It's raining Black holiday romances and women's fiction this year and we're here to celebrate it all!

EVENT DEETS

When: Sunday, November 24 @ 3:30 PM CST

Where: Virtual via Zoom. We'll send you the Zoom link!

How: RSVP here to let us know you're coming! Also, check out the cool book bundles to support the authors. 

The Grinch (includes Only for the Holidays by Abiola Bello, A Novel Christmas by Charity Shane and Christmas in Spite of You by K.C. Mills)

The Hallmark (I'll Be Gone for Christmas by Georgia Boone, The Christmas Catch by Toni Shiloh, Only for the Holidays by Abiola Bello) 

Home Alone (Christmas in Spite of You by K.C. Mills,  I'll Be Gone for Christmas by Georgia Boone, A Novel Christmas by Charity Shane) 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

Abiola Bello is a British-Nigerian author from London, England. She is the bestselling, award-winning author of the children’s series Emily Knight I Am and the YA novel Love in Winter Wonderland, as well as a contributor to The Very Merry Murder Club anthology. Abiola has won London’s BIG Read 2019, was a finalist for the People’s Book Prize Best Children’s Book and was nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Award.

Charity Shane holds a bachelor’s degree and a Juris Doctor degree. Author. Higher Education Leader. Legal Expert. Writing stories that create feelings through her words is her true passion. Her soul sings AA romance and urban romance fiction. To date, she has published twelve books, one of which became a #1 Bestseller in Urban Fiction on Amazon. Charity Shane’ is dedicated to giving readers robust and diverse stories centered around love.

K.C. Mills penned her first novel in July 2015. One of her many talents is the ability to move between multiple genres and fully execute stories which are whole, realistic and heart-warming that leave readers wanting more. Her soul tends to feel at home with contemporary adult romance and urban fiction novels. To date, she has over one hundred titles, thirty-seven of which were published independently. Mills’ goal as an author is to craft Romance with an Edge that displays love in all shades of brown, with beautifully flawed humans that deserve to find their happily ever after.

Toni Shiloh is a wife, a mom, and an award-winning Christian contemporary romance author. Her novel In Search of a Prince won the first ever Christy Amplify Award. It has also been praised by Oprah Daily, POPSUGAR, Library Journal, and Booklist and is a Parable bestseller. Her books have won the Christy Award and Selah Award and have been finalists for the Carol Award and the HOLT Medallion. As a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), Toni loves connecting with readers and authors alike via social media. Learn more at ToniShiloh.com

Georgia K. Boone is a writer, a poet, and the daughter of storytellers. Sometimes, she writes songs she may one day share. Once, in a Brooklyn community center, she read James Baldwin’s quote “You can’t tell the children there’s no hope,” and she carries those words from the city to the desert and beyond. She lives on the West Coast with her family

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Theresa Arline, is a Birmingham, AL native, graduate of Texas Southern University and the owner of Public Displays of Reading, a book accesories company based in Houston, Texas. Her lifelong passion for reading has evolved into a mission to promote books by Black authors across genres. 

A major survey chronicling Thomas’ vibrant, rhinestone-adorned paintings

New York–based artist Mickalene Thomas’ critically acclaimed and extensive body of work spans painting, collage, print, photography, video and immersive installations. With influences ranging from 19th-century painting to popular culture, Thomas’ art articulates a complex and empowering vision of womanhood while expanding on and subverting common definitions of beauty, sexuality, celebrity and politics. This major survey publication further affirms Thomas’ status as a key figure of contemporary art. It features notable works that are arranged in thematic chapters throughout the book.
The book also features an interview with the artist by Rachel Thomas, and is followed by essays from Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Darnell L. Moore, Claudia Rankine, Ed Schad, T.K. Smith and Christine Y. Kim, which cover her distinct visual vocabulary, drawing on themes of intergenerational female empowerment, autobiography, memory and tenets of Black feminist theory. In particular, they explore how Thomas subverts art history to reclaim the notions of repose, rest and leisure in works that celebrate self-expression and joy. For the artist, repose is a radical act, pointing to "what is able to happen once you have the agency."
Mickalene Thomas (born 1971) is an international, award-winning, multidisciplinary artist whose work has yielded instantly recognizable and widely celebrated aesthetic languages within contemporary visual culture. She is known for her elaborate portraits of Black women composed of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel.

