All Books
- Under The Neon Lights
Under The Neon Lights
by Arriel Vinson
$19.99Sixteen-year-old Jaelyn Coleman lives for Saturdays at WestSide Roll, the iconic neighborhood roller rink. On these magical nights, Jae can lose herself in the music of DJ Sunny, the smell of nachos from the concession, and the crowd of some of her favorite people—old heads, dance crews, and other regulars like herself. Here, Jae and other Black teens can fully be themselves.
One Saturday, as Jae skates away her worries, she crashes into the cutest boy she’s ever seen. Trey’s dimples, rich brown skin, and warm smile make it impossible for her to be mad at him though. Best of all, he can’t stop finding excuses to be around her. A nice change for once, in contrast with her best friend’s cold distance of late or her estranged father creeping back into her life.
Just as Jae thinks her summer might change for the better, devastating news hits: Westside Roll is shutting down. The gentrification rapidly taking over her predominantly Black Indianapolis neighborhood, filling it with luxury apartments and fancy boutiques, has come for her safe-haven. And this is just one trouble Jae can’t skate away from.
- Sapiens [Tenth Anniversary Ed]: A Brief History of Humankind
Sapiens [Tenth Anniversary Ed]: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari
Sold outOne hundred thousand years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens. How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations, and human rights; to trust money, books, and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables, and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?
In Sapiens, Professor Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical—and sometimes devastating—breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology, and economics, and incorporating full-color illustrations throughout the text, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Can we ever free our behavior from the legacy of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?
Bold, wide-ranging, and provocative, Sapiens integrates history and science to challenge everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our heritage . . . and our future.
- Bud, Not Buddy: (Newbery Medal Winner)
Bud, Not Buddy: (Newbery Medal Winner)
Christopher Paul Curtis
$8.99The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning classic about a boy who decides to hit the road to find his father—from Christopher Paul Curtis, recipient of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.
It’s 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him:1. He has his own suitcase full of special things.
2. He’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself.
3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!!
Bud’s got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father. Once he decides to hit the road to find this mystery man, nothing can stop him—not hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even Herman E. Calloway himself.
BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR:
The New York Times
School Library Journal
Publishers Weekly
“[A] powerfully felt novel.” —The New York Times
“Will keep readers engrossed from first page to last.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred
“Curtis writes with a razor-sharp intelligence that grabs the reader by the heart and never lets go. . . . This highly recommended title [is] at the top of the list of books to be read again and again.” —Voice of Youth Advocates, Starred - Black Elegies: Meditations on the Art of Mourning (On Seeing)
Black Elegies: Meditations on the Art of Mourning (On Seeing)
Kimberly Juanita Brown
$19.95A poignant, unflinching study of black grief as a form of elegy found in visual art, music, literature—everywhere, if you know how to see it.
In Black Elegies, Kimberly Juanita Brown examines the form of the elegy and its unique capacity to convey the elongated grief borne of sustained racial violence. Structured around the sensorial, the book moves through sight, sound, and touch to reveal what Okwui Enwezor calls the “national emergency of black grief.” With her characteristic literary skill, Brown analyzes the work of major figures including Toni Morrison, Carrie Mae Weems, Audre Lorde, and Marvin Gaye, among others.
Brown contemplates recognizable sites of mourning: forced migration and enslavement, bodily violations, imprisonment and death. And she examines sites that do not register immediately as archives of grief: the landscape of southern U.S. slave plantations, a spontaneous street party, a quilt constructed out of the clothing worn by a loved one, a dance performance to hold the memory of history, and an aeolian harp installed at an institute of European art, among others. In this, the book offers a framework of mourning while black, within the parameters of contemporary artistic production. Brown asks: How do you mourn those you are not supposed to see? And where does the grief go? She shows us that grief is everywhere: “It spills out of photographs and modulates music. It hovers in the tenor and tone of cinematic performances. It resides in the body like an inspired concept, waiting for its articulation.”
- Cursebound: A Novel (The Faebound Trilogy)
Cursebound: A Novel (The Faebound Trilogy)
Saara El-Arifi
Sold outSeeran and Lettle are no longer prisoners to the fae court, but now they’re bound by shackles of their hearts, in this sequel to Faebound from the national bestselling author.
United by war.
Betrayed by destiny.
Cursed by love.Yeeran was born for war but is unprepared for love. She has left her new lover, the Queen of the fae, to return to her homeland, only to find that her former lover now threatens war against the fae.
