Paperback Release- September 15, 2026

The award-winning author of the best-selling Tristan Strong trilogy has created a secret world where kids can wield magic by summoning the power of their ancestors

What do you get when you combine Kwame Mbalia's incredible imagination and world-building talent with trains, history, and ghosts? Nothing less than middle grade magic.

On his twelfth birthday, Jackson "Jax" Freeman arrives at Chicago's Union Station alone, carrying nothing but the baggage of a scandal back in Raleigh. He's been sent away from home to live with relatives he barely knows. But even worse are the strangers who accost him at the train station, including a food vendor who throws dust in his face and a conductor who tries to steal his skin.

At his new school, Jax is assigned to a special class for "summoners," even though he has no idea what those are . . . until he accidentally unleashes an angry spirit on school grounds. Soon Jax is embroiled in all kinds of trouble, from the disappearance of a new friend to full-out war between summoning families.

When Jax learns that he isn't the first Freeman to be blamed for a tragedy he didn't create, he resolves to clear his own name and that of his great-grandfather, who was a porter back in the 1920's. By following clues, Jax and his schoolmates unlock the secrets of a powerful Praise House, evade vengeful ghosts, and discover that Jax may just be the most talented summoner of all.

A unique magic-school fantasy from the best-selling and award-winning author of the Tristan Strong trilogy has just pulled into the station.

Celebrate the newest book from Freedom Fire, Jax Freeman and Phantom Shriek!

EVENT DEETS

When: Wednesday, October 9 @ 4 -6 PM CST

Where: 2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004

How: RSVP ONLY to let us know you're stopping by or RSVP WITH BOOK to reserve your copy

ABOUT THE BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kwame Mbalia is a #1 New York Times best-selling author and the publisher of Freedom Fire, an imprint of Disney Hyperion devoted to stories about the Black diaspora by Black creators. His debut middle-grade novel, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, was awarded a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, and it was followed by Tristan Strong Destroys the World and Tristan Strong Keeps Punching. Kwame lives with his wife and children outside Raleigh, North Carolina, where he is currently working on the next Jax Freeman adventure. For more information, go to www.KwameMbalia.com.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Nia "N.E." Davenport is the award-winning author of the adult fantasy novels "The Blood Trials" and its sequel "The Blood Gift." She is also the author of the YA speculative thriller "Out of Body," which is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, and forthcoming YA fantasy romance "Love Spells Trouble." She attended the University of Southern California and studied Biological Sciences and Theatre. She has an M.A. in Secondary Education, taught secondary English and Science for several years, and designs English/Language Arts curriculum for school districts across the US. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys vacationing with her family, being a huge foodie, and talking about binge-worthy TV, fun movies, and killer books.

*Ships in 7-10 Business Days*

Yared Heywat lives an isolated life in Addis Prime -- a hardscrabble city with rundown tech, lots of rules, and not much to do. His worrywart Uncle Moti and bionic lioness Besa are his only family... and his only friends.

Often in trouble for his thrill-seeking antics and smart mouth, those same qualities make Yared a star player of the underground augmented reality game, The Hunt for Kaleb's Obelisk. But when a change in the game rules prompts Yared to log in with his real name, it triggers an attack that rocks the city. In the chaos, Uncle Moti disappears.

Suddenly, all the stories Yared's uncle told him as a young boy are coming to life, of kingdoms in the sky and city-razing monsters. And somehow Yared is at the center of them.

Together with Besa and the Ibis -- a game rival turned reluctant ally -- Yared must search for his uncle... and answers to his place in a forgotten, galaxy-spanning war.

*Paperback Release Date - 9/22/2026*

All Aboard! The sequel to Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek has pulled into the station!

From the award-winning author of the best-selling Tristan Strong trilogy comes a magical series about a special boy who is granted summoning powers from his ancestors.

Seventh grader Jackson "Jax" Freeman recently learned two important facts: one, he's a summoner—someone who can call on the magical powers of his ancestors to help him do amazing things—and two, he isn’t the only person with this ability.

After much training, Jax and four of his summoner classmates from DuSable Middle school in Chicago are thrust into a competition called the Tournament of Spirits where they'll face the most skilled summoners from around the world.

But while everyone is focused on winning, Jax is given a special side quest by the elders of the four magical families: he has to spy on each of the competitors—including his own teammates—in order to uncover who is releasing endangered, and very dangerous, cryptids into the arena.

Can Jax take the top spot in the tournament and save himself and his friends from a mysterious foe?

Kwame Mbalia's incredible imagination and world-building talents are on full display in this thrilling adventure that's packed with magic, friendship, non-stop action, and a lot of heart.

