Bestsellers
- Madam X
Madam X
Niobia Bryant
$16.95By popular demand, national bestselling author Niobia Bryant brings you the sizzling, sexy, twist-a-minute follow-up to Madam, May I, in which Manhattan's most exclusive madam discovers her past is back with a vengeance . . .
Billionaire celebrity clients, anything-goes erotic nights, seductive betrayals—Desdemona Dean couldn't wait to leave the high-end prostitution game behind. Now settled down with the only man she’s ever loved, Desi is getting the chances her shattered childhood denied her—and making her life truly her own. Until a basketball superstar publicly credits Madam X's unmatched sexual services for his astonishing career. Add an anonymous tip to the police—and suddenly Desi is in the center of a social and tabloid media firestorm . . .
Knowing others’ secret desires has always kept Desi safe—and hiding her own wrenching past is the only protection she could ever trust. But her lies are taking her relationship apart piece by piece, keeping her only seconds ahead of the police—and exposing her to a malicious blackmailer determined to destroy her for good . . .
Now Desi will need all her nerve and cool, calculating bravado to take down her enemies and outmaneuver the law. But once she reveals who she used to be, can she survive the consequences to hold on to the woman she’s become?
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Penguin Vitae)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Penguin Vitae)
Frederick Douglass
$25.00An updated edition of a classic African American autobiography, with new supplementary materials
A Penguin Vitae Edition
The preeminent American slave narrative first published in 1845, Frederick Douglass’s Narrative powerfully details the life of the abolitionist from his birth into slavery in 1818 to his escape to the North in 1838, how he endured the daily physical and spiritual brutalities of his owners and driver, how he learned to read and write, and how he grew into a man who could only live free or die. In addition to Douglass’s classic autobiography, this new edition also includes his most famous speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” and his only known work of fiction, The Heroic Slave, which was written, in part, as a response to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Penguin Classics presents Penguin Vitae, loosely translated as “Penguin of one’s life,” a deluxe hardcover series featuring a dynamic landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction that has shaped the course of our readers' lives. Penguin Vitae invites readers to find themselves in a diverse world of storytellers, with beautifully designed classic editions of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.
- The Single Dad Project (Rose Bend)
The Single Dad Project (Rose Bend)
Naima Simone
$9.99"Passion, heat and deep emotion—Naima Simone is a gem!" —Maisey Yates, New York Times bestselling author
He’s the best mistake she ever made…
Back in Rose Bend after a work trip that went wrong, Florence “Flo” Dennison craves the kind of distraction only a searing fling with a gorgeous stranger can provide. And she gets it—in an encounter hot enough to leave scars. But satisfaction turns to shock when Flo realizes her one-night stand is leading the restoration project she’s been hired to photograph. And his sweet little girl has decided Flo’s her new bestie…
Single dad and architect Adam Reed wants stability for his daughter, and he’s sure that Flo—young, ambitious, beautiful—isn’t looking for that. But when his nanny bails and Flo helps him out, it becomes impossible to keep their distance. Now, navigating tangled family ties and her own trust issues, Flo has to decide if one wild night can become so much more.
Bonus novella!
Brooklyn Hayes just woke up in Vegas married to her best friend, who also happens to be her sister's ex. Will they make it through a trip back home without spilling their secret…or falling in love?
Rose Bend
Book 1: The Road to Rose Bend
Book 2: Christmas in Rose Bend
Book 3: With Love from Rose Bend
Book 4: Mr. Right Next Door
Book 5: The Single Dad Project - The Book of James: The Power, Politics, and Passion of LeBron
The Book of James: The Power, Politics, and Passion of LeBron
Valerie Babb
$30.00The unique social, cultural, and political life of the incomparable LeBron James
LeBron James is the hero in two very American tales: one, a success story the nation loves; the other, the latest installment in an ongoing chronicle of American antiblackness. He’s the poor boy from a “broken” home who makes good. He’s also the poor Black boy from a “broken” home who makes good, then at the apex of his career finds “n*****” spray-painted across the gate to his home.
James has lived in the public eye ever since high school when his extraordinary athletic skills subjected his every action, every statement, every fashion choice to intense public scrutiny that tells us less about James himself and more about a nation still wrestling with many social inequities. He uses his celebrity not to transcend Blackness, but to give it a place of cultural prominence, and the backlash he receives exposes the frictions between Blackness and a country not fully comfortable with its presence. As a result, James’s story is a revelatory narrative of how much Blackness is loved, hated, misunderstood, and just plain cool in an America that has changed and yet not changed at all. - Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Alex Haley
$22.99Based off of the bestselling author's family history, this novel tells the story of Kunta Kinte, who is sold into slavery in the United States where he and his descendants live through major historic events.
