Summer Reading Challenge - Young Adult 9th-12th

Availability

Price

$
$

More filters

  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

    Jason Reynolds

    $12.99

    The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

    Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas--and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.

  • White Smoke

    by Tiffany D. Jackson

    $12.99

    Ships in 7-10 business days

    The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson about a teenage girl moving with her newly blended family to a picture-perfect home . . . that is hiding secrets.

    When the Sterling Foundation offers Marigold’s mom free housing for a year, her newly blended family moves to the embattled city of Cedarville, along with Mari’s bratty stepsister, Piper. Mari wants to be back in sunny California, not this oddly renovated home in a decaying town—but it’s not like the house wants her there, either.

    It starts off slow. The perma-locked basement. Doors opening and closing when no one’s there. Mari’s stuff getting moved around her room. Piper makes a new friend, Ms. Suga, except no one else has seen her. But ghosts aren’t real, right? Mari and her brother, Sammy, set up cameras to investigate.

    The house doesn’t like that.

  • Pritty

    by Keith F. Miller, Jr.

    $15.99

    On the verge of summer before his senior year, Jay is a soft soul in a world of concrete. While his older brother is everything people expect a man to be—tough, athletic, and in charge—Jay simply blends into the background to everyone, except when it comes to Leroy.

    Unsure of what he could have possibly done to catch the eye of the boy who could easily have anyone he wants, Jay isn’t about to ignore the surprising but welcome attention. But as everything in his world begins to heat up, especially with Leroy, whispered rumors over the murder of a young Black journalist and long-brewing territory tensions hang like a dark cloud over his neighborhood. And when Jay and Leroy find themselves caught in the crossfire, Leroy isn’t willing to be the reason Jay’s life is at risk.

    Dragged into the world of the Black Diamonds—whose work to protect the Black neighborhoods of Savannah began with his father and now falls to his older brother—Leroy knows that finding out who attacked his brother is not only the key to protecting everyone he loves but also the only way he can ever be with Jay. Wading through a murky history of family mistakes, Leroy soon discovers that there’s no keeping Jay safe when Jay’s own family is in just as deep and fighting the undertow of danger just as hard.

    Now Jay and Leroy must puzzle through secrets hiding in plain sight and scramble to uncover who is determined to eliminate the Black Diamonds before someone else gets hurt—even if the cost might be their own electric connection.

  • The Beautiful Struggle: A Memoir

    By Ta-Nehisi Coates

    from $11.99

     

    *ships in 7-10 business days
    As a child, Ta-Nehisi Coates was seen by his father, Paul, as too sensitive and lacking focus. Paul Coates was a Vietnam vet who’d been part of the Black Panthers and was dedicated to reading and publishing the history of African civilization. When it came to his sons, he was committed to raising proud Black men equipped to deal with a racist society, during a turbulent period in the collapsing city of Baltimore where they lived.

    Coates details with candor the challenges of dealing with his tough-love father, the influence of his mother, and the dynamics of his extended family, including his brother “Big Bill,” who was on a very different path than Ta-Nehisi. Coates also tells of his struggles at school and with girls, making this a timely story to which many readers will relate.

  • Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
    from $14.99

    If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

    Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

    Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.

  • Calling My Name

    by Liara Tamani

    $15.99

    Liara Tamani’s debut novel deftly and beautifully explores the universal struggles of growing up, battling family expectations, discovering a sense of self, and finding a unique voice and purpose. Taja Brown lives with her parents, older brother, and younger sister in Houston, Texas. She has always known what the expectations of her conservative and tightly-knit African American family are—do well in school, go to church every Sunday, no intimacy before marriage. But Taja is trying to keep up with her friends as they experience their first kisses, first boyfriends, first everythings. And she’s tired of cheering for her athletic younger sister and an older brother who has more freedom just because he’s a boy. Taja dreams of going to college and forging her own relationship with the world and with God, but when she falls in love for the first time, those dreams are suddenly in danger of evaporating.

  • Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .: A LOVE Story

    by Jason Reynolds

    $12.99

    #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds tackles it—you know…it—from the guy’s perspective in this unfiltered and undeniably sweet stream of consciousness story of a teen boy about to experience a huge first.

    Twenty-four months ago: Neon gets chased by a dog all around the parking lot of a church. Not his finest moment. And definitely one he would have loved to forget if it weren’t for the dog’s owner: Aria. Dressed in sweats, a t-shirt, hair in a ponytail. Aria. Way more than fine.

    Twenty-four weeks ago: Neon’s dad insists on talking to him about tenderness and intimacy. Neon and Aria are definitely in love, and while they haven’t taken that next big step…yet, they’ve starting talking about…that.

    Twenty-four days ago: Neon’s mom finds her—gulp—bra in his room. Hey! No judging! Those hook thingies are complicated! So he’d figured he’d better practice, what with the big day only a month away.

    Twenty-four minutes ago: Neon leaves his shift at work at his dad’s bingo hall, making sure to bring some chicken tenders for Aria. They’re not candlelight and they definitely aren’t caviar, but they are her favorite.

    And right this second? Neon is locked in Aria’s bathroom, completely freaking out because twenty-four seconds from now he and Aria are about to…about to… Well, they won’t do anything if he can’t get out of his own head (all the advice, insecurities, and what ifs) and out of this bathroom!

  • Sing Me to Sleep

    by Gabi Burton

    $12.99

    In this dark and seductive YA fantasy debut, perfect for fans of Fourth Wing and These Violent Delights, a siren assassin falls for a forbidden man.

    Killer. Liar. Soldier. Spy.

    Saoirse is a killer: Her ability to sing men to an early death makes her the top assassin in the kingdom.

    Saoirse is a liar: If the royal family ever finds out she's a siren, she'll be executed immediately.

    Saoirse is a soldier: As the top student at the most prestigious training academy in Kierdre, Saoirse has spent years honing herself into the perfect killing machine.

    Saoirse is a spy: When her little sister is blackmailed, Saoirse takes a dangerous job to protect her-personal bodyguard to the crown prince. One misstep, and Saoirse will lose her life.

    But the biggest threat of all is to her heart. Prince Hayes would call for her death in an instant if he knew the truth. But the closer Saoirse gets to Hayes, the harder it gets to resist him.

  • Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known

    by George M. Johnson and Charly Palmer

    $18.99

    From the New York Times–bestselling author of All Boys Aren’t Blue comes an empowering set of essays about Black and Queer icons from the Harlem Renaissance.

    In Flamboyants, George M. Johnson celebrates writers, performers, and activists from 1920s Black America whose sexualities have been obscured throughout history. Through 14 essays, Johnson reveals how American culture has been shaped by icons who are both Black and Queer – and whose stories deserve to be celebrated in their entirety.

    Interspersed with personal narrative, powerful poetry, and illustrations by award-winning illustrator Charly Palmer, Flamboyants looks to the past for understanding as to how Black and Queer culture has defined the present and will continue to impact the future. With candid prose and an unflinching lens towards truth and hope, George M. Johnson brings young adult readers an inspiring collection of biographies that will encourage teens today to be unabashed in their layered identities.

  • Nigeria Jones: A Novel

    by Ibi Zoboi

    from $15.99

    From Ibi Zoboi, bestselling, award-winning author of American Street and co-author of Punching the Air, comes a bold new YA coming-of-age story, which explores race, feminism, and complicated family dynamics. The ideal next read for fans of Roxane Gay, Jacqueline Woodson, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

    Warrior Princess. That’s what Nigeria Jones’s father calls her. He has raised her as part of the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia. Nigeria is homeschooled and vegan and participates in traditional rituals to connect her and other kids from the group to their ancestors. But when her mother—the perfect matriarch of their Movement—disappears, Nigeria’s world is upended. She finds herself taking care of her baby brother and stepping into a role she doesn’t want.