Everyone can be an activist with the guidance of Omkari Williams, a life coach who guides readers in identifying their "activist archetype" and mapping a personal action plan for engaging in small, change-making activities with potentially big impacts.

This subscription will help to support one of the most important reading periods in a child's life.  We want to ensure your newly independent reader has access to stories that will help them grow into engaged lifelong readers.  Expect a wide range of themes with this subscription as your reader explores all that the literary world has to offer.

What you get: Hardcover frontlist books from traditional publishers.

Ordering deadline:  Subscription orders placed before the 17th of the month are guaranteed to ship on the first Tuesday of the following month when all subscriptions are shipped.

Ordering Instructions:  Please select your subscription frequency (monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly) and proceed to checkout.

Gift subscriptions:  Subscriptions make really great gifts.  Please make sure the shipping address is the correct address for the gift recipient.

Shipping will be calculated at checkout.  All subscriptions ship via media mail and will arrive within 3-8 business days of the ship date.

A twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Charles Johnson’s National Book Award-winning masterpiece—"a novel in the tradition of Billy Budd and Moby-Dick…heroic in proportion…fiction that hooks the mind" (The New York Times Book Review)—now with a new introduction from Stanley Crouch.

Rutherford Calhoun, a newly freed slave and irrepressible rogue, is lost in the underworld of 1830s New Orleans. Desperate to escape the city’s unscrupulous bill collectors and the pawing hands of a schoolteacher hellbent on marrying him, he jumps aboard the Republic, a slave ship en route to collect members of a legendary African tribe, the Allmuseri. Thus begins a voyage of metaphysical horror and human atrocity, a journey which challenges our notions of freedom, fate and how we live together. Peopled with vivid and unforgettable characters, nimble in its interplay of comedy and serious ideas, this dazzling modern classic is a perfect blend of the picaresque tale, historical romance, sea yarn, slave narrative and philosophical allegory.

Now with a new introduction from renowned writer and critic Stanley Crouch, this twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Middle Passage celebrates a cornerstone of the American canon and the masterwork of one of its most important writers. "Long after we’d stopped believe in the great American novel, along comes a spellbinding adventure story that may be just that" (Chicago Tribune).

Penguin announces a prestigious new series under presiding editor Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Many works of history deal with the journeys of blacks in bondage from Africa to the United States along the "middle passage," but there is also a rich and little examined history of African Americans traveling in the opposite direction. In Middle Passages, award-winning historian James T. Campbell vividly recounts more than two centuries of African American journeys to Africa, including the experiences of such extraordinary figures as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Richard Wright, Malcolm X, and Maya Angelou. A truly groundbreaking work, Middle Passages offers a unique perspective on African Americans' ever-evolving relationship with their ancestral homeland, as well as their complex, often painful relationship with the United States.

*Ships in 7-10 business days*

This picture book will delight every Spider-Man fan with its vibrant illustrations and heartfelt story about self-discovery.

New York Times bestselling author Denene Millner’s picture book follows Miles Morales as he explores what it means to be an artist, to be Spider-Man, and to be himself.

Miles Morales is captivated by the murals in his neighborhood, bursting with color and life. Each one tells a story about the artist who created it, and as an aspiring artist himself, Miles dreams of making his own one day. 

But Miles isn’t just an artist—he’s Spider-Man! When he makes friends with fellow artist Mr. Arty, Miles learns even more about his passions, his Puerto Rican heritage, and the importance of his neighborhood.

Miles Morales is on the case in this original Marvel chapter book with black-and-white illustrations throughout!

Miles Morales loves spending time at the new center that Tony Stark has just opened. There, he and other kids can take classes, play sports, and even work on art projects. Which is exactly what Miles is doing when he discovers that someone is trying to steal top-secret files from the Stark Center.

Luckily, King T’Challa and his sister Shuri are in New York, and Shuri is just the tech genius who can help Miles save the day. Can this team identify and capture the villain before the Stark Center is completely destroyed?