When Roots was first published forty years ago, the book electrified the nation: it received a Pulitzer Prize and was a #1 New York Times bestseller for 22 weeks. The celebrated miniseries that followed a year later was a coast-to-coast event-over 130 million Americans watched some or all of the broadcast. In the four decades since then, the story of the young African slave Kunta Kinte and his descendants has lost none of its power to enthrall and provoke.
Now, Roots once again bursts onto the national scene, and at a time when the race conversation has never been more charged. It is a book for the legions of earlier readers to revisit and for a new generation to discover.
To quote from the introduction by Michael Eric Dyson: "Alex Haley's Roots is unquestionably one of the nation's seminal texts. It affected events far beyond its pages and was a literary North Star.... Each generation must make up its own mind about how it will navigate the treacherous waters of our nation's racial sin. And each generation must overcome our social ills through greater knowledge and decisive action. Roots is a stirring reminder that we can achieve these goals only if we look history squarely in the face."
The star- studded cast in this new event series includes Academy Award-winners Forest Whitaker and Anna Paquin, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Derek Luke, Grammy Award-winner Tip "T.I." Harris, and Mekhi Phifer. Questlove of The Roots is the executive music producer for the miniseries's stirring soundtrack.
- All My Rage
All My Rage
Sabaa Tahir
$12.99National Book Award WINNER
Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature WINNER
An INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
An INSTANT INDIE BESTSELLER!"All My Rage is a love story, a tragedy and an infectious teenage fever dream about what home means when you feel you don't fit in." -- New York Times Book Review
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir comes a brilliant, unforgettable, and heart-wrenching contemporary novel about family and forgiveness, love and loss, in a sweeping story that crosses generations and continents.
Lahore, Pakistan. Then.
Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start.Juniper, California. Now.
Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding.Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah's health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle's liquor store while hiding the fact that she's applying to college so she can escape him--and Juniper--forever.
When Sal's attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth--and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.
From one of today's most cherished and bestselling young adult authors comes a breathtaking novel of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness--one that's both tragic and poignant in its tender ferocity.
- The Other Lands: The Acacia Trilogy, Book Two
The Other Lands: The Acacia Trilogy, Book Two
David Anthony Durham
$15.95“David Anthony Durham has serious chops. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next."
—George R. R. MartinDavid Anthony Durham’s gripping Acacia Trilogy continues with an epic novel where loyalties are tested, new worlds are discovered, and battle lines are being drawn.
A few years have passed since Queen Corinn has usurped control of the Known World—and she now rules with an iron fist. With plans to expand her empire, she sends her brother, Dariel, on an exploratory mission across the sea to The Other Lands. There, he discovers an alliance of tribes that have no interest in being ruled by Queen Corinn and the Akarans. In fact, Dariel’s arrival ignites a firestorm that once more exposes The Known World to a massive invasion, one unlike anything they have yet faced . . . - The Bitter Truth
The Bitter Truth
Shanora Williams
$17.95An upstanding political candidate. A determined stalker. A shattering lost weekend. Amid the clashes and intrigue of the campaign trail, to what lengths will the elegant, all-too-devoted wife of a seemingly incorruptible politician go in the name of love, loyalty, and ego?
From breakout Tiktok star Shanora Williams, a propulsive, sexy, rich-people-behaving-badly thriller for fans of Kellye Garrett, Sally Hepworth, Liv Constantine, Eliza Jane Brazier, and Tarryn Fisher.
For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he's also helping her prove that she's far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she's never been happier to stand proudly by his side . . .
Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail. Until their tour starts becoming a nightmare of botched events, crucial missed information, and increasingly dangerous “accidents.” Suddenly Jo can't get any answers from Dominic—or understand why he is acting so paranoid and terrified . . .
What Jo can do is start digging into his past—one she's never really questioned beyond his perfect image and dazzling accomplishments. What results is an alarming series of events that leave her baffled: Good friends turn into enemies, truths are revealed to be lies, and all clues lead back to one secret, shattering weekend that changes Jo’s entire life. With her world splintering into pieces, can Jo risk trying to set things right? Or will hiding the bitter truth by any means necessary destroy her as well?
- So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color
So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color
Caro De Robertis
$32.00From the acclaimed novelist, a first-of-its-kind, deeply personal, and moving oral history of a generation of trans and gender nonconforming elders of color—from leading activists to artists to ordinary citizens—who tell their own stories of breathtaking courage, cultural innovations, and acts of resistance.
So Many Stars knits together the voices of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and two-spirit elders of color as they share authentic, intimate accounts of how they created space for themselves and their communities in the world. This singular project collects the testimonies of twenty elders, each a glimmering thread in a luminous tapestry, preserving their words for future generations—who can more fully exist in the world today because of these very trailblazers.
