Before you scroll past thinking this is one of those “sorry I haven’t posted” guilt-trip TikToks—pause. It’s not that. I promise. (Unless you are mad at me… in which case… 😅 okay valid.)

Here’s the deal: my serotonin has gone poof. My social feed is 97% longform political doomsday content and the rest is Aaron Parnas saying “BREAKING NEWS” in a deceptively calm voice about things that should be behind a trigger warning but are actually just real life. I didn’t take a break from caring (still calling my reps, still donating, still fighting), but I did take a break from trying to make content when everything feels like it's on fire.

But here’s what I did do:
I read. A lot.
And not just for escapism—but for truth. For clarity. For change.

Because once you’ve read enough “hot fae assassin” fantasy and "funny AI ship" sci-fi, you start craving stories that say something. Books that don’t just entertain, but provoke. That make you stop, whisper “holy sh*t,” and stare at the ceiling for an hour, but you know, in a good way.

So below, I’ve paired fiction and nonfiction reads by theme—books I kept on my shelves, because I want my kids to read them one day and feel their brains light up like mine did. Read one, read both, read what works for your style.

Let’s go.

• SYSTEMIC RACISM

  • Fiction

    • Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, an Arthurian YA fantasy that has those magic school vibes, and taught me what microagressions FEEL like. But you've probably already read that so I'll also recommend

    • Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams, a book about a 17 year old child who finds his roots after removing himself and his brother from abusive foster parents. This tells of an organization of magical black people who have remained cloistered to keep safe, and very much has those Wakanda vibes.

  • Non-Fiction

    • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, written in the format of a letter to his son, Coates speaks in gorgeous prose about what it's like to be a black man in America. This book didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but it connected those things with these little electric sentences that made me FEEL the neurons in my brain connect and go "PING" like a little light bulb. Coates is a genius of our generation.

    • Letter from Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I know, seems obvious, but I don't see people talking about it much. He's writing to people who disagree with his methods, speaking of his willingness to sit in a jail cell to forward civil rights. Only 54 pages. Required reading. Especially for white folks who quote MLK without context.

• IMMIGRATION

  • Fiction

    • Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz is a sci-fi book about robots trying to start their own noodle shop. It tells a story of a post civil war California where robots have been given rights, but only some, only the ones that benefit capitalism. And it shows how different people react to them having those few rights. It's a beautiful story about creating your own community after you've lost everything.

  • Non-Fiction

    • They Called Us Enemy by George Takei is a graphic novel memoir of Takei's firsthand account of the detention centers Roosevelt imprisoned Japanese Americans in in 1942. I plan to read this and discuss it with my kids this summer.

• COLONIZATION

  • Fiction

    • Cry, Voidbringer by Elaine Ho is a story of oppression from 2 POV's, one is a little girl who has been kidnapped into slavery, and the other is an older character who has been working her way up the ranks to the side of the queen, and tries to fight oppression from within a broken system.

    • This Place: 150 Years Retold is an indigenous graphic novel anthology of dystopian stories about surviving a post-apocalyptic world since Contact. It comes with an accompanying teacher guide with lesson plans, so this one is another I plan to read and study with my kids this summer.

  • NonFiction

    • Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: A Graphic Interpretation by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is, well, what it says it is. I've never been a huge nonfic fan so graphic novels are a great way for me to get some nonfic reading in. This is a book you need on your shelf!

• LGBTQIA+ EXPERIENCE

  • Fiction

    • No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull is a sci-fi/fantasy X-men type story about the coming out of monsters (vampires, werewolves, etc,) the world's reaction, and the monsters fight for human rights. It's multi-POV that works because you get to see so many perspectives. I cannot WAIT for my hold to come in from Libby for the sequel.

    • Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White is a dystopian horror about a group of fanatic Christians causing the apocalypse to bring about the second coming of Christ. And their chosen is of course a closeted gay kid. I'm not a body horror person, but this book is INSANELY good and my preteen who loves horror is going to freaking love it when he finally gets off his Fortnite and reads it.

  • Nonfiction

    • A Little Queer Natural History by Josh L. Davis discusses biodiversity in nature and is essentially an entire book in response to the "male and female is basic biology" argument we sometimes hear from people with absolutely zero knowledge in the subject of biology. I love reading books that are a middle finger to bigots.

    • Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam chronicles expressions of trans experience that are often left out of the historical record. Trans people exist and HAVE existed for all of human history, and it's important to acknowledge that.

• PRISON ABOLITION (a note: this may be a controversial topic for many, but I truly think that if people truly understood the prison abolition movement's goals, they would agree with them, and I think that if we solved this issue, many many other social issues would be solved as a result. If you don't agree, I beg you to read these books.)

  • Fiction

    • Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, I know, I know, I won't shut up about this one, but it's for good reason! Everyone is off reading Silver Elite because of it's purported (but I have on good authority unfounded) Hunger Games vibes, when Chain-Gang All-Stars has been published since 2023! Take prisons and make them privatized. Someone gets a brilliant idea to put it on reality TV (it's already been done, see 60 Days In) and make them fight each other to the death for sport. That's this book.

  • Nonfiction

    • Abolitionist Intimacies by El Jones is written like an anthology, but by one person. Jones has been an advocate for years and tells the stories of people whom society has taken away their voice, taken away their humanity. This book doesn't discuss how to solve the problem, but I recommend starting here because to solve the problem, you first need to see prisoners as full human beings, and while you may think you already do, this will show you that no, you don't.

• DISABILITY

  • Fiction

    • Cinder by Marissa Meyer was assigned to my 7th grader for summer reading, so we listened to it together, and WOW! How did I sleep on this one? Cinder is a cyborg, a human who has had parts replaced and is considered now to be less than human because of it, including all of her rights being directed by her guardian, her stepmother. Not only did we get to discuss how society treats disabled people as less deserving of human rights, but we also got to see the Lunars, moon dwelling people who their society is hugely biased against, a great metaphor for xenophobia and racism. So many good topics in this book to discuss with your younger reader while still getting to enjoy a hella good book.

  • Nonfiction

    • Grievers by adrienne marie brown is admittedly not quite nonfiction, but adrienne marie brown is a nonfiction writer who delved into dystopian literature to further our understanding of the pandemic and how it affected and will continue to affect the world. It delves into the socioeconomics and inherent racism of the pandemic in such an insightful way. It has a sequel, thank adreinne, because the first one destroyed me.

For other recommendations sorted by social justice topic I highly recommend going to https://www.akpress.org/books.html an independent publishing house that specializes in radical books.

What other subjects would you like recommendations for? Feel free to leave me some recs in the comments too! I love a good read that cracks a brain open. Let’s build a shelf full of them.