Left behind, her sister Lettle is determined to break the curse that binds the fae to their realm. When a stranger appears in the city, Lettle is convinced he’s the key. But the Fates that once spoke to her have fallen silent.
Can Lettle and Yeeran discover the secret behind the curse—and unite these two worlds before they destroy each other?
Book Two of the Faebound Trilogy
Don’t miss any of Saara El-Arifi’s magical Faebound Trilogy:
FAEBOUND • CURSEBOUND - Fearless and Free: A Memoir
Fearless and Free: A Memoir
Josephine Baker & Anam Zafar & Sophie R. Lewis & Ijeoma Oluo
Sold out“A gorgeous, captivating gem of a memoir…Josephine Baker’s as enthralling on the page as she was on the stage.” —Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author of Eden Undone and Sin in the Second City
Published in the US for the first time, Fearless and Free is the memoir of the fabulous, rule-breaking, one-of-a-kind Josephine Baker, the iconic dancer, singer, spy, and Civil Rights activist.
After stealing the spotlight as a teenaged Broadway performer during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Josephine then took Paris by storm, dazzling audiences across the Roaring Twenties. In her famous banana skirt, she enraptured royalty and countless fans—Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso among them. She strolled the streets of Paris with her pet cheetah wearing a diamond collar. With her signature flapper bob and enthralling dance moves, she was one of the most recognizable women in the world.
When World War II broke out, Josephine became a decorated spy for the French Résistance. Her celebrity worked as her cover, as she hid spies in her entourage and secret messages in her costumes as she traveled. She later joined the Civil Rights movement in the US, boycotting segregated concert venues, and speaking at the March on Washington alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
First published in France in 1949, her memoir will now finally be published in English. At last we can hear Josephine in her own voice: charming, passionate, and brave. Her words are thrilling and intimate, like she’s talking with her friends over after-show drinks in her dressing room. Through her own telling, we come to know a woman who danced to the top of the world and left her unforgettable mark on it. - Nubia: Too Real
Nubia: Too Real
L.L. McKinney & Robyn Smith
$16.99The highly anticipated sequel to NUBIA: REAL ONE highlights the importance of self-acceptance and the enduring power of true friendship!
After a turbulent school year, Nubia is both thrilled and anxious as she embarks on a transformative summer training with the Amazons on Themyscira! Amid the mounting pressure of expectations, she grapples with feeling like an outsider, letting the weight of her self-doubt strain her most important relationships.
Just when she thought her life couldn’t get more complicated, her biggest fear threatens the safety of everyone on Paradise Island. Will Nubia rise above the chaos and embrace her true self as the hero she was destined to be?
From critically acclaimed author L.L McKinney and brought to life with delightful, vivid art by Robyn Smith, NUBIA: TOO REAL follows Nubia as she explores her Amazonian identity, navigates her friendships, and learns how to love herself.
- Breaking Generational Silence: A Guide to Disrupt Unhealthy Family Patterns and Heal Inherited Trauma
Breaking Generational Silence: A Guide to Disrupt Unhealthy Family Patterns and Heal Inherited Trauma
Nicole Russell-Wharton
$20.99From regarded mental health expert Nicole Russell-Wharton, a guide to disrupt family patterns and heal from inherited trauma so you can break the cycle of silence for generations to come
What if one conversation was able to redirect a person’s life and create a ripple effect of healing that spans generations? It took a near-death experience for mental health expert Nicole Russell-Wharton to realize that after 35 years, she didn't know the body she was living in. After being diagnosed with a rare life-altering genetic condition that others in her family had, Nicole couldn't understand how everyone remained silent. “I’ve suffered through many things in silence over the years,” says Russell-Wharton. “It wasn’t until I started collecting data on generational issues like poverty and trauma that I had this awakening: our healing challenges are rooted in our families’ silence and psychological pathology.”
It's the silence that's harming us.
“Generational silence” is a term applied to families who have experienced suppressed thoughts or repressed emotions for at least two generations. In this book, Nicole speaks from personal experience about how slavery left an intergenerational impact on her family’s emotional and physical health, and it invites readers to explore the legacy of their own family history. This book will help you explore:
• The cycle and impact of issues like substance abuse, religion, racism, education inequality, and parenting
• Research, practical tools, and exercises to begin to explore your family history and open up conversations
• The root of silence in your own life, so you can break the cycle for generations to comeBreaking Generational Silence will help you begin to break the cycle of silence, find the courage to face your family challenges, and become your own best advocate.