De Robertis creates a collective coming-of-age story based on hundreds of hours of interviews, offering rare snapshots of ordinary life: kids growing up, navigating family issues and finding community, coming out and changing how they identify over the years, building movements and weathering the AIDS crisis, and sharing wisdom for future generations. Often narrating experiences that took place before they had the array of language that exists today to self-identify beyond the gender binary, this generation lived through remarkable changes in American culture, shaped American culture, and yet rarely takes center stage in the history books. Their stories feel particularly urgent in the current political moment, but also remind readers that their experiences are not new, and that young trans and nonbinary people today belong to a long lineage.
The anecdotes in these pages are riveting, joyful, heartbreaking, full of personality and wisdom, and artfully woven together into one immersive narrative. In De Robertis’s words, So Many Stars shares “behind-the-scenes tales of what it meant—and still means—to create an authentic life, against the odds.”
- Harmattan Season: A Novel
Harmattan Season: A Novel
Tochi Onyebuchi
$27.99Award-winning author Tochi Onyebuchi’s new standalone novel is hard-boiled fantasy noir: Raymond Chandler meets P. Djèlí Clark in a postcolonial West Africa
Fortune always left whatever room I walked into, which is why I don’t leave my place much these days...
Veteran and private eye Boubacar doesn’t need much―least of all trouble―but trouble always seems to find him. Work has dried up, and he’d rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in to coat the city in dust, but Bouba is a down on his luck deux fois, suspended between two cultures and two worlds.
When a bleeding woman stumbles onto his doorway, only to vanish just as quickly, Bouba reluctantly finds himself enmeshed in the secrets of a city boiling on the brink of violence. The French occupiers are keen to keep the peace at any cost, and the indigenous dugulen have long been shattered into restless factions vying for a chance to reclaim their lost heritage and abilities. As each hardwon clue reveals horrifying new truths, Bouba may have to carve out parts of himself he’s long kept hidden, and decide what he’s willing to offer next.
From the visionary author of Riot Baby and Goliath, Harmattan Season is a gripping fantasy noir in the tradition of Chandler, Hammond, and Christie that will have you by the throat―both dryly funny and unforgettably evocative.
- Transplants
Transplants
Daniel Tam-Claiborne
$30.00A harrowing and poignant novel following two young women in pursuit of kinship and self-discovery who yearn to survive in a world that doesn’t know where either of them belong.
On a university campus in rural Qixian, Lin and Liz make an improbable pair: Lin, a Chinese student closer to her menagerie of pets than to her peers, and Liz, a Chinese American teacher grieving her mother’s sudden death. They’re each met with hostility—Lin by her classmates, who mock her for dating a white foreigner; Liz by her fellow English teachers, who exploit their privilege—and forge an unlikely friendship.
After a startling betrayal that results in Lin’s expulsion, they swap places. Lin becomes convinced to pursue her degree at a community college near Liz’s Ohio hometown, while Liz searches for answers as to what drove her parents to leave China before she was born. But when a global catastrophe deepens the fissures between modern-day China and an increasingly fractured United States, Lin and Liz—far from home and estranged from themselves—are forced to confront both the familiar and the strange in each other.
Unspooling over the course of a single extraordinary year in our not-yet-distant past and in small towns from Dandong to Deadwood, Transplants is a piercing story of migration, belonging, and the parts of ourselves that get lost in translation. Alternating between Liz and Lin’s perspectives, it is a lyrical and moving exploration of race, love, power, and freedom that illuminates the limits and possibilities of what can happen when we open ourselves to the unknown and reveals how even our fiercest differences may bring us closer than we might ever imagine.
- Adventures with Claudie Paperback (American Girl® Historical Characters)
Adventures with Claudie Paperback (American Girl® Historical Characters)
Brit Bennett
$7.99Follow along for more of Claudie’s story as she goes to Georgia to learn the truth about her family. This poignant and powerful sequel by New York Times bestselling author, Brit Bennett, is set in the Harlem Renaissance and celebrates Black artistic expression and achievement.
Claudie is thrilled to be on the road with Mama and Cousin Sidney, traveling from Harlem to Georgia to meet her grandmother and cousins for the first time. Claudie hopes this trip will inspire her to write a play that will raise money to save the boardinghouse her family lives in. In Georgia, Claudie's grandma tells her a legend from slavery times called "The People Could Fly." In it, and old man whispers magic words, and the enslaved people grow wings and fly home to Africa. This story gives Claudie a great idea for her play--but will her creativity be enough to save the home she loves?
- Olive Blackwood Takes Action!
Olive Blackwood Takes Action!