Miles is determined to untangle this web in this chapter book that’s perfect for Marvel fans beginning to read on their own or for reading aloud!

© 2024 MARVEL.™

¡Una novela gráfica original de grado intermedio de Graphix protagonizada por Miles Morales, del exitoso autor Justin A. Reynolds y el nominado al Eisner Pablo León!

Miles Morales casi se ha acostumbrado a esto de ser el Hombre Araña. Mantener a Brooklyn a salvo, acabar con los malos y terminar la tarea... ¡lo tiene bajo control! Pero las cosas se complican cuando invitan al Hombre Araña al lanzamiento de un nuevo videojuego. Todos los que lo juegan quedan congelados, y todo se debe a un villano llamado el Extraño. Ha juzgado a la humanidad y la ha encontrado culpable, y su idea de justicia es extrema. El tiempo corre para Miles, quien tiene el destino del mundo en sus manos. ¿Podrá convertir a viejos enemigos en amigos y encontrar a tiempo las respuestas que necesita? An original middle-grade graphic novel from Graphix starring Miles Morales, by bestselling author Justin A. Reynolds and Eisner nominee Pablo Leon!Miles Morales has just about gotten used to this being Spider-Man thing. Keeping Brooklyn safe, taking down bad guys, and finishing his homework―he’s got this! But when Spider-Man is invited to a launch for a brand-new video game, things go sideways fast. Anyone who plays the game is frozen, and it’s all because of a villain named the Stranger. He’s judged humanity and found it lacking, and his idea of justice is extreme. Left with the fate of the world in his hands, and the clock is ticking on Miles. Can he turn old foes to friends and find the answers he needs in time?

An original middle-grade graphic novel from Graphix starring Brooklyn's Spider-Man, Miles Morales, by bestselling author Justin A. Reynolds and Eisner nominee Pablo Leon!

Miles Morales es un chico que por el dia estudia en la Academia Visiones de Brooklyn y por la noche se balancea entre los edificios como el Hombre Arana. Un dia, un desastroso terremoto azota Puerto Rico, el lugar de nacimiento de su madre, y Miles entra en accion para organizar una recaudacion de fondos para la devastada isla. Pero entonces desaparece el padre de una nueva estudiante de su escuela, y Miles comienza a encontrar pistas que conectan la desaparicion con una megacorporacion que esta patrocinando la recaudacion de fondos. ¿Quien estara detras de todo esto y que relacion tiene con el Hombre Arana?

Miles Morales is a normal kid who happens to juggle school at Brooklyn Visions Academy while swinging through the streets of Brooklyn as Spider-Man. After a disastrous earthquake strikes his mother's birthplace of Puerto Rico, Miles springs into action to help set up a fundraiser for the devastated island. But when a new student's father goes missing, Miles begins to make connections between the disappearance and a giant corporation sponsoring Miles' fundraiser. Who is behind the disappearance, and how does that relate to Spider-Man?

An original middle-grade graphic novel from Graphix starring Brooklyn's Spider-Man, Miles Morales, by bestselling author Justin A. Reynolds and Eisner nominee Pablo Leon!

Miles Morales is a normal kid who happens to juggle school at Brooklyn Visions Academy while swinging through the streets of Brooklyn as Spider-Man. After a disastrous earthquake strikes his mother's birthplace of Puerto Rico, Miles springs into action to help set up a fundraiser for the devastated island. But when a new student's father goes missing, Miles begins to make connections between the disappearance and a giant corporation sponsoring Miles' fundraiser. Who is behind the disappearance, and how does that relate to Spider-Man?A true middle grade graphic novel starring one of Marvel's most popular characters, bestselling author Justin A. Reynolds (Opposite of Always) and Eisner award-nominated artist Pablo Leon (Refugees) create a riveting story that will connect with new and well-versed comics readers alike.

Join MIles Morales in his most epic adventure yet!

Miles Morales has just about gotten used to this being Spider-Man thing. Keeping Brooklyn safe, taking down bad guys, and finishing his homework—he’s got this! But when Spider-Man is invited to a launch for a brand-new video game, things go sideways fast. Anyone who plays the game is frozen, and it’s all because of a villain named the Stranger. He’s judged humanity and found it lacking, and his idea of justice is extreme.

Left with the fate of the world in his hands, and the clock is ticking on Miles. Can he turn old foes to friends and find the answers he needs in time?

Mimi returns for another misadventure in this sweet, funny Graphix Chapters series by Shauna J. Grant.

Get drawn into reading with Graphix Chapters!

Graphix Chapters are ideal books for beginning and newly independent readers aged 6-8. With approachable page counts, easy-to-follow paneling, and artwork that supports text comprehension, these engaging stories with unforgettable characters help children become lifelong readers.

Boo-hoo! Mimi is not having a good day. She can't get her pigtails to sit right, she's not in the mood for her favorite breakfast, and she's far from feeling like her usual self. Mimi has a case of the Blahs, where nothing feels quite right. With the help of Penelope, her magical toy dog and best friend, she sets out to find a way to get rid of this icky feeling. Will Mimi reclaim her spark, or will the Blahs get the best of her?

Rising star Shauna J. Grant makes her Graphix Chapters debut with this humorous and wholesome series.

Get drawn into reading with Graphix Chapters!

Graphix Chapters are ideal books for beginning and newly independent readers aged 6-8. With approachable page counts, easy-to-follow paneling, and artwork that supports text comprehension, these engaging stories with unforgettable characters help children become lifelong readers.

Meet Mimi. She's charming! She's cheerful! She's cute!

But that's not all! She's also a loyal friend and fun playmate, who has the best adventures with Penelope, her magical toy dog. But when Mimi notices people treating her like she's too cute, can she show them that she's much more than meets the eye? Or will she be stuck in this cute-astrophe?

A young woman harnesses her newfound power to challenge the ruthless man who controls her , in this brilliant and provocative novel from the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower.

Mary is a treacherous experiment. Her creator, an immortal named Doro, has molded the human race for generations, seeking out those with unusual talents like telepathy and breeding them into a new subrace of humans who obey his every command. The result is Mary: a young black woman living on the rough outskirts of Los Angeles in the 1970s, who has no idea how much power she will soon wield.

Doro knows he must handle Mary carefully or risk her ending like his previous experiments: dead, either by her own hand or Doro's. What he doesn't suspect is that Mary's maturing telepathic abilities may soon rival his own power. By linking telepaths with a viral pattern, she will create the potential to break free of his control once and for all-and shift the course of humanity.

Relax, rejuvenate, and renew your mind, body, and soul with this coloring books designed for Black women that focuses and elevates the already popular—and effective—self-care activity with illustrations to color and affirmations to empower.

Celebrate what makes Black women powerful, brilliant, and brave with Mind, Body, & Soul: A Self-Care Coloring Book for Black Women. As you enjoy coloring in 35 gorgeous art pages, you’ll be practicing self-care as you take the time to relax for just you. You’ll find stunning art pages depicting Black women vibing, being creative in their homes, listening to music, practicing yoga, meditating in nature, and transcending in metaphysical dimensions. With affirmations included on each page, you’ll internalize the positive messages and manifest positive outcomes for yourself as you color.

With Mind, Body, & Soul, every time you sit down to color in these inspiring designs, you’ll be affirming yourself and your right to self-care.

A young adventurer must test their skills as a hero while navigating new challenges, friendships, and rivalries in the next blockbuster Minecraft novel. Welcome to Adventure School!

Hero Crowe’s Adventure School is the stuff of legends. Every year, aspiring heroes across the Overworld wait to see where the mysterious school will pop up this time. But before students can even make it to the front steps, they must pass a dangerous admissions test.

Belinda knows she can pass. She has to pass. She needs to prove to everyone (most of all herself) that she’s not a coward, and she is certain that winning the school’s glorious chest of rare, valuable items is the way to do it. She just needs to make sure she wins without revealing too much about her past.

Belinda has competition, though. She and countless other students are up against hair-raising mobs, secret rooms, and saboteurs, facing challenge after challenge as they battle their way through Hero Crowe’s unusual “lessons.” While some students think working together is the best strategy, others prefer the whole lone wolf thing. After all, Hero said there could be only one victor.

Navigating new friendships, rivalries, and plenty of danger, Belinda discovers just what it takes to be a hero. But in the end, will she win the prize and become the school’s one true hero?