- Brown Girls Do Ballet : Celebrating Diverse Girls Taking Center Stage
Brown Girls Do Ballet : Celebrating Diverse Girls Taking Center Stage
TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian, JaNay Brown-Wood
Sold outThis stunning children’s book from the photographer behind the Instagram sensation Brown Girls Do Ballet, combines irresistible photos of young ballerinas of color with inspirational text that empowers all children to express their true selves through movement and music.
When TaKiyah Wallace-McMillian went to enroll her three-year-old daughter into her first ballet class, she immediately noticed the lack of diversity of backgrounds and abilities among the students pictured on the school's website. In response, TaKiyah, a photographer, began taking pictures of young dancers of color and launched an Instagram called Brown Girls Do Ballet. The Instagram was an instant sensation, drawing a community of dancers of all ages. A nonprofit organization, that provides resources, mentoring, and inspiration worldwide followed soon after.
Takiyah’s first children’s book is full of gorgeous photographs of irresistible young BIPOC ballerinas of all levels -- from beginners to more experienced dancers. Writer JaNay Brown-Wood's poetic text, inspired by the dancer's graceful poses and powerful leaps, encourages young readers be proud of who they are and empowers them to take center stage. Brown Girls Do Ballet will inspire all readers to pursue their dreams no matter what barriers are put in front of them. - The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader
The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader
Ida B. Wells
$20.00The broadest and most comprehensive collection of writings available by an early civil and women’s rights pioneer
Seventy-one years before Rosa Parks’s courageous act of resistance, police dragged a young black journalist named Ida B. Wells off a train for refusing to give up her seat. The experience shaped Wells’s career, and—when hate crimes touched her life personally—she mounted what was to become her life’s work: an anti-lynching crusade that captured international attention.
This volume covers the entire scope of Wells’s remarkable career, collecting her early writings, articles exposing the horrors of lynching, essays from her travels abroad, and her later journalism. The Light of Truth is both an invaluable resource for study and a testament to Wells’s long career as a civil rights activist.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
- Moonlight Screenplay Book
Moonlight Screenplay Book
Barry Jenkins
Sold outWith a foreword by Frank Ocean, Barry Jenkins’s and Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Academy Award–winning screenplay is accompanied by an essay by Hilton Als and acceptance speeches from Moonlight’s historic Oscars night.
- Stories From a Place Where All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Stories From a Place Where All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Raven Jackson
Sold outA rich and layered photographic exploration of the people and places that influenced Raven Jackson’s directorial debut film, Stories From a Place Where All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, the companion book features lyrical writing, evocative photos, and contributions from voices that speak to the film’s quiet yet powerful themes and the rural Southern setting. Also includes the full script and incredible photography captured during the production. Includes a foreword by Kasi Lemmons; poetry by Alice Walker, Tracy K. Smith, Lucille Clifton, and Reginald Helms Jr.; essays and words by Sheila Atim, Kiese Laymon, Charleen McClure, Pamela Shepard, and many others; and an afterword by Marwa Helal.
- The Beginner Birder's Deck: 40 Cards for Birdwatching
The Beginner Birder's Deck: 40 Cards for Birdwatching
Danielle Belleny
$20.00A gorgeously illustrated deck of cards that helps new and current birdwatchers identify birds in the wild, from wildlife biologist and co-organizer of Black Birders Week, Danielle Belleny.
* Gorgeously Illustrated: Each of the 40 cards in this deck features Michelle Carlos's stunning artwork, accompanied by bite-sized facts about bird's habitats, songs, and physical traits.
* Deluxe Set: This portable deck is made up of 40 full-color illustrated cards (3 x 5 inches); a four-color, double-sided poster (12 x 15 inches); and, a keepsake magnetic closure box; cards and travel case are embedded in an interior tray.
* Perfect Gift: This stunning deck is appropriate for beginner birders of all ages and can be taken on your next outdoor expedition or while sitting by your window! - Black Girls and How We Fail Them
Black Girls and How We Fail Them
Aria S. Halliday
$22.00From hip-hop moguls and political candidates to talk radio and critically acclaimed films, society communicates that Black girls don’t matter and their girlhood is not safe. Alarming statistics on physical and sexual abuse, for instance, reveal the harm Black girls face, yet Black girls’ representation in media still heavily relies on our seeing their abuse as an important factor in others’ development. In this provocative new book, Aria S. Halliday asserts that the growth of diverse representation in media since 2008 has coincided with an increase in the hatred of Black girls.
