Five Summer Reads from the Freedom Library

Here are five essential summer reads for hot days and long nights, selected from the Freedom Library, a collection curated by Freedom Reads, the organization working to put libraries in adult and youth prisons across the US. Chosen to inspire reflection and connection, these books open the door to meaningful conversations—and new ways of seeing the world.

“I have always felt my freedom begins with a book—both as a tool of liberation and as a means of engendering empathy,” writes Reginald Dwayne Betts, the founder and director of Freedom Reads. “I learned this in a cell, where Freedom Reads began—where the notion of transforming lives with books began for me.”

Read more about Betts and explore a Freedom Library.

Red at the Bone traces the impact of a teenage pregnancy across two Black families living in Brooklyn. Opening with 16-year-old Melody’s coming-of-age ceremony, the novel travels through time, taking readers into the memories of family members across generations. Themes of class, race, and generational legacy run throughout, shaped in part by the lasting impact of the Tulsa race massacre—a foundational event in Melody’s family history. In poetic prose, Woodson reveals how history lives in the body and how family can both bind and free us.

Ada Limón’s Bright Dead Things is a vibrant collection of poems about love, grief, identity, and resilience. Limón writes with emotional clarity, offering poems that are both accessible and powerful as she reflects on moving from New York to Kentucky, losing her stepmother, and navigating the complexity of desire and selfhood. Her voice is both fierce and tender, grounded in the beauty and tension of everyday life. These poems invite us to sit with discomfort, celebrate joy, and find light in the face of uncertainty.

Written while its author was imprisoned in Kenya, Devil on the Cross tells the story of Wariinga, a young woman confronting exploitation, corruption, and betrayal in post-independence Nairobi. Framed by proverbs, songs, and riddles from Kenyan oral tradition, the novel blends fable and satire to illustrate the systems that have shaped modern Kenya, in all of their complexities.

Gorilla, My Love features 15 vivid short stories full of humor and heart. Set in urban New York and the rural South, the collection captures the voices of Black girls, women, and families as they navigate broken promises, neighborhood tensions, and intergenerational misunderstandings. With a keen ear for language and deep respect for her characters, Bambara paints intimate portraits of everyday life and resistance.

The first book in N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, The Fifth Season follows three women—Essun, Damaya, and Syenite—who can manipulate geological forces in a world wracked by constant disaster. Feared for their power, their intertwined stories expose the broken systems holding their society together. Through complex characters and a distinct narrative style, Jemisin builds a deeply layered world shaped by environmental collapse, authoritarian control, and the fight for survival.