DREF Sister Scholars Present the 2024 Summer Reading List

Each year the Sister Scholars Advisory Council presents a summer reading list with a variety of current book selections carefully curated for your pleasure.   

Summer Reading List 2024

This summer, enjoy fun in the sun, a cool drink and a good book!  DREF encourages you to enjoy exploration and enlightenment through books written by African American authors.

2024 DREF Summer Reading List  

ART/CULTURE/MUSIC

  • My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future by Alice Randall
  • Praise song for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson
  • Supreme Sirens: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Music by Marcellas Reynolds
  • The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror Stories by Desiree S. Evans (Editor), Saraciea J. Fennell (Editor), Tananarive Due (Introduction)

BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR

  • Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg
  • Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
  • Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America by Joy-Ann Reid
  • Up Home: One Girls Journey by Ruth Simmons
  • Until I Am Free – Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America by Keisha Blain

CHILDREN/EDUCATIONAL

  • Barracoon, Zora Neal Hurston and Ibrahim X.Kendi
  • Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow. Illus. by the author.
  • Love is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement By Sandra Neil Wallace. Illus. by Bryan Collier
  • Dexter’s Sound Becomes King by Gwynn R.C. Moses, Illustrated by Anastasia Stolypina
  • CLASSIC BLACK WOMEN’S WRITING
  • Black Women Writers at Work by Claudia Tate – editor, Allyson Johnson
  • The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

HISTORY

  • Breaking Barriers: The First Ladies of Education by DeWitt S. Williams
  • Black Women Taught Us by Jenn Jackson
  • Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement by Tanisha Ford
  • Black AF History: The Un-whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot
  • Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class by Blair L.M. Kelley
  • The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers

HISTORICAL FICTION

  • The American Queen by Vanessa Miller
  • The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
  • The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel by ReShonda Tate
  • To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins

LITERATURE/NOVELS

  • Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
  • The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips
  • Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
  • Redwood Court by DéLana R. A. Dameron
  • MYSTERIES/THRILLERS
  • American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
  • Glory Be: A Glory Broussard Mystery by Danielle Arceneaux
  • The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters

SELF-HELP/INSPIRATION/RELIGIOUS

  • BE B.I.G: Boundless Empowered Bodacious Intuitive Grandios by Felice Hightower Britt
  • Power Move: Ignite Your Confidence and Become a Force by Sarah Jakes Roberts
  • To Speak a Defiant Word: Sermons and Speeches on Justice and Transformation by Pauli Murray by Anthony B. Pinn, et al.
  • Playing a New Game: A Black Woman’s Guide to Being Well and Thriving in the Workplace by Tammy Lewis Wilborn, PhD
  • Shine Bright Like A Diamond: A Very Long Love Letter from Mom with Love by Angela Wilson

TEEN/YOUNG ADULT

  • Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
  • ‘Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You’ by A’Ja Wilson

COLLEGE SUCCESS

  • The College Student’s Guide to Mental Health: Essential Wellness Strategies for Flourishing in College
  • by Mia Nosanow
  • Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About College: A Guide for Minority Students by Dr. Boyce Watkins
  • Agent YOU: Show Up, Do the Work and Succeed on Your Own Terms by Nicole Lynn
  • How to Navigate Life: The New Science of Finding Your Way in School, Career and Beyond

by Belle Liang, Ph.D. and Timothy Klein, LCSW