1165 Books Published by HarperCollins on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Cancel the Left: 76 People Who Would Improve America by Leaving It

by Larry Elder
Broadside Books (Jun 07, 2029)
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Firebrand radio host and frequent Hannity guest Larry Elder calls out the people who would make this country better by leaving it.

Larry Elder has a message for those elitists on the left who don’t like America.

Leave.

The left loves to complain about how awful America is. In colleges and on awards shows, the traitor elite run down the country that gave them the opportunity to succeed, calling the USA corrupt and morally compromised. Larry says that instead of attempting to undermine the American experiment at every turn, these people should pack their bags and start their progressive paradise elsewhere.

In In his fiery, no-holds-barred style, Larry takes on the proponents of wokeness and anti-Americanism who are determined to destroy this great nation from the inside out. From inane activists to deep-state bureaucrats, hate crime hoaxers to cultural Marxists, his list of anti-patriots is sweeping.

Larry believes that if God-loving Americans don’t stand up for the values they hate, the left will succeed in undermining the greatest country in the world. Cancel the Left is a blistering broadside against those who would destroy everything we hold dear.


Click for more detail about Open Season (paperback): Legalized Genocide of Colored People by Ben Crump Open Season (paperback): Legalized Genocide of Colored People

by Ben Crump
Amistad (Sep 15, 2026)
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Genocide—the intent to destroy in whole or in part, a group of people.

TIME’s 42 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2019

As seen on CBS This Morning, award-winning attorney Ben Crump exposes a heinous truth in Open Season: Whether with a bullet or a lengthy prison sentence, America is killing black people and justifying it legally. While some deaths make headlines, most are personal tragedies suffered within families and communities. Worse, these killings are done one person at a time, so as not to raise alarm. While it is much more difficult to justify killing many people at once, in dramatic fashion, the result is the same—genocide.

Taking on such high-profile cases as George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and a host of others, Crump witnessed the disparities within the American legal system firsthand and learned it is dangerous to be a black man in America—and that the justice system indeed only protects wealthy white men.

In this enlightening and enthralling work, he shows that there is a persistent, prevailing, and destructive mindset regarding colored people that is rooted in our history as a slave-owning nation. This biased attitude has given rise to mass incarceration, voter disenfranchisement, unequal educational opportunities, disparate health care practices, job and housing discrimination, police brutality, and an unequal justice system. And all mask the silent and ongoing systematic killing of people of color.

Open Season is more than Crump’s incredible mission to preserve justice, it is a call to action for Americans to begin living up to the promise to protect the rights of its citizens equally and without question.


Click for more detail about Harlem Honey: The Adventures of a Curious Kid by Tamron Hall Harlem Honey: The Adventures of a Curious Kid

by Tamron Hall
HarperCollins (Mar 24, 2025)
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From Emmy Award-winning journalist and talk show host Tamron Hall comes an endearing story about young Moses, inspired by her real-life son and his adventure visiting Harlem, New York’s most iconic spots, learning a valuable lesson about the meaning of home.

For Moses, Harlem couldn’t be any more different than the Texas he moved away from, and his only friends are his dog, Lotus-May, and his bird, JoJo. But, when Moses is asked to help his new neighbor Laila deliver jars of honey to the people of Harlem, he finally gets the chance to make new friends and see the places and feel the magic of this bustling neighborhood.

There are historic landmarks like the famous Apollo Theater, which has hosted iconic performers, Sylvia’s Restaurant, the best spot in the city for cornbread, the celebrated African American art of the Studio Museum, and the electric sounds of the neighborhood itself.

From Emmy-winning talk show host Tamron Hall comes a lively and heartening tale inspired by her son about one of the nation’s most celebrated neighborhoods and the places and people that make Harlem home.

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Click for more detail about Frenemies with Benefits by Synithia Williams Frenemies with Benefits

by Synithia Williams
Canary Street Press (Feb 11, 2025)
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“A pitch-perfect small-town romance focused on forgiveness, second chances, and new beginnings.” —Publishers Weekly on The Secret to a Southern Wedding

You can’t keep a sizzling little secret in a town like Peachtree Cove…

For a place that just won an award for Best Small Town, Peachtree Cove sure has a big rumor mill. And Tracey Thompson is tired of being at the center of it. She’s worked hard to make her bed-and-breakfast a success—only to have her soon-to-be ex’s very public affair with her business partner result in a shocking pregnancy…and the biggest scandal around.

If the whole town is going to talk no matter what she does, maybe it’s time that Tracey stopped trying to be perfect. Maybe she should start doing things for herself—like having a little fun. And Brian Nelson, the sexy nursery owner who supplies plants for all her special events, is more than willing to help.

Fresh out of a bad marriage, Brian is done with drama. Ever since high school, he’s admired Tracey’s strength and sass, and a friends with benefits deal sounds perfect. But now everyone in Peachtree Cove is talking. And they can all see what Brian and Tracey don’t want to admit, even to themselves…that nothing complicates a simple arrangement quite like love…

Peachtree Cove

Book 1: The Secret to a Southern Wedding
Book 2: Waiting for Friday Night


Click for more detail about Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor Death of the Author

by Nnedi Okorafor
William Morrow & Company (Jan 14, 2025)
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Preorder now and receive the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last—featuring a special alternate cover design on the hardcover case, gorgeous sprayed edges, and exclusive endpapers. This breathtaking edition is only available on a limited first print run.

“Her best work yet… about fame and family, culture and change, the power of story, the writer’s life… and robots. This one has it all.” — George R.R. Martin

In this exhilarating tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative—a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything you’ve read before.

The future of storytelling is here.

Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It’s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots.

When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey—one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu’s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next.

A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.


Click for more detail about Power Moves Study Guide: What the Bible Says about How You Can Reclaim and Redefine Your God-Given Power by Sarah Jakes Roberts Power Moves Study Guide: What the Bible Says about How You Can Reclaim and Redefine Your God-Given Power

by Sarah Jakes Roberts
Harperchristian Resources (Dec 03, 2024)
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In the Power Moves Study Guide, Sarah Jakes Roberts shares what the Bible says about how followers of Jesus can reclaim and redefine their God-given power. God’s original intention for humankind was for them to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. He instructed Adam and Eve to “rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). But the first humans allowed the enemy to talk them into giving up this authority and ended up undermining their mission in the world. We have been living with the repercussions ever since.

But this is not the way it was supposed to be—and this is not the way it has to be. We do not have to buy into the enemy’s lie that we are powerless. We can reclaim the power that God intends for us to have. We can allow His strength to move in us, through us, and work for us so that we can stand against the schemes of the enemy and make a positive impact for God in this world. As Paul wrote, we can “put on the full armor of God” so we can “stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10).

The Bible states that God created us to be a force in this world. We no longer have to accept that we have no power to change our situation. We can rediscover God’s power and allow it to move in us.


Click for more detail about How to Find a Princess: Runaway Royals by Alyssa Cole How to Find a Princess: Runaway Royals

by Alyssa Cole
Avon (Nov 12, 2024)
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New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Alyssa Cole’s second Runaway Royals novel is a queer Anastasia retelling, featuring a long-lost princess who finds love with the female investigator tasked with tracking her down.

Makeda Hicks has lost her job and her girlfriend in one fell swoop. The last thing she’s in the mood for is to rehash the story of her grandmother’s infamous summer fling with a runaway prince from Ibarania, or the investigator from the World Federation of Monarchies tasked with searching for Ibarania’s missing heir.

Yet when Beznaria Chetchevaliere crashes into her life, the sleek and sexy investigator exudes exactly the kind of chaos that organized and efficient Makeda finds irresistible, even if Bez is determined to drag her into a world of royal duty Makeda wants nothing to do with.

When a threat to her grandmother’s livelihood pushes Makeda to agree to return to Ibarania, Bez takes her on a transatlantic adventure with a crew of lovable weirdos, a fake marriage, and one-bed hijinks on the high seas. When they finally make it to Ibarania, they realize there’s more at stake than just cash and crown, and Makeda must learn what it means to fight for what she desires and not what she feels bound to by duty.


Click for more detail about Cicely Tyson by Renée Watson Cicely Tyson

by Renée Watson
Amistad Books for Young Readers (Nov 05, 2024)
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From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Renée Watson and quilt artist Sherry Shine comes a biography for children chronicling the life of an iconic and trailblazing actress who left an indelible mark on the world through her roles onscreen, from The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman to Sounder, Roots, and more.

Cicely Tyson was born in New York City to parents originally from the Islands. No matter where she was, Cicely always carried light within her, a light that she let shine. After many years of discovering herself, Cicely finally found where her light could shine the brightest and touch others: in film.

Spinning gorgeous verse, and weaving in the history of Black America, Watson beautifully introduces children to Cicely's world—the world that shaped a woman who went on to bring unparalleled grace to the stage and screen. Young readers will be inspired by Cicely Tyson's life and adult fans will marvel at this stunning keepsake.

Perfect for Women's History Month and Black History Month like favorites such as Nina, Ablaze with Color, and A Voice Named Aretha.


Click for more detail about Morningside: A Survivor’s Story of the Greensboro Massacre by Aran Robert Shetterly Morningside: A Survivor’s Story of the Greensboro Massacre

by Aran Robert Shetterly
Amistad (Oct 15, 2024)
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An unflinching look at a shocking racial tragedy that divides a Southern city—comparable to the recent events in Charlottesville—and the activists who, in their tireless fight for justice, refuse to give up on America’s promised ideals, and pursue racial reconciliation with hope that their fractured city can heal.On November 3, 1979, as activist Nelson Johnson assembled people for a march adjacent to Morningside Homes in Greensboro, North Carolina, gunshots rang out. A caravan of Klansmen and Neo-Nazis sped from the scene, leaving behind five dead. Known as the “Greensboro Massacre,” the event and its aftermath encapsulate the racial conflict, economic anxiety, clash of ideologies, and toxic mix of corruption and conspiracy that roiled American democracy then—and threaten it today.In 88 seconds, one Southern city shattered over irreconcilable visions of America’s past and future. When the shooters are acquitted in the courts, Reverend Johnson, his wife Joyce, and their allies, at odds with the police and the Greensboro establishment, sought alternative forms of justice. As the Johnsons rebuilt their lives after 1979, they found inspiration in Nelson Mandela’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Martin Luther King Jr’s concept of Beloved Community and insist that only by facing history’s hardest truths can healing come to the city they refuse to give up on.This intimate, deeply researched, and heart-stopping account draws upon survivor interviews, court documents, and the files from one of the largest investigations in FBI history. The persistent mysteries of the case touch deep cultural insecurities and contradictions about race and class. A quintessentially American story, Morningside explores the courage required to make change and the evolving pursuit of a more inclusive and equal future.Morningside includes 30 images throughout.


Click for more detail about Treasure Island: Runaway Gold (paperback) by Jewell Parker Rhodes Treasure Island: Runaway Gold (paperback)

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Quill Tree Books (Oct 15, 2024)
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Bestselling and award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes reimagines the classic novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson in this thrilling adventure set in modern-day Manhattan, in which three children must navigate the city’s hidden history, dodge a threatening crew of skater kids, and decide who they can really trust in order to hunt down a long-buried treasure.

Three kids. One dog. And the island of Manhattan, laid out in an old treasure map.

Zane is itching for an adventure that will take him away from his family’s boarding house in Rockaway, Queens. So when he is entrusted with a real treasure map, leading to a spot somewhere in Manhattan, Zane wastes no time in riding the ferry over to the city to start the search with his friends Kiko and Jack and his dog, Hip-Hop.

Through strange coincidence, they meet a man who is eager to help them find the treasure: John, a sailor who knows all about the buried history of Black New Yorkers of centuries past–and the gold that is hidden somewhere in those stories.

As a vicious rival skateboard crew follows them around the city, Zane and his friends begin to wonder who they can really trust. And soon it becomes clear that treasure hunting is a dangerous business…

Jewell Parker Rhodes has written a version of Treasure Island like none you’ve never seen–one that takes the reader through little-known Black history, and under the city of Manhattan itself.


Click for more detail about The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen The Most Wonderful Time

by Jayne Allen
Harper (Oct 08, 2024)
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The author of the beloved, bestselling Black Girls Must Die Exhausted trilogy returns with an intriguing blend of Such a Fun Age and The Holiday—an irresistible Christmastime novel about heartbreak, hope, love, and the joy that comes from rediscovering oneself.

With Christmas around the corner, Ramona Tucker is desperate to get away. She has been lying to her family about her engagement to Malik, her (ex) fiancé. But breakups are fickle, and Ramona is convinced that she can make her pretend wedding real again—but only if she can avoid everyone discovering her secret at her mother’s over-the-top Christmas Eve party.

Two-thousand miles away in sunny Malibu, Chelsea Flint needs money to hold on to the beloved beachside cottage she shared with her late parents. The taxes are expensive, and her art isn’t paying the bills. Once an irresistible star of the Los Angeles art scene, Chelsea seems to have lost that spark that vaulted her to the top. If she doesn’t rediscover that magic—and sell a painting—soon, it will be her family’s home she’s selling instead.

The two women swap homes, just in time, thanks to some careful planning by Ramona’s best friend and a sturdy nudge from Chelsea’s gallerist godmother. Ramona’s Malibu dreams of sun and surf are interrupted as her first night brings an unwelcome stranger to her door, making her question who she can trust—the meddling neighbor Joan, or Jay, the handsome beachside fitness instructor with a secret of his own. Chelsea, desperate for Ramona to stay, hides what she knows—even if that means jeopardizing her budding connection with charming Carlos, whose dreams for his future could be the very key to unlock Chelsea from the weight of her past.

Combining escapist fun and sizzling romance, a dose of poignant self-reflection, and a little holiday magic, The Most Wonderful Time is a warm and relatable novel that will delight at Christmas and throughout the year.


Click for more detail about How to Sing a Song by Kwame Alexander How to Sing a Song

by Kwame Alexander
Quill Tree Books (Oct 01, 2024)
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Click for more detail about Afrocentric Style: A Celebration of Blackness & Identity in Pop Culture by Shirley Neal Afrocentric Style: A Celebration of Blackness & Identity in Pop Culture

by Shirley Neal
Amistad (Sep 24, 2024)
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Illustrated with more than 100 color and black-and-white photos, a rich celebration linking the vibrancy of Black identity and expression with mainstream popular culture from the past to the present.

The top memes, movements, and milestone moments dominating today’s social media have focused on Beyoncé, Black Panther, Black Lives Matter, Lil Nas, Kanye, Serena and Meghan Markle. Driven by Black millennials, these trending topics demonstrate the influence and power of Black artistry and celebrity in American popular culture and around the globe. As Shirley Neal argues, this is more than just a fleeting style. It is a profound display of how pop culture is being used as a conduit for the revival of Black identity, culture, and history.

The impact of Blackness in pop culture has never been as significant as it is today. African-themed searches have grown exponentially, and the surge of interest in Black pop culture crosses generations. Beautifully designed, Afrocentric Style explores the connection between Black identity and mainstream culture, interweaving more than 100 full-color and archival black-and-white photographs with thought-provoking commentary that offers parallels between the top Afrocentric stories that have trended on social media and their historical roots.

Timely and timeless, this stunning anthology educates celebrates, and elevates readers’ knowledge about the powerful influence of Afrocentric Style on mainstream pop culture and America’s increasingly diverse society.


Click for more detail about Stacey Speaks Up by Stacey Abrams aka Selena Montgomery Stacey Speaks Up

by Stacey Abrams aka Selena Montgomery
HarperCollins (Sep 24, 2024)
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The third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling and NAACP Image Award–winning Stacey’s Stories picture book series, from Stacey Abrams and artist Kitt Thomas.

Stacey and her friends can’t wait for lunchtime on Friday, also known as TacoPizza FryDay!

But when Stacey discovers that some of her classmates can’t afford to eat lunch, she loses her appetite. She knows she has to do something … but what can a kid do?

Plenty, as it turns out! With the help of their community, Stacey and her friends devise a plan to make their voices heard.

Inspired by Stacey Abrams’s legacy of grassroots activism and advocacy, this is a story about how everyone has the power to make a difference.


Click for more detail about Staying Power: A Guided Journal to Living Changed, Connected, and Confident by Sarah Jakes Roberts Staying Power: A Guided Journal to Living Changed, Connected, and Confident

by Sarah Jakes Roberts
Thomas Nelson (Sep 10, 2024)
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Does the pressure to do more, be more, and achieve more leave you feeling powerless?

In Staying Power, global ministry leader and New York Times bestselling author Sarah Jakes Roberts challenges you to let go of others’ expectations and embrace the calling God has for you—with the power only He can give.

In this empowering guided teaching journal, you’ll engage with the key themes and messages from Sarah Jakes Roberts’ Power Moves, as well as take time for self-reflection through insightful questions and journaling prompts.

Drawing on truths from her book, Power Moves, Sarah helps you:

  • Bring your authentic self back to life
  • Connect with God in new ways
  • Disarm the fear that holds you back
  • Understand how worthy, valuable, and loved you are
  • Release your power to the world

Ideal for gifting, this guided journal includes:

  • Bible passages for each chapter
  • Thought-provoking messages from Sarah
  • Questions for self-reflection
  • Guided prompts to help you explore your experiences and feelings
  • Space to write your ideas and insights
  • Beautiful interior design and full-color photography

Staying Power equips you to align your heart and mind to receive what is already yours. True power rests in authenticity, bravery, and commitment to continuous growth. Come be refilled, restored, and refueled as you harness the power God has reserved just for you.


Click for more detail about The Accomplice by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Aaron Philip Clark The Accomplice

by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Aaron Philip Clark
Amistad (Sep 03, 2024)
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The New York Times bestselling multitalented artist delivers an electrifying novel—The Accomplice—that combines the imaginative page-turning suspense of S. A. Cosby's books with the high-tension thrills of the Netflix blockbuster series Money Heist.

In The Accomplice, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and award-winning mystery writer Aaron Philip Clark introduce readers to New York-born and Texas-bred Nia Adams, who always dreamt of becoming a Texas Ranger. She knows the dangers of the job, and as the first Black female ranger, she knows the politics, but she's never encountered a criminal like Desmond Bell. A Vietnam vet turned thief, Desmond steals more than money; he steals the secrets of the rich and powerful and blackmails them for millions. When Desmond steals from the Duchamps, the wealthiest family in the country, Nia's investigation into the robbery threatens to expose him and the criminal enterprise he works for. As the bodies pile up, Nia digs deeper for the truth, putting her life and career in danger. It's a deadly cat-and-mouse game between ranger and thief, but to protect their family's secrets, the Duchamps won't hesitate to kill them both.


Click for more detail about Clutch Time: A Shot Clock Novel by justin a. reynolds Clutch Time: A Shot Clock Novel

by justin a. reynolds
Katherine Tegen Books (Sep 03, 2024)
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Former NBA All-Star Caron Butler and acclaimed author Justin A. Reynolds deliver another superstar performance in this companion novel to Shot Clock about KO, a budding AAU basketball star as he attempts to find redemption on the court and reconnection with his incarcerated father.

Kofi “KO” Douglas knows how to handle pressure. After all, he is the newly announced #1 ranked AAU player in the country. On the court, his game is as good as it gets—even if his Wolves team lost to the Sabres in the national championship, KO always believes nobody can beat him one-on-one. That is, until his former best friend, Ripp, returns home, just in time for the biggest tournament of the summer, the McNabby. Ripp’s dad plays professional basketball overseas, and Ripp has been tearing up courts there—KO now has his toughest competition yet.

As KO gears up for this latest challenge, there’s game-changing news at home. KO’s dad, who has been incarcerated for the last seven years, is getting out. It’s been KO and his mom for as long as he can remember, only now his dad is ready to reconnect. It’s another reunion KO isn’t sure he wants to happen, especially as Ripp keeps calling out KO to play him in the McNabby.

With the tournament on the horizon, KO decides to turn to Coach James and the Sabres for help. He may not love the idea of playing with Tony Washington and his former teammates again, but he needs them now more than ever. Can KO prove he’s still the best on the court as his family life turns upside down?


Click for more detail about Yoruba Boy Running by Biyi Bandele Yoruba Boy Running

by Biyi Bandele
Harper (Sep 03, 2024)
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“A true artist. A brilliant writer. An original thinker.”—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A captivating, fictionalized retelling of African linguist and clergyman Samuel Ajayi Crowther’s miraculous journey from slave to liberator.

“Run, Àjàyí, run!”

When Malian slave traders invaded the Nigerian town of Òsogùn, thirteen-year-old Àjàyí’s life is split in two.

Before, there was his childhood, surrounded by friends and family, watched over by the ancient Yorùbá gods of forest and water, earth and sky.

After, there was capture, slavery—and eventually release—with Àjàyí, left transfigured, unrecognizable, and now, in the service of a new god, with a new name and a culture different from the one left far behind. Àjàyí becomes Samuel Crowther—missionary, linguist, minister, and eventually abolitionist, driven to negotiate against his own people to end the evil trade in human beings which destroyed his family and transformed his own life.

Drawing on the prolific writings of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, novelist and filmmaker Biyi Bándélé creates a many-voiced, kaleidoscopic portrait of an extraordinary man. From the heart-stopping drama of Àjàyí’s last day of freedom to the farcical intrigue of the Òsogùn court; from a meeting with Queen Victoria to consecration as the first African Bishop of the Anglican Church, Samuel Ajayi Crowther’s journey, like all great odysseys, circles back to where he began. By turns witty, moving, and revolutionary, Biyi Bándélé’s reimagining of Crowther’s life is a brilliant tour de force.


Click for more detail about Black Crossword: 100 Mini Puzzles Celebrating the African Diaspora by Juliana Pache Black Crossword: 100 Mini Puzzles Celebrating the African Diaspora

by Juliana Pache
Amistad (Aug 20, 2024)
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Groundbreaking new book based on the popular site blackcrossword.com featuring over 100 original puzzles inspired by the Diaspora and covering history, popular culture, trailblazers, literature, and politics.

“Crosswords, and puzzles in general, are good in times of stress,” Will Shortz, the puzzle editor of The New York Times, has said, and during the pandemic sales of crossword puzzles and participants in online games such as Wordle, skyrocketed. Frustrated by the dearth of Black people creating puzzles or appearing as clues, entrepreneur Juliana Pache created blackcrossword.com in early 2023. The site at once took off counting such regular players and fans as Academy Award winner Questlove, popular social activist Brittney Packet Cunningham, and author and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib.

Now, to expand her platform, Pache is looking to bring her cultural crossword puzzles to book publishing. Like her site, the concept for the first Black Crossword is a game that places emphasis on terms and clues from across the diaspora. By highlighting prominent cultural figures, movements, artistic achievements, and Black vernacular from across the globe, Black Crossword on the page will serve as a simple yet impactful way for solvers to engage in the diaspora and celebrate Black culture.

In a crossword landscape that is predominantly white, Black Crossword will provide puzzles to an underserved and passionate market. While the puzzles are meant to increase Black representation in crosswords, they also underscore the fact that this historically underserved market — Black solvers who would like puzzles that are culturally relevant to them—has the potential to become both a commercial hit and resonate with multiple generations of readers. Black Crossword has the potential to become a series of books, including a general edition, a calendar edition, a pop culture edition across the diaspora, a Black History edition, and a trailblazer edition. While in a trade paperback format, Black Crossword could have an elevated look/tone that would be a perfect gift or keepsake - the possibilities are endless.


Click for more detail about Kingdom of Dust by Lisa Stringfellow Kingdom of Dust

by Lisa Stringfellow
Quill Tree Books (Aug 20, 2024)
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Author of A Comb of Wishes Lisa Stringfellow returns with a West African-inspired fantasy about a girl who is determined to return both magic and justice to her people—and whose destiny holds more surprises than she could ever imagine.

Though the land of Kun used to be lush and green, Amara has only ever known her homeland as a dry, dusty desert. When the griots vanished more than a decade ago, they took their magic with them, along with goddess Oala’s gifts of rain and plenty, leaving Kun controlled by a powerful and uncaring king. And though her foster mother, Zirachi, assures her that Kun is not under a curse, Amara can’t help but wonder if her own origin, which is shrouded in mystery, is somehow linked to the broken kingdom.

When Amara and Zirachi are attacked by the Nkume, the fearsome king’s guard, Amara must flee, leaving all that she has known behind. With nowhere to go but knowing that she is under Oala’s protection, Amara sets off to do the impossible: find the griots and save Kun before the kingdom blows away like dust.


Click for more detail about How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole How to Catch a Queen

by Alyssa Cole
Avon (Aug 13, 2024)
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An arranged marriage leads to unexpected desire, in the first book of New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Alyssa Cole’s Runaway Royals series.

When Shanti Mohapi weds the king of Njaza, her dream of becoming a queen finally comes true. But it’s nothing like she imagined. Shanti and her husband may share an immediate and powerful attraction, but her subjects see her as an outsider, and everything she was taught about being the perfect wife goes disastrously wrong.

A king must rule with an iron fist, and newly crowned King Sanyu was born perfectly fitted for the gauntlet, even if he wishes he weren’t. He agrees to take a wife as is required of him, though he doesn’t expect to actually fall in love. Even more vexing? His beguiling new queen seems to have the answers to his country’s problems—except no one will listen to her.

By day, they lead separate lives. By night, she wears the crown, and he bows to her demands in matters of politics and passion. When turmoil erupts in their kingdom and their marriage, Shanti goes on the run, and Sanyu must learn whether he has what it takes both to lead his people and to catch his queen.


Click for more detail about Every Where Alien by Brad Walrond Every Where Alien

by Brad Walrond
Moore Black Press/Amistad (Aug 13, 2024)
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“Every Where Alien is a book that asks for interaction and understanding… . Brad Walrond defies aesthetic boundaries to write the poems that only he could write, poems that travel time and space for a truth that is sometimes painful and always necessary.”—Jericho Brown, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Tradition

In this dazzling collection, the poet, author, and conceptual/performance artist traces blackness, queerness, and desire through the legacy of 1990s and early 2000s New York City underground art movements, illuminating how their roots and undertold histories inspire today’s culture.

Every Where Alien is Brad Walrond’s dazzling afro-futuristic, afro-surrealist journey through New York City’s underground art movements, including the New Black Arts Movement, Black Rock Coalition, the Underground House Music-Dance community, the HIV/AIDS Black Queer Artivists, and the House Ballroom Scene.

Every Where Alien catapults us to New York City mid-1990s, early-2000s to rebroadcast the black queer creative genius of marginalized communities. Walrond questions narrow conceptions of “alien” as outsider, to explore how feelings of alienation also call us toward our shared humanity.

In holographic odes, he pays homage to creative forces both living and dead. Giants like James Baldwin, Nina Simone, Octavia Butler, Ntozake Shange, Amiri Baraka, belong to the same space-time as Larry Levan, Erykah Badu, Vernon Reid, Yasiin Bey, Greg Tate. Here Patti Smith, Kendrick Lamar, Kalief Browder, Willi Ninja, Jeff Mills, Sarah Jones, share the same air.

Featuring gorgeous, black-and-white illustrations, Every Where Alien traces our common and conflicting identities to vindicate why human beings are always greater than the sums of our parts. Walrond is a rebellious virtuoso wielding empathy, grief, anger, and grit in equal measure. This triumphant collection is a passionate reminder that through our dreams and determination, we create our own utopias.


Click for more detail about Eagle Rock: An Ashe Cayne Novel, Book 4 by Ian K. Smith Eagle Rock: An Ashe Cayne Novel, Book 4

by Ian K. Smith
Amistad (Aug 06, 2024)
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Billionaire Elliott Kantor, who ruled over a mammoth real estate portfolio in Chicago, was a creature of habit. His trainer came to his house three mornings every week for a five-thirty workout. By six-thirty he was in the car and his driver drove him down into the city where he’d get a shave and trim from his barber every morning, then head over to his offices on Wacker. He always ate breakfast at his desk, had two young assistants who tended to his every whim and demand, then spent all day in and out of meetings growing a business that had already made him one of the wealthiest men in the country.

There were few surprises in his world. Or so everyone thought, until Kantor died in his sleep at age 77, leaving behind a vast fortune and grieving wife, son, and five grandchildren.

When Simon Kantor enlists Ashe Cayne to explore his father’s death, the probing private investigator learns there was plenty of “activities” Elliott participated in after hours, including a sex traffic ring. And as Ashe and readers will discover this is only the beginning, and as our hero dives deeper and deeper into Elliott’s hidden world, this may be the end for the intrepid Mr. Cayne.


Click for more detail about Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow by Damilare Kuku Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow

by Damilare Kuku
HarperVia (Jul 30, 2024)
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Humor and poignance mix in this powerful polyphonic novel about family secrets, judgmental aunties, and Brazilian butt lifts, from the internationally bestselling author of Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad.

Freshly out of Obafemi Awolowo University, 20-year-old Temi has a clear plan for her future: she is going to surgically enlarge her backside like all the other Nigerian women, move from Ile-Ife to Lagos, and meet a man who will love her senseless. When she finally finds the courage to tell her mother, older sister, and aunties, her announcement causes an uproar.

But as each of the other women try to cure Temi of what seems like temporary insanity, they begin to spill long-buried secrets, including the truth of Temi’s older sister’s mysterious disappearance five years earlier. In the end, it seems like Temi might be the sanest of them all…

In Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow, Damilare Kuku brings her signature humor, boldness, and compassion to each member of this loveable but exasperating family, whose lives reveal the ways in which a woman’s physical appearance can dictate her life and relationships and show just how sharp the double-edged sword of beauty can be.


Click for more detail about My Parents’ Marriage by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond My Parents’ Marriage

by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
Amistad (Jul 09, 2024)
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Acclaimed children’s author Nana Brew-Hammond makes her highly anticipated return with this soaring and profound story about love and understanding told through three generations of one Ghanian family.

Determined to avoid the pain and instability of her parents’ turbulent, confusing marriage, Kokui marries a man far different from her loving, philandering, self-made father—and tries to be a different kind of wife from her mother.

But when Kokui and her husband leave Ghana to make a new life for themselves in America, she finds history repeating itself. Her marriage failing, she is called home to Ghana when her father dies. Back in her childhood home, which feels both familiar and discomforting, she comes to realize that to exorcize the ghosts of her parents’ marriage she must confront them to enable her healing.

Tender and illuminating, warm and bittersweet My Parents’ Marriage is a compelling story of family, community, class, and self-identity from an author with deep empathy and a generous heart.


Click for more detail about The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kọláwọlé The Road to the Salt Sea

by Samuel Kọláwọlé
Amistad (Jul 02, 2024)
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As wrenching and luminous as Omar El Akkad's What Strange Paradise and Mohsin Hamid's Exit West, a searing exploration of the global migration crisis that moves from Nigeria to Libya to Italy, from an exciting new literary voice.

Able God works for low pay at a four-star hotel where he must flash his “toothpaste-white smile” for wealthy guests. When not tending to the hotel's overprivileged clientele, he muses over self-help books and draws life lessons from the game of chess.

But Able's ordinary life is upended when an early morning room service order leads him to interfere with Akudo, a sex worker involved with a powerful but dangerous hotel guest. Suddenly caught in a web of violence, guilt, and fear, Able must run to save himself—a journey that leads him into the desert with a group of drug-addled migrants, headed by a charismatic religious leader calling himself Ben Ten. The travelers' dream of reaching Europe—and a new life—is shattered when they fall prey to human traffickers, suffer starvation, and find themselves on the precipice of death, fighting for their lives and their freedom.

As Able God moves into the treacherous unknown, his consciousness becomes focused on survival and the foundations of his beliefs—his ideas about betterment and salvation—are forever altered. Suspenseful, incisive, and illuminating, The Road to the Salt Sea is a story of family, fate, religion, survival, the failures of the Nigerian class system, and what often happens to those who seek their fortunes elsewhere.


Click for more detail about Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles Midnight Rooms

by Donyae Coles
Amistad (Jul 02, 2024)
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Set in a foreboding Gothic mansion and infused with the heightened paranoia and creeping horror of novels like Catherine House and Crimson Peak, a spine-chilling debut historical thriller from a fresh voice in the genre that will leave you questioning who, or what, you can trust… including your own sanity.

England, 1840. Orabella Mumthrope spies an unexpected visitor in her uncle's parlor. Scruffy in appearance yet claiming to be the scion of a fabulously wealthy family, Elias Blakersby declares a deep desire to make Orabella his wife. The orphaned daughter of a white man and a Black woman—an outsider with no fortune or connections—Orabella never expected to marry. But her uncle has many debts, and Orabella, curious about the seeming devotion Elias bestows upon her, agrees.

The new bride is quickly whisked away to Korringhill Manor, the Blakersby family estate, and far from everything she knows. Expecting splendor, Orabella is shocked to find decay, skittish servants, and curt elders. But her kind new husband's loving touch, promises of a happy life together, and his assurances she'll never want for anything soothe her concerns.

Yet there is a darkness deep within this house. Rooms are locked or hidden away, and the walls seem to thrum with secrets. Orabella can never venture outside unattended; she spends her days having tea with a catatonic sister-in-law and evenings at Elias's side, dutifully hosting lavish dinners. The darkness soon begins to engulf her, too. Becoming dizzy and drowsy after dinner, she falls into a fitful sleep filled with macabre dreams, and is awakened by blood-curdling screams in the night. In the morning she rises from her bed covered in mysterious bruises. Confused and terrified, she begins to question where her dreams end and reality begins. The longer Orabella stays in this place, the more she loses parts of herself… how long until she no longer exists?

Midnight Rooms is a sweeping saga with supernatural undertones set in Victorian England. Vibrating with tension, richly atmospheric—haunted by ghosts, guilt, and familial bonds—it is an electrifying story that will linger in your dreams.


Click for more detail about I’ve Been to the Mountaintop by Martin Luther King, Jr. I’ve Been to the Mountaintop

by Martin Luther King, Jr.
HarperOne (Jul 02, 2024)
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A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King’s last speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” part of Dr. King’s archives published exclusively by HarperCollins.

On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the pulpit of Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, and delivered what would be his final speech. Voiced in support of the Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike, Dr. King’s words continue to be powerful and relevant as workers continue to organize, unionize, and strike across various industries today. Withstanding the test of time, this speech serves as a galvanizing call to create and maintain unity among all people.

This beautifully designed hardcover edition presents Dr. King’s speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality.


Click for more detail about The Lions’ Den  by Iris Mwanza The Lions’ Den

by Iris Mwanza
Graydon House (Jun 25, 2024)
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“An evocative, touching, and—in multiple senses—moving portrait of Zambian life and politics at a moment of great transformation. And in the tradition of Zambian storytelling, it shows us, it teaches us, how ordinary people like Grace, in extraordinary circumstances and under persistent forces of oppression, can nevertheless extend and bend the arc of justice.” —Namwali Serpell

A missing boy. A corrupt system. A case that could change everything…

When young queer dancer Wilbess “Bessy” Mulenga is arrested by corrupt police, fresh-from-the-village rookie lawyer Grace Zulu takes up his cause in her first pro bono case. Presented with a freshly beaten client, Grace protests to the police and gets barred from accessing Bessy, who then disappears from the system—and the world—without a trace. As she fights for justice for Bessy, Grace must navigate a dangerous world of corrupt politicians, traditional beliefs, and deep-seated homophobia.

With the help of a former freedom fighter and the head of her law firm, who’s rallying for one last fight as AIDS takes its toll on him, Grace brings together a coalition of unions, students, and political opposition to take on the corrupt administration of President Kaunda. But will justice prevail in the face of such overwhelming odds?

The Lions’ Den is a gripping and enduring novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. With unforgettable characters and a thrilling plot, Iris Mwanza has announced herself as a major new talent in fiction.


Click for more detail about What Love Looks Like by Laura Obuobi What Love Looks Like

by Laura Obuobi
HarperCollins (Jun 18, 2024)
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From Laura Obuobi, author of Black Gold an NAACP Image Award nominee, and illustrator Anna Cunha comes a whimsical bedtime story about the love between a Black father and his daughter. This tender tale with lush natural imagery and pure Black joy captures love’s vastness, showing us its greatest form is often the one between parent and child.

One question must be answered before Afia can slip into a peaceful sleep: What does love look like? With the companionship of her loving papa, Afia journeys to find love and learns that it is the warmth of the sun’s hugs, the brook’s soothing song, and other mesmerizing gifts of nature. But Afia’s quest also teaches her that she may not have to go too far to see the emotion at the heart of the world’s wonders.


Click for more detail about Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap by Louise Story and Ebony Reed Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap

by Louise Story and Ebony Reed
Harper (Jun 18, 2024)
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A sweeping, narrative history of Black wealth and the economic discrimination embedded in America’s financial system.

The early 2020s will long be known as a period of racial reflection. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans of all backgrounds joined together in historic demonstrations in the streets, discussions in the workplace, and conversations at home about the financial gaps that remain between white and Black Americans. This deeply investigated book shows the scores of setbacks that have held the Black-white wealth gap in place—from enslavement to redlining to banking discrimination—and, ultimately, the reversals that occurred in the mid-2020s as the push for racial equity became a polarized political debate.

Fifteen Cents on the Dollar follows the lives of four Black Millennial professionals and a banking company founded with the stated mission of closing the Black-white wealth gap. That company, known as Greenwood, a reference to the historic Black Wall Street district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, generated immense excitement and hope among people looking for new ways of business that might lead to greater equity. But the twists and turns of Greenwood’s journey also raise tough questions about what equality really means.

Seasoned journalist-academics Louise Story and Ebony Reed present a nuanced portrait of Greenwood’s founders—the entertainment executive Ryan Glover; the Grammy-winning rapper Michael Render, better known as Killer Mike; and the Civil Rights leader and two-term Atlanta mayor, Andrew Young—along with new revelations about their lives, careers, and families going back to the Civil War. Equally engaging are the stories of the lesser-known individuals—a female tech employee from rural North Carolina trying to make it in a big city; a rising leader at the NAACP whose father is in prison; an owner of a BBQ stand in Atlanta fighting to keep his home; and a Black man in a biracial marriage grappling with his roots when his father is shot by the police.

In chronicling these staggering injustices, Fifteen Cents on the Dollar shows why so little progress has been made on the wealth gap and provides insights Americans should consider if they want lasting change.


Click for more detail about What You Leave Behind by Wanda M. Morris What You Leave Behind

by Wanda M. Morris
William Morrow & Company (Jun 18, 2024)
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Award-winning author Wanda Morris returns with a powerful, haunting thriller following a lawyer who after the mysterious disappearance of a local landowner and the death of his sister just months before, uncovers a conspiracy that dates back to Reconstruction and persists in half the United States today.

Deena Wood’s life has fallen apart in the aftermath of losing her beloved mother, her marriage, and her prestigious job at an Atlanta law firm. She needs what the Geechee people of coastal Georgia call a “dayclean,” a fresh start.

She returns to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia, to heal. But her return is anything but the respite she thought it might be. To make peace with all her loss, she often drives through the city. One day, she unwittingly finds herself on the oceanfront property of a loner widower who is fighting to keep land that has been in his family since the end of the Civil War. He threatens her and warns her to never return. But shortly after, he disappears, and his very expensive property is quickly put up for sale. Curious about what has happened to the man, Deena digs into his disappearance and finds a family legacy at risk. What starts out as a bit of curious snooping, turns into a deadly game of illegal land grabs and property redevelopment in poor and rural communities with dark and powerful forces at work.

Without realizing it, Deena finds herself caught up in a nightmarish scheme that threatens her community and her family. She’ll need help and finds it in a close but unlikely source because she knows she must do whatever it takes to stop the sinister forces at play before she becomes their next target.


Click for more detail about Bitter and Sweet by Rhonda McKnight Bitter and Sweet

by Rhonda McKnight
Thomas Nelson (Jun 11, 2024)
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From the beloved author of The Thing About Home comes a dual timeline tale of family, grief, secrets, and the sweet redemption that lies within the bonds of sisterhood.

The Present

When summoned to Georgetown, South Carolina, sisters Mariah Clark and Sabrina Holland both assume their ailing grandfather's health has gotten worse. Neither expects their grandmother's undeniable request—save the family restaurant.

Mariah is at a crossroad in her life. After being dumped by her husband and forced to walk away from their diner that she helped rescue from bankruptcy, bitter feelings consume her. Even though the restaurant has been in the family for eighty-six years, giving her all to another struggling business isn't something she wants to do.

Living out of her van and striving for a fresh start, Sabrina yearns for stability for herself and her daughter and a chance to turn her baking hustle into a bona-fide business. The family restaurant may be just the blessing she needs—but as old tensions and angry disagreements resurface, Sabrina wonders if her sister will let her have a say.

The Past

After falling victim to a love she thought would last a lifetime, Tabitha Cooper finds herself away from home and struggling to survive in Charleston in the early twentieth century. She is determined to turn corn into cornbread and to take care of her children the best way she knows how—by serving food that's good for the soul—and along the way forges a path that leaves a legacy of success for generations to come.

Through letters that reveal Tabitha's complicated past, the sisters discover truths that just might be the right recipe to mend their hearts—if they can find a way to savor the blessing of today and leave the bitter aftertaste of old memories behind them.


Click for more detail about Makeda Makes a Home for Subway by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich Makeda Makes a Home for Subway

by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Jun 04, 2024)
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Click for more detail about The Secret Keeper of Main Street by Trisha R. Thomas The Secret Keeper of Main Street

by Trisha R. Thomas
William Morrow & Company (Jun 04, 2024)
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Acclaimed author Trisha R. Thomas delivers a masterful new tale of scandal and intuition. In 1950s oil-rich Oklahoma, Bailey Dowery, a dressmaker with the gift of “second sight,” reluctantly reveals the true loves and intentions of her socialite clients, making her a silent witness to a shocking crime.

1954: In the quaint town of Mendol, Oklahoma, Bailey Dowery is a Black dressmaker for the wives and daughters of local oil barons. She earns a good living fitting designer gowns and creating custom wedding dresses for the town’s elite. But beyond her needle and thread lies a deeper talent, one passed down from her mother: the gift of insight. With just a fleeting touch or brush against the skin, Bailey has sudden flashes of intuition—witnessing the other person’s hopes, dreams, and nightmares, as well as glimpses of their past and future. To protect herself, she wears gloves to keep from grazing the skin of her clients as she pins them into their gowns.

Brides have whispered that Bailey can see if their true love is faithful, or if their marriage will be a success. Her aunt Charlene has always warned her, “It’s safer to stay out of White folks’ business.” But Bailey will reluctantly provide a reading during a fitting, as long as the bride promises to be discreet.

Now Elsa Grimes, daughter of one of the richest oil men in Oklahoma, has come to the Regal Gown as the least joyful bride Bailey has ever seen. Elsa’s big society wedding is imminent and her gown is gorgeous, but what Bailey’s intuition uncovers when she touches Elsa’s hand horrifies her. Against her better judgment, she’s determined to help Elsa in whatever way she can. But when the son of a prominent family turns up dead on the eve of Elsa’s wedding, and the bride-to-be is arrested for his murder, Bailey is suddenly at the center of a firestorm that threatens to overtake her and everyone she loves.


Click for more detail about I See Color by Valerie Bolling and Kailei Pew I See Color

by Valerie Bolling and Kailei Pew
HarperCollins (May 28, 2024)
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For fans of The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Little Leaders by Vashti Harrison, I See Color is a picture book that affirms people of color—of all shades—by celebrating their achievements and contributions to society.

Highlighting people such as Madonna Thunder Hawk, Basemah Atweh, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., incredible leaders are honored, seen, and heard on every page.

Part ode to an array of beautiful skin tones and part introduction to change-makers in history, this book is a perfect conversation starter for readers everywhere.


Click for more detail about Life’s Too Short: A Memoir by Darius Rucker Life’s Too Short: A Memoir

by Darius Rucker
Dey Street Books (May 28, 2024)
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A raw, heartfelt memoir from Darius Rucker, the three-time Grammy Award-winning, Diamond-selling lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish and Country music sensation—told through the remarkable stories of the music that coursed through his life.

“If I look back at my life and try to see into my past, everything seems blurry. But then I lean in and start to hear something. Melodies. Chords. Harmonies. Lyrics.”—From the Introduction

Raised by a single mother in Charleston, South Carolina, Darius Rucker founded Hootie & the Blowfish with three classmates at the University of South Carolina in 1986. What began as a party band playing frat houses and dive bars quickly became a global rock pop phenomenon through their Diamond-certified debut album Cracked Rear View, featuring the era-defining hit songs “Only Wanna Be With You,” “Let Her Cry,” and “Hold My Hand.” Later, Darius would also chart a pioneering path as a solo Country music artist, with the Diamond-certified hit “Wagon Wheel,” plus timeless anthems such as “Alright” and “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” while sharing the stage and a mic with the likes of David Crosby, Al Green, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Adele, Taylor Swift, and more.

Nearly 40 years into his illustrious career, Darius tells the story of his life through the music that made him, including songs by everyone from Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder to R.E.M., KISS, Prince and, of course, his own music with Hootie and as a solo artist. He recounts the unlikely ascent of his band and wild tales of his road-hardened life—one filled with stumbles, missteps and battles with demons, but ultimately resulting in triumph. LIFE’S TOO SHORT is the story of a man, his music and his life; a page-turning memoir that is raw, real, hilarious and deeply emotional.


Click for more detail about Summer on Highland Beach by Sunny Hostin Summer on Highland Beach

by Sunny Hostin
William Morrow & Company (May 28, 2024)
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The View cohost and three-time Emmy Award winner Sunny Hostin transports readers to Highland Beach in the captivating third novel of her New York Times bestselling Summer series.

Founded in the late 1800s by the son of Frederick Douglass, Highland Beach along the Chesapeake Bay is the oldest Black resort community in America. Inside this proud and secluded beach community of about 100 private homes is Olivia Jones’s legacy.

But Olivia’s legacy comes with thorns—intertwined are secrets of her aunt’s death; a controlling grandmother who is determined to crush anyone or anything that will interfere with her son’s political career; and a father who wants to rebuild the family he rejected decades ago.

In the midst of tense family drama, Olivia must decide if she wants to return to the beautiful life she’s created in Sag Harbor—with the neighbors and wonderful man who’ve become central to her happiness—or finally achieve her dream of having a family and home to call her own in Highland Beach.

An awakening, spirited novel, Summer on Highland Beach celebrates family, friendship, and community and reminds us of the importance of the legacies of our collective past and finding one’s way in the world.


Click for more detail about Allow Me to Introduce Myself  by Onyi Nwabineli Allow Me to Introduce Myself

by Onyi Nwabineli
Graydon House (May 28, 2024)
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Her life. Her rules. Finally.

Anuri Chinasa has had enough. And really, who can blame her? She was the unwilling star of her stepmother's social media empire before "momfluencers" were even a thing. For years, Ophelia documented every birthday, every skinned knee, every milestone and meltdown for millions of strangers to fawn over and pick apart.

Now, at twenty-five, Anuri is desperate to put her way-too-public past behind her and start living on her own terms. But it's not going so great. She can barely walk down the street without someone recognizing her, and the fraught relationship with her father has fallen apart. Then there's her PhD application (still unfinished) and her drinking problem (still going strong). When every detail of her childhood was so intensely scrutinized, how can she tell what she really wants?

Still, Ophelia is never far away and has made it clear she won't go down without a fight. With Noelle, Anuri's five-year-old half sister now being forced down the same path, Anuri discovers she has a new mission in life…

To take back control of the family narrative.

Through biting wit and heartfelt introspection, this darkly humorous story dives deep into the deceptive allure of a picture-perfect existence, the overexposure of children in social media and the excitement of self-discovery.


Click for more detail about Nephew: A Memoir in 4-Part Harmony by MK Asante Nephew: A Memoir in 4-Part Harmony

by MK Asante
Amistad (May 21, 2024)
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As urgent, resonant, and essential as The Fire Next Time and Between the World and Me, a poetic, raw, and inspirational love letter from the bestselling author of Buck, written to a nephew who was shot nine times and survived—a reflection on life, overcoming odds, finding your voice, and the power of music and family.

Waiting in the emergency room at Temple University Hospital in North Philadelphia where his eighteen-year-old nephew, Nasir, lay unconscious after being shot nine times, MK Asante began pouring his heart and soul into a series of letters to a beautiful, dying Black boy so full of life.

As Nasir fought for survival, MK realized there was so much—too much—that he had kept from his nephew, starting with the truth about his father, MK’s brother, Uzi, whom Nasir had never met. MK could no longer remain silent because in many ways, his nephew was repeating the mistakes of the past. MK began his confessional to repair family bonds—to save Nasir from the same streets that stole his father and to introduce him to the man and family history the young man had never known. The result is this beautiful, poignant, and honest family memoir.

Nephew introduces us to two men, strangers to each other, whose similarities are astonishing. Both have red hot tempers, both struggle with opioid addiction, and most profoundly, both are lyrical geniuses whose raps are raw, powerful, and autobiographical. Yet neither had ever heard the other’s lyrics. As he tells his family’s story, MK draws vivid portraits of both Nasir and Uzi through their songs—lyrics that become the touchstone of their relationship. When father and son eventually meet, they confront each other and share a dialogue through their lyrics.

An explosive, innovative memoir of family, faith, poetry, secrets, love, race, poverty, redemption, addiction, Philadelphia, hip-hop, jail, purpose, mental health, and violence. Nephew is fast-paced, intimate, lyrical, educational, and inspirational. It is the epic, painful, poetic, and miraculous redemptive story of a new generation—a new style of memoir for a new decade, the rhythmic story of a family in love, struggle, and verse.


Click for more detail about The Perilous Fight: Overcoming Our Culture’s War on the American Family by Ben Carson The Perilous Fight: Overcoming Our Culture’s War on the American Family

by Ben Carson
Zondervan (May 14, 2024)
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Learn from one of our leading conservative voices how we can return to the biblical values our nation was founded upon, especially the vital importance of the family, in order to secure a prosperous future for generations to come.

Does America no longer feel like home? Widespread divorce rates, the erosion of traditional marriage, the popular rise of radical ideologies, attacks on faith, and government interference are only a few of the factors contributing to the struggles of families in our culture. And because of the importance of healthy families to every part of our national life, the breakdown of the family threatens to rob us of the country we love. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Like many of us, Dr. Ben Carson fears we are losing the country we love. In this provocative and ultimately hopeful book, he gives us the facts, inspiration, and theory-to-action answers we need to restore a key foundation of America: the family.

The Perilous Fight equips us to understand:

  • The hard data behind the breakdown of the family and its effects on our society, including poverty, crime, and deteriorating education
  • The core biblical beliefs that led our nation into unprecedented freedom and prosperity—and why abandoning those beliefs led to the social decline we see today
  • The fresh ideas and public policy options that could reverse negative trends impacting the family while maintaining a balance between constitutional freedoms and governmental involvement

This is a practical and inspiring book for anyone who:

  • Feels discouraged about the state of our country and its institutions
  • Needs hope that there are commonsense, attainable solutions that we all can practice
  • Appreciates a conservative, Scripture-based approach to restoring faith, liberty, community, and life in America

Strong families are the cornerstone of strong communities. Strong communities build a strong nation. Only when we prioritize the family as an institution established by God will we proudly remain the land of the free and the home of the brave.


Click for more detail about Waiting for Friday Night by Synithia Williams Waiting for Friday Night

by Synithia Williams
Canary Street Press (May 14, 2024)
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“A pitch-perfect small-town romance focused on forgiveness, second chances, and new beginnings.” —Publishers Weekly on The Secret to a Southern Wedding

Friday nights in Peachtree Cove are all about football. But this season, the drama isn’t just on the field…

In the wake of losing both of her parents, Halle Parker was certain of one thing: she wanted a family of her own. And she wasn’t going to let a little thing like being single stand in her way. So, she used an anonymous donor and kept every last detail a secret—from everyone. But now, fourteen years later, Halle’s daughter, Shania, is determined to unravel the identity of her biological dad. And what she learns blindsides everyone…

When Quinton Evans’s pro-football days came to an end, he was eager to begin coaching and teaching, and he’s never looked back. But when Shania, a wide receiver on his team, reveals that she’s his daughter, he’s blown away. The one thing he refuses to do is walk away, even if Shania’s strong-willed and gorgeous mother wants nothing to do with him.

Halle knows that once you let the cat out of the bag in a small town like Peachtree Cove, you’re gonna have to do some damage control. But with Quinton suddenly popping up everywhere she turns, it’s all Halle can do to fight for the future she envisioned and the family she created. If only fate—and the undeniable heat sparking between her and Quinton—didn’t have other plans…

Peachtree Cove

Book 1: The Secret to a Southern Wedding
Book 2: Waiting for Friday Night


Click for more detail about Ella: A Novel by Diane Richards Ella: A Novel

by Diane Richards
Amistad (May 07, 2024)
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In the vein of The Paris Wife and The Personal Librarian comes this debut novel, a magnificent work of “biographical fiction” that reimagines the turbulent and triumphant early years of Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest singer of the twentieth century.

When fifteen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald’s mother dies at the height of the Depression in 1932, the teenager goes to work for the mob to support herself and her family. When the law finally catches up, the “ungovernable” adolescent is incarcerated in the New York Training School for Girls in upstate New York—a wicked prison infamous for its harsh treatment of inmates, especially Black ones. Determined to be free, Ella escapes and makes her way back to Harlem, where she is forced to dance for pennies on the street.

Looking for a break into show business, Ella draws straws to appear at the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night on November 21, 1934. Rather than perform a dance routine directly after “The World Famous Edwards Sisters” number, the homeless Ella, wearing men’s galoshes a size too big, risks everything when she decides to sing Judy instead. Four years later, at barely twenty-one, Ella Fitzgerald has become the bestselling female vocalist in America.

Diane Richards’ Ella Fitzgerald is inspiring and intriguing—an emotionally rich, psychologically complex character, a flawed mother and wife who struggles with deep emotional scars and trauma and battles racism, sexism, and colorism as she learns to find her voice on the stage. Ella takes us from the brothels, speakeasys, and streets of Depression-era New York City to the grand hotel suites where Ella, now older and wiser, looks back on her life and finally confronts the demons from childhood that torment her.

Compelling and rich in historical detail, Ella is a remarkable debut novel about an extraordinary woman.


Click for more detail about Troubled Waters by Mary Annaïse Heglar Troubled Waters

by Mary Annaïse Heglar
Harper Muse (May 07, 2024)
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In this intimate portrait of two generations, a granddaughter and a grandmother come to terms with what it means to be family, Black women, and alive in a world on fire.

The world is burning—and Corrine will do anything to put out the flames. After her brother died aboard an oil boat on the Mississippi River in 2013, Corrine awakened to the realities of climate change and its perpetrators. Now, a year later, she finds herself trapped in a lonely cycle of mourning both her brother and the very planet she stands on. She’s convinced that in order to save her future, she has to make sure that her brother’s life meant something. But in the act of honoring her brother’s spirit, she resurrects family ghosts she knows little about—ghosts her grandmother Cora knows intimately.

The world is burning—but it always has been. Cora’s ghosts have followed her from her days as a child integrating schools in 1950s Nashville to her new life as a mother, grandmother, and teacher in Mississippi. As a child of the civil rights movement, she’s done her best to keep those specters away from her granddaughter. She faced those demons, she reasons to herself, so that Corinne would never know they existed.

When Corrine’s plan to stage a dramatic act of resistance peels back the scabs of her family wounds and puts her safety in jeopardy, both grandmother and granddaughter must bring their unspoken secrets into the light to find a path to healing. Their world hangs in the balance as past and future meet in the present moment.

In heartfelt, lyrical prose, Mary Annaïse Heglar weaves an unforgettable story of the climate crisis, Black resistance, and the enduring power of family.


Click for more detail about Power Moves: Ignite Your Confidence and Become a Force by Sarah Jakes Roberts Power Moves: Ignite Your Confidence and Become a Force

by Sarah Jakes Roberts
Thomas Nelson (Apr 30, 2024)
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Instant New York Times Bestseller! Unleash the superpower of being yourself. Sarah Jakes Roberts, bestselling author of Woman Evolve, will help you craft a language toward your issues with intentionality.

Stripping our minds of the expectations that inundate our world has never been more difficult. One quick scroll of our phones and we’re consumed by other people’s projections of how we should be feeling or responding.

The ability to determine your truth without judgment is the beginning of harnessing authentic power in Christ. When we do the work of embracing where we are, we create space for God’s love to meet us in our most raw form and then polish us to shine like never before. Power does not lie in success, achievement, or performance. Power rests in humility, honesty, and the commitment to continuous growth.

Power Moves will help you to qualify whether you’re living life authentically or if you’ve found a way to maintain status quo. It will reveal the principles required to tap into the most powerful version of who you are, then lead you in how to introduce your authentic self to the world around you. Sarah will help you:

  • give language to your changing needs,
  • acknowledge and applaud your growth,
  • refuse to bear the weight all at once or all alone, and
  • release your power.

Open your eyes to the way that God sees you and awaken your boldness to effect change in the world by living out the truth of who God says you are with confidence.


Click for more detail about The Moment: Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasn’t and How We All Can Move Forward Now by Bakari Sellers The Moment: Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasn’t and How We All Can Move Forward Now

by Bakari Sellers
Amistad (Apr 23, 2024)
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The New York Times bestselling author of My Vanishing Country examines the modern political landscape and policies that are impacting Black families and communities and offers solutions for a better tomorrow.

In late May in 2020, while discussing the murder of George Floyd on CNN, Bakari Sellers spoke from the heart sharing devastating insight that touched millions around the world: “It’s just so much pain. You get so tired. We have black children. I have a 15-year-old daughter. I mean, what do I tell her? I’m raising a son. I have no idea what to tell him. It’s just—it’s hard being black in this country when your life is not valued and people are worried about the protesters and the looters. And it’s just people who are frustrated for far too long and not have their voices heard.”

In this powerful and persuasive book, Sellers expands on the issues he addressed in his New York Times bestseller My Vanishing Country, examining national politics and policies that deeply impact not only Black people in his home state of South Carolina but the lives of millions of African Americans in communities across the nation. Four years later, Sellers has an answer to the question he raised on CNN, offering much-needed prescriptions to help all Black American lives.

Sellers explores inequities in healthcare, education, early childhood education, and policing, drawing on interviews with numerous thought leaders such as pioneering voting rights and poverty activist the Rev. William Barber, and Ben Crump, the civil rights legend who successfully uses the law to achieve justice for people of color in racially charged cases. He also shares his thoughts on conservative media and the forces and dark money behind firebrands such as Tucker Carlson. This thoughtful and practical work is a timely meditation on the state of our world today and how we can all play a part in making it better for tomorrow.


Click for more detail about Our God Is Marching on by Martin Luther King, Jr. Our God Is Marching on

by Martin Luther King, Jr.
HarperOne (Apr 23, 2024)
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A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech Our God Is Marching On, part of Dr. King’s archives published exclusively by HarperCollins.

At the end of the march from Selma to Montgomery on March 25, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of a crowd and celebrated the demanding work and effort that had been done by all in the fight against racial injustice for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In this speech, Dr. King testified that this march, for justice had been long and difficult and would continue to be so as those with him resisted the call of normalcy in the name of Jim Crow.

Our God Is Marching On showcases a message of determination, faith, and the unyielding pursuit of equality while remaining committed to nonviolence.

This beautifully designed hardcover edition presents Dr. King’s speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality.


Click for more detail about I’m Not Small Board Book by Nina Crews I’m Not Small Board Book

by Nina Crews
Greenwillow Books (Apr 23, 2024)
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What makes you big? What makes you small? From acclaimed author-illustrator Nina Crews comes a board book that introduces young children to the concepts of size and comparisons. A great choice for emerging readers, school classrooms, and story-time sharing.

Time to play outside! It’s easy for a young boy to feel small in a world that is made up of big, big things. But when he takes a closer look, he discovers that he is big, too. His dog is smaller than he is, and his cat is smaller than his dog. And the teeny-tiny ant crawling through the grass? Even smaller!

I’m Not Small will spark family and classroom conversations about the concepts of size and size comparisons, about growing up, about feeling seen, and about observing the world around you. Playful text and bright, detailed illustrations also make it easy to learn about comparing and categorizing objects. A must-have for fans of Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant’s You Are (Not) Small.


Click for more detail about One of Us Knows: A Thriller by Alyssa Cole One of Us Knows: A Thriller

by Alyssa Cole
William Morrow & Company (Apr 16, 2024)
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From the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author of When No One Is Watching comes a riveting thriller about the new caretaker of a historic estate who finds herself trapped on an island with a murderer—and the ghosts of her past.

Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can’t refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she’s determined not to ruin their opportunity.

Then a surprise visit from the home’s conservation trust just as a Nor’easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers—including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect.

Caught in a web of secrets and in a race against time, Ken and her alters must band together to prove their innocence and discover the truth of Kavanaugh Island—and their own past—or they risk losing not only their future, but their life.


Click for more detail about I Am More Than by Lebron James I Am More Than

by Lebron James
Harper (Apr 02, 2024)
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You can be more than one thing—you can be anything!

A follow-up to the #1 New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed picture book I Promise, this second slam-dunk picture book from NBA champion and cultural icon LeBron James motivates readers to remember they can accomplish their goals when they believe in themselves. Written in fun rhyming verse and illustrated by award-winning and bestselling artist Niña Mata, this book will help little dreamers dream BIG.

Perfect for shared reading in and out of the classroom, I Am More Than is also a great gift for graduation, birthdays, and other occasions.


Click for more detail about Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services—Notes of a Former Caseworker by Jessica Pryce Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services—Notes of a Former Caseworker

by Jessica Pryce
Amistad (Mar 19, 2024)
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Joining the ranks of Evicted and The New Jim Crow, a former caseworker’s searing, clear-eyed investigation of the child welfare system–from foster care to incarceration–that exposes the deep-rooted biases shaping the system, witnessed through the lives of several Black families.

Dr. Jessica Pryce knows the child welfare system firsthand and, in this long overdue book, breaks it down from the inside out, sharing her professional journey and offering the crucial perspectives of caseworkers and Black women impacted by the system. It is a groundbreaking and eye-opening confrontation of the inherent and systemic racism deeply entrenched within the child welfare system.

Pryce started her social work career with an internship where she was committed to helping keep children safe. In the book, she walks alongside her close friends and even her family as they navigate the system, while sharing her own reckoning with the requirements of her job and her role in the systemic harm. Through poignant narratives and introspection, readers witness the harrowing effects of a well-intentioned workforce that has lost its way, demonstrating how separations are often not in a child’s best interests.

With a renewed commitment to strengthening families in her role as activist, Pryce invites the child welfare workforce to embark on a journey of self-reflection and radical growth. At once a framework for transforming child protective services and an intimate, stunning first-hand account of the system as it currently operates, Broken takes everyday scenarios as its focus rather than extreme child welfare cases, challenging readers to critically examine their own mindsets and biases in order to reimagine how we help families in need.


Click for more detail about Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad: Stories by Damilare Kuku Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad: Stories

by Damilare Kuku
HarperVia (Mar 19, 2024)
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The anti-rom-com debut collection that took Nigeria by storm, featuring twelve “bewitching and revelatory” (The New York Times) and “ridiculously entertaining” (Booklist starred review) stories about the perils and pitfalls of dating men in Lagos, from a rising star of Nollywood

“Sharply observational, funny and profound, this book is dynamic sociological satire that is as universal as it is specific.” —Bolu Babalola, author of Reese’s Book Club pick and national bestseller Honey and Spice

Includes a never-before-seen sneak peek of Damilare Kuku’s forthcoming novel

One night, you will calmly put a knife to your husband’s private part and promise to cut it off. It will scare him so much that the next day, he will call his family members for a meeting in the house. He will not call your family members, but you will not care. You won’t need them.

In this remarkable short story collection, Damilare Kuku takes us deep into the heart of modern Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and the lives of a collection of audacious women who cope with romantic difficulties by brilliantly turning the tables on the men who wrong them.

One hardworking married woman calmly threatens sharp-edged revenge on her lazy, hypocritical husband. Another skillfully protects her own business interests by shielding her pastor-husband from allegations of cheating that may or may not be true. A group of wealthy wives deceived by their husbands join forces in a WhatsApp support group called the Virtuous Wives Guild. And a discerning dater fed up with Nigerian men makes a vow to date only oyibos before discovering that white men can act just as badly.

A bestseller in Damilare Kuku’s native Nigeria, Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad is a raunchy, satisfying, and outrageous read steeped in the chaos and allure of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest city. It’s also a love letter to Nigerian women: the women in these stories may be confronted at every turn with liars, scammers, and cheaters in their quests for love, but they always figure out how to come out victorious.


Click for more detail about Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere by Anastacia-Reneé Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere

by Anastacia-Reneé
Amistad (Mar 12, 2024)
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In this bold hybrid collection of poetry and micro-flash fiction, the award-winning, interdisciplinary writer, and author of Side Notes from the Archivist explores what happens when god is a Black woman in a town and multiple universes in the middle of nowhere?

What if god were a Black woman? What if there were other universes, and in each universe other Black woman gods? One million versions of god, and one million saints to watch over us? And what if this Black woman god was placed here on our earth?

These are just a few of the questions Anastacia-Reneé asks in this daring and mind-bending hybrid collection. A compelling blend of poetry, micro-flash fiction, and sci-fi Afrofuturism with a prose storyline and characters that connect through family, time, and place. Anastacia-Reneé paints world(s) rich with wonder and the paranormal as she peers into the lives of the everyday people and the spectacular creatures inhabiting not just our neighborhoods, but other dimensions. Hers is a universe of striking variety—monsters, nontraditional saints, witches, zombies, the couple in the apartment next door, the wise elders from down the block, and gods watching over us all—as well as community and connectedness.

Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere is about interstellar ancestry, community and spirituality, about the things we invoke conjure and rely on to maintain our unwavering joy as we move through life. Anastacia-Reneé’s power lies in her spellbinding storytelling—her ability to bring forth lovingly rendered characters captured in powerful brief bursts of lyrical poetry, her ability to build worlds, within worlds and the ways in which she dares us to fully love ourselves and see each other in all our complexity.


Click for more detail about I Finally Bought Some Jordans: Essays by Michael Arceneaux I Finally Bought Some Jordans: Essays

by Michael Arceneaux
HarperOne (Mar 12, 2024)
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“Very good writers have an ability to make you understand what they’re feeling. But the very best writers have an ability to make you understand what you’re feeling. And that’s where Michael Arceneaux sits, and that’s what he does in this new book. It’s like he’s crawling around inside your head opening file cabinets and telling you what the gibberish you’ve scribbled on each page in each file means. What a great, fun read.”—Shea Serrano, #1 New York Times bestselling author

New York Times bestselling author Michael Arceneaux returns with a hilarious collection of essays about making your voice heard in an increasingly noisy and chaotic world.

In his books I Can’t Date Jesus and I Don’t Want to Die Poor, Michael Arceneaux established himself as one of the most beloved and entertaining writers of his generation, touching upon such hot-button topics as race, class, sexuality, labor, debt, and, of course, paying homage to the power and wisdom of Beyoncé. In this collection, Arceneaux takes stock of how far he has traveled—and how much ground he still has to cover in this patriarchal, heteronormative society. He explores the opportunities afforded to Black creatives but also the doors that remain shut or ever-so-slightly ajar; the confounding challenges of dating in a time when social media has made everything both more accessible and more unreliable; and the allure of returning home while still pushing yourself to seek opportunity elsewhere.

I Finally Bought Some Jordans is both a corrective to, and a balm for, these troubling times, revealing a sharply funny and keen-eyed storyteller working at the height of his craft.


Click for more detail about Watch Where They Hide: A Jordan Manning Novel by Tamron Hall Watch Where They Hide: A Jordan Manning Novel

by Tamron Hall
William Morrow & Company (Mar 12, 2024)
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From Emmy Award winner Tamron Hall comes an edge-of-your-seat thriller featuring journalist Jordan Manning as she delves into the case of a mother in danger and uncovers a dangerous web of secrets that could lead right to the missing woman—or put Jordan in the crosshairs of her abductors.

“With Jordan Manning, Tamron Hall has given us a smart, empathetic heroine to cheer on for years to come.” — Alafair Burke, New York Times bestselling author

After dropping her child off at preschool, Marla Hancock, a stay-at-home mother, disappears. She had recently left her verbally abusive husband in rural Indiana and moved in with her sister, Shelly, who simply can’t believe that her sister would ever willingly vanish without her children. But with limited support from the town’s police department or media resources, Shelly fears that Marla’s disappearance won’t get the attention it deserves, or worse, will go unsolved. So, several weeks after filing a missing person’s report, she reaches out to TV journalist Jordan Manning for help.

After her investigative and reporting skills helped solve multiple murders, Jordan Manning’s career in the newsroom is on the rise. She has gained a reputation as more than your typical news reporter: a “fixer” with a vigilante edge, dogged and undeterred to seek the truth. But even with this new status, Jordan still feels pressure to prove herself as a young Black professional. When Shelly reaches out, she feels compelled to do all she can to find Marla.

Jordan’s search twists and turns in ways she could never have imagined, illuminating scandals and secrets that place her own life in grave danger.


Click for more detail about The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir by RuPaul The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir

by RuPaul
Dey Street Books (Mar 05, 2024)
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From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date—a brutally honest, surprisingly poignant, and deeply intimate memoir of growing up Black, poor, and queer in a broken home to discovering the power of performance, found family, and self-acceptance. A profound introspection of his life, relationships, and identity, The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag.

Central to RuPaul’s success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and supermogul. Yet that adaptability has made him enigmatic to the public. In this memoir, his most intimate and detailed book yet, RuPaul makes himself truly known.

In The House of Hidden Meanings, RuPaul strips away all artifice and recounts the story of his life with breathtaking clarity and tenderness, bringing his signature wisdom and wit to his own biography. From his early years growing up as a queer Black kid in San Diego navigating complex relationships with his absent father and temperamental mother, to forging an identity in the punk and drag scenes of Atlanta and New York, to finding enduring love with his husband Georges LeBar and self-acceptance in sobriety, RuPaul excavates his own biography life-story, uncovering new truths and insights in his personal history.

Here in RuPaul’s singular and extraordinary story is a manual for living—a personal philosophy that testifies to the value of chosen family, the importance of harnessing what makes you different, and the transformational power of facing yourself fearlessly.

A profound introspection of his life, relationships, and identity, The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag. “I’ve always loved to view the world with analytical eyes, examining what lies beneath the surface. Here, the focus is on my own life—as RuPaul Andre Charles,” says RuPaul.

If we’re all born naked and the rest is drag, then this is RuPaul totally out of drag. This is RuPaul stripped bare.


Click for more detail about No Better Time by Sheila Williams No Better Time

by Sheila Williams
Amistad (Feb 27, 2024)
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The acclaimed author of The Secret Women and Things Past Telling returns with an engrossing historical novel about a little known aspect of World War II—the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only Black WACs to serve overseas during the conflict.

In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Dorothy Thom, Spelman graduate, librarian and Francophile, joins the Women’s Army Corps wanting to do her part for the war effort. Longing for adventure, she has one question for the recruiter: “Do you think I’ll get to go abroad?”

As Dorothy and her sister WACs discover, life in the Army is an adventure filled with unexpected deprivations and culture shock. Women from all levels of society, secretaries, teachers, and sharecroppers, work together to navigate a military segregated by race and gender. At boot camp, the “colored girls” are separated for processing. At Ft. Riley, the women’s barracks are rustic and heated by coal-burning pot-bellied stoves while German POWs spend their incarceration in buildings with central heat and hot water.

In early 1945, Dorothy and eight hundred African American WACs cross the turbulent North Atlantic to their post in England. Their orders are to process the mail sent to GIs from their loved ones back home, an estimated 17 million pieces. The women arrive to find mail stockpiled for over two years in warehouses and airplane hangars, many pieces in poor condition, the names illegible.

In England and France, the WACs traverse a landscape of unimagined possibilities. With their outlooks changed forever, they return to the United States as the catalysts for change in America and build lives that transcend anything their ancestors ever dreamed of.

No Better Time illuminates a love of country and duty that has been overlooked until now.


