Books Invited to the Cookout 2025: Graphic Novels and Young Adult
Books Invited to the Cookout is PCPL's newest annual book list centering books by Black authors and highlighting the Black community and diaspora from the previous year. (So the 2025 booklist features books from 2024.) Each title was selected by members of Kindred, the library team dedicated to reaching, supporting, and celebrating the Black community. The entire collection is broken down into categories that encompass adult fiction and nonfiction, poetry, graphic novels, books for young adult and middle grade readers, chapter books, and picture books. Look for all of the titles on the Kindred page or tagged "Books Invited to the Cookout" in the library catalog!
Comics and young adult literatureare often a great place to go when you're looking for some of the most groundbreaking, risktaking work in literature, and the books collected in these two categories prove what the leading artists and authors are doing there. They each have a lot to say about life, ambition, history, family, and so many other things, and can do it in a way that is made clear and interesting for younger readers. Note: while many of the graphic novels collected here could also be considered either young adult or middle grade, they are separated into their own category in the actual book list.
With a simple art style that says a lot with few lines, Lawrence Lindell gives us the story of middle schooler Lonnie dealing with his parents’ recent divorce. It’s a quiet, quick read, with lots of important conversations in the space kids get the…
This book takes the phrase “hitting close to home” literally with a story about a group of aspiring art students who have to win a softball game to get scholarships when their financial aid falls through. Ngozi Ukazu and Mad Rupert
are a great…
If there’s one thing middle schoolers need to understand (and so do we all!), it’s balance. Sure, we need work-life balance, but there’s also breaking away from the things we love (and maybe obsess over just a little bit) to make
human connections.…
Gender Studies is drawn in black and white, with pops of color. Each placement of color draws the eye, but doesn’t overwhelm the reader or distract them from the anecdotes and stories that litter this collection of shorter works. These stories of…
When Chelsea gets in trouble trying to keep up with the popular crowd, she winds up spending the summer helping her dad, a paranormal investigator and exterminator. (Who you gonna call, anyone?) When she finds out she can see the ghosts her dad is…
This YA graphic novel follows Ariel Grace Jones and their bandmates, Gael and Michele. Ariel and their bandmates are looking to become part of Chicago’s Punk scene. But as Ari in their own life and the band altogether keep hitting upon hurdles,…
Daniel is a nerdy high schooler who feels like his best friend Mona is way out of his league (as a friend), but loves her anyway. When their high school merges with another one to save the district money, he meets Gabe, who he’s
certain would make…
Everybody knows Edward Rochester is no hero, and L. L. McKinney leaves him completely out of the equation in this sapphic novel centering Jane Eyre and Bertha, who in the original novel is (spoiler alert) the wife Rochester
keeps locked in the…
While written for younger readers, Flamboyants is the perfect entry point for any reader looking to learn more about queer icons from the Harlem Renaissance. Authors, musicians, artists, and more cover the pages of this very thin but very…
In this follow-up to I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me, Laure’s life is spinning out of control. She parties, and she drinks, but Laure has no way of keeping the beast in. One day, Laure stumbles upon a dead body, which forces her to start…
Clae is accepted into a summer journalism program in New York City, where her separated parents used to live. The program leads her to new friends and crushes, but could also lead Clae to find the answers that she has been
looking for in relation…
Set in 1955, this work of historical fiction follows Calvin, who passes for white, as he navigates two worlds. Far away from his Black life in Chicago, he now has to watch every step, every word, as he watches the Civil Rights Movement build and…
If the dedication doesn’t make you keep turning the pages of this book, nothing will. Set in a magical version of Washington, DC where any wish can be granted by the right person for the right price, Venus makes illegal love potions to help support…
Honestly, does anyone need more information about this book than “Black, sapphic vampires in the Harlem Renaissance?” Okay, probably. Former best friends Elise and Layla must work together to find out who was responsible for a vicious reaper attack,…
