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Excellent resource. Glad to add to this list!

While they are wonderful books in their own right, I'm removing all the titles with male protagonists, as the list creator specifies that it is only for female MCs.

Saga is a great series but isn't this book drive for children? It's pretty sexual/violent.

It does specify black girls, not black women. I was assuming middle grade. Does the list creator or anyone else have opinions on adult books being added? There are several on here that I would not be comfortable giving to an 11 year old.

Great point. I'm pretty sure that The Color Purple isn't suitable for children, either. I can't say for sure though, as I haven't read it yet.

Thank you Marley, for drawing attention to the lack of black girl protagonists in books! I didn't realize how right you were until I started looking through my "read" shelf for books to add to the list!

Side note: I'm hoping that as more people see this list, we start to see a greater diversity in subject matter. While it's great to see so many books drawing attention to slavery and bullying, those aren't the only experiences of black people and I hope white allies like myself will be able to read about black protagonists in a huge array of books from many genres with many subjects!

Westcoast_girl wrote: "Thank you Marley, for drawing attention to the lack of black girl protagonists in books! I didn't realize how right you were until I started looking through my "read" shelf for books to add to the ..."

Yes, I couldn't agree more. Yay for more diversity!:)

Pigeonsquid wrote: "Saga is a great series but isn't this book drive for children? It's pretty sexual/violent."

I believe she is also collecting Young Adult titles and some older teens are mature enough for Saga.

I hit my 100-book limit, but here are some good resources for finding more books that could apply:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/s...
http://www.amazon.com/Books-By-Brown-...

I kind of feel that in YA there's a void of POC main characters way more so than Childrens' or adult fiction and we should have an entire new list for just YA

How can I weed through these books by grade level? I'd like to find out which books with black child characters are both age-appropriate and on grade-level (challenging, but not too difficult)... I'm looking for 2nd or 3rd grade reading level that will appease to both boys and girls.

There's no way to sort through listopia lists, but try Ann Cameron (her Julian and Gloria books) for second and third grade reading level. :)

Rainbowheart wrote: "It does specify black girls, not black women. I was assuming middle grade. Does the list creator or anyone else have opinions on adult books being added? There are several on here that I would not be comfortable giving to an 11 year old. ..."

i wouldn't let an 11 year old read the titles I voted for either.... All my votes are for adult novels, none of them are for children/YA.

Thank you a lot for this list. Great job!

Looks like this list has hit Marley's goal of 1000 books!

Deleted some biographical books on Selena, Sacagawea, Frida Kahlo, Maria Tallchief, and Malala Yousafzai. These women aren't black or African American. Also deleted Esperanza Rising for the same reason.

Well done, Marley. Exactly what you should do when you feel the world needs improvement - be the change!!! :D

Proud of you. <3


I added Oreo - definitely above the comprehension level of most middle schoolers, I would think, and with adult content. But hey, it's a good and weird one, and one Marley might enjoy when she's 16 or so....

She was 11 when this list was started in 2016, so that makes her, what, 17 now? ;)

There are also these lists, because I'm out of 100 votes (sole voter votes, too):
Black Girls: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Picture Books with Black Girls: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Rainbowheart wrote: "Deleted some biographical books on Selena, Sacagawea, Frida Kahlo, Maria Tallchief, and Malala Yousafzai. These women aren't black or African American. Also deleted Esperanza Rising for the same re..."

Last Stop on Market Street is a male protag.

I wondered about that one. Maybe those voters are thinking about the grandmother co-protagonist?

That's the only explanation I could think of as well. :)

So I'm full up - 100 votes, where I'm the sole voter on the book in question. :)

If you're in the same boat as me, there's another list that's a catchall:
Black Girls: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

My 'overflow' votes are going there. ;)