Sonja Thomas
$8.99An anxious aspiring filmmaker bands together with an unlikely friend group to protect their beloved state animal in this “stirring” (Booklist) contemporary middle grade novel perfect for fans of Jamie Sumner and Erin Entrada Kelly.
Twelve-year-old Olive Blackwood’s dream is to direct blockbuster fantasy movies, just like her dad wanted to before he died. She decides to apply to the highly competitive Rose City Summer Film Camp with the help of her best friend, Kayla. But Olive isn’t sure how she can cast the movie when the mere thought of talking to a stranger makes her nervous.
Then a surprise project in Olive’s film class presents her best chance at going to Rose City: the group who makes the best documentary trailer will receive a recommendation to the elite program! But Olive’s hopes are quickly dashed when she’s paired with the two worst students in class: loud Jo Willems has a flashy style of dressing just as intimidating as their outspoken opinions and David Moore is even quieter than Olive, fading into the background. It seems impossible for the three of them to find enough common ground to produce something noteworthy.
When Olive stumbles across an old lady chasing a beaver with a frying pan, she’s disturbed to discover it’s legal to kill beavers in Oregon—which has the animal on the state flag! Olive posts the video she took of the incident, and it goes viral. She wants to raise more awareness, and if she uses her documentary to do it, she could even get the coveted Rose City recommendation at the same time.
With the help of unexpected friendship, counseling, and a little everyday magic, can Olive make her voice be heard?
- The Life I'm In
The Life I'm In
Sharon G. Flake
$11.99The powerful and long-anticipated companion to The Skin I'm In, Sharon Flake's bestselling modern classic, presents the unflinching story of Char, a young woman trapped in the underworld of human trafficking.
My feet are heavy as stones when I walk up the block wondering why I can't find my old self.
In The Skin I'm In, readers saw into the life of Maleeka Madison, a teen who suffered from the ridicule she received because of her dark skin color. For decades fans have wanted to know the fate of the bully who made Maleeka's life miserable, Char.Now in Sharon Flake's latest and unflinching novel, The Life I'm In, we follow Charlese Jones, who, with her raw, blistering voice speaks the truths many girls face, offering insight to some of the causes and conditions that make a bully. Turned out of the only home she has known, Char boards a bus to nowhere where she is lured into the dangerous web of human trafficking. Much is revealed behind the complex system of men who take advantage of vulnerable teens in the underbelly of society. While Char might be frightened, she remains strong and determined to bring herself and her fellow victims out of the dark and back into the light, reminding us why compassion is a powerful cure to the ills of the world.Sharon Flake's bestselling, Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel The Skin I'm In was a game changer when it was first published more than twenty years ago. It redefined young adult literature by presenting characters, voices, and real-world experiences that had not been fully seen. Now Flake offers readers another timely and radical story of a girl on the brink and how her choices will lead her to either fall, or fly.
- Letters to Misty: How to Move Through Life with Confidence and Grace
Letters to Misty: How to Move Through Life with Confidence and Grace
Misty Copeland
$19.99New York Times bestselling author and first black female American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland offers advice for on and off the dance floor to young readers based on letters she’s received over the years from fans.
As the first African American principal female dancer at American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland has spent most of her career navigating a white-dominated industry that puts many barriers in her path. Through it all, Misty has credited the many mentors who have helped her become the dancer and person she is today.
With Misty’s profile now at peak heights, she has now found herself in a mentor role herself, often asked for advice on everything from dance-specific questions to life lessons about being the “other” in certain spaces by her fans. As Misty herself has said, “I think it’s really important to have a community around you, a support system, mentors, people that are going to be there for you on those days when you just aren’t strong enough to do it yourself.”
Given that philosophy, Misty is thrilled to bring this book of advice to life, covering everything from body confidence to balancing various commitments and how to break out of your comfort zone. Each section includes personal anecdotes from Misty about the topic that bring her perspective to life.
- In Search of the Pinmaker: A Fantasy Pin World Adventure (Volume 2)
In Search of the Pinmaker: A Fantasy Pin World Adventure (Volume 2)
Briana Lawrence
$12.99Skylar, Angela, Travis, and Sophie all received superpowers from enamel pins. But now they must track down the elusive pinmaker in this epic adventure, the sequel to In Search of Superpowers: A Fantasy Pin World Adventure. But friendships are put to the test in the wake of the mysterious pinmaker's identity. Is this too much for the crew to take on?
Four kids. Four pins. Four superpowers. One dark secret. And it's getting . . . bleaker.
