The #ReadWoke challenge was created in 2017 by Cicely Lewis, a nationally recognized educator and librarian from Georgia.
This is how Lewis defines read woke:
“Read Woke is a feeling, a form of education, a call to action. It means arming yourself with
knowledge to better protect your rights. It’s learning about others so you treat people with
respect and dignity, no matter their religion, race, creed, or color.”
(School Library Journal, April 2020)
These books help to educate, heal, and empower. They deal with issues beyond race such as poverty, body shaming, mental health, and LGBTQ rights.
A Read Woke book should:
Many of these books are #OwnVoices. OwnVoices is a term coined by the writer Corinne Duyvis, and refers to an author from a marginalized or under-represented group writing about their own experiences/from their own perspective, rather than someone from an outside perspective writing as a character from an underrepresented group.
According to Kayla Whaley of Disability in Kidlit, Own voices is about telling better stories. She explains:
Even when portrayals of diverse characters by majority-group authors are respectfully and
accurately done, there’s an extra degree of nuance and authority that comes with writing from
lived experience. Those books that are #OwnVoices have an added richness to them precisely because
the author shares an identity with the character. The author has the deepest possible understanding
of the intricacies, the joys, the difficulties, the pride, the frustration, and every other possible facet of
that particular life — because the author has actually lived it.
Including books from ReadWoke and OwnVoices adds diversity to our collection. It offers mirrors by which students can see themselves and windows to see the diversity of human experience. These books help promote empathy, understanding and self-confidence in readers.
All American Boys, Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds
The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas
Monday's Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson
On the Come Up, Angie Thomas
I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai
Learning to Breathe, Janice Lynn Mather
Amal Unbound, Aisha Saeed
Internment, Samira Ahmed
Turtles All the Way Down, John Greene
The Librarian of Auschwitz, Antonio Iturbe
The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris
The Loves and Lies of Rhukhsana Ali, Sabina Khan
Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline
Refugee, Alan Gratz
Sold, Patricia McCormick
The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo
With The Fire on High, Elizabeth Acevedo
Love, Hate and Other Filters, Samira Ahmed
American Street, Ibi Zoboi
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager, Ben Philippe
A Very Large Expanse of Sea, Tahereh Mafi
Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds
March Book 3, Andrew Aydin and John Lewis
The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie
Moon of the Crusted Snow
American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang
The Memory of Light, Francisco X. Stork
Marcelo in the Real World, Francisco X. Stork
Hey Kiddo, Jarrett J. Krosoczka
The 57th Bus, Dashka Slater
Symptoms of Being Human, Jeff Garvin
Holding Up the Universe, Jennifer Niven
Empty, K.M. Walton