Four: A Novel of Wartime China

Johnson, Angela

The First Part Last (YA)
Heaven (MG)

Johnson, Varian

My Life as a Rhombus (YA)
Red Polka Dot in a World of Plaid (YA)
Saving Maddie (YA)

Jones, Edward P.

Lost in the City
The Known World
All Aunt Hagar's Children

Jones, Tayari

Leaving Atlanta
The Untelling

K
Kadohata, Cynthia

Kira-Kira
Weedflower
A Million Shades of Grey

Kagawa, Julie

The Iron King

Kamkwamba, William

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (with Bryan Mealer) (NF)

Kawabata, Yasunari

House of the Sleeping Beauties
Beauty and Sadness
The Lake
Thousand Cranes
Snow Country
The Old Capital

Khan, Rukhsana

Wanting Mor

Kingston, Maxine Hong

The Woman Warrior
China Men
Tripmaster Monkey

Koomson, Dorothy

The Cupid Effect
My Best Friend's Girl
Goodnight, Beautiful
The Ice Cream Girls

**Last updated: 2/8/2010