    Nigeria’s mother had secrets. She wished for a different life for her children, which includes sending her daughter to a private Quaker school outside of their strict group. Despite her father’s disapproval, Nigeria attends the school with her cousin, Kamau, and Sage, who used to be a friend. ­There, she begins to flourish and expand her universe.

    As Nigeria searches for her mother, she starts to uncover a shocking truth. One that will lead her to question everything she thought she knew about her life and her family.

    From award-winning author Ibi Zoboi comes a powerful story about discovering who you are in the world—and fighting for that person—by having the courage to be your own revolution.

  • Let Me Hear a Rhyme

    Tiffany Jackson

    $11.99
    In the next striking and vibrant standalone novel by the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly and Monday’s Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson tells the story of three Brooklyn teens who plot to turn their murdered friend into a major rap star by pretending he is still alive.

     

    Biggie Smalls was right. Things done changed. But that doesn’t mean that Quadir and Jarrell are okay letting their best friend Steph’s tracks lie forgotten in his bedroom after he’s killed—not when his beats could turn any Bed-Stuy corner into a celebration, not after years of having each other’s backs.

    Enlisting the help of Steph’s younger sister, Jasmine, Quadir and Jarrell come up with a plan to promote Steph’s music under a new rap name: The Architect. Soon, everyone in Brooklyn is dancing to Steph’s voice. But then his mixtape catches the attention of a hotheaded music rep and—with just hours on the clock—the trio must race to prove Steph’s talent from beyond the grave.

    Now, as the pressure—and danger—of keeping their secret grows, Quadir, Jarrell, and Jasmine are forced to confront the truth about what happened to Steph. Only each has something to hide. And with everything riding on Steph’s fame, together they need to decide what they stand for before they lose everything they’ve worked so hard to hold on to—including each other.


  • Blood Justice

    Terry J. Benton-Walker

    $13.99
    The sequel to Terry J Benton-Walker's smash hit debut, Blood Debts, continues the story of powerful magical families, intergenerational curses, and deadly drama in New Orleans.

    Cristina and Clement Trudeau have conjured the impossible: justice.

    They took back their family’s stolen throne to lead New Orleans’ magical community into the brighter future they all deserve.

    But when Cris and Clem restored their family power, Valentina Savant lost everything. Her beloved grandparents are gone and her sovereignty has been revoked—she will never be Queen. Unless, of course, someone dethrones the Trudeaus again. And lucky for her, she’s not the only one trying to take them down.

    Cris and Clem have enemies coming at them from all directions: Hateful anti-magic protesters sabotage their reign at every turn. A ruthless detective with a personal vendetta against magical crime is hot on their tail just as Cris has discovered her thirst for revenge. And a brutal god, hunting from the shadows, is summoned by the very power Clem needs to protect the boy he loves.

    Cris’s hunger for vengeance and Clem’s desire for love could prove to be their family’s downfall, all while new murders, shocking disappearances, and impossible alliances are changing the game forever.

    Welcome back to New Orleans, where gods walk among us and justice isn’t served, it’s taken.

  • Blood Moon

    Britney S. Lewis

    Sold out

    Legend says long ago werewolves had traveled to Mira’s small hometown to protect humans from vampires. But that’s a fairy tale Mira had stopped believing in years ago. She’d stopped believing in a lot of things, after her mom left when she was thirteen.

    Now, starting her freshman year of college, Mira just wants everything to be normal. And everything is―except for Julian, a mysterious boy with golden eyes, and a coldness directed at Mira for reasons she can’t understand and he won’t explain.

    But when a Blood Moon rises, Mira finds herself caught in the middle of a long-standing battle, with Julian on the other side of the line. She discovers there’s more truth to the old town legends than she could ever have anticipated―and her family’s historic role in it will change her world forever.

  • I Don't Wish You Well
    $19.99

    A teen investigative podcaster decides to dig into the truth behind a grisly murder spree that rocked his hometown five years ago, but soon discovers that this cold case is still hiding deadly secrets—in this chilling thriller perfect for fans of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

    Five years ago, the infamous Trojan murders turned the small town of Moss Pointe, Louisiana into a living nightmare. Four teen boys—all star players on Moss Pointe High's football team—were murdered one after the other by a Trojan-mask wearing killer.

    Eventually, the murderer was unmasked. But the community has never forgotten—and some folks in town still wonder whether the police got it right.

    Eighteen-year-old Pryce Cummings is one of them. An aspiring journalist, Pryce is pretty sure he just stumbled upon evidence that throws the killer's guilt into question. It's the perfect story for his own podcast, and a reason to go back to the hometown he's avoided since coming to terms with his sexuality while at college.

    But in Moss Pointe, digging into the past is anything but welcome. There's so much more to what happened there five years ago, and Pryce is ready to crack it all wide open . . . if he lives to tell the tale.

  • Hekate (Standard Edition): The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld, 1)
    Sold out

    In this stunning reimagining of Greek myth for fans of Circe and Lore, Nikita Gill showcases the underworld and its chthonic deities in all their glory, weaving a gripping story about the young goddess coming of age within their midst.

    Hekate sings the story of its eponymous heroine. Born into a world on fire and at war, she and her mother are left behind by the menfolk of their Titan family as the battle against the new Gods–the Olympians–begins. Soon, Hekate and her mother are forced to flee their home as the Olympians overpower and enslave the Titans, including Hekate’s father, Perses, and gain dominion over the universe. In a bid to protect Hekate from the clutches of Zeus and Poseidon, her mother leaves her in the underworld with the goddess Styx and king of the underworld, Hades, where she must make a life for herself and discover her divine purpose.
     
    Here begins Nikita Gill’s beautiful and propulsive reimagining of Hekate’s myth which unfolds into a coming-of-age adventure story and quest in which our young protagonist – not yet a goddess – sets out to discover what has happened to her parents, heal from the trauma of her separation from them, make a new home for herself in the underworld, and, eventually, step into her true power as a woman and goddess, before it’s too late.

  • Heartsick

    Kristina Forest

    $12.99

    A sweet and fast-paced contemporary teen romance from USA Today bestselling author Kristina Forest.

    High school senior Margot Whitman is an intern at Healing Hearts Inc., the company that created the innovative pill that can erase a person’s heartbreak overnight. Every weekend, Margot witnesses patients get cured of their broken hearts. Meanwhile, she’s nursing a heartbreak of her own. With college on the horizon and their futures taking them in different directions, she and her ex Isaac recently called it quits. Margot has thought about taking a pill, but erasing her love for Isaac doesn’t feel right. However, her heart breaks all over again when Isaac shows up to the Healing Hearts center, presumably seeking a pill to stop loving her.

    As soon as Isaac Fisher walked through the Healing Hearts center doors, he knew he’d made a mistake. Even though he’s struggling with heartbreak, he realizes that he doesn’t want to fall out of love with Margot. He’s surprised to see her working at the front desk, and of course she assumes he's there to get over her. It doesn’t seem like things can get much worse, but then Margot and Isaac accidentally overhear a terrible and harmful secret about the pill. When they’re caught eavesdropping and almost attacked by shady Healing Hearts executives and their guards, they have no choice but to flee. Now they have to work together to reveal the truth about the pill . . . and maybe, just maybe, repair each other’s hearts in the process.

  • Drown Me with Dreams (Sing Me to Sleep, 2)
    $20.99

    In book two of this dark and seductive YA fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Fourth Wing and These Violent Delights, a siren assassin must decide between saving her kingdom and betraying the man she loves.

    Wanted. Hunted. Banished.

    Wanted: Now that everyone knows she's both a siren and an assassin, Saoirse is the most wanted fugitive in Keirdre.

    Hunted: Framed for the old king's death, every powerful fae in the kingdom is calling for her execution.

    Banished: To keep her safe, the newly crowned King Hayes asks her to cross the magical barrier that separates Keirdre from its enemies. There's only one problem: if she doesn't find a way to bring the barrier down, she can never come back.