Click for more detail about The Unfortunates by J K Chukwu The Unfortunates

by J K Chukwu
Harper Perennial (Feb 27, 2024)
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An edgy, bitingly funny debut about a queer, half-Nigerian college sophomore who, enraged and exhausted by the racism at her elite college, is determined to reveal the truth about The Unfortunates—the unlucky subset of Black undergrads who Just. Keep. Disappearing.

Sahara is Not Okay. Entering her sophomore year, she already feels like a failure: her body is too much, her love life is nonexistent, she’s not Nigerian enough for her family, her grades are subpar, and, well, the few Black classmates she has are vanishing—or dying. Sahara herself is close to giving up: depression has been her longtime “Life Partner.” She believes that this narrative—taking the form of an irreverent, no-holds-barred "thesis" addressed to the powerful University Committee that will judge her—may be her last chance to document the Unfortunates’ experience before she joins their ranks… But maybe, just maybe, she and her complex community of BIPOC women aren’t ready to go out without a fight.


Click for more detail about American Negra: A Memoir by Natasha S. Alford American Negra: A Memoir

by Natasha S. Alford
Harper (Feb 27, 2024)
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Award-winning journalist Natasha S. Alford grew up between two worlds as the daughter of an African American father and Puerto Rican mother. In American Negra, a narrative that is part memoir, part cultural analysis, Alford reflects on growing up in a working-class family from the city of Syracuse, NY.

In smart, vivid prose, Alford illustrates the complexity of being multiethnic in Upstate New York and society's flawed teachings about matters of identity. When she travels to Puerto Rico for the first time, she is the darkest in her family, and navigates shame for not speaking Spanish fluently. She visits African-American hair salons where she's told that she has “good” hair, while internalizing images that as a Latina she has “bad” hair or pelo malo.

When Alford goes from an underfunded public school system to Harvard University surrounded by privilege and pedigree, she wrestles with more than her own ethnic identity, as she is faced with imposter syndrome, a shocking medical diagnosis, and a struggle to define success on her own terms. A study abroad trip to the Dominican Republic changes her perspective on Afro-Latinidad and sets her on a path to better understand her own Latin roots.

Alford then embarks on a whirlwind journey to find her authentic voice, taking her across the United States from a hedge fund boardroom to a classroom and ultimately a newsroom, as a journalist.

A coming-of-age story about what it's like to live at the intersections of race, culture, gender, and class, all while staying true to yourself, American Negra is a captivating look at one woman's experience being Negra in the United States.

As the movement to highlight Afro-Latin identity and overlooked histories of the African diaspora grows, American Negra illustrates the diversity of the Black experience in the larger fabric of American society.


Click for more detail about Welcome to the Basement: An Upside-Down Guide to Greatness by Tim Ross Welcome to the Basement: An Upside-Down Guide to Greatness

by Tim Ross
Thomas Nelson (Feb 27, 2024)
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In Welcome to the Basement, podcaster and thought leader Tim Ross shows you how you can achieve true and lasting greatness. But his tools and tactics might surprise you.

Ross has put them to the test in his own life, and he’s come to believe that the only way up is down, the only way in is out, and that downward mobility is your only hope for upward utility.

For far too long we’ve been held captive by false promises of hype and hustle in a world that needs hope and healing. Previously published as Upset the World—and now fully revised and rewritten for today’s unique challenges, circumstances, and opportunities—Welcome to the Basement is a rallying cry and a practical guide to God’s radical last-shall-be-first, least-shall-be-greatest way of living.

Tim Ross will help you:

  • Discover that you are God’s masterpiece and learn to receive His unstoppable love and grace.
  • Gain step-by-step guidance for identifying the people, places, and pieces that you’ve been called to disrupt and shower with God’s love.
  • Experience for yourself the good that God has for you—because only people whose lives have been turned upside-down by God can become Kingdom basement dwellers.

The humblest acts of goodness have the greatest power. And the lowest floor of the building is where the real VIPs live.

Will you step down and into the good things God is doing in the world?


Click for more detail about Welcome to the Basement Study Guide: A Practical Guide to Building Jesus’ First-Shall-Be-Last, Upside-Down Kingdom by Tim Ross Welcome to the Basement Study Guide: A Practical Guide to Building Jesus’ First-Shall-Be-Last, Upside-Down Kingdom

by Tim Ross
Harperchristian Resources (Feb 27, 2024)
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Encounter faith where it was meant to be found—not in life’s penthouse, but in the basement, where God’s kingdom is waiting to welcome you.

This practical study guide, companion to Tim Ross’s Welcome to the Basement, will help you assess where you are in your relationship with God and what steps you need to take to move to the next level in your faith.

For too long we’ve been taught that the only way to be great is to go up. But it’s time to turn the world upside-down because in God’s Kingdom, the way up is down, the way in is out, and downward mobility is your only hope for upward utility.

This study guide is ideal for you to go through on your own or with a group. Each session includes:

  • The big ideas that will be covered in the session as you read through the book.
  • An assessment exercise to help you reflect on your relationship with Christ.
  • Ten group-oriented discussion questions based on the Bible and book content.
  • A closing personal exercise to help you apply the concepts you’ve studied to your life.
  • Prompts for opening and closing your group or personal study time with prayer.

Sometimes the lowest floor of the building is where the real party is. Jesus is the cornerstone of a new kind of kingdom—will you step into the good things God is doing in the world?


Click for more detail about The Single Dad Project  by Naima Simone The Single Dad Project

by Naima Simone
Canary Street Press (Feb 20, 2024)
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“Passion, heat and deep emotion—Naima Simone is a gem!” —Maisey Yates, New York Times bestselling author

He’s the best mistake she ever made…

Back in Rose Bend after a work trip that went wrong, Florence “Flo” Dennison craves the kind of distraction only a searing fling with a gorgeous stranger can provide. And she gets it—in an encounter hot enough to leave scars. But satisfaction turns to shock when Flo realizes her one-night stand is leading the restoration project she’s been hired to photograph. And his sweet little girl has decided Flo’s her new bestie…

Single dad and architect Adam Reed wants stability for his daughter, and he’s sure that Flo—young, ambitious, beautiful—isn’t looking for that. But when his nanny bails and Flo helps him out, it becomes impossible to keep their distance. Now, navigating tangled family ties and her own trust issues, Flo has to decide if one wild night can become so much more.

Bonus novella!

Brooklyn Hayes just woke up in Vegas married to her best friend, who also happens to be her sister’s ex. Will they make it through a trip back home without spilling their secret…or falling in love?

Rose Bend

  • Book 1: The Road to Rose Bend
  • Book 2: Christmas in Rose Bend
  • Book 3: With Love from Rose Bend
  • Book 4: Mr. Right Next Door
  • Book 5: The Single Dad Project


Click for more detail about Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation by Marcus Anthony Hunter Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation

by Marcus Anthony Hunter
Amistad (Feb 06, 2024)
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A timely groundbreaking book in the vein of Derrick Bell’s Faces at the Bottom of the Well, one of the country’s foremost voices on reparations, offers a radical and vital new framework going beyond the current debate over this controversial issue.

For over a century, the idea of reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans has divided the United States. However, while the iconic phrase “40 acres and a mule” encapsulates the general notion of reparations, history has proven that the damages of enslavement on the African American community far exceed what a plot of land or a check could repair.

While reparations are being widely debated once again, current petitions to redress the lasting and collateral consequences of slavery have not moved past economic solutions, even though we know that monetary redress alone is not enough. Not only would many wounds be left unhealed, but relying solely on economics would continue a legacy of neglect for African Americans. In this thoughtful and sure-to-be controversial book, Marcus Anthony Hunter argues that a radical shift in our outlook is necessary; we need more comprehensive solutions such as those currently sought by today’s educators, historians, activists, organizers, Afrofuturists, and socially conscious citizens.

In Radical Reparations, this conversation shifter, social justice pioneer, change agent, and inventor of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, which redefined the global conversation on racism and social justice, offers a unifying and unconventional framework for achieving holistic and comprehensive healing of African American communities. Hunter reimagines reparations through a profound new lens as he defines seven types of compensation: political, intellectual, legal, economic, spatial, social, and spiritual, using analysis of historical documents, comparative international cases, and speculative parables.

Profound and revolutionary, trenchant and timely, Radical Reparations provides a compellingly and provocatively reframing of reparations’ past, present, and future, offering a unifying way forward for us all.


Click for more detail about The Blue Pickup by Natasha Tripplett The Blue Pickup

by Natasha Tripplett
HarperCollins (Feb 06, 2024)
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A charming story about a young girl who loves fixing automobiles with her grandfather on the warm grounds of Jamaica, Natasha Tripplett’s debut picture book is a perfect pick for fans of My Papi Has a Motorcycle and The Old Truck.

Ju-Girl’s favorite days are the ones spent with Granddad in his garage, fixing cars and hearing stories about his old blue pickup.

Granddad used to drive the blue pickup all over the island, bringing happiness to many. And now it just sits in the driveway.

One day, Ju-Girl asks Granddad if he’d ever fix it, and he’s unsure at first. But the pair soon finds out just what it takes to restore the memory of the blue pickup and to create new stories along the way.

This heartwarming layered tale, brought to life with lush illustrations by Monica Mikai (Thank a Farmer), reminds us about the joy of repairing things with our hands and preserving stories with our hearts.


Click for more detail about The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade by Hannah Durkin The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade

by Hannah Durkin
Amistad (Jan 30, 2024)
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Joining the ranks of Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Zora Neale Hurston’s rediscovered classic Barracoon, an immersive and revelatory history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on US soil, told through the stories of its survivors–the last documented survivors of any slave ship–whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways.

The Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on American soil, docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860–more than half a century after the passage of a federal law banning the importation of captive Africans, and nine months before the beginning of the Civil War. The last of its survivors lived well into the twentieth century. They were the last witnesses to the final act of a terrible and significant period in world history.

In this epic work, Dr. Hannah Durkin tells the stories of the Clotilda’s 110 captives, drawing on her intensive archival, historical, and sociological research. The Survivors of the Clotilda follows their lives from their kidnappings in what is modern-day Nigeria through a terrifying 45-day journey across the Middle Passage; from the subsequent sale of the ship’s 103 surviving children and young people into slavery across Alabama to the dawn of the Civil Rights movement in Selma; from the foundation of an all-Black African Town (later Africatown) in Northern Mobile–an inspiration for writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston–to the foundation of the quilting community of Gee’s Bend–a Black artistic circle whose cultural influence remains enormous.

An astonishing, deeply compelling tapestry of history, biography, and social commentary, The Survivors of the Clotilda is a tour de force that deepens our knowledge and understanding of the Black experience and of America and its tragic past.

The Survivors of the Clotilda includes 30 artworks and photographs.


Click for more detail about Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin by Michelle Meadows Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin

by Michelle Meadows
HarperCollins (Jan 30, 2024)
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Celebrate James Baldwin’s one-hundredth birthday anniversary with the first-ever illustrated biography of this legendary writer, orator, activist, and intellectual.

Before he became a writer, James “Jimmy” Baldwin was a young boy from Harlem, New York, who loved stories. He found joy in the rhythm of music, family, and books.

But Jimmy also found the blues, as a Black man living in America.

When he discovered the written word, he discovered true power. Writing gave him a voice. And that voice opened the world to Jimmy. From the publication of the groundbreaking collection of essays The Fire Next Time to his passionate demonstrations during the civil rights movement, Jimmy used his voice fearlessly.

Michelle Meadows, author of Brave Ballerina and Flying High, introduces young readers to the great American novelist, essayist, poet, playwright, orator, and artist James Baldwin, who, with the fire of his pen, dared a nation to dream of a more equitable world filled with love. Brought to life with warm illustrations by Jamiel Law, Jimmy’s Rhythm & Blues chronicles the life of an incredible visionary who left an indelible mark on American literature and history.

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Click for more detail about The American Queen by Vanessa Miller The American Queen

by Vanessa Miller
Thomas Nelson (Jan 30, 2024)
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Hardcover library edition, releasing simultaneously with the paperback!

In 1869 a kingdom rose in the South. And Louella was its queen.

Over the twenty-four years she’s been enslaved on the Montgomery Plantation, Louella learned to feel one thing: hate. Hate for the man who sold her mother. Hate for the overseer who left her daddy to hang from a noose. Hate so powerful there’s no room in her heart for love, not even for the honorable Reverend William, whom she likes and respects enough to marry.

But when William finally listens to Louella’s pleas and leads the formerly enslaved people out of their plantation, Louella begins to replace her hate with hope. Hope that they will find a place where they can live free from fear. Hope that despite her many unanswered prayers, she can learn to trust for new miracles.

Soon, William and Louella become the appointed king and queen of their self-proclaimed Kingdom of the Happy Land. And though they are still surrounded by opposition, they continue to share a message of joy and goodness—and fight for the freedom and dignity of all.

Transformative and breathtakingly honest, The American Queen shares the unsung true history of a kingdom built as a refuge for the courageous people who dared to dream of a different way of life.


Click for more detail about A Crown of Stories: The Life and Language of Beloved Writer Toni Morrison by Carole Boston Weatherford A Crown of Stories: The Life and Language of Beloved Writer Toni Morrison

by Carole Boston Weatherford
Quill Tree Books (Jan 30, 2024)
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Click for more detail about I Did a New Thing: 30 Days to Living Free by Tabitha Brown I Did a New Thing: 30 Days to Living Free

by Tabitha Brown
William Morrow & Company (Jan 30, 2024)
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New York Times Bestseller

“America’s Mom” Tabitha Brown presents an inspirational guide for encouraging positive changes in your life—one day and one challenge at a time.

I did a new thing today!

Years ago, Tabitha Brown started a 30-day personal challenge that she called “I Did a New Thing!” The challenge was simple. Every day she would do something she’d never done before. Sometimes it was something small like trying a new food. Other times, she’d step it up a bit and speak to someone she’d never spoken to before. Still other times, she’d do the hard thing—facing a fear that she had, like having that tough conversation with a friend. No matter what it was, the point was that she was going to take a leap of faith and watch God open up a new lane for her.

One of the “new things” she tried was a vegan challenge. She’d been struggling with illness for nearly a year and was desperately searching for healing. She challenged herself to eat vegan every day for thirty days, and six years later, her life has never been the same—all because she decided to do a new thing.

In I Did a New Thing, Tab shares her own stories and those of others, alongside gentle guidance and encouragement to create these incredible changes for yourself and see what good can come from them. Whether that means having the hard conversation or trying for a promotion or simply wearing something different or doing something kind for someone else, Tab has a plan for you: Try one new thing, every single day, for thirty days. You don’t have to wait until Monday or the beginning of a new month or year to get started. There’s no set time and place or any extra preparation required. All you have to do is show up for yourself. And that can start right now.


Click for more detail about The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel by ReShonda Tate Billingsley The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
William Morrow & Company (Jan 30, 2024)
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Bestselling author ReShonda Tate presents a fascinating fictional portrait of Hattie McDaniel, one of Hollywood’s most prolific but woefully underappreciated stars—and the first Black person ever to win an Oscar for her role as Mammy in the critically acclaimed film classic Gone With the Wind.

It was supposed to be the highlight of her career, the pinnacle for which she’d worked all her life. And as Hattie McDaniel took the stage in 1940 to claim an honor that would make her the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award, she tearfully took her place in history. Between personal triumphs and tragedies, heartbreaking losses, and severe setbacks, this historic night of winning best supporting actress for her role as the sassy Mammy in the controversial movie Gone With the Wind was going to be life-changing. Or so she thought.

Months after winning the award, not only did the Oscar curse set in where Hattie couldn’t find work, but she found herself thrust in the middle of two worlds—Black and White—and not being welcomed in either. Whites only saw her as Mammy and Blacks detested the demeaning portrayal. As the NAACP waged an all-out war against Hattie and actors like her, the emotionally conflicted actor found herself struggling daily.

Through it all, Hattie continued her fight to pave a path for other Negro actors, while focusing on war efforts, fighting housing discrimination, and navigating four failed marriages. Luckily, she had a core group of friends to help her out—from Clark Gable to Louise Beavers to Ruby Berkley Goodwin and Dorothy Dandridge.

The Queen of Sugar Hill brings to life the powerful story of one woman who was driven by many passions—ambition, love, sex, family, friendship, and equality. In re-creating Hattie’s story, ReShonda Tate delivers an unforgettable novel of resilience, dedication, and determination—about what it takes to achieve your dreams—even when everything—and everyone—is against you.


Click for more detail about And Then We Rise: A Guide to Loving and Taking Care of Self by Common And Then We Rise: A Guide to Loving and Taking Care of Self

by Common
HarperOne (Jan 23, 2024)
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From the multi-award-winning performer, author, and activist, a comprehensive program for addressing mental and physical health—and encouraging communities to do the same.

Common has achieved success in many facets of his life and career, from music to acting to writing. But for a long time, he didn’t feel that he had found fulfillment in his body and spirit.

And Then We Rise is about Common’s journey to wellness as a vital element of his success. A testimony to the benefits of self-care, this book is composed of four different sections, each with its own important lessons: “The Food” focuses on nutrition. “The Body” focuses on fitness. “The Mind” focuses on mental health. And “The Soul” focuses on perhaps the most profound thing of all—spiritual well-being.

Common’s personal stories act as the backbone of his book, but he also wants to give his readers the gift of professional expertise. Here, he acts as the liaison to his own nutritionist and chef, his own physical trainer, and his own therapist, as well as to those who act as his spiritual influences.

Wise, accessible, and powerful, And Then We Rise offers a comprehensive, holistic approach to wellness that will allow readers to transform their thinking, their actions, and, ultimately, their lives.


Click for more detail about Between Two Brothers by Crystal Allen Between Two Brothers

by Crystal Allen
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Jan 23, 2024)
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Inspired by real events, Between Two Brothers is a powerful and uplifting story about forgiveness, brotherhood, and the power of a family’s unconditional love, from Crystal Allen, the acclaimed author of How Lamar’s Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy and the Magnificent Mya Tibbs series. Perfect for readers who loved Fish in a Tree and Out of My Mind.

Isaiah "Ice" Abernathy has always worshiped his older brother, Seth. For years they’ve been not just brothers but best friends—and as Seth starts his senior year, Ice is eager to spend as much time with his brother as he can, making memories before Seth goes to college.

But when Seth announces he’s leaving much earlier than expected, and then he misses an important event—one he’d promised to attend—it causes a major fight.

Filled with regret, Ice plans to apologize to Seth later the next day, but later never comes, as he finds out Seth was in an accident—one that leaves him in the hospital. And the doctors say he may never recover.

Racked by fear and guilt


Click for more detail about Barracoon Adapted for Young Readers: The Story of the Last Black Cargo by Zora Neale Hurston and Adapted by Ibram X. Kendi Barracoon Adapted for Young Readers: The Story of the Last Black Cargo

by Zora Neale Hurston and Adapted by Ibram X. Kendi
Amistad Books for Young Readers (Jan 23, 2024)
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In the first middle grade offering from Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi, young readers are introduced to the remarkable and true-life story of Cudjo Lewis, one of the last survivors of the Atlantic human trade, in an adaptation of the internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed Barracoon.

This is the life story of Cudjo Lewis, as told by himself.

Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America to be enslaved, eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis was then the only person alive to tell the story of his capture and bondage—fifty years after the Atlantic human trade was outlawed in the United States. Cudjo shared his firsthand account with legendary folklorist, anthropologist, and writer Zora Neale Hurston.

Adapted with care and delivered with age-appropriate historical context by award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi, Cudjo’s incredible story is now available for young readers and emerging scholars. With powerful illustrations by Jazzmen Lee-Johnson, this poignant work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture.


Click for more detail about Escaping Mr. Rochester by L.L. McKinney Escaping Mr. Rochester

by L.L. McKinney
HarperTeen (Jan 16, 2024)
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In this fresh reimagining of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel by acclaimed author L. L. McKinney, Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason must save each other from the horrifying machinations of Mr. Rochester in this intrigue-filled, empowering young adult romance.

Jane Eyre has no interest in a husband. Eager to make her own way in the world, she accepts the governess position at Thornfield Hall.

Though her new employer, Edward Rochester, has a charming air—not to mention a handsome face—Jane discovers that his smile can sharpen in an instant. Plagued by Edward’s mercurial mood and the strange wails that echo through the corridors, Jane grows suspicious of the secrets hidden within Thornfield Hall—unaware of the true horrors lurking above her very head.

On the topmost floor, Bertha Mason is trapped in more ways than one. After her whirlwind marriage to Edward turned into a nightmare, he locked her away as revenge for withholding her inheritance. Now his patience grows thin in the face of Bertha’s resilience and Jane’s persistent questions, and both young women are in more danger than they realize.

When their only chance at safety—and perhaps something more—is in each other’s arms, can they find and keep one another safe before Edward’s dark machinations close in around them?


Click for more detail about Forever and Always by Brittany J. Thurman Forever and Always

by Brittany J. Thurman
Greenwillow Books (Jan 16, 2024)
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“This is a picture book that gives oxygen to all the unstated fears, perhaps burning them off. This book offers a reality right out of the headlines, but by leaving it child-sized has a huge impact.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

“A balm for little ones grappling with harsh realities.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In this lyrical picture book from two breakout picture book creators, a young Black child waits for—and worries about—her father while he’s away from home. A sensitive, poignant portrayal of a family’s worries, joys, and comforts, to sit alongside books by Jacqueline Woodson and Christian Robinson.

Every night when Daddy gets home from work, Olivia gives him a big hug and knows that the evening will be full of love—and fun. Together, she, Daddy, and Momma will make a feast for dinner, clean up, dance to old-school tunes, and read stories. But every morning when Daddy goes to work, Olivia worries, worries, worries. Be safe, she and Momma tell him. But what if he isn’t? Sometimes other people aren’t, like the people Olivia sees on the news. Thud, thud, thud, goes Olivia’s heart. Thump, thump, thump, all through the long day, until she hears the jangle of Daddy’s keys announcing he’s home.

Brittany J. Thurman’s poetic text deftly explores the day-to-day life of a young Black child and her family—their joys and their fears—with a rhythm and musicality perfect for reading aloud. Shamar Knight-Justice’s expressive artwork sings with color, texture, and warmth. Forever and Always respects the deep emotions of young readers while offering comfort and reassurance to any child waiting for a loved one to come home. For readers of Nigel and the Moon, The Year We Learned to Fly, and Saturday.


Click for more detail about Of Greed and Glory: In Pursuit of Freedom for All by Deborah G. Plant Of Greed and Glory: In Pursuit of Freedom for All

by Deborah G. Plant
Amistad (Jan 09, 2024)
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A ground-breaking, personal exploration of America’s obsession with continuing human bondage from the editor of the New York Times-bestselling Barracoon.

Freedom and equality are the watchwords of American democracy. But like justice, freedom and equality are meaningless when there is no corresponding practical application of the ideals they represent. Physical, bodily liberty is fundamental to every American’s personal sovereignty. And yet, millions of Americans—including author Deborah Plant’s brother, whose life sentence at Angola Prison reveals a shocking current parallel to her academic work on the history of slavery in America—are deprived of these basic freedoms every day.

In her studies of Zora Neale Hurston, Deborah Plant became fascinated by Hurston’s explanation for the atrocities of the international slave trade. In her memoir, Dust Tracks on a Road, Hurston wrote: “But the inescapable fact that stuck in my craw, was: my people had sold me and the white people had bought me… . It impressed upon me the universal nature of greed and glory.” We look the other way when the basic human rights of marginalized and stigmatized groups are violated and desecrated, not realizing that only the practice of justice everywhere secures justice, for any of us, anywhere.

An active vigilance is required of those who would be and remain free; with Of Greed and Glory, Deborah Plant reveals the many ways in which slavery continues in America today and charts our collective course toward personal sovereignty for all.


Click for more detail about Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—And How You Can, Too by Ijeoma Oluo Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—And How You Can, Too

by Ijeoma Oluo
HarperOne (Jan 09, 2024)
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From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of So You Want to Talk About Race and Mediocre, comes an eye-opening and galvanizing look at the current state of anti-racist activism across America.

In the #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want To Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo offered a vital guide for how to talk about important issues of race and racism in society. In Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, she discussed the ways in which white male supremacy has had an impact on our systems, our culture, and our lives throughout American history. But now that we better understand these systems of oppression, the question is this: What can we do about them?

With Be A Revolution: How Everyday People are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can, Too, Oluo aims to show how people across America are working to create real positive change in our structures. Looking at many of our most powerful systems—like education, media, labor, health, housing, policing, and more—she highlights what people are doing to create change for intersectional racial equity. She also illustrates various ways in which the reader can find entryways into change in these same areas, or can bring some of this important work being done elsewhere to where they live.

This book aims to not only be educational, but to inspire action and change. Oluo wishes to take our conversations on race and racism out of a place of pure pain and trauma, and into a place of loving action. Be A Revolution is both an urgent chronicle of this important moment in history, as well as an inspiring and restorative call for action.


Click for more detail about No Reservations: A Novel of Friendship by Sheryl Lister No Reservations: A Novel of Friendship

by Sheryl Lister
Harper Muse (Jan 09, 2024)
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True friendship never ends. Joy, Diane, Rochelle, and Yvette made a vow as children to be best friends forever, and they’ve kept that promise into their mid-thirties, supporting each other through life’s highs and lows. Their unbreakable bond faces its toughest challenge when a terminal cancer diagnosis reduces their foursome to three.

Yvette’s final gift to her friends is an all-expenses-paid trip to Jamaica, a dream they had always talked about but never realized. This getaway comes as the friends grapple with grief, dashed hopes, and unexpected relationship drama. Joy, tired of putting her spa dreams and an unsupportive husband on hold, decides to move forward with or without him. Diane’s ticking biological clock and her husband’s strange behavior lead her to question her future. Meanwhile, Rochelle, a single mother content with independence, finds her heart struggling against an unexpected new romance.

As they navigate their new normal under Yvette’s guiding spirit, the friends learn to take risks and live life without reservations. No Reservations is praised for its blend of deep emotion and humor, celebrating the power of enduring friendships and sisterhood. It’s a perfect read for fans of Jane Green, Nancy Thayer, and Kimberla Lawson Roby, complete with discussion questions for book clubs.

Praise from Farrah Rochon, New York Times bestselling author of The Hookup Plan: "At times both deeply emotional and heartwarmingly funny, No Reservations encapsulates the beauty of the unbreakable bond of enduring friendships and true sisterhood."


Click for more detail about When I Wrap My Hair by Shauntay Grant When I Wrap My Hair

by Shauntay Grant
Quill Tree Books (Jan 02, 2024)
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Photo from the book, When I Wrap My Hair by Shauntay Grant, Illustrated by Jenin Mohammed

When I wrap my hair, I feel a thousand grandmothers around me.
They tell me I am beautiful.
They tell me I am home.

In this inspiring and powerful ode to hair wrapping, author Shauntay Grant has crafted a poetic, poignant story about how the practice ties together past and present. With vibrant illustrations by Jenin Mohammed, When I Wrap My Hair vividly shows how the act of hair wrapping travels through generations and can bring to mind memories of ancestors who are no longer present. Readers will walk away from this book thinking about the joy of connection and the warmth of family!

In the vein of I Am Enough and Hold Them Close, this inspiring and beautiful picture book celebrates how hair wrapping ties together past and present.

When I wrap,
my roots run deep.
As deep as an African marketplace
or a city sidewalk
or the stories between them.

When I Wrap My Hair is both an act of joyful recognition and a demonstration of how knowledge is passed through generations.


Click for more detail about Your Voice, Your Vote by Leah Henderson Your Voice, Your Vote

by Leah Henderson
HarperCollins (Dec 19, 2023)
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Discover both the past and present day’s fight to vote with Quetta Little as she learns the power of casting your vote in this ideal picture book from acclaimed author Leah Henderson and illustrator Keisha Morris. The perfect companion for any young reader during election year!

It’s Election Day, and Quetta, her mother, and her grandmother embark on their journey to cast their vote. Trekking through their vibrant neighborhood, they meet obstacle after obstacle before—and after—reaching their voting station.

Unwilling to give up, Quetta’s mother and grandmother teach her about the importance of voting and those who fought for their right—and Quetta comes to discover the power of raising her voice.

With warm illustrations, engaging text, and insightful timeline, Your Voice, Your Vote will inspire readers to embrace this civic duty in the face of today’s continued fight for voting rights.


Click for more detail about Rebecca, Not Becky by Christine Platt and Catherine Wigginton Greene Rebecca, Not Becky

by Christine Platt and Catherine Wigginton Greene
Amistad (Dec 05, 2023)
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In the vein of Such a Fun Age, a whip-smart, compulsively readable novel about two upper-class stay-at-home mothers—one white, one Black—living in a "perfect" suburb that explores motherhood, friendship, and the true meaning of sisterhood amidst the backdrop of America’s all-too-familiar racial reckoning.

De’Andrea Whitman, her husband Malik, and their five-year-old daughter, Nina, are new to the upper-crust white suburb of Rolling Hills, Virginia—a move motivated by circumstance rather than choice. De’Andrea is heartbroken to leave her comfortable life in the Black oasis of Atlanta, and between her mother-in-law’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, her daughter starting kindergarten, and the overwhelming whiteness of Rolling Hills, she finds herself struggling to adjust to her new community. To ease the transition, her therapist proposes a challenge: make a white girlfriend.

When Rebecca Myland learns about her new neighbors, the Whitmans, she’s thrilled. As chair of the Parent Diversity Committee at her daughters’ school, she’s championed racial diversity in the community—and what could be better than a brand-new Black family? It’s serendipitous when her daughter, Isabella, and Nina become best friends on the first day of kindergarten. Now, Rebecca can put everything she’s learned about antiracism into practice—especially those oh-so-informative social media posts. And finally, the Parent Diversity Committee will have some… well, diversity.

Following her therapist’s suggestion, De’Andrea reluctantly joins Rebecca’s committee. The painfully earnest white woman is so overly eager it makes De’Andrea wonder if Rebecca’s therapist told her to make a Black friend! But when Rolling Hill’s rising racial sentiments bring the two women together in common cause, they find it isn’t the only thing they have in common… .


Click for more detail about In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose by Alice Walker In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose

by Alice Walker
Amistad (Nov 28, 2023)
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In this groundbreaking classic essay collection, Alice Walker speaks out as a Black woman, writer, mother, and feminist on topics ranging from the personal to the political.

This edition includes a new Letter to the Reader by Alice Walker.

Originally published forty years ago, Alice Walker’s first collection of nonfiction is a dazzling compendium that remains both timely and relevant. In these thirty-six essays, Walker contemplates her own work and that of other writers, considers the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s, and writes vividly and courageously about a scarring childhood injury. Throughout, Walker explores the theories and practices of feminism, incorporating what she calls the “womanist” tradition of black women—insights that are vital to understanding our lives and society today.

“When I graduated from college, my father gave me Alice Walker’s In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens. It was a beaten-up paperback in 1999, and it’s even more battered now.” —Jesmyn Ward


Click for more detail about Killing the Image: A Champion’s Journey of Faith, Fighting, and Forgiveness by Andre Ward with Nick Chiles Killing the Image: A Champion’s Journey of Faith, Fighting, and Forgiveness

by Andre Ward with Nick Chiles
Harper Horizon (Nov 14, 2023)
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In this inspiring memoir, undefeated five-time world champion boxer Andre Ward—aka “Son of God” —shares the gripping narrative of his unforgettable career, his rock-solid faith, and why boxing was never the biggest fight of his life.

Andre Ward was the undefeated light heavyweight boxing champion of the world when he walked away from the ring and did not look back. Now that he has taken off his gloves for the final time, the Olympic gold medalist is ready to share the heartbreaking and uplifting stories of his formative years and unprecedented boxing career. Motivational, faith-building, and utterly compelling, this memoir offers:

  • an inspiring story of overcoming a broken childhood
  • behind-the-scenes drama from Andre’s epic championship bouts, complicated relationships with managers and promoters, and shocking decision to retire at the top of his game
  • insight into breaking destructive generational bonds, forgiving those who have hurt us, and moving toward hope
  • a challenge to live out our faith without compromise

Rich with colorful characters, fascinating detail, and biblical truths, this is the story of a man known for his integrity outside the ring, his warrior’s instinct inside it, and his unrelenting bond with the God who called him to the greatest victory of all.


Click for more detail about Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, a Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor by Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll Jr. Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, a Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor

by Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll Jr.
Harper Select (Nov 14, 2023)
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“A fast-paced debut…Espionage buffs will savor this vibrant account.&rdquoPublishers Weekly

Hawaii, 1941. War clouds with Japan are gathering and the islands of Hawaii have become battlegrounds of spies, intelligence agents, and military officials - with the island’s residents caught between them. Toiling in the shadows are Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather information on the U.S. fleet.

Douglas Wada’s experiences in his native Honolulu include posing undercover as a newspaper reporter, translating wiretaps on the Japanese Consulate, and interrogating America’s first captured POW of World War II, a submarine officer found on the beach. Takeo Yoshikawa is a Japanese spy operating as a junior diplomat with the consulate who is collecting vital information that goes straight to Admiral Yamamoto. Their dueling stories anchor Ghosts of Honolulu’s gripping depiction of the world-changing cat and mouse games played between Japanese and US military intelligence agents (and a mercenary Nazi) in Hawaii before the outbreak of the second world war.

Also caught in the upheaval are Honolulu’s innocent residents - including Douglas Wada’s father - who endure the war’s anti-Japanese fervor and a cadre of intelligence professionals who must prevent Hawaii from adopting the same destructive mass internments as California.

Scrutinizing long-buried historical documents, NCIS star Mark Harmon and co-author Leon Carroll, a former NCIS Special Agent, have brought forth a true-life NCIS story of deception, discovery, and danger. Ghosts of Honolulu depicts the incredible high stakes game of naval intelligence and the need to define what is real and what only appears to be real.


Click for more detail about Make Money Move: A Guide to Financial Wellness by Lauren Simmons Make Money Move: A Guide to Financial Wellness

by Lauren Simmons
Amistad (Nov 07, 2023)
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The popular host of the Money Moves podcast and youngest person ever to trade on the New York Stock Exchange provides winning tips for women to help them shift their financial mindset, become confident about their money, set them on a path to financial security, and live their best lives.

“Seventy three percent of Americans ranked their finances as the number one cause of stress in their lives. But financial wellness can have a positive effect on your entire life. Not only when it comes to money and finances, but the quality and ease of how you live. Financial wellness means freedom for your body and freedom for your mind. Financial stress can also cause the breakdown of relationships. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”—Lauren Simmons

In 2017, when she was only twenty-two, Lauren Simmons became the youngest full-time female trader at the New York Stock Exchange, and the second African American woman in the Exchange’s 228-year history to hold such a position. Driven by a passion for empowering women, Millennials, Gen Zs, and minorities to become more financially savvy, she now shares her experience and knowledge in this savvy financial guide.

Simmons brings a fresh perspective to personal finance: she is a young African American woman with an understanding of how to increase wealth and an awareness of generational and cultural barriers—such an income inequity—that can hold people back from taking financial risks. In her warm, down-to-earth voice, Simmons makes confusing topics easy to understand. She breaks down the pros and cons of buying stocks and Treasuries, explains how to maximize your 401K opportunities even in challenging economic times, advises how to grapple with student loans, and helps you break family cycles when dealing (or not) with debt.

Simmons helps a new generation and others who have been overlooked learn how to take care of their money—so their money can take care of them, today and tomorrow.


Click for more detail about Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement by Tanisha C. Ford Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement

by Tanisha C. Ford
Amistad (Oct 24, 2023)
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An engrossing social history of the unsinkable Mollie Moon, the stylish founder of the National Urban League Guild and fundraiser extraordinaire who reigned over the glittering "Beaux Arts Ball," the social event of New York and Harlem society for fifty years—a glamorous event rivalling today’s Met Gala, drawing America’s wealthy and cultured, both Black and white.

Our Secret Society brilliantly illuminates a little-known yet highly significant aspect of the civil rights movement that has been long overlooked—the powerhouse fundraising effort that supported the movement—the luncheons, galas, cabarets, and traveling exhibitions attended by middle-class and working-class Black families, the Negro press, and titans of industry, including Winthrop Rockefeller.

No one knew this world better or ruled over it with more authority than Mollie Moon. With her husband Henry Lee Moon, the longtime publicist for the NAACP, Mollie became half of one of the most influential couples of the period. Vivacious and intellectually curious, Mollie frequently hosted political salons attended by guests ranging from Langston Hughes to Lorraine Hansberry. As the president of the National Urban League Guild, the fundraising arm of the National Urban League; Mollie raised millions to fund grassroots activists battling for economic justice and racial equality. She was a force behind the mutual aid network that connected Black churches, domestic and blue-collar laborers, social clubs, and sororities and fraternities across the country.

Historian and cultural critic Tanisha C. Ford brings Mollie into focus as never before, charting her rise from Jim Crow Mississippi to doyenne of Manhattan and Harlem, where she became one of the most influential philanthropists of her time—a woman feared, resented, yet widely respected. She chronicles Mollie’s larger-than-life antics through exhaustive research, never-before-revealed letters, and dozens of interviews.

Our Secret Society ushers us into a world with its own rhythm and rules, led by its own Who’s Who of African Americans in politics, sports, business, and entertainment. It is both a searing portrait of a remarkable period in America, spanning from the early 1930s through the late 1960s, and a strategic economic blueprint today’s activists can emulate.

Our Secret Society includes 16 pages of never-before-seen photographs.


Click for more detail about Everything Is Not Enough by Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström Everything Is Not Enough

by Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström
William Morrow & Company (Oct 24, 2023)
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From Lola Akinmade Åkerström, international bestselling author of In Every Mirror She’s Black, comes the highly anticipated second novel, focusing on the lives of three Black women as they fight their own personal struggles in one of the most egalitarian societies, Sweden.

Can a career woman truly have it all?

Powerful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi has finally found the man she needs, but Tobias Wikström thinks she’s the most selfish woman he has ever met for asking him to give up his life in Sweden and move to the US for her own comfort. Will Kemi be forced to stay if she wants to keep him while chipping away at her hard-earned career? As things begin to sour and challenge her relationship with Tobias, someone else moves back into the picture.

Can having it all be a gilded cage?

Looking into divorce in Sweden isn’t what former model-turned-flight attendant Brittany-Rae von Lundin anticipated. Only jointly owned assets are split evenly between couples. Brittany gave up her career and came with nothing into Jonny’s kingdom. Having had a child with him, her greatest fear for Maya includes being cut off from the resources she’s become accustomed to. With a man obsessed with a ghost, trying to get away isn’t going to be easy. And the deeper she digs into his past, the darker the secrets she unravels.

Can you run from your past to have it all?

After fleeing her home through a client to seek a new life in Sweden, Yasmiin finds love in the arms of Yagiz Çelik while carving out her own small corner. But as someone from her past forces Yasmiin to become a caretaker before she’s ready, she now must confront and move beyond her teenage history, while following her dreams of becoming a makeup artist.

Everything Is Not Enough follows the loosely intertwined and messy lives of Kemi, Brittany, and Yasmiin as they interrogate themes of place, prejudice, and patriarchy in Europe, proving—yet again—that Lola Akinmade Åkerström is the next great voice of nuanced contemporary women’s fiction.


Click for more detail about Guru by RuPaul Guru

by RuPaul
Dey Street Books (Oct 23, 2023)
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Foreword by Jane Fonda

A timeless collection of philosophies from renaissance performer and the world’s most famous shape-shifter RuPaul, whose sage outlook has created an unprecedented career for more than thirty-five years. GuRu is packed with more than 80 beautiful photographs that illustrate the concept of building the life you want from the outside in and the inside out.

“You’re born naked and the rest is drag.”

As someone who has deconstructed life’s hilarious facade, RuPaul has broken “the fourth wall” to expand on the concept of mind, body, and spirit. This unique perspective has allowed RuPaul to break the shackles of self-imposed limitations, but reader beware, this is a daily practice that requires diligence and touchstones to keep you walking in the sunshine of the spirit. Once you’re willing to look beyond the identity that was given to you, a hidden world of possibilities will open its doors.

Throughout the history of humans on this planet, there’ve always been shaman, seers, and mediums who are able to interpret both high and low frequencies and remind humans to look beyond the surface for the truth of who we really are. And who we really are is an extension of the power that created the universe (aka: God in drag). FYI: most people are not willing to hear or accept that.

That is RuPaul’s secret for success, not only in show business, but in all aspects of life, especially in navigating the emotional landmines that inhibit most sweet, sensitive souls.

If you think this book is just about “doing drag,” you are sorely mistaken because for RuPaul, drag is merely a device to deactivate the identity-based ego and allow space for the unlimited.


Click for more detail about Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism and What We Can Do to Fix It by Adia Harvey Wingfield Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism and What We Can Do to Fix It

by Adia Harvey Wingfield
Amistad (Oct 17, 2023)
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A leading sociologist reveals why racial inequality persists in the workplace despite today’s multi-billion-dollar diversity industry—and provides actional solutions for creating a truly equitable, multiracial future.

Labor and race have shared a complex, interconnected history in America. For decades, key aspects of work—from getting a job to workplace norms to advancement and mobility—ignored and failed Black people. While explicit discrimination no longer occurs, and organizations make internal and public pledges to honor and achieve “diversity,” inequities persist through what Adia Harvey Wingfield calls the “gray areas: ” the relationships, networks, and cultural dynamics integral to companies that are now more important than ever. The reality is that Black employees are less likely to be hired, stall out at middle levels, and rarely progress to senior leadership positions.

Wingfield has spent a decade examining inequality in the workplace, interviewing over two hundred Black subjects across professions about their work lives. In Gray Areas, she introduces seven of them: Alex, a worker in the gig economy Max, an emergency medicine doctor; Constance, a chemical engineer; Brian, a filmmaker; Amalia, a journalist; Darren, a corporate vice president; and Kevin, who works for a nonprofit.

In this accessible and important antiracist work, Wingfield chronicles their experiences and blends them with history and surprising data that starkly show how old models of work are outdated and detrimental. She demonstrates the scope and breadth of gray areas and offers key insights and suggestions for how they can be fixed, including shifting hiring practices to include Black workers; rethinking organizational cultures to centralize Black employees’ experience; and establishing pathways that move capable Black candidates into leadership roles. These reforms would create workplaces that reflect America’s increasingly diverse population—professionals whose needs organizations today are ill-prepared to meet.

It’s time to prepare for a truly equitable, multiracial future and move our culture forward. To do so, we must address the gray areas in our workspaces today. This definitive work shows us how.

Gray Areas includes 15 black-and-white images and a photo insert.


Click for more detail about Worthy by Jada Pinkett Smith Worthy

by Jada Pinkett Smith
Dey Street Books (Oct 17, 2023)
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A gripping, at times painfully honest, and ultimately inspirational memoir from global superstar and creator of the Red Table Talk series Jada Pinkett Smith.

Jada Pinkett Smith was living what many would view as a fairy-tale of Hollywood success. But appearances can be deceiving, and as she felt more and more separated from her sense of self, emotional turmoil took hold. Sparing no detail, Worthy chronicles her life—from a rebellious youth running the Baltimore streets as an observer and participant in the drug trade, to the deep bond she shared with Tupac Shakur from the moment they met, to her move to Los Angeles and the successful career she built on her own terms, to becoming the wife of superstar Will Smith and mother


Click for more detail about Opinions by Roxane Gay Opinions

by Roxane Gay
Harper (Oct 10, 2023)
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From beloved and bestselling author Roxane Gay, “a strikingly fresh cultural critic” (Washington Post) comes an exhilarating collection of her essays on culture, politics, and everything in between.

Since the publication of the groundbreaking Bad Feminist and Hunger, Roxane Gay has continued to tackle big issues embroiling society—state-sponsored violence and mass shootings, women’s rights post-Dobbs, online disinformation, and the limits of empathy—alongside more individually personalized matters: can I tell my co-worker her perfume makes me sneeze? Is it acceptable to schedule a daily 8 am meeting? In her role as a New York Times opinion section contributor and the publication’s “Work Friend” columnist, she reaches millions of readers with her wise voice and sharp insights.

Opinions is a collection of Roxane Gay’s best nonfiction pieces from the past ten years. Covering a wide range of topics—politics, feminism, the culture wars, civil rights, and much more—with an all-new introduction in which she reflects on the past decade in America, this sharp, thought-provoking anthology will delight Roxane Gay’s devotees and draw new readers to this inimitable talent.


Click for more detail about Snow Place Like Home: A Christmas Novel by Lacey Baker Snow Place Like Home: A Christmas Novel

by Lacey Baker
Thomas Nelson (Oct 10, 2023)
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A romantic holiday novel
Perfect for fans of Nancy Naigle and Brenda Jackson
Includes discussion questions for book clubs

On a rare trip home for the holidays, Ella may have finally uncovered the secret to a joy-filled future by getting lost in her past.

Ella Wilson has avoided home and the holidays for nearly a decade. For her, the season is plagued by a jinx that’s brought nothing but painful memories: her mother’s death nearly two decades ago, her fiancé’s abandonment last year, and now the loss of her job as an art curator. But without work to occupy her, home is exactly where Ella has ended up. And somehow, she’s also been roped into planning the town’s Christmas tree auction—side by side with her first love.

Seth Hamil knows that home is where the heart is, and for him, it’s always been the sleepy community of Bellepoint, Pennsylvania … and for a while in high school that included Ella Wilson. Since then, he’s been married and widowed and has spent the year throwing himself into his career as a music teacher and trying to keep his wife’s memory alive, starting with the church fundraiser she launched to support local kids. So, despite their history, Seth isn’t about to let his wife’s vision for the event be easily dismissed by Ella’s temporary presence and big-city ideas.

To find a way to work together, the two strike a deal: Ella can incorporate her splashy ideas into the auction if she will allow Seth to show her why Christmas is about more than decorations. Soon both begin to wonder whether fate has brought them together for a fresh start—and if Christmas wishes really can come true.


Click for more detail about Homeward by Angela Jackson-Brown Homeward

by Angela Jackson-Brown
Harper Muse (Oct 10, 2023)
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The country is changing, and her own world is being turned upside down. Nothing—and no one—will ever be the same.

Georgia, 1962. Rose Perkins Bourdon returns home to Parsons, GA, without her husband and pregnant with another man’s baby. After tragedy strikes her husband in the war overseas, a numb Rose is left with pieces of who she used to be and is forced to figure out what she is going to do with the rest of her life. Her sister introduces her to members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—young people are taking risks and fighting battles Rose has only seen on television. Feeling emotions for the first time in what feels like forever, the excited and frightened Rose finds herself becoming increasingly involved in the resistance efforts. And of course, there is also the young man, Isaac Weinberg, whose passion for activism stirs something in her she didn’t think she would ever feel again.

Homeward follows Rose’s path toward self-discovery and growth as she becomes involved in the Civil Rights Movement, finally becoming the woman she has always dreamed of being.


Click for more detail about The Blackwoods by Brandy Colbert The Blackwoods

by Brandy Colbert
Balzer + Bray (Oct 03, 2023)
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From Boston Globe/Horn Book Award-winning author Brandy Colbert comes the story of four generations of a Hollywood family—an unforgettable tale of ambition, fame, struggle, loss, and love in America.

The Blackwoods. Everyone knows their name.

Blossom Blackwood burst onto the silver screen in 1962, and in the decades that followed, she would become one of the most celebrated actors of our time—and the matriarch of the most famous Black family in Hollywood. To her great-granddaughters, Hollis and Ardith, she has always just been Bebe. And when she passes away, it changes everything.

Hollis Blackwood was never interested in fame. Still, she’s surrounded by it, whether at home with her family or at the prestigious Dupree Academy among Los Angeles’ elite. When private photos of Hollis are leaked in the wake of Blossom’s death, she is thrust into the spotlight she’s long avoided—and finds that trust may be a luxury even she can’t afford.

Ardith Blackwood has always lived in the public eye. A television star since childhood, she was perhaps closer with Blossom than anyone—especially after Ardith’s mother died in a drug overdose. Ever since, she has worked to be everything her family, her church, and the public want her to be. But as a family secret comes to light and the pressures from all sides begin to mount, she wonders what is left beneath the face she shows the world.

Weaving together the narratives of Hollis, Ardith, and Blossom, award-winning author Brandy Colbert tells an unforgettable story set in an America where everything is personal, and nothing is private.


Click for more detail about Treasure Island: Runaway Gold by Jewell Parker Rhodes Treasure Island: Runaway Gold

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Quill Tree Books (Oct 03, 2023)
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Jewell Parker Rhodes has written a version of Treasure Island like none you’ve never seen—one that takes the reader through little-known Black history, and under the city of Manhattan itself.

Bestselling and award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes reimagines the classic novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson in this thrilling adventure set in modern-day Manhattan, in which three children must navigate the city’s hidden history, dodge a threatening crew of skater kids, and decide who they can really trust in order to hunt down a long-buried treasure.

Three kids. One dog. And the island of Manhattan, laid out in an old treasure map.

Zane is itching for an adventure that will take him away from his family’s boarding house in Rockaway, Queens. So when he is entrusted with a real treasure map, leading to a spot somewhere in Manhattan, Zane wastes no time in riding the ferry over to the city to start the search with his friends Kiko and Jack and his dog, Hip-Hop.

Through strange coincidence, they meet a man who is eager to help them find the treasure: John, a sailor who knows all about the buried history of Black New Yorkers of centuries past—and the gold that is hidden somewhere in those stories.

As a vicious rival skateboard crew follows them around the city, Zane and his friends begin to wonder who they can really trust. And soon it becomes clear that treasure hunting is a dangerous business…


Click for more detail about Black Girls by Dominique Furukawa Black Girls

by Dominique Furukawa
HarperCollins (Sep 26, 2023)
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A joyful love letter to every Black girl everywhere.

In an upbeat and rhythmic ode, Dominique Furukawa and Erika Lynne Jones celebrate Black girls in all their beauty and joy. Black Girls uplifts girls of every shade, size, and walk of life, reminding them that they are perfectly designed.

Whimsical, earnest, charming, full, bright, and beautiful, this picture book anthem deftly explores the diversity of Black girlhood.

Black girls, Black girls, rising still.
Shouting loud and proud and free,
that being a Black girl, Black girl
is a wondrous thing to be.

Image from the book Black Girls Illustrated by Erika Lynne Jones


Image from the book Black Girls Illustrated by Erika Lynne Jones


Click for more detail about I’m from by Gary Gray, Jr. I’m from

by Gary Gray, Jr.
Balzer + Bray (Sep 19, 2023)
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Collects Shuri #1 and #6-7, Marvel Action: Black Panther #5-6 and material from Marvel’s Voices #1.

Shuri, princess of Wakanda, has one of the bravest souls and most brilliant minds in the Marvel-Verse - and these are the tales that prove it! She’s happiest in a lab, surrounded by gadgets. But when her brother T’Challa goes missing, will Shuri step up for the sake of Wakanda? Shuri’s search takes her to New York City, where a wild adventure awaits alongside two of America’s finest young heroes, Miles Morales and Kamala Khan! Then, it’s a high-tech, high-octane race against the X-Men’s engineer Forge and several other gearheads - but Shuri always plays to win! And when one of the Black Panther’s advisors suffers an injury, a wicked curse sends T’Challa and Shuri on an epic quest where nothing is as it seems!


Click for more detail about All Hope Is Found: Rediscovering the Joy of Expectation by Sarah Jakes Roberts All Hope Is Found: Rediscovering the Joy of Expectation

by Sarah Jakes Roberts
Thomas Nelson (Sep 19, 2023)
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Hope is not a wish waiting to come true. It’s not an external desire waiting to be realized. Hope is an ever-present reality regardless of how dire a situation may seem.

Undoubtedly, there are moments when hope is obscure. That’s because hope has many hiding places. It hides behind heartbreak, camouflages in stress, and disguises itself in grief. It only takes a few disappointments before our expectations are hijacked by doubt and disbelief. Hope is easy to lose and hard to find, but there is never a season when hope is out of reach.

All Hope is Found, by bestselling author of Woman Evolve Sarah Jakes Roberts, will show:

  • Hope can be broken.
  • Hope can be reframed.
  • Hope can be put to work.
  • Hope can spread.

Inspiring you towards the pursuit of hope with a lens of compassion, Sarah serves as a guide who exposes the hidden hope that awaits you each day. Sarah is not shaking up your life with renewed expectation and the epic pursuit of hope for you to go back to your norm. She wants you to get out of your comfort zone and into your go zone—the space where the abnormal eventually becomes comfortable because you refused to give up.

All Hope is Found:

  • Has reflection questions at the end of each chapter for personal growth and development
  • Is great for small group discussions or book clubs
  • Perfect for Christmas or holiday gift giving and sharing the joy of life


Click for more detail about Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

by Michael Harriot
Dey Street Books (Sep 19, 2023)
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From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans.

America’s backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It is the story of the pilgrims on the Mayflower building a new nation. It is George Washington’s cherry tree and Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin. It is the fantastic tale of slaves that spontaneously teleported themselves here with nothing but strong backs and negro spirituals. It is a sugarcoated legend based on an almost true story.

It should come as no surprise that the dominant narrative of American history is blighted with errors and oversights—after all, history books were written by white men with their perspectives at the forefront. It could even be said that the devaluation and erasure of the Black experience is as American as apple pie.

In Black AF History, Michael Harriot presents a more accurate version of American history. Combining unapologetically provocative storytelling with meticulous research based on primary sources as well as the work of pioneering Black historians, scholars, and journalists, Harriot removes the white sugarcoating from the American story, placing Black people squarely at the center. With incisive wit, Harriot speaks hilarious truth to oppressive power, subverting conventional historical narratives with little-known stories about the experiences of Black Americans. From the African Americans who arrived before 1619 to the unenslavable bandit who inspired America’s first police force, this long overdue corrective provides a revealing look into our past that is as urgent as it is necessary. For too long, we have refused to acknowledge that American history is white history. Not this one. This history is Black AF.


Click for more detail about Flipping Boxcars by Cedric the Entertainer Flipping Boxcars

by Cedric the Entertainer
Amistad (Sep 12, 2023)
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The first novel from one of the original Kings of Comedy, Cedric “The Entertainer,” an engaging and entertaining crime caper that is a valentine to close-knit black families and tightly woven communities struggling to get by during the Depression and World War II.

Babe is a charismatic and widely loved man, a gambler with a gift for gab that often gets him out of tricky situations. He’s also a dreamer, something he shares with his patient and loving wife, Rosie. They both yearn for financial stability and see the land they own as insurance for future generations. But when Babe and a few comrades enlist in a scheme that improbably falls apart, he endangers the little security the family has.

On the verge of losing everything, what’s a family man to do?

If you’re a gambler like Babe, you double down and risk it all for one big score—this time, a plan involving railroad boxcars.

Will Babe succeed? Will Rosie continue to support her husband? Are the Feds on to his make-or-break scheme?

Flipping Boxcars is Cedric “The Entertainer” at his most engaging best—a charming, fast-paced novel that pays homage to his beloved grandfather and a generation past, anchored by rich, multi-dimensional characters and oozing with irresistible charm.


Click for more detail about The Light on Halsey Street by Vanessa Miller The Light on Halsey Street

by Vanessa Miller
Thomas Nelson (Sep 05, 2023)
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Inspirational Christian fiction, Perfect for fans of Tara M. Stringfellow, Terry McMillan, and Kimberla Lawson Roby

Two girls’ lives are irrevocably intertwined the summer of 1985 in the streets of Brooklyn, New York, and neither will ever be the same in this coming-of-age story that spans decades.

In the summer of 1985, Lisa Whitaker is a church kid headed to college on a scholarship while her best friend, Dana, is floundering in the wake of her mother’s latest eviction. Though Lisa tries to help, their paths diverge. Fifteen years later, Lisa has a beautiful family and is stepping into her dream job as the director for a social services organization. Everything is going right—until her future is snatched away by identity theft. Her life begins to unravel, and Lisa wants nothing more than to see the woman responsible pay for her crimes.

When she was a teenager, Dana Jones always felt alone in this world. Her mother was addicted to drugs, her boyfriend was entering a life of crime, and it seemed Dana, too, was heading down the wrong path. The only bright light was her friendship with Lisa. Now, in the new millennium, Dana finally gives herself permission to dream—to believe she is stepping into better days. But when the betrayal of their friendship comes to light, it will take a lifetime to forgive the destruction that youthful summer in Bed-Stuy set in motion.

In this latest story from beloved author Vanessa Miller, two girls from the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, find that their paths have been woven together by the love of community and a friendship that is tested by time, betrayal, and unforgiveness.


Click for more detail about Makeda Makes a Birthday Treat by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich Makeda Makes a Birthday Treat

by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Sep 05, 2023)
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The first title in a delightful new Level 2 I Can Read! series from acclaimed author Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and illustrator Lydia Mba, starring Makeda, an exuberant 7-year-old "maker" and problem solver who loves to create. Perfect for readers who love Rosie Revere, Engineer, and Reina Ramos Works It Out.

It’s Makeda’s birthday! To celebrate, she is excited to make her marvelous coconut drops to share with the class.

But everyone else brings cupcakes for their birthdays. Will her classmates like her special treat?

Makeda Makes a Birthday Treat is a Level Two I Can Read book, geared for kids who read on their own but still need a little help. Whether shared at home or in a classroom, the engaging stories, longer sentences, and language play of Level Two books are proven to help kids take their next steps toward reading success.


Click for more detail about Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion by Mitchell S. Jackson Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion

by Mitchell S. Jackson
Artisan (Sep 05, 2023)
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Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion serves as both a visual feast and a critical exploration into the fascinating intersection of high fashion and basketball, chronicling its evolution from the league’s inception to the present day. Through vibrant photos and insightful commentary, this book celebrates the iconic style that has come to define NBA athletes.

What’s Inside


This book is divided into chapters that take you through the different eras of basketball fashion, each characterized by unique sartorial and cultural landmarks:

The Inception: 1949 Pre-Civil Rights Movement


In the league’s early years, predominantly white players donned suits and skinny ties, representing the formal fashion trends of the time.

Post-Civil Rights Act: The Flashy Years


The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the rise of funk and R&B influenced a shift in basketball fashion. Icons like Walt "Clyde" Frazier and Wilt Chamberlain made statements with their fur coats and large hats.

The Michael Jordan Era: 1980s and 1990s


Michael Jordan brought a new level of fame to the sport and influenced fashion with his penchant for oversized suits, setting the tone for the era.

The Iverson/Hip-Hop Years: Late 1990s and Early 2000s


The fusion of basketball and hip-hop culture came to the forefront, with players like Allen Iverson influencing fashion in significant ways.

The Modern Era: From Social Media to Activism


Today’s athletes like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Russell Westbrook are not just fashion trendsetters but are also seen as activists and icons, inspiring conversations that go beyond the game and attire.

Why This Book Matters


In the current cultural climate, where athletes are viewed as more than just players on a court, Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion captures the zeitgeist. It not only delves into the fashion choices of these icons but also into the social and cultural contexts that shaped these choices. In a time defined by social media and activism, the book makes it clear: Basketball fashion is not just about clothes; it’s about making a statement, both on and off the court.


Click for more detail about The Secret to a Southern Wedding by Synithia Williams The Secret to a Southern Wedding

by Synithia Williams
Canary Street Press (Aug 15, 2023)
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An emotional and witty story of love, forgiveness, and second chances as the race to the wedding day begins…

It’s been years since Dr. Imani Kemp has returned home to Peachtree Cove, Georgia. As Tallahassee’s most sought-after OB-GYN, she doesn’t have much time for anything else. But when her mom announces she’s marrying a man she just met on a dating app, Imani knows she has to put a stop to it immediately. Let her mom be hurt again after the disastrous way her last marriage ended? Absolutely not. Always her protector, Imani won’t rest until her mom sees reason. She just never expected sparks to fly with the groom’s son…

After his mother’s tragic death, Cyril Dash and his father relocated to Peachtree Cove to escape the gossip and speculation. Now, in this quirky small town, they’ve made a new life for themselves, and after years of grief, his dad has finally found happiness again. And Cyril refuses to let Imani threaten that. The more determined he is to prove the strength of his dad’s love, the more drawn he is to this beautiful, complicated woman who’s determined to call off the wedding.

But when Cyril’s heartbreaking past comes to light, destiny won’t be denied. Because the secret to this southern wedding is you never know how far you’ll go in the name of love.


Click for more detail about Shot Clock by Caron Butler and justin a. reynolds Shot Clock

by Caron Butler and justin a. reynolds
Katherine Tegen Books (Aug 01, 2023)
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Former NBA All-Star Caron Butler and acclaimed author Justin A. Reynolds tip off the first book in a new middle grade series about a young boy trying to make his mark on an AAU basketball team coached by a former NBA star in his hometown. Perfect for fans of The Crossover and the Track series. A Junior Library Guild Selection!

Tony loves basketball. But the game changed recently when his best friend, Dante, a hoops phenom, was killed by a police officer. Tony hopes he can carry on Dante’s legacy by making the Sabres, the AAU basketball team Dante took to two national championships.

Tony doesn’t make the team, but Coach James likes what he sees from Tony at tryouts and offers him another chance: join the team as the statistician. With his community reeling and the team just finding its footing on the court, can Tony find a path to healing while helping to bring the Sabres a championship?


Click for more detail about Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo Family Lore

by Elizabeth Acevedo
Ecco (Aug 01, 2023)
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From bestselling, National Book Award–winning author Elizabeth Acevedo comes her first novel for adults, the story of one Dominican-American family told through the voices of its women as they await a gathering that will forever change their lives.

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor forseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila.

But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for decades to cover the extent of her husband’s infidelity, but she must now confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora is typically the most reserved sister, but Flor’s wake motivates this driven woman to solve her sibling’s problems. Camila is the youngest sibling, and often the forgotten one, but she’s decided she no longer wants to be taken for granted.

And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own: Yadi is reuniting with her first love, who was imprisoned when they were both still kids; Ona is married for years and attempting to conceive. Ona must decide whether it’s worth it to keep trying—to have a child, and the anthropology research that’s begun to feel lackluster.

Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo’s inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces—one family’s journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that is to come.


Click for more detail about Chameleon: A Black Box Thriller by Remi Adeleke Chameleon: A Black Box Thriller

by Remi Adeleke
William Morrow & Company (Jul 25, 2023)
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New York Times bestselling author

“A terrific debut that is sure to entice fans of the Jason Bourne series and continuation novels. Drawing upon his experience as an intel collector and Navy SEAL, Adeleke deftly blends authentic spy tradecraft and military tactics with heart-pounding action and nail-biting suspense. Chameleon will leave readers wanting the next Black Box thriller as soon as they can get their hands on it.” — Taylor Moore, author of Firestorm

From filmmaker, memoirist, and former Navy SEAL Remi Adeleke, on the heels of his featured roles in the box office film Plane and in Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, comes the first installment in the pulse-pounding Black Box Thriller series, featuring Nigerian-born and New York-raised Kali Kent and the top-secret Black Box program—perfect for readers of Jack Carr, Mark Greaney, and Brad Taylor.

When a mysterious former South African commando, Lucas Van Groot, begins taking wealthy hostages all over the world, it appears at first to be a typical ransom gambit. However, it soon becomes clear that his "Hostage Inc." venture is manipulating worldwide stock markets and threatening global economic collapse

Enter Black Box, the CIA’s elite, secret special operations branch—so surreptitious that not even the Director of CIA is fully privy to the unit’s activities. Black Box is composed of highly skilled agents who perform with precision:

    Chameleons who can transform into myriad characters, Ghosts who are specialists in stealth and surveillance, Wind operatives who are transportation experts, and Aberration agents whose specialty is deep cover for years.

Kali Kent, a Nigerian born and Bronxite Chameleon in the Black Box program, leads the hunt for Van Groot. Tracking this ringleader and his cadre of international criminals, the team discovers the South African mastermind is after a much larger prize and the race is on to prevent a worldwide tragedy.

Along the way, Kali will have to face the demons from his childhood and reflect on his emotional path that made him the Chameleon that he is today.


Click for more detail about Historically Black Colleges & Universities’ Guide to Excellence by William R. Harvey Historically Black Colleges & Universities’ Guide to Excellence

by William R. Harvey
Amistad (Jul 11, 2023)
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An insider account on how HBCU graduates find success in the world as people of color, by the esteemed President of Hampton University, one of 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities which boast influential Black alumni, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Oprah Winfrey, Vice President Kamala Harris, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and many others.

In his 42-year tenure as the President of Hampton University, Dr. William R. Harvey has spearheaded the cultural impact and value of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and their numerous notable alumni enough to know success is no coincidence, but he’s never shared the formula until now. Spurred by critical race theorists, rising academics, and racial rhetoric, the overwhelming resurgence of interest in HBCUs has compelled Dr. Harvey to consider: what makes HBCUs special and what core tenets help their alumni thrive?

Dr. Harvey discloses the faultless formula for success in navigating a white world while centering your Blackness: demonstrating moral and wholesome values at all times, always pursuing character growth, diving into communal responsibilities whenever possible, and many more. His commitment to upholding the remarkability of the Black diaspora, its complexity and its beauty, feeds into the fundamental principles he shares to successfully represent Blackness to its highest degree at every opportunity.

Historically Black College and University Guide to Excellence is a thoughtful and knowledgeable account of what it truly takes to successfully navigate this world as a Black person, from a pivotal force behind the steady prosperity of HBCUs. In several sections, Dr. Harvey delves into the critical life lessons he’s adhered to—the power of dress to establish respect upon first impression; the importance of integrity; financial accountability to bring you ultimate peace; and the integral relationship between parents and kids that commands respect toward your elders—all of which are tried-and-true, having uniquely prepared and propelled HBCU alumni like Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Alice Walker, Chadwick Boseman, and countless more for generations.

Dr. William Harvey is ready to share this wisdom beyond the HBCU network. Historically Black College and University Guide to Excellence is then a practical guide, collected from four decades of insight, that lays the groundwork for individual and communal Black prosperity.


Click for more detail about Queen of Exiles by Vanessa Riley Queen of Exiles

by Vanessa Riley
William Morrow & Company (Jul 11, 2023)
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"You may not know Marie-Louise Christophe, but once you have met her, you won’t forget her. Vanessa Riley’s historical novel feels timely and relevant, commemorating a time when Black women were queens." - Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Acclaimed historical novelist Vanessa Riley is back with another novel based on the life of an extraordinary Black woman from history: Haiti’s Queen Marie-Louise Coidavid, who escaped a coup in Haiti to set up her own royal court in Italy during the Regency era, where she became a popular member of royal European society.

The Queen of Exiles is Marie-Louise Christophe, wife and then widow of Henry I, who ruled over the newly liberated Kingdom of Hayti in the wake of the brutal Haitian Revolution.

In 1810, Louise is crowned queen as her husband begins his reign over the first and only free Black nation in the Western Hemisphere. But despite their newfound freedom, Haitians still struggle under mountains of debt to France and indifference from former allies in Britain and the new United States. Louise desperately tries to steer the country’s political course as King Henry descends into a mire of mental illness.

In 1820, King Henry is overthrown and dies by his own hand. Louise and her daughters manage to flee to Europe with their smuggled jewels. In exile, the resilient Louise redefines her role, recovering the fortune that Henry had lost and establishing herself as an equal to the kings of European nations. With newspapers and gossip tracking their every movement, Louise and her daughters tour Europe like other royals, complete with glittering balls and princes with marriage proposals. As they find their footing—and acceptance—they discover more about themselves, their Blackness, and the opportunities they can grasp in a European and male-dominated world.

Queen of Exiles is the tale of a remarkable Black woman of history—a canny and bold survivor who chooses the fire and ideals of political struggle, and then is forced to rebuild her life on her own terms, forever a queen.

"A sweeping look at the political, social, and romantic intrigue surrounding Haiti’s first and only queen. Riley’s depiction is richly imagined and wholly original." — Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace

"Queen of Exiles is the riveting account of Marie-Louise Christophe, Haiti’s first and only Queen. Bold, ambitious, historically sound, and beautifully told."—Sadeqa Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Eve


Click for more detail about Trinity by Zelda Lockhart Trinity

by Zelda Lockhart
Amistad (Jul 04, 2023)
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The Hurston-Wright Award Finalist makes her long-awaited return with this electrifying saga—as moving and indelible as The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, The Turner House, and The Love Songs of W. E. B. DuBois—that explores three generations of a family trying to overcome trials and trauma and free themselves from the darkness of the past.

Lottie Rebecca Lee is spoken into the world in Fayetteville, North Carolina by a Black nurse who declares, “Lord Jesus, if that ain’t the blackest little baby born this side of heaven.” Later, Lottie will prove that she is the ancestors’ promise to unearth the Mississippi and Ghanaian atrocities that have tormented Benjamin Lee, her grandfather who was born during the Great Depression in Mississippi’s red clay tobacco fields, and Benjamin Junior, his son and Lottie Rebecca’s father, born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where the post Korean War GI Bill promises prosperity. These two generations of men are haunted by the Mother-Spirit who did not survive enslavement’s post-traumatic stress violence. Trinity is the riveting story of the daughter-spirit born to stitch love back into the scattered wombs of her Black mothers and call love back into the fishing blues songs of her Black male kin. Lottie Rebecca Lee is the Divine spirited daughter born to set everything back up right again, in this daringly original novel.


Click for more detail about How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill by Jericho Brown How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill

by Jericho Brown
Amistad (Jul 04, 2023)
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More than 30 acclaimed writers—including diverse voices such as Nikki Giovanni, David Omotosho Black, Natasha Trethewey, Barry Jenkins, Jacqueline Woodson, Tayari Jones, and Angela Flournoy—reflect on their experience and expertise in this unique book on the craft of writing that focuses on the Black creative spirit.

How We Do It is an anthology curated by Black writers for the creation and proliferation of Black thought. While a creator’s ethnicity does not solely define them, it is inherently part of who they are and how they interpret the world.

For centuries, Black creators have utilized oral and written storytelling traditions in crafting their art. But how does one begin the process of constructing a poem or story or character? How do Black writers, when faced with questions of “authenticity,” dive deep into the essence of their lives and work to find the inherent truth? How We Do It addresses these profound questions. Not a traditional “how to” writing handbook, it seeks to guide rather than dictate and to validate the complexity and range of styles—and even how one thinks about craft itself.

An outstanding list of contributors offer their insights on a range of important topics. Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown explores the lives personified in poetry, while Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey explores decolonizing enduring metaphors. National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy illuminates the pain of grief in all forms and how it can be revealed in the act of creation, and iconoclast Nikki Giovanni offers an elegiac declaration on language.

New and previously published essays and interviews provide encouragement, examples, and templates, and offer lessons on everything from poetic form and plotting a story to the lessons inherent in the act of writing, trial & error, and finding inspiration in the works of others, including those of Toni Morrison, Shakespeare, and Edward P. Jones. A handbook and a reference tool, How We Do It is a thoughtful and welcome tool that offers direction to help Black artists establish their own creative practice while celebrating and widening the scope of the Black writer’s role in art, history, and culture.

Contributors, all of whom are profiled on AALBC, just search for their name, include David Omotosho Black, Jericho Brown, Breena Clark, Rita Dove, Camille T. Dungy, W. Ralph Eubanks, Curdella Forbes, Angela Flournoy, Ernest Gaines, Nikki Giovanni, Marita Golden, Ravi Howard, Terrance Hayes, Mitchell S. Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Charles S. Johnson, Tayari Jones, Jamaica Kincaid, Tony Medina, E. Ethelbert Miller, Elizabeth Nunez, Carl Phillips, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Rion Amilcar Scott, Evie Shockley, Natasha Trethewey, Frank X Walker, Afaa M. Weaver, Crystal Wilkinson, Jacqueline Woodson, Tiphanie Yanique.


Click for more detail about A Hard Road to Glory, Volume 2 (1919-1945): A History of the African American Athlete by Arthur Ashe A Hard Road to Glory, Volume 2 (1919-1945): A History of the African American Athlete

by Arthur Ashe
Amistad (Jun 20, 2023)
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“The most comprehensive reference source on African-American athletes yet compiled.”—San Francisco Chronicle

With a Foreword by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe

Available once again for a new generation of readers, the second volume in Arthur Ashe’s epic trilogy that chronicles the remarkable legacy of Black athletes in the United States—a major addition to our understanding of American history and the fulfillment of this legendary sports star and global activist’s lifelong dream.

