Over the past year, I have committed to diversifying my reading beyond the best sellers, and to seek out more diverse authors and storylines. I am focusing on including more Authors of Color, more stories surrounding a variety of cultures and religions, even more LGBTQ+ stories, and stories featuring characters with disabilities. Several times throughout each month, I’ll be featuring books or authors highlighting different experiences each time.

This time around, I decided to feature 5 of my favorite YA books by Black authors. There are so many amazing books out right now, I wanted to highlight a few that I think are truly exceptional… ones that either hit me deep in my emotions or really got me thinking, or in most cases, both. I thought about including a few books at the end that I haven’t had a chance to read yet, but predict will be favorites, but then I decided to make this a recurring theme each quarter, so expect my next 5 in July.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone:

Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can’t escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.

Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it’s Justyce who is under attack.

One of the Good Ones by Maritza Moulite & Maika Moulite:

ISN’T BEING HUMAN ENOUGH?

When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath. As Kezi becomes another immortalized victim in the fight against police brutality, Happi begins to question the idealized way her sister is remembered. Perfect. Angelic.

One of the good ones.

Even as the phrase rings wrong in her mind–why are only certain people deemed worthy to be missed?–Happi and her sister Genny embark on a journey to honor Kezi in their own way, using an heirloom copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book as their guide. But there’s a twist to Kezi’s story that no one could’ve ever expected–one that will change everything all over again.

Roman and Jewel by Dana L. Davis:

ROMAN AND JEWEL stars Jerzie Jhames, a teenager with Broadway ambitions, unbeatable pipes, and a kind soul.

She leaves Hoboken behind for New York City when she lands the understudy role in a diverse re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet starring Jerzie’s biggest idol, R&B sensation Cinny. When Jerzie learns that she was meant to be the lead, she’s heartbroken, but nothing can stop her from seeing Roman and Jewel as the priceless opportunity it could still be.

Jerzie quickly realizes that not everything is as it seems, and for every success there is another complication when Cinny becomes Jerzie’s nemesis and the mysterious and aloof lead, Zeppelin Reid, becomes Jerzie’s very own star-crossed lover.. As the Broadway world around Jerzie tells her that friendship is impossible, nobody is who they seem, and that even your best qualities can be used against you, Jerzie must fight to remember who she is and what can be more powerful than anything else: love.

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson:

Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable–more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried.

When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best–and only–friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less help.

As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she’s gone?

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo:

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance – and Papi’s secrets – the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.

Papi’s death uncovers all the painful truths he kept hidden, and the love he divided across an ocean. And now, Camino and Yahaira are both left to grapple with what this new sister means to them, and what it will now take to keep their dreams alive.

In a dual narrative novel in verse that brims with both grief and love, award-winning and bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.

Disclaimer: All covers link to The StoryGraph, all titles link to Bookshop.org, I am not an affiliate for either of these sites and have not been compensated in any way for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.