Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

The sentiment "THIS IS NOT A HISTORY BOOK!" is repeated several times in the text of the book.

Ahhh, but it is a history book, a history book of the very BEST kind. It's history with a purpose. For young people, or anyone for that matter, to understand racism as it is today in America, to be an anti-racist, one must understand how we got here in the first place. Ibram X. Kendi wrote Stamped from the Beginning" for an adult audience which has been "remixed" for a younger audience by Jason Reynolds. The result is a fascinating history that for me, was an eye opener. Reynolds takes what could be a dry history, and presents it in a conversational narrative that draws you in, and keeps you wanting more...something only the most gifted storytellers can do. 

Stamped reveals how racist ideology, starting in 1415 with a single Portuguese document,  justifying Portugal's pilfering of African society and it's African slave trade, spread through Europe, and then with European colonization spreading it around the world, eventually landing on the North American continent.  The main focus is on African slave trade, and how reliant the American economy was on slave trade and on the American civil rights movement, but references to other instances of racism are mentioned.

This is an essential read and accessible for most secondary students. Tie this with other books, such as This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell to provide students with both the history and the action necessary to be anti-racist.

Mark's Book Picks Score: No rating for non-fiction

Reading Level: 7.4 • Interest Level: 9-12 (I would use it 6-12) • AR Points: 6 • Lexile Level: 1000L• Dewey: 305.8 Publisher: Little, Brown & Co. • Pages: 294 • Copyright: 2020 • ISBN: 978-0-316-45369-1 • Available in Perma-Bound Binding