Teaching Tolerance Grades 7-12

The books on this list have been curated for grades 7-12 by Guilford Free Library librarians. These books address acceptance of others and of yourself by showcasing stories of all kinds of characters (some fictional, some based on real people & events) overcoming hardships and/or bias they have experienced. These books may introduce teens to the concept of injustice and provide a conversation starter between kids and adults. By reading and/or discussing "tough topics" through the safety of a book, students will build the social-emotional skills and resilience necessary to confidently handle these issues when they come up in the real world later on. Sensitive topics are presented in these books in age-appropriate language and visuals. Parents/caregivers are encouraged to read these titles along with their children to encourage learning and growing together, practice communicating about potentially difficult conversations, and bonding over the shared experiences books provide. This project is also presented by the Guilford Anti-Bias Anti-Racist (ABAR) Alliance, a collaborative partnership of educators, parents, and caregivers who work to further inclusion, equity, and tolerance within Guilford Public Schools. Learn more at www.GuilfordCtABAR.com .
 

Showing 1 - 20 of 26  There are a total of 53 valid entries on the list.

1. All American boys

Book cover for "All American boys"
Star rating for All American boys
Author:
Reynolds, Jason
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, OverDrive eAudiobook
Description:
When sixteen-year-old Rashad is mistakenly accused of stealing, classmate Quinn witnesses his brutal beating at the hands of a police officer who happens to be the older brother of his best friend. Told through Rashad and Quinn's alternating viewpoints.

2. American Street

Book cover for "American Street"
Star rating for American Street
Author:
Zoboi, Ibi Aanu
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, Media Player
Description:
When Fabiola's mother is detained upon their arrival to the United States, Fabiola must navigate her loud American cousins, the grittiness of Detroit's west side, a new school, and a surprising romance all on her own.

3. Between shades of gray

Book cover for "Between shades of gray"
Star rating for Between shades of gray
Author:
Sepetys, Ruta
Average Rating:
5 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates, and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her, along with her mother and younger brother, by cattle car to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp. All seems to be lost, but Lina refuses to give up hope. Will that be enough to keep her alive?

4. The black kids

Book cover for "The black kids"
Star rating for The black kids
Author:
Hammonds Reed, Christina
Average Rating:
3 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, Hoopla eAudiobook
Description:
Los Angeles, 1992. It's the end of senior year and Ashley Bennett and her friends are spending more time at the beach than in the classroom. When four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death, violent protests engulf LA and the city burns. Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal; her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots. The model black family façade her wealthy and...

5. Concrete rose

Book cover for "Concrete rose"
Star rating for Concrete rose
Author:
Thomas, Angie
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, Hoopla eAudiobook, Hoopla eBook, OverDrive eAudiobook
Description:
"A gang leader's son finds his effort to go straight for the sake of his child challenged by a loved one's brutal murder, in a poignant exploration of Black coming-of-age- set seventeen years before the events of the award-winning 'The Hate U Give'"--

6. Dear Justyce

Book cover for "Dear Justyce"
Star rating for Dear Justyce
Author:
Stone, Nic
Average Rating:
5 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, OverDrive eAudiobook
Description:
Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Shortly after teenager Quan enters a not guilty plea for the shooting death of a police officer, he is placed in a holding cell to await trial. Through a series of flashbacks and letters to his friend Justyce, Quan's story unravels: from a troubled childhood and bad timing to a coerced confession and prejudiced police work.--...

7. Dear Martin: a novel

Book cover for "Dear Martin"
Star rating for Dear Martin
Author:
Stone, Nic
Average Rating:
5 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, OverDrive eAudiobook
Description:
Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face the reality of race relations today and how they are shaping him.

8. The hate u give

Book cover for "The hate u give"
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Author:
Thomas, Angie
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, Hoopla eBook, Large Print, Media Player, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters...

