Five starred reviews! From New York Times bestselling author Ashley Woodfolk, Nothing Burns as Bright as You is an impassioned stand-alone tale of queer love, grief, and the complexity of female friendship. Two girls. One wild and reckless day. Years of tumultuous history unspooling like a thin, fraying string in the hours after they set a fire. They were best friends. Until they became more. Their affections grew. Until the blurry lines became dangerous. Over the course of a single day, the...
Dad, I just want to know how to not become a hashtag. In this gripping read, biracial siblings Reed and Olive hadn’t planned on navigating racial inequality or being roughed up by police on the subway, but as they face the truths and pains of being a person of color, they also lean into knowing their rights and fostering conversations about change and acceptance. “In?Come Home Safe, Brian Buckmire has crafted a story that looks the reality of police brutality in the eye and still manages to com...
An unforgettable novel, based on a true story, about racism against Italian Americans in the South in 1899. Fourteen-year-old Calogero, his uncles, and his cousins are six Sicilians living in the small town of Tallulah, Louisiana, miles from any of their countrymen. They grow vegetables and sell them at their stand and in their grocery store. Some people welcome the immigrants; most do not. Calogero's family is caught in the middle of tensions between the black and white communities. As Cal...
Winner, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year: Young Adult Fiction! In Nigeria-born, America-based author Ebele Chizea’s stunning debut novel, teenager Ada and her mother flee the civil war of their West African home and come to America in 1966, where Ada soon discovers—and blossoms within—the US counterculture movement, developing a drive for anti-war activism which she takes with her back to Nabuka only to uncover new truths about herself as well as family secrets that threaten to shatter her plan...
The Spanish Love Deception meets The Holiday in this fake dating romance about a city girl and country boy’s lives colliding at Christmas. City girl Tia Solanké is dreading the festive period. She’s on a break with her boyfriend and the last thing she wants to do is spend Christmas away from London. Arriving at Saiyan Hedge Farm, Tia takes an instant disliking to it. She falls in horse manure, is chased by sheep and the Wi-Fi sucks. How is she meant to stalk her ex now and concoct a foolpro...
Inspired by the true story of Walter Tull, the first black officer in the British army. A new novel about identity and loss by bestselling award-winning author of WAR HORSE. Michael doesn't remember his father, an RAF pilot lost in the war. And his French mother, heartbroken and passionate, doesn't like to talk about her husband. But then Auntie Snowdrop gives Michael a medal, followed by a photograph, which begin to reveal a hidden history. A story of love and loss...
An action-packed basketball series from author LJ Alonge set on the courts of Oakland, CA. Justin has a list of goals stashed under his mattress. Number 1 is "figure out life plans." Number 5 is "earn Zen Master rating in WoW." Nowhere on that list is "play the crew from Ghosttown," but that's the type of trouble that always seems to finds him. The debut title from LJ Alonge's new basketball series pulses with action on and off the court. With wit, humor, and honesty, Justin unfolds over one...
"Kids will grab this for the immediacy in the scenes, the brutal standoffs, the fast talk at the ball court, and the elemental conflicts of coming-of-age." — Booklist Shooting the breeze with his boys. Tightening his D on the court. Doing a color check — making sure nobody's wearing blue or red, which some Crip or Piru carrying a cut-down golf club would see as disrespect. Then back to Auntie's, hoping she isn't passed out from whiskey at the end of the day. Now that Shawn is headed for high sc...
Do the crime, do the time behind bars. But once you've been in, it can be tough to stay out. Tension between African Americans and Somalis at Rodney's high school erupts into a food fight that turns into a riot. In the midst of the violence, Rodney helps a Somali classmate to safety. Soon Rodney and Jawahir fall for each other. Against the pleas of their families and friends, they can't help but follow their hearts. As groups on both sides of the fight harbor lingering resentment, Rodney and...
