-
Blood at the Root
A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical. Enroll in this fresh fantasy debut unlike anything you've seen before. Ten years ago, Malik's life changed forever the night his mother mysteriously vanished and he discovered he had uncontrollable powers. Since then, he has kept his abilities hidden, looking out for himself and his younger foster brother, Taye. Now, at 17, Malik is finally ready to start a new life for both of them, far from the trauma of his past. However, a daring act to rescue Taye reveals an unexpected connection with his long-lost grandmother: a legendary conjurer with ties to a hidden magical university that Malik's mother attended. At Caiman University, Malik's eyes are opened to a future he never could have envisioned for himself-- one that includes the reappearance of his first love, Alexis. His search for answers about his heritage, his powers, and what really happened to his mother exposes the cracks in their magical community as it faces a reawakened evil dating back to the Haitian Revolution. Together with Alexis, Malik discovers a lot beneath the surface at Caiman: feuding covens and magical politics, forbidden knowledge and buried mysteries. In a wholly unique saga of family, history and community, Malik must embrace his legacy to save what's left of his old family as well as his new one. Exploring the roots and secrets that connect us in an unforgettable contemporary setting, this heart-pounding fantasy series opener is a rich tapestry of atmosphere, intrigue, and emotion. -
Forge
"One of the best novels they have ever read." --Kirkus Reviews Curzon navigates the dangers of being a runaway slave in this keenly felt second novel in in the historical middle grade The Seeds of America trilogy from acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson. Blistering winds. Bitter cold. And the hope of a new future. The Patriot Army was shaped and strengthened by the desperate circumstances of the Valley Forge winter. This is where Curzon the boy becomes Curzon the young man. In addition to the hardships of soldiering, he lives with the fear of discovery, for he is an escaped slave passing for free. And then there is Isabel, who is also at Valley Forge--against her will. She and Curzon have to sort out the tangled threads of their friendship while figuring out what stands between the two of them and true freedom. -
Misty Copeland: Ready-To-Read Level 3
Pirouette across the stage and get to know Misty Copeland--the first African-American woman to become a principal ballerina with the American Ballet Theater--in this fascinating, nonfiction Level 3 Ready-to-Read, part of a new series of biographies about people "you should meet." Misty Copeland had always dreamed of becoming a dancer, but she had many obstacles to overcome before she could reach her dream. Although she was always challenged by the things that set her apart from other dancers, with a lot of hard work, dedication, and exceptional talent, Misty has become one of the most well-known dancers in America. On June 30, 2015 Misty stepped on stage as the first female African-American principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater and made history! A special section at the back of the book includes extras on subjects like history and math, plus a fun timeline filled with interesting trivia facts about dance. With the You Should Meet series, learning about historical figures has never been so fascinating! -
Sold outLet Them Play
Segregated Charleston, SC, 1955: There are 62 official Little League programs in South Carolina -- all but one of the leagues is composed entirely of white players. The Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars, an all-black team, is formed in the hopes of playing in the state's annual Little League Tournament. What should have been a time of enjoyment, however, turns sour when all of the other leagues refuse to play against them and even pull out of the program. As the only remaining Little League team in the state, Cannon Street was named state winner by default, giving the boys a legitimate spot in the Little League Baseball World Series held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. While the Cannon Street team is invited to the game as guests, they are not allowed to participate since they have not officially "played" and won their state's tournament. Let Them Play takes its name from the chant shouted by the spectators who attended the World Series final. Author Margot Theis Raven recounts the inspiring tales of the Cannon Street All-Stars as they arrived in Williamsport, PA and never got the chance to play for the title thanks to the bigotry and ignorance of the South Carolina teams. Winning by forfeit, the Cannon Streeters were subsequently not allowed to participate in Williamsburg because they had not "played" their way into the tournament. Let Them Play is an important civil rights story in American history with an even more important message about equality and tolerance. It's a tale of humanity against the backdrop of America's favorite pastime that's sure to please fans of the sport and mankind. This summer will mark the 50th year since the fans' shouts of Let Them Play fell on deaf ears and 14 boys learned a cruel lesson in backwards politics and prejudice. This book can help teach us a new lesson and assure something like this never happens again.Sold out -
Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir
FEATURED ON THE COVER OF TIME MAGAZINE AS A 2021 NEXT GENERATION LEADER "A once-in-a-generation voice." - Vulture "One of our greatest living writers." - Shondaland A full-throated and provocative memoir in letters from the New York Times bestselling author, "a dazzling literary talent whose works cut to the quick of the spiritual self" (Esquire) In three critically acclaimed novels, Akwaeke Emezi has introduced readers to a landscape marked by familial tensions, Igbo belief systems, and a boundless search for what it means to be free. Now, in this extraordinary memoir, the bestselling author of The Death of Vivek Oji reveals the harrowing yet resolute truths of their own life. Through candid, intimate correspondence with friends, lovers, and family, Emezi traces the unfolding of a self and the unforgettable journey of a creative spirit stepping into power in the human world. Their story weaves through transformative decisions about their gender and body, their precipitous path to success as a writer, and the turmoil of relationships on an emotional, romantic, and spiritual plane, culminating in a book that is as tender as it is brutal. Electrifying and inspiring, animated by the same voracious intelligence that distinguishes Emezi's fiction, Dear Senthuran is a revelatory account of storytelling, self, and survival. -
Milo Imagina El Mundo
Milo hace un largo viaje en metro. Para pasar el tiempo, observa a la gente a su alrededor y hace dibujos de cómo se imagina que son sus vidas. Está el hombre de bigotes con un crucigrama; Milo lo dibuja jugando al solitario en un apartamento desordenado. Está la mujer vestida de novia; Milo la dibuja en una gran ceremonia en la catedral. Y luego está el chico del traje; Milo lo dibuja llegando a su hogar, que es un castillo. Pero qué pasa si la vida de cada uno es diferente de lo que Milo imaginó inicialmente? De los creadores galardonados Matt de la Peña y Christian Robinson nos llega este oportuno e importante álbum ilustrado sobre cómo no se puede conocer realmente la historia de alguien con solo mirarlo. -
The Essential Etheridge Knight
Seminal African American poet Etheridge Knight did not begin writing poetry until a robbery conviction sent him to prison in 1960. A Korean War veteran who suffered a shrapnel wound that led to drug addiction, Knight published his first collection in 1968, Poems from Prison, which set him apart as an important new voice in the Black Arts Movement. His second collection, Belly Songs and Other Poems (1973), earned him Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominations, and his third collection, Born of a Woman: New and Selected (1980), was also critically acclaimed. The Essential Etheridge Knight is a selection of the best work by one of the country's most prominent and still-relevant poets, decades after his death. It brings together poems from Knight's three previously published books and a section of later poems available only in this collection, which features a striking new cover.
-
Who Is Michelle Obama?
Born into a close knit family in Chicago, Michelle Robinson was a star student who graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law. Then in 1992, she married another promising young lawyer and the rest, as they say, is history. It is undeniable that President Barack Obama has changed the United States but so has Michelle Obama, the self proclaimed "Mom in Chief." This compelling, easy-to-read biography is illustrated by New Yorker artist John O'Brien. -
Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Gold)
Master storyteller Christopher Paul Curtis's Newbery Honor novel, featuring his trademark humor and unique narrative voice, is now part of the Scholastic Gold line!Elijah of Buxton, recipient of the Newbery Honor and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. This edition includes exclusive bonus content!Eleven-year-old Elijah lives in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves near the American border. Elijah's the first child in town to be born free, and he ought to be famous just for that -- not to mention for being the best at chunking rocks and catching fish. Unfortunately, all that most people see is a "fra-gile" boy who's scared of snakes and tends to talk too much. But everything changes when a former slave steals money from Elijah's friend, who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the South. Now it's up to Elijah to track down the thief -- and his dangerous journey just might make a hero out of him, if only he can find the courage to get back home. -
Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route
In Lose Your Mother, Saidiya Hartman traces the history of the Atlantic slave trade by recounting a journey she took along a slave route in Ghana. Following the trail of captives from the hinterland to the Atlantic coast, she reckons with the blank slate of her own genealogy and vividly dramatizes the effects of slavery on three centuries of African and African American history.
The slave, Hartman observes, is a stranger--torn from family, home, and country. To lose your mother is to be severed from your kin, to forget your past, and to inhabit the world as an outsider. There are no known survivors of Hartman's lineage, no relatives in Ghana whom she came hoping to find. She is a stranger in search of strangers, and this fact leads her into intimate engagements with the people she encounters along the way and with figures from the past whose lives were shattered and transformed by the slave trade. Written in prose that is fresh, insightful, and deeply affecting, Lose Your Mother is a "landmark text" (Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams). -
The Boyfriend Project
A smart and delightful romantic comedy featuring fabulous female friendships and "a great love story." --Jasmine Guillory, bestselling author of Party of Two Samiah Brooks never thought she would be "that" girl. But a live tweet of a horrific date just revealed the painful truth: she's been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend. Suddenly Samiah -- along with his two other "girlfriends," London and Taylor -- have gone viral online. Now the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men and no dating. For once Samiah is putting herself first, and that includes finally developing the app she's always dreamed of creating. Which is the exact moment she meets the deliciously sexy Daniel Collins at work. What are the chances? But is Daniel really boyfriend material or is he maybe just a little too good to be true? "A smart, funny digital-age romance about real women living in the real world. Couldn't put it down!" --Abby Jimenez, USA Today bestselling author of The Happy Ever After Playlist
*Listed as a Best Book of the Year from: NPR, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, Frolic, Insider, BookRiot*Book of the Month selection *LibraryReads selection *O, The Oprah Magazine: Must-Read Black Romance Novels *Cosmopolitan: Best Summer Reads 2020
*Insider: The Best Romance Books of 2020 -
Color Struck - A Play;Including the Introductory Essay 'A Brief History of the Harlem Renaissance'
Zora Neale Hurston's tragic 1926 play Color Struck is a thought-provoking commentary on colorism within the Black community.
Set in Florida in 1900, Colour Struck begins on a Jim Crow train carriage. Barely making the train, Emma and John's journey commences with an argument. Emma saw John speaking to a lighter-skinned Black woman, Effie, and was immediately jealous, assuming he was flirting. Throughout the play Emma continues to display animosity towards those with lighter skin, which often results in calamity.
Exploring themes of colorism, self-destruction, and hatred, Zora Neale Hurston's 1926 tragedy comments on intra-racial racism and warns of the adverse effects of harbouring hatred. Color Struck was first published in Fire!! magazine and won second prize in the Opportunity magazine's contest for best play. Now republished in a new edition, Hurston's play is not one to be missed by those with an interest in Harlem Renaissance literature.
-
Sold outBee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid
A business memoir from lemonade entrepreneur and one of TIME Magazine's Top 30 Most Influential Teens, Mikaila Ulmer, and her advice for life and business--now in paperback! When Mikaila Ulmer was four, she was stung by a bee--twice in one week. She was terrified of going outside, so her parents encouraged her to learn more about bees so she wouldn't be afraid. It worked. Mikaila didn't just learn what an important role bees play in our ecosystem, but she also learned bees are endangered, and set out to save them. She started by selling cups of lemonade in front of her house and donating the small proceeds to organizations dedicated to bee conservation. When she realized the more lemonade she sold, the more bees she could help, Me & the Bees Lemonade was born. Now she sells her lemonade across the country. From meetings with Fortune 500 CEOs, to securing a deal on Shark Tank, to even visiting the Obama White House, Mikaila's lemonade and passion for bee conservation have taken her far. In Bee Fearless, part memoir, part business guide, Mikaila shares her personal journey and special brand of mindful entrepreneurship and offers helpful tips and guidance for young readers interested in pursuing their own ventures, instilling in them the bee-lief that they can bee fearless and achieve their dreams too.Sold out -
The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963: 25th Anniversary Edition
Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree about an unforgettable family on a road-trip during one of the most important times in the civil rights movement. This special edition makes a perfect gift and includes bonus content. 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 Bonus Content
- New foreword and afterword from the author
- Map of the Watsons' journey
- Original manuscript pages and letter from the Newbery committee
- Personal essays celebrating the book's legacy by award-winning authors Jacqueline Woodson,
Varian Johnson, and Kate DiCamillo -
You Can Be the Last Leaf: Selected Poems
Finalist for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award in TranslationTranslated from the Arabic and introduced by Fady Joudah, You Can Be the Last Leaf draws on two decades of work to present the transcendent and timely US debut of Palestinian poet Maya Abu Al-Hayyat.
Art. Garlic. Taxis. Sleepy soldiers at checkpoints. The smell of trash on a winter street, before "our wild rosebush, neglected / by the gate, / blooms." Lovers who don't return, the possibility that you yourself might not return. Making beds. Cleaning up vomit. Reading recipes. In You Can Be the Last Leaf, these are the ordinary and profound-sometimes tragic, sometimes dreamy, sometimes almost frivolous--moments of life under Israeli occupation. Here, private and public domains are inseparable. Desire, loss, and violence permeate the walls of the home, the borders of the mind. And yet that mind is full of its own fierce and funny voice, its own preoccupations and strangenesses. "It matters to me," writes Abu Al-Hayyat, "what you're thinking now / as you coerce your kids to sleep / in the middle of shelling" whether it's coming up with "plans / to solve the world's problems," plans that "eliminate longing from stories, remove exhaustion from groans," or dreaming "of a war / that's got no war in it," or proclaiming that "I don't believe in survival." In You Can Be the Last Leaf, Abu Al-Hayyat has created a richly textured portrait of Palestinian interiority--at once wry and romantic, worried and tenacious, and always singing itself. -
Big Papa and the Time Machine
A beautiful journey into African American history: Discover the true meaning of being brave in this tender and whimsical picture book from Daniel Bernstrom (One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree; Gator, Gator, Gator) and Shane Evans (Chocolate Me!) that follows a grandfather and grandson traveling through time and discovering their own African American history.
When a little boy is feeling afraid to go to school one day, his grandfather, Big Papa, takes him away in his time machine--a 1952 Ford--back to all of the times when he was scared of something life was handing him. "That's called being brave," Big Papa says over and over.
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."