Halliday uses her astute expertise as a scholar of popular culture, feminist theory, and Black girlhood to expose how we have been complicit in the depiction of Black girls as unwanted and disposable while letting Black girls fend for themselves. She indicts the way media mistreats celebrity Black girls like Malia and Sasha Obama as well as fictional Black girls in popular shows and films like A Wrinkle in Time. Our society’s inability to see or understand Black girls as girls makes us culpable in their abuse. In Black Girls and How We Fail Them, a revelatory book for political analysts, hip-hop lovers, pop culture junkies, and parents, Halliday provides the critical perspective we need to create a world that supports, affirms, and loves Black girls. Our future depends on it.
- My Mouth Says
My Mouth Says
Ammi-Joan Paquette
$8.99The third title in a powerful board book series about the strength and potential our bodies hold.
My Mouth Says showcases all the wonderful things a mouth can do—from the physical to the meaningful. This book will provide young readers with a deep understanding of and appreciation for their own bodies, inviting them to look beyond what’s known or obvious.
Written in a lyrical, affectionate tone, and illustrated in bright, warm colors, this series celebrates bodies everywhere and is sure to spark wonder, love, and respect for everything of which we are capable.
- Beyoncé: A Baby's First Biography (Tiny Idols)
Beyoncé: A Baby's First Biography (Tiny Idols)
J. D. Forester
$7.99Tiny Idols biographies feature BIG stars for the littlest of hands! Introduce your little ones to Beyoncé with this read-aloud biography that’s perfect for BeyHive members young and old.
From Girls Tyme and Destiny’s Child to her Grammy Award–winning solo career, Beyoncé holds an irreplaceable spot in her fans’ hearts. Follow her journey in this inspiring biography for the youngest readers, with an empowering message and fun Easter eggs that fans of any age will love!
- Neecy and Nay Nay and the Green Thumbs (Neecy and Nay Nay #3) (A Little Bee Books Chapter Book Series)
Neecy and Nay Nay and the Green Thumbs (Neecy and Nay Nay #3) (A Little Bee Books Chapter Book Series)
Simone Dankenbring
$6.99Twin sisters Neecy and Nay Nay use their green thumbs to plant a garden in the third installment of this hilarious, heartwarming chapter book series celebrating Black joy, sisterhood, family, and friendship.
When Big Mama is chosen to run the community garden, Neecy and Nay Nay put themselves in charge of their very own kids' garden! They're going to learn all about gardening, including weeding, planting, composting, and taking care of the living creatures in the soil. But nothing seems to be going their way! Even worse, their interest in studying worms gets them into a squiggly situation after hundreds of them spill all over their bedroom. Big Mama wants the worms gone! Will the twins be able to take care of their worms and their garden?
- Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
$10.00NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The award-winning author of We Should All Be Feminists and Americanah gives us this powerful statement about feminism today—written as a letter to a friend.
A few years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a childhood friend, a new mother who wanted to know how to raise her baby girl to be a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie’s letter of response: fifteen invaluable suggestions—direct, wryly funny, and perceptive—for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman. Filled with compassionate guidance and advice, it gets right to the heart of sexual politics in the twenty-first century, and starts a new and urgently needed conversation about what it really means to be a woman today.
A Skimm Reads Pick ● An NPR Best Book of the Year
- This Is Music: Horns
This Is Music: Horns
Rekha S. Rajan
$9.99Make music with this hands-on introduction to the four instrument families: drums, horns, strings, and voice in this new board book series by a world-renown music educator.
What do a trumpet, a tuba, and a conch shell have in common? They are all horns! This first introduction to instruments in the horn family begins with a simple explanation of what defines a horn. Young readers are then invited on a global exploration of a variety of brass and wind instruments and are encouraged to find horns of their own in the world around them.
Each title in the THIS IS MUSIC series features an interactive novelty musical element that invites the reader to "play" the book! - Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974–
Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974–
Jamaica Kincaid
from $20.00My ignorance was on my side. I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t know what to be afraid of. I did one thing, I did another. I did what I now call crashing about. One day I started to write.
This collection of Jamaica Kincaid’s nonfiction writing, including early pieces from publications such as The New Yorker, The Village Voice, and Ms., proves what her admirers have always known: from the start, she has been a consummate stylist, and she has always been herself.
From “Jamaica Kincaid’s New York,” which narrates her move to the city from Antigua at the age of sixteen and a half, to the classic “Biography of a Dress,” her cultural criticism, and her original thinking about the meaning of the garden, Kincaid writes about the world as she finds it, imparting her own quizzical, rapier-sharp response to whatever crosses her path.
Putting Myself Together is a brilliant, trenchant, hilarious self-portrait of the artist and a testament to how this inimitable, self-created mind and spirit, endowed with wit, humor, and fearlessness, has become one of our greatest, most original writers.
- New Kid 3-Book Box Set: New Kid, Class Act, School Trip
New Kid 3-Book Box Set: New Kid, Class Act, School Trip
Jerry Craft
Sold outFrom critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Jerry Craft comes a new special box set that includes all three books in his award-winning collection of graphic novels.
In New Kid, winner of the Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Kirkus Prize, you’ll meet twelve-year-old Jordan Banks as he starts seventh grade at the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School—where diversity is low and expectations are high.
In Class Act, Jordan’s friends Drew and Liam have their own struggles as they enter their eighth grade year. Can two kids who are really so different still be friends?
And the saga soars to new heights in School Trip, where Jordan, Drew, Liam, and the rest of their friends all feel like the “new kid” as they spend an entire week in Paris.
Middle school is hard enough without being the new kid…
- History Teaches Us to Resist: How Progressive Movements Have Succeeded in Challenging Times
History Teaches Us to Resist: How Progressive Movements Have Succeeded in Challenging Times
Mary Frances Berry
Sold outHistorian and civil rights activist proves how progressive movements can flourish even in conservative times.
Despair and mourning after the election of an antagonistic or polarizing president, such as Donald Trump, is part of the push-pull of American politics. But in this incisive book, historian Mary Frances Berry shows that resistance to presidential administrations has led to positive change and the defeat of outrageous proposals, even in challenging times. Noting that all presidents, including ones considered progressive, sometimes require massive organization to affect policy decisions, Berry cites Indigenous peoples’ protests against the Dakota pipeline during Barack Obama’s administration as a modern example of successful resistance built on earlier actions.
Beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Berry discusses that president’s refusal to prevent race discrimination in the defense industry during World War II and the subsequent March on Washington movement. She analyzes Lyndon Johnson, the war in Vietnam, and the antiwar movement and then examines Ronald Reagan’s two terms, which offer stories of opposition to reactionary policies, such as ignoring the AIDS crisis and retreating on racial progress, to show how resistance can succeed.
The prochoice protests during the George H. W. Bush administration and the opposition to Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, as well as his budget cuts and welfare reform, are also discussed, as are protests against the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act during George W. Bush’s presidency. Throughout these varied examples, Berry underscores that even when resistance doesn’t achieve all the goals of a particular movement, it often plants a seed that comes to fruition later.
Berry also shares experiences from her six decades as an activist in various movements, including protesting the Vietnam War and advocating for the Free South Africa and civil rights movements, which provides an additional layer of insight from someone who was there. And as a result of having served in five presidential administrations, Berry brings an insider’s knowledge of government.
History Teaches Us to Resist is an essential book for our times which attests to the power of resistance. It proves to us through myriad historical examples that protest is an essential ingredient of politics, and that progressive movements can and will flourish, even in perilous times.
- President of the Whole Sixth Grade: Girl Code (President Series, 3)
President of the Whole Sixth Grade: Girl Code (President Series, 3)
Sherri Winston
$8.99Go-getter Brianna Justice is back and on assignment with her local newspaper in this third book in the popular President series!
When budding middle school journalist Brianna Justice learns that Yavonka Steele, rising star of the nightly news broadcast, is looking to mentor a student as part of a program at her school, she's thrilled! That is until she's paired instead with a "boring" reporter from the community news desk.
But when she's asked to interview students from a girls' coding program at Price Academy, an inner-city middle school, this suburban girl has no idea what to expect. Will Brianna learn to ignore stereotypes and embrace the world around her?
Sherri Winston crafts another winning story in the President series, full of humor, heart, and a deeper examination of stereotypes and how they can throw a wrench in middle school life.
- The Other Side of Imani
The Other Side of Imani
Lisa Springer
$18.99Front Desk meets That Girl Lay Lay in this coming-of-age middle grade story about Imani, a thirteen-year-old aspiring designer who creates a virtual avatar to compete for a spot at a prestigious arts school after she discovers that a viral influencer has stolen her designs.
