Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.
This week’s prompt is a Valentine’s Day/Love Freebie, but you know that I like to do my own thing. Plus, I definitely think that Valentine’s day is already such an overrated “holiday.”
So instead, I wanted to call attention to the other, often overlooked focus of February – Black History Month. For today’s post, I’m going to highlight ten (okay, eleven) books by Black authors that feature main characters who are Black that I loved. In no particular order, here is my list:
- Wings of Ebony by J. Elle
- When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
- Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
- Get a Life, Chloe Brown and Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
- With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
- You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
- The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed
- Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
- A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
- Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
What are some other great books written by Black authors about Black characters that you’ve read? Drop some suggestions below!
Categories: Top Ten Tuesday
Leah's Books 
You Should See Me in a Crown was awesome! I can’t wait to try Wings of Ebony,
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You Should See Me in a Crown really was awesome! I really enjoyed Wings of Ebony as well, I hope you get to read it soon!
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I really want to read When No One is Watching and Take a Hint Dani Brown!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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They’re so good (but incredibly different vibes). I can’t wait for the next Brown Sisters book to come out.
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I was wondering how many people were going to use the freebie week to tie in with Black History Month — great choice. I’m planning to read You Should See Me In A Crown later this spring, a little closer to prom season. It just looks so cute.
A few of my top recs: Learning to Breathe by Janice Lynn Mathers; When The Black Girl Sings by Bil Wright; Between Sisters by Adwoa Badoe
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Thank you! I was surprised and a little disappointed to see that there wasn’t a prompt focused on Black History Month, so I just went off script and made my own 😉 You Should See Me in a Crown is incredibly cute, perfect to read in spring (or any other season, tbh). I’ll have to check out your suggestions, thanks!
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Great list! I really enjoyed Get a Life, Chloe Brown and I LOVED Take a Hint, Dani Brown. 🙂 With the Fire On High, Queenie, Cinderella is Dead, When No One is Watching and Such a Fun Age are all novels I want to try!
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Thank you. All of these are great books that I truly enjoyed reading, even though they’re all so different.
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Great choice of topic! I have The Fire on High and The Black Kids on my TBR. I did start a listen of You Should See Me in a Crown on audio but I didn’t click with the narrator so I need to get myself a copy of that.
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I read all of these as books or ebooks (with the exception of When No One is Watching), but give You Should See Me in a Crown a try again as a book or ebook, it’s absolutely worth it!
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I’ve heard great things about Cinderella Is Dead.
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-conversation-hearts-on-covers
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It’s so creative!
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This list is everything!!! i can not wait to read Cinderella is Dead
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Thank you!
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I loved Cinderella Is Dead, one of my favourite books of last year. I also really loved A Song of Wraiths and Ruin last year, have you read that one? I wish I’d thought of doing this for this week, I’m not really a Valentines fan either and I always struggle to come up with topics for it!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/09/top-ten-tuesday-302/
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Thanks! I did read A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, but it wasn’t one of my favorites, so I didn’t include it. And you can always keep this in mind for next year!
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Ah fair enough! I might use it for the end of the month actually, I’ve already done a Books That Made Me Smile/Laugh type topic before!
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That’s such a great idea!
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🙂
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Love this! I’m currently reading The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin- it’s my first time reading her work and she’s an amazing SFF author! Other Black authors I’ve read and loved include Micaiah Johnson- The Space Between Worlds is an amazing sci-fi debut and it’s a very well written standalone! I’ve also been reading Toni Morrison’s work this year with a Bookstagram readalong and it has been incredible to read and discuss with a virtual group. With the Fire on High is a book I just finished and it’s a definite favorite- Elizabeth Acevedo’s writing is beautiful. So many of these are on my TBR too- When No One is Watching in particular!
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Thank you! I’ve got some of N.K. Jemison’s stuff on my TBR, I read The City We Became last year, and Toni Morrison is always a great choice! Elizabeth Acevedo is golden – everything she has written is amazing.
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Excellent list! I have When No One is Watching on my Kindle, need to get to it soon!
HTML: Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
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Thank you! It’s such a great story!
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Love it! Definitely going to add some of these to my TBR
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Awesome! I hope you enjoy them
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Queenis was an awesome book! Though I really need to catch up on the others on this list. Happy TTT
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It really was! I loved Queenie even with all her flaws. Enjoy!
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Love this! I’ve read Chloe and With the Fire on High. And then basically almost all of the rest are on my tbr. 😉 I’m especially excited to read Queenie and Such a Fun Age. ❤
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I’m looking forward to seeing what you think of all of them!
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My favourite book is definitely The Sun is Also a Star! I also really liked You Should See Me in a Crown!
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I have to check out The Sun Is Also a Star! I’ve heard good things about it.
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