Scorpions (A Harper keypoint book) (Trophy Newbery)
by Walter Dean Myers
From the award-winning author of Monster, this collection of powerful and poignant stories about 145th Street—an unforgettable block in the heart of Harlem—celebrates African-American life in all of its glory."Myers is a master." —The New York Times Book ReviewOn Harlem's 145th Street, things happen that don't happen anywhere else in the world.Get to know Big Joe, who's throwing his own funeral while he's here to enjoy it, and everyone's invited. Meet Kitty and Mack, teens with a love story more...
From the author of Rules for Rule Breaking comes a queer YA romance about two solo concertgoers and unwitting seatmates who, when the show is abruptly cut short, embark on an unforgettable North Carolina summer night together, discovering how opposites can attract under the right circumstances. Dakarai (Kai) Barbier was supposed to be at CYPHR’s sold-out show with his best friends. Instead, he finds himself going solo, reeling from the news that they’ve decided to accelerate the next chapter of...
'We are different ages, genders, tribes, tongues, and traditions ... but tonight we all SLAY' Black Panther meets Ready Player One. A fierce teen game developer battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for black gamers. By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a college student, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worl...
"To know things, for us to know things, is bad for them. We get to wanting and when we get to wanting it's bad for them. They thinks we want what they got . . . . That's why they don't want us reading." --Nightjohn "I didn't know what letters was, not what they meant, but I thought it might be something I wanted to know. To learn." -- Sarny Sarny, a female slave at the Waller plantation, first sees Nightjohn when he is brought there with a rope around his neck, his body covered in scars....
Teen influencer Naema Bradshaw has it all: she's famous, stylish, gorgeous?and she's an Eloko, a charismatic person gifted with a melody that people adore. Everyone loves her? until she's cast as the villain who exposed a Siren to the whole world. Dragged by the media, and canceled by her fans, no one understands her side: not her boyfriend, not her friends, not even her fellow Eloko. Villified by those closest to her, Naema heads to the Southwest where she is determined to stage a comeback...
Saved Race (Payton Skky (Lift Every Voice PB), #3) (Payton Skky, no 3)
by Stephanie Perry Moore
As Payton leaves high school and goes on to college, she and her friends learn to deal with racism and other difficult issues.
A thoughtful celebration of Black girlhood by award-winning author and poet Renée Watson. In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, Renée Watson writes about her experience growing up as a young Black girl at the intersections of race, class, and gender. Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to free verse, Watson shares recollections of her childhood in Portland, tender odes to the Black women in her life, and urgent calls for Black girls to step into their power. Black Girl Yo...
Black Enough
by Ibi Zoboi, Tracey Baptiste, Coleen Booth, Dhonielle Clayton, Brandy Colbert, Jay Coles, Lamar Giles, Leah Henderson, Justina Ireland, and Varian Johnson
A tour-de-force collection of stories about the black experience, by award-winning, bestselling, and emerging African American YA authors. Black is...two sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson. Black is…Jason Reynolds writing about three guys walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything. Black is…Nic Stone’s bougie debutante dating a boy her momma would never approve of. Black is…two girls kissing in...
The glitz of Gossip Girl meets the hustle of Leah Johnson's You Should See Me in a Crown in this charming and hilarious story of ex-BFFs from PG County, Maryland, perfect for fans of Joya Goffney and Elise Bryant. Girls like Reya Samuels always come from Prince George’s County. Reya is rich and she’s not afraid to show it—she wears designer clothes, drives a custom pink Audi, and lives in a neighborhood tucked behind a fancy cast iron gate. She works hard, but she can get anything she wants wit...
Like lightning/you strike/fast and free/legs zoom/down field/eyes fixed/on the checkered ball/on the goal/ten yards to go/can't nobody stop you/can't nobody cop you... Twelve-year-old Nick is a football-mad boy who absolutely hates books. In this follow-up to the Newbery-winning novel The Crossover, football, family, love, and friendship take centre stage as Nick tries to figure out how to navigate his parents' break-up, stand up to bullies, and impress the girl of his dreams. These challenges...