*ships in 7-10 business days* 

Bestselling author Rick Riordan presents the second book in the New York Times best-selling and award-winning Tristan Strong trilogy by Kwame Mbalia, now in paperback.

"Mbalia's universe continues to excite through sheer conceptual brilliance, nonstop action and adventure, and--let's be honest--the comical aggression of sidekick god Gum Baby."--Booklist
When Tristan's Nana is abducted from the Strong family farm, our hero has to return to Alke to rescue her from a folktale villain with an ax to grind--er, make that a hammer.

Tristan Strong, just back from a victorious but exhausting adventure in Alke, the land of African American folk heroes and African gods, is suffering from PTSD. But there's no rest for the weary when his grandmother is abducted by a mysterious villain out for revenge.
Tristan must return to Alke--and reunite with his loud-mouthed sidekick, Gum Baby--in order to rescue Nana and stop the culprit from creating further devastation. Anansi, now a "web developer" in Tristan's phone, is close at hand to offer advice, and several new folk heroes will aid Tristan in his quest, but he will only succeed if he can figure out a way to sew broken souls back together.

*"Well-paced--just like the previous installment--this sequel focuses on themes such as the meaning of diaspora and the effects of trauma, making for a more nuanced and stronger story than the first. Packs a punch."--Kirkus (starred review)
Enhance your middle grade fantasy collection with these best-selling fan favorites:

• The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
• The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan
• Rick Riordan Presents Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
• Rick Riordan Presents City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda

Around the clock recipes, from “the most important chef in America” (San Francisco Chronicle), the visionary behind Tatiana, the New York Times #1 Restaurant in New York City.

Chef Kwame Onwuachi is always on the go. But no matter when—or where—he’s eating, you know it’s going to be good. In All Hours, Kwame shares the bold, craveable recipes that keep him going, 24/7, so that everyone can get a taste of his home cooking (even when you can’t get a table at one of his red-hot restaurants).

From morning glories like Corn Milk French Toast and the ultimate Bodega BEC to afternoon delights like Souped-Up Top Ramen and Red Stew Chicken Parm, these are recipes for quiet nights in and ragers with friends, cookouts with family and snacking on the go—and everything in between.

Filled with the mad-genius creations and cross-cultural mash-ups that only a great chef could dream of: Drunken Noodles alla Vodka, Creole Sausage Roll-Ups, Brussels Sprout Suya—plus showstopping dishes from Kwame’s restaurants (Tatiana’s legendary Cosmic Brownie with Powdered Donut Mousse!) and his own spins on New York classics (Bougie Chopped Cheese!)—this is killer home cooking, with a little je ne sais kwame.

Series streaming now on Disney+, with executive producers including NBA great LeBron James!

Kwame Alexander’s New York Times bestseller and Newbery Medal–winning The Crossover is vividly brought to life as a graphic novel with stunning illustrations by star talent Dawud Anyabwile.

New York Times Bestseller · Newbery Medal Winner · Coretta Scott King Honor Award · 2015 YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults · 2015 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers · Publishers Weekly Best Book · School Library Journal Best Book · Kirkus Best Book

“A beautifully measured novel of life and line.” —New York Times Book Review

The Crossover is now a graphic novel!

“With a bolt of lightning on my kicks . . . The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. ’Cuz tonight I’m delivering,” raps twelve-year-old Josh Bell. Thanks to their dad, he and his twin brother, Jordan, are kings on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood—he’s got mad beats, too, which help him find his rhythm when it’s all on the line.

See the Bell family in a whole new light through Dawud Anyabwile’s dynamic illustrations as the brothers’ winning season unfolds, and the world as they know it begins to change.

*Paperback Release Date - 10/6/2026*

Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by Foreign Policy

“Howard French’s The Second Emancipation stands the second half of the last century on its geopolitical head.” ―David Levering Lewis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

From the acclaimed author of Born in Blackness comes an extraordinary account of Africa’s liberation from colonial oppression, a work that fundamentally reshapes our understanding of modern history.

A work of epic dimension that recasts the liberation of twentieth-century Africa through the lens of revolutionary leader Kwame Nkrumah.

The Second Emancipation, the second work in a trilogy from best-selling author Howard W. French about Africa’s pivotal role in shaping world history, underscores Adam Hochschild’s contention that French is a “modern-day Copernicus.” The title―referring to a brief period beginning in 1957 when dozens of African colonies gained their freedom―positions this liberation at the center of a “movement of global Blackness,” with one charismatic leader, Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), at its head.

