Tell Me Something Tuesday: Favorite books written by Black authors or featuring Black Characters

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. 

It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life  and me) 

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Question:  Share some of your favorite books written by Black authors or featuring Black characters

Answer: 

*All links go to the authors page on Goodreads

Romance: Talia Hibbert  She's probably most popular for her recent Brown Sisters series but I've been reading her since back in her self pub days. 

Her books are hilarious, tender, and often feature neurotypical, chronically ill characters and real life like periods, taking medications and needing naps lol

YA: 

Tiffany D. Jackson - I've only read Grown by her but the tale of a teen girl swept up in the allure of the music industry and an R. Kelly like scenario was a powerful story and I'm planning on reading more by the author. 

Brandi Colbert - I've read several books by Colbert: Finding Yvonne, The Revolution of Birdie Randolph, Pointe, Voting Booth and she is an amazingly talented writer. She's particularly good at writing difficult family dynamics and teen life realistically.

Jason Reynolds -  For Every One is his poem that he read at the unveiling of the Martin Luther King memorial, Long Way Down is a powerful story in poetry/verse about gun violence, Stamped: Racism, Anti-racism and You is a must read exploration of racism and antiracism in America. (If he's narrating the audio version of any of his books then I highly recommend reading it that way. His narration infuses a whole other level to his writing. 

And finally the Queen (IMHO) Elizabeth Acevedo - Acevedo writes about Dominican-American and Afro-Caribbean culture with girls that break stereotypes and expectations, show the reality but always offer hope and are simply the best. The Poet X was the first book in verse that I actually made it through (and now I'm hooked), The Fire on High took a slightly lighter, more magical route but still wove a tale single motherhood, responsibilities, dreams and determination, while Clap When You Land celebrated fierce girls and found family. The audiobook versions area  must - she does her own narration and WOW - she's amazing. I could listen to her all day. 

Those are just off the top of my head but I could name dozens more:  Leah Johnson - You Should See Me in a Crown was an adorable Sapphic YA debut, Akwaeke Emezi - PET is their YA debut about the monsters that lurk among us and the adults that ignore them - featuring a transgender lead character, Jodan Ifueko wrote the excellent African inspired debut YA fantasy Raybearer, Ibi Zoboi's P&P retelling - Pride, and the powerful Punching the Air about rehabilitation and the prison system (co-written with Yuseff Salaam) just to name a few more.

Narrator: As I've said many times recently, audiobooks were a real struggle for me and I've just recently been able to listen. 

One of the factors was captivating narrators like Jason Reynolds and Elizabeth Acevedo narrating their own books but my FAVORITE narrator is Joniece Abbott-Pratt.

I first listened to her narrate Raybearer and I loved her voice so much that I read Grown and Caul Baby - two books I had no desire to read prior - because I saw she was narrating. She is so wonderful getting the emotions just right and deftly handles different genres, tones and characters.