After a mysterious explosion during the night at the local theme park called FUNTASTIC PLAINS, Skylar, Angela, Travis, and Sophie each received an enamel pin that gave them superpowers. At first, the kids thought this was a random coincidence, but thanks to the former toymaker Mister Paul, they learn that’s likely not the case. The theme park FUNTASTIC PLAINS may have a motto of “where fun lives,” but the enamel pin crew thinks it just might be where fun goes to die. They’ll need to work together to find the elusive Pin Maker and discover the secret behind their superpowered pins . . . before there’s way more than just four kids with superpowers.
In Search of the Pinmaker is the second in an all-new adventure series, Fantasy Pin World. It's perfect for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers, The Marvellers, and, of course, enamel pin collectors.
"Delightful and engaging, Lawrence's debut is a magical, empowering adventure of friendship—you'll fall in love with the characters just as much as you'll fall in love with the pins they're collecting!" - Andrea Towers, author of the GAMER GIRLS series
- Uncut Funk
Uncut Funk
bell hooks
Sold outIn an awesome meeting of minds, cultural theorists Stuart Hall and bell hooks met for a series of wide-ranging conversations on what Hall sums up as "life, love, death, sex." From the trivial to the profound, across boundaries of age, sexualities and genders, hooks and Hall dissect topics and themes of continual contemporary relevance, including feminism, home and homecoming, class, black masculinity, family, politics, relationships, and teaching. In their fluid and honest dialogue they push and pull each other as well as the reader, and the result is a book that speaks to the power of conversation as a place of critical pedagogy.
- Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black
Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black
bell hooks
$38.99In childhood, bell hooks was taught that "talking back" meant speaking as an equal to an authority figure and daring to disagree and/or have an opinion. In this collection of personal and theoretical essays, hooks reflects on her signature issues of racism and feminism, politics and pedagogy. Among her discoveries is that moving from silence into speech is for the oppressed, the colonized, the exploited, and those who stand and struggle side by side, a gesture of defiance that heals, making new life and new growth possible.
- In the Wild
In the Wild
Zadie Smith
$18.99Acclaimed authors Zadie Smith and Nick Laird are back with a brand-new picture book about conquering new experiences and enjoying the great outdoors!
Maud—the judo-suit-wearing guinea pig and proud oddball—is off into the wild, as is Kit, her owner. Both are slightly nervous about what they’ll find in the great outdoors, but with a pinch of bravery—and a few Signature Moves—they’ll make new friends and explore new worlds . . .
A warm and endearing story celebrating the quiet power of being yourself.
- Gay the Pray Away
Gay the Pray Away
Natalie Naudus
$12.99“Composed with equal parts sweetness, care, and stubborn queer perseverance.”—Casey McQuiston, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Red, White & Royal Blue
In this gripping queer YA romance perfect for fans of Malinda Lo and Becky Albertalli, an Asian American teen longs to break free of the conservative cult she was raised in.
Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. But when she stumbles upon a queer romance novel at the library, everything about her life—centered around a fundamentalist Christian homeschooling group —is thrown into question.
And to make things even more complicated, there’s a new girl in town. Riley is rebellious, kindhearted, and impossibly cool. As the two bond over being multiracial teens in their very white and very religious community, Valerie finds herself falling in love.
Soon Valerie and Riley are exchanging notes in secret and stealing kisses behind the church. But even as their romance blooms, Valerie knows that they’re trapped. If Valerie wants a chance at writing her own story, she must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her and running away with the girl she loves.
- The Garden of Eden: The Story of a Freedmen's Community in Texas
The Garden of Eden: The Story of a Freedmen's Community in Texas
Drew Sanders
$32.95Tucked in a bend of the Trinity River a few minutes from downtown Fort Worth, the Garden of Eden neighborhood has endured for well over a century as a homeplace for freed African American slaves and their descendants.
Among the earliest inhabitants in the Garden, Major and Malinda Cheney assembled over 200 acres of productive farmland on which they raised crops and cattle, built a substantial home for their children, and weathered a series of family crises that ranged from a false accusation of rape and attempted lynching to the murder of their eldest son.
Major and Malinda Cheney’s great-great-grandson, Drew Sanders, recounts engaging tales of the family’s life against the backdrop of Fort Worth and Tarrant County history—among them stories about the famous family Sunday dinners (recipes included).
Though some family members, including writer Bob Ray Sanders and transplant specialist Dollie Gentry, no longer live in this special place, life in the Garden of Eden still shapes the family’s character and binds them to the homeplace.