From the Booker Prize finalist and bestselling author: a perceptive novel about a gay Black painter navigating the worlds of art, desire, and creativity

A newcomer to New York, Wyeth is a Black painter who grew up in the South and is trying to find his place in the contemporary Manhattan art scene. It’s challenging. Gallery shows displaying bad art. Pretentious artists jockeying for attention. The gossip and the backstabbing. While his part-time work for an art restorer is engaging, Wyeth suffers from artist’s block with his painting and he is finding it increasingly difficult to spark his creativity. When he meets Keating, a white former seminarian who left the priesthood, Wyeth begins to reconsider how to observe the world, in the process facing questions about the conflicts between Black and white art, the white gaze on the Black body, and the compromises we make – in art and in life.

As he did so adeptly in Booker finalist Real Life and the bestselling The Late Americans, Brandon Taylor brings to life in Minor Black Figures a fascinating set of characters, this time in the competitive art world, and the lives they lead with each and on their own. Minor Black Figures is an involving and tender portrait of friendship, creativity, and the connections between them.

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The first volume in an anthology series that amplifies the voices of unsung Black poets to paint a more robust picture of our national past, and of the Black literary imagination, with a foreword by Tracy K. Smith

A Penguin Classic

Joshua Bennett and Jesse McCarthy repeatedly found themselves struck by the number of exciting poets they came across in long-out-of-print collections and forgotten journals whose work has been neglected or entirely ignored, even by scholars of Black poetry. Minor Notes is an excavation initiative that recovers and curates archival materials from these understudied, though supremely gifted, African American poets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and aims to bridge scholarly interest with the growing general audience who reads, writes, and circulates poetry within that tradition. As Minor Notes clarifies, the work of contemporary Black poets is perhaps best understood through the lens of a long-standing tradition of the poet as witness, as prophetic voice, as communal bard, and as scholar of the everyday and the miraculous. The poets featured in Volume 1 are George Moses Horton, Fenton Johnson, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Henrietta Cordelia Ray, David Wadsworth Cannon Jr., Anne Spencer, and Angelina Weld Grimké.

*Paperback Release Date - 6/23/2026*

The New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-nominated author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois and The Age of Phillis makes her nonfiction debut with this personal and thought-provoking work that explores the journeys and possibilities of Black women throughout American history and in contemporary times.

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is at a crossroads.

Traditional African/Black American cultures present the crossroads as a place of simultaneous difficulty and possibility. In contemporary times, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the phrase “intersectionality” to explain the unique position of Black women in America. In many ways, they are at a third crossroads: attempting to fit into notions of femininity and respectability primarily assigned to White women, while inventing improvisational strategies to combat oppression.

In Misbehaving at the Crossroads, Jeffers explores the emotional and historical tensions in Black women’s public lives and her own private life. She charts voyages of Black girlhood to womanhood and the currents buffeting these journeys, including the difficulties of racially gendered oppression, the challenges of documenting Black women’s ancestry; the adultification of Black girls; the irony of Black female respectability politics; the origins of Womanism/Black feminism; and resistance to White supremacy and patriarchy. As Jeffers shows with empathy and wisdom, naming difficult historical truths represents both Blues and transcendence, a crossroads that speaks.

Necessary and sharply observed, provocative and humane, and full of the insight and brilliance that has characterized her poetry and fiction, Misbehaving at the Crossroads illustrates the life of one extraordinary Black woman—and her extraordinary foremothers.

A powerful manifesto on how speaking your truth and owning your differences can transform your life

In this sensational, agenda-setting debut, Michaela Coel, BAFTA-winning actor and writer of breakout series I May Destroy You and Chewing Gum, makes a compelling case for radical honesty.

Drawing on her unflinching Edinburgh TV Festival MacTaggart lecture, Misfits recounts deeply personal anecdotes from Coel’s life and work to argue for greater transparency. With insight and wit, it lays bare her journey to reclaiming her creativity and power, inviting readers to reflect on theirs.

Advocating for “misfits” everywhere, this timely, necessary book is a rousing and bold case against fitting in.

