Other notable books include Pointe (2014), the young readers edition of Life in Motion (2016), Finding Yvonne (2018), The Revolution of Birdie Randolph (2019), The Only Black Girls in Town (2020), and The Blackwoods (2023).
[1] The works of Dorothy West, Barthe DeClements, Jesmyn Ward, Colson Whitehead, and Zadie Smith were impactful to her writing career.
[4] Colbert's debut young adult Pointe, following a teen dancer in suburban Chicago who has to come to terms with her dark past, was published in 2014 by Putnam.
[5] A Chicago Tribune reviewer described the novel as "searing",[6] and considered the main character "achingly believable",[5] writing that she "inspires that level of connection" where "you long to reach into the pages ... and tell her, "No, you've got it all wrong".
[7] Colbert's next young adult novel, Little & Lion, about a sixteen-year-old bisexual teen dealing with her brother's recent bipolar disorder diagnosis and her own sexuality, was published by Little, Brown in 2017.
[17][20] Colbert's third novel, Finding Yvonne, about a privileged teenager deciding what to do with her future when she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, was published by Little, Brown in 2018.
[33] The Voting Booth[34], about two 18-year-olds on their first election day as registered voters, was published by Disney Hyperion in 2020 and reviewed in the New York Times.
[38] In 2021, Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was published by HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray.