Products
- Magically Black and Other Essays
Magically Black and Other Essays
by Jerald Walker
$24.99In this engaging follow up to How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, the recipient of PEN New England Award for nonfiction and finalist for the National Book Award sharply examines and explains Black life and culture with equal parts candor and humor.
In Magically Black and Other Essays Jerald Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and cultural critique to create a bracing and often humorous examination of Black American life. He thoughtfully addresses the inherent complexities of topics as eclectic as incarceration, home renovations, gentrification, the crip walk, pimping, and the rise of the MAGA movement, approaching them through various Black perspectives, including husband, father, teacher, and writer. The collection’s overarching theme is captured in the titular essay, which examines the culture of heroic action African Americans created in response to their enslavement and oppression, giving proof to Albert Murray’s observation that the “fire in the forging process . . . for all its violence, does not destroy the metal that becomes the sword.”
- Magnolia Flower
Magnolia Flower
by Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi
Sold out*Ships in 7-10 business days*
Born to parents who survived Middle Passage 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 in her collection Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick, brimming with poetic prose, culture and history, and first published in 1925. Tenderly retold by #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award–winning author, Ibram X. Kendi, Magnolia Flower tells the 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.
- Magnolia Messy Bun Bookmark
Magnolia Messy Bun Bookmark
Sold outUnveil the power within you with this enchanting bookmark that serves as a reminder of your unique magic. Embrace your inner strength, confidence, and resilience every time you pick up your favorite book. Let the words printed on this bookmark be a testament to the limitless potential that resides within you. Our beautifully designed bookmark is not just a placeholder in your book; it is a statement of self-love and empowerment. Crafted for the ones who believe in themselves and their abilities, this affirmation bookmark is a daily companion on your journey to greatness. Let your magic shine through effortlessly - because indeed, your magic speaks for itself. - 2” x 6” size - 16pt paper stock - Glossy front, silk-finish back - Mahdi Ehsaei: AFRO-IRAN: THE UNKNOWN MINORITY
Mahdi Ehsaei: AFRO-IRAN: THE UNKNOWN MINORITY
$58.00In seiner Serie Afro-Iran stellt der deutsch-iranische Fotograf Mahdi Ehsaei (*1989) eine Facette des Iran vor, die selbst Einheimischen weitgehend unbekannt ist: Im Süden des Landes gibt es eine ethnische Minderheit, die das Erbe ihrer afrikanischen Herkunft in Kleidungsstil, Musik und Tanz sowie in ihren mündlichen Überlieferungen und Ritualen bis heute aufrecht erhält und so die Kultur der gesamten Region beeinflusst hat. Für sein Projekt reiste Ehsaei in die südiranische Provinz Hormozgan am Persischen Golf, der Heimat der Nachfahren von Sklaven und Händlern aus Afrika. In dieser Gegend, reich and Traditionen und Geschichte, lebt einer der ethnisch vielfältigsten Bevölkerungsanteile in einer einzigartigen Landschaft. In seinem Buch präsentiert Ehsaei zahlreiche überraschende Porträts, die dem landläufigen Bild vom Iran nicht entsprechen. "Afro-Iran" zeigt vielmehr Details, die die Jahrhunderte alte Geschichte einer Bevölkerungsgruppe dokumentieren, die in der Geschichtschreibung des Iran häufig vergessen wird und die doch die Kultur des Südens entscheidend geprägt hat.
- Mahogany Project Black TQLGB Experience Pin
Mahogany Project Black TQLGB Experience Pin
$10.00100% of the proceeds go to our friends at The Mahogany Project!
Founded in 2017 by advocate Verniss McFarland, The Mahogany Project aims to reduce social isolation, stigma, and violence that our most marginalized communities often face daily. A pillar of our work- creating safe spaces for transgender and queer communities of color in Houston, Texas- has allowed our work to impact the lives of trans communities in our local city, and across the United States.
The only Black trans-led/peer led community center in the state of Texas, The Mahogany Project provides supportive services, ranging from emergency housing resource navigation, food pantry, clothing closet, and case management support. In addition, we provide recreational and arts activities- from our media center/recording studio to painting classes to community celebrations- all with the aim of providing empowerment and safety for communities who have nowhere else to turn to for peer-led support. We believe that everyone deserves access to economic stability, dignified housing, quality healthcare, resources, community, and opportunities for healing. We provide and connect the most marginalized to programs that help individuals and communities thrive.
- Make a Scene (Lovestruck #1)
Make a Scene (Lovestruck #1)
by Mimi Grace
$14.99Faking this relationship should be a piece of cake.
Retta Majors is having a bad day. But that’s to be expected when your ex gets engaged to your cousin. Instead of (totally) freaking out, Retta decides to attend the wedding with her amazing, faithful, and handsome boyfriend. One problem...He doesn’t exist.
Duncan Gilmore is living his dream. His boxing gym is open for business, and he’s focused on success. The last thing on his mind is a relationship. That is until the beautiful baker next door makes him an offer so bizarre, he can’t refuse. One weekend of pretending to be Retta’s boyfriend should be easy.However, shared kisses and some flirting start to blur the lines in their fake relationship. When their performance draws to a close, will they go their separate ways or return for an encore?
This novel can be read as a standalone.
- Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh
Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh
Robin Givhan
$35.00Virgil Abloh's iconic rise to the top of the fashion industry embodied a groundbreaking transformation of the relationship between who we are and what we wear.
Abloh's appointment as head of menswear for Louis Vuitton in 2018 shocked the fashion inudstry, as he became the first Black designer to serve as artistic director in the brand's 164-year history. But as Pulitzer Prize–winning culture critic Robin Givhan reveals, Abloh's story encompasses so much more than his own journey.
Using Abloh's surprising path to the top of the luxury establishment, Givhan unfolds the larger story of how the cloistered, exclusive fashion world faced a revolution from below in the form of streetwear and designers unafraid to storm the gates—how their notions of what was luxury simultaneously anticipated and upended consumer preferences, and how a simple T-shirt held as much cultural power as a haute couture gown. As Givhan relays, Abloh rose during a time of existential angst for a fashion inudstry trying to make sense of its responsibilities to a diverse audience and the challenges of selling status to a generation of consumers who fetishized sneakers and prioritized comfort. How that moment came to be—how someone like Abloh, who had no formal training in patternmaking or tailoring, could come to symbolize and embody the industry's way forward—is the story at the heart of this book.
Make It Ours is at once a remarkable biography of a singular creative force and a powerful meditation on fashion and race, taste and exclusivity, genius and luxury. With access to Abloh's family, friends, collaborators, and contemporaries, and featuring a cast of fascinating characters ranging from visionary Black designers like Ozwald Boateng to Abloh's mercurial but critical employer and mentor Kanye West, Givhan weaves a spellbinding tale of a young man's rise amid a cultural moment that would upend a century's worth of ideas about luxury and taste.
- Make Me a Monster
Make Me a Monster
Kalynn Bayron
$19.99Featuring colored endpapers and a designed case!
New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron puts a modern twist on Frankenstein in her haunting new novel about the lengths we'd go for the people we love.
Meka has always lived her life surrounded by death. As a newly certified mortician's assistant at her parents' funeral home, her days are not for the faint of heart. Luckily her boyfriend Noah isn't squeamish, and their closeness has Meka finally feeling ready to say the three little words that have been on her mind.
But then tragedy strikes, and Meka's world is torn apart. Nothing makes sense, especially when strange things start happening. Strangers following her. Mysterious items left at her door. Ravens circling her home. And the dead don't seem to be staying dead.
When a shocking family secret is revealed, Meka must unravel the truth to save herself and her family--and what she finds defies everything she's always believed about life and death.
- Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose
Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose
Nikki Giovanni
$18.99One 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 fifty years, Nikki Giovanni’s poetry has dazzled and inspired readers. As sharp and outspoken as ever, she returns with this profound book of poetry in which she continues to call attention to injustice and racism, celebrate Black culture and Black lives, and give readers an unfiltered look into her own experiences.
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.
- Make Money Move: A Guide to Financial Wellness
Make Money Move: A Guide to Financial Wellness
by Lauren Simmons
$25.00*ships in 7- 10 business days*
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.
- Make Your Mark: The Empowering True Story of the First Known Black Female Tattoo Artist
Make Your Mark: The Empowering True Story of the First Known Black Female Tattoo Artist
Jacci Gresham & Sherry Fellores & David Wilkerson
$18.99A picture book biography celebrating the first known Black female tattoo artist in the U.S., Jacci Gresham, co-authored by Jacci herself, and with stylish, accessible artwork by David Wilkerson
How to make your mark?
Express yourself: From coloring outside the lines to creating her own clothes, expressing herself through art made Jacci Gresham feel confident.
Keep an open mind: When Jacci started out, women getting tattooed was considered distasteful. Women giving tattoos was unheard of. And a Black woman tattoo artist? Jacci was the first.
Practice every day: Jacci studied her craft. She developed new inking techniques for Black and brown skin. And she welcomed everyone into her New Orleans shop, including women of every color, shape, and size.
Stand up for what you believe: From art class to artist, Jacci Gresham pushed boundaries, and she never took no for an answer. Jacci made her mark. How will you make yours? - Make Your Way Home : Stories
Make Your Way Home : Stories
Carrie R. Moore
$17.99A debut collection of stories set across the American South, featuring characters who struggle to find love and belonging in the wake of painful histories. How can you love where you come from, even when home doesn’t love you back?
In eleven stories that span Florida marshes, North Carolina mountains, and Southern metropolitan cities, Make Your Way Home follows Black men and women who grapple with the homes that have eluded them. A preteen pregnant alongside her mother refuses to let convention dictate who she names as the father of her child. Centuries after slavery separated his ancestors, a native Texan tries to win over the love of his life, despite the grip of a family curse. A young deaconess, who falls for a new church member, wonders what it means when God stops speaking to her. And at the very end of the South as we know it, two sisters seek to escape North to freedom, to promises of a more stable climate.
Artfully and precisely drawn, and steeped in place and history as it explores themes of belonging, inheritance, and deep intimacy, Carrie R. Moore’s debut collection announces an extraordinary new talent in American fiction, inviting us all to examine how the past shapes our present—and how our present choices will echo for years to come.
- Makeda Makes a Birthday Treat
Makeda Makes a Birthday Treat
by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Sold outThe first title in an exciting new Level 2 I Can Read! series from acclaimed author Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and illustrator Lydia Mba, starring Makeda, an exuberant seven-year-old "maker" and problem solver who loves to create.
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 Home for Subway (I Can Read Level 2)
Makeda Makes a Home for Subway (I Can Read Level 2)
by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovichm, illustrated Lydia Mba
$5.99The second 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 seven-year-old "maker" and problem solver who loves to create.
Perfect for readers who love Rosie Revere, Engineer and Reina Ramos Works It Out.
Makeda is excited to bring Subway, the class guinea pig, home for the weekend. But Subway seems S-A-D—so Makeda and her friend Glory decide to make him an F-U-N new cage to cheer him up. But what if what is fun for Makeda is not fun for Subway?
This Level 2 I Can Read! book features an engaging story, longer sentences, and language play perfect for developing readers.
- Makeda Makes a Mountain (I Can Read Level 2)
Makeda Makes a Mountain (I Can Read Level 2)
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Lydia Mba
$5.99The third 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 seven-year-old "maker" and problem solver who loves to create.
Perfect for readers who love Rosie Revere, Engineer and Reina Ramos Works It Out.
Makeda and her family are cleaning the house for a party! They make a huge pile of items they don't use anymore, and soon it's time to take them away. But Makeda is not ready to throw anything out. Can she find new ways to use her old things?
This Level 2 I Can Read! book features an engaging story, longer sentences, and language play perfect for developing readers.
- Making a Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology
Making a Way Out of No Way: A Womanist Theology
by Monica A. Coleman
$21.00In her new book, Monica A. Coleman articulates the African American expression of "making a way out of no way" for today's context of globalization, religious pluralism, and sexual diversity. Drawing on womanist religious scholarship and process thought, Coleman describes the symbiotic relationship among God, the ancestors, and humanity that helps to change the world into the just society it ought to be. Making a Way Out of No Way shows us a way of living for justice with God and proposes a communal theology that presents a dynamic way forward for black churches, African traditional religions and grassroots organizations. - Making Space for Renewal: Review, Reset, Refocus - January 7, 2024 @ 11 AM
Making Space for Renewal: Review, Reset, Refocus - January 7, 2024 @ 11 AM
$25.00So many of us have the vision, the intentions, the goals and often, we become stagnate. This workshop is for those who seek to hone new energy and become renewed.
WORKSHOP DEETS
When: Sunday, January 7 @ 11 AM - 2 PM
Where: Kindred Stories' Reading Garden
How: Purchase tickets here!
ABOUT WORKSHOP
Raveen Alexis will lead us through guided journaling and meditation. Be sure to bring yourself, a young mat or towel and a journal with a writing utensil.
Space is limited.
Light refreshments will be provided.
*Tickets are non refundable* - Malai: Frozen Desserts Inspired by South Asian Flavors
Malai: Frozen Desserts Inspired by South Asian Flavors
Pooja Bavishi
$35.00A celebration of South Asian flavors by Pooja Bavishi, the founder of acclaimed Malai ice cream.
Learn to create frozen desserts at home with this first-of-its-kind South Asian-inspired ice cream cookbook.
Bavishi shares the secrets behind Malai’s beloved flavors, including Rose with Cinnamon Roasted Almonds, Mango & Cream, and Coffee Cardamom. Discover how to make their famous Orange Fennel French Toast and Parle-G Masala Chai Ice Cream Sandwiches.
From ice cream bars and cones to pies, cakes, and cookies, this storied collection of 100 recipes will transform your at-home desserts with sweet, spiced, and flavorful frozen treats.
INSPIRED STORY: A delicious exploration where personal stories and cherished flavor memories are woven into every recipe.
ACCESSIBLE RECIPES & EXPERTISE: The recipes are simple to follow, making it easy to create high-quality ice creams and frozen desserts at home, with tips on essential tools and ingredients for consistently delicious results.
UNIQUE FLAVOR COMBOS: Each recipe features the vibrant flavors and ingredients of South Asian cuisine, showcasing Malai’s signature repertoire—cardamom, rose, almond, pepper, mango, chai, orange, lychee, fennel, and saffron.
SWEETS FOR ANY OCCASION: From dairy and dairy-free ice creams to frozen treats, cakes, baked goods, toppings, and sauces, this robust collection of 100 recipes has something for every craving.
- Malas: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Novel
Malas: A GMA Book Club Pick: A Novel
Marcela Fuentes
$19.00A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
A Bookpage Best Historical Fiction Book of 2024
“A vivacious, page-turning novel of rebellion and rebirth.” —Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming and Anita de Monte Laughs Last
A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations—"Fuentes has achieved something rare and indelible with this story of complex women.” (Erika L. Sánchez)
In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguirre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family.
More than forty years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives alone and shunned on the edge of town.
Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms—and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices—one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future.
Rich with cinematic details—from dusty rodeos to the excitement of a Selena concert and the comfort of conjunto ballads played at family gatherings—this memorable debut is a love letter to the Tejano culture and community that sustain both of these women as they discover what family means.
- Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X
Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X
Ilyasah Shabazz
$19.99Malcolm X grew to be one of America’s most influential figures. But first, he was a boy named Malcolm Little. Written by his daughter, this inspiring picture book biography celebrates a vision of freedom and justice.
Bolstered by the love and wisdom of his large, warm family, young Malcolm Little was a natural born leader. But when confronted with intolerance and a series of tragedies, Malcolm’s optimism and faith were threatened. He had to learn how to be strong and how to hold on to his individuality. He had to learn self-reliance.
Together with acclaimed illustrator AG Ford, Ilyasah Shabazz gives us a unique glimpse into the childhood of her father, Malcolm X, with a lyrical story that carries a message that resonates still today—that we must all strive to live to our highest potential.
- Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers
Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers
Ibram X. Kendi
$19.99National Book Award–winning and #1 New York Times–bestselling author Dr. Ibram X. Kendi brings a global icon to life in the first major biography of Malcolm X for young people in more than thirty years.
As a youth, Malcolm endured violence, loss, hunger, foster care, racism, and being incarcerated. He emerged from it all to make a lasting impact. As a Black Muslim. As a family man. As a revolutionary. Malcolm’s life story shows the promise of every human being. Of you!
To trace Malcolm’s childhood and adult years, Kendi draws on Malcolm’s stirring oratory style, using repetition and rhetoric. Short, swift chapters echo Malcolm’s trademark fast walk. An abundance of never-before-published letters, notes, flyers, photos, extensive source notes, and more give young readers a front-row seat to his life.
One hundred years after his birth in 1925, Malcolm’s antiracist legacy lives on in this thoughtful and accessible must-read for all people. For you!
Just like history, Malcolm lives.
- Malcolm X Lapel Pin
Malcolm X Lapel Pin
Sold out“To be a negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all of the time.” James A. Baldwin
1.75 inches tall
Soft enamel with black metal plating.
Comes with 2 rubber pin backs.
- Malcolm X: The FBI File
Malcolm X: The FBI File
$16.95The FBI has made possible a reassembling of the history of Malcolm X that goes beyond any previous research. From the opening of his file in March of 1953 to his assassination in 1965, the story of Malcolm X’s political life is a gripping one.
Shortly after he was released from a Boston prison in 1953, the FBI watched every move Malcolm X made. Their files on him totaled more than 3,600 pages, covering every facet of his life. Viewing the file as a source of information about the ideological development and political significance of Malcolm X, historian Clayborne Carson examines Malcolm’s relationship to other African-American leaders and institutions in order to define more clearly Malcolm’s place in modern history.
With its sobering scrutiny of the FBI and the national policing strategies of the 1950s and 1960s, Malcolm X: The FBI File is one of a kind: never before has there been so much material on the assassination of Malcolm X in one conclusive volume.
- Malola's Museum Adventures: Career Day
Malola's Museum Adventures: Career Day
by Joelle Avelino
Sold out*Ships in 7-10 business days*
Blue skies, empty land—and enough room to hide away a horrifying secret. Or is there? Discover a haunting new vision of the American West from the award-winning author of The Changeling.
Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk is opened, people around her start to disappear...
The year is 1914, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, and forced her to flee her hometown of Redondo, California, in a hellfire rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will be one of the "lone women" taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who can cultivate it—except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing keeping her alive.
Told in Victor LaValle's signature style, blending historical fiction, shimmering prose, and inventive horror, Lone Women is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—and a portrait of early twentieth-century America like you've never seen. - Mama Black Widow
Mama Black Widow
Iceberg Slim
$17.99“Iceberg Slim breaks down some of the coldest, capitalist concepts I’ve ever heard in my life.” —Dave Chappelle, from his Netflix special The Bird Revelation
The most gritty and real illustration of the black ghetto ever told, from the only man capable of telling it, Iceberg Slim, bestselling author of Pimp. Iceberg Slim’s story is now depicted in a major motion picture distributed worldwide.
Mama Black Widow tells the tragic story of Otis Tilson, a stunning black drag queen trapped in a cruel queer ghetto underworld. In hopes of escaping the racial bigotry and economic injustice of the South, Otis’ family journeys north from their plantation to an urban promised land. Once in Chicago Otis and his brother and sisters become prisoners to a wasteland of violence, crime, prostitution and rape. This is the gut-wrenching tale of the destruction of a family and the truest portrayal of homosexuality in the ghetto ever told.
- Mama Day
Mama Day
by Gloria Naylor
$16.95On the island of Willow Springs, off the Georgia coast, the powers of healer Mama Day are tested by her great niece, Cocoa, a stubbornly emancipated woman endangered by the island’s darker forces. - Mamá Didn't Raise a Pendeja: Anti-Affirmations Inspired by Tough-Love Abuelas
Mamá Didn't Raise a Pendeja: Anti-Affirmations Inspired by Tough-Love Abuelas
by Carolina Acosta
$14.95Affectionate yet blunt, this self-help send-up curates the witty tough love of generations of Latina ancestors
Tired of the same old sugarcoated self-help advice? Mamá Didn’t Raise a Pendeja serves up a bracing dose of truth straight from the mouths of Latin elders. With its wit, edge, and no-nonsense advice on everything from dating to careers, this compilation offers a tool kit of motivational mantras to tackle modern struggles—with plenty of humor and comedic smacks of perspective along the way.
Inspired by their own no-nonsense abuelitas, first-generation Latinas Carolina Acosta and Aralis Mejia share the tough love and bold wisdom passed down from generations of resilient women. Free of the saccharine platitudes common in modern affirmation books, this book bottles the loving reality checks only family can give. Quotes like “If you expect life to be easy, it’s gonna be longer than you want it to be” cut straight to the heart with perspective and humor.
Part self-help send-up, part loving lecture, Mamá Didn’t Raise a Pendeja is the little book of blessings and burns you'll want in your back pocket. It’s a practical reminder that even as we hustle ahead, some of the best life lessons come from looking back.
- Mama Said: Stories
Mama Said: Stories
by Kristen Gentry
$19.99Original stories of Black family life in Louisville, Kentucky, for readers of Dantiel Moniz (Milk Blood Heat) and Kai Harris (What the Fireflies Knew).
The linked stories in Mama Said are set in Louisville, Kentucky, a city with a rich history steeped in tobacco, bourbon, and gambling, indulgences that can quickly become gripping and destructive vices. Set amid the tail end of the crack epidemic and the rise of the opioid crisis, Mama Said evokes Black family life in all its complexity, following JayLynn, along with her cousins Zaria and Angel, as they come of age struggling against their mothers’ drug addictions.JayLynn heads to college intent on gaining distance from her depressed mother, only to learn that her mother’s illness has reached a terrifying peak. She fears the chaos and instability of her extended family will prove too much for her boyfriend, whose idyllic family feels worlds, not miles, apart from her own. When bats invade Zaria’s new home, she is forced to determine how much she is willing to sacrifice to be a good mother. Angel rebels on Derby night, risking her safety to connect with her absent mother and the wild ways that consumed her.
Mama Said separates from stereotypes of Black families, presenting instead the joy, humor, and love that coexist with the trauma of drug abuse within communities. Kristen Gentry’s stories showcase the wide-reaching repercussions of addiction and the ties that forever bind daughters to their mothers, flaws and all.
- Mamá's Panza
Mamá's Panza
by Isabel Quintero
$18.99*ships or ready for pick up in 5 - 7 days*
A body-positive picture book about a young boy's love for his mother and his mother's belly. Everyone has a panza—it can be big and round, soft and small, or somewhere in between. But a young boy’s favorite panza of all is Mamá’s. Her panza is capable of remarkable things, and she loves it as an important part of herself. Her panza was also his first home. Even before he was born, it cradled and held him. When he’s feeling shy and needs a place to hide or when he wants somewhere to rest during a bedtime story, Mamá’s panza is always there. With affirming text by Isabel Quintero and vivid art by Iliana Galvez, Mamá’s Panza is a young boy’s love letter to his mother, along with a celebration of our bodies and our bellies.
- Mamiachi & Me: My Mami’s Mariachi Band (A Picture Book)
Mamiachi & Me: My Mami’s Mariachi Band (A Picture Book)
by Jolene Gutiérrez, Dakota Gutiérrez, and Mirelle Ortega
Sold outMamiachi & Me is a lyrical and empowering picture book written by Jolene and Dakota Gutiérrez and illustrated by Mirelle Ortega, winner of a Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor, about what it means to be a mariachi in an all‑female band.
Today’s the day! Rosa will take the stage next to her mami and play along with her popular mariachi band. But as they fasten the shiny botonaduras and tie the moños on their charra suits, Rosa begins to worry. What if the audience doesn’t like her? Is she ready to perform?
With her “mamiachi” and madrinas by her side, Rosa’s stage fright is soothed away by the sound of trumpets, guitars, and violins. Centering on the power of sisterhood, community, and music, the warm and lively text by mother-and-son writing duo Jolene and Dakota Gutiérrez—joined by Mirelle Ortega’s beautiful illustrations—provides a unique perspective to the male-dominated world of mariachi. Back matter includes additional context on the history of the beloved Mexican tradition and the rise of all-female mariachi groups, as well as a glossary, a bibliography, further reading, and a fun, detailed look at a mariachi’s signature charro suit!
- Manchild in the Promised Land
Manchild in the Promised Land
$20.00With more than two million copies in print, Manchild in the Promised Land is one of the most remarkable autobiographies of our time—the definitive account of African-American youth in Harlem of the 1940s and 1950s, and a seminal work of modern literature.
Published during a literary era marked by the ascendance of black writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Alex Haley, this thinly fictionalized account of Claude Brown’s childhood as a hardened, streetwise criminal trying to survive the toughest streets of Harlem has been heralded as the definitive account of everyday life for the first generation of African Americans raised in the Northern ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s.
When the book was first published in 1965, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of Harlem—the children, young people, hardworking parents; the hustlers, drug dealers, prostitutes, and numbers runners; the police; the violence, sex, and humor.
The book continues to resonate generations later, not only because of its fierce and dignified anger, not only because the struggles of urban youth are as deeply felt today as they were in Brown’s time, but also because of its inspiring message. Now with an introduction by Nathan McCall, here is the story about the one who “made it,” the boy who kept landing on his feet and grew up to become a man.
- Mandela: In Honor of an Extraordinary Life
Mandela: In Honor of an Extraordinary Life
Makaziwe Mandela
$34.98A tribute to her father, Makaziwe Mandela shares the most definitive portrait of Nelson Mandela to date, revealing the man behind the anti-apartheid movement that changed the world.
One of Time magazine’s Most Important People of the Twentieth Century, Nelson Mandela continues to be a symbol of equality and justice: a Nobel Prize winner, South Africa’s first Black president, and an unrelenting leader in the movement to dismantle racial inequality. Written by his daughter, her story uncovers the family man behind the international peacemaker persona.
This volume presents an extraordinary assembly of historic biography and imagery alongside never-before-published family stories and personal photographs, Nelson Mandela’s letters to friends and family, journal entries written during his incarceration, and a unique collection of rarely seen charcoal drawings and paintings he began at 83 years old. Chapters chronicle Mandela’s childhood growing up in Mvezo, his time in Johannesburg as leader of the African National Congress, the importance of his familial relationships, decades of imprisonment, and his role as president and philanthropist. An enthralling read illustrated by powerful historic imagery, this tome delves into the life of the man that continues to galvanize so many.
Stay Informed. We're building a community committed to celebrating Black authors + artisans. Subscribe to keep up with all things Kindred Stories.