Ever since she could remember, thirteen-year-old Imani has wanted to be a fashion designer.
But fashion designers are bold, out-there, and in your face. And despite her unique sense of style, Imani has trouble fitting in, let alone standing out. Entering her school’s design competition for a scholarship to the nearby arts high school seems like the perfect way to make new friends and get closer to her dream of being a designer.
Then Imani’s designs are stolen by one of her classmates, and Imani is forced to enter the competition anonymously, under a virtual persona, “Estelle.” When Estelle goes viral, Imani must figure out how to be her “real” self as she makes new friends and finds her voice—all while hoping to win the competition.
A story about finding your voice alongside your real self, The Other Side of Imani is a heartfelt, fresh, and powerful middle grade contemporary debut that’s perfect for fans of A Soft Place to Land and Just Right Jillian.
- THING
THING
Robert Ford
$35.00A full facsimile reproduction of the era-defining queer magazine that documented Chicago’s Black nightlife scene of the early ’90s
Started in 1989 by designer and writer Robert Ford, THING magazine was the voice of Chicago’s queer Black music and arts scene in the early 1990s. Ford and his editors were part of the burgeoning house music scene, which originated in Chicago’s queer underground, and some of the top DJs and musicians from that time were featured in the magazine, including Frankie Knuckles and RuPaul. THING published 10 issues from 1989 to 1993, before it was cut short by Ford’s death from HIV/AIDS-related causes.
While THING primarily focused on music, it also opened its pages to a wide range of subjects: poetry and gossip, fiction and art, interviews and polemics. The AIDS crisis loomed large in its contents, particularly in the personal reflections and practical resources that it published. In a moment when the gay community was besieged by the AIDS crisis and a wantonly cruel government, the influence and significance of this cheaply produced newsprint magazine vastly exceeded its humble means, presenting a beautiful portrait of the ball and club cultures that existed in Chicago with deep intellectual reflections. THING was a publication by and for its community, and understood the fleetingness of its moment.
To reencounter this work today is to reinstate the Black voices who were so central to the history of AIDS activism and queer and club culture, but which were often sidelined by white queer discourse. This volume collects all 10 editions of this iconic magazine. - Studio Mucci: A Rainbow In Your Cloud
Studio Mucci: A Rainbow In Your Cloud
Amina Mucciolo
$14.99An inclusive and empowering picture book that's all about celebrating being yourself from Instagram influencer Amina Mucciolo!
"We all have a rainbow inside, and it’s made up of all the special little things that make each of us unique." So begins Amina Mucciolo's semiautobiographical picture book about accepting and celebrating all the things that make each and every one of us special!
Amina's story reminds young readers how important it is to embrace your differences and be proud of who you are. Amina's message is incredibly powerful: We are all beautiful just as we are.
This empowering picture book features colorful illustrations with a cast of kids with all kinds of experiences, backgrounds, and abilities. Its message of kindness, inclusivity, and self-celebration will resonate with kids and parents everywhere.
- Life’s Little Lessons: No More Hitting
Life’s Little Lessons: No More Hitting
Bernette Ford
$8.99Little Hamster is very upset! None of his friends will let him join in any of their games. That’s because when Little Hamster gets mad, he hits HARD—and that hurts. Will he learn how to play nicely? This gentle, endearing story helps toddlers understand why it’s so much better—and more fun!—to treat others with kindness and respect.
- Tumbling: A Novel
Tumbling: A Novel
Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Sold out“Warm and intimate. . . . An accomplished novel, with sharply drawn characters, exuberant prose, plenty of period detail and a wise, forgiving outlook on family life.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
Tumbling is the beloved bestselling debut novel that launched the luminous career of Diane McKinney Whetstone, critically acclaimed author of Tempest Rising, Blues Dancing, Leaving Cecil Street, and Trading Dreams at Midnight. Writing in a style as accessible as Terry McMillan, yet with the literary touches of Toni Morrison, McKinney Whetstone’s Tumbling is a poignant, exquisitely rendered story of the ties that bind us and the secrets that keep us apart.