    As Hayes is forced to make compromises and Saoirse uncovers plots that threaten the entire kingdom, she's forced to question: Is Hayes the best future for Keirdre? And if not…. is she willing to turn against him?

  • To Steal a Throne
    Sold out

    In this YA fantasy novel perfect for fans of Heartless Hunter, a girl who has always served others decides to take power for herself.

    Her magic feeds on lies.
    His magic could destroy her.

    Mira Kyler runs the court of Virdei from the shadows. Ever since she helped her half-brother Luc cheat his way into the role of Virdei's leader, she's used her lie-powered magic to collect secrets from members of court, then used them as blackmail to keep her brother in power.

    But when newcomer Kaidren Vale shows up and challenges Luc's leadership, he threatens the stability Mira has worked so hard for. Kaidren also has magic-magic that can detect the precise nature of someone else's power with a single touch. If Kaidren so much as brushes against her, everyone will discover that Mira is the one who's been manipulating the court for years.

    As Kaidren and Luc compete in three deadly challenges called The Trials, Mira realizes that no matter who wins, she'll be stuck serving a mediocre man who doesn't deserve to be in charge. She's done hiding in the shadows. She wants power of her own.

    To get it, she'll have to betray both her own brother and Kaidren-but the fiercer the competition gets, the more Mira realizes that the one boy who could destroy everything is the one boy she might not be able to resist.

  • Nubia: Too Real

    L.L. McKinney & Robyn Smith

    $16.99

    The highly anticipated sequel to NUBIA: REAL ONE highlights the importance of self-acceptance and the enduring power of true friendship!

    After a turbulent school year, Nubia is both thrilled and anxious as she embarks on a transformative summer training with the Amazons on Themyscira! Amid the mounting pressure of expectations, she grapples with feeling like an outsider, letting the weight of her self-doubt strain her most important relationships.

    Just when she thought her life couldn’t get more complicated, her biggest fear threatens the safety of everyone on Paradise Island. Will Nubia rise above the chaos and embrace her true self as the hero she was destined to be?

    From critically acclaimed author L.L McKinney and brought to life with delightful, vivid art by Robyn Smith, NUBIA: TOO REAL follows Nubia as she explores her Amazonian identity, navigates her friendships, and learns how to love herself.

  • We Deserve Monuments

    by Jas Hammonds

    $18.99

    *ships in 7 - 10 business days*

    Small-town drama, a swoon-worthy romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in this YA debut that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations.

    What’s more important? Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?

    Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted from her life from DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.

    While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.

    As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty's health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she's built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.

  • Somadina

    Akwaeke Emezi

    $19.99

    From the National Book Award finalist and author of Pet comes a novel set in a magical West African world, about a teen girl who must save her missing twin while learning to navigate her own terrifying new powers.

    Somadina and her twin brother, Jayaike, are practically the same person: they finish each other's sentences and make each other whole. When the twins come of age, their magical gifts begin to develop, but while Jayaike's powers enchant, Somadina's cause fear to ripple through her town.

    Always an outsider, Somadina now faces blatant--and dangerous--hostility. And things go from bad to worse when her brother—the one person she trusted—vanishes. Somadina knows that no matter the dangers, she must track him down. Even if it means entering the Sacred Forest. Even if it means grueling, otherworldly travel she may not survive. Even if it means finding the hidden places where those closest to the spirit world don't dare to go. Does Somadina have the strength --within both her body and her soul -- for the trying journey ahead?

    National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi masterfully weaves a tale of family, identity, and the power of the past, in a world where the extraordinary is ordinary.

  • Fortress of Ambrose (House of Marionne)

    J. Elle

    $20.99

    Seductive magic. Deadly betrayal.

    Don’t miss the explosive finale of the dark, romantic fantasy of the New York Times-bestselling House of Marionne series, which #1 bestselling author Alex Aster praises as "a sweeping fantasy brimming with magic, secrets, and romance."

    The stunning first printing of Fortress of Ambrose will feature a gorgeous designed case and exclusive metallic endpapers!

    With the future of the Order clouded in uncertainty, and the evil within its ranks coming to the surface, Quell Marionne has nowhere left to turn.

    Everyone Quell cares about is gone and she still can’t escape the powerful legacy that wants to destroy her. But when she uncovers an earth-shattering revelation, she must choose: be the hero the magic world needs or save Jordan.

    Meanwhile, a darkness festers inside Dragunheart Jordan Wexton. His path to survival means becoming the monster he was bred to hate, if he can overcome the power rotting within himself.

    In a world where the line between proper and forbidden magic blurs, Quell and Jordan, along with two unlikely allies – bitter assassin Yagrin Wexton and magicless Heir Nore Ambrose, must navigate a treachero's path where freedom hangs by a thread. Can love tip the scales toward freedom? Or will rivalries and deadly betrayals shatter their hearts and destroy the world they once knew?

  • Zyla & Kai by Kristina Forest
    $13.99

    A fresh love story about the will they, won't they--and why can't they--of first love. 


    While on a school trip to the Poconos Mountains (in the middle of a storm) high school seniors, Zyla Matthews and Kai Johnson, run away together leaving their friends and family confused. As far as everyone knows, Zyla and Kai have been broken up for months. And honestly? Their break up hadn't surprised anyone. Zyla and Kai met while working together at an amusement park the previous summer, and they couldn't have been more different.
        Zyla was a cynic about love. She'd witnessed the dissolution of her parents' marriage early in life, and it left an indelible impression. Her only aim was graduating and going to fashion school abroad. Until she met Kai.
        Kai was a serial dater and a hopeless romantic. He'd put a temporary pause on his dating life before senior year to focus on school and getting into his dream HBCU. Until he met Zyla.
        Alternating between the past and present, we see the love story unfold from Zyla's and Kai's perspectives: how they first became the unlikeliest of friends over the summer, how they fell in love during the school year, and why they ultimately broke up... Or did they?
        Romantic, heart-stirring, and a little mysterious, Zyla & Kai will keep readers guessing until the last chapter. 

  • The Awakening of Malcolm X: A Novel

    by Ilyasah Shabazz and Tiffany D. Jackson

    Sold out

    *ships in 7-10 business days

    In Charlestown Prison, Malcolm Little struggles with the weight of his past. Plagued by nightmares, he drifts through days unsure of his future. Slowly, he befriends other prisoners and writes to his family. He reads all the books in the prison library, joins the debate team and the Nation of Islam. Malcolm grapples with race, politics, religion, and justice in the 1940s. And as his time in jail comes to an end, he begins to awaken--emerging from prison more than just Malcolm Little: Now, he is Malcolm X.

  • She Drinks the Light
    $19.99

    For fans of Sinners and Immortal Dark, a teen girl must uncover her family’s deadly secrets in order to save her best friend and her island in this heart-pounding YA debut.

    Addae has spent her whole life on the Golden Isle, a private island off the coast of South Carolina that has been in her family for centuries. Island residents don’t really fraternize with mainlanders, and for good reason. Golden Isle was founded by the Kinfolk, descendants―including Addae and her Nana Ama, the island matriarch―of escaped enslaved Black people.

    But the Isle and the Kinfolk have secrets that must be protected from the outside world. Secrets of spirituality, mythology that are deeply rooted in their West African culture, beliefs, and traditions. The Kin are bound to protect the Golden Isle and, in turn, it protects them.

    When Addae’s best friend Naria goes missing and one of the Kin turns up drained of blood, Addae's way of life is threatened. It looks like the work of the Adze, West African supernatural beings that drink human blood in order to survive―also known as vampires.

    Believing Naira is alive, Addae travels to the mainland. But as Addae gets closer to finding Naria, she uncovers deep secrets about Nana Ama’s past, and about her own… secrets that could change how she feels about the Golden Isle and her lineage.

    Torn between two worlds, Addae will have to decide how far she is willing to go―and who she is willing to cross―to save her best friend, and even herself.

  • Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling

    by Elise Bryant

    Sold out

    From the NAACP Image Award–nominated author of Happily Ever Afters comes a dual POV rom-com about Reggie and Delilah, who fall in love through missed connections and chance meetings on holidays over the course of a year. 

    Delilah always keeps her messy, gooey insides hidden behind a wall of shrugs and yeah, whatevers. She goes with the flow—which is how she ends up singing in her friends’ punk band as a favor, even though she’d prefer to hide at the merch table.

    Reggie is a D&D Dungeon Master and self-declared Blerd. He spends his free time leading quests and writing essays critiquing the game under a pseudonym, keeping it all under wraps from his disapproving family.

    These two, who have practically nothing in common, meet for the first time on New Year’s Eve. And then again on Valentine’s Day. And then again on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s almost like the universe is pushing them together for a reason.

    Delilah wishes she were more like Reggie—open about what she likes and who she is, even if it’s not cool. Except . . . it’s all a front. Reggie is just role-playing someone confident. The kind of guy who could be with a girl like Delilah.

    As their holiday meetings continue, the two begin to fall for each other. But what happens once they realize they’ve each fallen for a version of the other that doesn’t really exist?

  • Up in Smoke

    Nick Brooks

    $19.99

    A girl determined to clear her brother's name. A boy determined to keep his out of the line of fire. A secret smoldering between them. This edge-of-your-seat mystery from the author of Promise Boys is perfect for fans of Karen McManus and The Hate U Give.

    Unmask a murderer or take the fall.

    After Cooper King is pressured by big brother figure Jason to go on a looting spree during a local march, the unthinkable happens: gunshots ring in the air and someone ends up dead. After Cooper flees, the news shows four teens in ski masks near the scene of the murder―Cooper and his friends. Cooper fears the cops will come knocking at his door, and the pressure only mounts when a suspect is taken into custody: Jason.

    Monique, Jason's sister and Cooper's longtime crush, is willing to go any length to clear her brother's name. Even if she needs to go into the belly of the beast and confront the killer herself. When she teams up with Cooper, they fall down the investigation rabbit hole and start to fall for each other. But little does Monique know that within this web of deception, Cooper is shrouding the truth that he was there when the shots went off. If the pair fail to uncover the real murderer, Jason will get locked up for a crime he didn't commit―and drag down Cooper with him.

    Pick this up if you love:
    ● high stakes, dual POV thrillers
    ● page-turning mysteries
    ● will-they-won't-they romance
    ● twists and turns you never see coming

  • Through Our Teeth

    Pamela N. Harris

    $19.99

    Three teens investigate a murder—while each tries to hide their own complicated history with the dead girl—in this thought-provoking novel from award-winning author Pamela N. Harris. Perfect for fans of Karen M. McManus and Tiffany D. Jackson!

    Hope Jackson is dead. Everyone is convinced she took her own life, but Liv, one of Hope’s best friends, isn’t so sure. Hope’s boyfriend, Brendan, was always jealous and possessive, and his alibi doesn’t really check out. But in the town’s eyes, Hope was just some nobody who was going to drag down golden boy Brendan. 

    So with the help of Hope’s other two best friends, Kizzie and Sherie, Liv is determined to bring Brendan’s actions to light. Together, they vow to make him pay.

    But as their plans keep escalating, Liv begins to have second thoughts—especially as she’s realizing that Brendan may not be the only one with the motive or opportunity to kill Hope. Is Liv really getting justice for Hope, or is she just helping one of Hope’s so-called friends cover up their lies?

  • Deadly Ever After

    Brittany Johnson

    $19.99

    Two dead princesses must find true love's kiss to bring them back to life in this heart-stopping romantic fantasy debut. For fans of Cinderella Is Dead and Girl, Serpent, Thorn.

    Amala has spent her whole life trying to be the perfect princess: delicate, quiet, obedient. But when she’s murdered on the night of her wedding, her story is cut short before it begins.

