Revised
January 23, 2026
Resources can help with the long-overdue conversation about race relations in America
The mission of Worthington Libraries—connecting people to a world of ideas and each other—is so crucial in this moment in history. We believe our library must be a resource to encourage civil discourse that will allow our community to have the difficult, but necessary conversations to finally face the legacy of racial inequality, bias and a system that has left far too many behind for far too long.
We have put together the following list of resources to help you get started and will look for additional ways to engage with our community around this issue. It is our hope that this is just the beginning of this important and long-overdue conversation.
Children
Fiction
2019
Told from two viewpoints, sixth-graders Karina and Chris use social media to stand up to racism in Houston, Texas, after an attack puts Karina's Indian American grandfather in the hospital.
Lexile level
680
2022
When Ruby Bridges was six years old, she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South. Told from the perspective of her six-year-old self and based on the pivotal events that happened in 1960, Ruby tells her story of hope, innocence and courage.
2015
Traveling with her migrant worker father on the roof of a train known as The Beast, a little girl watches the passing scenery, from animals to soldiers, while making regular stops for her father to earn money as they move toward the U.S. border in search of a better life.
Lexile level
490
2022
Amid rioting in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, a 12-year-old Korean American boy must come to terms with the racism within and affecting his community while trying to protect his father, a store owner.
Susan A loved this! Find out why »
2018
Piano-prodigy Isabella, 11, whose Black father and white mother struggle to share custody, never feels whole, especially as racial tensions affect her school, her parents both become engaged and she and her stepbrother are stopped by police.
Heather W loved this! Find out why »
2016
When eight-year-old Irene is removed from her First Nations family to live in a residential school, she is confused, frightened and homesick. When she goes home for the summer, her parents decide never to send her and her brothers away again. But what will happen when they disobey the law?
Lexile level
640
2020
Omar and his younger brother Hassan live in a refugee camp, and when an opportunity for Omar to get an education comes along, he must decide between going to school every day or caring for his nonverbal brother.
Lexile level
530
2017
Amina, a Pakistani-American Muslim girl, struggles to stay true to her family's culture while dealing with the vandalism of the local Islamic Center and mosque and her best friend Soojin's new friendship with their former nemesis.
Lexile level
800
2020
When a black snake threatens to destroy Earth and poison her people's water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth's most sacred resource.
Marisa W loved this! Find out why »
2019
After attending a powerful protest, Shayla starts wearing an armband to school to support the Black Lives Matter movement, but when the school gives her an ultimatum, she is forced to choose between her education and her identity.
2018
After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen Black boys including historical figure Emmett Till.
2022
In this elegant love story that sheds light on a dark chapter of American history after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama works in a prison library where she befriends a man who also seeks solace in pages bursting with color and light.
Carmi D loved this! Find out why »
2020
The folktale depicted in this book was a part of the author's Zoroastrian upbringing as a Parsi child in India, but resonates for children of all backgrounds, especially those coming to a new homeland.
Becca B loved this! Find out why »
2019
Sent with her mother to the safety of a relative's home in Cincinnati when her Syrian hometown is overshadowed by violence, Jude worries for the family members left behind as she adjusts to a new life with unexpected surprises.
Lexile level
930
Kate F loved this! Find out why »
Nonfiction
2019
This love letter to Black life in the United States highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes.
Ellie K loved this! Find out why »
2019
J 325.73 BAU
Examines the history of American immigration, particularly those lesser-known stories of immigrants denied entrance into the United States or detained for security reasons, including the story of a ship of Jewish refugees.
Lexile level
1170
2019
J 325.21 GRA
Combining bold artwork with comprehensive text, this picture book explains who refugees are, why they had to leave their homes and why they are not always welcomed elsewhere.
Lexile level
680
2023
J 305.8 MEM
An introductory book for parents and children to see what racism is, how it makes people feel and how to recognize it in the real world.
2021
TEEN 364.1523 YOO
An account of the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin shares insights into how a miscarriage of justice in the wake of a hate crime rallied the Asian American community throughout a groundbreaking civil rights trial.
Movies for families
2014
After Sylvia Mendez was denied enrollment in a whites-only school in the 1940s, her parents took action by organizing the Hispanic community and filing a lawsuit in federal district court. Their success eventually brought an end to the era of segregated education in California.
Websites for families
Teens
Fiction
2020
Liliana Cruz does what it takes to fit in at her new, nearly all-white school, but when family secrets come out and racism at school gets worse than ever, she must decide what she believes in and take a stand.
2020
While writing letters to Innocence X, a justice-seeking project, asking them to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row, teenaged Tracy takes on another case when her brother is accused of killing his white girlfriend.
2021
T FICTION Lo, Malinda
When Lily realizes she has feelings for a girl in her math class, it threatens Lily's oldest friendships and even her father's citizenship status. Eventually, Lily must decide if owning her truth is worth everything she has ever known.
Lexile level
900L
Leah D loved this! Find out why »
2015
When 16-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.
2019
Setting aside his college ambitions when he learns his cousin has been murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, a high school senior travels to the Philippines to uncover the truth, and the part he may have played in it.