When tennis great Arthur Ashe first published his A Hard Road to Glory trilogy, this ambitious project was the first of its kind, a milestone in the presentation of United States social history. A Hard Road to Glory Volume 2, carries on the little-known full story of Black athletes and their contributions to American sports and culture.

Volume 2 covers America’s “Golden Age” of sports from the end of World War One to the end of World War Two, from to 1919–1945. It was a time when the feats of legends such as Babe Ruth, Red Grange, and Jack Dempsey shone brightly—and segregation reigned supreme. Racial restrictions led to the formation of independent Black organizations, which saw its own share of extraordinary stars. Meanwhile, a number of great Black athletes, including Jesse Owens and Joe Louis, became sports heroes admired by millions worldwide.

Today, Black athletes and Black women in particular are receiving more visibility than ever for their unparalleled, world record-breaking excellence, their activism, and their leadership and vision. Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Naomi Osaka are consistently elevating athletics and are reshaping the way we think about sports, excellence, society, and history.

Arthur Ashe paved the way for them all; A Hard Road to Glory is fundamental to our understanding of Black athletes and our nation’s past, present, and future. Now more than ever, this collection is one of this amazing icon’s greatest legacies—a treasure to be celebrated by readers today and those to come.


Click for more detail about Ketanji: Justice Jackson’s Journey to the U.S. Supreme Court by Kekla Magoon Ketanji: Justice Jackson’s Journey to the U.S. Supreme Court

by Kekla Magoon
Quill Tree Books (Jun 20, 2023)
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From two Coretta Scott King Honor winners comes this uplifting picture book biography about Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is making history as the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.

Ketanji Brown Jackson is no stranger to overcoming obstacles. When a high school guidance counselor told her she should set her sights lower than Harvard, she decided to go to Harvard for college and law school.

When she became a public defender and saw inequalities in the justice system, she used her legal skills to advocate for people who needed help, but couldn’t afford an attorney.

Ketanji’s path to the Supreme Court was unique: She’s the only current Justice to have been a public defender and one of a few who went to public school. Her story is powerful and heartening, and it’s a lesson in overcoming adversity by being true to yourself.

Margaret A. Edwards Award winner, Printz Honor winner, and National Book Award finalist Kekla Magoon and Coretta Scott King honoree Laura Freeman reunite to present a generation of readers with a new inspirational figure.


Click for more detail about The Overnights: An Ashe Cayne Mystery by Ian K. Smith The Overnights: An Ashe Cayne Mystery

by Ian K. Smith
Amistad (Jun 06, 2023)
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“Chicago PI Ashe Cayne is the perfect hero for our times.”—Harlan Coben

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ian K. Smith brings back former Chicago detective turned private eye Ashe Cayne in this eagerly anticipated mystery in which the investigator finds himself in a race against the clock to protect a high-profile Chicago news anchor and solve the racially charged murder of a Black teen by a white police officer.

Someone wants Morgan Shaw dead—or so the beautiful, brilliant, and hugely popular evening news anchor of top-rated Chicago TV station WLTV believes. Fearing for her safety, she turns to P. I. Ashe Cayne for protection. Though he sympathizes, Ashe turns her down—he’s not a bodyguard. But when Morgan’s car tires are slashed and she’s threatened again, Ashe agrees to help her.

Her mysterious assailant isn’t the only threat worrying Morgan. She’s nervous about the upcoming “sweeps”—the all-important overnight ratings period—which will determine Chicago’s highest-rated television newscast and the city’s number-one anchor. Morgan has long been Chicago’s news queen. Now, though her crown is in jeopardy. She refuses to lose to her crosstown rival, and will risk everything to stay on top—including an audacious investigation into the suspicious shooting of an unarmed African American man by a white cop. The explosive case and her discoveries boost her ratings—and create powerful enemies eager to protect their secrets.

To save his client and find the truth, Ashe must wade through the tangled layers of competitive local news and the deceptive schemes of its power players, and uncover the identities of those behind the murder of a seemingly innocent man.


Click for more detail about Miss Chloe (paperback): A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison by A.J. Verdelle Miss Chloe (paperback): A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison

by A.J. Verdelle
Amistad (May 30, 2023)
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“If you let a black girl loose in a library, you may not recognize the woman who emerges.” —from Miss Chloe

Toni Morrison, born Chloe A Wofford, was a towering figure in the world of literature when she entered A.J. Verdelle’s life. Their literary friendship was a young writer’s dream—simultaneously exhilarating, intimidating, fulfilling, and challenging. The relationship crossed generations, spanned several cycles in life, exhibited high and low notes, reached and dipped and found its way. Like many women friends, these two writers imagined and built a relationship that was responsive, inventive, and engaged.

Miss Chloe powerfully situates the risks writers face and the freedom they find when they put Black women’s lives into words. Verdelle chronicles her grief at Morrison’s passing, and finds comfort in Morrison’s astute advice—wisdom Verdelle didn’t always recognize at the time. In this pensive and intricately lyrical book, Verdelle honors Morrison among the cultural greats, while illuminating and celebrating the power of language, legacy, and genius.

“Verdelle offers us testimony in praise and consideration of life as a literary citizen and Black woman alongside the guiding light of Toni Morrison. This is a holy testimony, indeed, one that deserves to be amen’d forever.” —Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

“Verdelle gives us the greatest gift—our beloved ancestor returned to us—generous and alive, remembered and revered. So grateful for this book in the world.” —Jacqueline Woodson, author of Another Brooklyn


Click for more detail about Even If the Sky Is Falling by Taj McCoy Even If the Sky Is Falling

by Taj McCoy
Canary Street Press (May 30, 2023)
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Includes a special introduction by USA TODAY bestselling author, Mia Sosa, author of The Worst Best Man and The Wedding Crasher!

It’s the end of the world as they know it—or so they think…

When an international warning siren accidentally goes off, convincing everyone that a meteor shower may just be the end of life as they know it, six couples—friends, exes, crushes and rivals—must take shelter. Inhibitions are abandoned, confessions are made and love blossoms, but what happens when the world doesn’t end?

Filled with humor, heat and hope, this riveting collection of interconnected multicultural stories by acclaimed authors Lane Clarke, Farah Heron, Taj McCoy, Charish Reid, Sarah Smith and Denise Williams beautifully explores the secrets we carry with us—and the joy we discover when we let go and reach for the stars.

  • Two NASA specialist exes forced to reunite under pressure.
  • Competing food stall owners face no escape—from each other or their shared past.
  • Two law students learn just how strongly opposites attract between the library stacks.
  • A pair of literature lovers confront long-held feelings under the covers of a bookstore bunker.
  • A songwriter discovers her newly hired contractor hits all the right notes.
  • Trapped on campus, former college rivals entertain their reignited spark.



Click for more detail about Greenland (paperback) by David Santos Donaldson Greenland (paperback)

by David Santos Donaldson
Amistad (May 16, 2023)
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A dazzling, debut novel-within-a-novel in the vein of The Prophets and Memorial, about a young author writing about the secret love affair between E.M. Forster and Mohammed el Adl—in which Mohammed’s story collides with his own, blending fact and fiction.

In 1919, Mohammed el Adl, the young Egyptian lover of British author E. M. Forster, spent six months in a jail cell. A century later, Kip Starling has locked himself in his Brooklyn basement study with a pistol and twenty-one gallons of Poland Spring to write Mohammed’s story.

Kip has only three weeks until his publisher’s deadline to immerse himself in the mind of Mohammed who, like Kip, is Black, queer, an Other. The similarities don’t end there. Both of their lives have been deeply affected by their confrontations with Whiteness, homophobia, their upper crust education, and their white romantic partners. As Kip immerses himself in his writing, Mohammed’s story – and then Mohammed himself – begins to speak to him, and his life becomes a Proustian portal into Kip’s own memories and psyche. Greenland seamlessly conjures two distinct yet overlapping worlds where the past mirrors the present, and the artist’s journey transforms into a quest for truth that offers a world of possibility.

Electric and unforgettable, David Santos Donaldson’s tour de force excavates the dream of white assimilation, the foibles of interracial relationships, and not only the legacy of a literary giant, but literature itself.


Click for more detail about Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic by g. haron davis Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic

by g. haron davis
HarperTeen (May 16, 2023)
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Perfect for fans of All Out and Cemetery Boys, this anthology claims a seat at the table of fantasy literature for trans and gender nonconforming stories.

Transness is as varied and colorful as magic can be. In Transmogrify!, you’ll embark on fourteen different adventures alongside unforgettable characters who embody many different genders and expressions and experiences—because magic is for everyone, and that is cause for celebration.

Featuring stories from:

  • AR Capetta and Cory McCarthy
  • g. haron davis
  • Mason Deaver
  • Jonathan Lenore Kastin
  • Emery Lee
  • Saundra Mitchell
  • Cam Montgomery
  • Ash Nouveau
  • Sonora Reyes
  • Renee Reynolds
  • Dove Salvatierra
  • Ayida Shonibar
  • Francesca Tacchi
  • Nik Traxler


Click for more detail about Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi Nigeria Jones

by Ibi Zoboi
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (May 09, 2023)
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From Ibi Zoboi, bestselling, award-winning author of American Street and co-author of Punching the Air, comes a bold new YA coming-of-age story, which explores race, feminism, and complicated family dynamics, about a girl whose father is the leader of a Black liberation group. The ideal next read for fans of Roxane Gay, Jacqueline Woodson, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

Warrior Princess. That’s what Nigeria Jones’s father calls her. He has raised her as part of the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia. Nigeria is homeschooled and vegan and participates in traditional rituals to connect her and other kids from the group to their ancestors. But when her mother—the perfect matriarch of their Movement—disappears, Nigeria’s world is upended. She finds herself taking care of her baby brother and stepping into a role she doesn’t want.

Nigeria’s mother had secrets. She wished for a different life for her children, which includes sending her daughter to a private Quaker school outside of their strict group. Despite her father’s disapproval, Nigeria attends the school with her cousin, Kamau, and Sage, who used to be a friend. ­There, she begins to flourish and expand her universe.

As Nigeria searches for her mother, she starts to uncover a shocking truth. One that will lead her to question everything she thought she knew about her life and her family.

From award-winning author Ibi Zoboi comes a searing, powerful coming-of-age story about discovering who you are in the world—and fighting for that person—by having the courage to remix the founding tenets of your life to be your own revolution.


Click for more detail about Ty’s Travels: Camp-Out by Kelly Starling Lyons Ty’s Travels: Camp-Out

by Kelly Starling Lyons
HarperAlley (May 09, 2023)
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Ty makes his I Can Read Comic debut! Featuring a bold comic styling by New York Times bestselling illustrator Niña Mata and a compelling easy-to-read text by Kelly Starling Lyons, this Level One I Can Read Comic is the perfect summertime story for beginning readers!

Celebrate Ty’s vivid imagination! Nonstop rain dampens the family’s plans to go camping. But with a boost from Ty, the Camp-Out comes out just fine! Rhythmic text, vibrant art, family love, and Black Boy Joy shine on every page of this camping adventure.

Ty’s Travels: Camp-Out is a Level One I Can Read Comic, which means it’s perfect for shared reading with young readers new to graphic novel storytelling. This is a Guided Reading Level (GRL) J.

The Ty’s Travels series is much acclaimed-—including a Geisel Honor for Zip, Zoom!


Click for more detail about Queen Charlotte: Before Bridgerton Came an Epic Love Story by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes Queen Charlotte: Before Bridgerton Came an Epic Love Story

by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes
Avon (May 09, 2023)
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Go beyond the original Shondaland series on Netflix, Queen Charlotte, with this lushly romantic Bridgerton prequel novel written by New York Times bestselling authors Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes as the marriage of Queen Charlotte and King George of England leads to an unexpected love story and a union that transforms society.

In 1761, on a sunny day in September, a King and Queen met for the very first time. They were married within hours.

Born a German Princess, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was beautiful, headstrong, and fiercely intelligent… not precisely the attributes the British Court had been seeking in a spouse for the young King George III. But her fire and independence were exactly what she, and her King, needed.

Because George has secrets… secrets with the potential to shake the very foundations of the monarchy.

Thrust into her new role, Charlotte must navigate the intricate politics of the court—with the newly-titled Lady Danbury at her side—all the while guarding her heart, because she is falling in love with the King…even as he pushes her away. Now, Charlotte must learn to rule, and to understand that she has been given the power to remake society, fulfilling her destiny as Queen. But she also has to fight for the love growing between her and George as people first, royals second. As she says to him: "Fight with me! Fight for me!"


Click for more detail about The Thing about Home by Rhonda McKnight The Thing about Home

by Rhonda McKnight
Thomas Nelson (May 09, 2023)
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“… a beautifully written story about family, self-discovery, secrets, and forgiveness.” —Kimberla Lawson Roby, New York Times bestselling author

Home is not a place—it’s a feeling.

Casey Black needs an escape. When her picture-perfect vow renewal ceremony ends in her being left at the altar, the former model turned social media influencer has new fame—the kind she never wanted. An embarrassing viral video has cost her millions of followers, and her seven-year marriage is over. With her personal and business lives in shambles, Casey runs from New York City to South Carolina’s Lowcountry hoping to find long-lost family. Family who can give her more answers about her past than her controlling mom-slash-manager has ever been willing to share.

What Casey doesn’t expect is a postcard-worthy property on a three-hundred-acre farm, history, culture, and a love of sweet tea. She spends her days caring for the land and her nights cooking much needed Southern comfort foods. She also meets Nigel, the handsome farm manager whose friendship has become everything she’s never had. And then there are the secrets her mother can no longer hide.

Through the pages of her great-grandmother’s journals, Casey discovers her roots run deeper than the Lowcountry soil. She learns that she has people. A home. A legacy to uphold. And a great new love story—if only she is brave enough to leave her old life behind.


Click for more detail about Summer on Sag Harbor by Sunny Hostin Summer on Sag Harbor

by Sunny Hostin
William Morrow (May 09, 2023)
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Following her New York Times bestseller Summer on the Bluffs, The View cohost and three-time Emmy Award winner Sunny Hostin spirits readers away to the warm beaches of Sag Harbor for the compelling second novel in her acclaimed Summer series.

In a hidden enclave in Sag Harbor affectionately known as SANS—Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Nineveh—there’s a close-knit community of African American elites who escape the city and enjoy the beautiful warm weather and beaches at their vacation homes. Very few know about this part of the Hamptons on Long Island, and the residents like it that way.

Against the odds, Olivia Jones has blazed her own enviable career path and built her name in the finance world. But hidden behind the veneer of her success, there is a gaping hole. Mourning both the loss and the betrayal of Omar, a surrogate father to her and her two godsisters, Olivia is driven to find out more about her biological father, a police officer who was killed when she was a little girl, and to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother.

Feeling untethered from her life in New York City, Olivia buys and redecorates a home in Sag Harbor and begins forging a new community out in SANS. Friendships blossom with Addy, a wealthy part-time sommelier; Kara, an ambitious art curator; and Whitney, the wife of an ex-basketball player and current president of the Sag Harbor Homeowners Association. She also takes to a kind, older gentleman named Mr. Whittingham, but soon discovers he too is not without his own troubles.

As the summer stretches on, each relationship teaches her more about who she really is. Though not without cost, Olivia’s search for her authentic identity in the secret history of her family of origin will lead her to redefine the meaning of joy, love, friendship, society, culture, and family—and restore her faith in herself, her relationships, her blackness, and her chosen path.


Click for more detail about A Recipe for More by Sara Elise A Recipe for More

by Sara Elise
Amistad (May 02, 2023)
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“Each new day is a singular moment, a singular opportunity. No day is like the last and no day is like what’s to come. We have arrived, and we are simultaneously arriving.”

In this expansive debut, A Recipe for More: Choosing a Life of Pleasure and Abundance, creative, host, and “pleasure doula” Sara Elise offers a profound and challenging inquiry into the forces that keep us in a state of survival and limitation and asks us to consider a new way to live. Sara Elise leaves us with what it means to be present to what’s unfolding around us and open to the change that is possible in that empty space.

A Recipe for More is a quest to examine the ingredients of our lives, those essential components that make up our days. Have we chosen rest, breath, movement, agency, visibility, play, and pleasure? Or are we trapped in the numbing and violent pattern of self-inflicted suffering? Do we celebrate the unique and precious wiring of our brains? Are our relationships a garden of ever-growing and evolving roots? Do we nourish our bodies with what it requires to sense and receive? Are we liberated, awakened, and alive? In the tradition of Adrienne Maree Brown and Sonya Renee Taylor, A Recipe for More is a radical argument for dismantling the systems that oppress us. But it begins with the individual, and the simple recipe of our every day.

Groundbreaking, persuasive, inclusive, and warm, A Recipe for More brings the ingredients of an abundant life to all readers so that we might honor ourselves, deepen our communities, and finally be present in each miraculous and life-giving singular moment.

With contributions by Fariha Róisín, Tourmaline, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Ryann Holmes (bklyn boihood), Naima Green, J Wortham, and more.


Click for more detail about Juneteenth by Van G. Garrett Juneteenth

by Van G. Garrett
HarperKids (May 02, 2023)
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A lyrical picture book about our newest national holiday, Juneteenth follows the annual celebration in Galveston, Texas—birthplace of Juneteenth—through the eyes of a boy coming to understand his place in Black American history in a story from three Texan creators.

A young Black child experiences the magic of the Juneteenth parade for the first time with their family as they come to understand the purpose of the party that happens every year—and why they celebrate their African American history!

The poetic text includes selected lyrics from “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the unofficial Black National Anthem, and the vibrant art illuminates the beauty of this moment of Black joy, celebrated across the nation. This vibrant adventure through the city streets invites young readers to make a joyful noise about freedom for all.


Click for more detail about A Woman of Endurance by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa A Woman of Endurance

by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Amistad (Apr 25, 2023)
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Combining the haunting power of Toni Morrison’s Beloved with the evocative atmosphere of Phillippa Gregory’s A Respectable Trade, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa’s groundbreaking novel illuminates a little discussed aspect of history—the Puerto Rican Atlantic Slave Trade—witnessed through the experiences of Pola, an African captive used as a breeder to bear more slaves.

A Woman of Endurance, set in nineteenth-century Puerto Rican plantation society, follows Pola, a deeply spiritual African woman who is captured and later sold for the purpose of breeding future slaves. The resulting babies are taken from her as soon as they are born. Pola loses the faith that has guided her and becomes embittered and defensive. The dehumanizing violence of her life almost destroys her. But this is not a novel of defeat but rather one of survival, regeneration, and reclamation of common humanity.

Readers are invited to join Pola in her journey to healing. From the sadistic barbarity of her first experiences, she moves on to receive compassion and support from a revitalizing new community. Along the way, she learns to recognize and embrace the many faces of love—a mother’s love, a daughter’s love, a sister’s love, a love of community, and the self-love that she must recover before she can offer herself to another. It is ultimately, a novel of the triumph of the human spirit even under the most brutal of conditions.


Click for more detail about A Hard Road to Glory, Volume 1 (1619-1918): A History of the African American Athlete by Arthur Ashe A Hard Road to Glory, Volume 1 (1619-1918): A History of the African American Athlete

by Arthur Ashe
Amistad (Apr 25, 2023)
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With a Foreword by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe

Available once again for a new generation of readers, the first volume in Arthur Ashe’s epic trilogy that chronicles the remarkable legacy of Black athletes in the United States—a major addition to our understanding of American history and the fulfillment of this legendary sports star and global activist’s lifelong dream.

When tennis great Arthur Ashe first published his A Hard Road to Glory trilogy, this ambitious project—recognizing the contributions of Black athletes to American sports and culture—was the first of its kind, a milestone in the presentation of United States social history.

Ashe had long believed that Black people needed to know their cultural history. But while teaching a seminar on the history of African American athletes at Florida Memorial College in 1981, he realized there was a vast amount of material about Black achievement that had never been collected, analyzed, and interpreted. To help to fill the gap, he began with the subject he knew best: sports.

A Hard Road to Glory Volume 1 covers the period from 1619, when enslaved Africans were first brought to American shores, to 1918, the end of the First World War. Ashe reveals that from 1865 through 1896, Black Americans succeeded spectacularly in sports, witnessing accomplishments of athletes like Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight champion; Marshall Taylor, “the world’s fastest cyclist;” and Isaac Murphy, a Hall of Fame jockey and the first three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby.

In 2021, Black athletes and Black women in particular are receiving more visibility than ever for their unparalleled, world record-breaking excellence, their activism, and their leadership and vision. Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Naomi Osaka are consistently elevating athletics and are reshaping the way we think about sports, excellence, society, and history.

Arthur Ashe paved the way for them all; A Hard Road to Glory is fundamental to our understanding of Black athletes and our nation’s past, present, and future. Now more than ever, this collection is one of this amazing icon’s greatest legacies—a treasure to be celebrated by readers today and those to come.


Click for more detail about Top Billin’:Stories of Laughter, Lessons, and Triumph by Bill Bellamy Top Billin’:Stories of Laughter, Lessons, and Triumph

by Bill Bellamy
Amistad (Apr 25, 2023)
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From the MTV trailblazer, stand-up comedian, and actor, a hilariously candid memoir that is an intimate, entertaining, and heartfelt tour through the exclusive, elusive, and eternally iconic world of ’90s pop culture.

Imagine 50 Cent’s Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter written by a nerdy Black kid from Newark, New Jersey, who made it big despite the skepticism of his family. Top Billin’.

Bill Bellamy is Carlton Banks’s slightly cooler and comedically inclined alter-ego—a guy who went against the grain and left a promising corporate career path to pursue comedy (much to the dismay of his family). Making the leap paid off—in ways Bill never expected. In Top Billin’, he looks back at his time at MTV during the ’90s, when the cable music channel was at the epicenter of pop culture. He recounts his legendary interviews with the biggest pop stars—Tupac, Biggie, and Kurt Cobain—making friends with Janet Jackson, and even coining the infamous term “booty call” on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam. During his time at MTV, Bill broke color and class barriers, appearing four times a week on the network’s various programs, including MTV Jamz and MTV Beach House.

Top Billin’ is an exclusive, all-access backstage pass to Bill’s career and life. It’s all in here—memories, music, and unforgettable moments, including conversations with some of the decade’s legendary artists, the best of the ’90s celebri-tea, nostalgia, and insights on what it meant to be a tastemaker during one of the most exciting and innovative periods in music and American pop culture history.


Click for more detail about Where the Children Take Us: How One Family Achieved the Unimaginable by Zain Asher Where the Children Take Us: How One Family Achieved the Unimaginable

by Zain Asher
Amistad (Apr 11, 2023)
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In this spellbinding memoir, popular CNN anchor Zain E. Asher pays tribute to her mother’s strength and determination to raise four successful children in the shadow of tragedy.

Awaiting the return of her husband and young son from a road trip, Obiajulu Ejiofor receives shattering news. There’s been a fatal car crash, and one of them is dead.

In Where the Children Take Us, Obiajulu’s daughter, Zain E. Asher, tells the story of her mother’s harrowing fight to raise four children as a widowed immigrant in South London. There is tragedy in this tale, but it is not a tragedy. Drawing on tough-love parenting strategies, Obiajulu teaches her sons and daughters to overcome the daily pressures of poverty, crime and prejudice—and much more. With her relentless support, the children exceed all expectations—becoming a CNN anchor, an Oscar-nominated actor—Asher’s older brother Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)—a medical doctor, and a thriving entrepreneur.

The generations-old Nigerian parenting techniques that lead to the family’s salvation were born in the village where young Obiajulu and Arinze meet with their country on the brink of war. Together, they emigrate to London in the 1970s to escape the violence, but soon confront a different set of challenges in the West.

When grief threatens to engulf her fractured family after the accident, Obiajulu, suddenly a single mother in a foreign land, refuses to accept defeat. As her children veer down the wrong path, she instills a family book club with Western literary classics, testing their resolve and challenging their deeper understanding. Desperate for inspiration, she plasters newspaper clippings of Black success stories on the walls and hunts for overachieving neighbors to serve as role models, all while running Shakespeare theatre lines with her son and finishing homework into the early morning with Zain. When distractions persist, she literally cuts the TV cord and installs a residential pay phone.

The story of a woman who survived genocide, famine, poverty, and crushing grief to rise from war torn Africa to the streets of South London and eventually the drawing rooms of Buckingham Palace, Where the Children Take Us is an unforgettable portrait of strength, tenacity, love, and perseverance embodied in one towering woman.


Click for more detail about Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah Penniman Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists

by Leah Penniman
Amistad (Apr 11, 2023)
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A soulful collection of illuminating essays and interviews that explore Black people’s spiritual connection to the land and the climate justice crisis, curated by the acclaimed author of Farming While Black.

Author of Farming While Black and co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, Leah Penniman reminds us that ecological humility is an intrinsic part of Black cultural heritage. While racial capitalism has attempted to sever our connection to the sacred earth for 400 years, Black people have long seen the land and water as family and treating the Earth as a home essential.

This thought-provoking anthology brings together today’s most respected and influential Black environmentalist voices. These varied and distinguished experts include Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Alice Walker; the first Queen Mother and official spokesperson for the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Queen Quet; marine biologist, policy expert, and founder and president of Ocean Collectiv, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson; and the Executive Director of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers, Land Loss Prevention Project, Savi Horne. These leaders address the essential connection between nature and our survival and how runaway consumption and corporate insatiability are harming the earth and every facet of American society, including racial violence, food apartheid, and climate justice.

Those whose skin is the color of soil are reviving their ancestral and ancient practice of listening to the earth for guidance. Penniman makes clear that the fight for racial and environmental justice demands that Black people put our planet first and defer to nature as our teacher.

Contributors include:

Alice Walker • Adrienne maree brown • Dr. Ross Gay • Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson • Rue Mapp • Dr. Carolyn Finney • Audrey Peterman • Awise Agbaye Wande Abimbola • Kendra Pierre-Louis • Latria Graham • Awo Enroue Onigbonna Sangofemi Halfkenny • Dr. Lauret Savoy • Ibrahim Abdul-Matin • Savi Horne • Dr. Claudia Ford • Dr. J. Drew Lanham • Dr. Leni Sorensen • Queen Quet • Toshi Reagon • Yeye Luisah Teish • Yonnette Fleming • Naima Penniman • Angelou Ezeilo • James Edward Mills • Teresa Baker • Ira Wallace • Pandora Thomas • Toi Scott • Aleya Fraser • Chris Bolden-Newsome • Savonella Horne Esq • Dr. Joshua Bennett • B. Anderson • Chris Hill • Greg Watson • T. Morgan Dixon • Dr. Dorceta Taylor • Colette Pichon Battle Esq • Dillon Bernard • Sharon Lavigne • Steve Curwood


Click for more detail about Black Girls Must Have It All by Jayne Allen Black Girls Must Have It All

by Jayne Allen
Harper (Apr 11, 2023)
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In this final installment in the acclaimed Black Girls Must Die Exhausted trilogy, Tabitha is juggling work, relationships, and a newborn baby—but will she find the happy ending she’s always wanted?

After a whirlwind year, Tabitha Walker’s carefully organized plan to achieve the life she wanted—perfect job, dream husband, and stylish home—has gone off the rails. Her checklist now consists of diapers changed (infinite), showers taken (zero), tears cried (buckets), and hours of sleep (what’s that?).

Don’t get her wrong, Tabby loves her new bundle of joy and motherhood is perhaps the only thing that’s consistent for her these days. When the news station announces that they will be hiring outside competitors for the new anchor position, Tabby throws herself into her work. But it’s not just maintaining her position as the station’s weekend anchor that has her worried. All of her relationships seem to be shifting out of their regular orbits. Best friend Alexis can’t manage to strike the right balance in her "refurbished" marriage with Rob, and Laila’s gone from being a consistent ride-or-die to a newly minted entrepreneur trying to raise capital for her growing business. And when Marc presents her with an ultimatum about their relationship, coupled with an extended "visit" from his mother, Tabby is forced to take stock of her life and make a new plan for the future.

Consumed by work, motherhood, and love, Tabby finds herself isolated from her friends and family just when she needs them most. But help is always there when you ask for it, and Tabby’s village will once again rally around her as she comes to terms with her new life and faces her biggest challenge yet—choosing herself.


Click for more detail about School Trip by Jerry Craft School Trip

by Jerry Craft
HarperCollins Publishers (Apr 04, 2023)
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Bon Yoyage! Now everyone feels like a new lid on the… School Trip.

Companion to the Newbery Medal Winner New Kid


Click for more detail about Love Me as I Am: My Journey from Haiti to Hollywood to Happiness by Garcelle Beauvais Love Me as I Am: My Journey from Haiti to Hollywood to Happiness

by Garcelle Beauvais
Amistad (Apr 04, 2023)
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“Dishy, warm, and entertaining.”—Kirkus Reviews

The beloved Black pop culture icon, entrepreneur, Hollywood actress and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star bares her life in this frank, funny, and fearless memoir about life, love and the pursuit of true happiness.

Love Me As I Am is Garcelle Beauvais’s smart, inspiring, and raw memoir—an entertaining and unforgettable emotional rollercoaster ride that moves from her early childhood years in Haiti to her adolescence in Boston; from her heady days as a young model in New York—her first taste of real freedom—to Los Angeles and the many ups, downs, and then more ups, both personal and professional, she experienced in her three-decade acting career, including her massive fame as a star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Throughout her life, Beauvais has suffered from an emotional battle between her wild, rebellious nature and her desire to be a “good girl.” No matter how many cover stories she earned, “Most Beautiful” lists, or coveted roles in iconic series such as The Jamie Foxx Show and NYPD Blue, Beauvais could not cure herself of her “disease to please” or learn to put herself first. She also had to learn how to unapologetically put herself first. In Love Me As I Am, she brings together the voices of both the good girl and the rebel to deliver an unflinching examination of her successes and ongoing challenges as a mother, wife, daughter, sibling, and friend. 

Beauvais fearlessly talks about how she boldly embraced her sexuality in her 40s, and her determination to break free of the stereotypes that define and limit African American women in popular culture. Most importantly, she reveals how finally putting herself first led to better relationships with her three sons and even her ex-husband. Beauvais dishes too—offering juicy behind-the-scenes stories from movie sets, red carpet events, and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. 

Love Me As I Am is an unflinching look at one woman’s extraordinary journey to create a new and more exciting life—and to become the woman she was meant to be.


Click for more detail about No Sweet Without Brine: Poems by Cynthia Manick No Sweet Without Brine: Poems

by Cynthia Manick
Amistad (Apr 04, 2023)
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Cynthia Manick’s poetry collection personifies love of self and culture through fresh observations and bitter truths voiced with breathtaking lyricism.

No Sweet Without Brine is both a soulful and celebratory collection that summons sticky sweet memories with an acrid aftertaste of deep thought. Satisfying moments are captured in odes to Idris Elba’s dulcet tones on a meditation app and the satisfaction of half-priced Entenmann’s poundcake; in childlike observations of parental Black love, the coveted female form on Jet Magazine covers, and the desire for Zamunda to be a real place full of Black joy. The sour taps into an analysis of reclusiveness, silencing catcalls from men on the street, and detailed recipes and advice to the Black girls forced to endow themselves with armor against the world.

Cynthia Manick’s latest is a playlist of everyday life, introverted thoughts, familial bonds, and social commentary. In piercing language, she traces the circle of life for a narrator who dares to exist between youthful remembrances and adulthood realities. Each poem in No Sweet Without Brine is a reminder that a hint of sorrow makes the celebration and recognition of the glory of Blackness in all ways, and through all people, that much sweeter.


Click for more detail about School Trip (Paperback) by Jerry Craft School Trip (Paperback)

by Jerry Craft
HarperCollins Publishers (Apr 04, 2023)
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Bon Yoyage! Now everyone feels like a new lid on the… School Trip.

Companion to the Newbery Medal Winner New Kid


Click for more detail about How to Write a Poem by Kwame Alexander How to Write a Poem

by Kwame Alexander
Quill Tree Books (Apr 04, 2023)
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In this evocative and playful companion to their New York Times bestselling picture book How to Read a Book, Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander teams up with poet Deanna Nikaido and Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet to celebrate the magic of discovering your very own poetry in the world around you.

Begin

with a question

like an acorn

waiting for spring.

From this first stanza, readers are invited to pay attention—and to see that paying attention itself is poetry. Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido’s playful text and Melissa Sweet’s dynamic, inventive artwork are paired together to encourage readers to listen, feel, and discover the words that dance in the world around them—poems just waiting to be written down.


Click for more detail about Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy

by Angie Thomas
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Apr 04, 2023)
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Internationally bestselling superstar author Angie Thomas makes her middle-grade debut with the launch of an inventive, hilarious, and suspenseful new contemporary fantasy trilogy inspired by African American history and folklore.

It’s not easy being a Remarkable in the Unremarkable world. Some things are cool—like getting a pet hellhound for your twelfth birthday. Others, not so much—like not being trusted to learn magic because you might use it to take revenge on an annoying neighbor.

All Nic Blake wants is to be a powerful Manifestor like her dad. But before she has a chance to convince him to teach her the gift, a series of shocking revelations and terrifying events launch Nic and two friends on a hunt for a powerful magic tool she’s never heard of…to save her father from imprisonment for a crime she refuses to believe he committed.


Click for more detail about The Mermaid Princesses: A Sister Tale by Maya Cameron-Gordon The Mermaid Princesses: A Sister Tale

by Maya Cameron-Gordon
HarperCollins (Mar 28, 2023)
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A magical story starring three Black mermaid sisters who each wish to wear the underwater crown! Perfect for fans of Little Mermaid and Oona.

Anaya, Shante, and Kianna are sisters.

And these mermaid princesses couldn’t be more different!

One day, when a problem too big for any of them to solve alone comes their way, they find out which one of them has what it takes to become a legend of the sea.

This fun adventure, inspired by African mermaid myth, magic, and spirituality, reminds young readers about the importance of teamwork and the different strengths we can all bring to the table—or throne.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Mary Can! by Mary J. Blige Mary Can!

by Mary J. Blige
HarperCollins (Mar 28, 2023)
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From multi-award-winning singer, artist, actress, and icon Mary J. Blige comes a fun and inspirational story that teaches young readers they can be anything, and they are enough.

Most of the time, people say “no” or “you can’t” because they dream too small.

Young Mary has been told that there are many things she can’t do. Like stay up past bedtime, or be an astronaut or become president. But what she really wants is to sing, and she isn’t about to let anyone tell her she can’t do it!

A powerful motivating tale about a confident and ambitious girl who doesn’t feed into negativity, this debut children’s book from legendary artist Mary J. Blige proves that anyone can make their dreams come true by believing in themselves. It’s a great conversation starter for overcoming discouragement from others.

Brought to life with imaginative illustrations by Ezra Jack Keats Award-winning illustrator Ashleigh Corrin, Mary Can! is perfect for go-getters who aren’t afraid to be a YES in a world full of NOs.


Click for more detail about Seen, Loved and Heard: A Guided Journal for Feeding the Soul by Tabitha Brown Seen, Loved and Heard: A Guided Journal for Feeding the Soul

by Tabitha Brown
William Morrow & Company (Mar 28, 2023)
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A beautiful and inspirational full-color journal from Tabitha Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business)

In her beloved book Feeding the Soul, Tabitha Brown made readers feel seen, loved, and heard, sharing the knowledge she’s gained from her own journey in life. Now, in this gorgeous keepsake journal, Tab invites readers to think more deeply about their own life paths, and how to live in more love and happiness. Readers will be drawn in to write on each creatively illustrated, uplifting page, with:

  • Dozens of thought-provoking writing prompts in Tabitha’s encouraging voice
  • Charming and colorful illustrations<
  • Motivational and inspirational “Tabisms”
  • Space for readers to write in their own stories, hopes, and dreams—and make the journal their own!

This soul-healing journal encourages readers to take some time to reflect on their own sources of joy and hope, spirituality, self-image, and peace, and to look back on when they want to appreciate how far they’ve come and what insights they’ve gained in their own journeys.


Click for more detail about My Sunday Best: Pearls of Wisdom, Wit, Grace, and Style by La Verne Ford Wimberly My Sunday Best: Pearls of Wisdom, Wit, Grace, and Style

by La Verne Ford Wimberly
Thomas Nelson (Mar 21, 2023)
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After posting selfies in her Sunday best for fifty-two consecutive weeks during the pandemic, octogenarian Dr. La Verne Ford Wimberly became a viral sensation during Easter 2021, appearing everywhere from the Washington Post to CNN to Fox News.

“People from all over the world have said my Sunday selfies and words of encouragement have blessed and inspired them. Who would have thought photos of an eighty-two-year-old church lady in a hat and Bible verses could do such a thing?”

On March 29, 2020, when her church switched to online services because of coronavirus, Dr. La Verne Ford Wimberly couldn’t imagine watching the service in her robe. So, she did what she’s always done; she put on a beautiful outfit, matching hat, and accessories and got ready for church. Dr. Wimberly, a self-declared social media junkie, thought “it would be fun to snap a selfie and post it on Facebook with a scripture verse and an inspirational message. I’d let folks know I was ready for worship and encourage them to do the same. This was my way to brighten their spirits—and mine—and stay connected during a time of sudden isolation and despair for many people.”

Underneath her "crown" and church finery is a wise, warm, and witty octogenarian who’s still committed to the same values she learned in childhood:

  • faith in God and country,
  • devotion to family,
  • keeping a positive attitude,
  • a life of service,
  • thinking before you act,
  • living life to the fullest, and
  • the golden rule.

As a career educator who faithfully and lovingly served students, their families, and her community for decades, encouraging and uplifting others is part of Dr. Wimberly’s DNA. In My Sunday Best, you’ll be cheered by the stories and lessons from a life well-lived and find yourself asking, How can I inspire someone today and encourage myself too?


Click for more detail about Side Notes from the Archivist: Poems by Anastacia-Reneé Side Notes from the Archivist: Poems

by Anastacia-Reneé
Amistad (Mar 14, 2023)
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The award-winning, genre-crossing writer demonstrates her power as a funkadelic and formidable feminist voice in this rich and beautiful collection of verse and image—a multi-part retrospective that traverses time, space, and reality to illuminate the expansiveness of Black femme lives.

Side Notes from the Archivist is a preservation of Black culture viewed through a feminist lens. The Archivist leads readers through poems that epitomize youthful renditions of a Black girl coming of age in Philadelphia’s pre-funk ’80s; episodic adventures of “the Black Girl” whose life is depicted through the white gaze; and selections of verse evincing affection for self and testimony to the magnificence within Black femme culture at-large.

Every poem in Side Notes elevates and honestly illustrates the buoyancy of Blackness and the calamity of Black lives on earth. In her uniquely embracing and experimental style, Anastacia-Reneé documents these truths as celebrations of diverse subjects, from Solid Gold to halal hotdogs; as homages and reflections on iconic images, from Marsha P. Johnson to Aunt Jemima; and as critiques of systemic oppression forcing some to countdown their last heartbeat.

From internet “Fame” to the toxicity of the white gaze, Side Notes from the Archivist cements Anastacia-Reneé role as a leading light in the womanist movement—an artist whose work is in conversation with advocates of Black culture and thought such as Audre Lorde, Amiri Baraka, and Nikki Giovanni.


Click for more detail about You Never Know: A Novel of Domestic Suspense by Connie Briscoe You Never Know: A Novel of Domestic Suspense

by Connie Briscoe
Amistad (Mar 14, 2023)
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“The thing I love about Connie Briscoe now is the same thing I’ve always loved about Connie Briscoe—she writes highly commercial, pacey, character-driven stories. She was made for domestic suspense.” —Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author

The revered New York Times bestselling writer makes her triumphant return with this electrifying novel of domestic suspense that marks an exciting turn in her career, a twisting, tension-filled thriller in which a hearing-impaired woman must battle her rising terror as she fights for her life.

Alexis Roberts is asleep one night when someone breaks into her home and tries to assault her. Though she manages to escape serious harm, the invasion has left her scared and shaken. The police are investigating, but Alexis has few details to share with the detective on the scene. She’s hearing impaired and could not find her cochlear implants in the darkness, which left her unable to both see and hear the intruder.

Was her attacker a stranger or someone whom she knows—a person who may have once been close to her?

Flashback to a year earlier when Alexis meets the man of her dreams. Marcus is handsome, successful, polished and everything she’s ever wanted. Attentive, charming, and fluent in American sign language, he’s unlike any man she’s ever known. Believing he is the Mr. Right who was meant to be her forever partner, Alexis says yes when he asks her to marry him. Why wouldn’t she?

But once they’re married, Marcus grows distant and resembles little of the charming man who swept her off her feet. Who is this stranger she’s married to? Determined to uncover the truth, Alexis begins to carefully unearth the secrets in her husband’s life. When she makes a horrifying discovery—his first wife is missing and suspected dead—Marcus suddenly disappears without a trace.

Now, in this gigantic house in an isolated neighborhood with no family and friends nearby to help, a terrified Alexis waits for her intruder to return. She’s trapped in the dream home that has become a nightmare, unsure who Marcus really is … and what he’s capable of doing.


Click for more detail about Belonging: A Daughter’s Search for Identity Through Loss and Love by Michelle Miller Belonging: A Daughter’s Search for Identity Through Loss and Love

by Michelle Miller
Harper (Mar 14, 2023)
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"[An] outstanding debut."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The award-winning journalist and co-host of CBS Saturday Morning tells the candid, and deeply personal story of her mother’s abandonment and how the search for answers forced her to reckon with her own identity and the secrets that shaped her family for five decades.

Though Michelle Miller was an award-winning broadcast journalist for CBS News, few people in her life knew the painful secret she carried: her mother had abandoned her at birth. Los Angeles in 1967 was deeply segregated, and her mother—a Chicana hospital administrator who presented as white, had kept her affair with Michelle’s father, Dr. Ross Miller, a married trauma surgeon and Compton’s first Black city councilman—hidden, along with the unplanned pregnancy. Raised largely by her father and her paternal grandmother, Michelle had no knowledge of the woman whose genes she shared. Then, fate intervened when Michelle was twenty-two. As her father lay stricken with cancer, he told her, "Go and find your mother."

Belonging is the chronicle of Michelle’s decades-long quest to connect with the woman who gave her life, to confront her past, and ultimately, to find her voice as a journalist, a wife, and a mother. Michelle traces the years spent trying to make sense of her mixed-race heritage and her place in white-dominated world. From the wealthy white schools where she was bussed to integrate, to the newsrooms filled with white, largely male faces, she revisits the emotional turmoil of her formative years and how the enigma of her mother and her rejection shaped Michelle’s understanding of herself and her own Blackness.

As she charts her personal journey, Michelle looks back on her decades on the ground reporting painful events, from the beating of Rodney King to the death of George Floyd, revealing how her struggle to understand her racial identity coincides with the nation’s own ongoing and imperfect racial reckoning. What emerges is an intimate family story about secrets—secrets we keep, secrets we share, and the secrets that make us who we are.


Click for more detail about Africana: A Cookbook of Recipes and Flavors Inspired by a Rich Continent by Lerato Umah-Shaylor Africana: A Cookbook of Recipes and Flavors Inspired by a Rich Continent

by Lerato Umah-Shaylor
Amistad (Mar 07, 2023)
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A culinary adventure and celebration of African cooking and cultural diversity, from a pioneering West African food writer, television personality, and cooking teacher.

Food writer and cook Lerato Umah-Shaylor’s magnificent cookbook is a delicious eating tour of the African continent, introducing vibrant and varied cuisines that are rich in flavor, diverse in culture, and steeped in tradition.

Lerato adds her own modern twist and inventive style to traditional African dishes that have been passed down and enjoyed for generations, and combines these recipes with personal stories of Africa infused with her delectable sense of adventure.

With Africana, home cooks can learn how to create some of the most iconic African dishes, from Nigeria to Madagascar and Morocco to South Africa. Here are more than 100 recipes to delight and inspire, such as Spice Island Coconut Fish Curry, Harissa Leg of Lamb with Hibiscus, Senegalese Yassa, Tunisian Tagine, South African Malva Pudding, and the secret to the perfect Jollof.

A feast for the senses, bursting with flavor, and offering a sense of wanderlust, Africana will bring the magic of the continent to any kitchen.


Click for more detail about The Last Suspicious Holdout (paperback): Stories by Ladee Hubbard The Last Suspicious Holdout (paperback): Stories

by Ladee Hubbard
Amistad (Mar 07, 2023)
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The critically acclaimed author of The Rib King returns with an eagerly anticipated collection of interlocking short stories including the title story written exclusively for this volume, that explore relationships between friends, family and strangers in a Black neighborhood over fifteen years.

The thirteen gripping tales In The Last Suspicious Holdout, the new story collection by award-winning author Ladee Hubbard, deftly chronicle poignant moments in the lives of an African American community located in a “sliver of southern suburbia.” Spanning from 1992 to 2007, the stories represent a period during which the Black middle-class expanded while stories of "welfare Queens," "crack babies," and "super predators" abounded in the media. In “False Cognates,” a formerly incarcerated attorney struggles with raising the tuition to keep his troubled son in an elite private school. In “There He Go,” a young girl whose mother moves constantly clings to a picture of the grandfather she doesn’t know but invents stories of his greatness. Characters spotlighted in one story reappear in another, providing a stunning testament to the enduring resilience of Black people as they navigate the “post-racial” period The Last Suspicious Holdout so vividly portrays.


Click for more detail about The Making of Butterflies by Zora Neale Hurston and Adapted by Ibram X. Kendi The Making of Butterflies

by Zora Neale Hurston and Adapted by Ibram X. Kendi
Amistad Books for Young Readers (Mar 07, 2023)
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A First Folktale from the creators of Magnolia Flower, Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi, about the origin of butterflies.

The Creator wuz all finished and thru makin’ de world.

But soon, the Creator finds themselves flying through the sky, making gorgeous butterflies of every color, shape, and size.

Find out why butterflies were made in Zora Neale Hurston’s stunning and layered African American folktale retold by #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award–winning author Ibram X. Kendi and illustrated by Kah Yangni. This accessible and sizable board book is perfect for introducing the youngest of readers to the beauty of Hurston’s storytelling and will spark curiosity in children about how things in our world came to be.


Click for more detail about Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown Black Candle Women

by Diane Marie Brown
Graydon House (Feb 28, 2023)
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“Propulsive and poignant, Black Candle Women concocts an intoxicating potion of warmth, wisdom, and wonder.” —Ava DuVernay

A warm and wry family drama with a magical twist about four generations of Black women living under one roof and the family curse that stems back to a Voodoo shop in 1950s New Orleans

Generations of Montrose women—Augusta, Victoria, Willow—have lived together in their quaint two-story bungalow in California for years. They keep to themselves, never venture far from home, and their collection of tinctures and spells is an unspoken bond between them.

But when seventeen-year-old Nickie Montrose brings home a boy for the first time, their quiet lives are thrown into disarray. For the other women have been withholding a secret from Nickie that will end her relationship before it’s even begun: the decades-old family curse that any person they fall in love with dies.

Their surprise guest forces each woman to reckon with her own past choices and mistakes. And as new truths about the curse emerge, the family is set on a collision course dating back to a Voodoo shop in 1950s New Orleans’s French Quarter—where a hidden story in a mysterious book may just hold the answers they seek in life and in love…


Click for more detail about Things Past Telling (paperback) by Sheila Williams Things Past Telling (paperback)

by Sheila Williams
Amistad (Feb 21, 2023)
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“This is a truly character-driven novel that explores how people define themselves, the creation of family and home, and the importance of memory and language… . Fans of historical epics won’t be able to put this book down.”—Historical Novel Society

“Emotionally satisfying… . A remarkable character portrait.”—Publishers Weekly

The author of The Secret Women tells the story of a brave and enduring woman as indomitable as Ernest Gaines’ legendary Miss Jane Pittman, in a breathtaking novel that combines the epic romance and adventure of Outlander, the sweeping drama of Roots, and the haunting historical power of Barracoon.

Things Past Telling is a remarkable historical epic that charts one unforgettable woman’s journey across an ocean of years as vast as the Atlantic that will forever separate her from her homeland.

Born in West Africa in the mid-eighteenth century, Maryam Prescilla Grace—a.k.a “Momma Grace” will live a long, wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity, and love. Though she will be “gifted” various names, her birth name is known to her alone. Over the course of 100-plus years, she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only eleven years of age, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator.

Maryam learns midwifery from a Caribbean-born wise woman, whose “craft” combines curated techniques and medicines from African, Indigenous, and European women. Those midwifery skills allow her to sometimes transcend the racial and class barriers of her enslavement, as she walks the razor’s edge trying to balance the lives and health of her own people with the cruel economic mandates of the slave holders, who view infants born in bondage not as flesh-and-blood children but as investment property.

Throughout her triumphant and tumultuous life Maryam gains and loses her homeland, her family, her culture, her husband, her lovers, and her children. Yet as the decades pass, this tenacious woman never loses her sense of self.

Inspired by a 112-year-old woman the author discovered in an 1870 U.S. Federal census report for Ohio, loosely based on the author’s real-life female ancestors, spanning more than a hundred years, from the mid-eighteen-century to the end of America’s Civil War, and spanning across the globe, from what is now southern Nigeria to the islands of the Caribbean to North America and the land bordering the Ohio River, Things Past Telling is a breathtaking story of a past that lives on in all of us, and a life that encompasses the best—and worst—of our humanity.


Click for more detail about Hey Otter! Hey Beaver! by Brian Pinkney Hey Otter! Hey Beaver!

by Brian Pinkney
Greenwillow Books (Feb 21, 2023)
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Best friends Otter and Beaver both love their stream—but for two completely different reasons! While Otter loves to play in the water, Beaver works hard to build a dam.

Hey Otter! Hey Beaver! is a funny and action-packed book about competition, cooperation, and friendship, by Caldecott Honor artist and Coretta Scott King Award winner Brian Pinkney.

Otter loves how fast the water in the stream flows; it’s perfect to play in. But Beaver sees flowing water and knows he must get to work. While Otter plays with sticks, twigs, and branches, Beaver works hard to build a dam. When the dam is finished and the swirling water is quiet, the two friends decide to take a break. That is, until Otter plays a silly trick on Beaver, and it’s time to start all over again.

Caldecott Honor artist and Coretta Scott King Award winner Brian Pinkney’s playful text and bold, fluid illustrations perfectly capture Otter and Beaver’s exuberant personalities. With themes of friendship, nature, competition, conflict resolution, and sharing, Hey Otter! Hey Beaver! is a standout title for social and emotional learning, as well as an excellent choice for bedtime and school and library story-times.


Click for more detail about Transitional: How to Live Your Authentic Life by Munroe Bergdorf Transitional: How to Live Your Authentic Life

by Munroe Bergdorf
HarperOne (Feb 21, 2023)
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In this thought-provoking, timely book, model and activist Munroe Bergdorf reflects on individuality, evolution, and the ever-changing nature of identity, revealing how they have shaped her own lived experience and how society shapes—and is shaped by—each.

“Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I ask myself this question: what if I’d just done nothing?” When Munroe Bergdorf began to transition in 2009, her only goal was blending in. She wanted nothing more than to “pass”—to be perceived as the gender by which she identified. “I was of the mindset that in order to transition successfully I needed to change other people’s perception of who I was.”

More than a decade later, Bergdorf has reconsidered that thinking. “We do not all of a sudden become a whole different person upon the realization of our transness … As time goes on, we all develop as people. And it struck me that none of us ever becomes someone else entirely—regardless of how we identify—but nor do we stay the same forever, either.” For Bergdorf, transitioning is an ingrained part of the human experience, not just a process that only trans people go through. It’s universal. Everyone changes.

Part memoir, part big idea book, Transitional explores the nature of transition, its significance in Bergdorf’s life, how it impacts—and is considered and influenced by—society, and what it means for our own experiences. Bergdorf explains how she came to revise her outlook and examines how society views change in six vital areas of human experience—adolescence, sexuality, gender, relationships, identity, and race. Using an intersectional approach, she deconstructs the stigma, bias, and prejudice within ourselves and one another, and redefines what it means to be “transitional.”

Ultimately, Bergdorf seeks to bring us closer to a shared consciousness. Transitional reminds us that our unique differences give us power and shows how these differences can be harnessed as a tool to heal, build community, inspire personal growth, and forge a path for progress forward together.


Click for more detail about Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll by Tonya Bolden Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll

by Tonya Bolden
HarperCollins (Feb 14, 2023)
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“A profile as bold and vivacious as the singer herself.” —Kirkus (starred review)

Perfect for fans of Trombone Shorty and Ada’s Violin!

Award-winning author Tonya Bolden and acclaimed illustrator R. Gregory Christie deliver an inspiring true story about the life, career, and impact of 20th-century blues and gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who was a trailblazer for rock-and-roll. Includes a timeline of Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s life, author’s note, and a list of sources.

Before there was Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Johnny Cash, there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

The godmother of rock & roll started as a little girl from Arkansas with music in her air, in her hair, in her bones, wiggling her toes. With a big guitar in hand and a big voice in her soul, she grew into a rock & roll trailblazer in a time when women were rarely seen rocking out. Her guitar picking was like nobody else’s!

Boogie along with this rockin’ tribute to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famer Sister Rosetta Tharpe by Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author Tonya Bolden and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator R. Gregory Christie.


Click for more detail about You Are Only Just Beginning: Lessons for the Journey Ahead by Morgan Harper Nichols You Are Only Just Beginning: Lessons for the Journey Ahead

by Morgan Harper Nichols
Zondervan (Feb 14, 2023)
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From bestselling author and beloved artist Morgan Harper Nichols, this illustrated collection of poetry empowers you to embrace your next adventure with confidence and grace.

Sometimes it’s difficult to take that first step into your future and embrace the unknown. In this collection of art and poetry, Morgan reimagines the classic heroine’s journey—from the very first call to adventure, through trials, hardships, and new relationships, all the way back home—and offers key lessons and affirmations to encourage and equip you every step of the way.

As you travel your own journey of self-discovery, you’re invited to:

  • Cultivate the courage you need to follow your passions
  • Develop curiosity about the natural world around you
  • Find comfort and inspiration for the inevitable trials on your journey
  • Reflect on how your past has prepared you
  • Step out in wonder and faith, knowing there is more for you

Morgan’s signature art fills every page of this book, making it a gorgeous addition to your bedside or coffee table. This is a lovely gift to give for birthdays, holidays, and graduations.

Look for the previous books in this series: All Along You Were Blooming and How Far You Have Come.


Click for more detail about Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth by Clyde W. Ford Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth

by Clyde W. Ford
Amistad (Feb 07, 2023)
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“Ford’s overlap of past and present, narrative and commentary is masterful, and makes this volume all the more valuable to those readers wise enough to allow the past to inform the future. Of Blood and Sweat is a myth-busting work of genius that will stand as the last word on this vital subject for a long time to come.”—Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of A Slave in the White House and The Original Black Elite

In this, provocative, timely, and painstakingly researched book, the award-winning author of Think Black tells the story of how Black labor helped to create and sustain the wealth of the white one percent throughout American history.

Clyde W. Ford uses the lives of individual Black men and women as a lens to explore the role they have played in creating American institutions of power and wealth—in agriculture, politics, jurisprudence, law enforcement, culture, medicine, financial services, and many other fields—while not being allowed to fully participate or share in the rewards. Today, activists have taken the struggle for racial equity and justice to the streets. Of Blood and Sweat goes back through time to excavate the roots of this struggle, from pre-colonial Africa through post-Civil War America. As Ford reveals, in tracing the history of almost any major American institution of power and wealth you’ll find it was created by Black Americans, or created to control them.

Painstakingly researched and documented, Of Blood and Sweat is a compelling look at the past that holds broad implications for present-day calls for racial equity, racial justice, and the abolishment of systemic racism, and offers invaluable insight into our understanding of Black history and the story of America.


Click for more detail about Come Home Safe by Brian Buckmire Come Home Safe

by Brian Buckmire
Blink Young Adult Books (Feb 07, 2023)
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A normal day. Until two siblings are accused of crimes they didn’t commit. Come Home Safe explores the pain, the truths, and the hopes that come with growing up as a person of color in America, as well as why "the talk" and discussions about social justice are so important in the community. This engaging YA novel from ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmire is told in a way that can help foster conversations about what it means to navigate today’s world, as well as inspire ways to work toward change.

When Reed and Olivia left home, they never imagined they’d find themselves questioned, searched, and thrown to the ground by police looking for suspects in recent crimes. As their worst fears become reality, they must find a way to prove their innocence and make it home safe once again.

Come Home Safe is perfect for:

  • Fans of contemporary fiction and true-to-life stories
  • People interested in social justice and societal change
  • Parents and teachers looking to start a conversation and have "the talk" with their teens
  • Anyone looking to better understand America today

From ABC News legal analyst and legal aid advocate Brian Buckmire, this compelling story draws from real-life advice, lessons, and conversations with attorneys, law enforcement, and the wrongfully accused to help turn the whispers and family discussions about racial inequality and mistreatment into wider conversations, healing, and one day … change.


Click for more detail about Plátanos Go with Everything by Lissette Norman Plátanos Go with Everything

by Lissette Norman
HarperCollins (Jan 31, 2023)
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Paletero Man meets Fry Bread in this vibrant and cheerful ode to plátanos, the star of Dominican cuisine, written by award-winning poet Lissette Norman, illustrated by Sara Palacios, and translated by Kianny N. Antigua.

Plátanos are Yesenia’s favorite food. They can be sweet and sugary, or salty and savory. And they’re a part of almost every meal her Dominican family makes.

Stop by her apartment and find out why plátanos go with everything—especially love!

Perfect for reading aloud and shared story time!


Click for more detail about BLK ART: The Audacious Legacy of Black Artists and Models in Western Art by Zaria Ware BLK ART: The Audacious Legacy of Black Artists and Models in Western Art

by Zaria Ware
Harper Design (Jan 31, 2023)
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“This can’t be real.”

Surely, someone must have gotten carried away with photoshop and a couple of old Renaissance paintings. That was all I could think as I flipped through the pages of Zaria Ware’s BLK ART (Harper Design / January 31, 2022), an illuminating title tracking the contributions of Black artists. But Zaria, who was just as shocked to find these depictions in her research, assured me that not only were they real but they were many more than she had space to include. To think, in the rightful fight for inclusion in current media, Black people have been there all along!

Captivating and informative, BLK ART is an essential work that elevates a globally dismissed legacy to its proper place in the mainstream art canon. From the hushed corridors of royal palaces to the bustling streets of 1920s Paris—this is Black history like never seen before.

Elegant. Refined. Exclusionary. Interrupted. The foundations of the fine art world are shaking. Beyoncé and Jay-Z break the internet by blending modern Black culture with fine art in their iconic music video filmed in the Louvre. Kehinde Wiley powerfully subverts European masterworks. Calls resonate for diversity in museums and the resignations of leaders of the old guard. It’s clear that modern day museums can no longer exist without change—and without recognizing that Black people have been a part of the Western art world since its beginnings. Quietly held within museum and private collections around the world are hundreds of faces of Black men and women, many of their stories unknown. From paintings of majestic kings to a portrait of a young girl named Isabella in Amsterdam, these models lived diverse lives while helping shape the art world along the way. Then, after hundreds of years of Black faces cast as only the subject of the white gaze, a small group of trailblazing Black American painters and sculptors reached national and international fame, setting the stage for the flourishing of Black art in the 1920s and beyond.

BLK ART tracks this buried history, unearthing stunning masterpieces in all their forgotten yet beautiful hues. In the introduction of her book, Zaria writes about discovery of the history genre as a child and how she learned there was no place for her in it: “It never really occurred to me that my being black and loving history would be considered an oxymoron.” Well, thanks to her, not anymore.

If seeing is, in fact, believing, everyone needs to see this.


Click for more detail about Daughter in Exile by Bisi Adjapon Daughter in Exile

by Bisi Adjapon
HarperVia (Jan 31, 2023)
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The acclaimed author of The Teller of Secrets returns with a gut-wrenching, yet heartwarming, story about a young Ghanaian woman’s struggle to make a life in the US, and the challenges she must overcome.

Lola is twenty-one, and her life in Senegal couldn’t be better. An aspiring writer and university graduate, she has a great job, a nice apartment, a vibrant social life, and a future filled with possibility. But fate disrupts her world when she falls for Armand, an American Marine stationed at the U.S. Embassy. Her mother, a high court judge in Ghana, disapproves of her choice, but nothing will stop Lola from boarding a plane for Armand and America.

That fateful flight is only the beginning of an extraordinary journey; she has traded her carefree existence in Senegal for the perilous position of an undocumented immigrant in 1990s America.

Lola encounters adversity that would crush a less-determined woman. Her fate hangs on whether or not she’ll grow in courage to forge a different life from one she’d imagined, whether she’ll succeed in putting herself and family together again. Daughter in Exile is a hope-filled story about mother love, resilience, and unyielding strength.


Click for more detail about The Great Mrs. Elias (paperback) by Barbara Chase-Riboud The Great Mrs. Elias (paperback)

by Barbara Chase-Riboud
Amistad (Jan 24, 2023)
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The author of the award-winning Sally Hemings now brings to life Hannah Elias, one of the richest black women in America in the early 1900s, in this mesmerizing novel swirling with atmosphere and steeped in history.

A murder and a case of mistaken identity brings the police to Hannah Elias’ glitzy, five-story, twenty-room mansion on Central Park West. This is the beginning of an odyssey that moves back and forth in time and reveals the dangerous secrets of a mysterious woman, the fortune she built, and her precipitous fall.

Born in Philadelphia in the late 1800s, Hannah Elias has done things she’s not proud of to survive. Shedding her past, Hannah slips on a new identity before relocating to New York City to become as rich as a robber baron. Hannah quietly invests in the stock market, growing her fortune with the help of businessmen. As the money pours in, Hannah hides her millions across 29 banks. Finally attaining the life she’s always dreamed, she buys a mansion on the Upper West Side and decorates it in gold and first-rate décor, inspired by her idol Cleopatra.

The unsolved murder turns Hannah’s world upside-down and threatens to destroy everything she’s built. When the truth of her identity is uncovered, thousands of protestors gather in front of her stately home. Hounded by the salacious press, the very private Mrs. Elias finds herself alone, ensnared in a scandalous trial, and accused of stealing her fortune from whites.

Packed with glamour, suspense, and drama, populated with real-life luminaries from the period, The Great Mrs. Elias brings a fascinating woman and the age she embodied to glorious, tragic life.

Praise For The Great Mrs. Elias: A Novel

“There’s a temptation to think that a life like Hannah Bessie Elias’s writes itself. She was born poor, pretty and so light skinned she could (and eventually would sometimes) pass for White, in an era when Black people were figuring out how to live free in a post-Civil War America. And she rose to become one of the wealthiest Black women of her day, leveraging her earnings as a sex worker to make wise real estate investments. Sex (!), race, gender, and class are all separate lenses, the author could have chosen to filter Elias’s story through, and any of them would have been powerful. But in her riveting novelization of this fascinating historic figure, Chase-Riboud chooses to widen the aperture and let all the darkness and light in. The result is a stunning portrait, developed with artistry, compassion and depth, of a woman and a society you don’t want to stop staring at—one that offers a new revelation every time you look.” — Nana Brew-Hammond, author of Powder Necklace

“In all her writing, Barbara Chase-Riboud displays an extraordinary talent for reclaiming history, passionately bringing to life characters in scenarios that readers will never forget.” — Margaret Busby, editor of New Daughters of Africa

“Hannah Elias—one of Barbara Chase-Riboud’s five historical but invisible women of color—emerges from this page-turning novel with a burning ambition propelling her from oblivion to capitalist-level wealth. Chase-Riboud dresses every single character meticulously, practically endowing clothing its own rewarding role in this intriguing novel.” — Nell Painter, author of Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over

The Great Mrs. Elias is an entertaining, thoughtful and craftful novel that captures the reader from the first page. Barbara Chase-Riboud once again has penned a masterpiece that will enlighten and embrace the imagination of readers throughout the ages and throughout the world.” — Zane, author of New York Times bestseller Addicted

“Chase-Riboud shines a literary floodlight on Hannah Elias, one of the richest Black women we never heard of, until now. Whispered secrets, historic intrigue, dashing characters, intimate details and opulent language all converge masterfully. This book’s pages demand to be breathlessly turned until the end.” — Tricia Elam Walker, author of Nana Akua Goes to School

“Barbara Chase-Riboud, the preeminent practitioner of African-American historical fiction, closes a sextet of novels based on invisible black women stronger than she began, and she began with Sally Hemmings. Love, murder, race, class, and memory collide in a mesmerizing swirl of licit and illicit desire that was old New York in the age of the robber barons across the pages of The Great Mrs. Elias. This is a delicious read that lives in profound conversation with Wharton’s House of Mirth, Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, and the earlier titles in this provocative series.” — Alice Randall, author of Black Bottom Saints


Click for more detail about To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights by Angela Dalton To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights

by Angela Dalton
HarperCollins (Jan 17, 2023)
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Perfect for fans of Hidden Figures and Mae Among the Stars! To Boldly Go tells the true story of Nichelle Nichols and how she used her platform on Star Trek to inspire and recruit a new generation of diverse astronauts and many others in the space and STEM fields.

As Lieutenant Uhura on the iconic prime-time television show Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols played the first Black female astronaut anyone had ever seen on screen. A smart, strong, independent Black woman aboard the starship Enterprise was revolutionary in the 1960s when only white men had traveled to outer space in real life and most Black characters on TV were servants.

Nichelle not only inspired a generation to pursue their dreams, but also opened the door for the real-life pioneering astronaut Sally Ride, Dr. Mae Jemison, and more.

This empowering tribute to the trailblazing pop culture icon reminds us of the importance of perseverance and the power of representation in storytelling. You just might be inspired to boldly go where no one like you has ever gone before!


Click for more detail about Wade in the Water by Nyaneba Nkrumah Wade in the Water

by Nyaneba Nkrumah
Amistad (Jan 17, 2023)
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Resonant with the emotional urgency of Alice Walker’s classic Meridian and the poignant charm of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, a gripping debut novel of female power and vulnerability, race, and class that explores the unlikely friendship between a precocious black girl and a mysterious white woman in a small Mississippi town in the early 1980s.

Set in 1982, in rural, racially divided Ricksville, Mississippi Wade in the Water tells the story of Ella, a black, unloved, precocious eleven-year-old, and Ms. St. James, a mysterious white woman from Princeton who appears in Ella’s community to carry out some research. Soon, Ms. St. James befriends Ella, who is willing to risk everything to keep her new friend in a town that does not want her there. The relationship between Ella and Ms. St. James, at times loving and funny and other times tense and cautious, becomes more fraught and complex as Ella unwittingly pushes at Ms. St. James’s carefully constructed boundaries that guard a complicated past, and dangerous secrets that could have devastating consequences.

Told in two voices, Ella’s and Ms. St. James’s, and set around richly developed characters, this riveting, page turning coming of age story will keep readers entranced until the last shocking revelation.


Click for more detail about Figure It Out, Henri Weldon by Tanita S. Davis Figure It Out, Henri Weldon

by Tanita S. Davis
Katherine Tegen Books (Jan 17, 2023)
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Tanita S. Davis, author of Partly Cloudy and Serena Says, has written another funny, warm story featuring middle school and family life—all about the complex calculations it takes for everyone to balance the equations of their lives and what it takes to be part of a team while handling a learning disability. This middle grade novel is perfect for fans of From the Desk of Zoe Washington and A Good Kind of Trouble.

Seventh grader Henrietta Weldon gets to switch schools—finally! She’ll be “mainstreaming” into public school, leaving her special education school behind. She can’t wait for her new schedule, new friends, and new classes.

Henri’s dyscalculia, a learning disability that makes math challenging to process and understand, is what she expects to give her problems. What she doesn’t expect is a family feud with her sister over her new friends, joining the girls’ soccer team, and discovering poetry. Henri’s tutor and new friend, Vinnie, reminds her to take it slow. One problem at a time.

If Henri Weldon has twenty-four hours in a day, and she has two siblings who dislike her four new friends, two hours of soccer practice, seven hours of classes, and three hours of homework … she has:

A. No free time
B. No idea how to make everyone happy
C. No time to figure it out, Henri Weldon!


Click for more detail about A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow A Comb of Wishes

by Lisa Stringfellow
Quill Tree Books (Jan 17, 2023)
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Set against the backdrop of Caribbean folklore, Lisa Stringfellow's spellbinding middle grade debut tells of a grieving girl and a vengeful mermaid and will enchant readers who loved Kacen Callender's Hurricane Child or Christian McKay Heidicker's Scary Stories for Young Foxes.

Ever since her mother's death, Kela feels every bit as broken as the shards of glass, known as “mermaid's tears,” that sparkle on the Caribbean beaches of St. Rita. So when Kela and her friend Lissy stumble across an ancient-looking comb in a coral cave, with all she's already lost, Kela can't help but bring home her very own found treasure.

Far away, deep in the cold ocean, the mermaid Ophidia can feel that her comb has been taken. And despite her hatred of all humans, her magic requires that she make a bargain: the comb in exchange for a wish.

But what Kela wants most is for her mother to be alive. And a wish that big will exact an even bigger price…

Don't miss the novel that Newbery-winning author Kelly Barnhill calls “one of the most promising works of fiction in a long time”!


Click for more detail about Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices

by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
HarperVia (Jan 17, 2023)
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A fresh and electrifying collection of stories, poems, and essays from across the African continent.

Many people in the world today see those who do not look like them, or who speak differently as being separate; as “other.” Relations challenges the human illusion of separation, illuminating the connections that link us all as humans, different though equal in every way.

In this powerful anthology, new and established storytellers reshape the narratives that restrict and subjugate, revealing the truth of our shared humanity despite differences such as language, identity, class, and gender. Edited by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Relations is a meeting place of perspectives, a profound meditation on the diversity of the Black experience in a post-Black Panther world. The essays, poetry, and stories included span format and genre; they address questions of culture and experience among communities across the globe—who we are, who we want to be, and what it means to navigate life in a Black body.

Relations is a vibrant, essential examination of being that elevates voices from different corners of the world. African and diaspora writers share in an urgent gathering of story, a place for contemplation and celebration of the deepest relations.

Some of the 32 contributors to Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, including the editor Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond:

  • Arao Ameny, recipient of the 2022 Mayor’s Individual Artist Award from the Creative Baltimore Fund
  • Joe Robert Cole, co-writer of the Black Panther sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and writer & director of All Day and A Night starring Jeffrey Wright
  • Kim Coleman Foote, author of two forthcoming novels from SJP Lit
  • Conceição Lima, author of the poem "Afroinsularity", translated by David Shook, which won the 2021 The Academy of American Poets / Words Without Border Poems in Translation Prize
  • Makanaka Mavengere, writer of the summer 2022 film Meet Melusi
  • Vanessa Walters, whose upcoming novel The Nigerwife will be developed into a drama series at HBO by Amy Aniobi


Click for more detail about You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays (paperback) by Zora Neale Hurston, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (editor), M. Genevieve West (editor) You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays (paperback)

by Zora Neale Hurston, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (editor), M. Genevieve West (editor)
Amistad (Jan 10, 2023)
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Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive style as an archivist and author.

“One of the greatest writers of our time.”—Toni Morrison

One of the most acclaimed artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston was a gifted novelist, playwright, and essayist. Drawn from three decades of her work, this anthology showcases her development as a writer, from her early pieces expounding on the beauty and precision of African American art to some of her final published works, covering the sensational trial of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy Black woman convicted in 1952 for killing a white doctor. Among the selections are Hurston’s well-known works such as “How It Feels to be Colored Me” and “My Most Humiliating Jim Crow Experience.”

The essays in this essential collection are grouped thematically and cover a panoply of topics, including politics, race and gender, and folkloric study from the height of the Harlem Renaissance to the early years of the Civil Rights movement. Demonstrating the breadth of this revered and influential writer’s work, You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays is an invaluable chronicle of a writer’s development and a window into her world and time.


