Collection: Shop Black

A fun and thoughtful dictionary of Black language you didn't know you needed, Historically Black Phrases is a love letter to the Black community and the ways it drives culture.

"This perfect blend of explanation, definition and social commentary will have you laughing while learning."--George M. Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of All Boys Aren't Blue and We Are Not Broken

Black vernacular doesn't often get its due--despite its enormous influence on mainstream culture--but Historically Black Phrases is here to give Black language its flowers. A celebration of more than two hundred staples of Black conversation--from church sayings and units of measure to compliments and reprimands--this sharp and witty guide explores the unique importance of Black expression and communication. Historically Black Phrases offers definitions and notable pop culture moments, as well as tips on pronunciation and usage of phrases like "feelin' yourself," "don't get it twisted," and "pop off." In addition to the phrases, short essays offer insight on different facets of Black language from scholars, entertainers, and pop culture commentators (i.e., everybody and they mama).

Authors, journalists, and hosts of the award-winning podcast FANTI, jarrett hill and Tre'vell Anderson examine each phrase with humor and cultural precision, making Historically Black Phrases a vital ode to how Black language influences the world.

Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Renée Watson continues her charming young middle grade series starring Ryan Hart, a girl who is pure spirit and sunshine.

Ryan Hart is caught in the middle. She has an older brother and a new baby sister, and she's in a friendship tug-of-war with two friends who both want to be her best best friend. How can Ryan think about being kind to a classmate who is relentless with his teasing? Or be her signature sunny self when her brother, Ray, pulls the ultimate prank?

But even when it seems like nothing is going her way, Ryan still looks for a way to see the bright side of things, refusing to let anything steal her joy, and finding ways to share it with everyone she meets.

Acclaim for Ways to Make Sunshine:
A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year A Parents Magazine Best Book of the Year A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A WORLD Magazine Best Book of the Year An Amazon Best Book of the Year

Vulture's #1 Memoir of 2023

An unforgettable, "lyrical and poignant" (The Washington Post) memoir by an award-winning poet about being kidnapped from his Black father and raised by his white supremacist grandparents.

When Shane McCrae was three years old, his grandparents kidnapped him and took him to suburban Texas. His mom was white and his dad was Black, and to hide his Blackness from him, his maternal grandparents stole him from his father. In the years that followed, they manipulated and controlled him, refusing to acknowledge his heritage--all the while believing they were doing what was best for him.

For their own safety and to ensure the kidnapping remained a success, Shane's grandparents had to make sure that he never knew the full story, so he was raised to participate in his own disappearance. But despite elaborate fabrications and unreliable memories, Shane begins to reconstruct his own story and to forge his own identity. Gradually, the truth unveils itself, and with the truth, comes a path to reuniting with his father and finding his own place in the world.

A revelatory account of an American childhood that hauntingly echoes the larger story of race in our country, Pulling the Chariot of the Sun is written with the virtuosity and heart of one of the finest poets writing today. A powerful reflection on what is broken in America--this is "an essential story for our times" (Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of White Girls).

"Kendi and Yangni collaborate to introduce young children to the African American folklore tradition and to Hurston's importance within that tradition." --The Horn Book

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.

On the way to the library, Sadiq and his family pass an empty lot in their neighborhood. It looks like it could use some attention. Sadiq and his brothers and sisters come up with ideas for what the lot could be. A playground? A skatepark? Then a science unit about plants at school gives Sadiq and Hooyo another idea--a community garden! But where to begin? And how to get people involved? It's up to Sadiq and his classmates to "dig in" and make the community garden a success!

In a story full of style, sass, and significance, a young boy goes on a quest for the perfect Easter church outfit, inspired by elders from his community. Along the way learns about the importance of Easter traditions to his family, his ancestors, and the Black church.

Elijah is on a mission to find the perfect church outfit for Easter. But when failed attempts at his town's stores leave Elijah disappointed, an important conversation with Deacon Brown and Mother Green about tradition, culture, and clothing gives him the courage to create his own Easter masterpiece: a patchwork of perfection that tells his story with style.

Families at Easter will appreciate seeing the themes of church and Black culture throughout Elijah's quest, in this sweet yet important story about a young boy's journey toward an understanding of those who came before him.

An afterword from the author delves into the traditions and culture of Black communities at Easter and the historical importance and significance of Easter clothing and style.

A tall tale inspired by the life and works of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.

Young Toni knows that her stories are going to change the world. She's good at spinning a yarn, and in fact, she thinks she might be able to spin her stories into gold if she tries hard enough. Maybe her stories can even lead her to buried treasure?
And so Toni sets out on a quest for gold with her siblings, telling tales and looking for a little magic at every turn. But when her quest doesn't go quite as planned, Toni realizes that it's all about how you tell a story in order to find the perfect ending.
Literary scholar Giselle Anatol and Coretta Scott King honoree Raissa Figueroa have crafted a wholly original tale inspired by the life and works of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. Small-Girl Toni and the Quest for Gold honors one of America's most important writers and is a testament to the power of storytelling.

The first authoritative biography of August Wilson, the most important and successful American playwright of the late 20th century, by a theater critic who knew him.

August Wilson wrote a series of ten plays celebrating African American life in the 20th century, one play for each decade. No other American playwright has completed such an ambitious oeuvre. Two of the plays became successful films, Fences, starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis; and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. Fences and The Piano Lesson won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Fences won the Tony Award for Best Play, and years after Wilson's death in 2005, Jitney earned a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Through his brilliant use of vernacular speech, Wilson developed unforgettable characters who epitomized the trials and triumphs of the African American experience. He said that he didn't research his plays but wrote from "the blood's memory," a sense of racial history that he believed African Americans shared. Author and theater critic Patti Hartigan traced his ancestry back to slavery, and his plays echo with uncanny similarities to the history of his ancestors. She interviewed Wilson many times before his death and traces his life from his childhood in Pittsburgh (where nine of the plays take place) to Broadway. She also interviewed scores of friends, theater colleagues and family members, and conducted extensive research to tell the story of a writer who left an indelible imprint on American theater and opened the door for future playwrights of color.

This gorgeous picture book shows how one little girl's careful tending of a pecan tree creates the living center of a loving, intergenerational Black family. For Earth Day and every day! Perfect for fans of Matt de la Peña and Oge Mora.

Before her grandchildren climbed the towering tree,

explored its secret nests,

raced to its sturdy trunk,

read in its cool shade,

or made pies with its pecans...

Nell buried a seed.

And just as Nell's tree grows and thrives with her love and care, so do generations of her close-knit family.

Inspired by the pecan trees of the creators' own childhoods, Anne Wynter's lyrical picture book, brought to life with breathtaking illustrations by Daniel Miyares, brims with wonder and love.

A touching and stunningly illustrated ode to the homes--and loved ones--that raise us, perfect for fans of Black Is a Rainbow Color, Saturday, and Last Stop on Market Street.

While her mother puts the finishing touches on her twists, a young girl asks what it means to be "homegrown". Touring precious memories and lively rooms warmed by family, Mama and Granny explain that home isn't just a place, but rather a reflection of people who support and love one another.

With lush, cozy illustrations, Homegrown is a beautiful author-illustrator debut picture book that reminds us to lift up the places--and people--we call home.

Named a Most Anticipated Title by: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post!

A groundbreaking study of the first Black female novelist and her life as an enslaved woman, from the biographer who solved the mystery of her identity, with a forward by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

In 1857, a woman escaped enslavement on a North Carolina plantation and fled to a farm in New York. In hiding, she worked on a manuscript that would make her famous long after her death. The novel, The Bondwoman's Narrative, was first published in 2002 to great acclaim, but the author's identity remained unknown. Over a decade later, Professor Gregg Hecimovich unraveled the mystery of the author's name and, in The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts, he finally tells her story.

In this remarkable biography, Hecimovich identifies the novelist as Hannah Bond "Crafts." She was not only the first known Black woman to compose a novel but also an extraordinarily gifted artist who honed her literary skills in direct opposition to a system designed to deny her every measure of humanity. After escaping to New York, the author forged a new identity--as Hannah Crafts--to make sense of a life fractured by slavery.

