WLT Book Buzz Episode #2 - Reading History: Partition, the Tulsa Race Massacre, Bold Women & More

August 4, 2021
by  WLT

In this second episode of WLT Book Buzz, Laura Hernandez & Bunmi Ishola cover 42 books that connect with history. Find out what they read this summer and why these books should be on your shelf. Partition, World War II, the Tulsa Race Massacre, and the architect Zaha Hadid: these are just a few of the topics covered in this show with shout-outs to Jewell Parker Rhodes, Jacqueline Woodson, and NSK finalist Laurie Halse Anderson.

Books in Episode 2, Historical Fiction & Nonfiction:

Magic City, by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Black Brother, Black Brother, by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, by Carole Boston Weatherford & illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Dreamland Burning, by Jennifer Latham

The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice, by Scott Ellsworth

Red at the Bone, by Jacqueline Woodson

The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read, by Rita Lorraine Hubbard & illustrated by Oge Mora 

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, by Vashti Harrison

Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist, by Julie Leung & illustrated by Chris Sasaki

The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist, by Cynthia Levinson & illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton

The World Is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid, written & illustrated by Jeanette Winter 

Building Zaha: The Story of Architect Zaha Hadid, written &illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov

Drum Dream Girl, by Margarita Engel & illustrated by Rafael López

I Am Not a Number, by Jenny Kay Dupuis & Kathy Kacer & illustrated by Gillian Newland

That Book Woman, by Heather Henson; illustrated by David Small

The Night Diary, by Veera Hiranandani

She Persisted chapter book series

One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia 

Caminar, by Skila Brown

When Stars Are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed

Amal Unbound, by Aisha Saeed

Before the Ever After, by Jacqueline Woodson

Punching the Air, by Ibi Zoboi

The Light in Hidden Places, by Sharon Cameron

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein

Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys

Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys 

Orange for the Sunsets, by Tina Athaide

Persepolis (graphic novel in two parts), by Marjane Satrapi

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, by Pénélope Bagieu 

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson

Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi

Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom, by Yeonmi Park with Maryanne Vollers

The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity and My Fight Against the Islamic State, by Nadia Murad

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah

Shout, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson