Love The Humiliations of Welton Blake? Readers share 88 books like The Humiliations of Welton Blake...

By Alex Wheatle,

Here are 88 books that The Humiliations of Welton Blake fans have personally recommended if you like The Humiliations of Welton Blake. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Happy Here

Abena Eyeson Author Of Looking Up

From my list on stories about the Black child in Britain.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ghanaian-born, I came to Britain aged twelve with my family and was always a lover of stories.  Now a PhD-educated mum of three, it niggled that there weren’t many novels with a Black child as the protagonist, especially a Black British one. As a creative who’d acted and performed poetry in the past, I set out to write a story about a Black child in Britain overcoming challenges.  Inspired by anecdotes of children remaining with relatives in their home country as their parents moved to Britain to make a life before sending for them, I was interested in writing a story about such a child after they arrived in Britain.

Abena's book list on stories about the Black child in Britain

Abena Eyeson Why did Abena love this book?

What I love about Happy Here is the positivity of the stories contained in the anthology. Although the stories are written by 10 different Black British authors in their own way, the stories all center around Black children learning something about themselves, growing in confidence, and overcoming the challenges they face. The range of writers from Alexandra Sheppard to Patrice Lawrence allows the reader to experience different styles of Black British storytelling. Happy Here is really worth checking out.

By Sharna Jackson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Happy Here as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 7, 8, and 9.

What is this book about?

With an introduction from bestselling author Sharna Jackson, HAPPY HERE features stories and poems by 10 Black British authors for readers aged 7+. Exploring themes of joy, home and family through a wide range of genres and styles, each author has been paired with a different illustrator to spotlight Black British artistic talent.

With stories by Dean Atta, Joseph Coelho, Kereen Getten, Patrice Lawrence, Theresa Lola, E.L. Norry, Jasmine Richards, Alexandra Sheppard, Yomi Sode, and Clare Weze.


Book cover of Jaz Santos vs. the World

Abena Eyeson Author Of Looking Up

From my list on stories about the Black child in Britain.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ghanaian-born, I came to Britain aged twelve with my family and was always a lover of stories.  Now a PhD-educated mum of three, it niggled that there weren’t many novels with a Black child as the protagonist, especially a Black British one. As a creative who’d acted and performed poetry in the past, I set out to write a story about a Black child in Britain overcoming challenges.  Inspired by anecdotes of children remaining with relatives in their home country as their parents moved to Britain to make a life before sending for them, I was interested in writing a story about such a child after they arrived in Britain.

Abena's book list on stories about the Black child in Britain

Abena Eyeson Why did Abena love this book?

I love this empowering story about Jaz, a sensitive, caring Black British girl who sets up a girls’ football team to prove to her mum that she is a star so that her mum will return home. As a reader, I found myself rooting for Jaz as she got into trouble (unfairly) and faced challenge after challenge. Priscilla, the writer, deals sensitively with issues of anxiety, fear, and rejection. Though girls football features heavily in the book, you don’t have to be into football to enjoy the book—I know next to nothing about it. A heart-warming and uplifting read.

By Priscilla Mante,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Jaz Santos vs. the World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CHILDREN'S SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022

The first book in THE DREAM TEAM series.

'Exciting, original and heart-warming' - Jacqueline Wilson

'Priscilla Mante is an author to watch' - Aisha Bushby

---

A relatable, inclusive story about families, unlikely friendships and girl power. Perfect for fans of Ella on the Outside and Jacqueline Wilson.

Ola! I'm Jasmina Santos-Campbell (but you can call me Jaz). You've probably heard of me and my football team the Bramrock Stars before. No? Well, you will soon because we're almost famous!

Forming the Stars was my genius idea - you see…


Book cover of Windrush Child

Abena Eyeson Author Of Looking Up

From my list on stories about the Black child in Britain.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ghanaian-born, I came to Britain aged twelve with my family and was always a lover of stories.  Now a PhD-educated mum of three, it niggled that there weren’t many novels with a Black child as the protagonist, especially a Black British one. As a creative who’d acted and performed poetry in the past, I set out to write a story about a Black child in Britain overcoming challenges.  Inspired by anecdotes of children remaining with relatives in their home country as their parents moved to Britain to make a life before sending for them, I was interested in writing a story about such a child after they arrived in Britain.

Abena's book list on stories about the Black child in Britain

Abena Eyeson Why did Abena love this book?