9. Honestly Ben

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Author:
Konigsberg, Bill
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook, Hoopla eBook
Description:
Ben Carver returns for the spring semester at the exclusive Natick School in Massachusetts determined to put his relationship with Rafe Goldberg behind him and concentrate on his grades and the award that will mean a full scholarship--but Rafe is still there, there is a girl named Hannah whom he meets in the library, and behind it all is his relationship with his distant, but demanding father.

10. How it went down

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Star rating for How it went down
Author:
Magoon, Kekla
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook, OverDrive eAudiobook
Description:
When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.

11. I am not your perfect Mexican daughter

Book cover for "I am not your perfect Mexican daughter"
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Author:
Sánchez, Erika L.
Formats:
Book, OverDrive eAudiobook
Description:
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is...

12. I wish you all the best

Book cover for "I wish you all the best"
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Author:
Deaver, Mason
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook, Hoopla eBook
Description:
After coming out as nonbinary, Ben must leave home and goes to live with a sister and her husband to finish the last year of high school.

13. Light it up

Book cover for "Light it up"
Star rating for Light it up
Author:
Magoon, Kekla
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook
Description:
Told from multiple viewpoints, Shae Tatum, an unarmed, thirteen-year-old black girl, is shot by a white police officer, throwing their community into upheaval and making it a target of demonstrators.

14. The lines we cross

Book cover for "The lines we cross"
Star rating for The lines we cross
Author:
Abdel-Fattah, Randa
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook, Hoopla eBook
Description:
Michael's parents are leaders of a new anti-immigrant political party called Aussie Values which is trying to halt the flood of refugees from the Middle East; Mina fled Afghanistan with her family ten years ago, and just wants to concentrate on fitting in and getting into college--but the mutual attraction they feel demands that they come to terms with their family's concerns and decide where they stand in the ugly anti-Muslim politics of the time....

15. Long way down

Book cover for "Long way down"
Star rating for Long way down
Author:
Reynolds, Jason
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
As Will, fifteen, sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know.

16. The love & lies of Rukhsana Ali

Book cover for "The love & lies of Rukhsana Ali"
Star rating for The love & lies of Rukhsana Ali
Author:
Khan, Sabina, 1968-
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook, Hoopla eBook
Description:
Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali is looking forward to going to Caltech and getting away from her conservative Muslim parents' expectation that she will marry, especially since she is in love with her girlfriend Ariana--but when her parents catch her kissing Ariana, they whisk Rukhsana off to Bangladesh and a world of tradition and arranged marriages, and she must find the courage to fight for the right to choose her own path.

17. Love, hate & other filters

Book cover for "Love, hate & other filters"
Star rating for Love, hate & other filters
Author:
Ahmed, Samira
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook, Media Player
Description:
Maya Aziz, seventeen, is caught between her India-born parents world of college and marrying a suitable Muslim boy and her dream world of film school and dating her classmate, Phil, when a terrorist attack changes her life forever.

18. The music of what happens

Book cover for "The music of what happens"
Star rating for The music of what happens
Author:
Konigsberg, Bill
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook, Hoopla eBook
Description:
It is summer in Phoenix, and seventeen-year-old Maximo offers to help Jordan, a fellow student in high school, with the food truck that belonged to Jordan's deceased father, and which may be the only thing standing between homelessness for Jordan and his mom; the boys are strongly attracted to each other, but as their romance develops it is threatened by the secrets they are hiding--and by the racism and homophobia of those around them.

19. On the come up

Book cover for "On the come up"
Star rating for On the come up
Author:
Thomas, Angie
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Formats:
Book, CD Audiobook, Hoopla eAudiobook, Hoopla eBook, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time-- and has massive shoes to fill. She's been labeled a hoodlum at school, and the fridge at home is empty after her mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral -- for all the wrong reasons. Portrayed by the media as a menace, Bri makes a choice-- and becomes the...

20. Openly straight

Book cover for "Openly straight"
Star rating for Openly straight
Author:
Konigsberg, Bill
Average Rating:
3 stars
Formats:
Book, Hoopla eAudiobook, Hoopla eBook
Description:
Tired of being known as "the gay kid", Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he comes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school--but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences.