Short Stories/Essays

Black Girl Power

A vibrant, heartwarming collection of 15 middle grade stories and poems that celebrates the joy, strength, and experience of Black girlhood, including stories from Ibi Zoboi, Sharon M. Draper, and Leah Johnson, as well as cover art from Caldecott winner Vashti Harrison.

The Book:

Black girl power is…Bringing your favorite stuffed animal to your first real sleepover. . .

Escaping an eerie dollhouse that’s got you trapped inside. . .

Making new friends one magical baked good at a time. . .

Finding the courage to dance to the beat of your own drum. . .

And more! From 15 legendary Black women authors comes a dazzling collection of stories and poems about the power we find in the everyday and the beauty of Black girlhood.

Contributors include: Amerie, Kalynn Bayron, Roseanne A. Brown, Elise Bryant, Dhonielle Clayton, Natasha Diaz, Sharon M. Draper, Sharon Flake, Leah Johnson, Kekla Magoon, Janae Marks, Tolá Okogwu, Karen Strong, Renée Watson, and Ibi Zoboi.

Kekla’s Story:

“The Sleepover,” in which Cordie secretly brings her favorite stuffed animal to her first birthday party sleepover, hoping he’ll stay undetected.

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center’s Black Liberation Reading List.

The Book:

Black is…sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson.

Black is…three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds.

Black is…Nic Stone’s high-class beauty dating a boy her momma would never approve of.

Black is…two girls kissing in Justina Ireland’s story set in Maryland.

Black is…navigating the loss of a classmate in a story by Kekla Magoon.

Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more—because there are countless ways to be Black enough.

Kekla’s Story:

“Out of the Silence,” in which a girl grieves the loss a friend who knew her biggest secret…while also being slightly relieved that the secret died with her.

1968: Today's Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution & Change

Welcome to 1968 — a revolution in a book. Essays, memoirs, and more by fourteen award-winning authors offer unique perspectives on one of the world’s most tumultuous years.

The Book:

Nineteen sixty-eight was a pivotal year that grew more intense with each day. As thousands of Vietnamese and Americans were killed in war, students across four continents took over colleges and city streets. Assassins murdered Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. Demonstrators turned out in Prague and Chicago, and in Mexico City, young people and Olympic athletes protested. In those intense months, generations battled and the world wobbled on the edge of some vast change that was exhilarating one day and terrifying the next. To capture that extraordinary year, editors Marc Aronson and Susan Campbell Bartoletti created an anthology that showcases many genres of nonfiction. Some contributors use a broad canvas, others take a close look at a moment, and matched essays examine the same experience from different points of view. As we face our own moments of crisis and division, 1968 reminds us that we’ve clashed before and found a way forward — and that looking back can help map a way ahead.

Kekla’s Essay:

“The Death of the Dream,” which explores the impact of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy that occurred just a few months apart.

A Tyranny of Petticoats

15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers, and Other Badass Girls, edited by Jessica Spotswood (Candlewick Press)

The Book:

From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines. Crisscross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They’re making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.

Kekla’s Story:

“Pulse of the Panthers,” set in 1968 California, in which a young girl helps her father host a Black Panther Party training weekend on their farm.

Things I'll Never Say

Stories About Our Secret Selves, edited by Ann Angel (Candlewick Press)

The Book:

Fifteen top young-adult authors let us in on provocative secrets in a fascinating collection that will have readers talking. A baby no one knows about. A dangerous hidden identity. Off-limits hookups. A parent whose problems your friends won’t understand. Everyone keeps secrets—from themselves, from their families, from their friends—and secrets have a habit of shaping the lives around them. Acclaimed author Ann Angel brings together some of today’s most gifted YA authors to explore, in a variety of genres, the nature of secrets: Do they make you stronger or weaker? Do they alter your world when revealed? Do they divide your life into what you’ll tell and what you won’t? The one thing these diverse stories share is a glimpse into the secret self we all keep hidden.

Kekla’s story:

“For a Moment, Underground,” in which a girl returns home from her first semester away at school, still concealing a secret from her father.

I See Reality

Twelve Short Stories About Real Life, edited by Grace Kendall and Kristin Elizabeth Anderson (FSG)

The Book:

An anthology of twelve original short stories by top authors exploring real issues for real teens. Through prose and comics alike, these heart-pounding short stories for young adults ask hard questions about a range of topics from sexuality and addiction to violence and immigration. Here is the perfect tool for starting tough discussions or simply as an introduction to realistic literary fiction. In turns funny, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking, I See Reality will resonate with today’s teens long after the last page has been turned.

Kekla’s Story:

“Makeshift,” in which a girl and her mother start their lives over in a new apartment after leaving her father.

Dear Heartbreak

YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love, edited by Heather Demetrios (Henry Holt)

The Book:

Well-known and bestselling young adult authors respond to letters from real teens experiencing all manner of heartbreak. 

Kekla’s Letter:

A response to a lonely teen who wishes for closeness with friends and family.

Dear Teen Me

Authors Write Letters to Their Younger Selves, Edited by E. Kristin Anderson and Miranda Kenneally (Zest Books)

The Book:

Dear Teen Me includes reflections and advice from over 70 YA authors to their teenage selves. The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium. Some authors write diary entries, some write letters, and a few graphic novelists turn their stories into visual art. Whether you hang out with the theater kids, the band geeks, the bad boys, the loners, the class presidents, the delinquents, the jocks, or the nerds, you’ll find friends–and a lot of familiar faces–in the course of Dear Teen Me.

Kekla’s Essay:

“Ok To Just Be You,” about intersectional identities, fitting in, and knowing yourself.