Click for more detail about Night Wherever We Go by Tracey Rose Peyton Night Wherever We Go

by Tracey Rose Peyton
Ecco (Jan 03, 2023)
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A RECOMMENDED READ FROM: The Washington Post • Atlanta Journal-Constitution • CrimeReads • Library Journal

A gripping, radically intimate debut novel about a group of enslaved women staging a covert rebellion against their owners

On a struggling Texas plantation, six enslaved women slip from their sleeping quarters and gather in the woods under the cover of night. The Lucys—as they call the plantation owners, after Lucifer himself—have decided to turn around the farm’s bleak financial prospects by making the women bear children. They have hired a “stockman” to impregnate them. But the women are determined to protect themselves.

Now each of the six faces a choice. Nan, the doctoring woman, has brought a sack of cotton root clippings that can stave off children when chewed daily. If they all take part, the Lucys may give up and send the stockman away. But a pregnancy for any of them will only encourage the Lucys further. And should their plan be discovered, the consequences will be severe.

Visceral and arresting, Night Wherever We Go illuminates each woman’s individual trials and desires while painting a subversive portrait of collective defiance. Unflinching in her portrayal of America’s gravest injustices, while also deeply attentive to the transcendence, love, and solidarity of women whose interior lives have been underexplored, Tracey Rose Peyton creates a story of unforgettable power.


Click for more detail about Stacey’s Remarkable Books by Stacey Abrams aka Selena Montgomery Stacey’s Remarkable Books

by Stacey Abrams aka Selena Montgomery
Balzer + Bray (Dec 13, 2022)
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The companion to the #1 New York Times bestseller and NAACP Image Award winner Stacey’s Extraordinary Words, from political leader Stacey Abrams and artist Kitt Thomas.

Stacey’s favorite day of the week is Thursday, when the whole class goes to the library and she gets to lose herself in her beloved books.

On one of these visits, Stacey discovers that a new student named Julie has trouble reading in English, so they begin sharing books and stories. Soon, more students start to join them. Books take the group on magical adventures and reveal other worlds and cultures—but best of all, they bring them together as friends.

This is another inspiring tale, based on a true story from Stacey Abrams’ childhood, about the life-changing power of books.


Click for more detail about A Psalm of Storms and Silence by Roseanne A. Brown A Psalm of Storms and Silence

by Roseanne A. Brown
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Dec 13, 2022)
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The highly anticipated second—and final—book in the immersive fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore that began with the New York Times bestselling A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, from author Roseanne A. Brown. Perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi, Renée Ahdieh, and Sabaa Tahir.

Karina lost everything after a violent coup left her without her kingdom or her throne. Now the most wanted person in Sonande, her only hope of reclaiming what is rightfully hers lies in a divine power hidden in the long-lost city of her ancestors.

Meanwhile, the resurrection of Karina’s sister has spiraled the world into chaos, with disaster after disaster threatening the hard-won peace Malik has found as Farid’s apprentice. When they discover that Karina herself is the key to restoring balance, Malik must use his magic to lure her back to their side. But how do you regain the trust of someone you once tried to kill?

As the fabric holding Sonande together begins to tear, Malik and Karina once again find themselves torn between their duties and their desires. And when the fate of everything hangs on a single, horrifying choice, they each must decide what they value most—a power that could transform the world, or a love that could transform their lives.


Click for more detail about Reclamation (paperback): Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy by Gayle Jessup White Reclamation (paperback): Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy

by Gayle Jessup White
Amistad (Dec 06, 2022)
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A Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings’ family explores America’s racial reckoning through the prism of her ancestors—both the enslaver and the enslaved.

Gayle Jessup White had long heard the stories passed down from her father’s family, that they were direct descendants of Thomas Jefferson—lore she firmly believed, though others did not. For four decades the acclaimed journalist and genealogy enthusiast researched her connection to Thomas Jefferson, to confirm its truth once and for all.

After she was named a Jefferson Studies Fellow, Jessup White discovered her family lore was correct. Poring through photos and documents and pursuing DNA evidence, she learned that not only was she a descendant of Jefferson on his father’s side; she was also the great-great-great-granddaughter of Peter Hemings, Sally Hemings’s brother.

In Reclamation she chronicles her remarkable journey to definitively understand her heritage and reclaim it, and offers a compelling portrait of what it means to be a black woman in America, to pursue the American dream, to reconcile the legacy of racism, and to ensure the nation lives up to the ideals advocated by her legendary ancestor.


Click for more detail about Never Forget Our People Were Always Free by Ben Jealous Never Forget Our People Were Always Free

by Ben Jealous
Amistad (Dec 06, 2022)
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“One of the nation’s most prominent civil rights leaders” (Washington Post), a New York Times bestselling author, community organizer, investigative journalist, Ivy League professor, and former head of the NAACP, Ben Jealous draws from a life lived on America’s racial fault line to deliver a series of gripping and lively parables that call on each of us to reconcile, heal, and work fearlessly to make America one nation.

Never Forget Our People Were Always Free illuminates for each of us how the path to healing America’s broken heart starts with each of us having the courage to heal our own.The son of parents who had to leave Maryland because their cross-racial marriage was illegal, Ben Jealous’ lively, courageous and empathetic storytelling calls on every American to look past deeply-cut divisions and recognize we are all in the same boat now. Along the way Jealous grapples with hidden American mysteries, including:

  • Why do white men die from suicide more often than black men die from murder?
  • How did racial profiling kill an American president?
  • What happens when a Ku Klux Klansman wrestles with what Jesus actually said? 
  • How did Dave Chappelle know the DC Snipers were Black? 
  • Why shouldn't the civil rights movement give up on rednecks?
  • When is what we have collectively forgotten about race more important than what we actually know?
  • What do the most indecipherable things our elders say tell us about ourselves?

 Told as a series of parables, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free features intimate glimpses of political, and faith leaders as different as Jack Kemp, Stacey Abrams, and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and heroes as unlikely as a retired constable, a female pirate from Madagascar, a long lost Irishman, a death row inmate, and a man with a confederate flag over his heart.

More than anything, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free offers readers hope America’s oldest wounds can heal and her oldest divisions be overcome.


Click for more detail about Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul by Evette Dionne Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul

by Evette Dionne
Ecco (Dec 06, 2022)
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A poignant and ruthlessly honest journey through cultural expectations of size, race, and gender—and toward a brighter future—from National Book Award nominee Evette Dionne

My body has not betrayed me; it has continued rebounding against all odds. It is a body that others map their expectations on, but it has never let me down.

In this insightful, funny, and whip-smart book, acclaimed writer Evette Dionne explores the minefields fat Black woman are forced to navigate in the course of everyday life. From her early experiences of harassment to adolescent self-discovery in internet chatrooms to diagnosis with heart failure at age twenty-nine, Dionne tracks her relationships with friendship, sex, motherhood, agoraphobia, health, pop culture, and self-image.

Along the way, she lifts back the curtain to reveal the subtle, insidious forms of surveillance and control levied at fat women: At the doctor’s office, where any health ailment is treated with a directive to lose weight. On dating sites, where larger bodies are rejected or fetishized. On TV, where fat characters are asexual comedic relief. But Dionne’s unflinching account of our deeply held prejudices is matched by her fierce belief in the power of self-love.

An unmissable portrait of a woman on a journey toward understanding our society and herself, Weightless holds up a mirror to the world we live in and asks us to imagine the future we deserve.


Click for more detail about A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents by Mary-Alice Daniel A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents

by Mary-Alice Daniel
Ecco (Nov 29, 2022)
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A poetic coming-of-age memoir that probes the legacies and myths of family, race, and religion—from Nigeria to England to America

Mary-Alice Daniel’s family moved from West Africa to England when she was a very young girl, leaving behind the vivid culture of her native land in the Nigerian savanna. They arrived to a blanched, cold world of prim suburbs and unfamiliar customs. So began her family’s series of travels across three continents in search of places of belonging.

A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing ventures through the physical and mythical landscapes of Daniel’s upbringing. Against the backdrop of a migratory adolescence, she reckons with race, religious conflict, culture clash, and a multiplicity of possible identities. Daniel lays bare the lives and legends of her parents and past generations, unearthing the tribal mythologies that shaped her kin and her own way of being in the world. The impossible question of which tribe to claim as her own is one she has long struggled with: the Nigerian government recognizes her as Longuda, her father’s tribe; according to matrilineal tradition, Daniel belongs to her mother’s tribe, the nomadic Fulani; and the language she grew up speaking is that of the Hausa tribe. But her strongest emotional connection is to her adopted home: California, the final place she reveals to readers through its spellbinding history.

Daniel’s approach is deeply personal: in order to reclaim her legacies, she revisits her unsettled childhood and navigates the traditions of her ancestors. Her layered narratives invoke the contrasting spiritualities of her tribes: Islam, Christianity, and magic. A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing is a powerful cultural distillation of mythos and ethos, mapping the far-flung corners of the Black diaspora that Daniel inherits and inhabits. Through lyrical observation and deep introspection, she probes the bonds and boundaries of Blackness, from bygone colonial empires to her present home in America.

Praise For A Coastline Is An Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents
“Mary-Alice Daniel has created a radiant, multi-faceted, multi-genre narrative. Part myth, magic, me
moir, remembrance, and whispered quilt, this book tackles lineage, fear, and difficulty with a hard-won elegance and grace. A powerful debut from a brilliant and gifted writer.” — Chris Abani, author of The Secret History of Las Vegas and Smoking the Bible

“Mary-Alice Daniel’s memoir is an introspection on the meaning of home and family and identity and race. Deeply personal, yet so relatable, especially to those who’ve had to leave a country. In places it brings to mind the best writings of Jhumpa Lahiri. Mary-Alice is a major talent to watch.” — Helon Habila, author of Travelers and The Chibok Girls


Click for more detail about What We Found in Hallelujah by Vanessa Miller What We Found in Hallelujah

by Vanessa Miller
Thomas Nelson (Nov 29, 2022)
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The Reynolds women are bracing for another storm, both literal and metaphorical, and the only way out is to face it head-on. November has never been kind to them; it’s the month they lost their patriarch and the time when fourteen-year-old Trinity disappeared. Hope Reynolds’ troubles continue in this cursed month when she discovers her boyfriend’s infidelity and her family’s beach house is at risk due to a mistake.

Simultaneously, Faith Reynolds-Phillips grapples with financial woes, an impending divorce, and the challenge of raising a daughter who painfully reminds her of Trinity. Returning to Hallelujah, South Carolina, during hurricane season is the last thing Hope and Faith want, but it’s necessary to confront the secrets fracturing their family. Surviving this new storm offers them a chance to rebuild their lives on the foundation of truth.

This latest novel by Vanessa Miller, renowned for her inspirational contemporary fiction, explores themes of family secrets, mother-daughter dynamics, forgiveness, and renewed faith. Praised by Kimberla Lawson Roby, it’s an ideal read for fans of heartwarming stories. The book is a stand-alone novel and includes discussion questions for book clubs. Other works by Vanessa Miller include Something Good.


Click for more detail about The Good Fight by Shirley Chisholm The Good Fight

by Shirley Chisholm
Amistad (Nov 08, 2022)
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The revered civil rights activist and pioneering member of Congress chronicles her groundbreaking 1972 run for President as the first woman and person of color—a work of immense historical importance that both captures and transcends its times, newly reissued to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of her campaign.

Before Kamala Harris, before Hillary Rodham Clinton there was Shirley Chisholm. In 1972, the Congresswoman from New York—the first Black woman elected to Congress—made history again when she announced her candidacy for President of the United States. Though she understood victory was a longshot, Chisholm chose to run “because someone had to do it first… . I ran because most people think the country is not ready for a black candidate, not ready for a woman candidate.”

In this invaluable political memoir, Chisholm reflects on her unique campaign and a nation at the crossroads of change. With the striking candor and straightforward style for which she was famous, Chisholm reveals the essential wheeling and dealing inherent to campaigning, castigates the innate conservatism and piety of the Black majority of the period, decries identity politics that lead to destructive power struggles within a fractious Democratic Party, and offers prescient advice on the direction of Black politics. From the whirlwind of the primaries to the final dramatic maneuvering at the tumultuous 1972 Democratic National Convention, The Good Fight is an invaluable portrait of twentieth-century politics and a Democratic Party in flux.

Most importantly, The Good Fight is the portrait of a reformer who dedicated her life to making politics work for all Americans. Chisholm saw her campaign as an extension of her political commitment; she ran as an idealist grounded in reality who used her opportunity and position to give voice to all the forgotten. This book bears the stamp of her remarkable personality and her commitment to speaking truth no matter the consequences.


Click for more detail about Unbought and Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm Unbought and Unbossed

by Shirley Chisholm
Amistad (Nov 08, 2022)
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“Her motto and title of her autobiography—Unbossed and Unbought—illustrates her outspoken advocacy for women and minorities during her seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.”—National Women’s History Museum

In this classic work—a blend of memoir social criticism, and political analysis that remains relevant today—the first Black Congresswoman to serve in American history, New York’s dynamic representative Shirley Chisholm, traces her extensive political struggle and examines the problems that have long plagued the American system of government.

“I want to be remembered as a woman … who dared to be a catalyst of change.”Political pioneer Shirley Chisholm—activist, member of the House of Representatives and former presidential candidate—was a woman who consistently broke barriers and inspired generations of American women, and especially women of color. Unbossed and Unbought is her story, told in her own words—a thoughtful and informed look at her rise from the streets of Brooklyn to the halls of Congress. Chisholm speaks out on her life in politics while illuminating the events, personalities, and issues of her time, including the schism in the Democratic party in the 1960s and ’70s—all which speak to us today.

In this frank assessment, “Fighting Shirley” recalls how she took on an entrenched system, gave a public voice to millions, and embarked on a trailblazing bid to be the first woman and first African American President of the United States. By daring to be herself, Shirley Chisholm shows how one person forever changed the status quo.


Click for more detail about Whiteout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon Whiteout

by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon
Quill Tree Books (Nov 08, 2022)
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Atlanta is blanketed with snow just before Christmas, but the warmth of young love just might melt the ice in this novel of Black joy, and cozy, sparkling romance—by the same unbeatable team of authors who wrote the New York Times bestseller Blackout!

As the city grinds to a halt, twelve teens band together to help a friend pull off the most epic apology of her life. But will they be able to make it happen, in spite of the storm?

No one is prepared for this whiteout. But then, we can’t always prepare for the magical moments that change everything.

From the bestselling, award-winning, all-star authors who brought us Blackout—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—comes another novel of Black teen love, each relationship within as unique and sparkling as Southern snowflakes.


Click for more detail about Two Old Broads: Stuff You Need to Know That You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know by Whoopi Goldberg and M. E. Hecht Two Old Broads: Stuff You Need to Know That You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know

by Whoopi Goldberg and M. E. Hecht
Harper Horizon (Nov 08, 2022)
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Written by renowned surgeon and expert on the art of aging, Dr. M.E. Hecht, with her friend Whoopi Goldberg lending her unique point of view, Two Old Broads is laugh out loud funny and tells it like it is for all of us who left middle age in the dust and want to be present, positive, and as extraordinary as ever in our golden years.

Whoopi joins Dr. Hecht in a lively conversation about growing older with no apologies. Dr. Hecht, who passed away a few short months prior to publication, shares her 93 years of wisdom with Whoopi and their fellow "broads." Together, these two kindred spirits will help you:

  • stay active physically and mentally
  • make finalizing your will more rewarding than it sounds
  • navigate tricky subjects, such as whether you need a home aide
  • win friends and influence people or take a nap, depending on the day
  • discover joy in relationships even when your excretions outweigh your secretions
  • get up financially, physically, and emotionally after a fall
  • keep a sense of humor about getting older (of course )

Imminently practical and rooted firmly in the adage that getting older is not for sissies, Two Old Broads is the aging book for the ages. You’ve survived the past; why not embrace the present and prepare for the future so you thrive and find more time to laugh along the way?


Click for more detail about Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change by Tameka Fryer Brown Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change

by Tameka Fryer Brown
HarperCollins (Nov 01, 2022)
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Shirley Chisholm was a natural-born fighter. She didn’t like to be bossed and she wanted things to be fair.

Brooklyn-born Shirley Chisholm was smart and ambitious. She poured her energy into whatever she did—from teaching young children to becoming Brooklyn’s first Black assemblywoman. Not afraid to blaze a trail, she became the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first woman to seriously run for US president. With a vision of liberty and justice for all, she worked for equal rights, for the environment, for children, and for health care. Even now, her legacy lives on and inspires others to continue her work … which is not done yet.

Stirring free verse by Tameka Fryer Brown and evocative illustrations by Nina Crews provide an inspirational look at changemaker Shirley Chisholm.


Click for more detail about Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli Someday, Maybe

by Onyi Nwabineli
Graydon House (Nov 01, 2022)
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Someday, Maybe is a stunning, witty debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband.

Here are three things you should know about my husband:

  1. He was the great love of my life despite his penchant for going incommunicado.
  2. He was, as far as I and everyone else could tell, perfectly happy. Which is significant because…
  3. On New Year’s Eve, he killed himself.

And here is one thing you should know about me: I found him.
Bonus fact: No. I am not okay.

“Incisive and witty. I couldn’t put it down.”—Lolá Ákínmádé Åkerström, internationally bestselling author of In Every Mirror She’s Black

“Onyi Nwabineli is an author to watch.”—Brenda Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of The House on Blueberry Lane


Click for more detail about The Way Home: A Celebration of Sea Islands Food and Family with Over 100 Recipes by Kardea Brown The Way Home: A Celebration of Sea Islands Food and Family with Over 100 Recipes

by Kardea Brown
Amistad (Oct 25, 2022)
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The breakout star of Food Network’s hit show Delicious Miss Brown celebrates the Gullah/Geechee culinary traditions of her family in this spectacular cookbook featuring 125 original mouthwatering recipes and gorgeous four-color photos.

In April 2015, Kardea Brown made a leap of faith, quitting her job as a social worker in New Jersey to pursue a career in the food industry. She opened the New Gullah Supper Club, a restaurant and social destination centered around the food she grew up eating at her grandmother’s house on South Carolina’s Wadmalaw Island.

After an appearance on Food Network, Kardea caught the attention of executives at the cooking channel and over the course of nearly four hardworking years became a star—sparring with chefs on hit shows like Beat Bobby Flay and hosting Cupcake Championship. Viewers fell in love with her Southern warmth, love of family, and awe-inspiring New Gullah meals, and Kardea quickly landed her own show, the top-rated Delicious Miss Brown.

In this, her first cookbook, Kardea shares her multi-generational “passed down” recipes and innovative takes on Gullah classics with home cooks everywhere. “Gullah” and “GeeChee” refer to a distinct group of African Americans living in the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia who have preserved much of their West African language, culture, and cuisine. Untitled is an unabashed love letter to her family’s roots, packed with dishes that combine West African herbs, spices, and grains with traditional Southern cooking. “Gullah people laid the foundation for Southern cooking. Before farm-to-table was a fad, it was what Gullah people did,” Kardea explains. “I want to show the world that soul food is not monolithic. It’s so much more than fried chicken and vegetables cooked in pork. It’s seasonal, fresh and delicious! ”

Filled with more than 100 mouth-watering recipes for starters, main courses, sides, desserts, and more, Untitled brings a taste of the Lowcountry South home, offering flavor-packed dishes everyone will enjoy such as:

She-Crab Soup

Seafood Potato Salad

Crabcake Benedict

Smoked Pasta Salad

Savory Bread Pudding

Peach Dump Cake

Blood Orange Salmon

Smothered Chicken

Low Country Spaghetti

Sweet Potato Cheesecake

Kardea flavors her recipes with cherished family anecdotes, memories, and helpful tips. A perfect blend of the modern and the traditional, Untitled honors her proud heritage and shows off her own signature class and sass. The result is a marvelous, big-hearted collection of recipes and stories that will nourish you, body and soul.


Click for more detail about Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris Anywhere You Run

by Wanda M. Morris
William Morrow (Oct 25, 2022)
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From the award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets comes yet another gripping, suspenseful novel where, after the murder of a white man in Jim Crow Mississippi, two Black sisters run away to different parts of the country … but can they escape the secrets they left behind?

It’s the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this backdrop, twenty-one year old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run. With the help of her white beau, Violet escapes. But desperation and fear leads her to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that danger may be closer than she thinks.

Back in Jackson, Marigold, Violet’s older sister, has dreams of attending law school. Working for the Mississippi Summer Project, she has been trying to use her smarts to further the cause of the Black vote. But Marigold is in a different kind of trouble: she’s pregnant and unmarried. After news of the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold sees no choice but to flee Jackson too. She heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her life and that of her unborn child?

Two sisters on the run—one from the law, the other from social shame. What they don’t realize is that there’s a man hot on their trail. This man has his own brand of dark secrets and a disturbing motive for finding the sisters that is unknown to everyone but him…


Click for more detail about Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen

by Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao, and Lester Walker
Artisan (Oct 25, 2022)
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Named a Best Cookbook of 2022 by Barnes & Noble

Named a Best Cookbook of Fall 2022 by Food & Wine, Forbes, Philadelphia Inquirer, Publishers Weekly, The Takeout, and more

An American Library Association CODES Essential Cookbook of the Year

Shortlisted for The Art of Eating Prize

"Featuring vibrant recipes, interviews, art, and photography, this is a compelling culinary manifesto about the nature of Black food… . Ghetto Gastro offers an awakening of what Black food was, is, and can become while demonstrating the sheer joy and creativity Black communities generate. With waves of crunch, heat, flavor, and umami, this Bronx culinary collective also inspires discussions about race, history, and long-standing food inequality." —Food & Wine

Knowledge Is Power

Part cookbook. Part manifesto. Created with big Bronx energy, Black Power Kitchen combines 75 mostly plant-based, layered-with-flavor recipes with immersive storytelling, diverse voices, and striking images and photographs that celebrate Black food and Black culture, and inspire larger conversations about race, history, food inequality, and how eating well can be a pathway to personal freedom and self-empowerment.

Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen is the first book from the Bronx-based culinary collective, and it does for the cookbook what Ghetto Gastro has been doing for the food world in general—disrupt, expand, reinvent, and stamp it with their unique point of view. Ghetto Gastro sits at the intersection of food, music, fashion, visual arts, and social activism. They’ve partnered with Nike and Beats by Dre, designed cookware sold through Williams-Sonoma and Target, and won a Future of Gastronomy award from the World’s 50 Best.

Now they bring their multidisciplinary approach to a cookbook, with nourishing recipes that are layered with waves of crunch, heat, flavor, and umami. They are born of the authors’ cultural heritage and travels—from riffs on family dishes like Strong Back Stew and memories of Uptown with Red Velvet Cake to neighborhood icons like Triboro Tres Leches and Chopped Stease (their take on the classic bodega chopped cheese) to recipes redolent of the African diaspora like Banana Leaf Fish and King Jaffe Jollof. All made with a sense of swag.


Click for more detail about Black Women Will Save the World by April Ryan Black Women Will Save the World

by April Ryan
Amistad (Oct 18, 2022)
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In this long-overdue celebration of Black women’s resilience and unheralded strength, the revered, trailblazing White House correspondent reflects on “The Year That Changed Everything”—2020—and African-American women’s unprecedented role in upholding democracy.“I am keenly aware that everyone and everything has a story,” April D. Ryan acknowledges. “Also, I have always marveled at Black women and how we work to move mountains and are never really thanked or recognized.” In Black Women Will Save the World, she melds these two truths, creating an inspiring and heart-tugging portrait of one of the momentous years in America, 2020—when America elected its first Black woman Vice President—and celebrates the tenacity, power, and impact of Black women across America.From the beginning of the nation to today, Black women have transformed their pain into progress and have been at the frontlines of the nation’s political, social, and economic struggles. These “Sheroes” as Ryan calls them, include current political leaders such as Maxine Waters, Valerie Jarret, and Kamala Harris; Brittney Packnett Cunningham, LaTocha Brown, and other activists; and artists like Regina King. Combining profiles and in-depth interviews with these influential movers and shakers and many more, Ryan explores the challenges Black women endure, and how the lessons they’ve learned can help us shape our own stories. Ryan also chronicles her personal journey from working-class Baltimore to the elite echelons of journalism and speaks out about the hurdles she faced in becoming one of the most well-connected members of the Washington press corps—while raising two daughters as a single mother in the aftermath of a messy divorce.It is time for everyone to acknowledge Black women’s unrivaled contributions to America. Yet our democracy remains in peril, and their work is far from done. Black Women Will Save the World presents a vital kaleidoscopic look at women of different ages and from diverse backgrounds who devote their lives to making the world a better place—even if that means stepping out of their “place.”


Click for more detail about How Am I Doing?: 40 Conversations to Have with Yourself by Corey Yeager How Am I Doing?: 40 Conversations to Have with Yourself

by Corey Yeager
Harper Celebrate (Oct 18, 2022)
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Life is hard. But it gets a whole lot easier when you start to talk it out. In How Am I Doing?, you’re invited into a series of conversations with yourself to discover your purpose, honor your story, and explore who you want to be.

Dr. Corey Yeager, psychotherapist for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and most recently featured on Oprah and Prince Harry’s The Me You Can’t See on Apple TV+, offers you 40 questions to help you raise awareness of your thoughts and emotions and reconnect with who you want to be.

Over the course of these 40 conversations with yourself, you’re invited to:

  • Build trust with yourself
  • Consider how past traumas affect your life today
  • Grow a practice of positive self-talk
  • Let go of guilt and regret from your past
  • Develop mental health strategies for what to for moments when you’re depressed or anxious
  • Increase your confidence and embrace your emotions

Each of the 40 questions is paired with a short, thoughtful reflection from Dr. Yeager, along with prompts and self-care strategies to help you look at yourself in the mirror and come into alignment with who you want to be.

So join the conversation; nothing is off-limits here. Come check in with yourself and take these small, simple steps to journey toward a more honest and harmonious way of living.


Click for more detail about The Essential Dick Gregory by Dick Gregory The Essential Dick Gregory

by Dick Gregory
Amistad (Oct 11, 2022)
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A soulful, generation-defining collection of thought-provoking, agitating, and liberating works from Dick Gregory, the activist and author of sixteen books, including the classic bestseller Nigger: An Autobiography and the 2017 NAACP Image Award Winner, Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies.A true renaissance man, Richard Claxton “Dick” Gregory was one of the pioneering satirists of his generation, a reformer and brilliant spokesperson for the downtrodden and forgotten who dedicated his life to speaking unadulterated truth—and to improving ordinary lives. A revered human rights and environmental activist, fearsome and uncompromising social critic, lauded bestselling author, and beloved nutrition guru, Gregory aimed not only to educate souls, but to liberate them. His words shaped a generation and remain vital for our own turbulent times, offering wisdom to enlighten and inspire a new activist age.This carefully curated anthology of selected writings reflects and celebrates Dick Gregory’s wisdom and his vision. Divided into three sections—Body, Mind, and Spirit—it includes previously unavailable transcriptions and excerpts taken from his sixteen books, fifteen albums and audio compilations, and more than 1,200 hours of archival video, including lectures, interviews, and comedic performances. It is a breathtaking tour through the life of one of America’s most prophetic and relevant cultural icons. The Essential Dick Gregory is a pointillistic portrait of a man who gave up a lucrative entertainment career to fight injustice on the front line of battle—leading protests and hunger strikes to end the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa; supporting civil rights, feminism, and Native Americans,; and addressing hunger, poverty, and police brutality.This compelling volume will challenge your beliefs, allow you to see life in unexpected ways, and dare you to make the world a better place.


Click for more detail about Black Gold by Laura Obuobi Black Gold

by Laura Obuobi
HarperCollins (Oct 11, 2022)
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This lyrical picture book is a joyous, poetic, celebration of Black children and a reminder of the Universe’s unconditional love in stunning verse and captivating collage. Perfect for fans of Sulwe!

When the Universe decides to create a child, she draws from the earth—rich, dark, and full of everything that gives life, including eyes like black star sapphires and full lips to speak the truth. With help from the Sun and the Moon, they create a child of the Universe: beautiful, powerful, and boundless with the brilliance of Black Gold.

Laura Obuobi’s empowering, whimsical text and London Ladd’s lustrous, captivating illustrations will inspire children to love themselves exactly as they are.

“Obuobi pens an origin story that’s at once earthly and impressively cosmic, an ethereal children’s debut that centers a Black child’s beginnings.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Lyrical, empowering, and inspiring. An affirmation of the miracle each individual is.” —Yamile Saied Méndez, author of Where Are You From? and What Will You Be?


Click for more detail about My People: Five Decades of Writing about Black Lives by Charlayne Hunter-Gault My People: Five Decades of Writing about Black Lives

by Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Harper (Oct 11, 2022)
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“Charlayne Hunter-Gault is an eminent Dean of American journalism, a vital voice whose work chronicled the civil rights movement and so much of what has transpired since then. My People is the definitive collection of her reportage and commentary. Spanning datelines in the American South, South Africa and points scattered in between, her work constitutes a history of our time as rendered by the pen of a singular and indispensable black woman journalist.”-Jelani Cobb

From the legendary Emmy Award-winning journalist, a collection of ground-breaking reportage from across five decades which vividly chronicles the experience of Black life in America today.

At just eighteen years old,Charlayne Hunter-Gault made national news when she mounted a successful legal challenge that culminated in her admission to the University of Georgia in January 1961—making her one of the first two Black students to integrate the institution. As an adult, Charlayne switched from being the subject of news to covering it, becoming one of its most recognized and acclaimed interpreters.

Over more than five decades, this dedicated reporter charted a course through some of the world’s most respected journalistic institutions, including The New Yorker and the New York Times, where she was often the only Black woman in the newsroom. Throughout her storied career, Charlayne has chronicled the lives of Black people in America—shining a light on their experiences and giving a glimpse into their community as never before. Though she has covered numerous topics and events, observed as a whole, her work reveals the evolving issues at the forefront of Black Americans lives and how many of the same issues continue to persist today.

My People showcases Charlayne’s lifelong commitment to reporting on Black people in their totality, “in ways that are recognizable to themselves.” Spanning from the Civil Rights Movement through the election and inauguration of America’s first Black president and beyond, this invaluable collection shows the breadth and nuance of the Black experience through trials, tragedies, and triumphs and everyday lives.


Click for more detail about Indigo Dreaming by Dinah Johnson Indigo Dreaming

by Dinah Johnson
HarperCollins (Oct 04, 2022)
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A gorgeous, imagination-sparking introduction to the beauty and interconnectedness of the Black diaspora.

A young girl living on the coast of South Carolina dreams of her distant relatives on the shores of Africa and beyond. Indigo Dreaming is a poetic meditation between two young girls—on different sides of the sea—who wonder about how they are intricately linked by culture, even though they are separated by location. The girls’ reflections come together, creating an imaginative and illuminating vision of home, as well as a celebration of the Black diaspora.

This gorgeous lyrical tale engages the senses and evokes childlike curiosity and wonder.


Click for more detail about Cooking from the Spirit: Easy, Delicious, and Joyful Plant-Based Inspirations by Tabitha Brown Cooking from the Spirit: Easy, Delicious, and Joyful Plant-Based Inspirations

by Tabitha Brown
William Morrow (Oct 04, 2022)
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Tabitha Brown, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Feeding the Soul, presents her first cookbook—full of easy, family-friendly vegan recipes and stories from the spirit, inspired by her health journey and love of delicious food.

Sometimes people say to Tabitha Brown, “I’ve never eaten vegan before.” As Tab says, “Have you ever eaten an apple?”

After living with a terrible undiagnosed illness for more than a year and a half, Tab was willing to try anything to stop the pain. Inspired by the documentary What the Health, she tried a thirty-day vegan challenge—and never looked back. Wanting to inspire others to make changes that might improve their own lives, she started sharing her favorite plant-based recipes in her signature warm voice with thousands, and now millions, of online fans.

Tab’s recipes are flexible, creative, and filled with encouragement, so you trust yourself to cook food the way it makes you happy. If you’re already a “cooking from the spirit” sort of person, you’ll love how much freedom Tab gives to make these delicious vegan dishes your own. If you’re newer to cooking—or to vegan cooking—Tab will help you get comfortable in the kitchen and, most important, have fun doing it!

In this joyful book, Tab shares personal stories, inspirational “Tabisms,” and more than eighty easy, family-friendly recipes, including:

• Yam Halves Topped with Maple-Cinnamon Pecan Glaze
• Stuffed Avocado
• Jackfruit Pot Roast
• Crab-less Cakes with Spicy Tartar Sauce
• Who Made the Potato Salad?
• Kale and Raspberry Salad
• Strawberry Cheesecake Cups

Cooking from the Spirit is for anyone interested in plant-based eating and all lovers of food, plus anyone who wants a little warm inspiration in their lives. As Tab says, “Honey, now let’s go on and get to cooking from the spirit. Yes? Very good!”


Click for more detail about Amari 2-Book Hardcover Box Set: Amari and the Night Brothers, Amari and the Great Game by B. B. Alston Amari 2-Book Hardcover Box Set: Amari and the Night Brothers, Amari and the Great Game

by B. B. Alston
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Oct 04, 2022)
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The hardcover box set of the blockbuster New York Times bestseller Amari and the Night Brothers and its sequel, Amari and the Great Game—two exhilarating fantasy novels, perfect for fans of Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl.

AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS:

Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. So when she discovers a ticking briefcase in his closet containing a nomination for a tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton—if only she can wrap her head around the idea of magicians, fairies, aliens, and other supernatural creatures all being real.

Now she must compete for a spot against kids who’ve known about magic their whole lives. No matter how hard she tries, Amari can’t seem to escape their scrutiny and doubt—especially when her own supernaturally enhanced talent is deemed “illegal.” With an evil magician threatening the supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she’s an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton.

AMARI AND THE GREAT GAME:

After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze. But between the new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about!

But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will determine the future of magiciankind. The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope—so how can Amari refuse?


Click for more detail about Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book by Tonya Bolden Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book

by Tonya Bolden
Quill Tree Books (Oct 04, 2022)
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In the vein of Hidden Figures comes a nonfiction picture book about the Green Book, a travel guide by Victor Hugo Green, a Black postal worker from Harlem, made to help African Americans stay safe while traveling during segregation.

As a mail carrier, Victor Hugo Green traveled across New Jersey every day. But with Jim Crow laws enforcing segregation since the late 1800s, traveling as a Black person in the US could be stressful, even dangerous.

So in the 1930s, Victor created a guide—The Negro Motorist Green-Book—compiling information on where to go and what places to avoid so that Black travelers could have a safe and pleasant time. While the Green Book started out small, over the years it became an expansive, invaluable resource for Black people throughout the country—all in the hopes that one day such a guide would no longer be needed.

Award-winning author Tonya Bolden and acclaimed illustrator Eric Velasquez shine a light on this little-known history of Victor Hugo Green and the deep impact of his incredible book on generations of Black families in America.


Click for more detail about Shine Bright by Kheris Rogers Shine Bright

by Kheris Rogers
HarperCollins (Sep 27, 2022)
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Bursting with inspiration and affirmation, Kheris Rogers’ debut picture book encourages children everywhere to love the skin they are in.

When her confidence is shaken by peers who say they are scared of her because she’s "too dark," Imani turns to her sister for a loving reminder that she’s smart, hope, brave, beautiful, strong, and just enough. After embracing what makes her truly special, Imani learns to be fearless!

Inspired by the real-life experiences of Kheris Rogers, the young CEO and designer of the Flexin’ in My Complexion clothing line, this ode to dark-skinned girls will empower many.

A perfect tool to teach children about appreciating both outer & inner beauty, embracing differences, being kind to oneself & others, and the power of reciting affirmations.


Click for more detail about Killing Comparison: Reject the Lie You Aren’t Good Enough and Live Confident in Who God Made You to Be by Nona Jones Killing Comparison: Reject the Lie You Aren’t Good Enough and Live Confident in Who God Made You to Be

by Nona Jones
Zondervan (Sep 27, 2022)
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For those struggling to overcome the feeling of never measuring up comes Killing Comparison, a practical and refreshing guide by social media executive, international speaker, and preacher Nona Jones that helps readers reject the lie that they aren’t good enough to discover peace and live a free, joyful life.

Leave behind the discontent of comparison and discover a free and joyful life.

Nearly all of us deal with the struggle of comparison and finding ourselves lacking. But there is a way to break free from internal and external messages communicating a lack of self-worth. It starts with identifying the basis of your urge to compare and ends with securing your identity to the unchanging confidence of God’s love for you.

Pastor Nona Jones knows this journey all too well. Throughout her life and in her career—most recently as an executive for the world’s largest social media company—Nona discovered that despite professional success, true confidence can only be achieved by defeating toxic comparisons and securing our identity to God’s approval alone.

Killing Comparison provides a fresh, biblically rooted perspective on an age-old human dilemma—the pressure to compare oneself to others—that the era of social media has exacerbated and heightened. This timely and necessary guide will help you:

• Determine your true source of self-worth
• Develop practical ways to conquer daily comparison
• Learn how to control social media instead of letting it control you
• Discover how to accomplish your dreams without comparing yourself at every turn
• Identify the root cause leading you to compare your life to others

Through practical insight and down-to-earth encouragement, Nona helps you avoid the despair of comparison and pursue a free, joyful life.


Click for more detail about Fearless Finances: A Timeless Guide to Building Wealth by Cassandra Cummings Fearless Finances: A Timeless Guide to Building Wealth

by Cassandra Cummings
HarperCollins Leadership (Sep 27, 2022)
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BUILD GENERATIONAL WEALTH WITH CLEAR AND ACTIONABLE INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

Cassandra Cummings, leading financial expert, and founder of The Stocks & Stilettos Society, shows women how to crush their financial goals, overcome their fears, and grow their wealth through the power of investing.

Historically, women of color have been shut out of the wealth-building game. Cassandra Cummings has made it her mission to change that by creating a vibrant and successful online community of more than 100,000 women investors. In her new book, Cassandra brings the powerful lessons of their achievements to you.

In this book, Cassandra will teach you how to:

  • Conquer longstanding fears around money
  • Develop a firm foundation for you and your family
  • Invest in the stock market for wealth creation and legacy building
  • Prepare for a lifelong winning financial season

Fearless Finances walks you through the keys to building your success squad of trusted experts, as well as women who kicked fear out of the way to achieve their financial dreams. Now, so can you.


Click for more detail about Dear Black Child by Rahma Rodaah Dear Black Child

by Rahma Rodaah
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Sep 27, 2022)
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In the spirit of I Am Enough, this is a moving and lyrical tribute to and affirmation of Black children around the world—by an exciting new author and illustrator team.

Dear Black Child,
We are here to remind you of your glory…
An inspiring love letter to Black children from all cultures, this book is a celebration of their beauty, joy, and resilience.

Dear Black Child is a story of self-acceptance, love, and empowerment for Black immigrant children and families of the diaspora around the world and features joyful and vibrant illustrations.


Click for more detail about Your Purpose Is Calling: Your Difference Is Your Destiny by Dharius Daniels Your Purpose Is Calling: Your Difference Is Your Destiny

by Dharius Daniels
Zondervan (Sep 20, 2022)
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Step into your unique calling in life by embracing your God-given identity. In Your Purpose Is Calling, Dr. Dharius Daniels shows you how God created you to make your specific difference in this world, and the simple key to unlocking your fullest potential lives within you already—your identity in Christ.

Discover exactly who you were created to be and what you were created to do by learning to see yourself the way God sees you.

The key to understanding, embracing, and unleashing your God-given uniqueness is possessing an accurate picture of your true identity. After all, if you don’t know who you are, how could you ever know what you’ve been born to do?

In Your Purpose Is Calling, Dr. Dharius Daniels, founder of Change Church, takes you on a journey of discovering your identity through a threefold solution of finding fulfillment, fit, and fruitfulness. In the process, you’ll learn to:

  • Overcome the obstacles—such as comparison, approval seeking, and emotional injuries—that inhibit you from fully embracing yourself
  • Exit the boat of normal living and step onto the sea of the abnormal
  • Thrive through effective self-leadership
  • Uncover your unique design, desires, dreams, and destiny

God says that his people are exceptional, which means your future need not be limited by the world’s expectations. Move forward with the confidence that your individual purpose is as unique and exceptional as you are.

“This is the wake-up call everyone needs because it reminds us that the things that make us different were designed by God to make us impactful.”
Nona Jones, business executive and author of Killing Comparison and Success from the Inside Out


Click for more detail about No Woman Left Behind Guided Journal: A Journey to Breaking Up with Your Fears and Revolutionizing Your Life by Sarah Jakes Roberts No Woman Left Behind Guided Journal: A Journey to Breaking Up with Your Fears and Revolutionizing Your Life

by Sarah Jakes Roberts
Thomas Nelson (Sep 20, 2022)
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Are you plagued by regrets and past fears? Are you searching for a breakthrough or trying to find your true purpose? New York Times bestselling author Sarah Jakes Roberts reveals through life lessons and new insights from the story of Eve, how past disappointments, struggles, and even mistakes can be used today to help you become the woman God intended.

Who would imagine being friends with Eve—the woman who’s been held responsible for the fall of humanity (and cramps) for thousands of years? Certainly not Sarah Jakes Roberts. That is, not until Sarah discovered she is more like Eve than she cares to admit.

Making her mistake in Eden, Eve became the first woman to deal with rebuilding her life in the aftermath of her past. Eve knew better, but she didn’t do better. With a blend of scriptural lessons, Eve as the framework, and Sarah as your guide, you will discover and work through:

  • Past issues and insecurities that haunt you
  • Seeing yourself as God sees you and trusting Him with who you really are
  • How to come out of darkness and pursue a real relationship with God
  • Why it’s important to truly care for yourself
  • Setting in motion the beautiful seed that God planted in you

Everyone faces trials, and everyone will mess up. But failure shouldn’t be the focus. Your focus should be not on who you were but rather on the pursuit of who you can become. In No Woman Left Behind Guided Journal, Sarah takes you deeper to help you understand that your purpose in life does not change; it evolves. This companion guided journal includes:

  • Thought-provoking quotes from Sarah to inspire you to go deeper
  • Guided prompts and exercises as you take steps toward discovering your evolving purpose
  • Space to write your thoughts and reflections
  • A beautiful foil-embellished cover and high-design interior with photography

Whether a gift for a woman you love or a self-purchase as you more deeply explore God’s purpose for you, this guided journal will inspire, motivate, and offer practical steps to revolutionize your life. Your fears and insecurities may have altered your view of God, others, and yourself, but as you work through No Woman Left Behind Guided Journal, you can break through and use past mistakes to revolutionize your life. Like Eve, you don’t have to live your future defined by your past.


Click for more detail about Bad Fat Black Girl (paperback): Notes from a Trap Feminist by Sesali Bowen Bad Fat Black Girl (paperback): Notes from a Trap Feminist

by Sesali Bowen
Amistad (Sep 13, 2022)
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“Sesali Bowen is poised to give Black feminism the rejuvenation it needs. Her trendsetting writing and commentary reaches across experiences and beyond respectability. I and so many Black girls still figuring out who they are in this world will gain so much from whatever she has to say.”—Charlene A. Carruthers, activist and author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements

“Sesali perfectly vocalizes the inner dialogue, and daily mantras needed to be a Bad Bitch.”—Gabourey Sidibe, actor, director, and author of This is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare

“A powerful call for a more inclusive and ’real’ feminism.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Bowen writes from an authentic space for Black women who are often left out of feminist conversations due to respectability politics, but who are just as deserving of the same voice and liberation.”—Booklist (starred review)

From funny and fearless entertainment journalist Sesali Bowen, Bad Fat Black Girl combines rule-breaking feminist theory, witty and insightful personal memoir, and cutting cultural analysis for an unforgettable, genre-defining debut.

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love.

Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism meets today’s hip-hop.

offers a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bowen interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop. In the process, she continues a Black feminist legacy of unmatched sheer determination and creative resilience.

Bad bitches: this one’s for you.


Click for more detail about Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions

by Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
Amistad (Sep 13, 2022)
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Nigerian author Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi makes her American debut with this dazzling novel which explores her homeland’s past, present, and possible future through the interconnected stories of four fearless globe-trotting women.Moving between Nigeria and America, Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions is a window into the world of accomplished Nigerian women, illuminating the challenges they face and the risks they take to control their destinies.Students at an all-girls boarding school, Nonso, Remi, Aisha, and Solape forge an unbreakable sisterhood that is tempered during a school rebellion, an uprising with repercussions that will forever reverberate through their lives. The children of well-to-do families, these young women have been raised with a thirst for independence, believing a university education is their right—a legacy of ambition and hope inherited from their foremothers.Leaving school and adolescence behind, the women grapple with the unexpected possibilities—and limitations—of adulthood and the uncertainties of the world within and outside of Nigeria. A trip to Ghana opens Nonso’s eyes to the lasting impact of the transatlantic slave trade, she falls in love with an African American, and makes a new home in the United States. Remi meets Segun, a dynamic man of Nigerian descent from Yonkers whose own traumatic struggles and support gives her the strength to confront painful family wounds. Aisha’s overwhelming sense of guilt haunts her, influencing career and relationship decisions until she sees a chance to save her son’s life and, through her sacrifice, redefine her own.Revolving around loss, belonging, family, friendship, alienation, and silence, Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions is a moving, multifaceted portrait of lives shaped by hope and sorrow—of women who must contend with the ever-present and unsettling notion that moving forward in time isn’t necessarily progress.


Click for more detail about Ty’s Travels: Winter Wonderland by Kelly Starling Lyons Ty’s Travels: Winter Wonderland

by Kelly Starling Lyons
HarperCollins (Sep 13, 2022)
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A Geisel Honor-winning series! Author Kelly Starling Lyons selected as the 2021 Piedmont Laureate!

Join Ty on his imaginative adventures in Ty’s Travels: Winter Wonderland, a My First I Can Read book by acclaimed author and illustrator team Kelly Starling Lyons and Nina Mata. Imagination and play are highlighted in this festive Winter story, perfect for sharing with children 3 to 6.

Ty’s big imagination takes him and Momma on a trip to the North Pole. Everything is wonderful! A Christmas tree sparkles, a snowman waves, and a polar bear sings. Will Ty’s wish to see Santa come true? He wishes and wishes.

Ty’s Travels: Winter Wonderland fills an important need for inclusive Christmas stories with diverse characters.

With simple, rhythmic text and joyful, bright art, this My First series and Guided Reading Level I is perfect for shared reading with a child. Books at this level feature basic language, word repetition, and whimsical illustrations, ideal for sharing with emergent readers. The active, engaging stories have appealing plots and lovable characters, encouraging children to continue their reading journey.


Click for more detail about Unbothered: The Power of Choosing Joy by Omarion Unbothered: The Power of Choosing Joy

by Omarion
HarperOne (Sep 13, 2022)
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In Unbothered: The Power of Choosing Joy Omarion addresses three pillars of holistic wellness that he uses to maintain his higher self:

• Spiritual: Sacred symbols and ancient mantras restore alignment and offer wisdom for deeper reflection and protection of peace.
• Mental: Affirmations and meditations provide greater perspective within diverse challenges and encourage an overall embrace of positivity.
• Physical: Breathwork, yoga, and dance release toxic energy to make space for the ability to stay connected to self-truth and purpose.

He reveals never-before shared stories alongside the techniques that keep him grounded, even through public setbacks and detrimental headlines. Omarion is not interested in settling scores, rather he’s focused on grace, forgiveness, and exercising emotional intelligence. He references his own life experiences to show readers how to master their emotions, embrace joy, and find mental clarity so they, too, can be “unbothered” by negativity.

Combining anecdotes, journal prompts, motivational quotes, mantras, breathing exercises, and black-and-white images that inspire him (including enso circle from Zen Buddhism), this insightful guide provides a greater understanding of what it means to have a good life. With nearly 10 million followers searching for the key to this “unbothered” lifestyle, Omarion shares his grounding philosophies rooted in love, understanding, and reflection.


Click for more detail about The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson The Weight of Blood

by Tiffany D. Jackson
Katherine Tegen Books (Sep 06, 2022)
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New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson ramps up the horror and tackles America’s history and legacy of racism in this suspenseful YA novel following a biracial teenager as her Georgia high school hosts its first integrated prom. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection!

When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation … Maddy did it.

An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she’s dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept secret: Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington.

After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High’s racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their image: host the school’s first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it’s possible to have a normal life.

But some of her classmates aren’t done with her just yet. And what they don’t know is that Maddy still has another secret … one that will cost them all their lives.


Click for more detail about America Made Me a Black Man: A Memoir by Boyah J. Farah America Made Me a Black Man: A Memoir

by Boyah J. Farah
Harper (Sep 06, 2022)
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A searing memoir of American racism from a Somalian-American who survived hardships in his birth country only to experience firsthand the dehumanization of Blacks in his adopted land, the United States.

“No one told me about America.”

Born in Somalia and raised in a valley among nomads, Boyah Farah grew up with a code of male bravado that helped him survive deprivation, disease, and civil war. Arriving in America, he believed that the code that had saved him would help him succeed in this new country. But instead of safety and freedom, Boyah found systemic racism, police brutality, and intense prejudice in all areas of life, including the workplace. He learned firsthand not only what it meant to be an African in America, but what it means to be African American. The code of masculinity that shaped generations of men in his family could not prepare Farah for the painful realities of life in the United States.

Lyrical yet unsparing, America Made Me a Black Man is the first book-length examination of American racism from an African outsider’s perspective. With a singular poetic voice brimming with imagery, Boyah challenges us to face difficult truths about the destructive forces that threaten Black lives and attempts to heal a fracture in Black men’s identity.


Click for more detail about Prank Day by Kel Mitchell Prank Day

by Kel Mitchell
Thomas Nelson (Sep 06, 2022)
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From actor, producer, and comedian Kel Mitchell of Nickelodeon’s All That and the film Good Burger, this laugh-aloud novel for kids follows Chase as he masterminds a series of epic pranks only to discover that they’ve all become real on April 2nd. When his tricks become reality in hilarious and disastrous ways, Chase must come clean. How will he set the world right again, catch the eye of his crush Zoe, and keep her from getting flattened by the refrigerator running all over town?

This comedy-fantasy adventure

  • is full of wackiness, mayhem, and laugh-out loud moments
  • teaches the value of taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth
  • blends realistic fiction with fantasy
  • features comic-style illustrations in every chapter
  • celebrates the value of friendship, family, and good teachers in your life
  • features a diverse cast of characters

Intended for kids and tweens 8 to 12 years old, this book is perfect for

  • independent young readers, boys and girls
  • fans of illustrated chapter book series like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Terrible Two, Middle School, and Locker 37
  • fans of the popular Nickelodeon show All That

This novel will keep middle graders entertained with its fast pace, fantastical chaos, and hilarious tricks. If you’ve ever dreamed of pranking the world with toilet clowns and spider drones, this book is for you.


Click for more detail about Magnolia Flower by Zora Neale Hurston and Adapted by Ibram X. Kendi Magnolia Flower

by Zora Neale Hurston and Adapted by Ibram X. Kendi
Amistad Books for Young Readers (Sep 06, 2022)
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From beloved African American folklorist Zora Neale Hurston comes a moving adaptation by National Book Award winner and #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist and Antiracist Baby, Ibram X. Kendi. Magnolia Flower follows a young Afro-Indigenous girl who longs for freedom and is gorgeously illustrated by Loveis Wise (The People Remember, Ablaze with Color).

Born to parents who fled slavery and the Trail of Tears, Magnolia Flower is a girl with a vibrant spirit. Not to be deterred by rigid ways of the world, she longs to connect with others, who too long for freedom. She finds this in a young man of letters who her father disapproves of. In her quest to be free, Magnolia must make a choice and set off on a journey that will prove just how brave one can be when leading with one’s heart.

The acclaimed writer of several American classics, Zora Neale Hurston wrote this stirring folktale brimming with poetic prose, culture, and history. It was first published as a short story in The Spokesman in 1925 and later in her collection Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick (2020).

Tenderly retold by award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi, Magnolia Flower is a story of a transformative and radical devotion between generations of Indigenous and Black people in America. With breathtaking illustrations by Loveis Wise, this picture book reminds us that there is no force strong enough to stop love.


Click for more detail about The Attic Child by Lola Jaye The Attic Child

by Lola Jaye
William Morrow & Company (Sep 06, 2022)
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A hauntingly powerful and emotionally charged novel about family secrets, love and loss, identity and belonging.

Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a shared secret.

Early 1900s London: Taken from his homeland, twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of the time locked away in the attic of a large house by the sea. The only time Celestine isn’t bound by confines of the small space is when he is acting as an unpaid servant to English explorer Sir Richard Babbington, As the years pass, he desperately clings on to memories of his family in Africa, even as he struggles to remember his mother’s face, and sometimes his real name …

1974: Lowra, a young orphan girl born into wealth and privilege whose fortunes have now changed, finds herself trapped in the same attic. Searching for a ray of light in the darkness of the attic, Lowra finds under the floorboards an old-fashioned pen, a porcelain doll, a beaded necklace, and a message carved on the wall, written in an unidentifiable language. Providing comfort for her when all hope is lost, these clues will lead her to uncover the secrets of the attic.


Click for more detail about Stacey Abrams and the Fight to Vote by Traci N. Todd Stacey Abrams and the Fight to Vote

by Traci N. Todd
HarperCollins (Aug 30, 2022)
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Stacey Abrams, politician and Nobel peace prize nominee, is brought to life in this poetic picture book biography that follows Abrams’s fight for voters’ rights. Narrated by Sojourner Truth Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou Hamer, this powerful story tells how Abrams’s work was inspired by those luminaries before her.

“Sometimes she would light the way. Sometimes her way would be lit by others…”

Stacey Abrams was always destined for big things, because she always imagined more. Now she protects the least powerful, works toward making voting fair and easy, and demands better for Georgia and every other state in this nation. Stacey Abrams’s determination, perseverance, and courage will inspire younger generations to make meaningful change in the world.

Traci Todd’s lyrical text is coupled with stunning artwork from Laura Freeman, Coretta Scott King Honoree for Hidden Figures. Use this book to encourage conversation at home and in the classroom about Black women and voting. This book is perfect for Black History Month and to be shared alongside such powerful titles as Kamala Harris: Rooted In Justice by Nikki Grimes and I Dissent by Debbie Levy.


Click for more detail about Amari and the Great Game by B. B. Alston Amari and the Great Game

by B. B. Alston
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Aug 30, 2022)
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Sequel to the New York Times bestseller Amari and the Night Brothers!

Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this magical second book in the New York Times and Indie bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy—perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor.

After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze.

But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about!

But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind.

The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope—so how can Amari refuse?


Click for more detail about Shady Baby Feels: A First Book of Emotions by Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade Shady Baby Feels: A First Book of Emotions

by Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade
HarperCollins (Aug 23, 2022)
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Learn about feelings and emotions with Shady Baby in this board book created by the bestselling team of Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade, and Tara Nicole Whitaker!

Shady Baby is baking cupcakes, and she has some feelings about the process. From excitement or boredom, Shady Baby expresses nine common emotions. Perfect for the youngest of readers, this book will inspire kids to discuss their multitude of feelings in a kid-friendly, accessible format.

Great for:

  • Introducing emotional literacy, self-awareness, and empathy to toddlers!
  • Reading sequential yet simple storylines!
  • Early childhood development!
  • Tiny hands, due to its sturdy pages!

Plus be sure to check out Shady Baby, the New York Times bestselling picture book from Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade, and Tara Nicole Whitaker.


Click for more detail about To Catch a Raven by Beverly Jenkins To Catch a Raven

by Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Aug 23, 2022)
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The newest novel in USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins’s compelling Women Who Dare series features a fearless grifter who goes undercover to reclaim the stolen Declaration of Independence.

Lying and cheating may be sins to some people, but for Raven Moreaux, it is a way of life. She comes from a long line of grifters and couldn’t be prouder…Until she’s forced to help the government.

A former Confederate official is suspected of stealing the Declaration of Independence, and Raven, posing as his housekeeper, is tasked with getting it back. Her partner is the too handsome Braxton Steel. Masquerading as a valet/driver, Brax is also supposed to be her “husband.” He has his own reasons for doing this job, but when their pretend marriage ignites into fiery passion, they’ll have to put everything—including their hearts—on the line.


Click for more detail about The Fame Game: An Insider’s Playbook for Earning Your 15 Minutes by Ramon Hervey II The Fame Game: An Insider’s Playbook for Earning Your 15 Minutes

by Ramon Hervey II
Amistad (Aug 16, 2022)
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Legendary Hollywood entertainment manager and publicist Ramon Hervey II shares insightful tales of his remarkable four-decade career plotting and overseeing fame, success, crisis and spinning for seminal talents at the top of their game, from Little Richard, Bette Midler, and the Bee Gees, to Aaliyah, Rick James, and Vanessa Williams—a juicy and addictive retrospective that also traces the origins of fame and how social media is changing the rules.

Superstar manager and PR guru Ramon Hervey II has been playing the “fame game” for more than four decades, shaping, protecting, and sometimes rehabilitating the reputations of some of today’s biggest celebrities. Throughout his career, Hervey has mined, molded, and managed, mopped up messes, and mounted major celebrity comebacks.

The Fame Game is his uncensored, behind-the-scenes look at rich and famous celebrities as they are rarely seen. Hervey shares the hilarious, the absurd, the disappointing, and the surprising as he recalls how he became a trusted confidant to a Who’s Who in music, comedy, film to A-listers including Richard Pryor, Bette Midler, Quincy Jones, Don Cornelius, the Bee Gees, Herb Alpert, Andrae Crouch, Vanessa Williams, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Luther Vandross, Rick James, Paul McCartney, Peter Frampton, Andrae Crouch, Nick Nolte, James Caan, and Muhammad Ali.

Filled with never-before-told anecdotes, cameos, and unforgettable stories, moving from the legendary disco era of the ’70s and post-civil rights era to Hollywood soundstages, and viewed through his acute and trained lens, The Fame Game is an enlightening historical view of the origins of fame, entertainment and media that examines our obsession with fame and the famous, and how social media is cultivating is own fame—an irresistible, addictive and utterly fascinating exploration of our insatiable obsession with celebrity culture.


Click for more detail about Koshersoul by Michael W. Twitty Koshersoul

by Michael W. Twitty
Amistad (Aug 09, 2022)
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The James Beard award-winning author of the acclaimed The Cooking Gene explores the cultural crossroads of Jewish and African diaspora cuisine and issues of memory, identity, and food.

In KosherSoul, Michael W. Twitty considers the marriage of two of the most distinctive culinary cultures in the world today: African and Jewish. To Twitty, the creation of African-Jewish cooking is a conversation of migrations and a dialogue of diasporas offering a rich background for inventive recipes and the people who create them.

The question that most intrigues him is not just who makes the food, but how the food makes the people. Jews of Color are not outliers, Twitty contends, but significant and meaningful cultural creators in both Black and Jewish civilizations. KosherSoul also explores how food has shaped the journeys of numerous cooks, including Twitty’s own passage to and within Judaism. As intimate, thought-provoking, and profound as The Cooking Gene, this remarkable book teases the senses as it offers sustenance for the soul.

KosherSoul includes recipes and eight pages of four-color photos.


Click for more detail about The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings The Women Could Fly

by Megan Giddings
Amistad (Aug 09, 2022)
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Reminiscent of the works of Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, and Octavia Butler, a biting social commentary from the acclaimed author of Lakewood that speaks to our times—a piercing dystopian novel about the unbreakable bond between a young woman and her mysterious mother, set in a world in which witches are real and single women are closely monitored.

On her previous book — one of New York Magazine’s 10 best books of 2020, one of NPR’s best books of 2020, a Michigan Notable book for 2021, was a nominee for two NAACP Image Awards, and a finalist for a 2020 LA Times Book Prize in The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction

Josephine Thomas has heard every conceivable theory about her mother’s disappearance. That she was kidnapped. Murdered. That she took on a new identity to start a new family. That she was a witch. This is the most worrying charge because in a world where witches are real, peculiar behavior raises suspicions and a woman—especially a Black woman—can find herself on trial for witchcraft.

But fourteen years have passed since her mother’s disappearance, and now Jo is finally ready to let go of the past. Yet her future is in doubt. The State mandates that all women marry by the age of 30—or enroll in a registry that allows them to be monitored, effectively forfeiting their autonomy. At 28, Jo is ambivalent about marriage. With her ability to control her life on the line, she feels as if she has her never understood her mother more. When she’s offered the opportunity to honor one last request from her mother’s will, Jo leaves her regular life to feel connected to her one last time.

In this powerful and timely novel, Megan Giddings explores the limits women face—and the powers they have to transgress and transcend them.


Click for more detail about Fruit Punch  by Kendra Allen Fruit Punch

by Kendra Allen
Ecco (Aug 09, 2022)
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An arresting and one-of-a-kind memoir about the alternately exultant and harrowing trip growing up as a Black child desperate to create a clear reality for herself in this countryWritten in a distinctive voice and filled with personality, humor, and pathos, Fruit Punch is a memoir unlike any other, from a one-of-a-kind millennial talent. Growing up in Dallas, Texas, in the nineties and early 2000s, Kendra Allen had a complicated, loving, and intense family life filled with desire and community but also undercurrents of violence and turmoil. “We equate suffering to perseverance and misinterpret the weight of shame,” she writes. As she makes her way through a world of obscureness, Kendra finds herself slowly discovering outlets to help navigate growing up and against the expected performance of being a young Black woman in the South—a complex interplay of race, class, and gender that proves to be ever-shifting ground.Fruit Punch touches on everything from questions of beauty and how we form concepts of ourselves—as a small rebellion, young Kendra scratched a hole into every pair of stockings she was forced to wear—to what it means to grow up in her great uncle’s Southern Baptist church—with rules including “No uncrossed ankles” and “No questions.” Inflected by a powerful sense of place and touched by poetry, Fruit Punch is a stunning achievement—a memoir born of love and endurance, fight or flight, and what it means to be a witness, from a blisteringly honest and observant voice. 


Click for more detail about Walking in My Joy: In These Streets by Jenifer Lewis Walking in My Joy: In These Streets

by Jenifer Lewis
Amistad (Aug 02, 2022)
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In this exciting collection infused with her sharp humor and buoyant spirit, Jenifer Lewis, the author of the hugely successful The Mother of Black Hollywood and costar of ABC’s hit sitcom Black-ish, shares the way she found the strength and courage to walk in her joy despite personal and universal hardships.

In this entertaining essay collection, the inimitable Jenifer Lewis looks back on some of her memorable adventures and experiences, using them as a mirror to reflect modern life and what is happening today. Her stories will have you laughing out loud, while her insightful messages will touch your soul.

This self-described “traveling fool and nature freak” takes us on her incredible journeys around the world, from Cape Town to Dubrovnik, the White House to the Serengeti, Mongolia to St. Petersburg, Argentina to Antarctica. Surprising and entertaining, her wildly diverse experiences reveal, that no matter where she is or what she faces, Jenifer walks in her joy, confident in herself and her purpose—whether it’s an unforgettable confrontation with a Trump supporter on a slow boat to Singapore; an alien visitation; enduring Covid-19 and a friend’s suicide attempt; taking down a conman; meeting a handsome Masai warrior and being chased by a cape buffalo. Jenifer also offers deep personal reflections on the repercussions of sexual violation; the murder of George Floyd and the racial reckoning in its wake.

Jenifer shares the importance of fully living to our greatest ambitions and taking time to admire the universe’s natural gifts along the way; to be present in the moment, and reject being a victim of circumstance. She offers advice on self-love and how to protect ourselves from those determined to steal our joy. In this collection, Jenifer urges us to feel it all, live it out loud, and keep it moving. Basically, do your best and leave the rest.

Walking in My Joy includes a 16 page four-color photo insert.


Click for more detail about Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen by George McCalman Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen

by George McCalman
Amistad (Jul 19, 2022)
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From an award-winning graphic designer comes this gorgeous collection that celebrates African Americans and their contributions—many little known—to politics, science, literature, music, and other fields, complemented by stunning illustrations.

Illustrated Black History is a comprehensive chronicle that spans many decades and fields, from activism, business, and medicine to technology, food, and entertainment. Each entry includes a stunning line drawing rendition of these extraordinary black men and women, and most notably the "hidden figures" who have contributed invaluably to American culture, along with an insightful essay summarizing each of their life stories.

In addition to towering figures, including Nina Simone, Frederick Douglass, Ava Duvernay, Martin Luther King, Jr, Ben Carson, Nat King Cole, Hattie McDaniel, Colin Kaepernick, James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, bell hooks, and Audre Lorde, Illustrated Black History honors heroes such as:

  • Documentarian Madeline Anderson, who produced I Am Somebody, a film about the 1969 strike of mostly women hospital workers
  • Virginia Allen, of the Black Angels, a group of 300 nurses who risked their lives to care for patients with tuberculosis
  • James and Eloyce Gist, whose traveling ministry crisscrossed America in the early 1900s Renaissance man, Paul Robeson
  • Dr. Eliza Ann Grier, who was born into slavery and became the first black woman to practice medicine in America
  • Guion S. Bluford, the first black person to travel into space
  • Claudette Colvin, the civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a bus nine months before Rosa Parks
  • And many more

The depth and breadth of African American history has always been integral, but has so often been excised from the official American narrative. With recent successes like Hidden Figures and the New York Times Magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 project, this reading of history is beginning to receive its just due. Accessible and eye-opening, this beautiful, four-color book is a long-overdue homage to the contributions of African Americans and a celebration of the black experience that is sure to become a keepsake for generations.


Click for more detail about Race and Reckoning: From Founding Fathers to Today’s Disruptors by Ellis Cose Race and Reckoning: From Founding Fathers to Today’s Disruptors

by Ellis Cose
Amistad (Jul 12, 2022)
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Bestselling author Ellis Cose’s groundbreaking latest work interrogates pivotal decisions from enslavement to the New Deal to the handling of Covid that established the United States discriminatory practices for centuries to come.

Numerous racialized decisions have solidified America’s, and people of color’s, fate at different points in history. The first were race-based slavery and the removal of Indigenous peoples from their land. More have proliferated over time as America became a superpower post World Wars while still discriminating against people of color who served overseas and at home through internment camps and the inability to vote. Presidents and state politicians have enacted and enforced legislation with the aims of bettering a nation, but bettering it for whom? From Reconstruction to the New Deal to the unceasing fight for the Civil Rights Bill and Voting Rights Act to the nation’s unyielding sense of patriotism and belief in “the American Dream,” each decision solidified the full rights of white people time and time again.

In Race and Reckoning, journalist Ellis Cose dissects chapter-by-chapter how America’s overall narrative breeds racial resentment rooted in conjecture over fact. Through rigorous research and astute details, Cose uncovers how countless points in history upheld a narrative of “what makes America great” thereby allowing one of the most disastrous presidencies in history to occur at a time when the world was at its most vulnerable.


Click for more detail about Sister Mother Warrior by Vanessa Riley Sister Mother Warrior

by Vanessa Riley
William Morrow (Jul 12, 2022)
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Acclaimed author of Island Queen Vanessa Riley brings readers a vivid, sweeping novel of the Haitian Revolution based on the true-life stories of two extraordinary women: the first Empress of Haiti, Marie-Claire Bonheur, and Gran Toya, a West African-born warrior who helped lead the rebellion that drove out the French and freed the enslaved people of Haiti. Gran Toya: Born in West Africa, Abdaraya Toya was one of the legendary minos—women called “Dahomeyan Amazons” by the Europeans—who were specially chosen female warriors consecrated to the King of Dahomey.

Betrayed by an enemy, kidnapped, and sold into slavery, Toya wound up in the French colony of Saint Domingue, where she became a force to be reckoned with on its sugar plantations: a healer and an authority figure among the enslaved. Among the motherless children she helped raise was a man who would become the revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

When the enslaved people rose up, Toya, ever the warrior, was at the forefront of the rebellion that changed the course of history.Marie-Claire: A free woman of color, Marie-Claire Bonheur was raised in an air of privilege and security because of her wealthy white grandfather. With a passion for charitable work, she grew up looking for ways to help those oppressed by a society steeped in racial and economic injustices. Falling in love with Jean-Jacques Dessalines, an enslaved man, was never the plan, yet their paths continued to cross and intertwine, and despite a marriage of convenience to a Frenchman, she and Dessalines had several children.

When war breaks out on Saint Domingue, pitting the French, Spanish, and enslaved people against one another in turn, Marie-Claire and Toya finally meet, and despite their deep differences, they both play pivotal roles in the revolution that will eventually lead to full independence for Haiti and its people.Both an emotionally palpable love story and a detail-rich historical novel, Sister Mother Warrior tells the often-overlooked history of the most successful Black uprising in history. Riley celebrates the tremendous courage and resilience of the revolutionaries, and the formidable strength and intelligence of Toya, Marie-Claire, and the countless other women who fought for freedom. 


Click for more detail about Ramadan Ramsey (paperback) by Louis Edwards Ramadan Ramsey (paperback)

by Louis Edwards
Amistad (Jul 05, 2022)
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The Guggenheim Fellowship and Whiting Award-winning author Louis Edwards makes his long-awaited comeback with this epic tale of a New Orleans boy whose very creation is so filled with tension that it bedevils his destiny before he is even born.

Spanning from the Deep South to the Middle East, Ramadan Ramsey bridges multiple countries and cultures, entwining two families who struggle to love and survive in the face of war, natural disasters, and their equally tumultuous, private mistakes and yearnings.

Ramadan Ramsey begins in 1999 with the moving (and funny) teenage love story of Alicia Ramsey, a native New Orleans African American young woman, and Mustafa Totah, a Syrian immigrant who works in her neighborhood at his uncle’s convenience store. Through a series of familial betrayals, Mustafa returns to Syria unaware that Alicia is carrying his child.

When the baby is born, Alicia names their son Ramadan and raises him with the help of her mother, Mama Joon. But tragedy strikes when the epochal hurricane of 2005 barrels into New Orleans, shattering both the Ramsey and Totah families. Years later, when Ramadan turns twelve, he sets off to find Mustafa. It is an odyssey filled with breathtaking and brilliant adventures that takes Ramadan from the familiar world of NOLA to Istanbul, and finally Aleppo, Syria, where he hopes to unite with the father he has never known.

Intimate yet epic, heartbreaking yet triumphant, Ramadan Ramsey explores the urgency of 21st century childhood and the richness and complexity of the modern family as a shared global experience. It is also a reminder of Louis Edwards’ immense talent and fearless storytelling and is a welcome return of this literary light.


Click for more detail about Our Gen by Diane McKinney-Whetstone Our Gen

by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Amistad (Jul 05, 2022)
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Beloved AALBC best-selling author, book club favorite, and longtime HarperCollins author Diane McKinney-Whetstone takes a departure from historical fiction to create Our Gen, a dazzling, provocative, and funny contemporary novel anchored in a retirement community brimming with secrets.

Our Gen, short for Sexagenarian, is a fifty-five-plus active living community in a bucolic setting outside of Philadelphia. Cynthia, is new to the Gen. She’s moved there reluctantly at the urging of her son and quickly forges friendships with the two other Black residents, Bloc and Tish, and Lavia who everyone assumes is from India. They commune regularly at Tish’s carriage house where Bloc brings the weed and they dance to James Brown and play Pinochle and talk politics and philosophy as the wine goes down like silk. They feel a sense of exhilaration, liberation, as if they are 40 years younger living at the High Rise Dorm at Penn. But beneath the lightness and froth, storms gather as the time-bomb secrets of their pasts tick toward explosion.

The novel shifts back and forth in time from the music, moods and eccentricities of the Black Philadelphia neighborhoods of the Sixties and Seventies, to the current day scenes of the Gen’s breathtaking topography and transplanted heirloom trees. Both serve as backdrops to the characters’ explorations of regret, longing, and desire, as they attempt to hide from their pasts.

Our Gen is part love story, part family drama, part portrait of life’s changing seasons with all of the fine-line wrinkles, scars, tenderness, and swagger for readers of all ages. It explores the never-ending quest to grow up, to figure out the what’s it all about—even for people living at a retirement village who are coming to the mean realization that life is finite after all—who knew.