    Kha’dasia has been told her whole life that she is too rough, too loud, too much. She’s no ordinary princess but a ruthless warrior on a quest to fulfill her late brother’s dying wish. Except she dies before reaching her destination.

    When both girls wake up in a cursed forest, the gods offer them a second chance at life—if they can find true love’s kiss. But there’s a catch, the gods warn. While the right kiss will save you, the wrong kiss will kill you.

    On their journey, the princesses must overcome challenges that force them to face the truth of their lives…and their deaths. And as Amala and Kha’dasia grow closer, they can’t help but wonder if true love has been standing right in front of them all along.

  • When I Was Death
    $19.99

    A group of girls does Death incarnate's bidding in this haunting speculative young adult novel by the author of The Year of the Witching.

    Roslyn isn’t herself anymore. It’s been a year since her sister, Adeline, died under mysterious circumstances, and Roslyn is still tormented by her absence. So when the elusive caravan of girls that Adeline spent her last summer with rolls back into town, Roslyn joins them to finally figure out what happened to her sister.

    Strange, beautiful, and intriguing, the girls are closed off from the world. And as it turns out, they’re brought together by a force more sinister than Roslyn’s nightmares could’ve conjured up: Death himself.

    Death has spared the girls from untimely endings, and to pay for their lives, the girls travel the country reaping souls on his behalf. Now Roslyn must decide if finding closure is worth the price of striking the same deal.

  • Solis

    by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher

    $12.99

    From the authors of Sanctuary comes a haunting near-future companion tale about undocumented immigrants subjected to deadly experiments in a government labor camp and the four courageous rebels who set into place a daring plan to liberate them.

    The year is 2033, and in this near-future America where undocumented people are forced into labor camps, life is bleak. Especially so for seventeen-year-old Rania, a Lebanese teenager from Chicago. When she and her mother were rounded up by the Deportation Force, they were given the brutal job of digging in the labor camp’s mine searching for the destructive and toxic, but potentially world-changing chemical, aqualinium. With this chemical the corrupt and xenophobic government of the New American Republic could actually control the weather—ending devastating droughts sweeping the planet due to climate change. If the government succeeds, other countries would be at their mercy. Solidifying this power comes at the expense of the undocumented immigrants forced to endure horrendous conditions to mine the chemical or used in cruel experiments to test it, leaving their bodies wracked in extreme pain to the point of death. As the experiments ramp up, things only get worse. Rania and her fellow prisoners decide to start a revolution; if they don’t, they know they will die.

    Told by four narrators—Rania, Jess (a former teenage Deportation Force officer), Vali, and Vali’s mother Liliana—Solis is about the courage and sacrifice it takes to stand and fight for freedom.

  • Hot Boy Summer

    Joe Jiménez

    Sold out

    Four gay teens in Texas have the summer of their lives while discovering important truths about realness, belonging, and friendship in this “explosive prose debut for the gays and theys growing up outside of the box” (Booklist, starred review).

    Mac has never really felt like he belonged. Definitely not at home—his dad’s politics and toxic masculinity make a real connection impossible. He thought he fit in on the baseball team, but that’s only because he was pretending to be someone he wasn’t. Finding his first gay friend, Cammy, was momentous; finally, he could be his authentic self around someone else. But as it turned out, not really. Cammy could be cruel, and his “advice” often came off way harsh.

    And then, Mac meets Flor, who shows him that you can be both fierce and kind, and Mikey, who is superhot and might maybe think the same about him. Over the course of one hot, life-changing summer, Mac will stand face-to-face with desire, betrayal, and letting go of shame, which will lead to some huge discoveries about the realness of truly belonging.

    Told in Mac’s infectious, joyful, gay AF voice, Hot Boy Summer serves a tale as important as hope itself: four gay teens doing what they can to connect and have the fiercest summer of their lives. New friendships will be forged, hot boys will be kissed…and girl, the toxic will be detoxed.

Stay Informed. We're building a community committed to celebrating Black authors + artisans. Subscribe to keep up with all things Kindred Stories.