DRIVE-THRU / CURBSIDE PICKUP

Passwords are now required to access your account. To create a password, select "Reset my Password" from the Login screen (email address required). For further assistance, please visit the Library Account Passwords FAQ page for instructions or call the library at 970-243-4442.

All library locations will be closed Monday, February 17, for Presidents Day (Collbran, De Beque, Orchard Mesa, and Palisade closed February 15).

African American Voices

Fiction and non-fiction materials by and about people of African descent.

Showing 1 - 20 of 28  There are a total of 30 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The Belles"
Star rating for The Belles
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful. But it's not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite--the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orléans to live in...
Book cover for "The Black friend"
Star rating for The Black friend
Description:
Frederick Joseph call up race-related anecdotes from his past, explaining why they were hurtful and how he might handle things now. Each chapter features the voice of at least one artist or activist, including Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give; April Reign, creator of #OscarsSoWhite; Jemele Hill, sports journalist and podcast host; and eleven others. Touching on everything from cultural appropriation to power dynamics, "reverse racism" to white...
Book cover for "The boy in the black suit"
Star rating for The boy in the black suit
Description:
Soon after his mother's death, Matt takes a job at a funeral home in his tough Brooklyn neighborhood and, while attending and assisting with funerals, begins to accept her death and his responsibilities as a man.
Book cover for "Children of blood and bone"
Star rating for Children of blood and bone
Series:
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
Zelie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orisha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie's Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zelie without a mother and her people without hope. Now Zelie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess,...
Book cover for "Dear Martin"
Star rating for Dear Martin
Author:
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
"Justyce McAllister is top of his class at Braselton Prep, captain of the debate team, and set for an Ivy League school next year- but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. He's eventually released without charges (or an apology), but the incident rattles him. Despite leaving his rough neighborhood, he can't seem to escape the scorn of his former peers or the attitude of his new classmates. The only exception: Sarah...
Book cover for "Dreamland burning"
Star rating for Dreamland burning
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
"When Rowan finds a skeleton on her family's property, investigating the brutal, century-old murder leads to painful discoveries about the past. Alternating chapters tell the story of William, another teen grappling with the racial firestorm leading up to the 1921 Tulsa race riot, providing some clues to the mystery"--
Book cover for "Felix ever after"
Star rating for Felix ever after
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Felix Love has never been in love, painful irony that it is. He desperately wants to know why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. He is proud of his identity, but fears that he's one marginalization too many -- Black, queer, and transgender. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages-- after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned-- Felix comes up with a plan for revenge....
Book cover for "The hate u give"
Star rating for The hate u give
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died. "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...

9. Juba!

Book cover for "Juba!"
Star rating for Juba!
Description:
In Five Points, New York, in the 1840s, African American teenager William Henry "Juba" Lane works hard to achieve his dream of becoming a professional dancer but his real break comes when he is invited to perform in England. Based on the life of Master Juba; includes historical note.
Book cover for "Learning to breathe"
Star rating for Learning to breathe
Description:
Sixteen-year-old Indy struggles to conceal that she is pregnant by rape and then, turned out by relatives, must find a way to survive on her own in Nassau.
Book cover for "Nubia: real one"
Star rating for Nubia: real one
Description:
Nubia has always been a little bit...different. As a baby she showcased Amazon-like strength by pushing over a tree to rescue her neighbor's cat. But despite her having similar abilities, the world has no problem telling her that she's no Wonder Woman. And even if she were, they wouldn't want her. Every time she comes to the rescue, she's reminded of how people see her: as a threat. Her moms do their best to keep her safe, but Nubia can't deny the...
Book cover for "On the come up"
Star rating for On the come up
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip-hop legend who died right before he hit big. Bri's got massive shoes to fill. But it's hard to get your come up when you're labeled a hoodlum at school and your fridge at home is empty after you mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral ... for all the...
Book cover for "Opposite of always"
Star rating for Opposite of always
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
"When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Fruit Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he's falling -- hard. soon she's meeting his best friends, and Kate wins them over as easily as did Jack. But this love story is ... complicated. Because Kate dies. And their story should end there. Yet Kate's death sends Jack back to the moment they met, and Kate's there again. Beautiful, radiant Kate. Healthy,...

14. Pet

Book cover for "Pet"
Star rating for Pet
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look? There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with the lesson that the city is safe for everyone. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature who some might call monstrous but, in reality, is anything but, she must reconsider what she's been told. Pet has emerged from one of her mother's paintings to hunt a true monster--and...
Book cover for "A phoenix first must burn"
Star rating for A phoenix first must burn
Description:
Sixteen tales by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic. With stories by: Elizabeth Acevedo, Amerie, Patrice Caldwell, Dhonielle Clayton, J. Marcelle Corrie, Somaiya Daud, Charlotte Nicole Davis, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore, L. L. McKinney, Danielle Paige, Rebecca Roanhorse, Karen Strong, Ashley Woodfolk, and Ibi Zoboi. Evoking Beyoncé's Lemonade for...
Book cover for "The poet X"
Star rating for The poet X
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
Novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo, about Afro-Latina Xiomara Batista who turns to journalling poetry. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours her frustration onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself...

17. Pride

Book cover for "Pride"
Star rating for Pride
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable. When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can't stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as...
Book cover for "Pumpkinheads"
Star rating for Pumpkinheads
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends. Every autumn, all through high school, they've worked together at the world's best pumpkin patch. They say good-bye every Halloween, and they're reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different. Josiah and Deja are finally seniors. It's their last season at the Patch, their last shift together--their last good-bye. Josie's ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. (He's the melancholy...
Book cover for "The rebellious life of Mrs. Rosa Parks"
Star rating for The rebellious life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Description:
The definitive political biography of Rosa Parks examines her six decades of activism, challenging perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement and presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks.
Book cover for "The sacrifice of darkness"
Star rating for The sacrifice of darkness
Author:
Description:
New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay (World of Wakanda, Difficult Women) adapts her short story "We Are the Sacrifice of Darkness" as a full-length graphic novel with writer Tracy Lynne Oliver (This Weekend), and artist Rebecca Kirby (Biopsy.) Expanding an unforgettable world where a tragic event forever bathes the world in darkness, The Sacrifice of Darkness follows one woman's powerful journey through this new landscape as she discovers...