Click for more detail about The Last Boss of Brighton: Boris Biba Nayfeld and the Rise of the Russian Mob in America by Douglas Century The Last Boss of Brighton: Boris Biba Nayfeld and the Rise of the Russian Mob in America

by Douglas Century
William Morrow & Company (Jul 05, 2022)
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Bestselling author Douglas Century reveals the untold story of the epic rise and fall of Boris Nayfeld, also known as Biba, one of the most notorious Russian mob bosses of our era.

Boris Nayfeld, a.k.a. "Biba," is the last living boss of the old-school Russian mob in America, and he’s survived to tell it all. Filled with sex, drugs, and murder, Biba’s story is a mind-boggling journey that took him from petty street crime in the USSR to billion-dollar embezzlement in America.

Born in Soviet-era Belarus, abandoned by his parents in infancy, Biba’s brutal upbringing left him hungry for more—more power, control, and money. Taking advantage of the rampant corruption in the Soviet Union, Biba’s teenage hooliganism quickly turned into bolder "black cash" rackets, making him, by Soviet standards, a very rich young man. When authorities took notice and threatened him with "the supreme measure"— execution by firing squad—he managed to get out of the USSR just in time.

Within months of landing in America, his intimidating presence and street smarts quickly made him legendary in the Soviet émigré community of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and launched him to the top of New York’s Russian Jewish mob, one of the world’s most inventive, powerful and violent criminal organizations. After decades as a globe-trotting boss, and three stints in U.S. federal prisons he remains unbroken and unrepentant, even as his entire life has unraveled around him.

Now seventy-four years old, Biba is a lion in winter. Douglas Century vividly brings the notorious gangster to life in these pages, telling not only his epic journey but also the history of the Russian mob in America.


Click for more detail about Honey and Spice: A Reese’s Book Club Pick by Bolu Babalola Honey and Spice: A Reese’s Book Club Pick

by Bolu Babalola
William Morrow & Company (Jul 05, 2022)
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“Sexy, messy and wry, Honey and Spice more than delivers.” — New York Times Book Review

“A vibrant debut novel … Babalola is incisively funny, capturing the kick and sweetness of her title with her words.” — Entertainment Weekly

Named a Best Book of the Year by Time - Esquire - Vanity Fair - Oprah Daily - Cosmopolitan - Elle - Harper’s Bazaar - Southern Living - Buzzfeed - Women’s Health Magazine - AudioFile - Popsugar - and more!

Introducing internationally bestselling author Bolu Babalola’s dazzling debut novel, full of passion, humor, and heart, that centers on a young Black British woman who has no interest in love and unexpectedly finds herself caught up in a fake relationship with the man she warned her girls about

Sweet like plantain, hot like pepper. They taste the best when together…

Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink.

They’re soon embroiled in a fake relationship to try and salvage their reputations and save their futures. Kiki has never surrendered her heart before, and a player like Malakai won’t be the one to change that, no matter how charming he is or how electric their connection feels. But surprisingly entertaining study sessions and intimate, late-night talks at old-fashioned diners force Kiki to look beyond her own presumptions. Is she ready to open herself up to something deeper?

A gloriously funny and sparkling debut novel, Honey and Spice is full of delicious tension and romantic intrigue that will make you weak at the knees.


Click for more detail about The Light Always Breaks by Angela Jackson-Brown The Light Always Breaks

by Angela Jackson-Brown
Harper Muse (Jul 05, 2022)
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Eva Cardon has never taken the easy path through life, but she’s never faced a challenge like this.

In 1947, few women own upscale restaurants in Washington, DC. Fewer still are twenty-four, Black, and wildly successful. But Eva Cardon is unwilling to serve only the wealthiest movers and shakers, and she plans to open a diner that serves Southern comfort to the working class.

A war hero and one of Georgia’s native sons, Courtland Hardiman Kingsley IV is a junior senator with great ambitions for his time in DC. But while his father is determined to see Courtland on a path to the White House, the young senator wants to use his office to make a difference in people’s lives, regardless of political consequences.

When equal-rights activism throws Eva and Courtland into each other’s paths, they can’t fight the attraction they feel, no matter how much it complicates their dreams. For Eva, falling in love with a white Southerner is all but unforgivable—and undesirable. Her mother and grandmother fell in love with white men, and their families paid the price. Courtland is already under pressure for his liberal ideals, and his family has a line of smiling debutantes waiting for him on every visit. If his father found out about Eva, he’s not sure he’d be welcome home again.

Surrounded by the disapproval of their families and the scorn of the public, Eva and Courtland must decide if the values they hold most dear—including love—are worth the loss of their dreams … and everything else.

The author of When Stars Rain Down returns with a historical romance about all that has—and has not—changed in these United States.


Click for more detail about On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi On Rotation

by Shirlene Obuobi
Avon (Jun 21, 2022)
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A spectacular novel of family, friendship, and finding your way in life…and in love.

Angie Appiah is the epitome of the Perfect Immigrant Daughter. She’s got it all: medical school credentials, a handsome lawyer boyfriend, and ride or die friends. But what happens when everything falls apart? Her boyfriend dumps her, she bombs the most important exam of her medical career, and her closest confidante and roommate pulls away, telling Angie she’s more wrapped up in herself than in her friends.

Angie is crushed. She’s always faced her problems by working “twice as hard to get half as far" and until now, that’s done well for her. When did life get so complicated? Suddenly, she begins to question everything: her career choice, her friendships, even why she’s attracted to men who don’t love her as much as she loves them. And just when things couldn’t get more confusing, enter Ricky, brilliant, thoughtful, sexy, but who has "wasteman" practically tattooed across his forehead. For someone who’s always been in control, Angie realizes that there’s one thing she can’t plan on: matters of her heart.


Click for more detail about The Minister Primarily (paperback) by John Oliver Killens The Minister Primarily (paperback)

by John Oliver Killens
Amistad (Jun 14, 2022)
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A major literary event—the eagerly anticipated publication of a long-lost novel from legendary writer and three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee John Oliver Killens, hailed as the founding father of the Black Arts Movement and mentor to celebrated writers, including Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Arthur Flowers, and Terry McMillan.

Wanderlust has taken Jimmy Jay Leander Johnson on numerous adventures, from Mississippi to Washington D.C., Vietnam, London and eventually to Africa, to the fictitious Independent People’s Democratic Republic of Guanaya, where the young musician hopes to “find himself.”

But this small sliver of a country in West Africa, recently freed from British colonial rule, is thrown into turmoil with the discovery of cobanium—a radioactive mineral 500 times more powerful than uranium, making it irresistible for greedy speculators, grifters, and charlatans. Overnight, outsiders descend upon the sleepy capital city looking for “a piece of the action.”

When a plot to assassinate Guanaya’s leader is discovered, Jimmy Jay—a dead ringer for the Prime Minister—is enlisted in a counter scheme to foil the would-be coup. He will travel to America with half of Guanaya’s cabinet ministers to meet with the President of the United States and address the UN General Assembly, while the rest of the cabinet will remain in Guanaya with the real Prime Minister.

What could go wrong?

Everything.

Set in the 1980s, this smart, funny, dazzlingly brilliant novel is a literary delight—and the final gift from an American literary legend.


Click for more detail about I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have a Dream

by Martin Luther King, Jr.
HarperOne (Jun 14, 2022)
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Introducing the Martin Luther King Jr Library

With a New Foreword by Amanda Gorman

A beautiful collectible edition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s legendary speech at the March on Washington, part of Dr. King’s archives published exclusively by HarperCollins.

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood before thousands of Americans who had gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. in the name of civil rights. Including the immortal words, “I have a dream,” Dr. King’s keynote speech would energize a movement and change the course of history.

With references to the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, Shakespeare, and the Bible, Dr. King’s March on Washington address has long been hailed as one of the greatest pieces of writing and oration in history. Profound and deeply moving, it is as relevant today as it was nearly sixty years earlier.

This beautifully designed hardcover edition presents Dr. King’s speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality.


Click for more detail about One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews One Hot Summer Day

by Nina Crews
Greenwillow Books (Jun 14, 2022)
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It’s summer, and it’s hot! Acclaimed author-artist Nina Crews’s debut picture book was hailed as “a wonderful concept book” by The Horn Book and “the debut of a welcome new voice and vision” by Kirkus. The perfect book to share with young children on a hot summer day!

One Hot Summer Day is a lively and beautiful photographic concept book about a perfect summer day.

This picture book is ideal for sharing in the home or classroom, and readers will feel the summer heat while exploring the sensory delights of summer, including making chalk pictures on the pavement, swinging on the swing set, slurping grape pops, and enjoying a cooling rainstorm.


Click for more detail about She Memes Well: Essays by Quinta Brunson She Memes Well: Essays

by Quinta Brunson
Dey Street Books (Jun 14, 2022)
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“In She Memes Well, Quinta gives more than a peek behind the curtain. She invites us in, lets us poke around and offers a balm for our aching souls. She moves beyond the jokes into something much deeper, something we may not recognize we need. She is the friend, sister, lover, cool co-worker we all wished we had.”—Gabrielle Union, actress and New York Times bestselling author of We’re Going to Need More Wine

From comedian Quinta Brunson (creator and star of Abbott Elementary) comes a deeply personal and funny collection of essays about trying to make it when you’re struggling, the importance of staying true to your roots, and how she’s redefined humor online.

Quinta Brunson is a master at breaking the internet. Before having any traditional background in media, her humorous videos were the first to go viral on Instagram’s platform. From there, Brunson’s wryly observant POV helped cement her status in the comedy world at large, with roles on HBO, Netflix, ABC, Adult Swim, BuzzFeed, the CW, and Comedy Central. Now, Brunson is bringing her comedic chops to the page in She Memes Well, an earnest, laugh-out-loud collection about this unusual road to notoriety.

In her debut essay collection, Quinta applies her trademark humor and heart to discuss what it was like to go from a girl who loved the World Wide Web to a girl whose face launched a thousand memes. With anecdotes that range from the ridiculous—like the time she decided to go clubbing wearing an outfit she describes as “Gary Coleman meets metrosexual pirate”—to more heartfelt material about her struggles with depression, Quinta’s voice is entirely authentic and eminently readable. With its intimate tone and hilarious moments, She Memes Well will make you feel as if you’re sitting down with your chillest, funniest friend.


Click for more detail about Where You Are Is Not Who You Are (paperback): A Memoir by Ursula M. Burns Where You Are Is Not Who You Are (paperback): A Memoir

by Ursula M. Burns
Amistad (Jun 07, 2022)
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The first Black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company looks back at her life and her career at Xerox, sharing unique insights on American business and corporate life, the workers she has always valued, racial and economic justice, how greed is threatening democracy, and the obstacles she’s conquered being Black and a woman.

“I am a black woman, I do not play golf, I do not belong to or go to country clubs, I do not like NASCAR, I do not listen to country music, and I have a masters degree in engineering. I, like a typical New Yorker, speak very fast, with an accent and vernacular that is definitely New York City, definitely Black. So when someone says I’m going to introduce you to the next CEO of Xerox, and the options are lined up against a wall, I would be the first one voted off the island.”

In 2009, when she was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the Xerox Corporation, Ursula Burns shattered the glass ceiling and made headlines. But the media missed the real story, she insists. “It should have been ‘how did this happen? How did Xerox Corporation produce the first African American woman CEO?’ Not this spectacular story titled, “Oh, my God, a Black woman making it.”

In this smart, no-nonsense book, part memoir and part cultural critique, Burns writes movingly about her journey from tenement housing on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to the highest echelons of the corporate world. She credits her success to her poor single Panamanian mother, Olga Racquel Burns—a licensed child-care provider whose highest annual income was $4,400—who set no limits on what her children could achieve. Ursula recounts her own dedication to education and hard work, and how she took advantage of the opportunities and social programs created by the Civil Rights and Women’s movements to pursue engineering at Polytechnic Institute of New York.

Burns writes about overcoming the barriers she faced, as well as the challenges and realities of the corporate world. Her classmates and colleagues—almost all white males—“couldn’t comprehend how a Black girl could be as smart, and in some cases, smarter than they were. They made a developed category for me. Unique. Amazing. Spectacular. That way they could accept me.” Her thirty-five-year career at Xerox was all about fixing things, from cutting millions to save the company from bankruptcy to a daring $6 billion acquisition to secure its future. Ursula also worked closely with President Barack Obama as a lead on his STEM initiative and Chair of his Export council, where she traveled with him on an official trade mission to Cuba, and became one of his greatest admirers.

Candid and outspoken, Ursula offers a remarkable look inside the c-suites of corporate America through the eyes of a Black woman—someone who puts humanity over greed and justice over power. She compares the impact of the pandemic to the financial crisis of 2007, condemns how corporate culture is destroying the spirit of democracy, and worries about the workers whose lives are being upended by technology. Empathetic and dedicated, idealistic and pragmatic, Ursula demonstrates that, no matter your circumstances, hard work, grit and a bit of help along the way can change your life—and the world.


Click for more detail about Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen (paperback): The Emotional Lives of Black Women by Inger Burnett-Zeigler Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen (paperback): The Emotional Lives of Black Women

by Inger Burnett-Zeigler
Amistad (Jun 07, 2022)
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Black women are beautiful, intelligent and capable —but mostly they embrace strong. Esteemed clinical psychologist, Dr. Inger Burnett-Zeigler, praises the strength of women, while exploring how trauma and adversity have led to deep emotional pain and shaped how they walk through the world.

Black women’s strength is intimately tied to their unacknowledged suffering. An estimated eight in ten have endured some form of trauma—sexual abuse, domestic abuse, poverty, childhood abandonment, victim/witness to violence, and regular confrontation with racism and sexism. Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen shows that trauma often impacts mental and physical well-being. It can contribute to stress, anxiety, PTSD, and depression. Unaddressed it can lead to hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, overeating, and alcohol and drug abuse, and other chronic health issues.

Dr. Burnett-Zeigler explains that the strong Black woman image does not take into account the urgency of Black women’s needs, which must be identified in order to lead abundant lives. It interferes with her relationships and ability to function day to day. Through mindfulness and compassionate self-care, the psychologist offers methods for establishing authentic strength from the inside out.

This informative guide to healing, is life-changing, showing Black women how to prioritize the self and find everyday joys in self-worth, as well as discover the fullness and beauty within both her strength and vulnerability.

“’Listen to Black women’ and ’Black Girl Magic’ are common phrases these days. Inger Burnett-Zeigler reveals what is unsaid about the Strong Black Woman — she needs to tend to her own individual health. This book is affirming and full of lessons.” — Natalie Y. Moore, author of "The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation"Black women are beautiful, intelligent and capable —but mostly they embrace strong. Esteemed clinical psychologist, Dr. Inger Burnett-Zeigler, praises the strength of women, while exploring how trauma and adversity have led to deep emotional pain and shaped how they walk through the world.

Black women’s strength is intimately tied to their unacknowledged suffering. An estimated eight in ten have endured some form of trauma—sexual abuse, domestic abuse, poverty, childhood abandonment, victim/witness to violence, and regular confrontation with racism and sexism. Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen shows that trauma often impacts mental and physical well-being. It can contribute to stress, anxiety, PTSD, and depression. Unaddressed it can lead to hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, overeating, and alcohol and drug abuse, and other chronic health issues.

Dr. Burnett-Zeigler explains that the strong Black woman image does not take into account the urgency of Black women’s needs, which must be identified in order to lead abundant lives. It interferes with her relationships and ability to function day to day. Through mindfulness and compassionate self-care, the psychologist offers methods for establishing authentic strength from the inside out.

This informative guide to healing, is life-changing, showing Black women how to prioritize the self and find everyday joys in self-worth, as well as discover the fullness and beauty within both her strength and vulnerability.

"Through a blend of irrefutable scientific data and deeply moving personal narratives, Inger Burnett-Zeigler’s Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen takes an unflinching look at the sources of Black women’s pain and explodes the myth that our strength comes without sacrifice. This book invites us to be our whole, authentic selves—capable, yes, but also vulnerable and deserving of love and care. Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen is an offering, an affirmation, a balm, and a roadmap to transformation and real healing—A gift to Black women everywhere." — Natalie Baszile, author of Queen Sugar and We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land & Legacy

“Patience, courage, and perseverance are required in taking good care of yourself. You are worthy. You are important. Your song is part of a great symphony! Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen will help you find your instrument and melody.” — Jenifer Lewis, author of The Mother of Black Hollywood

“’Listen to Black women’ and ’Black Girl Magic’ are common phrases these days. Inger Burnett-Zeigler reveals what is unsaid about the Strong Black Woman — she needs to tend to her own individual health. This book is affirming and full of lessons.” — Natalie Y. Moore, author of "The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation"


Click for more detail about Black Oak: Odes Celebrating Powerful Black Men by Harold Green III Black Oak: Odes Celebrating Powerful Black Men

by Harold Green III
Harper Design (May 31, 2022)
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As he did for Black women in Black Roses, Harold Green III, poet and founder of the music collective Flowers for the Living, now honors the Black men he most admires—groundbreakers including Tyler Perry, Barry Jenkins, Billy Porter, Chance the Rapper, LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, and John Legend—and celebrates their achievements which are transforming lives and making history.

Black men are changing society and the world through mastery, innovation, and inspiration at a pace never seen before. In awe of the myriad ways in which Black men are using their vision and power to remake culture and society, spoken word artist Harold Green began writing odes recognizing the extraordinary accomplishments of a series of Black men, which heshared on his Instagram account—tributes that went viral and became a social media sensation. Black Oak brings together many of these popular odes with original works written for this collection.

Divided into five sections—bravehearts, champions, dreamers, guardians, and humanitarians—Black Oak features iconic men who are spearheading movements, fighting for equality, challenging the status quo, embracing fatherhood, providing a transformative model of masculinity for our children, inspiring a new generation of creators, and more. Through these beautifully written verses, Harold does not simply place the Black men in this book on a pedestal, he transcends even the most positive stereotypes to view these men and their accomplishments in a new light, and creates meaningful connections between these beloved figures and the lives and experiences of readers of all backgrounds.

Featuring full-color illustrations by Melissa Koby, Black Oak includes odes to Barry Jenkins, Big K.R.I.T, Billy Porter, Black Thought, Chance the Rapper, Charles Booker, Colin Kaepernick, Dwyane Wade, Edmund Graham III, Eric Hale, Excell Hardy Jr., Harold Green III, Harold Green Jr., Harold Green Sr., Hebru Brantley, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Jamaal Bowman, Jason Reynolds, Jericho Brown, John Legend, Kehinde Wiley, Kerry James Marshall, Kevin Fredricks, Killer Mike, Kyler Broadus, LeBron James, Mahershala Ali, Marc Lamont Hill, Matthew Cherry, Orlando Cooper, Pharrell, Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Rev. Dr. William Barber II, Ryan Coogler, Swizz Beatz, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Theaster Gates, Tobe Nwigwe, Tristan Walker, and Tyler Perry.


Click for more detail about Only on the Weekends by Dean Atta Only on the Weekends

by Dean Atta
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (May 24, 2022)
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From the Stonewall Award–winning author of The Black Flamingo comes a romantic coming-of-age novel in verse about the beautiful—and sometimes painful—fallout of pursuing the love we deserve. The ideal next read for fans of Kacen Callender, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Becky Albertalli.

Fifteen-year-old Mack is a hopeless romantic—likely a hazard of growing up on film sets thanks to his father’s job. Mack has had a crush on Karim for as long as he can remember and he can’t believe it when gorgeous, popular Karim seems into him too.

But when Mack’s father takes on a new directing project in Scotland, Mack has to move away, and soon discovers how painful long-distance relationships can be. It’s awful to be so far away from Karim, and it’s made worse by the fact that Karim can be so hard to read.

Then Mack meets actor Finlay on set, and the world turns upside down again. Fin seems fearless—and his confidence could just be infectious.

Award-winning author Dean Atta crafts a beautifully nuanced and revelatory story in verse about the exquisite highs and lows of first love and self-discovery.


Click for more detail about The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere. by James Spooner The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere.

by James Spooner
Harper (May 17, 2022)
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Winner of a 2022 ALA Alex Award

Winner of the 2023 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Print Comics

One of The Washington Post’s 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2022 * One of NYPL’s Best Books of 2022 *A Publishers Weekly "Best Book of 2022"

A formative coming-of-age graphic memoir by the creator of Afro-punk: a young man’s immersive reckoning with identity, racism, clumsy teen love and belonging in an isolated California desert, and a search for salvation and community through punk.

Apple Valley, California, in the late eighties, a thirsty, miserable desert.

Teenage James Spooner hates that he and his mom are back in town after years away. The one silver lining—new school, new you, right? But the few Black kids at school seem to be gangbanging, and the other kids fall on a spectrum of micro-aggressors to future Neo-Nazis. Mixed race, acutely aware of his Blackness, James doesn’t know where he fits until he meets Ty, a young Black punk who introduces him to the school outsiders—skaters, unhappy young rebels, caught up in the punk groundswell sweeping the country.

A haircut, a few Sex Pistols, Misfits and Black Flag records later: suddenly, James has friends, romantic prospects, and knows the difference between a bass and a guitar. But this desolate landscape hides brutal, building undercurrents: a classmate overdoses, a friend must prove himself to his white supremacist brother and the local Aryan brotherhood through a show of violence. Everything and everyone are set to collide at one of the year’s biggest shows in town…

Weaving in the Black roots of punk rock and a vivid interlude in the thriving eighties DIY scene in New York’s East Village, this is the memoir of a budding punk, artist, and activist.


Click for more detail about Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas Swim Team

by Johnnie Christmas
HarperAlley (May 17, 2022)
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“Combines wonderful characters and history to create a story that will make you want to dive right in!” Jerry Craft, author of the Newbery Medal-winning New Kid

A splashy, contemporary middle-grade graphic novel from bestselling comics creator Johnnie Christmas!

Bree can’t wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees—until she’s stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule, the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she’s forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta, an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain, is willing to help.

With Etta’s training and a lot of hard work, Bree suddenly finds her swim-crazed community counting on her to turn the school’s failing team around. But that’s easier said than done, especially when their rival, the prestigious Holyoke Prep, has everything they need to leave the Mighty Manatees in their wake.

Can Bree defy the odds and guide her team to a state championship, or have the Manatees swum their last lap—for good?


Click for more detail about Miss Chloe: A Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison by A.J. Verdelle Miss Chloe: A Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison

by A.J. Verdelle
Amistad (May 10, 2022)
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The award-winning author of The Good Negress shares invaluable insights on the precarious journey toward creativity that is the writer’s life, and tells the compelling story of her relationship with Toni Morrison, painting an illuminating portrait of this towering yet enigmatic cultural icon.

With the publication of her debut novel The Good Negress in 1995, A. J. Verdelle became an overnight sensation, winning critical acclaim and competing for prestigious literature prizes. But for Verdelle, the most unexpected consequence was the friendship she formed with the legendary Toni Morrison. Receiving an advance copy of the book, the Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author—notorious for never giving early praise—called The Good Negress, “Truly Extraordinary.” It was a writer’s dream come true—a dream that for Verdelle would become simultaneously exhilarating and challenging.

Now, twenty-five years later, Verdelle tells the story of that success and what came after. Miss Chloe begins with the story of young Verdelle’s persistent aim to become an author, spending countless pre-dawn hours writing the novel that became The Good Negress. Verdelle then turns to the heady period after publication, focusing on her relationship with Toni—a precious gift that was most of the time a grace and a blessing, and at other times, confusing and too separate from literature. While Morrison continued to rise as an icon, Verdelle’s writing career took a sharp turn. Verdelle’s next novel—a Western featuring Black characters—is quickly bought by a young editor who leaves for another job before the manuscript is finished. Searching for direction, Verdelle moves to another publisher. Yet this second book will languish for more than fifteen years. In chronicling her journey, Verdelle offers an honest assessment of what it means to be a writer, including the expectations and let downs that famous friendships do not defray.

Miss Chloe ends with the period after Morrison has passed away, when Verdelle is left to face the reality of her writing career, pondering what it means to have promise that is yet to materialize. She finds comfort in advice Morrison offered over the years, insight she shares in this wise book. “In order for Morrison to take you seriously, to have patience with you, to be interested, you had to be able to hear her,” Verdelle writes. “You had to be able to sit still and listen. You had to be able to pipe up in the pauses, and prove you understood. You needed demonstrate that language was a skill you had, that Black culture was known to you and respected by you.”

Book Review

Click for more detail about Twintuition: Double Cross by Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry Twintuition: Double Cross

by Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry
HarperCollins (May 10, 2022)
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From TV stars Tia Mowry-Hardrict and Tamera Mowry-Housley comes the thrilling conclusion to their middle grade series, Twintuition!

In this fourth and final book, tween twins Cassie and Caitlyn Waters are excited to be returning to their hometown, San Antonio, on a class trip. But as they reach their destination, trouble finds them as quickly as a vision, and one of their friends soon disappears.

Using their Sight and their street smarts to try and save the day, the twins also begin to see things they didn’t expect—a man in captivity who looks exactly like their father’s pictures. Could he really be alive? And can they use the clues they see to save him before it’s too late?


Click for more detail about Layla, the Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish and Jessica Gibson Layla, the Last Black Unicorn

by Tiffany Haddish and Jessica Gibson
HarperCollins (May 10, 2022)
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From beloved comedian, actress, and New York Times bestselling author Tiffany Haddish comes Layla, the Last Black Unicorn, a hilarious, original picture book tale about a lovable but awkward unicorn who learns why her uniqueness is her biggest strength.

It’s not easy to fit in when you stand out. When Layla arrives for her first day of school at Unicornia, the school for unicorns, she realizes that she’s not like the other kids there. They’re all pastel colors and know the rules to Horn Ball and none of them come from the Woods like Layla does. Try as she might to make friends, Layla’s just … different. But when her class gets lost during a field trip to the Fiddle Dee Deep Forest, it’s up to Layla to step up and save the day.

Layla, the Last Black Unicorn is a hilariously heartwarming picture book about self-acceptance, self-esteem, and standing up for standing out by New York Times bestselling author, Grammy Award-winning comedian, and actress Tiffany Haddish and Jerdine Nolen, author of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Thunder Rose.


Click for more detail about The Friendly Four by Eloise Greenfield The Friendly Four

by Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (May 03, 2022)
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Celebrate friendship with Coretta Scott King Award winners Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist!

Drum is worried that summer will be a bummer until Dorene, Louis, and Rae enter his life unexpectedly. Together they embark on an unforgettable summer of discovery and creative play.

With free-verse poetry perfect for reading aloud and inspired illustrations, this picture book by the legendary author/illustrator team follows four children as they explore the bonds of friendship, family, and community.

Fun for reading aloud. —Booklist


Click for more detail about Isn’t Her Grace Amazing!: The Women Who Changed Gospel Music by Cheryl Wills Isn’t Her Grace Amazing!: The Women Who Changed Gospel Music

by Cheryl Wills
Amistad (May 03, 2022)
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For the first time the 25 most influential women gospel singers from Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson to Aretha Franklin and Cissy Houston to Mary Mary and Yolanda Adams are celebrated in this elegant landmark publication that includes profiles combined with more than 125 black-and-white and color photographs of these extraordinary performers in their glory.

At long last, Isn’t Her Grace Amazing! salutes the pioneers and present-day superstars of gospel in a lavishly illustrated and beautifully packaged book. Some talented performers such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe have faded from history, while singers such as Mary Mary and Yolanda Adams have appeared at The White House, on reality television, and sold millions of records. Many women in the gospel music industry such as Willie Mae Ford Smith often go unnoticed, unpaid, and under-appreciated for their talents. These women of song are the bedrock for songwriting, arranging, directing, and developing singers – now is their moment to shine.

Isn’t Her Grace Amazing! honors women such as Mary Mary and Willie Mae Ford Smith and chronicles their journeys from the choir loft to the world’s largest stages, and documents how these women revolutionized this sacred music that the world has come to know and love as gospel. Award-winning television personality and author Cheryl Wills was inspired by her own upbringing in the church and dedicates the book to her grandmother Opal Wills, who was a powerful gospel singer in her own right, but never ventured outside of her storefront church in Queens. There are millions of women like Opal Wills, who are the pillars of their communities and reign supreme during Sunday church service, where everyone in the congregations eagerly awaits their weekly “solo.”

Isn’t Her Grace Amazing! offers in-depth interviews, behind-the-scenes stories of your favorite gospel hits, uncovered gems, and show-stopping images of the powerhouse vocalists in their prime.

From the roof-raising, foot-stomping, hand-clapping melodies of yesterday to the head-bobbing, bass-thumping hits of today, gospel music ignites the soul and delivers the inspiration that delivers us. Isn’t Her Grace Amazing! celebrates 25 tremendous talents of gospel music who have defined the genre, established the sound, and set the standard for good sangin’ for generations to come.


Click for more detail about Inheritance: A Visual Poem by Elizabeth Acevedo Inheritance: A Visual Poem

by Elizabeth Acevedo
Quill Tree Books (May 03, 2022)
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They tell me to “fix” my hair.

And by fix, they mean straighten, they mean whiten;

but how do you fix this shipwrecked

history of hair?

In her most famous spoken-word poem, author of the Pura Belpré-winning novel-in-verse The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo embraces all the complexities of Black hair and Afro-Latinidad—the history, pain, pride, and powerful love of that inheritance.

Paired with full-color illustrations by artist Andrea Pippins in a format that will appeal to fans of Mahogany L. Browne’s Black Girl Magic or Jason Reynolds’s For Everyone, this poem can now be read in a vibrant package, making it the ideal gift, treasure, or inspiration for readers of any age.


Click for more detail about Patience Is a Subtle Thief by Abi Ishola-Ayodeji Patience Is a Subtle Thief

by Abi Ishola-Ayodeji
HarperVia (May 03, 2022)
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Hope and circumstance define a young woman’s life in this heartbreaking tale of lost innocence, set in politically volatile 1990s Nigeria, from an exciting and fresh voice in global literature.

For as long as she can remember, Patience Adewale, the eldest daughter of Chief Kolade Adewale, has been waiting for confirmation that she is loved, that there is a place where she truly belongs. Patience lives a sheltered life within the secure walls of the family’s mansion in Ibadan, but finds no comfort from her distant father and stepmother Modupe. Her only ally is her younger sister, yet even Margaret’s love and support cannot overcome Patience’s insecurity and uncertainty.

More than anything, Patience wants to know why her father and uncle banished her mother from their compound years ago—and whether her mother is even alive. Determined to discover the truth, Patience embarks on a desperate search to find her mother. Answers begin to surface when she moves to Lagos for university and unexpectedly reconnects with her cousin Kash.

Kash and his friend Emeka are petty thieves with an opportunity to make a big score. To pull it off they need help—and enlist Patience and Emeka’s straight-arrow brother, Chike, to become partners in their scheme. The thieves’ plan is to quit after this job. But unforeseen events lead to unexpected consequences—and demand a price from Patience that may be too steep to pay.

Suspenseful and evoking the subtleties of Nigerian life in an fresh and unexpected way, Patience Is a Subtle Thief is a heart-wrenching story of one young woman’s precarious journey to adulthood, and the risks and sacrifices it takes to follow her heart.


Click for more detail about Where the Children Take Us by Zain Asher Where the Children Take Us

by Zain Asher
Amistad (Apr 26, 2022)
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In this spellbinding memoir, popular CNN anchor Zain E. Asher pays tribute to her mother’s strength and determination to raise four successful children in the shadow of tragedy.

Awaiting the return of her husband and young son from a road trip, Obiajulu Ejiofor receives shattering news. There’s been a fatal car crash, and one of them is dead.

In Where the Children Take Us, Obiajulu’s daughter, Zain E. Asher, tells the story of her mother’s harrowing fight to raise four children as a widowed immigrant in South London. There is tragedy in this tale, but it is not a tragedy. Drawing on tough-love parenting strategies, Obiajulu teaches her sons and daughters to overcome the daily pressures of poverty, crime and prejudice—and much more. With her relentless support, the children exceed all expectations—becoming a CNN anchor, an Oscar-nominated actor—Asher’s older brother Chiwetel Ejiofor—a medical doctor, and a thriving entrepreneur.

The generations-old Nigerian parenting techniques that lead to the family’s salvation were born in the village where young Obiajulu and Arinze meet with their country on the brink of war. Together, they emigrate to London in the 1970s to escape the violence, but soon confront a different set of challenges in the West.

When grief threatens to engulf her fractured family after the accident, Obiajulu, suddenly a single mother in a foreign land, refuses to accept defeat. As her children veer down the wrong path, she instills a family book club with Western literary classics, testing their resolve and challenging their deeper understanding. Desperate for inspiration, she plasters newspaper clippings of Black success stories on the walls and hunts for overachieving neighbors to serve as role models, all while running Shakespeare theatre lines with her son and finishing homework into the early morning with Zain. When distractions persist, she literally cuts the TV cord and installs a residential pay phone.

The story of a woman who survived genocide, famine, poverty, and crushing grief to rise from war torn Africa to the streets of South London and eventually the drawing rooms of Buckingham Palace, Where the Children Take Us is an unforgettable portrait of strength, tenacity, love, and perseverance embodied in one towering woman.


Click for more detail about Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis Finding Me: A Memoir

by Viola Davis
HarperOne (Apr 26, 2022)
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Finding Me is Viola Davis’ story, in her own words, and spans her incredible, inspiring life, from her coming-of-age in Rhode Island to her present day. Hers is a story of overcoming, a true hero’s journey. Deeply personal, brutally honest, and riveting, Finding Me is a timeless and spellbinding memoir that will capture hearts and minds around the globe.


Click for more detail about Love in Color: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold by Bolu Babalola Love in Color: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold

by Bolu Babalola
William Morrow & Company (Apr 26, 2022)
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"Love stories by and about marginalized women … The heroines are strong and sure … Babalola’s writing shines."— New York Times Book Review

"Absolutely intoxicating." — Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop

A vibrant debut collection of love stories from the bestselling author of Honey and Spice, retelling myths, folktales, and histories from around the world.

A high-born Nigerian goddess, who has been beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover, longs to be truly seen. A young businesswoman attempts a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life. A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether she should uphold her family’s politics or be true to her heart.

In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from long-erased places.

With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres. Love in Color is a celebration of romance in all its many splendid forms.

"I am in love with every single word Bolu Babalola has written. So rarely is love expressed this richly, this vividly, or this artfully." — Candice Carty-Williams, international bestselling author of Queenie


Click for more detail about The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer

by Janelle Monáe
Harper Voyager (Apr 19, 2022)
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New York Times bestseller!

In The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, singer-songwriter, actor, fashion icon, activist, and worldwide superstar Janelle Monáe brings to the written page the Afrofuturistic world of one of her critically acclaimed albums, exploring how different threads of liberation—queerness, race, gender plurality, and love—become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape…and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms.

Whoever controls our memories controls the future.

Janelle Monáe and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts—as a means of self-conception—could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who’d convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate.

That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free.

Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it’s like to live in such a totalitarian existence…and what it takes to get out of it. Building off the traditions of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Nnedi Okorafor—and filled with the artistic genius and powerful themes that have made Monáe a worldwide icon in the first place—The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology, and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.

Book Review

Click for more detail about A Woman of Endurance by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa A Woman of Endurance

by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Amistad (Apr 12, 2022)
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Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa’s groundbreaking novel illuminates a little discussed aspect of history—the Puerto Rican Atlantic Slave Trade—witnessed through the experiences of Pola, an African captive used as a breeder to bear more slaves.

Pola, an enslaved African woman on a sugar cane plantation in 19th century Puerto Rico, is beaten and repeatedly raped. After being forced into the inhumane world of slave breeding, her babies are taken from her at birth. As the incessant brutality inflicted on her continues, Pola loses the faith that has guided her early life and becomes distrusting, and embittered. The dehumanizing violence in her life almost destroys her.

After a particularly vicious beating and following an attempted escape, she awakens on a new plantation, Las Mercedes. The narrative lens follows her into a multifaceted, diverse, nuanced, complex and oftentimes supportive world of the enslaved. Here, Pola learns to recognize and embrace the many faces of love—a mother’s love, a daughter’s love, a sister’s love, a love of community, and finally the self-love that she must experience before she can offer herself to another. A Woman of Endurance is not a tale of defeat but rather one of survival, regeneration, and reclamation of common humanity. It illuminates the strength and endurance of enslaved people who, though held captive, retain the full essence, both good and bad, of the human condition.

Dahlma Llanos Figueroa’s A Woman of Endurance evokes the intense spirit of those enslaved human beings who despite inhumane treatment are impacted by hatred and love, barbarity and humanism, alienation and community, family, motherhood, faith and most importantly, the search for a sense of self-worth Ultimately, it is a novel of healing, and the triumph of the human spirit under the most brutal of circumstances.


Click for more detail about Love Me as I Am (hardcover) by Garcelle Beauvais Love Me as I Am (hardcover)

by Garcelle Beauvais
Amistad (Apr 12, 2022)
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Love Me As I Am is Garcelle Beauvais’s smart, inspiring, and raw memoir—an entertaining and unforgettable emotional rollercoaster ride that moves from her early childhood years in Haiti to her adolescence in Boston; from her heady days as a young model in New York—her first taste of real freedom—to Los Angeles and the many ups, downs, and then more ups, both personal and professional, she experienced in her three-decade acting career, including her massive fame as a star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Throughout her life, Beauvais has suffered from an emotional battle between her wild, rebellious nature and her desire to be a “good girl.” No matter how many cover stories she earned, “Most Beautiful” lists, or coveted roles in iconic series such as The Jamie Foxx Show and NYPD Blue, Beauvais could not cure herself of her “disease to please”. She also had to learn how to unapologetically put herself first. Love Me As I Am, she brings together the voices of both the good girl and the rebel to deliver an unflinching examination of her successes and ongoing challenges as a mother, wife, daughter, sibling, and friend.

Beauvais fearlessly talks about how she boldly embraced her sexuality in her 40s, and her determination to break free of the stereotypes that define and limit African American women in popular culture. Most importantly, she reveals how finally putting herself first led to better relationships with her three sons and even her ex-husband. Beauvais dishes too—offering juicy behind-the-scenes stories from movie sets, red carpet events, and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Love Me As I Am is an unflinching look at one woman’s extraordinary journey to create a new and more exciting life—and to become the woman she was meant to be.


Click for more detail about The Girl in the Middle: Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor by Anais Granofsky The Girl in the Middle: Growing Up Between Black and White, Rich and Poor

by Anais Granofsky
HarperOne (Apr 12, 2022)
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In this poignant and timely memoir—written with the searing power of Beautiful Struggle and Born a CrimeDegrassi Junior High star Anais Granofsky contemplates the lingering impact of a childhood spent in two opposite and warring worlds.

Though recognized around the world for her role as Lucy Hernandez on the hit show Degrassi, Anais Granofsky’s true childhood story is largely unknown. Growing up, Anais was caught between two vastly different worlds: her father, Stanley, came from a wealthy, prominent, white Jewish family in Toronto. Her mother, Jean, was one of 15 children from a poor Black Methodist family in Ohio directly descended from freed Randolph slaves. When Anais’s parents met at Antioch College in the early 1970s and soon had their first child, they didn’t anticipate being cut off by the wealthy Granofskys, or that Stanley would find his calling in the spiritual teaching of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, change his name to Fakeer, and leave his family for an ashram in India.

Young Anais and her mother teetered on the abyss of poverty, sharing a mattress in a single room in social housing in Toronto, while her grandparents lived in a mansion that was 20 minutes away. As Anais grew up, she spent weekends with her wealthy Granofsky grandparents. On Saturdays and Sundays she would wear expensive clothes and eat lunch by the pool. In the weeks between, she and her mother lived day by day penniless, rarely knowing where their next meal would come from. From her earliest youth, Anais realized that if she wanted to be loved, she had to keep her two lives separate, learning to code switch between her Jewish identity on the weekend and her Black one during the week.

Her life was compartmentalized, until at age 12, Anais was cast in the internationally successful television show Degrassi Junior High.

The Girl in the Middle is a tale of two vastly different families and the granddaughter they shared and clashed over. Compassionate and vivid, Anais’s story is a powerful lens revealing two divided families and the systematic, generational oppression that separated them. As Anais shares her experiences growing up in opposing worlds, she offers a heart-wrenching exploration of generational trauma, love, shame, grief, and prejudice—and essential insight for healing and acceptance.


Click for more detail about Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Genesis of White Power and Wealth by Clyde W. Ford Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Genesis of White Power and Wealth

by Clyde W. Ford
Amistad (Apr 05, 2022)
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In this, provocative, timely, and painstakingly researched book, the award-winning author of Think Black tells the story of how Black labor helped to create and sustain the wealth of the white one percent throughout American history.

Clyde W. Ford uses the lives of individual Black men and women as a lens to explore the role they have played in creating American institutions of power and wealth—in agriculture, politics, jurisprudence, law enforcement, culture, medicine, financial services, and many other fields—while not being allowed to fully participate or share in the rewards. Today, activists have taken the struggle for racial equity and justice to the streets. Of Blood and Sweat goes back through time to excavate the roots of this struggle, from pre-colonial Africa through post-Civil War America. As Ford reveals, in tracing the history of almost any major American institution of power and wealth you’ll find it was created by Black Americans, or created to control them.

Painstakingly researched and documented, Of Blood and Sweat is a compelling look at the past that holds broad implications for present-day calls for racial equity, racial justice, and the abolishment of systemic racism, and offers invaluable insight into our understanding of Black history and the story of America.


Click for more detail about Dream Journal: The Words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Journal: The Words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

by Martin Luther King, Jr.
HarperOne (Mar 29, 2022)
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Introducing the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Library

A keepsake daily writing practice journal inspired by the life and words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., drawn from Dr. King’s archives published exclusively by HarperCollins.

Few figures in world history have been as galvanizing as the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. More than fifty years after his death, his words continue to resonate, offering clarity and strength to influential thinkers, activists, and artists and to people of all ages, colors, and creeds yearning to create a better, more just, and equitable world.

Dream Journal honors Dr. King’s legacy by encouraging others to pursue their own aspirations. Featuring words of inspiration from this revered spiritual leader’s life and work, accompanied by thought-provoking images, the first annual edition of this collectible diary offers a year’s worth of prompts readers can use to think more deeply about Dr. King’s words, clarify their own intentions, define their dreams, and set future goals to transform their lives and the world around them.


Click for more detail about Girl Dad by Sean Williams Girl Dad

by Sean Williams
HarperCollins (Mar 22, 2022)
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A picture book celebration of girl dads everywhere by The Dad Gang CEO, Sean Williams!

A fun read-aloud written in upbeat rhyming verse, Girl Dad is a picture book that honors the strong men who raise, love, and uplift strong girls.

Share Girl Dad with the dads in your life, on Father’s Day or any day.


Click for more detail about You Grow, Gurl! by Christopher Griffin You Grow, Gurl!

by Christopher Griffin
Harper Design (Mar 22, 2022)
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Discover the joys and self-nurturing benefits of plant parenthood, from learning how to begin building your own lush plant family to getting into those fun tips on how to care for your green gurls, with this beautiful, illustrated guide from the dazzling creator of the @plantkween Instagram account. “We all love some new growth, dahling.” Six years ago, Christopher Griffin was just beginning the plant parenthood journey with one small Marble Queen Pothos. Today, this Black Queer non-binary femme plant influencer known as Plant Kween tends to a family of more than 200 healthy green gurls in the Brooklyn apartment they call home. You Grow, Gurl! is Kween’s fun and fabulous guide to becoming a plant parent and keeping your green gurls growing and thriving.Anyone can be a plant parent!  It’s all about TLC—taking the time and energy to focus on a plant’s needs, and ultimately your own. Featuring 200 full-color photos and illustrations, practical instructions and tips—on everything from propagating to measuring humidity to repotting—activities, and stories, this fun and joyful guide shows how to green-up any space and have it serving those lush lewks. Self-care takes many forms and tending to your plants’ needs helps you grow too. In addition to information and advice on plant care, Kween provides meditations, mindfulness activities, playlists, and more to help you practice self-care through plant-care. As Kween says, “We can learn a lot about how we treat ourselves, how we treat others, and how we navigate the world from these green lil creatures.” Healing and growing your heart, body, and soul takes time, love, and focus. Taking care of plants teaches you to apply that same attention and love to yourself and helps you find new pathways to explore on your own botanical adventure to self-love.


Click for more detail about Things Past Telling by Sheila Williams Things Past Telling

by Sheila Williams
Amistad (Mar 15, 2022)
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The author of The Secret Woman tells the story of a brave and enduring woman as indomitable as Ernest Gaines’ legendary Miss Jane Pittman, in a breathtaking novel that combines the epic romance and adventure of Outlander, the sweeping drama of Roots, and the haunting historical power of Barracoon.

Things Past Telling is a remarkable historical epic that charts one unforgettable woman’s journey across an ocean of years as vast as the Atlantic that will forever separate her from her homeland.

Born in West Africa in the mid-eighteenth century, Maryam Prescilla Grace—a.k.a "Momma Grace" will live a long, wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity, and love. Though she will be "gifted" various names, her birth name is known to her alone. Over the course of 100-plus years, she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only eleven years of age, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator.

Maryam learns midwifery from a Caribbean-born wise woman, whose "craft" combines curated techniques and medicines from African, Indigenous, and European women. Those midwifery skills allow her to sometimes transcend the racial and class barriers of her enslavement, as she walks the razor’s edge trying to balance the lives and health of her own people with the cruel economic mandates of the slave holders, who view infants born in bondage not as flesh-and-blood children but as investment property.

Throughout her triumphant and tumultuous life Maryam gains and loses her homeland, her family, her culture, her husband, her lovers, and her children. Yet as the decades pass, this tenacious woman never loses her sense of self.

Inspired by a 112-year-old woman the author discovered in an 1870 U.S. Federal census report for Ohio, loosely based on the author’s real-life female ancestors, spanning more than a hundred years, from the mid-eighteen-century to the end of America’s Civil War, and spanning across the globe, from what is now southern Nigeria to the islands of the Caribbean to North America and the land bordering the Ohio River, Things Past Telling is a breathtaking story of a past that lives on in all of us, and a life that encompasses the best—and worst—of our humanity.


Click for more detail about The Last Suspicious Holdout: Stories by Ladee Hubbard The Last Suspicious Holdout: Stories

by Ladee Hubbard
Amistad (Mar 08, 2022)
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The critically acclaimed author of The Rib King returns with an eagerly anticipated collection of short stories including the title story written exclusively for this volume, that explore relationships in a Black neighborhood over the course from the late 1980s to the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The twelve stories in The Last Suspicious Holdout and Other Stories capture powerful and poignant moments in the everyday lives of African American families, friends, and neighbors. Taking place in an unnamed “sliver of Southern suburbia” in the years spanning from the beginning of the Clinton presidency to the eve of Barack Obama’s election, each of these exceptional works of short fiction explore how the inequities of our society—in the criminal justice system, education, and healthcare—as well as issues like the “war on drugs”—shape and scar ordinary lives in deeply personal ways.

In “False Cognates,” a formerly incarcerated attorney struggles with paying raising tuition costs to keep his troubled son in an elite private school. In “There He Go,” a young girl whose mother moves them constantly yearns for stability and clings to a picture of the grandfather she doesn’t know, inventing stories of his greatness that contrast with the actual man.

In this fearless and at times funny collection, Ladee Hubbard transcends stereotypes to provide a fuller portrait of Black American life and its undercurrents. The characters inhabiting her world present diverse configurations of family—grandmothers and granddaughters who live together as roommates; cousins and uncles who form tight bonds; and fathers who are mainly present. Each is part of a community where daycares and babysitters are never taken for granted; where books and words are revered.

The Last Suspicious Holdout and Other Stories mirrors and celebrates Black resilience. Though their finances, jobs, and businesses may be vulnerable to forces they cannot control, the neighbors in these stories bravely confront the realities of their lives, and firmly believe that hope is not a promise but a choice.


Click for more detail about Something Good by Vanessa Miller Something Good

by Vanessa Miller
Thomas Nelson (Mar 08, 2022)
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In Something Good, Vanessa Miller crafts a poignant and layered narrative that revolves around the lives of three women who find themselves interconnected by a life-changing accident. The story examines the complexities of guilt, forgiveness, and redemption in a world that often seems unforgiving.

Alexis Marshall, burdened by guilt for causing the accident that paralyzed Jon-Jon Robinson, finds herself at a moral crossroads. While her husband is eager to move on, Alexis is plagued by her conscience and a secret life that isn’t as perfect as it appears. The tension between doing the right thing and meeting her husband’s expectations becomes a central conflict in her life.

Trish Robinson, Jon-Jon’s mother, is battling to keep her family together after the devastating accident. Struggling with mounting bills and a husband consumed by anger, Trish turns to prayer for divine intervention. Her life takes an unexpected turn when Marquita Lewis arrives at her doorstep, carrying a baby and the potential for new beginnings.

Miller’s novel deftly handles intricate issues of morality, family, and faith, all set against the backdrop of modern dilemmas. Something Good explores how the most challenging moments can sometimes lead to growth and healing, especially when people choose to come together in spite of their differences.

Praise for Something Good:

“This real-to-life story doesn’t shy away from some hard issues of the modern world, but Miller is a master storyteller, who brings healing and redemption to her characters, and thus the reader, through the power of love and faith. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.” —Rachel Hauck, New York Times bestselling author


Click for more detail about Black Roses: Odes Celebrating Powerful Black Women by Harold Green III Black Roses: Odes Celebrating Powerful Black Women

by Harold Green III
Harper Design (Mar 08, 2022)
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The poet and founder of the music collective Flowers for the Living pays tribute to all Black women by focusing on visionaries and leaders who are making history right now, including Ava DuVernay, Janelle Monae, Kamala Harris, Misty Copeland, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Robin Roberts, Roxane Gay, and Simone Biles—with this compilation of celebratory odes featuring full-color illustrations by Melissa Koby.

Black women are exceptional. To honor how Black women use their minds, talent, passion, and power to transform society, Harold Green began writing love letters in verse which he shared on his Instagram account. Balm for our troubled times, his tributes to visionaries and leaders quickly went viral and became a social media sensation. Now, in this remarkable collection, Green brings together many of these popular odes with never-before-seen works.

A timely celebration of contemporary Black figures who are making history and shaping our culture today, Black Roses is divided into five sections—advocates, curators, innovators, luminaries, trailblazers—reflecting the diversity of Black women’s achievements and the depth of their reach. These inspiring changemakers are leaving their mark on the world by creating new beauty in their respective art forms, heading movements, fighting for equality and to change the status quo, and championing new definitions of what’s possible in every meaningful way. Green lifts them up to create meaningful connections between these figures and our own lives and experiences.

Black Roses spotlights and urges readers to learn more about Allyson Felix, Angelica Ross, Ava DuVernay, Bisa Butler, Bozoma Saint John, Charisma Sweat-Green, Dr. Eve Ewing, Dr. Janice Jackson, Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Eunique Jones-Gibson, Issa Rae, Janelle Monae, Jennifer Hudson, Jessica Matthews, Kamala Harris, Keisha Bottoms, Kimberly Bryant, Kimberly Drew, Lisa Green, Lizzo, Mandilyn Graham, Mellody Hobson, Michelle Alexander, Misty Copeland, Naomi Beckwith, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Rapsody, Raquel Willis, Robin Roberts, Roxane Gay, Shellye Archambeau, Simone Biles, Stacey Abrams, Tabitha Brown, Tamika Mallory, Tarana Burke, Tasha Bell, Tomi Adeyemi, and Tracee Ellis Ross.


Click for more detail about Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Walker Harvey Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas

by Jeanne Walker Harvey
HarperCollins (Feb 22, 2022)
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Celebrate the life-changing power of art in this inspiring and stunningly illustrated picture book biography of American artist Alma Thomas.

Meet an incredible woman who broke down barriers throughout her whole life and is now known as one of the most preeminent painters of the 20th century. Told from the point of view of young Alma Thomas, readers can follow along as she grows into her discovery of the life-changing power of art.

As a child in Georgia, Alma Thomas loved to spend time outside, soaking up the colors around her. And her parents filled their home with color and creativity despite the racial injustices they faced. After the family moved to Washington DC, Alma shared her passion for art by teaching children. When she was almost seventy years old, she focused on her own artwork, inspired by nature and space travel.

In this celebration of art and the power of imagination, Jeanne Walker Harvey and Loveis Wise tell the incredible true story of Alma Thomas, the first Black woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York City and to have her work chosen for the White House collection. With her bold and vibrant abstract paintings, Alma set the world ablaze with color.

Ablaze with Color includes extensive backmatter with photos, an author’s and illustrator’s note, a timeline, and a list of sources and resources, which will be a great tool for parents, educators, and librarians. Perfect for Women’s History Month and Black History Month units alongside such favorites as Malala’s Magic Pencil, Hidden Figures, and Mae Among the Stars.


Click for more detail about Nigel and the Moon by Antwan Eady Nigel and the Moon

by Antwan Eady
Katherine Tegen Books (Feb 15, 2022)
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From debut author Antwan Eady and artist Gracey Zhang comes a glowing tale about the young dreaming big. A perfect story to demonstrate how pride in where we come from can bring a shining confidence.

When Nigel looks up at the moon, his future is bright. He imagines himself as…an astronaut, a dancer, a superhero, too!

Among the stars, he twirls. With pride, his chest swells. And his eyes, they glow. Nigel is the most brilliant body in the sky.

But it’s Career Week at school, and Nigel can’t find the courage to share his dreams. It’s easy to whisper them to the moon, but not to his classmates—especially when he already feels out of place.

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year


Click for more detail about Own the Arena: Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One by Katrina M. Adams Own the Arena: Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One

by Katrina M. Adams
Amistad (Feb 08, 2022)
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From the former President and CEO of the United States Tennis Association—the first black woman and youngest person ever to hold the position—comes a behind-the-scenes look at the leadership skills involved in hosting the U.S. Open, the largest and most lucrative sports event in the world—lessons that can be applied across business and to any life challenge.

One of professional tennis’s Grand Slam Tournaments, the U.S. Open has been described as a fourteen-day Superbowl. This single tennis championship, held annually in New York City, attracts top professionals from around the globe, generates more money than any other sporting event—or any other sport over an entire season—and attracts more than 700,000 attendees and millions of television viewers.

In Own the Arena, Katrina Adams offers a privileged, singular inside look at this sensational global event, while elaborating on what makes tennis the only sport of a lifetime. She opens with the women’s 2018 championship match between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams that ended in boos. This was Adams’s last year as president and the whole world was watching. How would she respond? How should the press be handled? What needs to be said to Osaka? Serena? What does this break from decorum mean for the Open and the sport?

As Adams shares a wealth of stories from her career and personal life, as well as insights from top tennis professionals, she provides invaluable information on meeting life’s tests both on the tennis court and off. Own the Arena offers fresh perspectives on having presence, being remembered, directing a conversation, and moving boldly in spaces where "you are the only one." It also covers good sportsmanship—treating others with respect and by being inclusive and open to diverse perspectives. Tennis is said to be 90 percent mental; this book shows how to take the elements of mental fortitude and use them to achieve greatness. By embracing and expressing one’s inner grace and humanity, Adams shows, you can own the arena.


Click for more detail about 
The Great Mrs. Elias: A Novel Based on a True Story by Barbara Chase-Riboud The Great Mrs. Elias: A Novel Based on a True Story

by Barbara Chase-Riboud
Amistad (Feb 08, 2022)
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The author of the award-winning Sally Hemings now brings to life Hannah Elias, one of the richest black women in America in the early 1900s, in this mesmerizing novel swirling with atmosphere and steeped in history.

The death of her lover at the hands of an old paramour brings the police to Hannah Elias’ glitzy, five-story, twenty-room mansion on Central Park West. It is beginning of an odyssey that moves back and forth in time and reveals the dangerous secrets of a mysterious woman, the fortune she built, and her precipitous fall.

Born in Philadelphia in the late 1800s, light-skinned Hannah Elias has done things she’s not proud of to survive. Secretly married to a white man whom she divorces before relocating to New York, the ambitious woman dreams of becoming as rich as a robber baron. Passing as a Southern European, she quietly invests her alimony in the stock market, and begins to grow her fortune with the help of white businessmen. As the money pours in, Hannah hides her millions in two merchant banks, spreading it across 129 private accounts. Finally attaining the life she’s always dreamed, she buys a mansion on the Upper West Side and decorates it in Egyptian designs, gold, and fine d�cor, inspired by her idol, Cleopatra.

But her lover’s murder turns Hannah’s world upside down and threatens to destroy everything she’s built. When the truth of her racial identity is uncovered, thousands of protestors gather in front of her stately home. Hounded by the salacious press, the very private Mrs. Elias finds herself alone, ensnared in a scandalous trial, and accused of stealing her fortune from whites.

Packed with glamour, suspense, and drama, populated with real-life luminaries from the period, The Great Mrs. Elias brings a fascinating woman and the age she embodied to glorious, tragic life.


Click for more detail about God Is a Black Woman by Christena Cleveland God Is a Black Woman

by Christena Cleveland
HarperOne (Feb 08, 2022)
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In this timely, much-needed book, theologian, social psychologist, and activist Christena Cleveland recounts her personal journey to dismantle the cultural “whitemalegod” and uncover the Sacred Black Feminine, introducing a Black Female God who imbues us with hope, healing, and liberating presence.

For years, Christena Cleveland spoke about racial reconciliation to congregations, justice organizations, and colleges. But she increasingly felt she could no longer trust in the God she’d been implicitly taught to worship—a white male God who preferentially empowered white men despite his claim to love all people. A God who clearly did not relate to, advocate for, or affirm a Black woman like Christena.

Her crisis of faith sent her on an intellectual and spiritual journey through history and across France, on a 400-mile walking pilgrimage to the ancient shrines of Black Madonnas to find healing in the Sacred Black Feminine. God Is a Black Woman is the chronicle of her liberating transformation and a critique of a society shaped by white patriarchal Christianity and culture.

Christena reveals how America’s collective idea of God as a white man has perpetuated hurt, hopelessness, and racial and gender oppression. Integrating her powerful personal story, womanist ideology, as well as theological, historical, and social science research, she invites us to take seriously the truth that God is not white nor male and gives us a new and hopeful path for connecting with the divine and honoring the sacredness of all Black people.


Click for more detail about Black Girls Must Be Magic by Jayne Allen Black Girls Must Be Magic

by Jayne Allen
Harper Perennial (Feb 01, 2022)
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In this highly anticipated second installment in the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted series, Tabitha Walker copes with more of life’s challenges and a happy surprise—a baby—with a little help and lots of love from friends old and new.

For Tabitha Walker, her grandmother’s old adage, “Black girls must die exhausted” is becoming all too true. Discovering she’s pregnant—after she was told she may not be able to have biological children—Tabitha throws herself headfirst into the world of “single mothers by choice.” Between her job, doctor’s appointments, and preparing for the baby, she’s worn out. And that’s before her boss at the local news station starts getting complaints from viewers about Tabitha’s natural hair.

When an unexpected turn of events draws Marc—her on and off-again ex-boyfriend—back into her world with surprising demands, and the situation at work begins to threaten her livelihood and her identity, Tabitha must make some tough decisions about her and her baby’s future. It takes a village to raise a child, and Tabitha turns to the women who have always been there for her.

Bolstered by the fierce support of Ms. Gretchen, her grandmother’s best friend, the counsel of her closest friends Laila and Alexis, and the calming presence of her doula Andouele, Tabitha must find a way to navigate motherhood on her own terms. Will she harness the bravery, strength, and self-love she’ll need to keep “the village” together, find her voice at work, and settle things with Marc before the baby arrives?


Click for more detail about South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

by Imani Perry
Ecco (Jan 25, 2022)
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“An elegant meditation on the complexities of the American South—and thus of America—by an esteemed daughter of the South and one of the great intellectuals of our time. An inspiration.” —Isabel Wilkerson

An essential, surprising journey through the history, rituals, and landscapes of the American South—and a revelatory argument for why you must understand the South in order to understand America

We all think we know the South. Even those who have never lived there can rattle off a list of signifiers: the Civil War, Gone with the Wind, the Ku Klux Klan, plantations, football, Jim Crow, slavery. But the idiosyncrasies, dispositions, and habits of the region are stranger and more complex than much of the country tends to acknowledge. In South to America, Imani Perry shows that the meaning of American is inextricably linked with the South, and that our understanding of its history and culture is the key to understanding the nation as a whole.

This is the story of a Black woman and native Alabaman returning to the region she has always called home and considering it with fresh eyes. Her journey is full of detours, deep dives, and surprising encounters with places and people. She renders Southerners from all walks of life with sensitivity and honesty, sharing her thoughts about a troubling history and the ritual humiliations and joys that characterize so much of Southern life.

Weaving together stories of immigrant communities, contemporary artists, exploitative opportunists, enslaved peoples, unsung heroes, her own ancestors, and her lived experiences, Imani Perry crafts a tapestry unlike any other. With uncommon insight and breathtaking clarity, South to America offers an assertion that if we want to build a more humane future for the United States, we must center our concern below the Mason-Dixon Line.

“South to America marks time like Beloved did. Similarly, we will talk not solely of books about the south, but books generally as before or after South to America. I have known and loved the South for four decades and Imani Perry has shown me that there is so much more in our region’s fleshy folds to know, explore and love. It is simply the most finely crafted and rigorously conceived book about our region, and nation, I have ever read.” — Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

“In the tradition of native daughters and sons returning home and cataloging the journey, Imani Perry undertakes an exploration of and meditation on the many Souths that make up the American southland. Part pilgrimage, part elegy and clarion call, South to America is wide-ranging, associative and seamlessly woven—an ambitious sweep of history, culture, language. Perry’s intellect is capacious. Moving deftly between registers, she proves to be an insightful and compelling guide.&rdqquo; — Natasha Trethewey, author of Memorial Drive


Click for more detail about Oona and the Shark by Kelly DiPucchio Oona and the Shark

by Kelly DiPucchio
Katherine Tegen Books (Jan 11, 2022)
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The big sea’s littlest mischief-maker, Oona, is back in another delightful tale from New York Times bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio and illustrator Raissa Figueroa.

Oona loves to share her inventions with her friends. They’re big and bold and LOUD—just like her! But there’s one underwater creature who doesn’t seem to enjoy Oona’s company, or her creations.

Stanley the shark! He doesn’t care for her squeaky unicorn. And he’s far too busy for the Sea Horse Carousel. And oh GOODNESS! Oona’s latest hopping, chopping, and popping inventions just make him angry.

Oona may not know what Stanley likes, but she does know what he doesn’t. And maybe that’s a good place to start. Because mermaids never stop trying…not when there’s a friend out there to make.


Click for more detail about Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth by Alice Faye Duncan Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth

by Alice Faye Duncan
Thomas Nelson (Jan 11, 2022)
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The true story of Black activist Opal Lee and her vision of Juneteenth as a holiday for everyone celebrates Black joy and inspires children to see their dreams blossom. Growing up in Texas, Opal knew the history of Juneteenth, but she soon discovered that many Americans had never heard of the holiday that represents the nation’s creed of freedom for all.

Every year, Opal looked forward to the Juneteenth picnic—a drumming, dancing, delicious party. She knew from Granddaddy Zak’s stories that Juneteenth celebrated the day the freedom news of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation finally sailed into Texas in 1865—over two years after the president had declared it But Opal didn’t always see freedom in her Texas town. Then one Juneteenth day when Opal was twelve years old, an angry crowd burned down her brand-new home. This wasn’t freedom at all. She had to do something Opal Lee spent the rest of her life speaking up for equality and unity. She became a teacher, a charity worker, and a community leader. At the age of 89, she walked from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C., in an effort to gain national recognition for Juneteenth.

Through the story of Opal Lee’s determination and persistence, children ages 4 to 8 will learn:

  • all people are created equal
  • the power of bravery and using your voice for change
  • the history of Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, and what it means today
  • no one is free unless everyone is free
  • fighting for a dream is worth every difficulty

Featuring the illustrations of New York Times bestselling illustrator Keturah A. Bobo (I am Enough), Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free celebrates the life and legacy of a modern-day Black leader while sharing a message of hope, unity, joy, and strength.


Click for more detail about Who Are Your People? by Bakari Sellers Who Are Your People?

by Bakari Sellers
Quill Tree Books (Jan 11, 2022)
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This inspiring picture book by New York Times bestselling author Bakari Sellers is a tribute to the family and community that help make us who we are. Perfect for sharing and gifting. When you meet someone for the first time, they might ask, "Who are your people?" and "Where are you from?" Children are shaped by their ancestors, and this book celebrates the village it takes to raise a child. In the vein of I Am Enough and Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, this powerful picture book with beautiful illustrations by Reggie Brown is a joyful recognition of the people and places that help define young readers and adults alike. Don’t miss this picture book debut from Bakari Sellers, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller My Vanishing Country: A Memoir.


Click for more detail about Wahala by Nikki May Wahala

by Nikki May
Custom House (Jan 11, 2022)
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"Contemporary female friendship goes glam in this lively debut novel with remarkable depth." — Washington Post"Great fun and extremely smart." — npr.orgNAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2022 BY Vogue * Marie Claire * Glamour * Essence * Oprah Daily * Entertainment Weekly * Bustle * PopSugar * CrimeReads * and more! An incisive and exhilarating debut novel following three Anglo-Nigerian best friends and the lethally glamorous fourth woman who infiltrates their group—the most unforgettable girls since Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha.Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2. kids. She’s dating Kayode and wants him to be “the one” (perfect, like her dead father). Her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends.Boo has everything Ronke wants—a kind husband, gorgeous child. But she’s frustrated, unfulfilled, plagued by guilt, and desperate to remember who she used to be.Simi is the golden one with the perfect lifestyle. No one knows she’s crippled by impostor syndrome and tempted to pack it all in each time her boss mentions her “urban vibe.” Her husband thinks they’re trying for a baby. She’s not.When the high-flying, charismatic Isobel explodes into the group, it seems at first she’s bringing out the best in each woman. (She gets Simi an interview in Shanghai! Goes jogging with Boo!) But the more Isobel intervenes, the more chaos she sows, and Ronke, Simi, and Boo’s close friendship begins to crack.A sharp, modern take on friendship, ambition, culture, and betrayal, Wahala (trouble) is an unforgettable novel from a brilliant new voice.


Click for more detail about Brothers & Sisters: Family Poems by Eloise Greenfield Brothers & Sisters: Family Poems

by Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Jan 04, 2022)
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Celebrate the love of brothers and sisters everywhere with award-winning author Eloise Greenfield in this poignant collection of poems for and about families, illustrated by renowned artist Jan Spivey Gilchrist.

"These are the sweetest poems for kids and families of all kinds." —Charlotte Observer

Brothers and sisters can be dear, can be company, can bring cheer, can start arguments, can make noise, can cause tears, can break toys …

Still, I think no matter what, I’d rather have them than not.

This collection of 25 short poems about life with siblings—full, half, step, old and young, close in age and far apart—showcases the powerful and special bond between all brothers and sisters. With lyrical text and vibrant watercolor illustrations, Brothers & Sisters is the perfect way for the children in your family to share their love for each other.

"Everyone can relate to the poems’ affection, frustration, laughter, jealousy, and family pride, as well as the love that always shines through." —Booklist



Click for more detail about You Don’t Know Us Negroes And Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurston, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (editor), M. Genevieve West (editor) You Don’t Know Us Negroes And Other Essays

by Zora Neale Hurston, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (editor), M. Genevieve West (editor)
Amistad (Jan 04, 2022)
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Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive style as an archivist and author.

“One of the greatest writers of our time.”—Toni Morrison

One of the most acclaimed artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston was a gifted novelist, playwright, and essayist. Drawn from three decades of her work, this anthology showcases her development as a writer, from her early pieces expounding on the beauty and precision of African American art to some of her final published works, covering the sensational trial of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy Black woman convicted in 1952 for killing a white doctor. Among the selections are Hurston’s well-known works such as “How It Feels to be Colored Me” and “My Most Humiliating Jim Crow Experience.”

The essays in this essential collection are grouped thematically and cover a panoply of topics, including politics, race and gender, and folkloric study from the height of the Harlem Renaissance to the early years of the Civil Rights movement. Demonstrating the breadth of this revered and influential writer’s work, You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays is an invaluable chronicle of a writer’s development and a window into her world and time.


Click for more detail about Zora Neale Hurston Boxed Set by Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston Boxed Set

by Zora Neale Hurston
Amistad (Jan 04, 2022)
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“One of the greatest writers of our time.”—Toni Morrison

Available together for the first time in one specially designed boxed set, ten repackaged paperback editions of Zora Neale Hurston’s classic works—each featuring a striking cover envisioned by a star contemporary Black artist, including Charly Palmer, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and more.

Zora Neale Hurston’s work brilliantly captured the experience of American Black life in the early twentieth century and transformed the boundaries of modern literature. This boxed set features the best of her fiction and nonfiction in one extraordinary, giftable package.

Zora Neale Hurston Boxed Set includes:

Dust Tracks on a Road — an intimate and insightful memoir of Zora’s childhood in the rural South and her rise to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance

Jonah’s Gourd Vine — a novel about a young man who loves too many women

Mules and Men — an oral history of Black American folklore featuring sermons, songs, sayings, and tall tales since the days of enslavement

Tell My Horse — an insider look at the voodoo culture of Haiti and Jamaica of the 1930s

The Complete Stories — a collection of Zora’s most popular short fiction

Every Tongue Got to Confess — an anthology of folktales that recounts the voices of ordinary people and celebrates the richness of Black vernacular

Moses, Man of the Mountain — a compelling allegory of power, redemption, and faith that blends the Moses of the Old Testament with the Moses of black folklore and song

Seraph on the Suwanee — a novel examining a complicated marriage

Mule Bone — a three-act play written with Langston Hughes that explores life in a rural Southern black community

Their Eyes Were Watching God — the Southern love story that is the most highly acclaimed novel in the African-American literary canon

A tribute to one of our greatest writers and a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston Boxed Set is essential for devoted collectors of her writing, an opportunity for fans to rediscover her genius, and a rich wellspring for readers new to her canon.


Click for more detail about Ty’s Travels: Lab Magic by Kelly Starling Lyons Ty’s Travels: Lab Magic

by Kelly Starling Lyons
HarperCollins (Jan 04, 2022)
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A joyful Geisel Honor-winning series!

Join Ty on his imaginative adventures in Ty’s Travels: Lab Magic, a My First I Can Read book by acclaimed author and illustrator team Kelly Starling Lyons and Nina Mata. Science exploration, imagination, and play are highlighted in this fun story, perfect for sharing with children 3 to 6.

Ty and Corey love to visit the museum. When they step through the doors, they become scientists. They study bugs and hunt for fossils. They catch the wind. When Ty can’t participate in a lab activity because of his age, he uses his big imagination at home. Discovering new things is so much fun!

Join Ty on his science adventure in this My First I Can Read for beginning readers. With simple, rhythmic text and joyful, bright art, this My First I Can Read book, Guided Reading Level I, is perfect for shared reading with a child. Books at this level feature basic language, word repetition, and whimsical illustrations, ideal for sharing with emergent readers. The active, engaging stories have appealing plots and lovable characters, encouraging children to continue their reading journey.

Other acclaim for the Ty’s Travels series includes:

    A Chicago Public Library Best Fiction Book for Young ReadersTy’s Travels: All Aboard is a Here Wee Read Ultimate Diverse Children’s BookAuthor Kelly Starling Lyons has been selected as the 2021 Piedmont LaureateBoth an excellent book for guided reading and a winning read-aloud. —Kirkus (starred review)


Click for more detail about One True Loves by Elise Bryant One True Loves

by Elise Bryant
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Jan 04, 2022)
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From the author of Happily Ever Afters comes another irresistible YA romantic comedy full of self-discovery and Black love—and a dreamy European cruise. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon, Jenny Han, and Stephanie Perkins, with crossover appeal for readers of Jasmine Guillory and Talia Hibbert romances.

Lenore Bennett has always been a force. A star artist and style icon at her high school, she’s a master in the subtle art of not giving a … well, you know what. But now that graduation is here, she’s a little less sure.