That so few people today know about Nkrumah is an omission that French demonstrates is “typical of our deliberate neglect of Africa’s enormous role in the birth of the modern world.” Determined to re-create Nkrumah’s life as “an epic twentieth-century story,” The Second Emancipation begins with his impoverished, unheralded birth in the far-western region of Ghana’s Gold Coast. But blessed with a deep curiosity, a young Nkrumah pursued an overseas education in the United States. Nowhere is French’s consummate style more vivid than in Nkrumah’s early years in Depression-era America, especially in his mesmerizing portrait of a culturally effervescent Harlem that Nkrumah encountered in 1935 before heading to college. During his student years in Pennsylvania and later as an activist in London, Nkrumah became steeped in a renowned international Black intellectual milieu―including Du Bois, Garvey, Fanon, Padmore, and C.L.R. James, who called him “one of the greatest political leaders of our century”―and formed an ideology that readied him for an extraordinarily swift and peaceful rise to power upon his return to Ghana in 1947.

Four years later, in a political landslide he engineered while imprisoned, Nkrumah stunned Britain by winning the first general election under universal franchise in Africa, becoming Ghana’s first independent prime minister in 1957. As leader of a sovereign nation, Nkrumah wielded his influence to promote the liberation of the entire continent, pushing unity as the only pathway to recover from the damages of enslavement and subjugation. By the time national military and police forces, aided by the CIA, overthrew him in 1966, Nkrumah’s radical belief in pan-African liberation had both galvanized dozens of nascent African states and fired a global agenda of Black power.

In its dramatic recasting of the American civil rights story and in its tragic depiction of a continent that once exuded all the promise of a newly won freedom, The Second Emancipation becomes a generational work that positions Africa at the forefront of modern-day history.

16 pages of illustrations; 3 maps

Seventeen BIPOC authors from varied backgrounds come together to showcase the diversity of romance and celebrate the wild hearts of teens in this YA Romantasy anthology, These Kindred Hearts, edited by Shari B. Pennant.

An aspiring writer accidentally summons her own book character and struggles to send her new crush back to her fantasy world. The daughter of a royal hell dimension deals with an unwanted betrothal to a boy she's supposed to murder, and questions the meaning of fate. An orphaned thief and a "Chosen One" must go on the run from a tyrannical empire. Two friends confess their feelings for each other in the middle of an earth-shattering apocalypse. A mix of cozy fantasy, high-stakes, action-packed, and everything in between fill these seventeen stories that explore the power and magic of love.

These Kindred Hearts includes stories by Alexene Farol Follmuth, Angela Montoya, Brent Lambert, Cheryl Isaacs, Jamar J. Perry, Jill Tew, Kalynn Bayron, Kwame Mbalia, Maggie Tokuda Hall, Nia Davenport, Shari B. Pennant, Sophie Li, Nikki T. Grant., Vanessa Montalban, Zoraida Córdova, and two unpublished writers selected through a contest.

Don't miss the epic conclusion to the Jax Freeman trilogy!

From the award-winning author of the best-selling Tristan Strong trilogy comes a unique magic-school fantasy series packed with Black history, ghosts, friendship, non-stop action, and a lot of heart.

In his first adventure in this series, seventh grader Jackson "Jax" Freeman learned that he's a summoner—someone who can call on the magical powers of his ancestors—and tries to clear his great-great grandfather’s name of a tragedy he didn’t cause. In his second adventure, Jax tests his newfound skills in a tournament against the most skilled summoners in the world while facing a mysterious foe and dangerous cryptids.

In his final adventure, Jax sets out on a secret journey into the spirit realm to rescue his friend Two-Saint. But he unknowingly plays into the hands of the dreaded Wraith Queen who uses this event to escape the spirit world in an effort to defeat Jax for good.

Follow Jax as he discovers what it truly means to form a community and that home is where you choose to plant roots.

When an extraordinary flying theme park arrives above Atlanta, one boy must stop a sinister force from stealing the park's tech and taking over the world. An electrifying illustrated series with the Afrofuturism of Black Panther that took the world by storm. Perfect for fans of Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

"Hold on tight, Futureland will be the ride of your life . . . and maybe the last!" —Kwame Mbalia, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Welcome to the most spectacular theme park in the world.

Everyone wants a ticket to Futureland, where you can literally live out your wildest dreams. Want to step inside your favorite video game? Go pro in a sports arena? Perform at a real live concert? Grab your ticket and come right in.

Yet with all its attractions, Futureland has always just been home to Cam Walker, the son of the park’s famous creators. And when Futureland arrives at its latest stop, Atlanta, Cam is thrilled for what promises to be the biggest opening ever. . . .

But things aren't quite right with the Atlanta opening. Park attractions are glitching. Kids go missing. And when his parents are blamed, Cam must find the missing kids and whoever’s trying to take down his family . . . before it’s too late.