A companion to Miss Quinces, Kat Fajardo's bestselling, award-winning middle-grade graphic novel!

Sue is heading to Camp Willow this summer! She’s looking forward to hiking, archery, and making comics in the fresh air. She’s especially excited about LARPing (live-action role-playing) and can’t wait for the freedom of being away from home. But she won’t be far from family because her big sister, Carmen, is a camp counselor and her little sister, Ester, is a fellow camper and won’t give her any space! All Sue wants is to make memories with her friends, but they’re assigned to only a few of the same activities. To make matters even worse, her best friend, Sam, has a best camp friend named Marisol? And Sue’s good friend Izzy has a crush on Sue?! This summer isn’t at all going as planned!

*ships in 7-10 business days

The award-winning author of The Good Negress shares invaluable insights on the precarious journey toward creativity that is the writer’s life, and tells the compelling story of her relationship with Toni Morrison, painting an illuminating portrait of this towering yet enigmatic cultural icon.

With the publication of her debut novel The Good Negress in 1995, A. J. Verdelle became an overnight sensation, winning critical acclaim and competing for prestigious literature prizes. But for Verdelle, the most unexpected consequence was the friendship she formed with the legendary Toni Morrison. Receiving an advance copy of the book, the Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author—notorious for never giving early praise—called The Good Negress, “Truly Extraordinary.” It was a writer’s dream come true—a dream that for Verdelle would become simultaneously exhilarating and challenging.

Now, twenty-five years later, Verdelle tells the story of that success and what came after. Miss Chloe begins with the story of young Verdelle’s persistent aim to become an author, spending countless pre-dawn hours writing the novel that became The Good Negress. Verdelle then turns to the heady period after publication, focusing on her relationship with Toni—a precious gift that was most of the time a grace and a blessing, and at other times, confusing and too separate from literature. While Morrison continued to rise as an icon, Verdelle’s writing career took a sharp turn. Verdelle’s next novel—a Western featuring Black characters—is quickly bought by a young editor who leaves for another job before the manuscript is finished. Searching for direction, Verdelle moves to another publisher. Yet this second book will languish for more than fifteen years. In chronicling her journey, Verdelle offers an honest assessment of what it means to be a writer, including the expectations and let downs that famous friendships do not defray.

Miss Chloe ends with the period after Morrison has passed away, when Verdelle is left to face the reality of her writing career, pondering what it means to have promise that is yet to materialize. She finds comfort in advice Morrison offered over the years, insight she shares in this wise book. “In order for Morrison to take you seriously, to have patience with you, to be interested, you had to be able to hear her,” Verdelle writes. “You had to be able to sit still and listen. You had to be able to pipe up in the pauses, and prove you understood. You needed demonstrate that language was a skill you had, that Black culture was known to you and respected by you.” 

In this captivating family drama from award-winning, bestselling author ReShonda Tate Billingsley, four estranged sisters must return to rural Arkansas when their mother is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Their mother wants them to repair their shattered relationships, but first they’ll have to face the lies and obstacles they’ve worked so hard to leave behind…

An intriguing, heartfelt tale about long held family secrets, truths that won’t stay hidden, and how facing the ultimate loss can force us to find our own ways to make amends and heal…
 
Raising four very different daughters on her own in rural Arkansas wasn’t easy for Miss Pearly Bell. And she’s always regretted that the sisters went their separate ways for good—and never wanted to see each other again. But when Pearly is stricken with a terminal illness, she summons them all home—determined to somehow help them get right with each other and forgive…But that means dealing with past secrets and lies first.
 
As the oldest sister, pastor’s wife Maxine took her responsibility way too seriously—and never fails to judge everyone else. But a secret she can no longer keep will explode everything she stands for. Youngest sister Leslie is all about making a very different life with her new love—but she didn’t expect a shattering past truth to be suddenly revealed and uproot everything she ever thought she knew. Elegant PR professional Stella and her earthy twin, Star, don’t see eye-to-eye on anything—and now a long-ago deception could wipe out their last chance at a relationship.
 
Soon each sister must confront the illusions they’ve taken refuge in for so long and deal with each other woman-to-woman. But can building an all-too-fragile trust repair the damage done—and help them come together when they are needed most?