A young black man begins to feel invisible as he confronts racism in every aspect of his life. By novel’s end, the hero is living clandestinely in the basement of a large building, burning hundreds of lights at the expense of the electric company, and planning for an eventual re-emergence.  (A/YA)

Sethe tries to rebuild her life in Reconstruction Era Ohio, but she is haunted by the horrors of her former life as a slave and by the fate of her daughter, Beloved. (A/YA)

Sula and Nel, childhood friends who once shared everything, reunite as adults and find that they have grown apart in such a way that their friendship may be unsalvageable. (A/YA)

When her gangster father is sent to prison, spoiled-girl Winter Santiaga's world is thrown into chaos. (A/YA)

Tracy Ellison, a young knockout with tall hair and attitude, is living life as fast as she can. Motivated by the material world, she and her friends love and leave the young men who will do anything to get next to them. It's only when the world of gratuitous sex threatens heartbreak that Tracy begins to examine her life, her goals, and her sexuality.  (A/YA)

The story of one young man's coming of age in the Jim Crow South, Black Boy remains a seminal text in our history about what it means to be a man, black, and Southern in America.  (A/YA)