Panel: Ripped from the Headlines

Lauren Nicole Odom is a librarian at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. There she works in the youth services department and coordinates programs primarily for teens and tweens. Ms. Odom attended Nova Southeastern University for her undergraduate studies and went on to graduate from North Carolina Central University with a Master of Library Science. She enjoys the arts, including making masterpieces of her own creation and writing poetry as well as reading.

Christina Hammonds Reed ‘s work has appeared in ELLE, Teen Vogue, the Santa Monica Review and One Teen Story. The Black Kids (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), Hammonds Reed ‘s debut novel, is set in Los Angeles, 1992. It’s the end of senior year and Ashley Bennett and her friends are living the charmed life. Everything changes one afternoon in April, when four LAPD officers are acquitted after beating a black man named Rodney King half to death. Suddenly, Ashley’s not just one of the girls. She’s one of the black kids. As the city burns, the model black family façade her wealthy and prominent parents have built starts to crumble, and her self-destructive sister gets dangerously involved in the riots, while Ashley tries to continue on as if life were normal. With her world splintering around her, she is left to question: who is the us? And who is the them? In a starred review, School Library Journal called The Black Kids “Incredibly nuanced…An excellent addition to all teen collections with a relatable main character who will lead readers through this heated moment in time.”

Tiffany D. Jackson is the author of Allegedly, Monday’s Not Coming, and Let Me Hear a Rhyme. She is a TV professional by day, and a novelist by night. When legendary R&B artist Korey Fields spots Enchanted Jones at an audition, her dreams of being a famous singer take flight. But next, Enchanted wakes up with blood on her hands and zero memory of the previous night. Who killed Korey Fields? But in Tiffany D. Jackson’s Grown (Katherine Tegen Books) even before there was a dead body, Enchanted’s dreams had turned into a nightmare. Because behind Korey’s charm and star power was a controlling dark side. Now he’s dead, the police are at the door, and all signs point to Enchanted. Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles, praised Grown as it “exposes the underbelly of a tough conversation, providing a searing examination of misogynoir, rape culture, and the vulnerability of young black girls. Groundbreaking, heart-wrenching, and essential reading for all in the #MeToo era.”