She’s heading to NYU in the fall with a scarlet U (for “undeclared”) written across her chest. Her parents always remind her that Black kids don’t have the luxury of figuring it out as they go—they have to be 110 percent prepared. But it’s a lot of pressure to be her ancestors’ wildest dreams when Lenore’s not even sure what her dreams are yet.

When her family embarks on a post-graduation Mediterranean cruise, her friend Tessa is sure Lenore’s in for a whirlwind romance. But Lenore knows that doesn’t happen to girls like her.

Then she meets Alex Lee. After their parents bond over the Cupid Shuffle, she ends up stuck with him for the remainder of the cruise. He’s a hopeless romantic and a golden boy with a ten-year plan. In short, he’s irritating as hell.

But as they get to know each other during the picturesque stops across Europe, Alex may be able to help Lenore find something else she’s been looking for, even if she doesn’t want to admit it to herself: love.


Click for more detail about A Calm Chaos by Imani J. Walker A Calm Chaos

by Imani J. Walker
Amistad (Dec 28, 2021)
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In this moving memoir written with the poignancy and power of When Breath Becomes Air and The Year of Magical Thinking, the popular psychiatrist on Bravo’s successful Married to Medicine series reveals her struggle with depression and anxiety and how she ultimately found healing.

Born and raised in Harlem by an emotionally distant, depressive mother, Dr. Imani Walker struggled with depression and anxiety from childhood. Concerned for the plight of those less fortunate than her middle-class family, the sensitive, compassionate child noticed various homeless, destitute people who she encountered on the streets, noting that but for a few lucky breaks, they could be her own family members. This awareness and proximity to those living on the edge aroused in her a lifelong empathy for the mentally impaired.

Imani was close to her father, an addict who was rarely emotionally present and even closer to her immigrant grandmother whose own mental health caused many family tensions. It was years later when Dr. Walker looked back and realized her beloved grandmother was, in fact, bipolar.

A Calm Chaos is the emotionally raw and beautiful story of being raised in a family touched by mental illness. Dr. Walker uses her experience as a psychiatrist as a prism to see the painful truths of her childhood and how she learned to navigate this chaotic world the best way she knew how: using her wits and humor to diffuse tense situations. Her desire to better understand mental illness—to identify her mother’s issues, her father’s addiction, and her own confused feelings—led her to pursue a medical degree and to work in inner cities with the severely mentally ill. While helping others, Dr. Walker found the courage to address her own mental health issues, ultimately finding emotional balance.

A Calm Chaos is an intimate portrait of an African American psychiatrist who has dedicated her career to helping those in need—while trying to solve her greatest medical mystery: herself.


Click for more detail about Stacey’s Extraordinary Words by Stacey Abrams aka Selena Montgomery Stacey’s Extraordinary Words

by Stacey Abrams aka Selena Montgomery
Balzer + Bray (Dec 28, 2021)
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The debut picture book from iconic voting rights advocate and #1 New York Times bestselling author Stacey Abrams is an inspiring tale of determination, based on her own childhood.

Stacey is a little girl who loves words more than anything. She loves reading them, sounding them out, and finding comfort in them when things are hard.

But when her teacher chooses her to compete in the local spelling bee, she isn’t as excited as she thought she’d be. What if she messes up? Or worse, if she can’t bring herself to speak up, like sometimes happens when facing bullies at school?

Stacey will learn that win or lose … her words are powerful, and sometimes perseverance is the most important word of all.


Click for more detail about Blessed Mode: 90 Days to Level Up Your Faith by Kel Mitchell Blessed Mode: 90 Days to Level Up Your Faith

by Kel Mitchell
Thomas Nelson (Dec 14, 2021)
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No matter what you’re going through, one thing is certain: God is ready to bless you. Join Kel Mitchell—pastor, actor, and famed comedian of Kenan & Kel—on a 90-day challenge to receive God’s blessings and become a blessing to others.

Kel knows what it’s like to struggle through depression and addiction, but he also knows the power of God’s presence to help you find freedom and the blessings in your life. As a youth pastor, Kel is passionate about sharing his testimony of hope with the next generation, and he wants to share it with you too.

In Blessed Mode, Kel offers 90 powerful, practical devotions to help you:

  • find freedom in God’s life-changing presence.
  • experience God’s power through prayer.
  • recognize God’s many gifts in your life.
  • share the blessings you’ve received with others.

Get ready to level up your faith and celebrate the blessings God is giving you today.


Click for more detail about The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard The Rib King

by Ladee Hubbard
Amistad (Dec 07, 2021)
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"Ultimately the reason to read The Rib King is not its timeliness or its insight into politics or Black culture, but because it accomplishes what the best fiction sets out to do: It drops you into a world you could not otherwise visit and makes you care deeply about what happens there."—BookPage (starred review)

The acclaimed author of The Talented Ribkins deconstructs painful African American stereotypes and offers a fresh and searing critique on race, class, privilege, ambition, exploitation, and the seeds of rage in America in this intricately woven and masterfully executed historical novel, set in early the twentieth century that centers around the black servants of a down-on-its heels upper-class white family.

For fifteen years August Sitwell has worked for the Barclays, a well-to-do white family who plucked him from an orphan asylum and gave him a job. The groundskeeper is part of the household’s all-black staff, along with "Miss Mamie," the talented cook, pretty new maid Jennie Williams, and three young kitchen apprentices—the latest orphan boys Mr. Barclay has taken in to civilize boys like August.

But the Barclays fortunes have fallen, and their money is almost gone. When a prospective business associate proposes selling Miss Mamie’s delicious rib sauce to local markets under the brand name "The Rib King"—using a caricature of a wildly grinning August on the label—Mr. Barclay, desperate for cash, agrees. Yet neither Miss Mamie nor August will see a dime. Humiliated, August grows increasingly distraught, his anger building to a rage that explodes in shocking tragedy.

Elegantly written and exhaustively researched, The Rib King is an unsparing examination of America’s fascination with black iconography and exploitation that redefines African American stereotypes in literature. In this powerful, disturbing, and timely novel, Ladee Hubbard reveals who people actually are, and most importantly, who and what they are not.


Click for more detail about Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy by Gayle Jessup White Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy

by Gayle Jessup White
Amistad (Nov 16, 2021)
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A Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings’ family explores America’s racial reckoning through the prism of her ancestors—both the enslaver and the enslaved.

Gayle Jessup White had long heard the stories passed down from her father’s family, that they were direct descendants of Thomas Jefferson—lore she firmly believed, though others did not. For four decades the acclaimed journalist and genealogy enthusiast researched her connection to Thomas Jefferson, to confirm its truth once and for all.

After she was named a Jefferson Studies Fellow, Jessup White discovered her family lore was correct. Poring through photos and documents and pursuing DNA evidence, she learned that not only was she a descendant of Jefferson on his father’s side; she was also the great-great-great-granddaughter of Peter Hemings, Sally Hemings’s brother.

In Reclamation she chronicles her remarkable journey to definitively understand her heritage and reclaim it, and offers a compelling portrait of what it means to be a black woman in America, to pursue the American dream, to reconcile the legacy of racism, and to ensure the nation lives up to the ideals advocated by her legendary ancestor.


Click for more detail about The Teller of Secrets by Bisi Adjapon The Teller of Secrets

by Bisi Adjapon
HarperVia (Nov 16, 2021)
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In this stunning debut novel—a tale of self-discovery and feminist awakening—a feisty Nigerian-Ghanaian girl growing up amid the political upheaval of late 1960s postcolonial Ghana begins to question the hypocrisy of her patriarchal society, and the restrictions and unrealistic expectations placed on women.

Young Esi Agyekum is the unofficial "secret keeper" of her family, as tight-lipped about her father’s adultery as she is about her half-sisters’ sex lives. But after she is humiliated and punished for her own sexual exploration, Esi begins to question why women’s secrets and men’s secrets bear different consequences. It is the beginning of a journey of discovery that will lead her to unexpected places.

As she navigates her burgeoning womanhood, Esi tries to reconcile her own ideals and dreams with her family’s complicated past and troubled present, as well as society’s many double standards that limit her and other women. Against a fraught political climate, Esi fights to carve out her own identity, and learns to manifest her power in surprising and inspiring ways.

Funny, fresh, and fiercely original, The Teller of Secrets marks the American debut of one of West Africa’s most exciting literary talents.

Originally published as, Of Women and Frogs


Click for more detail about Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic by Kenya Hunt Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic

by Kenya Hunt
Amistad (Nov 09, 2021)
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A People Pick!

"One of the year’s must-reads." -ELLE

"[A] provocative, heart-breaking, and frequently hilarious collection." -GLAMOUR

"Essential, vital, and urgent." -HARPER’S BAZAAR

In the vein of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist and Issa Rae’s The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, but wholly its own, a provocative, humorous, and, at times, heartbreaking collection of essays on what it means to be black, a woman, a mother, and a global citizen in today’s ever-changing world.

Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated than they are now. But for every new milestone, every magazine cover, every box office record smashed, every new face elected to public office, the reality of everyday life for black women remains a complex, conflicted, contradiction-laden experience.

An American journalist who has been living and working in London for a decade, Kenya Hunt has made a career of distilling moments, movements, and cultural moods into words. Her work takes the difficult and the indefinable and makes it accessible; it is razor sharp cultural observation threaded through evocative and relatable stories.

Girl Gurl Grrrl both illuminates our current cultural moment and transcends it. Hunt captures the zeitgeist while also creating a timeless celebration of womanhood, of blackness, and the possibilities they both contain. She blends the popular and the personal, the frivolous and the momentous in a collection that truly reflects what it is to be living and thriving as a black woman today.


Click for more detail about The Chaneysville Incident: A Novel by David Bradley The Chaneysville Incident: A Novel

by David Bradley
Harper Perennial (Nov 02, 2021)
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Returning to his home town in Pennsylvania to bury his outcast, and supposedly illiterate, father, historian John Washington discovers a library of unmarked journals left for him. In them he discovers a history of slavery and his forebears’ part in the resistance movement.


Click for more detail about Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk about Racism—And How to Do It by Celeste Headlee Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk about Racism—And How to Do It

by Celeste Headlee
Harper (Nov 02, 2021)
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Why Everybody Needs to Talk About Racism—and How to Do It In this urgently needed guide, the PBS host, award-winning journalist, and author of We Need to Talk teaches us how to have productive conversations about race, offering insights, advice, and support.

A self-described “light-skinned Black Jew,” Celeste Headlee has been forced to speak about race—including having to defend or define her own—since childhood. In her career as a journalist for public media, she’s made it a priority to talk about race proactively. She’s discovered, however, that those exchanges have rarely been productive. While many people say they want to talk about race, the reality is, they want to talk about race with people who agree with them. The subject makes us uncomfortable; it’s often not considered polite or appropriate. To avoid these painful discussions, we stay in our bubbles, reinforcing our own sense of righteousness as well as our division.

Yet we gain nothing by not engaging with those we disagree with; empathy does not develop in a vacuum and racism won’t just fade away. If we are to effect meaningful change as a society, Headlee argues, we have to be able to talk about what that change looks like without fear of losing friends and jobs, or being ostracized. In Speaking of Race, Headlee draws from her experiences as a journalist, and the latest research on bias, communication, and neuroscience to provide practical advice and insight for talking about race that will facilitate better conversations that can actually bring us closer together.

This is the book for people who have tried to debate and educate and argue and got nowhere; it is the book for those who have stopped talking to a neighbor or dread Thanksgiving dinner. It is an essential and timely book for all of us.


Click for more detail about All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris All Her Little Secrets

by Wanda M. Morris
William Morrow (Nov 02, 2021)
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"All Her Little Secrets is a brilliantly nuanced but powerhouse exploration of race, the legal system, and the crushing pressure of keeping secrets. Morris brings a vibrant and welcome new voice to the thriller space." —Karin Slaughter, New York Times and international bestselling author

In this fast-paced thriller, Wanda M. Morris crafts a twisty mystery about a black lawyer who gets caught in a dangerous conspiracy after the sudden death of her boss … A debut perfect for fans of Attica Locke, Alyssa Cole, Harlan Coben, and Celeste Ng, with shades of How to Get Away with Murder and John Grisham’s The Firm.

Everyone has something to hide…

Ellice Littlejohn seemingly has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job as a corporate attorney in midtown Atlanta, great friends, and a "for fun" relationship with a rich, charming executive, who just happens to be her white boss. But everything changes one cold January morning when Ellice arrives in the executive suite and finds him dead with a gunshot to his head.

And then she walks away like nothing has happened. Why? Ellice has been keeping a cache of dark secrets, including a small-town past and a kid brother who’s spent time on the other side of the law. She can’t be thrust into the spotlight—again.

But instead of grieving this tragedy, people are gossiping, the police are getting suspicious, and Ellice, the company’s lone black attorney, is promoted to replace her boss. While the opportunity is a dream-come-true, Ellice just can’t shake the feeling that something is off.

When she uncovers shady dealings inside the company, Ellice is trapped in an impossible ethical and moral dilemma. Suddenly, Ellice’s past and present lives collide as she launches into a pulse-pounding race to protect the brother she tried to save years ago and stop a conspiracy far more sinister than she could have ever imagined…


Click for more detail about Life, I Swear: Intimate Stories from Black Women on Identity, Healing, and Self-Trust by Chloe Dulce Louvouezo Life, I Swear: Intimate Stories from Black Women on Identity, Healing, and Self-Trust

by Chloe Dulce Louvouezo
Harper Design (Nov 02, 2021)
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Foreword by Elaine Welteroth

In this stunningly illustrated essay collection inspired by the popular podcast Life, I Swear, prominent Black women reflect on self-love and healing, sharing stories of the trials and tribulations they’ve faced and what has helped them confront pain, heal wounds, and find connection.

With essays by

  • Eniafebiafe Isis Adewale,
  • Lauren Ash,
  • Gabrielle Williams,
  • Lindsey Farrar,
  • Nneke Julia,
  • Elaine Welteroth,
  • Meryanne Loum-Martin,
  • Lili Lopez,
  • Deun Ivory,
  • Morgan Ashley,
  • Dydine Umunyana,
  • Adriana Parrish,
  • Orixa Jones,
  • Offeibea Obubah,
  • Alex Elle,
  • Kalkidan Gebreyohannes,
  • Esther Boykin,
  • Brooke Hall,
  • Qimmah Saafir,
  • Josefina H. Sanders,
  • Julee Wilson,
  • Shay Jiles, and
  • Danasia Fantastic

A mixture of poignant essays, gorgeous photography, and sophisticated design elements, Life, I Swear is a chronicle of transformation and growth by and for modern-day Black women. Some of today’s most influential Black female voices chronicle their private journeys, offering testimonies of living through pain and joy with raw honesty and unapologetic self-love.

In each episode of her podcast, Life, I Swear, emotive storyteller Chloe Dulce Louvouezo explores the nuances of our diverse experiences. In one-on-one interviews and personal prose, the podcast centers on personal stories that offer universal insights into topics relevant to modern women’s lives, from identity and family to trauma and motherhood, told through the lens of Black women. A catalyst for change, this revelatory book builds on the premise of the podcast by diving deeper into themes of mental health, identity and resilience. Life, I Swear is sure to spark lively, thought-provoking, and necessary conversations that encourage Black women to return home to themselves through self-examination and grace.

Life, I Swear features 100-125 full-color photographs throughout.

Image from Life, I Swear


Click for more detail about As the Wicked Watch: The First Jordan Manning Novel by Tamron Hall As the Wicked Watch: The First Jordan Manning Novel

by Tamron Hall
William Morrow (Oct 26, 2021)
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With over 20 years of journalism experience, years spent reporting on crime and tragedies across the country, and her own personal experiences, Emmy® Award-winning talk show host Tamron Hall is in the perfect position to launch this exciting new series.

When crime reporter Jordan Manning leaves her hometown in Texas to take a job at a television station in Chicago, she’s one step closer to her a dream: a coveted anchor chair on a national network.

Jordan is smart and aggressive, with unabashed star-power, and often the only woman of color in the newsroom. Her signature? Arriving first on the scene—in impractical designer stilettos. Armed with a master’s degree in forensic science and impeccable instincts, Jordan has thus far been able to balance her dueling motivations: breaking every big story—and giving voice to the voiceless.

From her time reporting in Texas, she’s sure she has covered the vilest of human behaviors, but nothing has prepared her for Chicago. You see, Jordan is that rare breed of journalist who can navigate a crime scene as well as she can a newsroom—often noticing what others tend to miss. Again and again, she is called to cover the murders of Black women, many of them sexually assaulted, most brutalized, and all of them quickly forgotten.

All until Masey James—the story that Jordan just can’t shake, try as she might. A 15-year-old girl whose body was found in an abandoned lot, Masey has come to represent for Jordan all of the frustration that her job—with its required distance—often forces her to repress. Putting the rest of her workload and her (fraying) personal life aside, Jordan does everything she can to give the story the coverage it desperately requires, and that a missing Black child would so rarely get.

There’s a serial killer on the loose, Jordan believes, and he’s hiding in plain sight.


Click for more detail about Keeping It Real by Paula Chase Keeping It Real

by Paula Chase
Greenwillow Books (Oct 19, 2021)
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Marigold Johnson is looking forward to a future full of family, friends, and fashion—but what will she do when it all explodes in her face? When she discovers that her entire life is a lie?

Paula Chase, the author of So Done, Dough Boys and Turning Point, explores betrayal, conformity, and forgiveness—and what it means to be family—in this stand-alone novel perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Rebecca Stead, and Renée Watson.

Marigold Johnson can’t wait to attend a special program at her family’s business, Flexx Unlimited, for teens who love fashion. But Mari quickly realizes that she’s out of place compared to the three other trainees—and one girl, Kara, seems to hate her on sight.

As tension builds and the stakes at the program get higher, Mari uncovers exactly why Kara’s been so spiteful. She also discovers some hard truths about herself and her family.

Paula Chase explores complex themes centering on friendships, family, and what it means to conform to fit in. Keeping It Real is also a powerful exploration of what happens when parents pick and choose what they shield their children from. Timely and memorable, Paula Chase’s character-driven story touches on creativity, art, fashion, and music. A great choice for the upper middle grade audience.


Click for more detail about Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography by Donald Bogle Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography

by Donald Bogle
Amistad (Oct 12, 2021)
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Available once again, the definitive biography of the pioneering Black performer—the first nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award—who broke new ground in Hollywood and helped transform American society in the years before Civil Rights movement—a remarkable woman of her time who also transcended it.

"An ambitious, rigorously researched account of the long-ignored film star and chanteuse… . Bogle has fashioned a resonant history of a bygone era in Hollywood and passionately documented the contribution of one of its most dazzling and complex performers.—New York Times Book Review

In the segregated world of 1950s America, few celebrities were as talented, beautiful, glamorous, and ultimately influential as Dorothy Dandridge. Universally admired, she was Hollywood’s first full-fledged Black movie star. Film historian Donald Bogle offers a panoramic portrait of Dorothy Dandridge’s extraordinary and ultimately tragic life and career, from her early years as a child performer in Cleveland, to her rise as a nightclub headliner and movie star, to her heartbreaking death at 42.

Bogle reveals how this exceptionally talented and intensely ambitious entertainer broke down racial barriers by integrating some of America’s hottest nightclubs and broke through Tinseltown’s glass ceiling. Along with her smash appearances at venues such as Harlem’s famed Cotton Club, Dorothy starred in numerous films, making history with her role in Otto Preminger’s Carmen Jones, playing opposite Harry Belafonte. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress—the first Oscar nod for a woman of color.

But Dorothy’s wealth, fame, and success masked a reality fraught with contradiction and illusion. Struggling to find good roles professionally, uncomfortable with her image as a sex goddess, coping with the aftermath of two unhappy marriages and a string of unfulfilling affairs, and overwhelmed with guilt for her disabled daughter, Dorothy found herself emotionally and financially bankrupt—despair that ended in her untimely death.

Woven from extensive research and unique interviews, as magnetic as the woman at its heart, Dorothy Dandridge captures this dazzling entertainer in all her complexity: her strength and vulnerability, her joy and her pain, her trials and her triumphs.


Click for more detail about Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist by Sesali Bowen Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist

by Sesali Bowen
Amistad (Oct 05, 2021)
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From funny and fearless entertainment journalist Sesali Bowen, Bad Fat Black Girl combines rule-breaking feminist theory, witty and insightful personal memoir, and cutting cultural analysis for an unforgettable, genre-defining debut.

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love.

Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism and hip-hop intersect.

Bad Fat Black Girl offers a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bowen interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop. In the process, she continues a Black feminist legacy of unmatched sheer determination and creative resilience.

Bad bitches: this one’s for you.

732


Click for more detail about The Between by Tananarive Due The Between

by Tananarive Due
Harper Perennial (Oct 05, 2021)
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Photo Original 1995 1st Edition Cover of The BetweenAward-winning author and Black Horror scholar Tananarive Due’s 1995 debut novel, The Between is reissued with a new foreword by the author as well as, for the first time ever, in digital audio.

We’re in the midst of a Black Horror renaissance. We have Jordan Peele, Colson Whitehead, and Victor LaValle all producing the masterpieces of our time. But let’s not forget who it all started—Tananarive Due is the queen of Black Horror. Writing dozens of mesmerizing novels, teaching Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA, and even producing the groundbreaking documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror—Due has been a leading voice for more than 20 years. And now, her hauntingly thrilling 1995 debut novel The Between has been reissued.

Due, a leading voice in Black speculative fiction, is an executive producer on Shudder’s groundbreaking documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror and developed a course at UCLA called “The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and The Black Horror Aesthetic” after the release of Jordan Peele’s Get Out. This reissue, like Due’s overarching work, comes at a time when Black-centered speculative fiction is reinventing how we understand traditional genres.

The Between follows the story of Hilton, a young boy who discovers his grandmother’s cold, dead body lying on the kitchen floor. When he returns with help, she’s alive but something just isn’t the same. The story picks up thirty years in the future—Hilton is married with kids and running a successful rehab center. But when his wife, a newly elected judge, receives racially charged threats, Hilton’s perfect life starts to flip upside down. Hilton’s nightmares return. He’s barely getting any sleep, his memories are fading, his relationships begin to fall apart. The line between reality and nightmares blurs…and Hilton’s mind begins to unravel.

In The Between, the reader is left to decipher how much of Hilton’s nightmares are real and how much of it is just a dream. As Hilton is faced with isolation, confusion and madness, the reader questions—what does this all have to do with Hilton’s formative years raised by his grandmother?

Due deftly creates a layered narrative, one that’ll have the reader questioning who and what to believe. And although this novel was originally published more than 25 years ago, her exploration of themes of racial and social injustices, family tensions, and grief still ring true today.


Click for more detail about 
Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre  by Brandy Colbert Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

by Brandy Colbert
Balzer + Bray (Oct 05, 2021)
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A searing new work of nonfiction from award-winning author Brandy Colbert about the history and legacy of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre.

In the early morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob marched across the train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and into its predominantly Black Greenwood District—a thriving, affluent neighborhood known as America’s Black Wall Street. They brought with them firearms, gasoline, and explosives. In a few short hours, they’d razed thirty-five square blocks to the ground, leaving hundreds dead. The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in US history. But how did it come to pass? What exactly happened? And why are the events unknown to so many of us today?

These are the questions that award-winning author Brandy Colbert seeks to answer in this unflinching nonfiction account of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In examining the tension that was brought to a boil by many factors—white resentment of Black economic and political advancement, the resurgence of white supremacist groups, the tone and perspective of the media, and more—a portrait is drawn of an event singular in its devastation, but not in its kind. It is part of a legacy of white violence that can be traced from our country’s earliest days through Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement in the mid–twentieth century, and the fight for justice and accountability Black Americans still face today.

The Tulsa Race Massacre has long failed to fit into the story Americans like to tell themselves about the history of their country. This book, ambitious and intimate in turn, explores the ways in which the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre is the story of America—and by showing us who we are, points to a way forward.


Click for more detail about Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation

by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
Greenwillow Books (Oct 05, 2021)
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Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney present a poignant, blues-infused tribute to the men and women of the Montgomery bus boycott, who refused to give up until they got justice. Color and movement are vibrant components in this extraordinary book about Rosa Parks’s efforts to take down Jim Crow. (School Library Journal starred review)

Rosa Parks took a stand by keeping her seat on the bus. When she was arrested for it, her supporters protested by refusing to ride. Soon a community of thousands was coming together to help one another get where they needed to go. Some started taxis, some rode bikes, but they all walked and walked.

With dogged feet. With dog-tired feet. With boycott feet. With boycott blues.

And, after 382 days of walking, they walked Jim Crow right out of town… .

This story begins with shoes.
This story is all for true.
This story walks. And walks. And walks.
To the blues.

The moving poetry and the art, with thick, swirling ink lines on bright washes in red, blue, purple, and green, express the dramatic confrontations and the inspiring history. Great for reading aloud. (Booklist starred review)


Click for more detail about The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from the New Yorker by William Jelani Cobb and David Remnick The Matter of Black Lives: Writing from the New Yorker

by William Jelani Cobb and David Remnick
Ecco (Sep 28, 2021)
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A collection of The New Yorker’s groundbreaking writing on race in America—including work by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Hilton Als, Zadie Smith, and more—with a foreword by Jelani Cobb

This anthology from the pages of the New Yorker provides a bold and complex portrait of Black life in America, told through stories of private triumphs and national tragedies, political vision and artistic inspiration. It reaches back across a century, with Rebecca West’s classic account of a 1947 lynching trial and James Baldwin’s “Letter from a Region in My Mind” (which later formed the basis of The Fire Next Time), and yet it also explores our current moment, from the classroom to the prison cell and the upheavals of what Jelani Cobb calls "the American Spring." Bringing together reporting, profiles, memoir, and criticism from writers such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elizabeth Alexander, Hilton Als, Vinson Cunningham, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Malcolm Gladwell, Jamaica Kincaid, Kelefa Sanneh, Doreen St. Feix, and others, the collection offers startling insights about this country’s relationship with race. The Matter of Black Lives reveals the weight of a singular history, and challenges us to envision the future anew.



Click for more detail about Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen Black Girls Must Die Exhausted

by Jayne Allen
Harper (Sep 28, 2021)
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Read Jayne’s Inspiration for Black Girls Must Die Exhausted


Black Girls Must Die Exhausted is the first of three acclaimed novels previously self-published. This wildly commended series explores modern womanhood, in which a young Black woman must rely on courage, laughter, and love—and the support of her two longtime friends—to overcome an unexpected setback that turns her entire world upside down.

This incredible novel explores universal themes with an honest and emotional accessibility that will leave readers aching in its wake. With strong, relatable female characters, incredibly entertaining writing, and a story that will pull on all the heartstrings, readers will be craving book two long before the last page.

Tabitha Walker is a Black woman with a plan to “have it all.” At 33 years old, the checklist for the life of her dreams is well underway. Education? Check. Good job? Check. Down payment for a nice house? Check. Dating marriage material? Check, check, and check. With a coveted position as a local news reporter, a "paper-perfect" boyfriend, and even a standing Saturday morning appointment with a reliable hairstylist, everything seems to be falling into place.

Then Tabby receives an unexpected diagnosis that brings her picture-perfect life crashing down, jeopardizing the keystone she took for granted: having children. With her dreams at risk of falling through the cracks of her checklist, suddenly she is faced with an impossible choice between her career, her dream home, and a family of her own.

With the help of her best friends, the irreverent and headstrong Laila and Alexis, the mom jeans-wearing former “Sexy Lexi,” and the generational wisdom of her grandmother and the nonagenarian firebrand Ms. Gretchen, Tabby explores the reaches of modern medicine and tests the limits of her relationships, hoping to salvage the future she always dreamed of. But the fight is all consuming, demanding a steep price that forces an honest reckoning for nearly everyone in her life. As Tabby soon learns, her grandmother’s age-old adage just might still be true: Black girls must die exhausted.


Click for more detail about Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business): Finding Our Way to Joy, Love, and Freedom by Tabitha Brown Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business): Finding Our Way to Joy, Love, and Freedom

by Tabitha Brown
William Morrow (Sep 28, 2021)
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

You are seen, you are loved, and you are heard!

Before Tabitha Brown was one of the most popular personalities in the world, sharing her delicious vegan home cooking and compassionate wisdom with millions of followers across social media, she was an aspiring actress who in 2016 began struggling with undiagnosed chronic autoimmune pain. Her condition made her believe she wouldn’t live to see forty—until she started listening to what her soul and her body truly needed. Now, in this life-changing book, Tabitha shares the wisdom she gained from her own journey, showing readers how to make a life for themselves that is rooted in nonjudgmental kindness and love, both for themselves and for others.

Tabitha grounds her lessons in stories about her own life, career, faith, and family in this funny, down-to-earth book, built around the catchphrases that her fans know and love, including:

Hello There!: Why hope, joy, and clarity are so very needed

That’s Your Business: Defining yourself, and being okay with that

Have the Most Amazing Day …: Choosing joy and living with intention

But Don’t Go Messin’ Up No One Else’s: Learning to walk in kindness even when the world doesn’t feel kind

Like So, Like That: Living life without measurement

Very Good: Living in peace and creating good from the bad

Rich with personal stories and inspirational quotes, and sprinkled with a few easy vegan recipes, Feeding the Soul is a book to share—and to return to when you want to feel seen, loved, and heard.


Click for more detail about The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi The People Remember

by Ibi Zoboi
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Sep 28, 2021)
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From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ibi Zoboi comes her debut picture book—a tour de force that uses the principles of Kwanzaa to talk about the history of African Americans. This lyrical, powerful tribute is sumptuously illustrated by New Yorker artist and rising star Loveis Wise. A beautiful gift for readers of all ages and for fans of Kadir Nelson’s Heart and Soul.

The People Remember tells the journey of African descendants in America by connecting their history to the seven principles of Kwanzaa. It begins in Africa, where people were taken from their homes and families. They spoke different languages and had different customs.

Yet they were bound and chained together and forced onto ships sailing into an unknown future. Ultimately, all these people had to learn one common language and create a culture that combined their memories of home with new traditions that enabled them to thrive in this new land.

Sumptuously illustrated, this is an important book to read as a family—a story young readers can visit over and over again to deepen their understanding of African American history in relation to their own lives and current social justice movements. By turns powerful and revealing, this is a lyrical narrative that tells the story of survival, as well as the many moments of joy, celebration, and innovation of Black people in America.


Click for more detail about Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter

by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
Amistad (Sep 21, 2021)
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

For the first time, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson opens up about his amazing comeback—from tragic personal loss to thriving businessman and cable’s highest-paid executive—in this unique self-help guide, his first since his blockbuster New York Times bestseller The 50th Law.

In his early twenties Curtis Jackson, known as 50 Cent rose to the heights of fame and power in the cutthroat music business. A decade ago the multi-platinum selling rap artist decided to pivot. His ability to adapt to change was demonstrated when he became the executive producer and star of Power, a high-octane, gripping crime drama centered around a drug kingpin’s family. The series quickly became “appointment” television, leading to Jackson inking a four-year, $150 million contract with the Starz network—the most lucrative deal in premium cable history.

Now, in his most personal book, Jackson shakes up the self-help category with his unique, cutting-edge lessons and hard-earned advice on embracing change. Where The 50th Law tells readers “fear nothing and you shall succeed,” Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter builds on this message, combining it with Jackson’s street smarts and hard-learned corporate savvy to help readers successfully achieve their own comeback—and to learn to flow with the changes that disrupt their own lives.


Click for more detail about Looking for a Jumbie by Tracey Baptiste Looking for a Jumbie

by Tracey Baptiste
Balzer + Bray (Sep 21, 2021)
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Click for more detail about Battle Cry: Waging and Winning the War Within by Jason Wilson Battle Cry: Waging and Winning the War Within

by Jason Wilson
Thomas Nelson (Sep 21, 2021)
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In a culture that tells men to suppress instead of express, join author, speaker, and leader Jason Wilson as he calls us to unlearn society’s definition of masculinity and discover the power of engaging with our emotions.

For decades, Jason was losing the war within—the internal battle that many men wage on a daily basis. He struggled to combat his toxic thoughts and emotions, communicating without composure, and ultimately hurting himself and his loved ones.

When Jason began to release years of unresolved trauma, he learned how to acknowledge his emotions and express them in a healthy way. He discovered that he was strengthened by transparency and vulnerability, which taught him to forgive, trust, and love without limitations.

Soon, Jason’s newfound practices began to heal his relationships and transform his life. Throughout his journey of opening up, Jason became a better husband, father, and leader—and you can, too.

Supported by Biblical teachings, the lessons that Jason shares in Battle Cry teach us that we can all be empowered to break through what we’ve been through. Jason calls us to become better versions of ourselves, equipping us with the mental and spiritual weapons needed to redefine modern masculinity and showing us how to:

  • embrace our emotions rather than be ruled by them
  • win internal battles before they become external wars
  • break free from misconstrued masculinity and embrace our humanity
  • communicate more effectively with the people in our lives
  • heal trauma from our past in order to live our fullest lives in the present

Battle Cry proves that it’s possible to live beyond the limitations of your mind and finally experience the full life you’ve always longed for. What are you waiting for? It’s time to win the war within.



Click for more detail about Make Good the Promises: Reclaiming Reconstruction and Its Legacies by Kinshasha Holman Conwill and Paul Gardullo Make Good the Promises: Reclaiming Reconstruction and Its Legacies

by Kinshasha Holman Conwill and Paul Gardullo
Amistad (Sep 14, 2021)
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The companion volume to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture exhibit, opening in September 2021

With a Foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Eric Foner and a preface by veteran museum director and historian Spencer Crew

An incisive and illuminating analysis of the enduring legacy of the post-Civil War period known as Reconstruction—a comprehensive story of Black Americans’ struggle for human rights and dignity and the failure of the nation to fulfill its promises of freedom, citizenship, and justice.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, millions of free and newly freed African Americans were determined to define themselves as equal citizens in a country without slavery—to own land, build secure families, and educate themselves and their children. Seeking to secure safety and justice, they successfully campaigned for civil and political rights, including the right to vote. Across an expanding America, Black politicians were elected to all levels of government, from city halls to state capitals to Washington, DC.

But those gains were short-lived. By the mid-1870s, the federal government stopped enforcing civil rights laws, allowing white supremacists to use suppression and violence to regain power in the Southern states. Black men, women, and children suffered racial terror, segregation, and discrimination that confined them to second-class citizenship, a system known as Jim Crow that endured for decades.

More than a century has passed since the revolutionary political, social, and economic movement known as Reconstruction, yet its profound consequences reverberate in our lives today. Make Good the Promises explores five distinct yet intertwined legacies of Reconstruction—Liberation, Violence, Repair, Place, and Belief—to reveal their lasting impact on modern society. It is the story of Frederick Douglass, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Hiram Revels, Ida B. Wells, and scores of other Black men and women who reshaped a nation—and of the persistence of white supremacy and the perpetuation of the injustices of slavery continued by other means and codified in state and federal laws.

With contributions by leading scholars, and illustrated with 80 images from the exhibition, Make Good the Promises shows how Black Lives Matter, #SayHerName, antiracism, and other current movements for repair find inspiration from the lessons of Reconstruction. It touches on questions critical then and now: What is the meaning of freedom and equality? What does it mean to be an American? Powerful and eye-opening, it is a reminder that history is far from past; it lives within each of us and shapes our world and who we are.


Click for more detail about The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America by Ellis Cose The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America

by Ellis Cose
Amistad (Sep 14, 2021)
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Named one of Newsweek’s 25 Must-Read Fall Fiction and Nonfiction Books to Escape the Chaos of 2020

The critically acclaimed journalist and bestselling author of The Rage of a Privileged Class explores one of the most essential rights in America—free speech—and reveals how it is crumbling under the combined weight of polarization, technology, money and systematized lying in this concise yet powerful and timely book.

Free speech has long been one of American’s most revered freedoms. Yet now, more than ever, free speech is reshaping America’s social and political landscape even as it is coming under attack. Bestselling author and critically acclaimed journalist Ellis Cose wades into the debate to reveal how this Constitutional right has been coopted by the wealthy and politically corrupt.

It is no coincidence that historically huge disparities in income have occurred at times when moneyed interests increasingly control political dialogue. Over the past four years, Donald Trump’s accusations of "fake news," the free use of negative language against minority groups, "cancel culture," and blatant xenophobia have caused Americans to question how far First Amendment protections can—and should—go.

Cose offers an eye-opening wholly original examination of the state of free speech in America today, litigating ideas that touch on every American’s life. Social media meant to bring us closer, has become a widespread disseminator of false information keeping people of differing opinions and political parties at odds. The nation—and world—watches in shock as white nationalism rises, race and gender-based violence spreads, and voter suppression widens. The problem, Cose makes clear, is that ordinary individuals have virtually no voice at all. He looks at the danger of hyper-partisanship and how the discriminatory structures that determine representation in the Senate and the electoral college threaten the very concept of democracy. He argues that the safeguards built into the Constitution to protect free speech and democracy have instead become instruments of suppression by an unfairly empowered political minority.

But we can take our rights back, he reminds us. Analyzing the experiences of other countries, weaving landmark court cases together with a critical look at contemporary applications, and invoking the lessons of history, including the Great Migration, Cose sheds much-needed light on this cornerstone of American culture and offers a clarion call for activism and change.


Click for more detail about White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson White Smoke

by Tiffany D. Jackson
Katherine Tegen Books (Sep 14, 2021)
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The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson!

Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its … secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.

But "running from ghosts" is just a metaphor, right?

As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks.


Click for more detail about Turning Point (Paperback) by Paula Chase Turning Point (Paperback)

by Paula Chase
Greenwillow Books (Sep 14, 2021)
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When being yourself isn’t good enough, who should you be?

Told in dual perspectives, this provocative and timely novel for middle-school readers by Paula Chase, the acclaimed author of So Done and Dough Boys, will resonate with fans of Jason Reynolds, Rebecca Stead, and Ren�e Watson.

Best friends Rasheeda and Monique are both good girls. For Sheeda, that means keeping her friends close and following her deeply religious and strict aunt’s every rule. For Mo, that means not making waves in the prestigious and mostly White ballet intensive she’s been accepted to.

But what happens when Sheeda catches the eye of Mo’s older brother, and the invisible racial barriers to Mo’s success as a ballerina turn out to be not so invisible? What happens when you discover that being yourself isn’t good enough? How do you fight back?

Paula Chase explores the complex and emotional issues that affect many young teens in this novel set in the same neighborhood as her acclaimed So Done and Dough Boys. Friendship, family, finding yourself, and standing your ground are the themes of this universal story that is perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Rebecca Stead, and Ren�e Watson.


Click for more detail about Thanks a Million by Nikki Grimes Thanks a Million

by Nikki Grimes
Greenwillow Books (Sep 14, 2021)
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Acclaimed poet Nikki Grimes and award-winning illustrator Cozbi A. Cabrera celebrate the joy of family, friends, and of feeling thankful. An inspirational and useful picture book that’s perfect for educators, parents, and aspiring poets.

What does it mean to connect with someone? What does it mean to feel thankful?

Award-winning poet Nikki Grimes and Caldecott Honor artist Cozbi A. Cabrera honor human relationships—from family to friendships to community bonds—and the moments that bring us together.

Beautiful and rhythmic, the text is written in a variety of poetic styles and forms, including letter poems, haikus, and riddles, among others. Richly detailed illustrations accompany each poem, making this a perfect pick for family as well as storytime sharing.


Click for more detail about You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories by Gabrielle Union You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories

by Gabrielle Union
Dey Street Books (Sep 14, 2021)
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“Gabrielle Union has written another wonderful book that pulls no punches. The searing honesty of You Got Anything Stronger? is a gift to readers. Union faces head-on the different ways women become mothers and partners in an emotionally resonant and universal way. Her voice is relatable, warm, and sharp. You owe it to yourself to curl up with this book and to pass it along to a friend.” —Tressie McMillan Cottom, Professor and MacArthur Fellow

“Remember when we hit it off so well that we decided We’re Going to Need More Wine? Well, this time you and I are going to turn to our friend the bartender and ask, You Got Anything Stronger? I promise to continue to make you laugh, but with this round, the stakes get higher as the conversation goes deeper.

So. Where were we?

Right, you and I left off in October 2017, when my first book came out. The weeks before were filled with dreams of loss. Pets dying. My husband leaving me. Babies not being born. My therapist told me it was my soul preparing for my true self to emerge after letting go of my grief. I had finally spoken openly about my fertility journey. I was having second thoughts—in fact, so many thoughts they were organizing to go on strike. But I knew I had to be honest because I didn’t want other women going through IVF to feel as alone as I did. I had suffered in isolation, having so many miscarriages that I could not give an exact number. Strangers shared their own journeys and heartbreak with me. I had led with the truth, and it opened the door to compassion.

When I released We’re Going to Need More Wine, the response was so great people asked when I would do a sequel. The New York Times even ran a headline reading “We’re Going to Need More Gabrielle Union.” Frankly, after being so open and honest in my writing, I wasn’t sure there was more of me I was ready to share. But life happens with all its plot twists. And new stories demand to be told. This time, I need to be more vulnerable—not so much for me, but anyone who feels alone in what they’re going through.

A lot has changed in four years—I became a mom and I’m raising two amazing girls. My husband retired. My career has expanded so that I have the opportunity to lift up other voices that need to be heard. But the world has also shown us that we have a lot we still have to fight for—as women, as black women, as mothers, as aging women, as human beings, as friends. In You Got Anything Stronger?, I show you how this ever-changing life presents challenges, even as it gives me moments of pure joy. I take you on a girl’s night at Chateau Marmont, and I also talk to Isis, my character from Bring It On. For the first time, I truly open up about my surrogacy journey and the birth of Kaavia James Union Wade. And I take on racist institutions and practices in the entertainment industry, asking for equality and real accountability.

You Got Anything Stronger? is me at my most vulnerable. I have recently found true strength in that vulnerability, and I want to share that power with you here, through this book.”

More Praise:

“This is an absolute must-read. Gabrielle doesn’t just open up—she opens up conversations we need to be having.” —Sunny Hostin, New York Times bestselling author of Summer on the Bluffs and I Am These Truths

“Here is that rare book that will not only touch your heart, but also send you back out there to stand up for yourself and others.” —Meena Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ambitious Girl

“This book is a masterclass in authenticity and vulnerability, and I loved it! I drank up the words on the pages because this is Gabby’s heart wide open in print. It is a stunning read that is deeply humanizing and I’m inspired by the courage and humor in it. It’s just so DAMB GOOD!” —Luvvie Ajayi Jones, New York Times bestselling author of Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual


Click for more detail about Better Together, Cinderella by Ashley Franklin Better Together, Cinderella

by Ashley Franklin
HarperCollins (Sep 07, 2021)
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In this magical follow-up picture book to Ashley Franklin’s and Ebony Glenn’s celebrated fairy tale twist, Not Quite Snow White, princess Tameika becomes a big sister … to twins!

Tameika can’t seem to do anything right for her new twin siblings and struggles to find her place when they steal her spotlight. Luckily, she and her family are attending the community family ball. Tameika is sure a ball will make the perfect set to prove that she can be the best big sister ever.

But what if Tameika is wrong?

With some help from her beloved Uncle Derrick, this princess learns that a growing family is always better together!

Perfect for big sisters everywhere and for fans of Oona, Little Miss, Big Sis, and Sisters First.


Click for more detail about Partly Cloudy by Tanita S. Davis Partly Cloudy

by Tanita S. Davis
Katherine Tegen Books (Sep 07, 2021)
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From award-winning author Tanita S. Davis comes a nuanced exploration of the microaggressions of middle school and a young Black girl named Madalyn who learns that being a good friend means dealing with the blue skies and the rain—and having the tough conversations on days that are partly cloudy. Perfect for fans of A Good Kind of Trouble and From the Desk of Zoe Washington.

Lightning couldn’t strike twice, could it? After a terrible year, Madalyn needs clear skies desperately. Moving in with her great-uncle, Papa Lobo, and switching to a new school is just the first step.

It’s not all rainbows and sunshine, though. Madalyn discovers she’s the only Black girl in her class, and while most of her classmates are friendly, assumptions lead to some serious storms.

Papa Lobo’s long-running feud with neighbor Mrs. Baylor brings wild weather of its own, and Madalyn wonders just how far things will go. But when fire threatens the community, Madalyn discovers that truly being neighborly means more than just staying on your side of the street— it means weathering tough conversations—and finding that together a family can pull through anything.

Award-winning author Tanita S. Davis shows us that life isn’t always clear, and that partly cloudy days still contain a bit of blue worth celebrating.


Click for more detail about We Are Family by Lebron James We Are Family

by Lebron James
HarperCollins (Aug 31, 2021)
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Kids have big dreams. And when those dreams are on the line, how far are they willing to go to achieve them?

When Jayden and his teammates find out there’s not going to be a Hoop Group this year—and maybe ever again—they have to learn to lean on each other if they want to save their basketball season, in this inspiring new middle grade novel from NBA superstar LeBron James and acclaimed author Andrea Williams.

Jayden Carr has been training all summer to be ready for Hoop Group—the free afterschool basketball program where his hero, NBA superstar Kendrick King, got his start. But when his beloved coach tells him there’s not going to be a Hoop Group this year, Jayden is heartbroken.

And he’s not the only one. Coach Beck’s daughter, Tamika, was planning to be the first girl ever to start for the squad. Chris King, Kendrick’s only nephew, spent the summer bragging that his uncle was coming home just to watch him play. For Anthony Pierson, Hoop Group was supposed to be his way out of trouble. And for Dexter Donyel, all 4’6" of him, Hoop Group was his chance to finally be part of a team, instead of just watching from the stands.

For each kid, Hoop Group was more than just a chance to ball; it was an escape, a dream, a family. Now their prospects seem all but impossible—but then the world hasn’t met Jayden, Tamika, Chris, Anthony, and Dex before. Determined to have their shot, the five new friends scrap, hustle, fight, and play hard to save their season to prove that sometimes a chance is all it takes.

It’s an inspiring, original middle grade story from NBA superstar LeBron James and acclaimed author Andrea Williams that channels the many relatable challenges so many young kids face.

The first step to winning is getting out on the court.


Click for more detail about The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Harper (Aug 24, 2021)
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I was so enraptured by the story of this modern Black family, and how author Honorée Fanonne Jeffers wove the larger fabric of historical trauma through the family’s silence through generations…”—Oprah Winfrey, Announcing The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois as the Next Oprah’s Book Club Selection

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, the ambitious and uncompromising debut novel from National Book Award-nominated poet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, takes readers into the intimate lives of Black and Indigenous women who have fought racism and sexism to weave their experiences into America’s larger tapestry. Fashioning a microcosm of our fraught national history, Jeffers crafts a complex narrative of forced accommodation, courageous resistance, and resilience, as she deftly chronicles the journey of one American family through centuries—from the white appropriation of native lands to the African slave trade, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. Jeffers frames her wholly original narrative with “Sorrow Songs”—a term borrowed from W.E.B. Dubois: ancestral memories that unfold as beautifully-rendered, almost mythic tales.

The novel centers on Ailey Pearl Garfield as she pushes against the expectations of her African American middle-class upbringing. On the path to fulfilling her family’s wish for her to become a doctor, Ailey attends an historically Black college in Georgia, not far from the rural homestead where her ancestors were once enslaved. Ailey straddles the present and the past as she reconnects with this side of her heritage, whose traditions clash with those of her imperious, light-skinned paternal grandmother, to whom skin tone is paramount. As Ailey struggles to learn who she is and what she wants, she must reckon with the complicated racial history that has shaped her family, uncovering buried truths about her ancestors—both invigorating and difficult.

In creating this world, Jeffers has drawn on stories from her own family. Remembering childhood summers spent in Georgia with her grandmother, she recalls, “I wasn’t a child who played well with others. I preferred to sit still in corners and eavesdrop on elder relatives. I first learned of slavery and lynching, and the difficult history of this country not from books, but from eavesdropping on old, Black folks. After I became a creative writing major, I kept returning to the ancestral land of my mother and grandmother, and I began writing about a southern, Black family that had survived the horrors of historical racism and white supremacy.”


Click for more detail about Ramadan Ramsey by Louis Edwards Ramadan Ramsey

by Louis Edwards
Amistad (Aug 10, 2021)
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The Guggenheim Fellowship and Whiting Award-winning author Louis Edwards makes his long-awaited comeback with this epic tale of a New Orleans boy whose very creation is so filled with tension that it bedevils his destiny before he is even born. Spanning from the Deep South to the Middle East, Ramadan Ramsey bridges multiple countries and cultures, entwining two families who struggle to love and survive in the face of war, natural disasters, and their equally tumultuous, private mistakes and yearnings.


Ramadan Ramsey begins in 1999 with the moving (and funny) teenage love story of Alicia Ramsey, a native New Orleans African American young woman, and Mustafa Totah, a Syrian immigrant who works in her neighborhood at his uncle’s convenience store. Through a series of familial betrayals, Mustafa returns to Syria unaware that Alicia is carrying his child.

When the baby is born, Alicia names their son Ramadan and raises him with the help of her mother, Mama Joon. But tragedy strikes when the epochal hurricane of 2005 barrels into New Orleans, shattering both the Ramsey and Totah families. Years later, when Ramadan turns twelve, he sets off to find Mustafa. It is an odyssey filled with breathtaking and brilliant adventures that takes Ramadan from the familiar world of NOLA to Istanbul, and finally Aleppo, Syria, where he hopes to unite with the father he has never known.

Intimate yet epic, heartbreaking yet triumphant, Ramadan Ramsey explores the urgency of 21st century childhood and the richness and complexity of the modern family as a shared global experience. It is also a reminder of Louis Edwards’ immense talent and fearless storytelling and is a welcome return of this literary light.




Click for more detail about Across the River: Life, Death, and Football in an American City by Kent Babb Across the River: Life, Death, and Football in an American City

by Kent Babb
HarperOne (Aug 10, 2021)
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A heartbreaking and inspiring true story—Friday Night Lights meets Ghettoside—of a New Orleans high school football team and their head coach’s mission to protect his players’ lives.

On the west bank of the Mississippi, across from the tourist-heavy French Quarter, lies the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope and big dreams, its mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights in fall, when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For three years, this team of scrappy, talented athletes have brought glory to Edna Karr and Algiers, winning three straight consecutive state championships in Louisiana’s ultra-competitive Class 4A division.

While planning for a fourth title, thirty-three-year-old head football coach Brice Brown is focused on something much more important: keeping the 96 teenagers on his team alive. An epidemic of gun violence plagues New Orleans and its surrounding communities and has claimed too many innocent lives, including Coach Brown’s former star quarterback, Tollette "Tonka" George, shot at a local gas station. Determined to protect his boys, Coach Brown fills their days with workouts, team activities, and grueling marathon practice sessions. At night, he patrols the city in his rusted truck, iPhone in hand, dialing each of his players to make sure they made it home alive.

Award-winning sports journalist Kent Babb told Coach Brown’s story in the pages of the Washington Post. Now, he builds on his early reporting to offer a rich and deep portrait of this man, his players, and Algiers itself, where neighbors try to make the best of a terrible situation. Featuring eight pages of full-color photos, Across the River is an indelible true story of violence and pain, dedication and love, and the fight for life and a better future.


Click for more detail about When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen When the Reckoning Comes

by LaTanya McQueen
Harper Perennial (Aug 03, 2021)
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A haunting novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind.

More than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly loved—arrested for murder.

But now Mira is back in Kipsen to attend Celine’s wedding at the plantation, which has been transformed into a lush vacation resort. Mira hopes to reconnect with her friends, and especially, Jesse, to finally tell him the truth about her feelings and the events of that devastating long-ago day.

But for all its fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist history. The bar serves antebellum drinks, entertainments include horrifying reenactments, and the service staff is nearly all black. Yet the darkest elements of the plantation’s past have been carefully erased—rumors that slaves were tortured mercilessly and that ghosts roam the lands, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them, which includes most of the wedding guests.

As the weekend unfolds, Mira, Jesse, and Celine are forced to acknowledge their history together, and to save themselves from what is to come.


Click for more detail about Sisters in Arms: A Novel of the Daring Black Women Who Served During World War II by Kaia Alderson Sisters in Arms: A Novel of the Daring Black Women Who Served During World War II

by Kaia Alderson
William Morrow (Aug 03, 2021)
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Kaia Alderson’s debut historical fiction novel reveals the untold, true story of the Six Triple Eight, the only all-Black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps, who made the dangerous voyage to Europe to ensure American servicemen received word from their loved ones during World War II.


Grace Steele and Eliza Jones may be from completely different backgrounds, but when it comes to the army, specifically the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), they are both starting from the same level. Not only will they be among the first class of female officers the army has even seen, they are also the first Black women allowed to serve.

As these courageous women help to form the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, they are dealing with more than just army bureaucracy—everyone is determined to see this experiment fail. For two northern women, learning to navigate their way through the segregated army may be tougher than boot camp. Grace and Eliza know that there is no room for error; they must be more perfect than everyone else.

When they finally make it overseas, to England and then France, Grace and Eliza will at last be able to do their parts for the country they love, whatever the risk to themselves.

Based on the true story of the 6888th Postal Battalion (the Six Triple Eight), Sisters in Arms explores the untold story of what life was like for the only all-Black, female U.S. battalion to be deployed overseas during World War II.


Click for more detail about The Minister Primarily by John Oliver Killens The Minister Primarily

by John Oliver Killens
Amistad (Jul 27, 2021)
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Featuring an Introduction by Ishmael Reed

A major literary event—the eagerly anticipated publication of a long-lost novel from legendary writer and three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee John Oliver Killens, hailed as the founding father of the Black Arts Movement and mentor to celebrated writers, including Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Arthur Flowers, and Terry McMillan.

Wanderlust has taken Jimmy Jay Leander Johnson on numerous adventures, from Mississippi to Washington D.C., Vietnam, London and eventually to Africa, to the fictitious Independent People’s Democratic Republic of Guanaya, where the young musician hopes to “find himself.”

But this small sliver of a country in West Africa, recently freed from British colonial rule, is thrown into turmoil with the discovery of cobanium—a radioactive mineral 500 times more powerful than uranium, making it irresistible for greedy speculators, grifters, and charlatans. Overnight, outsiders descend upon the sleepy capital city looking for “a piece of the action.”

When a plot to assassinate Guanaya’s leader is discovered, Jimmy Jay—a dead ringer for the Prime Minister—is enlisted in a counter scheme to foil the would-be coup. He will travel to America with half of Guanaya’s cabinet ministers to meet with President Ronald Reagan and address the UN General Assembly, while the rest of the cabinet will remain in Guanaya with the real Prime Minister.

What could go wrong?

Everything.

Set in the 1980s, this smart, funny, dazzlingly brilliant novel is a literary delight—and the final gift from an American literary legend.


Click for more detail about Black Bottom Saints (Paperback) by Alice Randall Black Bottom Saints (Paperback)

by Alice Randall
Amistad (Jul 06, 2021)
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An enthralling literary tour-de-force that pays tribute to Detroit’s legendary neighborhood, a mecca for jazz, sports, and politics, Black Bottom Saints is a powerful blend of fact and imagination reminiscent of E.L. Doctorow’s classic novel Ragtime and Marlon James’ Man Booker Award-winning masterpiece, A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Black Bottom Saints playing cards to celebrate Detroit’s Black culture, history Get an autographed “Black Bottom Saints Playing Card,” which celebrates Detroit’s Black culture and History, with every order.

From the Great Depression through the post-World War II years, Joseph "Ziggy" Johnson, has been the pulse of Detroit’s famous Black Bottom. A celebrated gossip columnist for the city’s African-American newspaper, the Michigan Chronicle, he is also the emcee of one of the hottest night clubs, where he’s rubbed elbows with the legendary black artists of the era, including Ethel Waters, Billy Eckstein, and Count Basie. Ziggy is also the founder and dean of the Ziggy Johnson School of Theater. But now the doyen of Black Bottom is ready to hang up his many dapper hats.

As he lays dying in the black-owned-and-operated Kirkwood Hospital, Ziggy reflects on his life, the community that was the center of his world, and the remarkable people who helped shape it.

Inspired by the Catholic Saints Day Books, Ziggy curates his own list of Black Bottom’s venerable 52 Saints. Among them are a vulnerable Dinah Washington, a defiant Joe Louis, and a raucous Bricktop. Randall balances the stories of these larger-than-life Saints with local heroes who became household names, enthralling men and women whose unstoppable ambition, love of style, and faith in community made this black Midwestern neighborhood the rival of New York City’s Harlem.

Accompanying these "tributes" are thoughtfully paired cocktails—special drinks that capture the essence of each of Ziggy’s saints—libations as strong and satisfying as Alice Randall’s wholly original view of a place and time unlike any other.

Learn More: At the Black Bottom Saints Official Website


Click for more detail about Give My Love to the Savages: Stories by Chris Stuck Give My Love to the Savages: Stories

by Chris Stuck
Amistad (Jul 06, 2021)
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A provocative and raw debut collection of short fiction reminiscent of Junot Diaz’s Drown.

A Black man’s life, told in scenes—through every time he’s been called nigger. A Black son who visits his estranged white father in Los Angeles just as the ’92 riots begin. A Black Republican, coping with a skin disease that has turned him white, is forced to reconsider his life. A young Black man, fetishized by an older white woman he’s just met, is offered a strange and tempting proposal.

The nine tales in Give My Love to the Savages illuminate the multifaceted Black experience, exploring the thorny intersections of race, identity, and Black life through an extraordinary cast of characters. From the absurd to the starkly realistic, these stories take aim at the ironies and contradictions of the American racial experience. Chris Stuck traverses the dividing lines, and attempts to create meaning from them in unique and unusual ways. Each story considers a marker of our current culture, from uprisings and sly and not-so-sly racism, to Black fetishization and conservatism, to the obstacles placed in front of Black masculinity and Black and interracial relationships by society and circumstance.

Setting these stories across America, from Los Angeles, Phoenix and the Pacific Northwest, to New York and Washington, DC, to the suburbs and small Midwestern towns, Stuck uses place to expose the absurdity of race and the odd ways that Black people and white people converge and retreat, rub against and bump into one another.

Ultimately, Give My Love to the Savages is the story of America. With biting humor and careful honesty, Stuck riffs on the dichotomy of love and barbarity—the yin and yang of racial experience—and the difficult and uncertain terrain Black Americans must navigate in pursuit of their desires.


Click for more detail about The Collection Plate: Poems by Kendra Allen The Collection Plate: Poems

by Kendra Allen
Ecco (Jul 06, 2021)
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A deeply wrought and joyful debut poetry collection from an exciting new voice

Looping exultantly through the overlapping experiences of girlhood, Blackness, sex, and personhood in America, award-winning essayist and poet Kendra Allen braids together personal narrative and cultural commentary, wrestling with the beauty and brutality to be found between mothers and daughters, young women and the world, Black bodies and white space, virginity and intrusion, prison and freedom, birth and death. Most of all, The Collection Plate explores both how we collect and erase the voices, lives, and innocence of underrepresented bodies—and behold their pleasure, pain, and possibility

Both formally exciting and a delight to read, The Collection Plate is a testament to Allen’s place as the voice of a generation—and a witness to how we come into being in the twenty-first century.


Click for more detail about Island Queen by Vanessa Riley Island Queen

by Vanessa Riley
William Morrow (Jul 06, 2021)
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"Richly detailed, vividly depicted, and sweeping in scope, Island Queen is historical fiction at its absolute finest. A stunning must-read!"—Chanel Cleeton, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba

Dazzling…compelling…Riley combines in-depth research with passionate and frank storytelling. The experiences and achievements of powerful women, especially those whose lives began among the enslaved, are too often overlooked, and Riley’s richly engaging novel is a ringing reminder of how much we miss when these stories remain untold.—Booklist

A remarkable, sweeping historical novel based on the incredible true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free woman of color who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies.

Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom—and that of her sister and her mother—from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent.

Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England.

From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenth-century morality and the oppression of women as well as people of color. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history.


Click for more detail about Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women by Inger Burnett-Zeigler Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women

by Inger Burnett-Zeigler
Amistad (Jun 29, 2021)
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On the heels of Lori Gottlieb’s Maybe You Should Talk to Someone and Shonda Rhimes’ The Year of Yes comes a highly engaging work from a respected clinical psychologist which turns the conventional cultural myth of being a strong black woman on its head.

Many black women have endured physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, domestic violence, pregnancy-related trauma, loss, and abandonment. Rather than admitting their pain—seen as a sign of weakness—black women mask their troubles behind the fa�ade of being "strong" and ever capable of handling everything for themselves and those around them. Nobody Knows the Trouble I Have Seen helps women understand the high price they pay for wearing a mask of strength and provides a framework for healing.

Black women deprive themselves of experiencing a full range of emotions and tend to hang on to anger and hurt which simmer. This leads to feelings of shame, loneliness, and other negative emotions that test their mental health. In addition, black women are less likely to acknowledge their mental health needs or to seek mental health treatment, increasing their risks for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and suicidal thoughts which can lead to debilitating physical problems, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Combining the latest research with her personal story and those of family members and clients, Dr. Inger Burnett-Zeigler reveals that a life of joy is possible, and discusses outlets for support, including mental health treatment, the church and spirituality. Her illuminating work gives the phrase, "I am a strong black woman" a whole new meaning, while letting women know they are not alone in their suffering.


Click for more detail about Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon Blackout

by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon
Quill Tree Books (Jun 22, 2021)
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Six critically acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning authors bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of charming, hilarious, and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light through the dark.

A summer heatwave blankets New York City in darkness. But as the city is thrown into confusion, a different kind of electricity sparks…

A first meeting.

Long-time friends.

Bitter exes.

And maybe the beginning of something new.

When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths. Love blossoms, friendship transforms, and new possibilities take flight.

Beloved authors—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—celebrate the beauty of six couples and the unforgettable magic that can be found on a sweltering starry night in the city.


Click for more detail about Where You Are Is Not Who You Are: A Memoir by Ursula M. Burns Where You Are Is Not Who You Are: A Memoir

by Ursula M. Burns
Amistad (Jun 15, 2021)
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The first Black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company looks back at her life and her career at Xerox, sharing unique insights on American business and corporate life, the workers she has always valued, racial and economic justice, how greed is threatening democracy, and the obstacles she’s conquered being Black and a woman.

I am a black woman, I do not play golf, I do not belong to or go to country clubs, I do not like NASCAR, I do not listen to country music, and I have a masters degree in engineering. I, like a typical New Yorker, speak very fast, with an accent and vernacular that is definitely New York City, definitely Black. So when someone says I’m going to introduce you to the next CEO of Xerox, and the options are lined up against a wall, I would be the first one voted off the island.”

In 2009, when she was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the Xerox Corporation, Ursula Burns shattered the glass ceiling and made headlines. But the media missed the real story, she insists. “It should have been ‘how did this happen? How did Xerox Corporation produce the first African American woman CEO?’ Not this spectacular story titled, “Oh, my God, a Black woman making it.”

In this smart, no-nonsense book, part memoir and part cultural critique, Burns writes movingly about her journey from tenement housing on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to the highest echelons of the corporate world. She credits her success to her poor single Panamanian mother, Olga Racquel Burns—a licensed child-care provider whose highest annual income was $4,400—who set no limits on what her children could achieve. Ursula recounts her own dedication to education and hard work, and how she took advantage of the opportunities and social programs created by the Civil Rights and Women’s movements to pursue engineering at Polytechnic Institute of New York.

Burns writes about overcoming the barriers she faced, as well as the challenges and realities of the corporate world. Her classmates and colleagues—almost all white males—“couldn’t comprehend how a Black girl could be as smart, and in some cases, smarter than they were. They made a developed category for me. Unique. Amazing. Spectacular. That way they could accept me.” Her thirty-five-year career at Xerox was all about fixing things, from cutting millions to save the company from bankruptcy to a daring $6 billion acquisition to secure its future. Ursula also worked closely with President Barack Obama as a lead on his STEM initiative and Chair of his Export council, where she traveled with him on an official trade mission to Cuba, and became one of his greatest admirers.

Candid and outspoken, Ursula offers a remarkable look inside the c-suites of corporate America through the eyes of a Black woman—someone who puts humanity over greed and justice over power. She compares the impact of the pandemic to the financial crisis of 2007, condemns how corporate culture is destroying the spirit of democracy, and worries about the workers whose lives are being upended by technology. Empathetic and dedicated, idealistic and pragmatic, Ursula demonstrates that, no matter your circumstances, hard work, grit and a bit of help along the way can change your life—and the world.


Click for more detail about Zuri Ray Tries Ballet by Tami Charles Zuri Ray Tries Ballet

by Tami Charles
Quill Tree Books (Jun 15, 2021)
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From New York Times bestselling author Tami Charles and rising star illustrator Sharon Sordo comes the first book in a charming picture book series about a fun, spunky girl with a huge heart!

Meet Zuri Ray. She’s always willing to go the extra mile for family and friends and is up for any challenge. At least, that was before her best friend, Jessie, asked her to join a ballet camp.

Now Zuri isn’t sure if she’s up for everything. While Jessie can’t wait to chass� and pli� while wearing tight hair buns and frilly tutus, that doesn’t sound like Zuri at all! But she can’t let her friend down. Maybe classical ballet just needs a new spin …

Perfect for fans of Fancy Nancy and Fresh Princess, Zuri Ray Tries Ballet encourages kids to follow their hearts and stay true to themselves!


Click for more detail about Cack-Handed: A Memoir by Gina Yashere Cack-Handed: A Memoir

by Gina Yashere
Amistad (Jun 08, 2021)
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The British comedian of Nigerian heritage and co-executive producer and writer of the CBS hit series Bob Hearts Abishola chronicles her odyssey to get to America and break into Hollywood in this lively and humorous memoir.

According to family superstition, Gina Yashere was born to fulfill the dreams of her grandmother Patience. The powerful first wife of a wealthy businessman, Patience was poisoned by her jealous sister-wives and marked with a spot on her neck. From birth, Gina carried a similar birthmark—a sign that she was her grandmother’s chosen heir, and would fulfill Patience’s dreams. Gina would learn to speak perfect English, live unfettered by men or children, work a man’s job, and travel the world with a free spirit.

Is she the reincarnation of her grandmother? Maybe. Gina isn’t ruling anything out. In Cack-Handed, she recalls her intergenerational journey to success foretold by her grandmother and fulfilled thousands of miles from home. This hilarious memoir tells the story of how from growing up as a child of Nigerian immigrants in working class London, running from skinheads, and her overprotective Mom, Gina went on to become the first female engineer with the UK branch of Otis, the largest elevator company in the world, where she went through a baptism of fire from her racist and sexist co-workers. Not believing her life was difficult enough, she later left engineering to become a stand up comic, appearing on numerous television shows and becoming one of the top comedians in the UK, before giving it all up to move to the US, a dream she’d had since she was six years old, watching American kids on television, riding cool bicycles, and solving crimes.

A collection of eccentric, addictive, and uproarious stories that combine family, race, gender, class, and country, Cack-Handed reveals how Gina’s unconventional upbringing became the foundation of her successful career as an international comedian.


Click for more detail about Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin’ with Mother Nature by Dick Gregory Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin’ with Mother Nature

by Dick Gregory
Amistad (Jun 08, 2021)
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First published in 1974 and even more relevant today, a natural and whole foods guide the voice of black consciousness, cultural icon Dick Gregory, the incomparable satirist, human rights and environmental activist, health advocate, social justice champion, and author of the NAACP Image Award–winning Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies and the classic bestseller Nigger: An Autobiography.

Written with Dick Gregory’s irreverent wit and informed by his deep intelligence, Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat is for real people who are concerned about their health and wellness. Gregory offers an enlightening introduction to natural foods, and offers a wickedly amusing and informative assessment of how our modern diet damages the human digestive tract, and raises our consciousness about the political power of food.

Gregory argues that how you treat yourself and your body reflects how you treat others. He discusses various fasts and the ones he’s done for both political and health reasons, hunger in America, navy beans, and how Americans are changing the way they eat—the beginning of a movement in the 1970s that is still felt today. He offers suggestions on diets to help you gain or lose pounds and offers advice on natural substitutes for favorite alcoholic drinks. You are what you eat—with Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat you can laugh your way to better health.


Click for more detail about Greenland by David Santos Donaldson Greenland

by David Santos Donaldson
Amistad (Jun 07, 2021)
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“David Santos Donaldson’s Greenland is profoundly entertaining and full of emotion, humor, pain, and wisdom. His narrator dances in a hall of mirrors but he doesn’t dance alone—he is joined by his husband, his best female friend Concha, E. M. Forster, Forster’s Black Egyptian boyfriend, and others both earthly and unearthly. Rather like The Golden Notebook for a new age with race and sexuality replacing gender and class, this is the work of a brilliant, inventive, sensuous dreamer.”—Christopher Bram, author of Gods and Monsters and Lives of the Circus Animals

A dazzling, debut novel-within-a-novel in the vein of The Prophets and Memorial, about a young author writing about the secret love affair between E.M. Forster and Mohammed el Adl—in which Mohammed’s story collides with his own, blending fact and fiction.

In 1919, Mohammed el Adl, the young Egyptian lover of British author E. M. Forster, spent six months in a jail cell. A century later, Kip Starling has locked himself in his Brooklyn basement study with a pistol and twenty-one gallons of Poland Spring to write Mohammed’s story.

Kip has only three weeks until his publisher’s deadline to immerse himself in the mind of Mohammed who, like Kip, is Black, queer, an Other. The similarities don’t end there. Both of their lives have been deeply affected by their confrontations with Whiteness, homophobia, their upper crust education, and their white romantic partners. As Kip immerses himself in his writing, Mohammed’s story – and then Mohammed himself – begins to speak to him, and his life becomes a Proustian portal into Kip’s own memories and psyche. Greenland seamlessly conjures two distinct yet overlapping worlds where the past mirrors the present, and the artist’s journey transforms into a quest for truth that offers a world of possibility.

Electric and unforgettable, David Santos Donaldson’s tour de force excavates the dream of white assimilation, the foibles of interracial relationships, and not only the legacy of a literary giant, but literature itself.


Click for more detail about New Kid and Class Act: The Box Set by Jerry Craft New Kid and Class Act: The Box Set

by Jerry Craft
Quill Tree Books (Jun 01, 2021)
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From critically acclaimed author-illustrator Jerry Craft comes a special box set that includes New Kid, winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize, and its companion, Class Act, both #1 New York Times bestsellers!

In New Kid, seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to his dream art school, his parents enroll him in the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School, where there are few kids of color. As Jordan makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale school, he finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

In Class Act, newly minted eighth grader Drew Ellis takes center stage. Drew is no stranger to the saying "You have to work twice as hard to be just as good." But what if he works ten times as hard and still isn’t afforded the same opportunities as his privileged RAD classmates? To make matters worse, Drew is trying not to withdraw from his buddy Liam, who might be one of those privileged kids. And their mutual friend, Jordan, doesn’t know how to keep the group together. Will Drew ever find a way to bridge the divide so they can all truly accept each other? Moreover, will he ever be able to accept himself?

This box set of two bestselling graphic novels makes an excellent gift!


Click for more detail about Sisters of the Neversea by Floyd Cooper Sisters of the Neversea

by Floyd Cooper
Heartdrum (Jun 01, 2021)
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In this beautifully reimagined story by NSK Neustadt Laureate and New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek), Native American Lily and English Wendy embark on a high-flying journey of magic, adventure, and courage to a fairy-tale island known as Neverland…

Lily and Wendy have been best friends since they became stepsisters. But with their feuding parents planning to spend the summer apart, what will become of their family—and their friendship?

Little do they know that a mysterious boy has been watching them from the oak tree outside their window. A boy who intends to take them away from home for good, to an island of wild animals, Merfolk, Fairies, and kidnapped children, to a sea of merfolk, pirates, and a giant crocodile.

A boy who calls himself Peter Pan.

In partnership with We Need Diverse Books


Click for more detail about My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir by Katherine Johnson, Joylette Hylick, and Katherine Moore My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir

by Katherine Johnson, Joylette Hylick, and Katherine Moore
Amistad (May 25, 2021)
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The remarkable woman at heart of the smash New York Times bestseller and Oscar-winning film Hidden Figures tells the full story of her life, including what it took to work at NASA, help land the first man on the moon, and live through a century of turmoil and change.

