Category: 2020-today

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2020-today English Fiction LGBTQI* Novel

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Summary:

In “The House in the Cerulean Sea,” Linus Baker lives a quiet, solitary life as a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth. His life changes when he’s given a highly classified assignment to travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage and determine if six dangerous children, including the Antichrist, could bring about the end of days. The island’s caretaker, Arthur Parnassus, is determined to keep his wards safe, and as Linus and Arthur grow closer, secrets are exposed, and Linus must choose between destroying a home or watching the world burn. This enchanting and masterfully told story is about the discovery of an unlikely family in an unexpected place.

Year of Release: 2020

Author(s): T.J. Klune

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ISBN: 9781529087949

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2020-today English Fiction Novel

Firekeeper’s Daughter

Summary:

Daunis Fontaine is a biracial, unenrolled tribal member who has never felt like she belongs in her hometown or on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. When tragedy strikes her family, Daunis puts her dreams on hold to care for her mother and finds solace in meeting Jamie, a charming new recruit on her brother’s hockey team. But when she witnesses a shocking murder and agrees to go undercover, she realizes the deceptions and deaths are too close to home. Daunis must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice to protect her community, even if it means upending her world.

Year of Release: 2021

Author(s): Angeline Boulley

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ISBN: 9783570166017

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2020-today English Fiction LGBTQI* Novel

Clap When You Land

Summary:

Camino Rios eagerly awaits her father’s annual summer visit to the Dominican Republic, but upon arriving at the airport to greet him, she’s met with a crowd of weeping people. Meanwhile, in New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office and receives the devastating news that her father has died in a plane crash. The two sisters, who were unaware of each other’s existence and already separated by their father’s secrets, must confront a new reality in which he’s gone and their lives are changed forever. Despite this, they eventually discover each other and find some solace in their shared loss.

Year of Release: 2020

Author(s): Elizabeth Acevedo

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ISBN: 9780062882769

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2020-today English Non-fiction

You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation

Summary:

In “You Sound Like a White Girl,” Julissa explores the idea of assimilation and how it doesn’t lead to belonging. She argues that assimilation is a constantly moving target designed to keep Black and brown Americans and immigrants chasing racist American ideals. Julissa explains how the demands of assimilation leave people in a state of purgatory, unable to secure power and belonging within whiteness or find it in their own cultures. Instead, she promotes celebrating uniqueness and reclaiming identity as the key to true belonging and a beautiful America.

Year of Release: 2022

Author(s): Julissa Arce

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ISBN: 9781250787019

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2020-today English LGBTQI* Non-fiction

High-Risk Homosexual: A Memoir

Summary:

The first-ever memoir by Edgar Gomez explores his journey as a gay, Latinx man growing up. The book, called High-Risk Homosexual, begins in a highly anti-gay environment: his uncle’s cockfighting ring in Nicaragua, where he was sent at the young age of thirteen to learn how to be a man. The memoir chronicles Gomez’s experiences in the queer communities that helped him embrace his gay and Latinx identities, including the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a drag queen convention in Los Angeles, and the medical facility where he was diagnosed as a “high-risk homosexual.”

With candor, wit, and shrewd observations about issues of racial, sexual, familial, and professional power dynamics, Gomez takes readers on a hard-won journey towards accepting and celebrating the parts of himself that he was taught to keep hidden. This memoir is an uplifting and inspiring reminder of the importance of carving out space for joy.

Year of Release: 2022

Author(s): Edgar Gomez

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ISBN: 9781593767051

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2020-today English Non-fiction

Stamped (Racism, Antiracism and You)

Summary:

In the past, people have exploited race as a means of segregation and silence in order to obtain and hold power. This remarkable rendition of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Prize winner “Stamped from the Beginning” explores the background of racist beliefs in America and gives readers hope for an antiracist future. It guides you through the development of race from the past to the present and explains why racism still affects how we feel today. Furthermore, it shows that even if racist ideas have always been easy to create and propagate, they can also be refuted.

This book sheds light on the various insidious kinds of racist ideas as well as methods readers may recognize and eradicate racist thinking in their daily lives through a riveting, quick-paced, and invigorating tale written by acclaimed award-winner Jason Reynolds.

Year of Release: 2020

Author(s): Ibram X. Kendi & Jason Reynolds

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ISBN: 9780316453691

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2020-today English Fiction Novel

In Every Mirror She’s Black

Summary

As they establish their new lives in Stockholm’s most open society, ruled by its most private citizens, three Black women discover unexpected connections to the same powerful white man.

Jonny von Lundin, CEO of the largest marketing business in the country, recruits successful marketing professional Kemi Adeyemi from the United States to Sweden in order to assist in resolving a PR crisis regarding a racially tone-deaf campaign. Kemi’s action is a desperate attempt to recapture her social life as she’s a powerhouse at work but a failure in love.

Brittany-Rae Johnson, a former model turned flight attendant, is thrust into a world of riches, luxury, and privilege. A life she’s not certain she wants, as she becomes the target of Jonny’s pathological fixation after a chance encounter with him in business class on a flight to the United States.

Muna Saheed, a refugee who lost her entire family, struggling to prove her residence in Sweden, obtains a job cleaning the restrooms at Jonny’s workplace. However, above all, she is looking for a connection and a place to call home.

In Every Mirror She’s Black is a fast-paced, richly nuanced, yet approachable contemporary novel that is told from each of the perspectives of the three women. It touches on significant social issues like racism, classism, fetishization, and tokenism as well as what it means to be a Black woman navigating a white-dominated society.

Year of Release: 2021

Author(s): Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström

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ISBN: 9781728240381

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2020-today All Available For Free (Open Access) English High school (grades 9+) Online Poetry Print Very Short Length (up to 20 min)

The Hill We Climb

An inaugural poem for the country

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2020-today All eBook English High school (grades 9+) Novel Print

The Short Knife

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2020-today All CEFR B1 CEFR B2 eBook English High school (grades 9+) Novel

We are not from here