Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1940.
Annotation: Bigger Thomas gets a new job driving for a white family. While a night out, the boss's daughter gets drunk with her boyfriend, and Bigger tries to care for her. Scared of what the consequences will be for being seen with a white girl, he makes a wrong decision and kills her and his life changes forever.
Justification for Nomination: Although this book was written in 1940, it looks at race issues that are still prevalent today, and it addresses them head on, without sparing anyone or anything! Richard Wright, examines the life of an African American male trying to make ends meet, and trying to be the best he can. Once he gets a job with a white family - the family is involved in the "betterment" of African Americans, so they think they are doing Bigger a favor by giving him work. So many young adults can identify with what is going on with Bigger: he is trying to take care of his own business and get a job and take care of his family all while trying to grow as a person and be accepted by society. Bigger was so afraid to be alone with a white girl, although he was trying to help her, he kills her by accident. He denies what happened and goes on the run. Race plays a huge part in this book, because he knows that things could have been different for him if he was different.
I nominate this book because, it addresses rights and wrongs with issues that are still happening today. Young adults know of things happening like this today, because of the news. So giving young adults the opportunity to learn about the main character and be able to relate to him can possibly prevent things like this from happening in life.
Genre Category: Banned/Censored, coming of age, realistic/edgy.
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