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May 2025 Reading Recommendations
Bookshop List
*use the links to buy via The Word's Bookshop - proceeds from each sale will be donated to support our cultural equity programs!
See and purchase all the books HERE!
SATO THE RABBIT: MORNING LIGHT by Yuki Ainoya, translator: Michael Blaskowsky
“The fourth in the Sato the Rabbit series, this is a charming picture book for all those who imagine and play and dream, who find magic in the everyday, and who open themselves up to wonder.” —Bookshop.org
genre: picture book
THE GATE, THE GIRL, AND THE DRAGON by Grace Lin
"From award-winning and bestselling author of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin comes a gorgeously full-color illustrated story about a lion cub and a girl who must open a portal for the spirits, based on Chinese folklore." —Bookshop.org
genre: middle grade fiction
ZARINA DIVIDED by Reem Faruqi
“A simultaneously gentle and gripping story led by a strong-willed protagonist eager to advocate for herself in a changing world." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
genre: young adult novel-in-verse
UNCOMMON FAVOR: BASKETBALL, NORTH PHILLY, MY MOTHER, AND THE LIFE LESSONS I LEARNED FROM ALL THREE by Dawn Staley
“A three-time Olympic gold medalist, six-time WNBA All-Star, and the first person to win the Naismith College Player of the Year award as both a player and coach, Staley has shattered expectations at every level of the game. While her name resonates with both longtime WNBA fans and newcomers, she has kept her personal life private.” —Bookshop.org
genre: nonfiction
MY NAME IS EMILIA DEL VALLE by Isabel Allende
“In this spellbinding historical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea and The Wind Knows My Name, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father—and herself.” —Bookshop.org
genre: historical fiction
THE EMPEROR OF GLADNESS by Ocean Vuong
“Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.”
—Bookshop.org
genre: fiction
LIZA'S HEALING
READS
The Healing Reads List is a reading list that goes beyond anti-racism books. This list is all about healing and uplifting within and across communities.
Liza Michelle Bevams is a writer and multimedia artist exploring life in the Rocky Mountains. She is currently working on her first novel.
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Shake Loose My Skin: New and Selected Poems
by Sonia Sanchez
Poetry
"[Sanchez] looks deeply into that most dangerous of places-the heart."
—Quarterly Black Review
I Can't Talk about the Trees Without the Blood
by Tiana Clark
Poetry
"Clark bridges a Tennessee landscape's past and present in her stellar debut, evincing a potent mix of history, injury, and divided identity."
—Publishers Weekly
Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems
by Joy Harjo
Poetry
"In these poems, the joys and struggles of the everyday are played against the grinding politics of being human."
—Bookshop.org
Directed by Desire
by June Jordan
Poetry
"Directed by Desire . . . is a powerful addition to the entire canon of American poetry."
—Booklist
“I must become the action of my fate”
—June Jordan in “I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies”
Soft Science
by Franny Choi
Poetry
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"Choi creates an exhilarating matrix of poetry, science, and technology."
—Publishers Weekly
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American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
by Terrance Hayes
Poetry
“Overwhelming in every sense. Overwhelming in its brilliance, yes, but also overwhelming in its pacing, its style . . . The book, despite its breadth and clever turns, is a confrontation . . . His poems are like the slow and steady picking of a lock, until the door handle clicks."
—Hanif Abdurraqib, Poets and Writers
The New Testament
by Jericho Brown
Poetry
“To read Jericho Brown's poems is to encounter devastating genius."
—Claudia Rankine
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
Fiction
“An extraordinarily powerful and very different kind of physical and psychological migration story."
—Edwidge Danticat, The New Yorker
The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting a Writer’s Life in Prison
Edited by Caits Meissner, Pen America
Nonfiction
“This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read.” —Liza
Questions for Ada
by Ijeoma Umebinyuo
Poetry
“These poems trace a path of healing full of power and vulnerability that resonates long after reading them."
—Liza
Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses
Nonfiction
"A real eye opener . . . It unpacks the seemingly 'universal' lessons we learn about what makes fiction good to reveal how whiteness and maleness have shaped those values." -Kumari Devarajan, Code Switch, NPR
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
Nonfiction Essays
"The delights he extols here (music, laughter, generosity, poetry, lots of nature) are bulwarks against casual cruelties. As such they feel purposeful and imperative as well as contagious in their joy." -The New York Times Book Review
Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Animals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Nonfiction
“A masterpiece.” -Liza Bevams
Wounds of Passions: A Writing Life by bell hooks
Nonfiction
“This book speaks to the heart.” -Liza Bevams
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Sci-fi/Fantasy
“A prophetic and transformative novel.”
-Liza Bevams
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
Autobiographical Novel
“This book is a gift of radical love that keeps unfolding and unfolding.” -Liza Bevams
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The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor
Nonfiction
"This book took my breath away. It's an unexpected and urgent embrace of truth." --Brené Brown, Ph.D., author of the New York Times #1 bestseller, Dare to Lead
The Magic My Body Becomes: Poems by Jess Rizkallah
Poetry
"The Magic My Body Becomes is an extraordinary collection that captures the beauty and complexities of identity." —Liza
George M. Johnson- All Boys Aren't Blue
YA Nonfiction
"An absolute necessity . . . the personal stories and the healing and reconciliation of self in this title are all undeniably honest and relatable--a reminder of our shared imperfection and humanity." -Booklist
Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought- Briona Simone Jones (Editor)
Nonfiction
"This collection of multi-generational writing is a demonstration of how radical and transformative love, self-love, can be." —Liza
Bernardine Evaristo- Girl, Woman, Other
Fiction
"Girl, Woman, Other, the intermingling stories of generations of black British women told in a gloriously rich and readable free verse, will surely be seen as a landmark in British fiction."
-The Guardian
Natalie Diaz- Postcolonial Love Poem
Poetry
"Diaz's collection is no doubt one of the most important poetry releases in years, one to applaud for its considerable demonstration of skill, its resistance to dominant perspectives and its light wrought of desire."- The New York Times Book Review
Leslie Marmon Silko- Storyteller
Fiction and Poetry
"A source of healing, inspiration, and community." -Liza
Kiese Laymon- Heavy: An American Memoir
Nonfiction
"Reading this book gave me a new perspective on writing, love, forgiveness, and facing things that are difficult and uncomfortable to acknowledge. Kiese Laymon is a brilliant wordsmith." -Liza
Toi Derricotte- The Black Notebooks: An Interior Journey
Nonfiction
"This is an insightful, courageous, and vibrant book. Derricotte's words linger and touch your soul." -Liza
Key Ballah- Preparing My Daughter For Rain
Poetry
"There is so much forgiveness and freedom in this book."- Liza
Toni Morrison- The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
Nonfiction
"Morrison is more than the standard bearer of American literature. She is our greatest singer. And this book is perhaps her most important song" -The New York Times
Ibi Zoboi- My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich
Middle Grade
"Highlights the importance of imagination and learning to celebrate what it means to be different in a world that demands conformity."- Horn Book
Upile Chisala- Nectar
Poetry
These poems celebrate, encourage, and offer the reader a new perspective on hope and self-love.
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Black Imagination - Curated by Natasha Marin
Anthology
"(D)on't think for one minute that Black Imagination is easy. As you will read here, it is hard-earned and sometimes dangerous, but it's necessary, and radical, to claim and work towards. Listening to my people in this book gave me so much life, and I'm pretty sure, dear reader, you're in for the same."- from the Foreword by Steven Dunn
Yrsa Daley-Ward- bone
Poetry
Yrsa Daley-Ward's collection bone captures desire, vulnerability, and joy beautifully. This book is a place to find solace..
