Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2017)

• a young adult novel for mature readers in which an unarmed Black teen is shot by a police officer on the basis of racial profiling
• shares the themes of The Dynamics of Family and The Persistence of Racism

Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson (2018)

• a young adult novel about identity and the struggle to find a path to success
• shares the themes of The Dynamics of Family and The Persistence of Racism

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

• a middle grade historical novel by the author of Blended in which the protagonist and her family face discrimination and danger in their 1930s North Carolina community
• shares the themes of The Dynamics of Family and The Persistence of Racism

“I, Too” by Langston Hughes (1926)

• brief poem by the subject of Izzy’s research project
• connects with Izzy’s internal conflicts and the theme of The Implications of Biracial Identity