In 2015, at the age of 97, Katherine Johnson became a global celebrity. President Barack Obama awarded her the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom—the nation’s highest civilian honor—for her pioneering work as a mathematician on NASA’s first flights into space. Her contributions to America’s space program were celebrated in a blockbuster and Academy-award nominated movie.

In this memoir, Katherine shares her personal journey from child prodigy in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia to NASA human computer. In her life after retirement, she served as a beacon of light for her family and community alike. Her story is centered around the basic tenets of her life—no one is better than you, education is paramount, and asking questions can break barriers. The memoir captures the many facets of this unique woman: the curious "daddy’s girl," pioneering professional, and sage elder.

This multidimensional portrait is also the record of a century of racial history that reveals the influential role educators at segregated schools and Historically Black Colleges and Universities played in nurturing the dreams of trailblazers like Katherine. The author pays homage to her mentor—the African American professor who inspired her to become a research mathematician despite having his own dream crushed by racism.

Infused with the uplifting wisdom of a woman who handled great fame with genuine humility and great tragedy with enduring hope, My Remarkable Journey ultimately brings into focus a determined woman who navigated tough racial terrain with soft-spoken grace—and the unrelenting grit required to make history and inspire future generations.


Click for more detail about Ty’s Travels: Beach Day! by Kelly Starling Lyons Ty’s Travels: Beach Day!

by Kelly Starling Lyons
HarperCollins (May 25, 2021)
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A Geisel Honor-winning series! Author Kelly Starling Lyons selected as the 2021 Piedmont Laureate!

Join Ty on his imaginative adventures in Ty’s Travels: Beach Day!, a My First I Can Read book by acclaimed author and illustrator team Kelly Starling Lyons and Nina Mata. Friendship and imagination and play are highlighted in this fun story, perfect for sharing with children 3 to 6.

Ty turns an ordinary day in the sandbox into a fun beach day. He wiggles his toes in the sand, finds seashells, builds a castle, and splashes in the ocean. Splish, splash! When his neighbor’s beach ball flies into his backyard, Ty learns that a beach day is even better with a friend.

With simple, rhythmic text and joyful, bright art, this My First series and Guided Reading Level I is perfect for shared reading with a child. Books at this level feature basic language, word repetition, and whimsical illustrations, ideal for sharing with emergent readers. The active, engaging stories have appealing plots and lovable characters, encouraging children to continue their reading journey.


Click for more detail about How to Find a Princess (Mass Market): Runaway Royals by Alyssa Cole How to Find a Princess (Mass Market): Runaway Royals

by Alyssa Cole
Avon (May 25, 2021)
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New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Alyssa Cole’s second Runaway Royals novel is a queer Anastasia retelling, featuring a long-lost princess who finds love with the female investigator tasked with tracking her down.

Makeda Hicks has lost her job and her girlfriend in one fell swoop. The last thing she’s in the mood for is to rehash the story of her grandmother’s infamous summer fling with a runaway prince from Ibarania, or the investigator from the World Federation of Monarchies tasked with searching for Ibarania’s missing heir.

Yet when Beznaria Chetchevaliere crashes into her life, the sleek and sexy investigator exudes exactly the kind of chaos that organized and efficient Makeda finds irresistible, even if Bez is determined to drag her into a world of royal duty Makeda wants nothing to do with.

When a threat to her grandmother’s livelihood pushes Makeda to agree to return to Ibarania, Bez takes her on a transatlantic adventure with a crew of lovable weirdos, a fake marriage, and one-bed hijinks on the high seas. When they finally make it to Ibarania, they realize there’s more at stake than just cash and crown, and Makeda must learn what it means to fight for what she desires and not what she feels bound to by duty.


Click for more detail about The Match: Two Outsiders Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History by Bruce Schoenfeld The Match: Two Outsiders Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History

by Bruce Schoenfeld
Harper Paperbacks (May 25, 2021)
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The incredible story of what happened when two outsiders—one an emerging champion who happens to be Jewish, the other, the first black player to win Wimbledon—pair up not only to form a winning team, but also an enduring friendship.

Althea Gibson first met Angela Buxton at an exhibition match in India. On the surface, the two women couldn’t be more different. The daughter of sharecroppers and fiercely competitive, Althea Gibson was born in the American South and turned to athletics in an effort to belong to a community that would welcome her. Angela Buxton, the granddaughter of Russian Jews, grew up in Liverpool. England, where her father ran a successful business. But they both faced their share of prejudice, particularly on the tennis circuit, where they were excluded from tournaments and clubs because of race and religion.

At the 1956 Wimbledon, despite their athletic prowess, both were shunned by the other female players and found themselves without doubles partners. Undaunted, they decided to play together. And though they had never so much as practiced together—they triumphed. In Nobody’s Darlings, Bruce Schoenfeld delivers an unexpected story of two underdogs who refused to let bigotry stop them both on the court and off. Here too is the story of a remarkable friendship.


Click for more detail about Checking in: How Getting Real about Depression Saved My Life—And Can Save Yours by Michelle Williams Checking in: How Getting Real about Depression Saved My Life—And Can Save Yours

by Michelle Williams
Thomas Nelson (May 25, 2021)
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Acclaimed musical artist Michelle Williams shares the intimate, never-before-told story of how, even in the midst of enormous fame and success, she battled depression, leading her to find her true calling as an advocate for mental health—especially her own.

As a member of Destiny’s Child, one of the top female R&B groups of all time, Michelle Williams felt blessed. After the group disbanded, she continued to create bestselling albums, appear on television shows, and star in theater productions. Though she had always struggled with low moods, in 2018 her depression deepened, and when she found herself planning her own funeral, she checked herself into a treatment facility. There she found the help she needed to live out the incredible story God was writing for her life.

In her first book, Michelle courageously shares the hidden secrets that nearly ended her life; the importance of her faith, family, and friends; and the lessons she learned about prioritizing her mental health. She is on a quest to increase mental health awareness and urges others to understand the importance of "checking in" with themselves, God, and others. Her candid, often humorous, and incredibly brave book will inspire readers who desire hope for their own difficult times.


Click for more detail about A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia A Sitting in St. James

by Rita Williams-Garcia
Quill Tree Books (May 25, 2021)
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Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award!

Monumental. —Booklist (starred review)

A marathon masterpiece.—Kirkus (starred review)

Necessary.—SLJ (starred review)

Shocking and dramatic.—Shelf Awareness (starred review)

Mesmerizing, confounding and vividly rendered.—Book Page (starred review)

Williams-Garcia’s storytelling is magnificent; her voice honest and authentic.—Horn Book (starred review)

1860, Louisiana. After serving as mistress of Le Petit Cottage for more than six decades, Madame Sylvie Guilbert has decided, in spite of her family’s objections, to sit for a portrait.

While Madame plots her last hurrah, stories that span generations—from the big house to out in the fields—of routine horrors, secrets buried as deep as the family fortune, and the tangled bonds of descendants and enslaved, come to light to reveal a true portrait of the Guilberts.

This astonishing novel from three-time National Book Award finalist Rita Williams-Garcia about the interwoven lives of those bound to a plantation in antebellum America is an epic masterwork—empathetic, brutal, and entirely human—and essential reading for both teens and adults grappling with the long history of American racism.


Click for more detail about Every Time a Rainbow Dies by Rita Williams-Garcia Every Time a Rainbow Dies

by Rita Williams-Garcia
Quill Tree Books (May 25, 2021)
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From Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia, Every Time a Rainbow Dies is a moving, lyrical, and diverse love story—perfect for fans of One Crazy Summer who are ready for an older voice.

Dreamy Thulani spends most of his time up on the roof, taking care of the flock of doves in the cote and watching the streets of Brooklyn bustle below him.

He is up there on the day he sees a girl being brutally attacked in an alley.

Though the girl makes it clear she wants nothing more to do with him after he helps her home, he can’t stop thinking about her. Is she okay? What is her name? Would she be scared if he tried to talk to her?

Suddenly, for the first time since his mother died, Thulani finally has a reason to come down from the roof. But as much as he wants to care for this girl, Ysa—more fragile and fiercer than his birds—she will not trust easily. Is it possible to shelter someone who needs to be free?

First published in 2001, the novel has now been repackaged with gorgeous new cover art. Previously available only as an e-book, this remarkable novel is now back in print!


Click for more detail about Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia Jumped

by Rita Williams-Garcia
Quill Tree Books (May 25, 2021)
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Beloved author Rita Williams-Garcia intertwines the lives of three very different teens in this fast-paced, gritty narrative about choices and the impact that even the most seemingly insignificant ones can have. A National Book Award finalist.

One day. One huge New York City high school. Three girls, headed toward one slow-motion collision.

There’s Trina, a pretty, self-involved artist who’s sure she’s bringing beauty and color to the lives of everyone around her, regardless of what they really think. There’s Leticia, who skates by on minimal effort; she’s more interested in her cell phone, her nails, and gossip than school. And there’s Dominique, an angry basketball player who’s been benched for low grades.

When Trina unknowingly offends Dominique, Dominique decides that it’s going down—after school, she’s going to jump Trina. Trina has no idea. And Leticia is the only witness to Dominique’s rage, the only one who could stop the beatdown from coming. But does she want to get involved in this mess?


Click for more detail about No Laughter Here by Rita Williams-Garcia No Laughter Here

by Rita Williams-Garcia
Quill Tree Books (May 25, 2021)
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In this groundbreaking novel, Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia uses her vividly realistic voice to highlight an often taboo practice that affects millions of girls around the world every year, and to explore a perspective not often depicted in YA fiction.

Even though they were born in different countries, Akilah and Victoria are true best friends. But Victoria has been acting strange ever since she returned from her summer in Nigeria, where she had a special coming-of-age ceremony. Why does proud Victoria, named for a queen, slouch at her desk and answer the teacher’s questions in a whisper? And why won’t she laugh with Akilah anymore?

Akilah’s name means intelligent, and she is determined to find out what’s wrong. But when she learns the terrible secret Victoria is hiding, she suddenly has even more questions. The only problem is, they might not be the kind that have answers.

Previously available only as an ebook, this remarkable novel is now back in print!


Click for more detail about My Vanishing Country: A Memoir by Bakari Sellers My Vanishing Country: A Memoir

by Bakari Sellers
Amistad (May 18, 2021)
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New York Times Bestseller

What J. D. Vance did for Appalachia with Hillbilly Elegy, CNN analyst and one of the youngest state representatives in South Carolina history Bakari Sellers does for the rural South, in this important book that illuminates the lives of America’s forgotten black working-class men and women.

Part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis, My Vanishing Country is an eye-opening journey through the South’s past, present, and future.

Anchored in in Bakari Seller’s hometown of Denmark, South Carolina, Country illuminates the pride and pain that continues to fertilize the soil of one of the poorest states in the nation. He traces his father’s rise to become, friend of Stokely Carmichael and Martin Luther King, a civil rights hero, and member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), to explore the plight of the South’s dwindling rural, black working class—many of whom can trace their ancestry back for seven generations.

In his poetic personal history, we are awakened to the crisis affecting the other "Forgotten Men & Women," who the media seldom acknowledges. For Sellers, these are his family members, neighbors, and friends. He humanizes the struggles that shape their lives: to gain access to healthcare as rural hospitals disappear; to make ends meet as the factories they have relied on shut down and move overseas; to hold on to precious traditions as their towns erode; to forge a path forward without succumbing to despair.

My Vanishing Country is also a love letter to fatherhood—to Sellers’ father, his lodestar, whose life lessons have shaped him, and to his newborn twins, who he hopes will embrace the Sellers family name and honor its legacy.


Click for more detail about Ruby’s Reunion Day Dinner by Angela Dalton Ruby’s Reunion Day Dinner

by Angela Dalton
HarperCollins (May 18, 2021)
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n Here Wee Read’s 2021 Ultimate List of Diverse Children’s Books!

Publisher Weekly Starred Review! "Warm digital art by Southerland makes excellent use of light and shadow, and offers a lovely portrait of an expressive family with varying hairstyles and body types. This hopeful, mouthwatering narrative showcases tender family rapport."

This joyful picture book taps into the rich African American tradition of family reunions, with delicious food at the heart of the celebration. Perfect for fans of the Caldecott Honor Book Going Down Home with Daddy by Kelly Starling Lyons.

Once a year, each of Ruby’s relatives prepares a special dish to share at their family reunion. Daddy calls it their “signature dish”—and Ruby wants one of her own. She wanders through the bustling kitchen looking for inspiration. As she watches Pop-Pop’s chicken sizzling in the skillet, Uncle G slicing onions, and Auntie Billie cooking corn on the hot grill, she wonders if she’s just too young to have a signature dish. That’s when she finds it— the perfect solution!

Angela Dalton’s warm text is perfectly paired with Jestenia Southerland’s beautiful art in this sweet picture book, filled with the tenderness and warmth of this multigenerational extended family and the food they share.


Click for more detail about Shady Baby by Gabrielle Union Shady Baby

by Gabrielle Union
HarperCollins (May 18, 2021)
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*AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

*A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER*

Shady Baby keeps it real in this picture book collaboration by New York Times bestselling duo actress and producer Gabrielle Union and NBA superstar and businessman Dwyane Wade.

Based on their famous baby girl, Kaavia James:

After a long morning of being fabulous, Shady Baby heads to the park for a relaxing play session. But what does she find?! Some not-so-nice kids picking on others.

Shady flashes them a look—her famous side eye—and teaches them that it’s better to play nice. But when her feelings are hurt, will anyone stand (or crawl) by her side?

Find out in this upbeat picture book that teaches kids to speak their minds and stand up for what they believe in. Perfect for fans of The Boss Baby and Feminist Baby!


Click for more detail about Transformed: A Navy Seal’s Unlikely Journey from the Throne of Africa, to the Streets of the Bronx, to Defying All Odds by Remi Adeleke Transformed: A Navy Seal’s Unlikely Journey from the Throne of Africa, to the Streets of the Bronx, to Defying All Odds

by Remi Adeleke
Thomas Nelson (May 18, 2021)
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What would it take for one young Black man not only to rise above statistics but also become a Navy SEAL, actor, entrepreneur, writer, and successful husband and father?

In Transformed, Remi Adeleke takes you back to stories from his childhood, from living as Nigerian royalty to losing his father early in life and being stripped financially of everything by the Nigerian government. Following his father’s death, he and his mother and brother relocated permanently to the Bronx where his single mother struggled to provide for the family.

Statistics tell us that African American males who grow up in a single-parent household are nine times more likely to drop out of high school and twenty times more likely to end up in prison than any other demographic. While it would have been easy to believe that he could never beat those odds, Remi Adeleke refused to fall victim to that premise.

Sharing his incredible journey through the struggles of his life, Remi doesn’t shy away from his illegal activities as a young man that threatened to derail his future as a Navy SEAL. He shares:

  • How perseverance transformed his life despite all odds
  • How taking ownership of his mistakes and shortcomings led him to success
  • His hard-earned wisdom gained over years of struggle
  • Belief that the adversities, trials, and tribulations he went through were specific moves by God

At every turn, including throughout his naval career, Adeleke found a way to overcome the odds, even when it didn’t make sense. Remi Adeleke’s journey of following God’s voice, rising above statistics, and experiencing true personal transformation will inspire and move you.


Click for more detail about Get Over ’i Got It’: How to Stop Playing Superwoman, Get Support, and Remember That Having It All Doesn’t Mean Doing It All Alone by Elayne Fluker Get Over ’i Got It’: How to Stop Playing Superwoman, Get Support, and Remember That Having It All Doesn’t Mean Doing It All Alone

by Elayne Fluker
HarperCollins Leadership (May 11, 2021)
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Too many ambitious women strive to accomplish all their goals alone, leading to dangerous levels of stress and anxiety. Learn how a strong support network and meaningful connections are crucial not only to your long-term success, but to your peace of mind.

Today’s women are ambitious and excelling in every way. But many still believe that asking for help along the journey is a sign of weakness, ignorance, or incompetence, so they go it alone.

Author and podcaster Elayne Fluker believes this mindset is partially responsible for the increase in suicide rates for girls and women and the reason so many women end up depressed, overwhelmed, isolated and unfulfilled. To combat this alarming trend, Fluker helps women learn how to build their own networks, make meaningful connections, and understand how even some of the most successful women in the world, like Oprah Winfrey and Spanx founder Sara Blakely, had tremendous support networks that helped them achieve their dreams.

Get Over "I Got It"

  • Shares the lessons Fluker learned throughout her own struggles with learning how to ask for and accept support.
  • Provides anecdotes from women professionals, interviews with health professionals, and current research demonstrating the tangible ways women can ditch the dangerous go-it-alone philosophy.
  • Offers proven, real-world ways for women to embrace the proven health and career benefits of a stronger-together approach.

Ultimately, this book helps women overcome their psychological hurdles to asking for help, giving them a surefire strategy—and the confidence—to seek support. They’ll then be positioned to join other women’s support networks, uplifting them in a way that will transform both individual lives and communities.


Click for more detail about Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health by Gregory Gourdet Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health

by Gregory Gourdet
Harper Wave (May 11, 2021)
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One of Esquire’s Most Anticipated Cookbooks 2021

The beloved Top Chef star revolutionizes healthy eating in this groundbreaking cookbook—the ultimate guide to cooking globally inspired dishes free of gluten, dairy, soy, legumes, and grains that are so delicious you won’t notice the difference.

When award-winning, trendsetting chef Gregory Gourdet got sober, he took stock of his life and his pantry, concentrating his energy on getting himself healthy by cooking food that was both full of nutrients and full of flavor. Now, he shares these extraordinary dishes with everyone.

Everyone’s Table features 200 mouth-watering, decadently flavorful recipes carefully designed to focus on superfoods—ingredients with the highest nutrient-density, the best fats, and the most minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants—that will delight and inspire home cooks. Gourdet’s dishes are inspired by his deep affection for global ingredients and techniques—from his Haitian upbringing to his French culinary education, from his deep affection for the cuisines of Asia as well as those of North and West Africa. His unique culinary odyssey informs this one-of-a-kind cookbook, which features dynamic vegetable-forward dishes and savory meaty stews, umami-packed sauces and easy ferments, and endless clever ways to make both year-round and seasonal ingredients shine.

Destined to be an everyday kitchen essential, featuring 180 sumptuous color photographs, Everyone’s Table will change forever the way we think about, approach, and enjoy healthy eating.

“In Everyone’s Table, Chef Gregory shares not only his delicious thoughts on food but also provides a blueprint on how to live a healthier life. He intimately shares how he evolved not only as a chef but as a person. There are so many insights that we all can learn from and exciting recipes to replicate at home. Thankful for Chef Gregory for sharing this with us.”
Marcus Samuelsson award-winning chef, restaurateur & author

“Gregory Gourdet takes us on an emotional journey from wrapping us in a warm blanket as he talks about his Haitian family and roots to his not-so-pretty bout with drugs to his obsession with running and health. A journey that eventually places us all around Everyone’s Table. Gregory brings us modern healthy food that’s 100% unprocessed, dairy-free, bright, and beautiful with just as much ingredient diversity and elegance. This just may become my #1 go to cookbook.”
Carla Hall, Chef/TV Host


Click for more detail about Vip: Mahalia Jackson: Freedom’s Voice by Denise Lewis Patrick Vip: Mahalia Jackson: Freedom’s Voice

by Denise Lewis Patrick
HarperCollins (May 04, 2021)
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Get ready to sing for justice with Mahalia Jackson in this exciting middle grade nonfiction biography. Perfect for fans of the Who Was and Little Leaders series, the books in the VIP series tell the true—and amazing—stories of some of history’s greatest trailblazers. Meet the VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE who changed the world!

Mahalia Jackson was known as the queen of gospel music. A close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s, she was also a civil rights activist who sang at the March on Washington. And she traveled the world, too! Experience all the inspiring moments in Mahalia’s big life in this thrilling biography, packed with two-color illustrations and fun facts, like who invented rock and roll!

Short and engaging chapters are interspersed with special lists and other information made to order to engage kids, whether they’re already biography fans or “have to” write a report for school. Extras include a timeline, a bibliography, and a hall of fame of other musicians and civil rights activists.

The VIP series features stirring adventures and fun facts about some of history’s greatest trailblazers—smart, tough, persevering innovators who will excite today’s kids. Featuring underappreciated historical figures and groups, with a focus on leaders in science, activism, and the arts, the nonfiction biographies in the VIP series are fun and appealing. Just looking at the cover will make kids want to learn more about these VIPs, and once they dive in they will zoom through stories that read like adventures.

Each book in the VIP series allows your middle grader to experience all the fascinating moments in some very important but lesser known lives. These biographies for kids age 9-12 include: VIP: Dr. Mae Jemison: Brave Rocketeer; VIP: Lewis Latimer: Engineering Wizard; VIP: Mahalia Jackson: Freedom’s Voice; and VIP: Lydia Darragh: Unexpected Spy.


Click for more detail about Magic City: A Novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes Magic City: A Novel

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Harper Perennial (May 04, 2021)
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“A compelling page-turner that will keep readers hoping against hope that everything will somehow, magically, turn out for the best.” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With a new Afterword from the author reflecting on the 100th anniversary of one of the most heinous tragedies in American history—the 1921 burning of Greenwood, an affluent black section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as the “Negro Wall Street”—Jewell Parker Rhodes’ powerful and unforgettable novel of racism, vigilantism, and injustice, weaves history, mysticism, and murder into a harrowing tale of dreams and violence gone awry.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1921. A white woman and a black man are alone in an elevator. Suddenly, the woman screams, the man flees, and the chase to capture and lynch him begins.

When Joe Samuels, a young Black man with dreams of becoming the next Houdini, is accused of rape, he must perform his greatest escape by eluding a bloodthirsty mob.

Meanwhile, Mary Keane, the white, motherless daughter of a farmer who wants to marry her off to the farmhand who viciously raped her, must find the courage to help exonerate the man she accused with her panicked cry.

Magic City evokes one of the darkest chapters of twentieth century, Jim Crow America, painting an intimate portrait of the heroic but doomed stand that pitted the National Guard against a small band of black men determined to defend the prosperous town they had built.


Click for more detail about Hold the Flag High: The True Story of the First Black Medal of Honor Winner by Catherine Clinton Hold the Flag High: The True Story of the First Black Medal of Honor Winner

by Catherine Clinton
Katherine Tegen Books (May 04, 2021)
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The true story of the first Black Medal of Freedom winner—a remarkable account of one of the most memorable battles in Civil War history.

Sergeant William H. Carney was one of the few Black officers of the newly formed Massachusetts Fifty-fourth Regiment—composed entirely of Black soldiers. In an important Civil War battle, Carney led his men over the ramparts of Fort Wagner, where Union soldiers charged the Confederates. As they fought, they gained strength from the stars and stripes of the American flag, Old Glory.

It was Carney’s vow to never let Old Glory touch the ground, and despite several gunshot wounds, he was able to rescue the flag from the fallen bearer.

Carney held the flag high as a symbol that his regiment would never submit to the Confederacy. The battle of Fort Wagner decimated the Fifty-fourth Regiment, but Carney’s heroism that night inspired all who survived.

This nonfiction picture book is authored by Catherine Clinton, the Denman Chair of American History at the University of Texas in San Antonio, and beautifully illustrated by Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Shane W. Evans.

"Captures the fear and horror of battle as well as the bravery of the soldiers."—Booklist

"An excellent resource to humanize textbook studies of the Civil War." —School Library Journal


Click for more detail about Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin Summer on the Bluffs

by Sunny Hostin
William Morrow (May 04, 2021)
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Emmy Award winner, renowned lawyer and journalist, The View cohost, and National Bestselling author Sunny Hostin dazzles with this brilliant novel about a life-changing summer along the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard.

Welcome to Oak Bluffs, the most exclusive black beach community in the country. Known for its gingerbread Victorian-style houses and modern architectural marvels, this picturesque town hugging the sea is a mecca for the crème de la crème of black society—where Michelle and Barack Obama vacation and Meghan Markle has shopped for a house for her mom. Black people have lived in this pretty slip of the Vineyard since the 1600s and began buying property in the 1800s, making this posh town the embodiment of “old money.”

Thirty years ago, Amelia Vaux Tanner and her husband built a house high on the bluffs, a cottage they named Chateau Laveau. For decades, “Ama” played host to American presidents, Wall Street titans, and cultural icons. But her favorite guests have always been her three “goddaughters:” Esperanza “Perry” Soto, a beautiful, talented Afro-Latina lawyer with Ama’s strong, yet guarded personality; Olivia Jones, a gifted Wall Street analyst with Ama’s brilliant, logical mind; and Billie Hayden, a gifted marine biologist and rule-breaker with Ama’s courageous free spirit.

Growing up, these three goddaughters from different backgrounds came together each summer at Chateau Laveau. As adults, the cottage is a place this trio of successful yet very different women go to escape, to slow down from their hectic lives, share private time with Ama, and enjoy the gorgeous weather, cool water, and stunning views Oak Bluffs offers.

This summer on the Bluffs, however, will be different. An era is ending: Ama, now nearing seventy-one, is moving to the south of France to reunite with her college sweetheart. She has invited Perry, Olivia, and Billy to spend one last golden summer together with her the way they did when they were kids. And when fall comes, she is going to give the house to one of them.

Each of the women wants the house desperately. Each is grappling with a secret she fears will hurt her and her chances. By the end of summer, old ties will fray, new bonds will be created, and these three found sisters will discover they aren’t the only ones with something to hide. Ama has a few secrets of her own. What she has to give them is far more than property. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, she will tell these surrogate daughters she fiercely loves and protects everything they never knew they needed to know.

Praise For Summer On The Bluffs: A Novel (Oak Bluffs #1)

“Summer on the Bluffs is a thoroughly enjoyable escape… A revealing glimpse into the lives of the black bourgeoisie and the Vineyard as told by someone who understands the complex nuances of our sisters. Sunny Hostin is an elegant yet contemporary voice that daughters, mothers and matriarchs alike will enjoy!” — Rita Ewing, author of Homecourt Advantage and Brickhouse


Click for more detail about Live Free: Exceed Your Highest Expectations by DeVon Franklin Live Free: Exceed Your Highest Expectations

by DeVon Franklin
William Morrow (May 04, 2021)
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The bestselling author returns with his biggest book yet in which he teaches us the secret to living a happier life: get rid of as many expectations as possible—of ourselves, our future, our relationships, our career and our family.

Expectations are the secret software, running on the hardware of our minds, controlling our emotions, decisions, and actions. How?

Think about your life. How much of the sadness you feel derives from what you think should have happened—than with what actually happened?

Think about your career. How much of the discontent you feel comes from your belief about where you’d be at this point—than with the progress you’ve actually made?

Think about your relationships. How much of your dissatisfaction with friends, family, significant others, or spouses has to do with your unspoken presumptions—than with the people themselves?

Having so many expectations is distorting your perspective, decreasing your happiness and disrupting your joy.

You can live a life of true freedom, greater peace and less stress: release as many expectations as possible.

This, DeVon Franklin argues, is the secret to a better life now.

In a culture obsessed with more, Live Free is a bold counterintuitive book that can start a cultural revolution, Franklin contends.

Everyone struggles with unnecessary expectations. But once you learn to let go of them, you can set the stage for the life you’ve always wanted.


Click for more detail about How Far You Have Come: Musings on Beauty and Courage by Morgan Harper Nichols How Far You Have Come: Musings on Beauty and Courage

by Morgan Harper Nichols
Zondervan (Apr 27, 2021)
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How Far You Have Come is an exquisitely illustrated collection of poetry and essays from bestselling artist and writer Morgan Harper Nichols. In the midst of the hurt and the mundane, the questions and the not yets, you can forget just how far you have come. Morgan weaves together personal reflections with her signature poems, encouraging you to reclaim moments of brokenness, division, and pain and re-envision them as experiences of reconciliation, unity, and hope.

As Morgan reflects on the moments that shaped her, she invites you to:

  • Awaken your heart and recognize how your own history has made you who you are today

  • Into a deeper understanding of pressing on and pressing in, of transformation and surrender, of meaning in the losses and wild anticipation for the splendor ahead

  • Reclaim moments of brokenness, division, and pain and re-envision them as experiences of reconciliation, unity, and hope

  • Become who you are in the moment you hold right now

A Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestselling author, Morgan has cultivated a loyal online community, over a million Instagram followers, and an in-person following as she shares her unique message around the country. How Far You Have Come is an excellent gift for college and high school graduations, faith celebrations and anniversaries, life transitions, and birthdays or simply a gift for yourself.


Click for more detail about Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend: Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump by Ben Philippe Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend: Notes from the Other Side of the Fist Bump

by Ben Philippe
Harper (Apr 27, 2021)
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In the biting, hilarious vein of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life—comes Ben Philippe’s candid memoir in essays, chronicling a lifetime of being the Black friend (see also: foreign kid, boyfriend, coworker, student, teacher, roommate, enemy) in predominantly white spaces.

In an era in which “I have many black friends” is often a medal of Wokeness, Ben hilariously chronicles the experience of being on the receiving end of those fist bumps. He takes us through his immigrant childhood, from wanting nothing more than friends to sit with at lunch, to his awkward teenage years, to college in the age of Obama, and adulthood in the Trump administration—two sides of the same American coin.

Ben takes his role as your new black friend seriously, providing original and borrowed wisdom on stereotypes, slurs, the whole “swimming thing,” how much Beyoncé is too much Beyoncé, Black Girl Magic, the rise of the Karens, affirmative action, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other conversations you might want to have with your new BBFF.

Oscillating between the impulse to be "one of the good ones" and the occasional need to excuse himself to the restrooms, stuff his mouth with toilet paper, and scream, Ben navigates his own Blackness as an “Oreo” with too many opinions for his father’s liking, an encyclopedic knowledge of CW teen dramas, and a mouth he can’t always control.

From cheating his way out of swim tests to discovering stray family members in unlikely places, he finds the punchline in the serious while acknowledging the blunt truths of existing as a Black man in today’s world.

Extremely timely, Sure, I’ll Be Your Black Friend is a conversational take on topics both light and heavy, universal and deeply personal, which reveals incisive truths about the need for connection in all of us.


Click for more detail about A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

by Roseanne A. Brown
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Apr 27, 2021)
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An instant New York Times bestseller!

The first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction—from debut author Roseanne A. Brown. This New York Times bestseller is perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi, Renée Ahdieh, and Sabaa Tahir.

For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal—kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom.

But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic … requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition.

When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?

“Magic creates a centuries-long divide between peoples in this stunning debut novel inspired by North African and West African folklore. An action-packed tale of injustice, magic, and romance, this novel immerses readers in a thrilling world and narrative reminiscent of Children of Blood and Bone." (Publishers Weekly, "An Anti-Racist Children’s and YA Reading List”)

Don’t miss the second book in this epic duology, A Psalm of Storms and Silence!


Click for more detail about Permission to Dream by Chris Gardner Permission to Dream

by Chris Gardner
Amistad (Apr 13, 2021)
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In the spirit of The Last Lecture, The Secret, and The Alchemist, this small book presents BIG ideas for turning your "one day" into today, including the generational transfer of a dream and a powerful blueprint for a masterpiece life—from the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir and major motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness.

On a winter’s day, Chris Gardner set off with his nine-year-old granddaughter Brooke to find the harmonica of her dreams. The search sends them North "beyond the wall" into a foreboding Chicago neighborhood and, soon, on a harrowing adventure that will change both of their lives—and ours.

Chris is still mourning the loss of his girlfriend to brain cancer. Her question haunts him: "Now that we know how short life can be, what will you do with the time you have left?" After five years, he feels an urgency—what he calls, "Atomic Time" in which every second counts—to find an answer, but is stuck. Even while giving Brooke permission to aspire to one day become President of the United States, he knows it’s time to reclaim his own permission to dream.

Lost, Chris and his granddaughter board a bus, reminding him of earlier rides through dark times when dreams of a better life kept him alive. As the two wind through a changing cityscape, Chris reflects on past lessons that offer powerful guidance for dreaming your way to monumental success.

At its heart, this book lays out a blueprint for building a dream-come-true life—even during uncertainty. Gardner delivers the secrets to achieving a prosperous career—from a method for identifying your ultimate dream to a playbook for becoming world class at it. His tools include the "new 3 R’s"—or the Rep, the Rap and the Rolodex—which reveal how to earn a stellar reputation, develop a rap for marketing yourself, and amass a Rolodex of rewarding relationships. No matter how much wealth you achieve, Chris notes, true success comes from enriching the lives of others—so all can still have access to the American Dream.

Toward the end, Brooke observes that in Atomic Time it’s never too late for anyone to reinvent themselves and change their fortune. Chris, hearing her, realizes what his next pursuit will be—to go back to high school and give permission to dream to the next generation of problem solvers and change makers.

A true fable, Permission to Dream is a timeless and timely manifesto for turning dreams into action—beginning right now.


Click for more detail about When Stars Rain Down by Angela Jackson-Brown When Stars Rain Down

by Angela Jackson-Brown
Thomas Nelson (Apr 13, 2021)
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Opal is an eighteen-year-old Black woman working as a housekeeper in a small Southern town in the 1930s—and then the Klan descends. A moving story that confronts America’s tragic past, When Stars Rain Down is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching.

The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt senses a nameless storm brewing. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming 18th birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. She and her Grandma Birdie work as housekeepers for the white widow Miss Peggy, and Opal desperately wants some time to be young and carefree with her cousins and friends.

But when the Ku Klux Klan descends on Opal’s neighborhood, the tight-knit community is shaken in every way possible. Parsons’s residents—both Black and white—are forced to acknowledge the unspoken codes of conduct in their post-Reconstruction era town. To complicate matters, Opal finds herself torn between two unexpected romantic interests—the son of her pastor, Cedric Perkins, and the white grandson of the woman she works for, Jimmy Earl Ketchums.

Faced with love, loss, and a harsh awakening to an ugly world, Opal holds tight to her family and faith—and the hope for change.

"When Stars Rain Down is so powerful, timely, and compelling … an important and beautifully written must-read of a novel." —Silas House, author of Southernmost

  • 2021 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction - Finalist
  • Stand-alone novel
  • Includes discussion questions for book clubs


Click for more detail about We Are Each Other’s Harvest by Natalie Baszile We Are Each Other’s Harvest

by Natalie Baszile
Amistad (Apr 06, 2021)
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From the author of Queen Sugar — now a critically acclaimed series on OWN directed by Ava Duvernay — comes a beautifully rendered collection of essays, poems, photographs, and interviews exploring the vast history of black farming in the American south.

Expertly compiled by bestselling author Natalie Baszile, Book Title TBD is an anthology of essays, poems, photographs, quotes, conversations, and interviews exploring the history of black farming and black people’s connection to American land from Emancipation to the present. In three key parts, this eclectic collection helps communities of color reimagine what it means to be dedicated to the soil.

In the 1920s, there were over 1 million black farmers. Their dedication to the craft tackled predatory and restrictive loans from banks to earn a settlement of over $1 billion, the largest amount of money ever paid to citizens in a discrimination case. Today, there are just 45,000 black farmers, a drop from 14 percent to just 1.3 percent of the national population. Book Title TBD, black farmers in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s share why they have continued to farm despite continued discrimination from the United States Department of Agriculture and land loss due to the informal passing of land from generation to generation. The "Returning Generation"—farmers in their 20s, 30s and 40s, build upon their legacy by addressing issues of food justice, food sovereignty, and reparations.

These farmers are joined by a cast of influential voices: Baszile sets the scene at the supermarket that sparked her interest in food justice the stories of black farmers; award-winning author Clyde W. Ford follows with an introduction that chronicles the arrival of Africans on American shores; best-selling novelists, Lalita Tademy and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, who discuss their own connection to Louisiana and how they came to write novels set there; and James Beard Award-winning writers Osayi Endolyn and Michael Twitty write about black culinary tradition and its African roots. Poetry and inspirational quotes are woven into these diverse narratives, supplementing the essays with beautiful, lyrical language.

Book Title TBD elevates the voices and stories of black farmers and people of color, celebrating their perseverance and resilience, while drawing attention to the challenges they continue to face. Black farming informs the family, women’s issues, ideas of beauty, and race relations—all crucial, defining aspects of American life. The land, well-earned and fiercely protected, transcends history to signify a home that can be tended, tilled, and passed along to one’s children with a sense of security and pride. Complete with stunning four-color photographs from Baszile’s personal collection and OWN’s Queen Sugar, this beautifully packaged volume is a reminder and reclamation of one of the most necessary acts of sustaining human life.


Click for more detail about Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins Caul Baby

by Morgan Jerkins
Harper (Apr 06, 2021)
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New York Times bestselling author Morgan Jerkins makes her fiction debut with this electrifying novel, for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jacqueline Woodson, that brings to life one powerful and enigmatic family in a tale rife with secrets, betrayal, intrigue, and magic.

Laila desperately wants to become a mother, but each of her previous pregnancies has ended in heartbreak. This time has to be different, so she turns to the Melancons, an old and powerful Harlem family known for their caul, a precious layer of skin that is the secret source of their healing power.

When a deal for Laila to acquire a piece of caul falls through, she is heartbroken, but when the child is stillborn, she is overcome with grief and rage. What she doesn’t know is that a baby will soon be delivered in her family—by her niece, Amara, an ambitious college student—and delivered to the Melancons to raise as one of their own. Hallow is special: she’s born with a caul, and their matriarch, Maman, predicts the girl will restore the family’s prosperity.

Growing up, Hallow feels that something in her life is not right. Did Josephine, the woman she calls mother, really bring her into the world? Why does her cousin Helena get to go to school and roam the streets of New York freely while she’s confined to the family’s decrepit brownstone?

As the Melancons’ thirst to maintain their status grows, Amara, now a successful lawyer running for district attorney, looks for a way to avenge her longstanding grudge against the family. When mother and daughter cross paths, Hallow will be forced to decide where she truly belongs.

Engrossing, unique, and page-turning, Caul Baby illuminates the search for familial connection, the enduring power of tradition, and the dark corners of the human heart.


Click for more detail about Woman Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears and Revolutionize Your Life by Sarah Jakes Roberts Woman Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears and Revolutionize Your Life

by Sarah Jakes Roberts
Thomas Nelson (Apr 06, 2021)
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New York Times Bestseller

Sarah Jakes Roberts, with life-lessons she’s learned and new insights from the story of Eve, shows you how the disappointments and even mistakes of your past can be used today to help you become the woman God intended.

Who would imagine being friends with Eve—the woman who’s been held solely responsible for the fall of humanity (and cramps) for thousands of years? Certainly not Sarah Jakes Roberts. That is, not until Sarah discovered she is more like Eve than she cares to admit.

Everyone faces trials, and everyone will mess up. But failure should not be the focus. Your focus should not be on who you were but rather the pursuit of who you can become. In Woman Evolve, Sarah helps you to understand that your purpose in life does not change; it evolves.

Making her mistake in the Garden of Eden, Eve became the first woman to deal with rebuilding her life in the aftermath of her past. Eve knew better, but she didn’t do better. With scriptural lessons and Sarah as your guide, you discover and work through

  • past issues and questions that haunt you,
  • seeing yourself as God sees you and trusting Him with who you really are,
  • how to come out of darkness and pursue a real relationship with God,
  • why it’s important to truly care for yourself,
  • setting in motion the beautiful seed that God planted in you, and
  • running to become who you were meant to be

Your fears and insecurities may have changed how you viewed God, others, and yourself, but in Woman Evolve, you can breakthrough and use past mistakes to revolutionize your life. Like Eve, you don’t have to live your future defined by your past.


Click for more detail about America, My Love, America, My Heart  by Daria Peoples-Riley America, My Love, America, My Heart

by Daria Peoples-Riley
Greenwillow Books (Apr 06, 2021)
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America, do you love me? Acclaimed author-artist Daria Peoples-Riley invites readers to answer timely—and timeless—questions beating inside the hearts of children across America. Exquisitely illustrated, with a powerful, lyrical text, America, My Love, America, My Heart will challenge readers of all ages to examine and evaluate personal beliefs and attitudes toward the many different colors of America. America, do you love me? My black. My brown. My pride. My crown. What begins as a single question from a single child multiplies as America, My Love, America, My Heart sweeps across the country with every page turn, inviting in more and more children of color—and their questions. Does America love them when they speak? Or whisper? Or shout? When they stand? Does America love them just as they are? Inspired by the questions of her own childhood, author and artist Daria Peoples-Riley has created a powerful and important book for Americans of all ages—an essential addition to every bookshelf and classroom. Her poetic text encourages readers to confront bias, prejudice, and discrimination and invites readers to reflect and respond with their own answers, while honoring the identities of black and brown children and people of color.The unforgettable monochromatic oil paintings incorporate patriotic colors—red, white, and blue—to evoke deeply felt emotion and unique perspective. This rich, resonant book is a conversation starter for children, for families, for classrooms, and for communities. 


Click for more detail about Lakewood by Megan Giddings Lakewood

by Megan Giddings
Amistad (Mar 16, 2021)
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NPR Book of the Year 2020

  • NPR Book of the Year 2020
  • Electric Literature: One of 55 Books by Women and Nonbinary Writers of Color to Read in 2020
  • Lit Hub & The Millions: Most Anticipated Books of 2020
  • Ms. Magazine: Anticipated 2020 Feminist Books
  • Refinery29: Books by Black Women We are Looking Forward To Reading
  • One of The Millions’ Most Anticipated Reads of 2020
  • Essence’s Pick
  • Glamour’s Must Read
  • Ms. Magazine’s Anticipated Read of 2020

A startling debut about class and race, Lakewood evokes a terrifying world of medical experimentation—part The Handmaid’s Tale, part The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

When Lena Johnson’s beloved grandmother dies, and the full extent of the family debt is revealed, the black millennial drops out of college to support her family and takes a job in the mysterious and remote town of Lakewood, Michigan.

On paper, her new job is too good to be true. High paying. No out of pocket medical expenses. A free place to live. All Lena has to do is participate in a secret program—and lie to her friends and family about the research being done in Lakewood. An eye drop that makes brown eyes blue, a medication that could be a cure for dementia, golden pills promised to make all bad thoughts go away.

The discoveries made in Lakewood, Lena is told, will change the world—but the consequences for the subjects involved could be devastating. As the truths of the program reveal themselves, Lena learns how much she’s willing to sacrifice for the sake of her family.

Provocative and thrilling, Lakewood is a breathtaking novel that takes an unflinching look at the moral dilemmas many working-class families face, and the horror that has been forced on black bodies in the name of science.

“Megan Giddings’ debut novel Lakewood is reminiscent of Jordan Peele’s terrifying film Get Out.” — Essence

“Both profoundly poetic and utterly compelling, Lakewood presents an intimate portrait of the physical and psychological trauma caused by the use of Black people as test subjects for medical experiments in the United States and powerfully connects it to the broader legacy of environmental racism.” — Ladee Hubbard, author of The Talented Ribkins


Click for more detail about The Walls of Jericho by Rudolph Fisher The Walls of Jericho

by Rudolph Fisher
HarperCollins (Mar 04, 2021)
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The first novel by one of the legends of the Harlem Renaissance, a classic in the annals of Black fiction.

When Black lawyer Fred Merrit purchases a house in the most exclusive white neighbourhood bordering Harlem, he has to hire the toughest removal firm in the area to help him get his belongings past the hostile neighbours. The removal men are Jinx Jenkins and Bubber Brown, who make the move anything but straightforward.

This hilarious satire of jazz-age Harlem derides the walls people build around themselves—colour and class being chief among them. In their reactions to Merrit and to one another, the characters provide an invaluable view of the social and philosophical scene of the times.

First published in 1928, The Walls of Jerichois the first novel by Rudolph Fisher, author of The Conjure-Man Dies, whom Langston Hughes called ’the wittiest of the Harlem Renaissance writers, whose tongue was flavoured with the sharpest and saltiest humour’.

This new edition includes Fisher’s short story ’One Month’s Wages’, which revisits Jinx and Bubber during the Depression when, down on their luck, one seeks to win money by gambling, the other by taking a job in a mortuary.


Click for more detail about Bring Back Our Girls: The Untold Story of the Global Search for Nigeria’s Missing Schoolgirls by Joe Parkinson & Drew Hinshaw Bring Back Our Girls: The Untold Story of the Global Search for Nigeria’s Missing Schoolgirls

by Joe Parkinson & Drew Hinshaw
Harper (Mar 02, 2021)
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What happens after you click tweet?… The heart-stopping and definitive account of one of the most intriguing chapters of the “War on Terror”—the heroic survival of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls whose kidnap by Islamist extremists spurred a global social media campaign and the intervention of seven foreign militaries into a little-known war on the shores of Lake Chad. A spellbinding work of investigative journalism which reveals the blinding possibilities—for good and ill—of digital activism in our interconnected world.

In the spring of 2014, American celebrities and their Twitter followers unwittingly turned a group of teenagers into a central prize in America’s War on Terror by retweeting #BringBackOurGirls, a call for the release of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls who’d been kidnapped by the little-known Islamist sect Boko Haram. With just a few words, their tweets launched an army of would-be liberators, spies, and glory hunters into an obscure conflict that few understood, in a part of Nigeria that had just barely begun to use the internet.

While the world’s most sophisticated surveillance technology sputtered out, a covert Swiss agency and its Nigerian recruits worked painstakingly in the shadows to free the girls. When hostage talks and military intervention failed, the schoolgirls were forced to take survival into their own hands. As their days in captivity dragged into years, the young women learned to withstand hunger, disease, and torment, and became witnesses and victims of unspeakable brutality. Many of the girls were Christians who refused to take the path offered them—converting to Islam.

A riveting narrative that unfolds across four continents, from the remote forests of northern Nigeria to the White House; from clandestine meetings in Khartoum safe houses to century-old luxury hotels on picturesque lakes in the Swiss Alps, Bring Back Our Girls is a cautionary tale that plumbs the promise and peril of an era whose politics are fueled by the power of hashtag advocacy—analyzing how wildfire social media activism is transforming global politics and our response to complex, often dangerous, events.


Click for more detail about Own the Arena: Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One by Katrina M. Adams Own the Arena: Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One

by Katrina M. Adams
Amistad (Feb 23, 2021)
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From the former President of the United States Tennis Association, the first Black woman and youngest person ever, comes a behind-the-scenes look at the professional skills involved in running the U.S. Open, the largest and most lucrative sports event in the world.

Katrina Adams is a multifaceted trailblazer. She had an astounding twelve-year professional tennis career and was the first Black woman and the youngest president to run a major U.S. sports organization. She has been instrumental in evolving the predominantly white “country club” sport to become more inclusive than it has ever been in its 135+ year history in her short 4-year term. Under Katrina’s leadership, the USTA opened its National campus in Orlando, Florida (64 acres and 100 tennis courts) and renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. She also spearheaded outreach to underserved communities of color and was named the chairman of the Gender Equality in Tennis Committee in 2018.

Now, Katrina captures her story of determination and leadership in Own the Room, her personal memoir rich in career advice for today’s major innovators. This boss girl draws back the curtain to reveal what some have described as planning 14 Superbowls—which would play out in two weeks.

Own the Room imparts valuable knowledge to women in the workforce—savvy ways to work together; honing career skills; improving negotiation skills; how to make your presence known; quiet exertion of leading and inspiring others; how to move in rooms where you may be the only person of color; how to motivate companies to diversify; working toward inclusion; making everyone feel special; and so much more. Through match points, clear, direct life lessons applicable to any field, readers will walk away with tangible steps they can take to grow their confidence, take the lead, and pay it forward. Katrina’s career trajectory is a story which will inspire millions, from Millennials as the make their way along the path of self-development, to CEOs committed to the many facets of diversity and inclusion, showing that with the right mindset and a solid game plan, one’s goals are always attainable.


Click for more detail about Anti-Racist Ally by Sophie Williams Anti-Racist Ally

by Sophie Williams
Amistad (Feb 16, 2021)
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“I’ve spoken a lot about breaking your echo chambers, and that’s something I wanted to challenge myself to keep doing, in as many ways as I can. This book, Anti-Racist Ally: An Introduction to Action & Activism, is a pocket-sized introduction to allyship — going through what allyship is, and how to do it in your home, community, work and economic life. It’s for anyone who is starting out on their allyship journey, and those who are engaged and want to find the best ways to make impactful long-term change.” —Sophie Williams


Click for more detail about No More Lies: The Myth and Reality of American History by Dick Gregory No More Lies: The Myth and Reality of American History

by Dick Gregory
Amistad (Feb 16, 2021)
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Republished as part of Amistad’s Literary Revival Program, the groundbreaking, bestselling look at history from the perspective of African Americans: an essential classic that continues to speak to us today, written by the voice of black consciousness, Dick Gregory—the incomparable satirist, human rights and environmental activist, health advocate, social justice champion, and NAACP Image Award-winning author.

In 1972, during the Black Power Movement, iconoclast Dick Gregory challenged one of the foundations of America itself—its history, which had been written almost exclusively from the white male perspective. In No More Lies, this true trailblazer gave voice to African Americans, speaking their truth about the past and race relations in the United States.

No More Lies offers this incomparable satirist’s intellectual, conspiratorial, and humorous spin on the facts. No subject is off limits from his critical eye—Gregory examines numerous aspects of culture and history, from the slave trade, police brutality, the wretchedness of working-class life and labor unions to the 1968 Civil Rights Act, the Founding Fathers, "happy slaves," and entrepreneurs.

Although this absorbing book is more than forty years old, its provocative truths continue to reverberate in our lives today. With No More Lies, Gregory inspire a new generation to connect what is happening today with what has happened in the past.


Click for more detail about The Officer’s Daughter: A Memoir of Family and Forgiveness by Elle Johnson The Officer’s Daughter: A Memoir of Family and Forgiveness

by Elle Johnson
Harper (Feb 16, 2021)
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The Officer’s Daughter is a masterpiece. More than that, it’s the perfect book for our troubled time. Johnson has written the deepest, most emotionally resonant understanding of forgiveness and justice I have ever read.—Darin Strauss, bestselling author of Half a Life

The author reflects on a terrible tragedy that forever altered the fabric of her family in this remarkable memoir, a heart-wrenching story of love, violence, coming of age, secrets, justice, and forgiveness.

When she was sixteen, Elle Johnson lived in Queens with her family; she dreamed of being best friends with her popular, cool cousin Karen from the Bronx. Coming from a family of black law enforcement officers, Elle felt that Karen would understand her in a way no one else could. Elle’s father was a highly protective, at times overbearing, parole officer; her uncle, Karen’s dad, was a homicide detective.

On an ordinary night, the Johnson family’s lives were changed forever. Karen was shot and killed in a robbery gone wrong at the Burger King where she worked. The NYPD and FBI launched a cross-country manhunt to find the killers, and the subsequent trials and media circus marked the end of Elle’s childhood innocence.

Thirty years later, Elle was living in Los Angeles and working as a television writer, including on many police procedural shows, when she received an unexpected request. One of Karen’s killers was eligible for parole, and her older brother asked Elle to write a letter to the parole board arguing against his release. Elle realized that before she could condemn a man she’d never met to remain in prison, she had to face the hard truths of her own past: of a family who didn’t speak of the murder and its devastating effect, of the secrets they buried, of a complicated father she never truly understood.

The Officer’s Daughter is a piercing memoir that explores with unflinching honesty what parents can and cannot do to protect their children, the reverberations of violence on survivors’ lives, and the overwhelming power of forgiveness, even in the face of unspeakable tragedy.



Click for more detail about When Harriet Met Sojourner by Catherine Clinton When Harriet Met Sojourner

by Catherine Clinton
Katherine Tegen Books (Feb 09, 2021)
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The life stories of two pivotal figures in American history—Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth—are explored in this powerful text paired with spectacular artwork. "A beautiful, uplifting book that is sure to inspire interest in these strong, amazing women." (School Library Journal)

This powerful picture book relates the lives of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth on alternating pages, leading up to the day they likely met in Boston in 1864. Share this book in the classroom or at home as an introduction to these two American heroes. A strong companion to such books as Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom and Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad.


Click for more detail about Wild Rain: Women Who Dare by Beverly Jenkins Wild Rain: Women Who Dare

by Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Feb 09, 2021)
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USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins continues her captivating Women Who Dare series with a female rancher who forges her own path in the wake of the Civil War…

Banished by her grandfather at the age of eighteen, Spring Lee has survived scandal to claim her own little slice of Paradise, Wyoming. She’s proud of working her ranch alone and unwilling to share it with a stranger—especially one like Garrett McCray, who makes her second-guess her resolve to avoid men.

Garrett escaped slavery years ago and is now a reporter in Washington. He’s traveled west to interview Dr. Colton Lee for an article, yet it’s Lee’s fearless sister, Spring, who captures his interest. Clad in denim and buckskins instead of dresses, she’s the most fascinating woman he’s ever met. And he’s certain she also feels the connection that sizzles between them.

But when a shadow from Spring’s past returns, all is on the line: her ranch, her safety—and this wild, fierce love.


Click for more detail about Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone by Minna Salami Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone

by Minna Salami
Amistad (Jan 26, 2021)
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The creator of the internationally popular, multiple award-winning blog MsAfropolitan applies an Africa-centered feminist sensibility to issues of racism and sexism, challenging our illusions about oppression and liberation and daring women to embrace their power.

Sensuous Knowledge is a collection of thought provoking essays that explore questions central to how we see ourselves, our history, and our world.

What does it mean to be oppressed?
What does it mean to be liberated?
Why do women choose to follow authority even when they can be autonomous?
What is the cost of compromising one’s true self?
What narratives particularly subjugate women and people of African heritage?
What kind of narrative can heal and empower?

As she considers these questions, Salami offers fresh insights on key cultural issues that impact women’s lives, including power, beauty, and knowledge. She also examines larger subjects, such as Afrofuturism, radical Black feminism, and gender politics, all with a historical outlook that is also future oriented. Combining a storyteller’s narrative playfulness and a social critic’s intellectual rigor, Salami draws upon a range of traditions and ideologies, feminist theory, popular culture—including insights from Ms. Lauryn Hill, Beyonc�, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, and others—science, philosophy, African myths and origin stories, and her own bold personal narrative to establish a language for change and self-liberation.

Sensuous Knowledge inspires reflection and challenge us to formulate or own views. Using ancestral knowledge to steer us toward freedom, Salami reveals the ways that women have protested over the years in large and small ways—models that inspire and empower us to define our own sense of womanhood today.

In this riveting meditation, Salami ask women to break free of the prison made by ingrained male centric biases, and build a house themselves—a home that can nurture us all.


Click for more detail about Just As I Am by Cicely Tyson Just As I Am

by Cicely Tyson
Amistad (Jan 26, 2021)
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An Instant AALBC Bestseller!

The stunning life-story of Academy, Tony, and three-time Emmy Award winning actress and trailblazer, Cicely Tyson, that details her incredible six-decade career on and off screen.

At 94, Cicely Tyson is a dynamic and legendary actress. A Harlem native, she began her career as a fashion model, gracing the covers of Ebony and Jet. She transitioned to acting in 1951 and is still featured in coveted roles depicting strong, Black women outside of caricature or stereotypes. She played Viola Davis’s mother in How to Get Away with Murder, Coretta Scott King in King, Jane Pittman in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, and Mother Watts in Trip to Bountiful.

What is perhaps most incredible has been her ability to appeal to viewers across race and generations by embodying characters that are fresh and current. From classics such as Roots and Sounder to contemporary programming like House of Cards and Saturday Night Live, of which she was the first Black female host, Ms. Tyson is iconic, timeless, and highly-respected.

Now, Cicely Tyson travels from stage to page to bring the world an unprecedented peek into her closely guarded personal life and the grounding forces of family and faith that have informed her life. Ever humble, Ms. Tyson says, “The greatest gratification has come in refining my craft, not in gazing upon its merits.”

Just As I Am is an autobiography from the heart. In three sections—Planted, Rooted, and Bountiful—Ms. Tyson delves into revelatory life lessons from each major role, lessons that are unexpected, profound, and that have helped her navigate per personal and public lives in tandem. From the years spent at her mother’s elbow and in the grounding, nurturing pews of her church family to delving into her ancestry with the help of genealogy experts, Ms. Tyson’s spirit of curiosity rings true with poetic authenticity.

Just As I Am is Cicely Tyson’s personal testimony of how nine decades of experiences—some magnificent, others sorrowful, some on screen, many away from it—that have given birth to the woman she is still becoming.

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto by Charles M. Blow The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto

by Charles M. Blow
Harper (Jan 26, 2021)
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With Georgia on the radar—and state and city electorates across the country paying attention—acclaimed columnist and author Charles Blow delivers a resounding proposal for Black Americans to amass political power and fight white supremacy. The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto (Harper) goes on sale on January 26, 2021, and is confidential for the time being. I would love to put the galleys in your hands—ideally, both the PDF and a physical copy. Please forward me your best address for the latter.

Blow never wanted to write a “race book.” But as violence against Black people—both physical and psychological—seemed only to increase in recent years, culminating in the historic pandemic and protests of the summer of 2020, he felt compelled to write a new story for Black Americans. He envisioned a succinct, counterintuitive, and impassioned corrective to the myths that have for too long governed our thinking about race and geography in America. Drawing on both political observations and personal experience as a Black son of the South, Charles set out to offer a call to action by which Black people can finally achieve equality, on their own terms.

So what will it take to make lasting change when small steps have so frequently failed? It’s going to take an unprecedented shift in power. The Devil You Know is a groundbreaking manifesto, proposing nothing short of the most audacious power play by Black people in the history of this country.


Click for more detail about Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale by Tim Fielder Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale

by Tim Fielder
Amistad (Jan 19, 2021)
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Sure to become a treasured collectible, a gorgeous, groundbreaking, full-color Afrofuturist graphic novel that captures the spirit of the record-breaking film Black Panther and its mantra "Wakanda Forever."

Afrofuturism, a cultural movement that began in the early 20th Century as an escape from racial hostility, economic turmoil, and aggressive policing in black communities, is enjoying a renaissance witnessed by the record-breaking success of creative projects, including the acclaimed, award-winning film, Black Panther; Janelle Monae’s hit album, Dirty Computer; Jordan Peele’s provocative feature Get Out; Octavia Butler’s famed science fiction novel, Kindred; and Solange Knowles’ sundial headdress. Now comes Tim Fielder’s compelling, beautifully rendered graphic novel, INFINITUM.

In INFINITUM, King AjA Oba and Queen Lewa are revered across the African continent for their impressive political and military skills. Yet the future of their kingdom is in jeopardy, for the royal couple do not have an heir of their own. When the King kidnaps his son born to a concubine, Obinrin, she curses AjA with the "gift" of immortality. After enjoying long, wonderful lives both, Queen Lewa and the crown prince die naturally, leaving the ageless bereaved King AjA heartbroken and alone. Taking advantage of AjA’s vulnerability, enemy nations rise to power and kill the king - or so they think. King AjA Oba survives the fatal attack, finally realizing the bitter fruit of Obinrin’s curse.

For decades, the immortal AjA wanders the world, mourning his lost subjects and searching for a new kingdom. His journey leads him across time, allowing him to witness the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the New World, and the American Civil Rights Movement. The expansion of global technology brings about intergalactic travel, first contact with an alien species, and conflicts within and ultimately outside the known universe. Thrust into these seminal events, AjA, now known by many as "John," faces harrowing decisions that will determine mankind’s physical and spiritual trajectory.

In 260 stunningly, emotionally evocative full-color images, INFINITUM presents a unique cosmic experience, addressing pressing issues of racism, classism, gender inequality, the encroachment of technology and the spiritual cost of war, while exposing the history behind ancient mysteries, including Olmec heads and Maroon societies.



Click for more detail about The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard The Rib King

by Ladee Hubbard
Amistad (Jan 19, 2021)
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"Ladee Hubbard’s voice is a welcome original." —Mary Gaitskill

Upstairs, Downstairs meets Parasite: The acclaimed author of The Talented Ribkins deconstructs painful African American stereotypes and offers a fresh and searing critique on race, class, privilege, ambition, exploitation, and the seeds of rage in America in this intricately woven and masterfully executed historical novel, set in the early twentieth century that centers around the black servants of a down-on-its heels upper-class white family.

For fifteen years August Sitwell has worked for the Barclays, a well-to-do white family who plucked him from an orphan asylum and gave him a job. The groundskeeper is part of the household’s all-black staff, along with "Miss Mamie," the talented cook, pretty new maid Jennie Williams, and three young kitchen apprentices—the latest orphan boys Mr. Barclay has taken in to civilize boys like August.

But the Barclays fortunes have fallen, and their money is almost gone. When a prospective business associate proposes selling Miss Mamie’s delicious rib sauce to local markets under the brand name "The Rib King"—using a caricature of a wildly grinning August wearing a jewel-encrusted crown on the label—Mr. Barclay, desperate for cash, agrees. Yet neither Miss Mamie nor August will see a dime. Humiliated, August grows increasingly distraught, his anger building to a rage that explodes in shocking tragedy.

Elegantly written and exhaustively researched, The Rib King is an unsparing examination of America’s fascination with black iconography and exploitation that redefines African American stereotypes in literature. In this powerful, disturbing, and timely novel, Ladee Hubbard reveals who people actually are, and most importantly, who and what they are not.


Click for more detail about Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston Amari and the Night Brothers

by B. B. Alston
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Jan 19, 2021)
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ALA Notable Children’s Book
ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults

New York Times bestseller!

Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this exhilarating debut middle grade fantasy, the first in a trilogy filled with #blackgirlmagic. Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor.

Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good.

So when she finds a ticking briefcase in his closet, containing a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton—if only she can wrap her head around the idea of magicians, fairies, aliens, and other supernatural creatures all being real.

Now she must compete for a spot against kids who’ve known about magic their whole lives. No matter how hard she tries, Amari can’t seem to escape their intense doubt and scrutiny—especially once her supernaturally enhanced talent is deemed “illegal.” With an evil magician threatening the supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she’s an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t stick it out and pass the tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton.

Plus don’t miss the thrilling sequel, Amari and the Great Game!


Click for more detail about Oona by Kelly DiPucchio Oona

by Kelly DiPucchio
Katherine Tegen Books (Jan 12, 2021)
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This comical and heartfelt picture book is a winning celebration of invention, creativity, and friendship. With gorgeous underwater scenes and a crowd-pleasing tale, this is one little mermaid who is here to make a splash!

New York Times bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio and illustrator Raissa Figueroa would like to introduce Oona—the big wide sea’s littlest mischief-maker.

Oona and her best friend Otto love to search for treasure…and often find trouble instead.

Messy trouble.

Tricky trouble.

Even shark-related trouble.

That’s never stopped them before, though!

After all, no proper treasure hunt is without some adventure. But when the grandest treasure yet is stuck in a deep, dark rift, Oona’s not sure if she can dive right in. What might be waiting for her in those unknown waters?


Click for more detail about The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright The Coyotes of Carthage

by Steven Wright
Ecco (Jan 12, 2021)
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE ERNEST J. GAINES AWARD FOR LITERARY EXCELLENCE

“With this splendid debut, Steven Wright announces his arrival as a major new voice in the world of political thrillers. I enjoyed it immensely.” —John Grisham

A blistering and thrilling debut—a biting exploration of American politics, set in a small South Carolina town, about a political operative running a dark money campaign for his corporate clients

Dre Ross has one more shot. Despite being a successful political consultant, his aggressive tactics have put him on thin ice with his boss, Mrs. Fitz, who plucked him from juvenile incarceration and mentored his career. She exiles him to the backwoods of South Carolina with $250,000 of dark money to introduce a ballot initiative on behalf of a mining company. The goal: to manipulate the locals into voting to sell their pristine public land to the highest bidder.

Dre arrives in God-fearing, flag-waving Carthage County, with only Mrs. Fitz’s well-meaning yet naïve grandson Brendan as his team. Dre, an African-American outsider, can’t be the one to collect the signatures needed to get on the ballot. So he hires a blue-collar couple, Tyler Lee and his pious wife, Chalene, to act as the initiative’s public face.

Under Dre’s cynical direction, a land grab is disguised as a righteous fight for faith and liberty. As lines are crossed and lives ruined, Dre’s increasingly cutthroat campaign threatens the very soul of Carthage County and perhaps the last remnants of his own humanity.

A piercing portrait of our fragile democracy and one man’s unraveling, The Coyotes of Carthage paints a disturbingly real portrait of the American experiment in action.


Click for more detail about Time for Kenny by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney Time for Kenny

by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
Greenwillow Books (Jan 12, 2021)
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Two-time Caldecott Honor artist and Coretta Scott King Medalist Brian Pinkney’s Time for Kenny is simple, direct, and pitch-perfect for emerging readers. This vibrant, family-oriented picture book is full of boundless energy, action, and unlimited love. A timeless choice for fans of Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Christian Robinson, and Oge Mora.

Time for Kenny to get up and enjoy the day with his family! In four deceptively simple stories, Brian Pinkney guides readers through a young child’s day. First, Kenny must get dressed. Maybe he can wear his mom’s shoes? And his grandpa’s hat seems to fit perfectly on his head. Luckily, with the help of his family, Kenny is finally set to go. Then he must overcome his fear of the monstrous vacuum cleaner, learn to play soccer with his big sister, and—after all that fun—get ready for bedtime.

Bright, colorful, and energetic illustrations create a bold, accessible book for families to treasure and share. Rhythm, repetition, and clear, short sentences make Time for Kenny an excellent choice for emerging readers.


Click for more detail about The Conjure-Man Dies: A Harlem Mystery: The First Ever African-American Crime Novel (Detective Club Crime Classics) by Rudolph Fisher The Conjure-Man Dies: A Harlem Mystery: The First Ever African-American Crime Novel (Detective Club Crime Classics)

by Rudolph Fisher
Collins Crime Club (Jan 07, 2021)
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A unique crime classic: the very first detective novel written by an African-American, set in 1930s New York with only Black characters.

When the body of N’Gana Frimbo, the African conjure-man, is discovered in his consultation room, Perry Dart, one of Harlem’s ten Black police detectives, is called in to investigate. Together with Dr Archer, a physician from across the street, Dart is determined to solve the baffling mystery, helped and hindered by Bubber Brown and Jinx Jenkins, local boys keen to clear themselves of suspicion of murder and undertake their own investigations.

The Conjure-Man Dies was the very first detective novel written by an African-American. A distinguished doctor and accomplished musician and dramatist, Rudolph Fisher was one of the principal writers of the Harlem Renaissance, but died in 1934 aged only 37. With a gripping plot and vividly drawn characters, Fisher’s witty novel is a remarkable time capsule of one of the most exciting eras in the history of Black fiction.

This crime classic is introduced by New York crime writer Stanley Ellin, and includes Rudolph Fisher’s last published story, ’John Archer’s Nose’, in which Perry Dart and Dr Archer return to solve the case of a young man murdered in his own bed.


Click for more detail about Their Eyes Were Watching God (Gift Edition) by Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God (Gift Edition)

by Zora Neale Hurston
Amistad (Jan 05, 2021)
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January 7th, 2021 Only: To mark Zora Neale Hurston’s birthday, Amistad is giving away a free audiobook of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

REDEEM FROM LIBRO.FM


Must create a free Libro.fm account to redeem. Contact hello@libro.fm if you need any assistance redeeming your free audiobook. Offer is only valid on 1/7/21, to the first 10,000 people.

The beloved Zora Neale Hurston Classic—a PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick—now available in a special gift edition.

“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie Smith

Originally published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God has become one of the most important and enduring works of modern American literature. Written with Zora Neale Hurston’s singular wit and pathos, this Southern love story recounts Janie Crawford’s “ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny.”

A tale of awakening and independence featuring a strong female protagonist driven to fulfill her passions and ambitions, Their Eyes Were Watching God is a classic of the Harlem Renaissance and perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of literature.


Click for more detail about Vip: Lewis Latimer: Engineering Wizard by Denise Lewis Patrick Vip: Lewis Latimer: Engineering Wizard

by Denise Lewis Patrick
HarperCollins (Jan 05, 2021)
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Get ready to light up the world with Lewis Latimer in this exciting middle grade nonfiction biography. Perfect for fans of the Who Was and Little Leaders series, the books in the VIP series tell the true—and amazing—stories of some of history’s greatest trailblazers. Meet the VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE who changed the world!

Lewis Latimer was one of the greatest inventors of his time. He was also an engineer who transformed the lightbulb at Thomas Edison’s company. And he was a gifted artist, too! Experience all the exciting moments in Lewis Latimer’s thrilling life in this exciting biography, packed with two-color illustrations and fun facts, like who invented the Super Soaker!

Short and engaging chapters are interspersed with special lists and other information made to order to engage kids, whether they’re already biography fans or “have to” write a report for school. Extras include a timeline, a bibliography, and a hall of fame of other successful African American inventors.

The VIP series features inspiring adventures and fun facts about some of history’s greatest trailblazers—smart, tough, persevering innovators who will inspire today’s kids. Featuring underappreciated historical figures and groups, with a focus on leaders in science and technology, the nonfiction biographies in the VIP series are fun and engaging. Just looking at the cover will make kids want to learn more about these VIPs, and once they dive in they will zoom through stories that read like adventures.

Each book in the VIP series allows your middle grader to experience all the exciting moments in some very important but lesser known lives. These biographies for kids age 9-12 include: VIP: Dr. Mae Jemison: Brave Rocketeer; VIP: Lewis Latimer: Engineering Wizard; VIP: Mahalia Jackson: Freedom’s Voice; and VIP: Lydia Darragh: Unexpected Spy.


Click for more detail about Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant Happily Ever Afters

by Elise Bryant
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Jan 05, 2021)
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Jane the Virgin meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in this charming debut romantic comedy filled with Black Girl Magic. Perfect for fans of Mary H. K. Choi and Nicola Yoon with crossover appeal for readers of Jasmine Guillory and Talia Hibbert romances.

Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She’s rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. The only place she’s a true leading lady is in her own writing—in the swoony love stories she shares only with Caroline, her best friend and #1 devoted reader.

When Tessa is accepted into the creative writing program of a prestigious art school, she’s excited to finally let her stories shine. But when she goes to her first workshop, the words are just…gone. Fortunately, Caroline has a solution: Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. And she’s ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps to a happily ever after. Nico, the brooding artist who looks like he walked out of one of Tessa’s stories, is cast as the perfect Prince Charming.

But as Tessa checks each item off Caroline’s list, she gets further and further away from herself. She risks losing everything she cares about—including the surprising bond she develops with sweet Sam, who lives across the street. She’s well on her way to having her own real-life love story, but is it the one she wants, after all?


Click for more detail about The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership, and Legacy by Kekla Magoon The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership, and Legacy

by Kekla Magoon
Quill Tree Books (Jan 05, 2021)
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The story of an all-black regiment’s assault on the impregnable Fort Wagner in the Civil War, an act of extraordinary courage that changed hearts and minds in America for ever

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. 1863.

On a cold beach in South Carolina, the soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment are marching into battle. Their mission: to capture the impregnable Fort Wagner. The odds are heavily against them, and the stakes could not be higher - they are one of the first all-Black regiments in the Union Army, and all of America is watching them.

Among their ranks is William Harvey Carney. A former enslaved man who escaped to the North, he knows what a precious thing freedom is. So when the bugle sounds, and the regimental flag is hoisted high, William charges towards the guns.


Click for more detail about My Baby Loves Valentine’s Day by Jabari Asim My Baby Loves Valentine’s Day

by Jabari Asim
HarperFestival (Dec 15, 2020)
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The perfect Valentine’s gift for your baby or toddler!

In My Baby Loves Valentine’s Day, celebrate all the lovely things that Baby discovers about Valentines Day:

Baby loves hearts made of paper and lace.
Baby loves kisses and a loving embrace.
Baby loves pretty red roses…

Celebrate all the lovely things Baby discovers about Valentine’s Day!

This Own Voices board book, the perfect gift for a new baby, features rhythmic poetry from Jabari Asim and adorable art from Tara Nicole Whitaker.