Hecimovich establishes the case for authorship of The Bondwoman's Narrative by examining the lives of Hannah Crafts's friends and contemporaries, including the five enslaved women whose experiences form part of her narrative. By drawing on the lives of those she knew in slavery, Crafts summoned into her fiction people otherwise stolen from history.

At once a detective story, a literary chase, and a cultural history, The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts discovers a tale of love, friendship, betrayal, and violence set against the backdrop of America's slide into Civil War.

Celebrate the Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree in this special anniversary edition about an unforgettable family on a road-trip during one of the most important times in the civil rights movement.

When the Watson family--ten-year-old Kenny, Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron--sets out on a trip south to visit Grandma in Birmingham, Alabama, they don't realize that they're heading toward one of the darkest moments in America's history. The Watsons' journey reminds us that even in the hardest times, laughter and family can help us get through anything.

"A modern classic." --NPR

"Marvelous . . . both comic and deeply moving." --The New York Times

"One of the best novels EVER." --Jacqueline Woodson, Newbery Honor and National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the highly anticipated sequel to Rosanne A. Brown's explosive novel about a preteen vampire slayer, inspired by Ghanaian folklore.

"Rosie writes her characters with such lyrical power, wit, and empathy that you can't help falling in love with Serwa Boateng, her family, and her friends."
--Rick Riordan, New York Times best-selling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

After a lifetime of fighting creatures of black magic, twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng has just learned a devastating secret: she herself is half vampire! Now not only is she dealing with vampire puberty, she's on the run from the organization of Slayers she trained her whole life to join.

Serwa's only ally is her aunt Boahinmaa, an obayifo who urges Serwa to embrace her vampire side. Boahinmaa and her underlings are on the hunt for the Midnight Drum, from which they hope to free Serwa's grandmother. When they learn that the Abomofuo have hidden the Midnight Drum deep within the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., what do they do? Stage a heist to steal it, of course!

For their plan to succeed, Serwa will have to get close to her rival, a Slayer named Declan Amankwah, without revealing her real nature. Declan gets under her skin like no one else . . . and might just force Serwa to confront some truths she's tried hard to deny.

With both sympathy and laugh-out-loud humor, Rosanne A. Brown captures all the discomfort of a girl stuck between two worlds in this second book in the unputdownable Serwa Boating saga.

How did a young boy from Ohio go on to become one of the greatest basketball players of all time? Read about the incredible life and career of LeBron James in this addition to the #1 New York Times best-selling Who Was? series.

Today, LeBron James is an international superstar who has won four NBA Championships, earned two Olympic gold medals, written books, and starred in blockbuster movies. He has played for the Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and has gained fans across the country as he led each of those three teams to victory. Many basketball lovers consider LeBron James to be one of the greatest players of all time. But how did LeBron come to be "King James?" Find out all about LeBron's childhood, how he started playing basketball at the age of nine, and went on to rule the court in this new book for young readers!

Look for more Who HQ titles:
Who Is Michael Jordan?
Who Was Kobe Bryant?
Who Is Shaquille O'Neal?
What Are the Summer Olympics?

From the bestselling author of Curls, Glow, Bloom, and Ours comes a counting board book about ten friends who add up to something wonderful!

One
only one

but now we are two
and now we are three

Introduce young ones to the concept of counting from one to ten while celebrating themes of friendship and community.

From an award-winning author and illustrator comes this picture book biography about beloved librarian and storyteller Augusta Braxton Baker, the first Black coordinator of children's services at all branches of the New York Public Library.

Before Augusta Braxton Baker became a storyteller, she was an excellent story listener. Her grandmother brought stories like Br'er Rabbit and Arthur and Excalibur to life, teaching young Augusta that when there's a will, there's always a way. When she grew up, Mrs. Baker began telling her own fantastical stories to children at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem. But she noticed that there were hardly any books at the library featuring Black people in respectful, uplifting ways. Thus began her journey of championing books, writers, librarians, and teachers centering Black stories, educating and inspiring future acclaimed authors like Audre Lorde and James Baldwin along the way.

As Mrs. Baker herself put it: "Children of all ages want to hear stories. Select well, prepare well and then go forth and just tell."