- The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States (a John Hope Franklin Center Book)
The Afro-Latin@ Reader: History and Culture in the United States (a John Hope Franklin Center Book)
Miriam Jiménez Román
$35.95The Afro-Latin@ Reader focuses attention on a large, vibrant, yet oddly invisible community in the United States: people of African descent from Latin America and the Caribbean. The presence of Afro-Latin@s in the United States (and throughout the Americas) belies the notion that Blacks and Latin@s are two distinct categories or cultures. Afro-Latin@s are uniquely situated to bridge the widening social divide between Latin@s and African Americans; at the same time, their experiences reveal pervasive racism among Latin@s and ethnocentrism among African Americans. Offering insight into Afro-Latin@ life and new ways to understand culture, ethnicity, nation, identity, and antiracist politics, The Afro-Latin@ Reader presents a kaleidoscopic view of Black Latin@s in the United States. It addresses history, music, gender, class, and media representations in more than sixty selections, including scholarly essays, memoirs, newspaper and magazine articles, poetry, short stories, and interviews.
While the selections cover centuries of Afro-Latin@ history, since the arrival of Spanish-speaking Africans in North America in the mid-sixteenth-century, most of them focus on the past fifty years. The central question of how Afro-Latin@s relate to and experience U.S. and Latin American racial ideologies is engaged throughout, in first-person accounts of growing up Afro-Latin@, a classic essay by a leader of the Young Lords, and analyses of U.S. census data on race and ethnicity, as well as in pieces on gender and sexuality, major-league baseball, and religion. The contributions that Afro-Latin@s have made to U.S. culture are highlighted in essays on the illustrious Afro-Puerto Rican bibliophile Arturo Alfonso Schomburg and music and dance genres from salsa to mambo, and from boogaloo to hip hop. Taken together, these and many more selections help to bring Afro-Latin@s in the United States into critical view.
Contributors: Afro–Puerto Rican Testimonies Project, Josefina Baéz, Ejima Baker, Luis Barrios, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Adrian Burgos Jr., Ginetta E. B. Candelario, Adrián Castro, Jesús Colón, Marta I. Cruz-Janzen, William A. Darity Jr., Milca Esdaille, Sandra María Esteves, María Teresa Fernández (Mariposa), Carlos Flores, Juan Flores, Jack D. Forbes, David F. Garcia, Ruth Glasser, Virginia Meecham Gould, Susan D. Greenbaum, Evelio Grillo, Pablo “Yoruba” Guzmán, Gabriel Haslip-Viera, Tanya K. Hernández, Victor Hernández Cruz, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, Lisa Hoppenjans, Vielka Cecilia Hoy, Alan J. Hughes, María Rosario Jackson, James Jennings, Miriam Jiménez Román, Angela Jorge, David Lamb, Aida Lambert, Ana M. Lara, Evelyne Laurent-Perrault, Tato Laviera, John Logan, Antonio López, Felipe Luciano, Louis Pancho McFarland, Ryan Mann-Hamilton, Wayne Marshall, Marianela Medrano, Nancy Raquel Mirabal, Yvette Modestin, Ed Morales, Jairo Moreno, Marta Moreno Vega, Willie Perdomo, Graciela Pérez Gutiérrez, Sofia Quintero, Ted Richardson, Louis Reyes Rivera, Pedro R. Rivera , Raquel Z. Rivera, Yeidy Rivero, Mark Q. Sawyer, Piri Thomas, Silvio Torres-Saillant, Nilaja Sun, Sherezada “Chiqui” Vicioso, Peter H. Wood
- We All Want to Change the World: My Journey Through Social Justice Movements from the 1960s to Today
We All Want to Change the World: My Journey Through Social Justice Movements from the 1960s to Today
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
$30.00A sweeping look back at the protest movements that changed America from activist and NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with personal and historical insights into lessons they can teach us today
For many, it can feel like change takes too long, and it might seem that we have not moved very far. But political activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar believes that public protest is a vital part of affecting change, even if that change doesn’t come “right now.”
In We All Want to Change the World, he examines the activism of people of all ages, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds that helped change America, documenting events from the Free Speech Movement through the movement for civil rights, the fight for women’s and LGBTQ rights, and, of course, the protests against the Vietnam War. At a time in our history when we are witnessing protests across campuses, within the labor movement, and following the killing of George Floyd, Abdul-Jabbar reminds us that protests are a lifeblood of our history:
“Protest movements, even peaceful ones, are never popular at first. . . . But there is a reason protest gatherings have been so frequent throughout history: They are effective. The United States exists because of them.”
Part history lesson and part personal reminiscences of his own activism, We All Want to Change the World will resonate with anyone who recognizes the need for social change and is willing to do the work to make it happen.
- Ruby René Always Gets Her Way
Ruby René Always Gets Her Way
Ashley Iman
$18.99A sequel to Ruby René Had So Much to Say that explores the importance of listening, making new friends, and teamwork.