This novel is the story of Leonard. The book starts with a focus on Jamaica but most of the story is about life after Leonard arrives in the UK with his mother to join his estranged father, who left Jamaica when Leonard was a baby. I found this to be a thought-provoking but easy-to-read historical novel about leaving the home you know where you feel loved and starting again somewhere that doesn’t feel so warm and welcoming. The story is about family, the Windrush generation and the history of Jamaica and Great Britain. An interesting read drizzled with Benjamin Zephaniah’s poetry.

By Benjamin Zephaniah,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Windrush Child as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

In this heart-stopping adventure, Benjamin Zephaniah
shows us what it was like to be a child of the Windrush generation.

Leonard is shocked when he
arrives with his mother in the port of Southampton. His father is
a stranger to him, it's cold and even the Jamaican
food doesn't taste the same as it did back home in Maroon
Town. But his parents have brought him here to try to make
a better life, so Leonard does his best not to complain,
to make new friends, to do well at school - even
when people hurt him with their words…


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Book cover of Hotel Oscar Mike Echo

Hotel Oscar Mike Echo by Linda MacKillop,

Home isn’t always what we dream it will be.

Eleven-year-old Sierra just wants a normal life. After her military mother returns from the war overseas, the two hop from home to homelessness while Sierra tries to help her mom through the throes of PTSD.

When they end up at a…

Book cover of Baller Boys

Abena Eyeson Author Of Looking Up

From my list on stories about the Black child in Britain.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ghanaian-born, I came to Britain aged twelve with my family and was always a lover of stories.  Now a PhD-educated mum of three, it niggled that there weren’t many novels with a Black child as the protagonist, especially a Black British one. As a creative who’d acted and performed poetry in the past, I set out to write a story about a Black child in Britain overcoming challenges.  Inspired by anecdotes of children remaining with relatives in their home country as their parents moved to Britain to make a life before sending for them, I was interested in writing a story about such a child after they arrived in Britain.

Abena's book list on stories about the Black child in Britain

Abena Eyeson Why did Abena love this book?

This is a novel about two Black British boys, eight-year-old Frankie and Shay, who are football-mad best friends, excited to be taking part in the football trials for All Cultures United, the best football team for miles, in the summer holidays. What I love about this novel is its depiction of loving family life; the realistic, believable portrayal of the boys by the writer; the exuberant love the boys have for football and seeing them go for their dreams. You don’t have to be into football to enjoy the book. A fun read.

By Venessa Taylor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Baller Boys as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Shay and Frankie are best friends and football crazy! They eat, sleep and breathe football (even when they're at school!). They dream about playing football, love a kick-about in the park, watch all the big games on TV... all that's missing in their lives is the chance to play for a real football team.

All Cultures United is the best club around for miles and all the footie fans want to on their team... including Shay and Frankie. Are they good enough to impress Coach Reece at the AC United trials? Can their friendship survive the competitiveness of football? Will…


Book cover of The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho

Lola Jaye Author Of The Attic Child

From my list on Black British history.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I was an avid reader. However, I noticed none of the characters I read about looked like me. As a Black girl growing up in London, I yearned for stories that reflected my experiences. Thankfully, by the time I was a teenager, I was able to immerse myself in books written by some amazing African American authors. There was still something missing on my reading list, though. The stories of Black people who lived where I did, especially those from the past.  Fast forward to now, and as an author of historical fiction, my passion is telling, writing, and highlighting ‘forgotten’ stories.

Lola's book list on Black British history

Lola Jaye Why did Lola love this book?

Charles Ignatius Sancho, born in 1729 was the first Black man to vote in Britain. His famous painting as well as his writings have been readily available for some time now. However, what this book has done is weave these stories into a narrative that is part fact, part fiction. I like to do the same with my own novels as in ‘filling the blanks of someone’s life’. The life of a person who once lived and who once breathed.

I love that this novel includes scenes set in Georgian London. A Black man in such a historical setting is not a familiar subject of books!  

By Paterson Joseph,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A great storyteller and a fabulous actor. Well done, sir!' DAVID HAREWOOD

'Phenomenal! Highly recommended.' MALORIE BLACKMAN

'An absolutely thrilling, throat-catching wonder of a historical novel. Hugely recommended.' STEPHEN FRY

For fans of The Miniaturist and The Confessions of Frannie Langton comes this award-winning novel of illuminating historical fiction.

Meet Charles Ignatius Sancho: his extraordinary story, hidden for three hundred years, is about to be told.

I had little right to live, born on a slave ship where my parents both died. But I survived, and indeed, you might say I did more...