Lexile level
840
2018
Breaking up with her first real boyfriend when he makes racist remarks about her Native American heritage, high school senior Louise Wolfe teams up with a fellow school newspaper editor to cover a multicultural casting of the school play and the racial hostilities it has exposed.
Lexile level
760
2017
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends.
2020
When the dangers that surround them become all too real, three teens know they have no choice but to flee from their country, their families, from their beloved home.
2019
Wanting to enjoy an amazing life in America like her favorite television characters, an undocumented 17-year-old bargains for her asylum by becoming a grief keeper to save someone else's life.
Lexile level
610
2019
This collection of short stories explores what it is like to be young and Black, centering on the experiences of teenagers and emphasizing that one person's experiences, reality and personal identity are different than someone else.
Nonfiction
2017
970.004 NOT
Whether looking back to a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of indigenous women across North America resound in this book.
Lexile level
910
2021
T 305.8 FLE
Breaking down the origins of racial injustice and its continued impact today, the author shares the knowledge and values that unite all antiracists: compassion, solidarity, respect and courage in the face of adversity.
2022
T 323.1196 DYS
Spotlighting courageous Black figures throughout history, these interconnected stories present a picture of racial inequality in America, revealing both the systemic discrimination in all areas of society and the unbroken line of Black resistance to this inequality.
2019
Real-life accounts from the age of Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era are used to explore the African American experience in post-Civil War United States.
2022
305.895 GAO
Seamlessly toggling between past and present, this funny graphic memoir follows a queer Chinese American's immigration to Texas where she just wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school and figure out why she is attracted to girls.
Meredith R loved this! Find out why »
2017
This title examines how we can foster reconciliation with Indigenous people at individual, family, community and national levels.
Lexile level
1050
2020
Moving abruptly from Seoul to Alabama, a Korean teen struggles in a hostile blended home and a new school where she does not speak English before forging unexpected connections in a local comic-drawing class.
2020
305.8 REY
This book shines a light on the many forms of racist ideas and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.
Hillary K loved this! Find out why »
2018
TEEN 305.8915 SAE
Learning as a teenager that her Iranian family is undocumented, 13-year-old, straight-A student Sara Saedi juggles the challenges of trying to obtain a green card with the stressful realities of being an everyday American teen.
Lexile level
1030
2019
TEEN GRAPHIC NOVEL 940.5317 TAK
This book details the author's experiences as a child prisoner in the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, reflecting on the choices his family made in the face of institutionalized racism.
Lexile level
680
2019
TEEN 970.004 YEL
Tells the stories of what Indigenous people did when invaders arrived on their homelands, sharing accounts of the people, places and events that have mattered in Indigenous history from an Indigenous viewpoint.
Websites for teens
Adults
Nonfiction
2022
973.0495 CHO
Illuminates how an over century-long history of Asian migration, labor and community formation in the U.S. is fundamental to understanding the American experience and its existential crises of the early 21st century.
2018
A leading young Black feminist illuminates how organized anger, friendship and faith can be powerful sources of positive feminist change, explaining how targeted rage has shaped the careers of such African-American notables as Serena Williams, Beyonce and Michelle Obama.
2018
973.0468 COR
The last great Mexican migration to America is described from the perspective of four friends who met in a Philadelphia restaurant in 1987 to share in their common roots and their love of tequila.
2020
305.895 HON
A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged exploration of the psychological condition of being Asian American.
2019
Ethics, history, law and science are combined with a personal narrative to describe how to move beyond the awareness of racism and contribute to making society just and equitable.
2018
A memoir by the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement explains the movement's position of love, humanity and justice, challenging perspectives that have negatively labeled the movement's activists while calling for essential political changes.
2021
305.8 MCG
Embarking on a deeply personal journey across the country from Mississippi to Maine, the author tallies up what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm: the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others.
2018
325 DIS
A collection of personal essays by prominent international refugees shares candid reflections on the Trump administration's 2017 executive order to limit or ban Muslim refugees from America.
2018
A contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement and the "N" word.
Kate F loved this! Find out why »
2020
970.004 HOW
Contemporary, Indigenous stories share the long and ongoing fight to protect Native land and life.
2022
956.942 TAM
Ahed Tamimi's father was born in 1967, the year Israeli occupation of the West Bank began, and every aspect of their family's life has been touched by it. Her memoir is one of the first to deal directly with what life in occupation actually means for the people in it, beyond geography or policy.
2022
362.1089 VIL
In America, Black people "live sicker and die quicker" than their white counterparts. Learn more about the forces in American society that each year rob Black Americans of years of life.
Podcasts
Movies
2018
The long-suppressed story of 12,000 Japanese Americans who dared to resist the U.S. government's program of mass incarceration during World War II.
2017
Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising.
2017
Master documentary filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin's original words and a flood of rich archival material.
Websites
Get involved
Kara R
I am the library's digital experience manager. I like to read fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction and retellings, especially extra-long tomes. When it comes to music, give me anything with a groove and some soul.
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