Ruby René had so much to say…so she got her own segment on the school's morning announcements. But now Ruby’s got a co-host! After an unexpected sick day, Ruby René returns to someone new sitting in her anchor chair–Yanin Luray. Ruby reluctantly agrees to a shared show and is surprised that she loves having an assistant to bounce ideas off of.
But when Yanin refuses to come back to do the show, Ruby René is forced to reflect on how it’s not only important to share her voice, but her ears, too. As the girls learn to listen and talk in equal measure, they discover how to both get their way, as co-hosts.
- The Dividing Sky
The Dividing Sky
Jill Tew
$12.99A cunning teen memory merchant falls for the handsome rookie officer on her tail in this swoony dystopian romance that's “one to watch” (Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling author of The Isles of the Gods)
In 2364, eighteen-year-old Liv Newman dreams of a future beyond her lower-class life in the Metro. As a Proxy, she uses the neurochip in her brain to sell memories to wealthy clients. Maybe a few illegally, but money equals freedom. So when a customer offers her a ludicrous sum to go on an assignment in no-man’s-land, Liv accepts. Now she just has to survive.
Rookie Forceman Adrian Rao believes in order over all. After discovering that a renegade Proxy’s shady dealings are messing with citizens’ brain chemistry, he vows to extinguish the threat. But when he tracks Liv down, there’s one problem: her memories are gone. Can Adrian bring himself to condemn her for crimes she doesn’t remember?
As Liv and Adrian navigate the world beyond the Metro and their growing feelings for one another, they grapple with who they are, who they could be, and whether another way of living is possible.
- Dear Justyce
Dear Justyce
Nic Stone
$12.99An NPR Best Book of the Year * The stunning sequel to the critically acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestseller Dear Martin. An incarcerated teen writes letters to his best friend about his experiences in the American juvenile justice system.
An unflinching look into the tragically flawed practices and silenced voices in the American juvenile justice system.
Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center.
Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce--the protagonist of Dear Martin--Quan's story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there's a dead cop and a weapon with Quan's prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure.
"A powerful, raw, must-read told through the lens of a Black boy ensnared by our broken criminal justice system." -Kirkus, Starred Review
- Sanctuary
Sanctuary
Paola Mendoza
$17.99Co-founder of the Women's March makes her YA debut in a near future dystopian where a young girl and her brother must escape a xenophobic government to find sanctuary.
It's 2032, and in this near-future America, all citizens are chipped and everyone is tracked--from buses to grocery stores. It's almost impossible to survive as an undocumented immigrant, but that's exactly what sixteen-year-old Vali is doing. She and her family have carved out a stable, happy life in small-town Vermont, but when Vali's mother's counterfeit chip starts malfunctioning and the Deportation Forces raid their town, they are forced to flee.
Now on the run, Vali and her family are desperately trying to make it to her tía Luna's in California, a sanctuary state that is currently being walled off from the rest of the country. But when Vali's mother is detained before their journey even really begins, Vali must carry on with her younger brother across the country to make it to safety before it's too late.
Gripping and urgent, co-authors Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher have crafted a narrative that is as haunting as it is hopeful in envisioning a future where everyone can find sanctuary.
- A Kids Book About First Generation Immigrants
A Kids Book About First Generation Immigrants
Travis Mien Hsing Chen
$19.99Every first-generation immigrant has a unique story to tell – and is part of a large community that knows just what it’s like, too.
This is a kids’ book about first-generation immigrants. When you're a first-generation immigrant, a lot of things feel different from what you know: a new place to live, a new school, new foods, new smells, new noises.
This book was made to help kids aged 5-9 understand that they’re thankfully not alone in this experience. This author immigrated to a new country with his family when he was a kid. He has been there, understands, and wants you to know that all the experiences that make you who you are…are amazing!
A Kids Book About First Generation Immigrants features:
* A large and bold, yet minimalist font design that allows kids freedom to imagine themselves in the words on the pages.
* A friendly, approachable, empowering, and child-appropriate tone throughout.
* An incredible and diverse group of authors in the series who are experts or have first-hand experience of the topic.Tackling important discourse together!
The A Kids Book About titles are best used when read together. Helping to kickstart important, challenging, and empowering conversations for kids and their grown-ups through beautiful and thought-provoking pages. The series supports an incredible and diverse group of authors, who are either experts in their field, or have first-hand experience on the topic.
A Kids Co. is a new kind of media company enabling kids to explore big topics in a new and engaging way, with a growing series of books, podcasts, and blogs made to empower. Learn more about us online by searching for A Kids Co.