Noon and Herbie are deeply in love and living in a tightly knit African American neighborhood in South Philadelphia during the 1940s. But their marriage remains unconsummated because of a horrible incident in Noon's past, so each seeks comfort elsewhere: Noon in the warm acceptance of the neighborhood church; Herbie in the arms of Ethel, a jazz singer. Then one day an infant girl is left on their doorstep, and later Ethel blesses them with her five-year-old niece. Suddenly and unexpectedly a family, Herbie, Noon, and their two girls draw closer—until an outside threat reawakens a fire in Noon, causing her to rise up and fight to hold her family and her community together.
- James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories: Go Tell It on a Mountain / Giovanni's Room / Another Country / Going to Meet the Man
James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories: Go Tell It on a Mountain / Giovanni's Room / Another Country / Going to Meet the Man
James Baldwin
$45.00Here, in a Library of America volume edited by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, is the fiction that established James Baldwin's reputation as a writer who fused unblinking realism and rare verbal eloquence. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), tells the story, rooted in Baldwin's own experience, of a preacher's son coming of age in 1930's Harlem. Ten years in the writing, its exploration of religious, sexual, and generational conflicts was described by Baldwin as "an attempt to exorcise something, to find out what happened to my father, what happened to all of us." Giovanni's Room (1956) is a searching, and in its day controversial, treatment of the tragic self-delusions of a young American expatriate at war with his own homosexuality. Another Country (1962), a wide-ranging exploration of America's racial and sexual boundaries, depicts the suicide of a gifted jazz musician and its ripple effect on those who knew him. Complex in structure and turbulent in mood, it is in many ways Baldwin's most ambitious novel. Going to Meet the Man (1965) collects Baldwin's short fiction, including the masterful "Sonny's Blues," the unforgettable portrait of a jazz musician struggling with drug addiction in which Baldwin came closest to defining his goal as a writer: "For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it must be heard. There isn't any other tale to tell, it's the only light we've got in all this darkness."
LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
- The Challenge for Africa
The Challenge for Africa
$22.00In this groundbreaking work, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and founder of the Green Belt Movement offers a new perspective on the troubles facing Africa today. Too often these challenges are portrayed by the media in extreme terms connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Wangari Maathai, the author of Unbowed, sees things differently, and here she argues for a moral revolution among Africans themselves. Illuminating the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, Maathai offers “hardheaded hope” and “realistic options” for change and improvement. She deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability. Impassioned and empathetic, The Challenge for Africa is a book of immense importance.
- The Seven Month Itch
The Seven Month Itch
$17.99Seven days.
One relentless best friend.
A singles’ retreat in the middle of nowhere,
one my future ex-husband decides to attend.
What could go wrong?Note to self: When your best friend of twenty years shows up at your door and tells you to pack, run. It’s an ambush, not your annual girls’ trip.
I wasn’t fast enough, so here I am. At a seven-day singles’ retreat in Vail, Colorado, 1,011 miles away from home and my comfort zone.
Emma knows I’m not ready to entertain the idea of meeting one man, let alone a herd of bachelors. No dating playbook for single women on the brink of divorce could prepare for this winter escape—or the man who descends from the elevator after we arrive.
My estranged husband.
A man I’ve loved since college.
A man who shattered my heart that’s yet to heal.This is the first time we’ve laid eyes on each other since I left him seven months ago. Rage. Hurt. Betrayal. I feel it all. So why do my thighs clench at the memory of his touch?
Based on his gaze, I won’t survive the week.
A fast read full of shenanigans, The Seven Month Itch is a debut with laughs, tension, and steamy scenes. This spicy romance book is perfect for fans of banter and drama with twists and turns.
- Rifts and Refrains (Resonance)
Rifts and Refrains (Resonance)
$18.99“Unique, fresh and gripping.” - Kennedy Ryan, New York Times Bestselling Author
Amara Johnson has spent her life following the rules, always choosing stability over risk. But when she returns to Memphis for her estranged grandfather’s funeral, she inherits more than just his crumbling house. She inherits his unfinished story. A once-renowned blues musician, his name has been nearly erased, his legacy buried beneath family silence and years of regret.
Jake Barnes knew the man her family won’t speak of. He also sees something in Amara she has spent years trying to ignore. When he offers her a chance to record in Nashville, the pull is undeniable. But stepping into a world built on dreams means confronting the ones she abandoned. As she stands at a crossroads between the life she has always known and the one she never let herself imagine, Amara must decide whether to follow expectations or finally find the courage to listen to her own voice.
Stay Informed. We're building a community committed to celebrating Black authors + artisans. Subscribe to keep up with all things Kindred Stories.