Kyla Hockett, a junior computer science major from Texas, thought of starting a book club with three friends over the summer but struggled to decide on a novel to kick off their group. Among all their recommendations, Hockett sent what she thought was an enthralling one to their group chat– “Children of Blood and Bone,” the first installment of the “Legacy of Orisha” trilogy by Tomi Adeyemi.
The Texas native saw the book mentioned on TikTok in 2020 but never got around to reading it. As recommendations slowed down and the group’s passion declined, their book club never worked out, but Hockett always had “Children of Blood and Bone” in the back of her mind.
Months later, after Hockett saw TikTok user @vinopapi23 discussing the novel, one of her friends told her she had started Adeyemi’s book.
“I told y’all this would be interesting,” Hockett said to her friend.
She took it as a sign to finally read the novel. After finishing “Children of Blood and Bone,” she seemed to have no choice but to complete the series. Hockett was captivated by Adeyemi’s storytelling, and before Hockett knew it, she had finished all three novels in the “Legacy of Orisha” series.
Hockett credited her discovery of the novel to Black BookTok, a subset of BookTok, in which users produce content reviewing and recommending trending books on TikTok.
“After I read these books, I was like, ‘I actually really don’t want to read about a book with a white main character again,’” Hockett said.
The hashtag #BlackBookTok has more than 251,400 posts, as of Feb. 24, steadily increasing as more people turn to social media for their book recommendations. Print book sales peaked in 2021, followed by an increase in 2024.
Authors were launched into stardom, partly due to influencers’ reviews on BookTok, according to Publishers Weekly and Business Insider. For example, “Children of Blood and Bone” is set to have a movie adaptation released in 2027.
Amina Wague, a junior human development major from Philadelphia, also had “Children of Blood and Bone” recommended to her from Black BookTok. She said she gets a majority of her book recommendations from social media.
The Black BookTok community introduced Wague to books that discussed political resistance. Though her literary interests are mainly fiction, she found the space to be a valuable tool for uplifting Black ideology. She saw analysis videos of “Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Davis and “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson, which ultimately convinced her to read them.
Wague fears for the future of Black literature when she considers the federal government’s crackdown on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. President Donald Trump’s executive order Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling outlined how federal funding will be suspended from institutions practicing “gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”
“When I think about Trump, I just think about how many people, Black people, Black children in our next generation or even on TikTok right now are not going to have access to the books that we have already read,” Wague said.
Reaux Peters-Roussell, a third-year psychology major from New Orleans, said they believe Black BookTok is filling in the gaps for the attempted censorship enacted by the executive administration.
The New Orleans native viewed Black BookTok as a “digital third space,” a place for community away from one’s home and workplace. Peters-Roussell found some of their favorite creators from long lists of Black BookTokers recommending each other’s accounts. Black BookTok User @trayreadthat frequently posts videos detailing Black men and women users they should follow for book recommendations.
“That sort of connection doesn’t really happen in many other BookTok spaces,” Peters-Roussell said. “We’re almost in desperate need of works that touch our souls in a way that more Eurocentric content doesn’t. I think that that’s a big reason why we’re able to connect with one another.”
Randi Greenhill is a stay-at-home mother and Black BookTok creator under the handle of @randilovesreading. Greenhill has more than 72,400 followers, as of Feb. 24, and she said the community has given her hope by preserving the history and sanctity of Black authors.
“It’s a safe space for us. You go into Black BookTok, and you see yourself,” Greenhill said. “It’s almost like this huge virtual book club because, in most cases, we’re all reading the same things at the same time, and then you have all of these people you can talk about these books with and enjoy them as much as you do.”
Copy edited by Anijah Franklin