- The Chow Maniac: A Noodle Shop Mystery (A Noodle Shop Mystery, 11)
The Chow Maniac: A Noodle Shop Mystery (A Noodle Shop Mystery, 11)
Vivien Chien
$9.99Asia Village is in peril when Private detective Lydia Shepard returns to enlist the help of Lana Lee to solve a rash of unsolved murders and thefts in The Chow Maniac, the latest Noodle Shop Mystery from Vivien Chien.
When Lydia brings Lana onto the case, three of the members of an elite Asian order known as the Eight Immortals have already been murdered. Each member of the order holds one item that represents their immortal counterpart, and someone is dying to get their hands on them all. Lydia's client insists he―and only he―knows who will be next and wants the murderer captured before there is another victim.
Riding below the line of three cities of law enforcement and Lana’s own boyfriend, Detective Adam Trudeau, the two women must tread lightly as they infiltrate a secret organization that even the Mahjong Matrons know nothing about. And somehow protect the next victim without letting on that she’s in danger.
As they dig deeper into the case, Lana finds there are unexpected associations within Asia Village and potential ties to her own family that could be devastating. With the stakes raised on the toughest case she’s ever worked, will Lana be able to keep her own emotions out of the investigation? And will the murderer be found before they become the ultimate “immortal”?
- I Am Not Your Negro (Vintage International)
I Am Not Your Negro (Vintage International)
James Baldwin
Sold outNATIONAL BESTSELLER • In his final years, one of America’s greatest writers envisioned a book about his three assassinated friends, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King. His deeply personal notes for the project had never been published before acclaimed filmmaker Raoul Peck mined them to compose his Academy Award-nominated documentary.
“Thrilling…. A portrait of one man’s confrontation with a country that, murder by murder, as he once put it, ‘devastated my universe.’” —The New York Times
Peck weaves these texts together, brilliantly imagining the book that Baldwin never wrote with selected published and unpublished passages, essays, letters, notes, and interviews that are every bit as incisive and pertinent now as they have ever been. Peck’s film uses them to jump through time, juxtaposing Baldwin’s private words with his public statements, in a blazing examination of the tragic history of race in America.
This edition contains more than 40 black-and-white images from the film.
- Praise Song for the Butterflies
Praise Song for the Butterflies
Bernice L. McFadden
Sold outA young woman must learn to love and trust again after experiencing the brutality of ritual servitude in West Africa.
Abeo Kata lives a comfortable, happy life in West Africa as the privileged nine-year-old daughter of a government employee and stay-at-home mother. But when the Katas’ idyllic lifestyle takes a turn for the worse, Abeo’s father, following his mother’s advice, places the girl in a religious shrine, hoping that the sacrifice of his daughter will serve as atonement for the crimes of his ancestors. Unspeakable acts befall Abeo for the fifteen years she is held in the shrine. When she is finally rescued, broken and battered, she must struggle to overcome her past, endure the revelation of family secrets, and learn to trust and love again.
In the tradition of Chris Cleave’s Little Bee, this novel is a contemporary story that offers an eye-opening account of the practice of ritual servitude in West Africa. Spanning decades and two continents, Praise Song for the Butterflies will break you heart and then heal it.
- Gathering of Waters
Gathering of Waters
Bernice L. McFadden
Sold outFollowing her best-selling, award-winning novel Glorious, McFadden produces a fantastical historical novel featuring the spirit of Emmett Till.
―One of Essence’s "Best Books of the Decade"
―A New York Times Notable Book of 2012
―Gathering of Waters was a finalist for a Phillis Wheatley Fiction Book Award.
“McFadden works a kind of miracle―not only do [her characters] retain their appealing humanity; their story eclipses the bonds of history to offer continuous surprises . . . Beautiful and evocative, Gathering of Waters brings three generations to life . . . The real power of the narrative lies in the richness and complexity of the characters. While they inhabit these pages they live, and they do so gloriously and messily and magically, so that we are at last sorry to see them go, and we sit with those small moments we had with them and worry over them, enchanted, until they become something like our own memories, dimmed by time, but alive with the ghosts of the past, and burning with spirits.” ―Jesmyn Ward, New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice
“Read it aloud. Hire a chorus to chant it to you and anyone else interested in hearing about civil rights and uncivil desires, about the dark heat of hate, about the force of forgiveness.” ―Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered, NPR
Gathering of Waters is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi―a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families.
Tass Hilson and Emmet Till were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit.
Forty years later, after the death of her husband, Tass returns to Money and fantasy takes flesh when Emmett Till’s spirit is finally released from the dank, dark waters of the Tallahatchie River. The two lovers are reunited, bringing the story to an enchanting and profound conclusion.
Gathering of Waters mines the truth about Money, Mississippi, as well as the town’s families, and threads their history over decades. The bare-bones realism―both disturbing and riveting―combined with a magical realm in which ghosts have the final say, is reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
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