Click for more detail about Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic by Kenya Hunt Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic

by Kenya Hunt
Amistad (Dec 08, 2020)
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In the vein of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist and Issa Rae’s The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, but wholly its own, a provocative, humorous, and, at times, heartbreaking collection of essays on what it means to be black, a woman, a mother, and a global citizen in today’s ever-changing world.

Black women have never been more visible or more publicly celebrated than they are now. But for every new milestone, every magazine cover, every box office record smashed, every new face elected to public office, the reality of everyday life for black women remains a complex, conflicted, contradiction-laden experience.

An American journalist who has been living and working in London for a decade, Kenya Hunt has made a career of distilling moments, movements, and cultural moods into words. Her work takes the difficult and the indefinable and makes it accessible; it is razor sharp cultural observation threaded through evocative and relatable stories.

Girl Gurl Grrrl both illuminates our current cultural moment and transcends it. Hunt captures the zeitgeist while also creating a timeless celebration of womanhood, of blackness, and the possibilities they both contain. She blends the popular and the personal, the frivolous and the momentous in a collection that truly reflects what it is to be living and thriving as a black woman today.


Click for more detail about Think Black: A Memoir by Clyde W. Ford Think Black: A Memoir

by Clyde W. Ford
Amistad (Dec 08, 2020)
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Finalist for a 2020 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

In this thought-provoking and heartbreaking memoir, an award-winning writer tells the story of his father, John Stanley Ford, the first black software engineer at IBM, revealing how racism insidiously affected his father’s view of himself and their relationship.

In 1947, Thomas J. Watson set out to find the best and brightest minds for IBM. At City College he met young accounting student John Stanley Ford and hired him to become IBM’s first black software engineer. But not all of the company’s white employees refused to accept a black colleague and did everything in their power to humiliate, subvert, and undermine Ford.

Yet Ford would not quit. Viewing the job as the opportunity of a lifetime, he comported himself with dignity and professionalism, and relied on his community and his "street smarts" to succeed. He did not know that his hiring was meant to distract from IBM’s dubious business practices, including its involvement in the Holocaust, eugenics, and apartheid.

While Ford remained at IBM, it came at great emotional cost to himself and his family, especially his son Clyde. Overlooked for promotions he deserved, the embittered Ford began blaming his fate on his skin color and the notion that darker-skinned people like him were less intelligent and less capable—beliefs that painfully divided him and Clyde, who followed him to IBM two decades later.

From his first day of work—with his wide-lapelled suit, bright red turtleneck, and huge afro—Clyde made clear he was different. Only IBM hadn’t changed. As he, too, experienced the same institutional racism, Clyde began to better understand the subtle yet daring ways his father had fought back.

Also available in hardcover.


Click for more detail about Africaville by Jeffrey Colvin Africaville

by Jeffrey Colvin
Amistad (Dec 01, 2020)
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2020 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee-Debut Fiction

A ferociously talented writer makes his stunning debut with this richly woven tapestry, set in a small Nova Scotia town settled by former slaves, that depicts several generations of one family bound together and torn apart by blood, faith, time, and fate.

Vogue : Best Books to Read This Winter

Structured as a triptych, Africaville chronicles the lives of three generations of the Sebolt family—Kath Ella, her son Omar/Etienne, and her grandson Warner—whose lives unfold against the tumultuous events of the twentieth century from the Great Depression of the 1930s, through the social protests of the 1960s to the economic upheavals in the 1980s.

A century earlier, Kath Ella’s ancestors established a new home in Nova Scotia. Like her ancestors, Kath Ella’s life is shaped by hardship—she struggles to conceive and to provide for her family during the long, bitter Canadian winters. She must also contend with the locals’ lingering suspicions about the dark-skinned “outsiders” who live in their midst.

Kath Ella’s fierce love for her son, Omar, cannot help her overcome the racial prejudices that linger in this remote, tight-knit place. As he grows up, the rebellious Omar refutes the past and decides to break from the family, threatening to upend all that Kath Ella and her people have tried to build. Over the decades, each successive generation drifts further from Africaville, yet they take a piece of this indelible place with them as they make their way to Montreal, Vermont, and beyond, to the deep South of America.

As it explores notions of identity, passing, cross-racial relationships, the importance of place, and the meaning of home, Africaville tells the larger story of the black experience in parts of Canada and the United States. Vibrant and lyrical, filled with colorful details, and told in a powerful, haunting voice, this extraordinary novel—as atmospheric and steeped in history as The Known World, Barracoon, The Underground Railroad, and The Twelve Tribes of Hattie—is a landmark work from a sure-to-be major literary talent.


Click for more detail about The Big Picture: Getting Perspective on What’s Really Important by Ben Carson The Big Picture: Getting Perspective on What’s Really Important

by Ben Carson
Zondervan (Dec 01, 2020)
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Dr. Ben Carson is known as the originator of groundbreaking surgical procedures and a doctor who turns impossible hopes into joyous realities. But where does this incredible drive and focus come from? According to Dr. Carson himself, the answer is simple: The Big Picture.

Every day when Dr. Carson went to work as a surgeon, he had to make life-and-death decisions. For that reason, and because so many of the people and families he worked with had suddenly been forced to reconsider what's really important in life, he's spent a lot of his own time searching for perspective.

By finding a vision of something truly worth living for—something that shines a light on the best of his amazing talents, energy, and focus—Dr. Carson can discern what matters and leave the rest behind.

In The Big Picture, Dr. Carson sheds light on this life-changing philosophy, giving you the tools and encouragement you need to:

  • View hardship as an advantage
  • Determine what really matters
  • See your life from a new perspective

The Big Picture is all about broadening your perspectives and finding a vision for your own life that can reframe your priorities, energize your efforts, and inspire you to change the world around you. Are you ready to see The Big Picture?


Click for more detail about How to Catch a Queen: Runaway Royals by Alyssa Cole How to Catch a Queen: Runaway Royals

by Alyssa Cole
HarperTrophy (Dec 01, 2020)
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An arranged marriage leads to unexpected desire, in the first book of Alyssa Cole’s Runaway Royals series…

When Shanti Mohapi weds the king of Njaza, her dream of becoming a queen finally comes true. But it’s nothing like she imagined. Shanti and her husband may share an immediate and powerful attraction, but her subjects see her as an outsider, and everything she was taught about being the perfect wife goes disastrously wrong.

A king must rule with an iron fist, and newly crowned King Sanyu was born perfectly fitted for the gauntlet, even if he wishes he weren’t. He agrees to take a wife as is required of him, though he doesn’t expect to actually fall in love. Even more vexing? His beguiling new queen seems to have the answers to his country’s problems—except no one will listen to her.

By day, they lead separate lives. By night, she wears the crown, and he bows to her demands in matters of politics and passion. When turmoil erupts in their kingdom and their marriage, Shanti goes on the run, and Sanyu must learn whether he has what it takes both to lead his people and to catch his queen.


Click for more detail about The Little Book of Big Lies: A Journey Into Inner Fitness by Tina Lifford The Little Book of Big Lies: A Journey Into Inner Fitness

by Tina Lifford
Amistad (Nov 17, 2020)
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Also Available in Hardcover

An inspiring and illuminating guide to true self care, from the sage teacher and breakout star of the critically acclaimed drama, Queen Sugar, from Executive Producers Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay for OWN.

Featured on Essence Magazine’s Culture List

In all your years of schooling, did you ever take a single class that explained how to navigate the hurt, drama, and fear that come with living? Tina Lifford sure didn’t. She learned the hard way—through experience as both a Hollywood actress and as the founder of the personal development network The Inner Fitness Project. Now, she brings together her own hard-won insights as well as those of her clients in this helpful and transformative guide. A blend of personal anecdotes and meaningful, practical—and most important, actionable—advice, The Little Book of Big Lies is the life skills class you need to nurture the inner you and move beyond the past.

In fourteen raw, personal stories, Tina teaches you how to change your self-perception—to see yourself in the best possible light, to love and honor what you see, and to forge a new sense of what’s possible in every aspect of your life. But make no mistake, The Little Book of Big Lies is not a "rah-rah" quick fix for fear and pain. Like physical fitness, building and maintaining emotional strength requires continued effort. This invaluable book is the foundation you need to start building inner health and well-being so you can thrive.

Tina guides you on a journey of self-discovery that will help you turn shame into self-acceptance, self-rejection into self-love, blame into freedom, and old hurt into power. Wise and powerful, The Little Book of Big Lies will completely change how you think and live.

—Shaun Robinson, founder of the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation, producer, and author of Exactly As I Am


Click for more detail about Serena Says by Tanita S. Davis Serena Says

by Tanita S. Davis
Katherine Tegen Books (Nov 03, 2020)
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Award-winning author Tanita S. Davis delivers a heartwarming and humorous middle grade tale about a young Black girl who finds her own voice through vlogging and learns to speak out. Perfect for fans for Sharon M. Draper and Lisa Greenwald.

JC shines like a 4th of July sparkler. She has the best ideas, the biggest, funniest laugh, and the party starts when she arrives. Serena St. John is proud to be known as her best friend.

Everything changes when JC returns from the hospital with a new kidney—and a new best friend. Out of the spotlight of JC’s friendship, suddenly things aren’t quite so sparkly in Serena’s world.

Lonely Serena works on perfecting her vlogs, hoping to earn a shot at becoming a classroom reporter. If she can be smart and funny on video, why can’t she manage that in real life? If only she could always pause, edit, or delete conversations. It would be so much easier to say the right thing at the right time … instead of not saying what she should, or, even worse, blurting out a secret that wasn’t hers to share.

Life doesn’t have a pause button—but as Serena discovers her voice through vlogging, she learns that she’s not just there to reflect JC’s light—she’s fully capable of shining on her own.


Click for more detail about Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose by Nikki Giovanni Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose

by Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Oct 20, 2020)
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One of America’s most celebrated poets challenges us with this powerful and deeply personal collection of verse that speaks to the injustices of society while illuminating the depths of her own heart.

For more than thirty years, Nikki Giovanni’s poetry has inspired, enlightened, and dazzled readers. As sharp and outspoken as ever, this artist long hailed as a healer and a sage returns with this profound book of poetry in which she continues to call attention to injustice and give readers an unfiltered look into the most private parts of herself.

In Make Me Rain, she celebrates her loved ones and unapologetically declares her pride in her black heritage, while exploring the enduring impact of the twin sins of racism and white nationalism. Giovanni reaffirms her place as a uniquely vibrant and relevant American voice with poems such as “I Come from Athletes” and “Rainy Days”—calling out segregation and Donald Trump; as well as “Unloved (for Aunt Cleota)” and “”When I Could No Longer”—her personal elegy for the relatives who saved her from an abusive home life.

Stirring, provocative, and resonant, the poems in Make Me Rain pierce the heart and nourish the soul.


Click for more detail about Diamond Doris: The True Story of the World’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief by Doris Payne and Zelda Lockhart Diamond Doris: The True Story of the World’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief

by Doris Payne and Zelda Lockhart
Amistad (Oct 06, 2020)
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Soon to be a Major Motion Picture

In the ebullient spirit of Ocean’s 8, The Heist, and Thelma & Louise, a sensational and entertaining memoir of the world’s most notorious jewel thief—a woman who defied society’s prejudices and norms to carve her own path, stealing from elite jewelers to live her dreams.

Growing up during the Depression in the segregated coal town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, Doris Payne was told her dreams were unattainable for poor black girls like her. Surrounded by people who sought to limit her potential, Doris vowed to turn the tables after the owner of a jewelry store threw her out when a white customer arrived. Neither racism nor poverty would hold her back; she would get what she wanted and help her mother escape an abusive relationship.

Using her southern charm, quick wit, and fascination with magic as her tools, Payne began shoplifting small pieces of jewelry from local stores. Over the course of six decades, her talents grew with each heist. Becoming an expert world-class jewel thief, she daringly pulled off numerous diamond robberies and her Jewish boyfriend fenced the stolen gems to Hollywood celebrities.

Doris’s criminal exploits went unsolved well into the 1970s—partly because the stores did not want to admit that they were duped by a black woman. Eventually realizing Doris was using him, her boyfriend turned her in. She was arrested after stealing a diamond ring in Monte Carlo that was valued at more than half a million dollars. But even prison couldn’t contain this larger-than-life personality who cleverly used nuns as well as various ruses to help her break out. With her arrest in 2013 in San Diego, Doris’s fame skyrocketed when media coverage of her astonishing escapades exploded.

Today, at eighty-seven, Doris, as bold and vibrant as ever, lives in Atlanta, and is celebrated for her glamorous legacy. She sums up her adventurous career best: "It beat being a teacher or a maid." A rip-roaringly fun and exciting story as captivating and audacious as Catch Me if You Can and Can You Ever Forgive Me?—Diamond Doris is the portrait of a captivating anti-hero who refused to be defined by the prejudices and mores of a hypocritical society.


Click for more detail about Class ACT A Graphic Novel by Jerry Craft Class ACT A Graphic Novel

by Jerry Craft
Quill Tree Books (Oct 06, 2020)
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New York Times bestselling author Jerry Craft returns with Class Act, a companion book to New Kid, the 2020 Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize winner. In this installment, Jordan’s friend Drew takes the spotlight, offering another humorous, powerful, and significant story about the experience of being one of the few kids of color at a prestigious private school.

Eighth grader Drew Ellis knows the saying "You have to work twice as hard to be just as good" all too well, a mantra his grandmother has instilled in him. At Riverdale Academy Day School, he confronts the harsh reality that even working ten times as hard might not provide the same opportunities as his privileged peers. Drew’s struggles are compounded when he starts feeling distant from his good friend Liam, who he suspects is one of those privileged kids. Their mutual friend Jordan struggles to keep their group united as tensions rise.

Class Act explores the challenges Drew faces in bridging the gap between different worlds and the journey towards acceptance—of his friends and, most importantly, himself. This book follows New Kid, the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal, solidifying Jerry Craft’s contribution to important conversations in young adult literature.


Click for more detail about Class Act by Jerry Craft Class Act

by Jerry Craft
Quill Tree Books (Oct 06, 2020)
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Class Act is the follow-up to New Kid, the most critically acclaimed graphic novel of 2019

Eighth grader Drew Ellis is no stranger to the saying “You have to work twice as hard to be just as good.” His grandmother has told him that his entire life. But lately he’s been wondering: Even if he works ten times as hard, will he ever have the same opportunities that his privileged classmates at the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted? Then, after a visit to his friend Liam’s house, it really hits Drew that Liam is one of those privileged kids. He wants to pretend like everything is fine, but even his best friend, Jordan, can tell that something is wrong.

As the pressures mount, and he starts to feel more isolated than ever, will Drew find a way to bridge the divide so he and his friends can truly see and accept each other? And most important, will he finally be able to accept himself?


Click for more detail about Early Departures by justin a. reynolds Early Departures

by justin a. reynolds
Katherine Tegen Books (Sep 22, 2020)
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Like Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End and Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us, Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds, author of Opposite of Always, is a powerful and deeply moving YA contemporary novel with a speculative twist about love, death, grief, and friendship.

What if you could bring your best friend back to life—but only for a short time?

Jamal’s best friend, Q, doesn’t know that he died, and that he’s about to die … again. He doesn’t know that Jamal tried to save him. And that the reason they haven’t been friends for two years is because Jamal blames Q for the accident that killed his parents.

But what if Jamal could have a second chance? A new technology allows Q to be reanimated for a few weeks before he dies … permanently. And Q’s mom is not about to let anyone ruin this miracle by telling Q about his impending death. So how can Jamal fix everything if he can’t tell Q the truth?

Early Departures weaves together loss, grief, friendship, and love to form a wholly unique homage to the bonds that bring people together for life—and beyond.


Click for more detail about We’re Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy by Elijah E. Cummings We’re Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy

by Elijah E. Cummings
Harper (Sep 22, 2020)
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Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings was known for saying “We’re better than this.”

He said it in Baltimore, a city on the verge of explosion over police treatment of citizens. He said it in Congress when microphones were shut down, barring free speech. He said it when the President flaunted his power and ignored the Constitution. He said it when the President resorted to bullying, name-calling and feeding racial divisions. We are better than this. He continued to say it until his final days last October. He said it because he believed we must call out what is wrong and call on our better selves to make things right.

In We’re Better Than This, Cummings details the formative moments in his life that prepared him to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his actions while in office. Cummings powerfully weaves together the urgent drama of modern-day politics and the defining stories from his past. He offers a unique perspective on how his upbringing as the son of sharecroppers in a South Baltimore neighborhood, rampant with racism and poverty, laid the foundation of a life spent fighting for justice.

Cummings was known for his ability to referee contentious members of Congress and reach across the aisle for the sake of justice. Since his early days in politics, Cummings proved his abilities as a leader and legal mind who could operate at the highest levels of democracy, always working with – and for – the underserved. Part memoir, part call-to-action, the book goes behind the scenes with the House Democratic leadership, offering an eye-opening account of the relentless and unprecedented obstructionism by both the President and GOP. Cummings’ final words present a vital defense of how government oversight defines our collective trust and makes the case that, even in the face of our nation’s most challenging times, we must remain rooted in the politics of optimism.


Click for more detail about I Am These Truths: A Memoir of Identity, Justice, and Living Between Worlds by Sunny Hostin I Am These Truths: A Memoir of Identity, Justice, and Living Between Worlds

by Sunny Hostin
HarperOne (Sep 22, 2020)
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The Emmy Award-winning legal journalist and co-host of The View Sunny Hostin chronicles her journey from growing up in a South Bronx housing project to becoming an assistant U.S. attorney and journalist in this powerful memoir that offers an intimate and unique look at identity, intolerance, and injustice.

“What are you?” has followed Sunny Hostin from the beginning of her story, as she grew up half Puerto Rican and half African-American raised by teenage parents in the South Bronx. Escaping poverty and the turbulence of her early life through hard work, a bit of luck and earning academic scholarships to college and law school, Sunny immersed herself in the workings of the criminal justice system. In Washington, D.C., Sunny became a federal prosecutor, soon parlaying her wealth of knowledge of the legal system into a successful career as a legal journalist. She was one of the first national reporters to cover Trayvon Martin’s death—which her producers erroneously labeled “just a local story.”

Today, an inescapable voice from the top echelons of news and entertainment, Sunny uses her platform to advocate for social justice and give a voice to the marginalized. In her signature no-holds-barred, straight-up style, Sunny opens up and shares her intimate struggles with fertility and personal turmoil, and reflects on the high-stakes cases and stories she worked on as a prosecutor and during her time at CNN, Fox News, ABC and The View. Timely, poignant, and moving, I Am These Truths is the story of a woman living between two worlds, and learning to bridge them together to fight for what’s right.

Praise For I Am These Truths: A Memoir Of Identity, Justice, And Living Between Worlds… “I always thought I was drawn to Sunny because of our similar backgrounds. But through her book I realize it’s because we’re both chameleons who are just trying to fit in. Thank you Sunny for writing a book that can teach even a know it all like me something new and invaluable.” — Don Lemon, CNN News Anchor


Click for more detail about Dick Gregory’s Political Primer by Dick Gregory Dick Gregory’s Political Primer

by Dick Gregory
Amistad (Sep 15, 2020)
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A unique and timeless guide to American government and its electoral process—as relevant today as when it was first published in 1972—from the voice of black consciousness, cultural icon Dick Gregory, the incomparable satirist, human rights and environmental activist, health advocate, social justice champion, and author of the NAACP Image Award-winning Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies and the classic bestseller Nigger: An Autobiography.

For most of his life, Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory worked to educate Americans about the issues—and the forces of power—shaping their lives. A brilliant and informed student of the American experiment, he viewed and understood politics with an acuity few possess. Nearly fifty years ago, on the eve of Richard M. Nixon’s reelection, he wrote a classic guide to the American political system for ordinary folks. Today, when American democracy is threatened, his primer is more necessary than ever before.

In Dick Gregory’s Political Primer, Gregory presents a series of lessons accompanied by review questions to educate and empower every citizen. He provides amusing, concise, and clear information and commentary on the nature of political parties, the three branches of government and how they operate, how the campaign process works and the costs, and more. Gregory offers imaginative comparisons such as the Hueys—Long, the populist Louisiana governor and Newton, the cofounder of the Black Panthers—and numerological parallels between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. He also includes a trenchant glossary that offers insights into some of the major players, terms, and institutions integral to our democracy and government.

An essential guide to American history unlike any other, Dick Gregory’s Political Primer joins the ranks of classics such as Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, and is essential reading for every American.


Click for more detail about The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America by Ellis Cose The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America

by Ellis Cose
Amistad (Sep 15, 2020)
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An urgent examination of free speech in America—addressing “cancel culture,” “acceptance of lying,” “dialogue that limits the life quality of others”—from critically acclaimed journalist and bestselling author of The Rage of a Privileged Class.

For Americans, whether conservative or progressive, free speech has long been considered among America’s preeminent freedoms, thought to separate us from dictatorships and prevent injustice. Now, more than ever, we are seeing how free speech has shaped America’s social and political landscape. So, at this most crucial time comes The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America by bestselling author and critically-acclaimed journalist Ellis Cose. He discusses how being heard is increasingly the province of the wealthy. It is no coincidence that historically huge disparities in income have occurred at times when moneyed interests increasingly control political dialogue. The Trump Administration’s accusations of “fake news,” free use of negative language against minoritized groups, and blatant xenophobia in the last four years have left Americans questioning how far First Amendment protections can and should go.

The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America, a wholly original examination of the state of free speech in America today, will litigate ideas that touch on the life of every American. We have seen social media become a widespread disseminator of false information. It has proven powerful in keeping people of differing opinions and political parties at constant odds. Protesting, a hallmark of American free speech, is criminalized or requires compliance from the authorities. The nation—and world—are watching in real time as white nationalism rises, race and gender-based violence is broadcast widely, and voter suppression persists. The problem, Cose asserts, is that individuals have virtually no voice at all. He looks at the danger of hyper-partisanship and how the electoral college’s suppressive structure determines the nation’s leaders. He examines other countries to see what we can learn from their approach to problematic speech. Weaving landmark court cases together with a critical look at contemporary applications, Cose’s eye-opening account sheds much-needed light on this cornerstone of American history and culture.


Click for more detail about Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson Grown

by Tiffany D. Jackson
Katherine Tegen Books (Sep 15, 2020)
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"Grown exposes the underbelly of a tough conversation, providing a searing examination of misogynoir, rape culture, and the vulnerability of young black girls. Groundbreaking, heart-wrenching, and essential reading for all in the #MeToo era." —Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles

Award-winning author Tiffany D. Jackson delivers another riveting, ripped-from-the-headlines mystery that exposes horrific secrets hiding behind the limelight and embraces the power of a young woman’s voice.

When legendary R&B artist Korey Fields spots Enchanted Jones at an audition, her dreams of being a famous singer take flight. Until Enchanted wakes up with blood on her hands and zero memory of the previous night. Who killed Korey Fields?

Before there was a dead body, Enchanted’s dreams had turned into a nightmare. Because behind Korey’s charm and star power was a controlling dark side. Now he’s dead, the police are at the door, and all signs point to Enchanted.

"Never have I read a story that so flawlessly hits the highest high and lowest low notes of Black girlhood in pursuit of the American Dream." —Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Jackpot


Click for more detail about Turning Point by Paula Chase Turning Point

by Paula Chase
Greenwillow Books (Sep 15, 2020)
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When being yourself isn’t good enough, who should you be?

Told in dual perspectives, this provocative and timely novel for middle-school readers by Paula Chase, the acclaimed author of So Done and Dough Boys, will resonate with fans of Jason Reynolds, Rebecca Stead, and Ren�e Watson.

Best friends Rasheeda and Monique are both good girls. For Sheeda, that means keeping her friends close and following her deeply religious and strict aunt’s every rule. For Mo, that means not making waves in the prestigious and mostly White ballet intensive she’s been accepted to.

But what happens when Sheeda catches the eye of Mo’s older brother, and the invisible racial barriers to Mo’s success as a ballerina turn out to be not so invisible? What happens when you discover that being yourself isn’t good enough? How do you fight back?

Paula Chase explores the complex and emotional issues that affect many young teens in this novel set in the same neighborhood as her acclaimed So Done and Dough Boys. Friendship, family, finding yourself, and standing your ground are the themes of this universal story that is perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Rebecca Stead, and Ren�e Watson.

—School Library Journal (starred review)


Click for more detail about Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe Charming as a Verb

by Ben Philippe
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Sep 08, 2020)
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Praise for FIELD GUIDE: “Ben Philippe’s sparkling dialogue along with prose that occasionally borders on lyrical (although in a completely cool, hip, manly way) is sure to delight readers. Norris’ evolution from cynical outsider to caring insider is a journey well-worth following—especially as it’s accompanied with laugh out loud moments [and]insightful revelations.”
—New York Journal of Books


Click for more detail about Ty’s Travels: Zip, Zoom! by Kelly Starling Lyons Ty’s Travels: Zip, Zoom!

by Kelly Starling Lyons
HarperCollins (Sep 01, 2020)
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Recipient of a 2021 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor.

Ty can’t wait to ride his brand-new scooter at the park. Other kids zip and zoom by like race cars, but all Ty can do is wobble! Ty wants to give up, but a new friend helps Ty give it another try.

Celebrate imagination and the power of persistence in Ty’s Travels: Zip, Zoom! by the acclaimed author and illustrator team Kelly Starling Lyons and Nina Mata.

With simple, rhythmic text and joyful, bright art, this Guided Reading Level I and My First series I Can Read is perfect for shared reading with a child.


Click for more detail about Ty’s Travels: All Aboard! by Kelly Starling Lyons Ty’s Travels: All Aboard!

by Kelly Starling Lyons
HarperCollins (Sep 01, 2020)
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“Both an excellent book for guided reading and a winning read-aloud.” —Kirkus (starred review)

Join Ty on his imaginative adventures in Ty’s Travels: All Aboard!, a My First I Can Read series by acclaimed author and illustrator team Kelly Starling Lyons and Nina Mata. Family time and imagination and play are highlighted in this fun story, perfect for sharing with children 3 to 6.

Ty wishes his family would play with him, but everyone is too busy before dinner-time. Luckily, Ty knows just what to do… Time for fun. Celebrate the power of imagination in All Aboard!

With simple, rhythmic text and joyful, bright art, this Guided Reading Level I and My First series is perfect for shared reading with a child.


Click for more detail about Let Go of the Guilt: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Take Back Your Joy by Valorie Burton Let Go of the Guilt: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Take Back Your Joy

by Valorie Burton
Thomas Nelson (Sep 01, 2020)
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Break Your Guilt Habit! In Let Go of the Guilt, life coach and bestselling author Valorie Burton teaches you a simple, but profound method that will free you from what she calls the "false guilt" that is so common today.

As you peel back the layers, you’ll feel the burden lift. And that’s when you make room for your authentic self and the joyful life that is possible for you. Through her signature self-coaching process, powerful questions, and practical research, she shows you how to:

  • recognize and overcome the five thought patterns of guilt,
  • break the surprising habit that tempts you to subconsciously choose guilt over joy,
  • stop guilt from sneaking its way into your everyday decisions and interactions,
  • flip those guilt trips so you can keep others from manipulating you, and
  • stop setting yourself up for stress, anxiety and obligation, and instead set yourself for a life of joy and freedom

Valorie’s journaling questions and research-based process will shift your perspective, give you clarity and courage, and equip you with a plan of action to let go of the guilt for good.


Click for more detail about When No One Is Watching: A Thriller by Alyssa Cole When No One Is Watching: A Thriller

by Alyssa Cole
William Morrow (Sep 01, 2020)
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Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…

Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo.

But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.

When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other—or themselves—long enough to find out before they too disappear?

Publishers Weekly (starred review)


Click for more detail about Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam Punching the Air

by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Sep 01, 2020)
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From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

The story that I thought

was my life

didn’t start on the day

I was born

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. "Boys just being boys" turns out to be true only when those boys are white.

The story that I think

will be my life

starts today

Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.


Click for more detail about Lovecraft Country: [movie tie-in] by Matt Ruff Lovecraft Country: [movie tie-in]

by Matt Ruff
Harper Perennial (Aug 25, 2020)
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Now an HBO® series from J.J. Abrams (executive producer of Westworld), Misha Green (creator of Underground), and Jordan Peele (director of Get Out and Us), this brilliant and imaginative novel by critically acclaimed author Matt Ruff makes visceral the terrors of Jim Crow America, melding historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror.Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors—they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism—the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.


Click for more detail about Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall Black Bottom Saints

by Alice Randall
Amistad (Aug 18, 2020)
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An enthralling literary tour-de-force that pays tribute to Detroit’s legendary neighborhood, a mecca for jazz, sports, and politics, Black Bottom Saints is a powerful blend of fact and imagination reminiscent of E.L. Doctorow’s classic novel Ragtime and Marlon James’ Man Booker Award-winning masterpiece, A Brief History of Seven Killings.

From the Great Depression through the post-World War II years, Joseph "Ziggy" Johnson, has been the pulse of Detroit’s famous Black Bottom. A celebrated gossip columnist for the city’s African-American newspaper, the Michigan Chronicle, he is also the emcee of one of the hottest night clubs, where he’s rubbed elbows with the legendary black artists of the era, including Ethel Waters, Billy Eckstein, and Count Basie. Ziggy is also the founder and dean of the Ziggy Johnson School of Theater. But now the doyen of Black Bottom is ready to hang up his many dapper hats.

As he lays dying in the black-owned-and-operated Kirkwood Hospital, Ziggy reflects on his life, the community that was the center of his world, and the remarkable people who helped shape it.

Inspired by the Catholic Saints Day Books, Ziggy curates his own list of Black Bottom’s venerable "52 Saints." Among them are a vulnerable Dinah Washington, a defiant Joe Louis, and a raucous Bricktop. Randall balances the stories of these larger-than-life "Saints" with local heroes who became household names, enthralling men and women whose unstoppable ambition, love of style, and faith in community made this black Midwestern neighborhood the rival of New York City’s Harlem.

Accompanying these "tributes" are thoughtfully paired cocktails—special drinks that capture the essence of each of Ziggy’s saints—libations as strong and satisfying as Alice Randall’s wholly original view of a place and time unlike any other.

Learn More: At the Black Bottom Saints Official Website


Click for more detail about I Promise by Lebron James I Promise

by Lebron James
HarperCollins (Aug 11, 2020)
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An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!

A perfect BACK-TO-SCHOOL tool for students and teachers who need an encouraging boost to start the year!

NBA champion and superstar LeBron James pens a slam-dunk picture book inspired by his foundation I PROMISE program that motivates children everywhere to always #StriveForGreatness.

Just a kid from Akron, Ohio, who is dedicated to uplifting youth everywhere, LeBron James knows the key to a better future is to excel in school, do your best, and keep your family close.

I Promise is a lively and inspiring picture book that reminds us that tomorrow’s success starts with the promises we make to ourselves and our community today.

Featuring James’s upbeat, rhyming text and vibrant illustrations perfectly crafted for a diverse audience by New York Times bestselling artist Nina Mata, this book has the power to inspire all children and families to be their best.

Perfect for shared reading in and out of the classroom, I Promise is also a great gift for graduation, birthdays, and other occasions.

Plus check out the audiobook, read by LeBron James’s mother and I Promise School supporter Gloria James!


Click for more detail about From Social Media to Social Ministry: A Guide to Digital Discipleship by Nona Jones From Social Media to Social Ministry: A Guide to Digital Discipleship

by Nona Jones
Zondervan (Aug 04, 2020)
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This book outlines digital discipleship principles for building an online community and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be.

There are more than 2.3 billion professing Christians in the world and more and more new churches launching globally, yet statistics show that in-person church attendance is declining or plateauing in every nation. Although social technology has been around for more than two decades, church leaders have long bristled at the idea of church online, ranking it as the last concern on their minds in Barna’s 2020 state of the church report published February 3, 2020. And then, three weeks later, COVID-19 closed the doors of every church on earth and suddenly forced them entirely online.

Nona Jones, a globally acclaimed thought leader on leveraging technology for ministry, had been leading a movement and sounding the alarm for several years to make digital discipleship a central part of every church’s ministry approach. In From Social Media to Social Ministry, she outlines her digital discipleship principles and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be. There are plenty of books to help churches build a social media strategy, but this is the first book of its kind that goes beyond digital marketing to digital ministry.

Readers will leave this book with:

•Clarity on what discipleship truly is
•The data that underscores the urgency for digital discipleship
•Understanding of the resources required to do it well
•A step-by-step guide on how to implement digital discipleship into ministry plans
•Knowledge of the differences among and purposes of the most popular social platforms, as well as the tools best positioned for digital ministry


Click for more detail about Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Morgan Jerkins Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots

by Morgan Jerkins
Harper (Aug 04, 2020)
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Named one of the most anticipated books of the year by ELLE, Buzzfeed, Esquire, Bitch Media, Good Housekeeping, Electric Literature, Parade and BookRiot

"One of the smartest young writers of her generation."—Book Riot

From the acclaimed cultural critic and New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing—a writer whom Roxane Gay has hailed as "a force to be reckoned with"—comes this powerful story of her journey to understand her northern and southern roots, the Great Migration, and the displacement of black people across America.

Between 1916 and 1970, six million black Americans left their rural homes in the South for jobs in cities in the North, West, and Midwest in a movement known as The Great Migration. But while this event transformed the complexion of America and provided black people with new economic opportunities, it also disconnected them from their roots, their land, and their sense of identity, argues Morgan Jerkins. In this fascinating and deeply personal exploration, she recreates her ancestors’ journeys across America, following the migratory routes they took from Georgia and South Carolina to Louisiana, Oklahoma, and California.

Following in their footsteps, Jerkins seeks to understand not only her own past, but the lineage of an entire group of people who have been displaced, disenfranchised, and disrespected throughout our history. Through interviews, photos, and hundreds of pages of transcription, Jerkins braids the loose threads of her family’s oral histories, which she was able to trace back 300 years, with the insights and recollections of black people she met along the way—the tissue of black myths, customs, and blood that connect the bones of American history.

Incisive and illuminating, Wandering in Strange Lands is a timely and enthralling look at America’s past and present, one family’s legacy, and a young black woman’s life, filtered through her sharp and curious eyes.


Booklist (starred review)


Click for more detail about Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir

by Natasha Trethewey
Ecco (Jul 28, 2020)
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A chillingly personal and exquisitely wrought memoir of a daughter reckoning with the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of her former stepfather, and the moving, intimate story of a poet coming into her own in the wake of a tragedy

At age nineteen, Natasha Trethewey had her world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother. Grieving and still new to adulthood, she confronted the twin pulls of life and death in the aftermath of unimaginable trauma and now explores the way this experience lastingly shaped the artist she became.

With penetrating insight and a searing voice that moves from the wrenching to the elegiac, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey explores this profound experience of pain, loss, and grief as an entry point into understanding the tragic course of her mother’s life and the way her own life has been shaped by a legacy of fierce love and resilience. Moving through her mother’s history in the deeply segregated South and through her own girlhood as a "child of miscegenation" in Mississippi, Trethewey plumbs her sense of dislocation and displacement in the lead-up to the harrowing crime that took place on Memorial Drive in Atlanta in 1985.

Memorial Drive is a compelling and searching look at a shared human experience of sudden loss and absence but also a piercing glimpse at the enduring ripple effects of white racism and domestic abuse. Animated by unforgettable prose and inflected by a poet’s attention to language, this is a luminous, urgent, and visceral memoir from one of our most important contemporary writers and thinkers.


Click for more detail about Wild Rain (mass market paperback): Women Who Dare  by Beverly Jenkins Wild Rain (mass market paperback): Women Who Dare

by Beverly Jenkins
Avon Books (P) (Jul 28, 2020)
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USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins continues her captivating Women Who Dare series with a female rancher who forges her own path in the wake of the Civil War…

Banished by her grandfather at the age of eighteen, Spring Lee has survived scandal to claim her own little slice of Paradise, Wyoming. She’s proud of working her ranch alone and unwilling to share it with a stranger—especially one like Garrett McCray, who makes her second-guess her resolve to avoid men.

Garrett escaped slavery years ago and is now a reporter in Washington. He’s traveled west to interview Dr. Colton Lee for an article, yet it’s Lee’s fearless sister, Spring, who captures his interest. Clad in denim and buckskins instead of dresses, she’s the most fascinating woman he’s ever met. And he’s certain she also feels the connection that sizzles between them.

But when a shadow from Spring’s past returns, all is on the line: her ranch, her safety—and this wild, fierce love.


Click for more detail about My Baby Loves Halloween by Jabari Asim My Baby Loves Halloween

by Jabari Asim
HarperFestival (Jul 14, 2020)
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The perfect Halloween gift for your baby or toddler!

With My Baby Loves Halloween, celebrate all the lovely things that Baby discovers about Halloween:

Baby loves the crisp autumn air.

Baby loves candles in pumpkins that grin.

Baby loves candy…

Celebrate all the sweet things that Baby discovers about Halloween. This Own Voices board book, the perfect gift for a new baby, features rhythmic poetry from Jabari Asim and adorable art from Tara Nicole Whitaker.


Click for more detail about Say It Louder!: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy by Tiffany D. Cross Say It Louder!: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy

by Tiffany D. Cross
Amistad (Jul 07, 2020)
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A breakout media and political analyst delivers a sweeping snapshot of American Democracy and the role that African Americans have played in its shaping while offering concrete information to help harness the electoral power of the country’s rising majority and exposing political forces aligned to subvert and suppress Black voters.

Black voters were critical to the Democrats’ 2018 blue wave. In fact, 90 percent of Black voters supported Democratic House candidates, compared to just 53 percent of all voters. Despite media narratives, this was not a fluke. Throughout U.S. history, Black people have played a crucial role in the shaping of the American experiment. Yet still, this powerful voting bloc is often dismissed as some "amorphous" deviation, argues Tiffany Cross.

Black Voters, Black Voices is her explosive examination of how America’s composition was designed to exclude Black voters, but paradoxically would likely cease to exist without them. With multiple tentacles stretching into the cable news echo chamber, campaign leadership, and Black voter data, Cross creates a wrinkle in time with a reflective look at the timeless efforts endlessly attempting to deny people of color the right to vote—a basic tenet of American democracy.

And yet as the demographics of the country are changing, so too is the electoral power construct—by evolution and by force, Cross declares. Grounded in the most-up-to-date research, Black Voters, Black Voices is a vital tool for a wide swath of constituencies.



Click for more detail about This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope by Shayla Lawson This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope

by Shayla Lawson
Harper Perennial (Jun 30, 2020)
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A National Book Critics Circle Finalist in Autobiography * Finalist for a Lambda Literary Award * Named one of the most anticipated books of the year by USA Today, Bitch Magazine, Parade, Salon and Ms. Magazine

From a fierce and humorous new voice comes a relevant, insightful, and riveting collection of personal essays on the richness and resilience of black girl culture—for readers of Samantha Irby, Roxane Gay, Morgan Jerkins, and Lindy West.

Shayla Lawson is major. You don’t know who she is. Yet. But that’s okay. She is on a mission to move black girls like herself from best supporting actress to a starring role in the major narrative. Whether she’s taking on workplace microaggressions or upending racist stereotypes about her home state of Kentucky, she looks for the side of the story that isn’t always told, the places where the voices of black girls haven’t been heard.

The essays in This is Major ask questions like: Why are black women invisible to AI? What is "black girl magic"? Or: Am I one viral tweet away from becoming Twitter famous? And: How much magic does it take to land a Tinder date?

With a unique mix of personal stories, pop culture observations, and insights into politics and history, Lawson sheds light on these questions, as well as the many ways black women and girls have influenced mainstream culture—from their style, to their language, and even their art—and how "major" they really are.

Timely, enlightening, and wickedly sharp, This Is Major places black women at the center—no longer silenced, no longer the minority.


Click for more detail about Surrender, White People!: Our Unconditional Terms for Peace by D.L. Hughley Surrender, White People!: Our Unconditional Terms for Peace

by D.L. Hughley
William Morrow (Jun 30, 2020)
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Surrender, white people! After 400 years of white supremacy in America, a reckoning is here. These are the terms of peace-and they are unconditional. Hope you brought a sense of humor, because this is gonna sting.

The legendary activist/comedian and author of the "hilarious yet soul-shaking" (Black Enterprise) bestseller How Not to Get Shot returns to address a nation on the edge of civil war.

After centuries of oppressing others, white people are in for a surprise: You’re about to be a minority yourself. Yes, the face of America is getting a lot browner—and a reckoning is coming. Black and brown folk are not going to take a back seat anymore. It’s time to surrender your unjust privileges and sue for peace while the getting’s still good. Lucky for America, D.L. Hughley has a plan.

On the eve of America becoming a majority-minority nation, Hughley warns, the only way for America to move forward peacefully is if Whites face their history, put aside all their visions of superiority, and open up their institutions so they benefit everyone in this nation. But we can still have fun with this right? Surrender, White People! hilariously holds America account for its wrongs and offers his satirical terms for reparations and reconciliation.

But it’s not all bad news, white folks. The upside is that if you put D.L.’s plan into effect, you can FINALLY get black people to stop talking about oppression, discrimination, and their place in America. Now, that’s something we ALL can get behind.


Click for more detail about Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture by Emma Dabiri Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture

by Emma Dabiri
Harper Perennial (Jun 23, 2020)
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From Guardian contributor and prominent BBC race correspondent Emma Dabiri comes a timely and resonant essay collection exploring the ways in which black hair has been appropriated and stigmatized throughout history, with ruminations on body politics, race, pop culture, and Dabiri’s own journey to loving her hair.

Emma Dabiri can tell you the first time she chemically straightened her hair. She can describe the smell, the atmosphere of the salon, and her mix of emotions when she saw her normally kinky tresses fall down her shoulders. For as long as Emma can remember, her hair has been a source of insecurity, shame, and—from strangers and family alike—discrimination. And she is not alone.

Despite increasingly liberal world views, black hair continues to be erased, appropriated, and stigmatized to the point of taboo. Through her personal and historical journey, Dabiri gleans insights into the way racism is coded in society’s perception of black hair—and how it is often used as an avenue for discrimination. Dabiri takes us from pre-colonial Africa, through the Harlem Renaissance, and into today’s Natural Hair Movement, exploring everything from women’s solidarity and friendship, to the criminalization of dreadlocks, to the dubious provenance of Kim Kardashian’s braids.

Through the lens of hair texture, Dabiri leads us on a historical and cultural investigation of the global history of racism—and her own personal journey of self-love and finally, acceptance.

Deeply researched and powerfully resonant, Twisted proves that far from being only hair, black hairstyling culture can be understood as an allegory for black oppression and, ultimately, liberation.


Click for more detail about My Hair by Danielle Murrell Cox My Hair

by Danielle Murrell Cox
HarperFestival (Jun 23, 2020)
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A fresh and fun celebration of natural hair for babies and toddlers!

My Hair is the perfect introduction to an array of beautiful hairstyles for tiny naturalistas-in-training!

Known for her popular Black Queens and Black Kings coloring books for adults, Danielle Murrell Cox creates a colorful and bouncy board book to pair with favorites such as Happy to Be Nappy by bell hooks; Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry; and I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley.

A great gift for baby showers, birthdays, and other special occasions!


Click for more detail about The Secret Women by Sheila Williams The Secret Women

by Sheila Williams
Amistad (Jun 09, 2020)
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Her debut novel, Dancing on the Edge of the Roof, was adapted into a Netflix film starring Alfre Woodard, and now Sheila Williams is back with a page-turning story of three women who meet as strangers and quickly build a bond after each discovers their mother harbored dark secrets.

Sheila J. Williams’ The Secret Women is a riveting, entertaining, and refreshing take on the mother-daughter dyad and its ensuing complexities. In this deftly written contemporary novel, readers are introduced to Elise Armstrong, Carmen Bradshaw, and DeeDee Davis, three thoroughly modern women of a certain age who have a coincidental and fateful meeting in a yoga class.

Though vastly different, they discover they do have something in common: their mothers have recently passed away. The trio make a pact to sort through their mothers’ personal items, and soon discover through letters and diaries their mothers all had secrets.

Elise Armstrong discovers that her mother, the First Lady of her church, had a prior husband and child she never mentioned. Carmen, who believes her daughter is bipolar, finds out that her mother was a talented artist with “mood swings” that derailed her career. DeeDee, whose last conversation with her mother was an argument that ended with her mom having a fatal stroke, learns the many unspoken sacrifices her newly deceased loved one made on her behalf.

Through their monthly meetings over margaritas, they gain not only a better understanding of their mothers, but also themselves. For the trio, they now have what their mothers did not have at the time — other women they could trust, which is one of the many life lessons in this ultimately uplifting story of unconditional love.


Click for more detail about Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea by Meena Harris Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea

by Meena Harris
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Jun 02, 2020)
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INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY FROM THE CHILDHOOD OF VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT KAMALA HARRIS!

A beautiful, empowering picture book about two sisters who work with their community to effect change, inspired by a true story from the childhood of the author’s aunt, Kamala Harris, and mother, lawyer and policy expert Maya Harris.

"A must read for little girls around the world." —Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

"An inspiring tale." —Stacey Abrams, Former Minority Leader, Georgia House of Representatives; Founder and Chair, Fair Fight Action

"I love this book." —Megan Rapinoe, Co-Captain, U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team

One day, Kamala and Maya had an idea. A big idea: They would turn their empty apartment courtyard into a playground!

This is the uplifting tale of how the author’s aunt and mother first learned to persevere in the face of disappointment and turned a dream into reality. This is a story of children’s ability to make a difference and of a community coming together to transform their neighborhood.

A New York Times bestseller!


Click for more detail about Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas Concrete Rose

by Angie Thomas
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (May 30, 2020)
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International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood.

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.

Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can’t just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.


Click for more detail about This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman by Ilhan Omar This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman

by Ilhan Omar
Dey Street Books (May 26, 2020)
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"Ilhan has been an inspiring figure well before her time in Congress. This book will give you insight into the person and sister that I see—passionate, caring, witty, and above all committed to positive change. It’s an honor to serve alongside her in the fight for a more just world." —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

An intimate and rousing memoir by progressive trailblazer Ilhan Omar—the first African refugee, the first Somali-American, and one of the first Muslim women, elected to Congress.

Ilhan Omar was only eight years old when war broke out in Somalia. The youngest of seven children, her mother had died while Ilhan was still a little girl. She was being raised by her father and grandfather when armed gunmen attacked their compound and the family decided to flee Mogadishu. They ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya, where Ilhan says she came to understand the deep meaning of hunger and death. Four years later, after a painstaking vetting process, her family achieved refugee status and arrived in Arlington, Virginia.

Aged twelve, penniless, speaking only Somali and having missed out on years of schooling, Ilhan rolled up her sleeves, determined to find her American dream. Faced with the many challenges of being an immigrant and a refugee, she questioned stereotypes and built bridges with her classmates and in her community. In under two decades she became a grassroots organizer, graduated from college and was elected to congress with a record-breaking turnout by the people of Minnesota—ready to keep pushing boundaries and restore moral clarity in Washington D.C.

A beacon of positivity in dark times, Congresswoman Omar has weathered many political storms and yet maintained her signature grace, wit and love of country—all the while speaking up for her beliefs. Similarly, in chronicling her remarkable personal journey, Ilhan is both lyrical and unsentimental, and her irrepressible spirit, patriotism, friendship and faith are visible on every page. As a result, This is What America Looks Like is both the inspiring coming of age story of a refugee and a multidimensional tale of the hopes and aspirations, disappointments and failures, successes, sacrifices and surprises, of a devoted public servant with unshakable faith in the promise of America.


Click for more detail about The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta The Black Flamingo

by Dean Atta
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (May 26, 2020)
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Stonewall Book Award Winner * A Time Magazine Best YA Book Of All Time

A fierce coming-of-age verse novel about identity and the power of drag, from acclaimed poet and performer Dean Atta. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo<;a>, Jason Reynolds, and Kacen Callender.

Michael is a mixed-race gay teen growing up in London. All his life, he’s navigated what it means to be Greek-Cypriot and Jamaican—but never quite feeling Greek or Black enough.

As he gets older, Michael’s coming out is only the start of learning who he is and where he fits in. When he discovers the Drag Society, he finally finds where he belongs—and the Black Flamingo is born.

Told with raw honesty, insight, and lyricism, this debut explores the layers of identity that make us who we are—and allow us to shine.

“In this uplifting coming-of-age novel told in accessible verse, Atta chronicles the growth and glory of Michael Angeli, a mixed-race kid from London, as he navigates his cultural identity as Cypriot and Jamaican as well as his emerging sexuality.” (Publishers Weekly, “An Anti-Racist Children’s and YA Reading List”)


Click for more detail about My Vanishing Country by Bakari Sellers My Vanishing Country

by Bakari Sellers
Amistad (May 19, 2020)
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In the tradition of Hillbilly Elegy, the CNN analyst and youngest state representative in South Carolina’s history illuminates the lives of America’s forgotten rural, Black working-class men and women.

Part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis, Bakari Sellers takes readers on a journey through the South’s past, present, and future. Anchoring his narrative in Denmark, South Carolina, readers will discover the pride and the pain that continues to flow through the soil of one of the poorest states in the nation.

While charting the rise of his father to becoming an influential president of the state’s NAACP chapter, Sellers offers a firsthand description of the South’s dwindling rural, Black working class—many of whom can trace their ancestry back for seven generations.

In Sellers’ poetic personal history, we are awakened to the other “Forgotten Men & Women,” who the media seldom acknowledges. For Sellers these are his family members, neighbors, and friends.

In each of the book’s twelve chapters, Sellers humanizes their plight as they struggle to gain access to healthcare with disappearing rural hospitals, struggle to make ends meet with the evaporation of the factories they relied on, and they struggle to forge a path forward without succumbing to hopelessness. Country is also a love letter to fatherhood—first from Sellers’ father, whose life lessons anchor Bakari, and to his newborn twins, who he hopes will embrace the Sellers name and legacy.


Click for more detail about These Women by Ivy Claire Pochoda These Women

by Ivy Claire Pochoda
Ecco (May 19, 2020)
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A Recommended Book From
The New York Times Book Review * The Washington Post * Vogue * Entertainment Weekly * People * Marie Claire * Vulture * The Minneapolis Star-Tribune * LitHub * Crime Reads * PopSugar

From the award-winning author of Wonder Valley and Visitation Street comes a serial killer story like you’ve never seen before—a literary thriller of female empowerment and social change

In West Adams, a rapidly changing part of South Los Angeles, they’re referred to as "these women." These women on the corner … These women in the club … These women who won’t stop asking questions … These women who got what they deserved …

In her masterful new novel, Ivy Pochoda creates a kaleidoscope of loss, power, and hope featuring five very different women whose lives are steeped in danger and anguish. They’re connected by one man and his deadly obsession, though not all of them know that yet. There’s Dorian, still adrift after her daughter’s murder remains unsolved; Julianna, a young dancer nicknamed Jujubee, who lives hard and fast, resisting anyone trying to slow her down; Essie, a brilliant vice cop who sees a crime pattern emerging where no one else does; Marella, a daring performance artist whose work has long pushed boundaries but now puts her in peril; and Anneke, a quiet woman who has turned a willfully blind eye to those around her for far too long. The careful existence they have built for themselves starts to crumble when two murders rock their neighborhood.

Written with beauty and grit, tension and grace, These Women is a glorious display of storytelling, a once-in-a-generation novel.

—The Girlfriend


Click for more detail about No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America by Symone Sanders No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America

by Symone Sanders
Harper (May 19, 2020)
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"Symone’s honest and profound reflection on standing up and speaking out is sure to inspire young people across the country to become the change agents the world needs." — Congresswoman Maxine Waters

In this rousing call to leadership, the self-described millennial spokesperson for the culture, CNN’s designated "woke AF" former commentator, and the youngest national press secretary in the history of the United States shares her take-no-prisoners approach to life, politics, and career success, and shows a new generation how to be loud and powerful in their own right.

Many people—most notably white older men—may try to stop Symone Sanders from speaking up and out. But Symone will NOT shut up. And neither should you. In this inspiring call-to-action, Symone tells stories from her own life of not-shutting-up alongside loud young revolutionaries who came before her to help you find your authentic voice and use it to your advantage; to fight ideological battles more effectively; and to resist those who try to silence you.

We are all gurus, masterminds, artists, entrepreneurs—we are the change agents we have been waiting for. IT IS US. And the time is RIGHT NOW. I know you’re wondering, "But HOW?" And we don’t have all the answers! Symone is the first to admit we’re all winging it in one way or another. But the point is we’re out there doing it. So get started. Open your mouth and start talking. Loudly.

No You Shut Up goes beyond the surplus of "Vote-Or-Die" books we’ve seen before. Because change doesn’t just happen at the ballot box. We need people fighting oppression, injustice, and inequality—in the workplace, on the cultural battlefield, in government, in every corner of the world. With spirited storytelling filtered through a voice that cannot and will not be ignored, Symone inspires you to start now. You don’t need to have all the answers, or wait your turn to help create the change you want to see. All you need is a new toolbox, an unshakable commitment, and the confidence and guidance to wield those tools effectively.


Click for more detail about Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender Felix Ever After

by Kacen Callender
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (May 12, 2020)
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From Stonewall and Lambda Award-winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle….

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.


Click for more detail about Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers Bad Boy: A Memoir

by Walter Dean Myers
Amistad Books for Young Readers (May 12, 2020)
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A classic memoir that’s gripping, funny, and ultimately unforgettable from the bestselling former National Ambassador of Books for Young People. A strong choice for summer reading—an engaging and powerful autobiographical exploration of growing up a so-called "bad boy" in Harlem in the 1940s.

As a boy, Myers was quick-tempered and physically strong, always ready for a fight. He also read voraciously—he would check out books from the library and carry them home, hidden in brown paper bags in order to avoid other boys’ teasing. He aspired to be a writer (and he eventually succeeded).

But as his hope for a successful future diminished, the values he had been taught at home, in school, and in his community seemed worthless, and he turned to the streets and to his books for comfort.

Don’t miss this memoir by New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers, one of the most important voices of our time.


Click for more detail about Welcome to the Party by Gabrielle Union Welcome to the Party

by Gabrielle Union
HarperCollins (May 05, 2020)
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Inspired by the eagerly awaited birth of her daughter, Kaavia James Union Wade, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning actress Gabrielle Union pens a festive and universal love letter from parents to little ones, perfect for welcoming a baby to the party of life!

Reminiscent of favorites such as The Wonderful Things You’ll Be by Emily Winfield Martin, I’ve Loved You Since Forever by Hoda Kotb, and Take Heart, My Child by Ainsley Earhardt, Welcome to the Party is an upbeat celebration of new life that you’ll want to enjoy with your tiny guest of honor over and over again.

A great gift for all occasions, especially Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, baby showers, and birthdays.


Click for more detail about Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo Clap When You Land

by Elizabeth Acevedo
HarperTeen (May 05, 2020)
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In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.


Click for more detail about Great Escapes: Journey to Freedom, 1838 by Sherri Winston Great Escapes: Journey to Freedom, 1838

by Sherri Winston
HarperCollins (Apr 28, 2020)
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Are you ready for some of the most exciting, death-defying escape stories ever told? Perfect for fans of the I Survived series, the second installment in a brand-new, edge-of-your-seat series based on real events!

Winter 1838—Kentucky. Determined to save her toddler son from being sold as a slave, the woman who became known as Eliza Harris trekked through the forest, in the dark of night with wild animals on her heels. Her goal: cross the Ohio River, the boundary between the North and the South, between slavery and freedom.

Although the journey would be perilous, Eliza looked out at the treacherous frozen waters and quickly decided she couldn’t let fear stop her, especially when a new life—a free life—waited just on the other side.

From reluctant reader to total bookworm, each book in this page-turning series—featuring fascinating bonus content and captivating illustrations—will leave you excited for the next adventure!


Click for more detail about Write Yourself a Lantern: A Journal Inspired by the Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo Write Yourself a Lantern: A Journal Inspired by the Poet X

by Elizabeth Acevedo
HarperCollins (Apr 07, 2020)
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This journal is for the dreamers. The poets. The writers who don’t yet know that they are writers, but know that they have plenty to say.

Featuring lines from Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X among its lined pages, this full-color, beautifully designed journal is perfect for readers, long-time writers, those trying their hand at poetry, or anyone with a voice all their own.

Let Xiomara’s verses spark your own inspiration, as you pour your own thoughts and feelings onto the pages—and write the words you need most.


Click for more detail about Sensuous Knowledge by Minna Salami Sensuous Knowledge

by Minna Salami
Amistad (Mar 31, 2020)
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Sensuous Knowledge weaves together a number of disciplines such as personal narrative, feminist theory, pop culture, spirituality and African philosophy in order to encourage a new understanding of knowledge that is nevertheless rooted in historical truths. It will explore universal topics such as beauty, power, gender, globalisation, science and sexuality from a black feminist and Africa-centred perspective in contrast to the male and/or Eurocentric perspective we are inundated with (read more).


Click for more detail about We Want Our Bodies Back by jessica Care moore We Want Our Bodies Back

by jessica Care moore
Amistad (Mar 31, 2020)
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We Want Our Bodies Back is a lyric encyclopedia, a psalm book, a conflagration of fire and fierce black joy. And jessica Care moore is the 21st Century poet warrior America desperately needs.”
Tracy K. Smith, U.S. Poet Laureate

“jessica Care moore is my hero. Powerful, beautiful, excellent and unapologetically Black. She is who I want to be when I grow up. Her writing allows us to be seen for who we truly are.”
Talib Kweli, rapper, entrepreneur, and activist

A dazzling full-length collection of verse from one of the leading poets of our time.

Over the past two decades, jessica Care moore has become a cultural force as a poet, performer, publisher, activist, and critic. Reflecting her transcendent electric voice, this searing poetry collection is filled with moving, original stanzas that speak to both Black women’s creative and intellectual power, and express the pain, sadness, and anger of those who suffer constant scrutiny because of their gender and race. Fierce and passionate, Jessica Care moore argues that Black women spend their lives building a physical and emotional shelter to protect themselves from misogyny, criminalization, hatred, stereotypes, sexual assault, objectification, patriarchy, and death threats.

We Want Our Bodies Back is an exploration—and defiant stance against—these many attacks.


Click for more detail about On the Corner of Hope and Main: A Blessings Novel by Beverly Jenkins On the Corner of Hope and Main: A Blessings Novel

by Beverly Jenkins
William Morrow (Mar 03, 2020)
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NAACP nominee and USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins celebrates her beloved Blessings series with a heartwarming novel set in Henry Adams, Kansas.

"If you haven’t yet gotten your hands on [this] author’s work, you should do so immediately."—Shondaland

Citizens of Henry Adams, Kansas, know there’s never a dull moment in their small town…

Trent July has been the mayor of this historic town for the past four years, but now he’s ready to let someone else take up the mantle. Barrett Payne, a former Marine, decides he wants the job. So does his wife Sheila who thinks it’s high time Henry Adams has a woman for mayor. Their teenage son, Preston, finds himself caught in the middle as the rest of the town has opinions on who would be the better candidate.

And of course that’s not the only drama, as recovering alcoholic Malachi "Mal" July continues to make reparations to the people he’s betrayed, especially his lady love Bernadine. Is she finally ready to forgive him and let the past go?

As the residents of Henry Adams have learned, life will throw obstacles their way, but it’s how they come together and rise above these challenges that keep the bonds of their close-knit community strong.


Click for more detail about I Believe I Can by Grace Byers I Believe I Can

by Grace Byers
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Mar 03, 2020)
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From the New York Times bestselling creators of I Am Enough comes an empowering follow-up that celebrates every child’s limitless potential.

I Believe I Can is an affirmation for boys and girls of every background to love and believe in themselves.

Actress and activist Grace Byers and artist Keturah A. Bobo return with another gorgeously illustrated new classic that’s the perfect gift for baby showers, birthdays, or just for reading at home again and again.

My presence matters in this world. I know I can do anything, if only I believe I can.


Click for more detail about Black Boy by Richard Wright Black Boy

by Richard Wright
Harper Perennial (Feb 18, 2020)
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A special 75th anniversary edition of Richard Wright’s powerful and unforgettable memoir, with a new foreword by John Edgar Wideman and an afterword by Malcolm Wright, the author’s grandson.

When it exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, Black Boy was both praised and condemned. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that “if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy.” Yet from 1975 to 1978, Black Boy was banned in schools throughout the United States for “obscenity” and “instigating hatred between the races.”

You’ll find Black Boy on President Obama’s Bookshelf

This incredible bestselling classic is Richard Wright’s unforgettable and eloquent autobiography of growing up in the Jim Crow South.

From Sacred Fire
Black Boy is Richard Wright’s unforgettable story of growing up in the Jim Crow South. Published in 1945, it is often considered a fictionalized autobiography or an autobiographical novel because of Wright’s use of fiction techniques (and possibly fictional events) to tell his story. Nevertheless, the book is a lyrical and skillfully wrought description of Wright’s hungry youth in rural Mississippi and Memphis, told from the perspective of the adult Wright, who was still trying to come to grips with the cruel deprivations and humiliations of his childhood.

Life in the pre-civil rights South was intensely alienating for young Richard. At every turn, his desire to communicate was stunted, whether by family members who insisted he "hush!" or by teachers who harassed and mocked him. He was surrounded by people he considered contemptibly ignorant, people who willingly allowed their lives to be restricted by tradition and authority no matter how illegitimate or self-destructive. Whether they were racist whites or passive, uncompassionate blacks, his fellow southerners viewed Richard’s independence and intelligence with suspicion and scorned and humiliated him for his family’s poverty. He lashed out by hitting the streets: He was already drinking by the time he turned six, and he fought constantly. He finally found his outlet in writing; by the end of the book, he decided that there was nothing he could ever do to improve his life in the South and committed to moving to Chicago to pursue his art.

When first published, Black Boy was considered by many to be an angry attack on the racist South because of Wright’s hard-hitting portrayal of the racism he faced, not to mention his already-acquired reputation as a "protest writer." But the book’s value goes deeper than that: Wright bears witness to the American struggle for the right of self-definition. His own quest to escape the suffocating world of his childhood and find a place where he could freely exercise his individuality, creativity, and integrity was ultimately successful. But Black Boy also offers insight into an entire culture of people, both black and white, who had unthinkingly accepted a narrowly prescribed course of life. As Wright put it, "[though] they lived in America where in theory there existed equality of opportunity, they knew unerringly what to aspire to and what not to aspire to." Despite Wright’s stifling environment, his story is inspirational for its portrait of how a black boy shucked off the limited expectations of those around him and dared to aspire. —Sacred Fire


Click for more detail about Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing by Introduction Tonya Bolden and Foreword Cokie Roberts Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing

by Introduction Tonya Bolden and Foreword Cokie Roberts
HarperCollins (Feb 11, 2020)
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Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing is a collection of significant speeches, made both by those who held the reins of power and those who didn’t, at significant times in American history. Read the original words—sometimes abridged and sometimes in their entirety—that have shaped our cultural fabric.

Introductions by acclaimed writer Tonya Bolden provide historical context and critical insights to the meaning and impact of every speech. Illustrations by award-winning artist Eric Velasquez illuminate what it was really like at each moment in history. This collection includes the following:

  • Patrick Henry, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death"
  • George Washington, Farewell Address
  • Red Jacket, "We Never Quarrel about Religion"
  • Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"
  • Sojourner Truth, "I Am a Woman’s Rights"
  • Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
  • Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic"
  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself"
  • Lou Gehrig, "Farewell to Baseball"
  • Langston Hughes, "On the Blacklist All Our Lives"
  • John Fitzgerald Kennedy, "We Choose to Go to the Moon"
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream"
  • Fannie Lou Hamer, "I Question America"
  • Cesar Chavez, Address to the Commonwealth Club of California, 1984
  • Hillary Rodham Clinton, "Women’s Rights Are Human Rights"

Strong Voices includes a foreword by #1 New York Times bestselling author and celebrated journalist Cokie Roberts, as well as a timeline in the back of the book, along with letters to the reader from Tonya Bolden and Eric Velasquez.

Strong Voices is a tremendous introduction to the extraordinary words spoken in history.


Click for more detail about Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland Deathless Divide

by Justina Ireland
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Feb 04, 2020)
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The sequel to the New York Times bestselling epic Dread Nation is an unforgettable journey of revenge and salvation across a divided America.

After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.

But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880s America.

What’s more, this safe haven is not what it appears—as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.

But she won’t be in it alone.

Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by—and that Jane needs her too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.

Watching Jane’s back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it’s up to Katherine to keep hope alive—even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.


Click for more detail about Relational Intelligence: The People Skills You Need for the Life of Purpose You Want by Dharius Daniels Relational Intelligence: The People Skills You Need for the Life of Purpose You Want

by Dharius Daniels
Zondervan (Jan 28, 2020)
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Relational Intelligence is your action plan for getting smart about who you surround yourself with. Using Jesus’s relational framework for choosing the twelve disciples, this book gives you the tools you need to define, discern, align, assess, and activate your relationships to unlock your greatest potential.

Years of ministry leadership experience have taught Dr. Dharius Daniels that there’s no such thing as a casual relationship. All of our relationships either push us forward into our God-given purposes or hold us back from who we’re meant to be. If you’re serious about taking your life to the next level, you should be serious about taking your relationships to the next level, too.

Scripture gives us a blueprint for the way relationships should be managed, and this blueprint helps us construct and grow relationships that are fruitful. It tells us that our spiritual, physical, financial, emotional, and professional progress is greatly impacted by who we allow to be a part of our lives and what part we allow them to play. Relational Intelligence reminds us that with our destiny on the line, relationships are too consequential to nonchalantly roll the dice in managing them.

Daniels shows us that relationships were part of God’s design, and when we understand and apply what God has to say about them, we can finally learn to:

  • Reflect on the people that God has placed in our lives
  • Avoid unnecessary relational turmoil
  • Be intentional in each of our relationships
  • Accomplish our God-given purpose

When your purpose is on the line, the cost of relational unintelligence is too great to pay. Join Daniels as you uncover the secret to gaining the relational intelligence you need to build the purposeful life that you want.


Click for more detail about Success from the Inside Out: Power to Rise from the Past to a Fulfilling Future by Nona Jones Success from the Inside Out: Power to Rise from the Past to a Fulfilling Future

by Nona Jones
Zondervan (Jan 21, 2020)
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Join corporate executive and leadership speaker Nona Jones as she takes you on a personal journey of healing from the past so you can move forward with freedom and hope.

Many of us aspire to achieve status, wealth, and notability in the hopes that those things will erase the pain of our past. But for those who have experienced trauma, like Nona Jones, success requires more than a changed mindset—it requires repairing a broken spirit.

Nona was appointed to an executive role with a Fortune 100 company at only 23 years old. Since then, she has led award-winning initiatives in public affairs, brokered multimillion-dollar business deals, addressed the United Nations, and championed juvenile justice and education policy reform in the halls of Congress—all before she turned 35.

Then, in one of the biggest wake-up calls of her life, Nona realized that her past battles were waging a present war. Though she tried to push away the memories, her childhood trauma continued to affect her emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically—until she made a pivotal decision.

Success from the Inside Out charts the course of Nona’s breakthrough—a course that can also lead you out of the storms of your past or present. Through her own remarkable story and insights, Nona helps you:

•Claim victory at the place where the defeat happened
• Recognize ways you use work to cover up inward brokenness
• Still the voices in your head that say you aren’t good enough
• Choose fulfilling success instead of empty success
• Map your mile-markers toward your biggest goals
• Push through brokenness into a breakthrough
Praise for Success from the Inside Out:

In Success from the Inside Out, Nona Jones shows us that God’s grace is strong enough to lift us up when we have no strength left with which to stand. This book is for anyone who needs freedom from their past to fully embrace their future.

Bishop T. D. Jakes, New York Times bestselling author and senior pastor of The Potter’s House of Dallas


Click for more detail about All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living by Morgan Harper Nichols All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living

by Morgan Harper Nichols
Zondervan (Jan 21, 2020)
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A celebration of hope. An encounter with grace. A restoration of the heart. A healing of wounds. An anthem of freedom. All Along You Were Blooming is the ultimate love letter from the pen of popular Instagram poet Morgan Harper Nichols to your mind, heart, soul, and body.

On Instagram @morganharpernicols, Morgan has over a million followers. Fans can add Morgan’s beautiful artwork and thoughts for boundless living to their library.

All Along You Were Blooming is a striking collection of illustrated poetry and prose, inviting you to stumble into the sunlight and delight in the wild and boundless grace you’ve been given. Morgan reminds you:

  • There is a purpose in every season
  • No matter how you want to race through this day or run away from this place, you are invited to live fully—right here, right now
  • Light will always find you, even when the sun sets and you sit awaiting the dawn
  • That you are always blooming in the way you were meant to

All Along You Were Blooming is perfect:

  • For men and women of all ages
  • For teachers to share with classrooms during poetry focused lessons
  • Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, National Best Friend Day, birthdays, and holiday gifting

In each small moment, whether in the light or the dark, you can make room for becoming, for breathing, for stumbling, and for simply being—for there is grace, today and every day.


Click for more detail about Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles Not So Pure and Simple

by Lamar Giles
HarperTeen (Jan 21, 2020)
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In his first contemporary teen novel, critically acclaimed author and two-time Edgar Award finalist Lamar Giles spotlights the consequences of societal pressure, confronts toxic masculinity, and explores the complexity of what it means to be a "real man."

Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. And now, during their junior year, she’s finally available. So when Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del’s right behind her. Though he quickly realizes he’s inadvertently signed up for a Purity Pledge.

His dad thinks his wires are crossed, and his best friend, Qwan, doesn’t believe any girl is worth the long game. But Del’s not about to lose his dream girl, and that’s where fellow pledger Jameer comes in. He can put in the good word. In exchange, Del just has to get answers to the Pledgers’ questions…about sex ed.

With other boys circling Kiera like sharks, Del needs to make his move fast. But as he plots and plans, he neglects to ask the most important question: What does Kiera want? He can’t think about that too much, though, because once get the girl, it’ll all sort itself out. Right?


Click for more detail about Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis’ Fleet-Of-Foot Girl by Megan Reid
Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis’ Fleet-Of-Foot Girl

by Megan Reid
Balzer & Bray/Harperteen (Jan 21, 2020)
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Althea Gibson was the quickest, tallest, most fearless athlete in 1940s Harlem. She couldn’t sit still! When she put her mind to it, the fleet-of-foot girl reigned supreme at every sport—stickball with the boys, basketball with the girls, paddle tennis with anyone who would hit with her.

But being the quickest, tallest, most fearless player in Harlem wasn’t enough for Althea. She knew she could be a tennis champion.

Because of segregation, black people weren’t allowed to compete against white people in sports. Althea didn’t care. She just wanted to play tennis against the best athletes in the world. And with skill and determination, she did just that, eventually becoming the first black person—man or woman—to win a trophy at Wimbledon.

Author Megan Reid and artist Laura Freeman tell the story of history-making Althea Gibson—and the talent, force of spirit, and energy that made it possible for her to break barriers and ascend to the top of the tennis world.


Click for more detail about Big Papa and the Time Machine by Daniel Bernstrom Big Papa and the Time Machine

by Daniel Bernstrom
HarperCollins (Jan 14, 2020)
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Discover the true meaning of being brave in this tender and whimsical picture book from Daniel Bernstrom (One Day in the Eucalytus, Eucalyptus Tree) and Shane Evans (Chocolate Me!) that follows a grandfather and grandson who travel through time in a beloved 1952 Ford.

A little boy who lives with his grandpa isn’t reprimanded for being afraid to go to school one day. Instead, Big Papa takes him away in his time machine—a 1952 Ford—back to all of the times when he, himself, was scared of something life was handing him.

Full of heartfelt moments and thrilling magical realism, Big Papa and the Time Machine speaks to the African American experience in a touching dialogue between two family members from different generations, and emerges as a voice that shares history and asks questions about one family’s experience in 20th-century black America.

"Wasn’t you scared?"

"Oh, I was scared," Big Papa said. "Sometimes you gotta walk with giants if you ever gonna know what you made of. That’s called being brave."


Click for more detail about The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver by Gene Barretta The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver

by Gene Barretta
Katherine Tegen Books (Jan 14, 2020)