It's 1746 and Georgian London is not…


Book cover of Small Island

Lola Jaye Author Of The Attic Child

From my list on Black British history.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I was an avid reader. However, I noticed none of the characters I read about looked like me. As a Black girl growing up in London, I yearned for stories that reflected my experiences. Thankfully, by the time I was a teenager, I was able to immerse myself in books written by some amazing African American authors. There was still something missing on my reading list, though. The stories of Black people who lived where I did, especially those from the past.  Fast forward to now, and as an author of historical fiction, my passion is telling, writing, and highlighting ‘forgotten’ stories.

Lola's book list on Black British history

Lola Jaye Why did Lola love this book?

This gorgeous book was one of the first mainstream stories I had seen that addressed the Black presence during World War 2.

Although it was released a good few years before my first historical fiction novel was published, reading it surely planted those early seeds for my later books. Of bringing untold Black British stories to light. To remind us all that history has been whitewashed and so many untold stories exist.

By Andrea Levy,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Small Island as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hortense shared Gilbert's dream of leaving Jamaica and coming to England to start a better life. But when she at last joins her husband, she is shocked by London's shabbiness and horrified at the way the English live. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was. Queenie's neighbours do not approve of her choice of tenants, and neither would her husband, were he there. Through the stories of these people, Small Island explores a point in England's past when the country began to change.


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Book cover of Boy Underground

Boy Underground by Isabelle Marinov,

Boy Underground is a powerful adventure story about Hugo, an autistic boy who decides to go all the way into the Paris underground to find a place where he belongs.

For Hugo, the world can be too loud and bright. He likes the quiet. He likes the dark. And he…

Book cover of Black British History: New Perspectives

Onyeka Nubia Author Of Blackamoores: Africans in Tudor England, Their Presence, Status and Origins

From my list on history books about everyone and for everyone.

Why am I passionate about this?

Dr. Onyeka Nubia is a pioneering and internationally recognised historian, writer, and presenter. He is reinventing our perceptions of diversity, the Renaissance, and British history. Onyeka is the leading historian on the status and origins of Africans in pre-colonial England from antiquity to 1603. He has helped academia and the general public to entirely new perspectives on otherness, colonialism, imperialism, and World Wars I and II. He has written over fifty articles on Englishness, Britishness, and historical method and they have appeared in the most popular UK historical magazines and periodicals including History Today and BBC History Magazine. Onyeka has been a consultant and presenter for several television programmes on BBC.

Onyeka's book list on history books about everyone and for everyone

Onyeka Nubia Why did Onyeka love this book?

New Perspectives shows us that Black British history is a complex field of historiography. No longer should we look at it as a sketchy, speculative, politically correct apologia for historical investigation. But rather see, that for more than three generations scholars have worked very hard to establish a vigorous pedagogy. It is a pedagogy that supports wider British histories, but subverts the traditional trajectories of those narratives. This book introduces us to some of the major developments in Black British history and it is an excellent place to start for a reader who knows very little about this subject.         

By Hakim Adi,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Black British History as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For over 1500 years before the Empire Windrush docked on British shores, people of African descent have played a significant and far-ranging role in the country's history, from the African soldiers on Hadrian's Wall to the Black British intellectuals who made London a hub of radical, Pan-African ideas. But while there has been a growing interest in this history, there has been little recognition of the sheer breadth and diversity of the Black British experience, until now.

This collection combines the latest work from both established and emerging scholars of Black British history. It spans the centuries from the first…


Book cover of Bone

Monique "Nikki" Murphy Author Of Home for Hurricanes: A Memoir of Resilience in Poetry and Prose

From my list on poetry that explore communities of color.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am Monique “Nikki” Murphy, an awarded poet, author, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion professional. I grew up in a Black low-income neighborhood with the love of a single mother and the absence of a father, which all impacted the way I experienced the failed promise of justice and equality for all. My mother, an avid reader of Black novels, fostered a love of reading in me and a deep sensitivity to caring about the issues that affected Black people. This sensitivity manifested in a career in Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and a love of creative writing & books that explore issues of inequality, trauma, and personal development.  As a poet, I love the artistic exploration of our lived experiences and art that inspires activism.

Monique's book list on poetry that explore communities of color

Monique "Nikki" Murphy Why did Monique love this book?

Yrsa-Daley Ward is a complete sentence. Her work is everything and even Beyonce took note, bringing her on to write for Black Is King. Her debut poetry collection, Bone, introduced me to a perspective that I had not explored: that of a first-generation black British queer woman. Yet and still, her experience and words resonated so deeply, highlighting the interconnectivity of the African diaspora, and particularly, Black women. It shined a light on issues of sexual assault, religion, and society’s expectations of women, which are some of the same issues that I write about. And despite the trauma captured in the poems, it has an overarching inspirational message for all of us:

You will come away bruised. 

You will come away bruised 

but this will give you poetry.” 

By Yrsa Daley-Ward,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“yrsa daley-ward’s bone is a symphony of breaking and mending. . . . she lays her hands on the pulse of the thing. . . . an expert storyteller. of the rarest. and purest kind.” —nayyirah waheed, author of salt.

From the celebrated poet Yrsa Daley-Ward, a poignant collection of poems about the heart, life, and the inner self.

Foreword by Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir

Bone. Visceral. Close to. Stark.
 
The poems in Yrsa Daley-Ward’s collection bone are exactly that: reflections on a particular life honed to their essence—so clear and pared-down, they become universal.
 
From…


Book cover of Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging

Lola Jaye Author Of The Attic Child

From my list on Black British history.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I was an avid reader. However, I noticed none of the characters I read about looked like me. As a Black girl growing up in London, I yearned for stories that reflected my experiences. Thankfully, by the time I was a teenager, I was able to immerse myself in books written by some amazing African American authors. There was still something missing on my reading list, though. The stories of Black people who lived where I did, especially those from the past.  Fast forward to now, and as an author of historical fiction, my passion is telling, writing, and highlighting ‘forgotten’ stories.

Lola's book list on Black British history

Lola Jaye Why did Lola love this book?

I like how this book is both personal and factual in assessing Britain’s imperial past. I’ve always loved this author’s work, and she said some lovely things about my novel The Attic Child.

Her writing really makes you think about the subject matter and want to find out more...

By Afua Hirsch,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Brit(ish) as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Afua Hirsch - co-presenter of Samuel L. Jackson's major BBC TV series Enslaved - the Sunday Times bestseller that reveals the uncomfortable truth about race and identity in Britain today.

You're British.

Your parents are British.

Your partner, your children and most of your friends are British.

So why do people keep asking where you're from?

We are a nation in denial about our imperial past and the racism that plagues our present. Brit(ish) is Afua Hirsch's personal and provocative exploration of how this came to be - and an urgent call for change.

'The book for our divided…


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Book cover of One Giant Leap

One Giant Leap by Ben Gartner,

Editor's Pick, BookLife by Publishers Weekly.

Gold Medal, 2023 Mom's Choice Awards.

Gold Medal, 2023 Readers' Favorite Awards.

First Place, 2023 Gertrude Warner Middle Grade Awards.

I’m pretty sure I’m about to die in space. And I just turned twelve and a half.

Blast off with the four winners of…

Book cover of Black and British: A Forgotten History

Lola Jaye Author Of The Attic Child

From my list on Black British history.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I was an avid reader. However, I noticed none of the characters I read about looked like me. As a Black girl growing up in London, I yearned for stories that reflected my experiences. Thankfully, by the time I was a teenager, I was able to immerse myself in books written by some amazing African American authors. There was still something missing on my reading list, though. The stories of Black people who lived where I did, especially those from the past.  Fast forward to now, and as an author of historical fiction, my passion is telling, writing, and highlighting ‘forgotten’ stories.

Lola's book list on Black British history

Lola Jaye Why did Lola love this book?

This book covers the comprehensive history of the Black presence in Britain. It had everything I needed and more when researching my own historical fiction novels. Growing up in the UK, the only part pertaining to Black history was a brief mention of the transatlantic slave trade and nothing that pointed to the Black presence in the UK.

I found this book very well-researched by the author and was fascinated by the wealth of information, some of which I did not know. It also reminded me of why I love writing historical fiction! 

By David Olusoga,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Black and British as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'[A] comprehensive and important history of black Britain . . . Written with a wonderful clarity of style and with great force and passion.' - Kwasi Kwarteng, Sunday Times

In this vital re-examination of a shared history, historian and broadcaster David Olusoga tells the rich and revealing story of the long relationship between the British Isles and the people of Africa and the Caribbean.

This edition, fully revised and updated, features a new chapter encompassing the Windrush scandal and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, events which put black British history at the centre of urgent national debate. Black…


Book cover of Happy Here
Book cover of Jaz Santos vs. the World
Book cover of Windrush Child

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