A young Dominican girl is excited for her first Carnaval with her parents.

Flor, Papi, and Mami zip through the streets! They're off to Carnaval! When they arrive, the plaza is bursting with sights and sounds—people shouting and laughing, fried food sizzles, and the aroma of funnel cake wafts through the air.

Flor's feet can hardly keep still as the music of tambores and trumpets thump out a rhythmic beat. Papi lifts Flor on his shoulders so she doesn't miss a thing. Below her, the Carnaval is a brilliant swirl of pinks, purples, oranges, and blues. There's so much to see!

From los lechones de Santiago, who spin in circles, dancing their African and Latin dances. They sway and shake like palmas in the wind. Flor throws her arms in the air and swings them left to right. When Los Taínos appear, their grass skirts swish in the wind, their painted bodies telling stories of the ancestors. Everything about them seems from some other time and place, but Flor knows they are apart of her.

Next comes Roba la gallina in his rainbow dress, singing and throwing candy to the crowd, telling Flor to keep her ancestors alive and strong by telling their stories. El Diablo Cojuelo is not far behind. He taunts and teases, but Flor stands tall and brave. She knows it's all just fun and games.

But then El Diablo invites her to join show! Finally! Flor, dances, whisked away by myth and magic, surrounded by Black and Brown beauty everywhere.

We're Off to Carnaval! is a joyous homage to a tradition that celebrates freedom, heritage and connection.

A literary coming-of-age poetry collection, an ode to the places we call home, and a piercingly intimate deconstruction of daughterhood, Black Girl, Call Home is a love letter to the wandering black girl and a vital companion to any woman on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing.

Una poderosa novela escrita en verso sobre una nadadora dominicano-estadounidense de 12 años a quien le diagnostican artritis juvenil.
 
Aniana del Mar pertenece al agua como un delfín al océano, pero mantiene en secreto sus clases de natación. Hace años, a su mamá se le ahogó un ser querido y no se ha recuperado de la pérdida.
 
Un día, la artritis juvenil obliga a Aniana a guardar reposo. Entonces confiesa lo importante que es para ella nadar y, aunque el doctor cree que la natación puede ayudarla a mejorar, su mamá lo prohíbe.
 
Esta es la historia de una niña que debe crecer como las mareas para encontrar su fuerza y defender lo que ama.

*ships in 7 - 10 business days*

Where the Line Bleeds is Jesmyn Ward’s gorgeous first novel and the first of three novels set in Bois Sauvage—followed by Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing—comprising a loose trilogy about small town sourthern family life. Described as “starkly beautiful” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), “fearless” (Essence), and “emotionally honest” (The Dallas Morning News), it was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award.

Joshua and Christophe are twins, raised by a blind grandmother and a large extended family in rural Bois Sauvage, on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. They’ve just finished high school and need to find jobs, but after Katrina, it’s not easy. Joshua gets work on the docks, but Christophe’s not so lucky and starts to sell drugs. Christophe’s downward spiral is accelerated first by crack, then by the reappearance of the twins’ parents: Cille, who left for a better job, and Sandman, a dangerous addict. Sandman taunts Christophe, eventually provoking a shocking confrontation that will ultimately damn or save both twins.

Where the Line Bleeds takes place over the course of a single, life-changing summer. It is a delicate and closely observed portrait of fraternal love and strife, of the relentless grind of poverty, of the toll of addiction on a family, and of the bonds that can sustain or torment us. Bois Sauvage, based on Ward’s own hometown, is a character in its own right, as stiflingly hot and as rich with history as it is bereft of opportunity. Ward’s “lushly descriptive prose…and her prodigious talent and fearless portrayal of a world too often overlooked” (Essence) make this novel an essential addition to her incredible body of work.

*ships in 7 -10 business days*

Like all kids, Josefina loves to eat sweets. She loves warm chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven, cupcakes and candy! One night, while eating a piece of flan, Mami asks her to consider giving up sweets for Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. "That's impossible!" Josefina says. When Mami promises to teach her how to make her favorite dessert, habichuelas con dulce, she agrees to give it a try.

Josefina can't wait to end her fast and eat the delicious sweet cream beans, her family's traditional Easter dessert. While she and her mom, tías and abuela prepare the dish, they dance to merengue music and tell stories about life back in the Dominican Republic. The kitchen fills with the aromatic smells of cinnamon and sugar, but it's the feelings of love and happiness Josefina will never forget. On Easter Sunday, when the family eats the special dessert she prepared, the girl's grandmother proclaims, "It's the best pot of habichuelas con dulce I've tasted in my life!"

This heart-warming, bilingual picture book for children shares a universal story all kids can relate to-learning about one's culture through food, music and family stories-while focusing on a cultural tradition specific to the Dominican Republic. As a bonus, the book includes the recipe for this special dessert-in both English and Spanish!

Una novela gráfica de grado medio sobre Marlene, una joven que deja de alisarse el pelo y acepta sus rizos naturales.

Marlene ama tres cosas: el arte, a su adorada tía Ruby y pasar el tiempo con Camilla, su mejor amiga. Pero su mamá piensa que se debería enfocar solamente en sus estudios y en madurar; y esto último implica alisarse el pelo todos los fines de semana para que se vea “presentable” y “bueno”. Pero Marlene odia ir al salón y no entiende por qué nadie a su alrededor piensa que sus rizos naturales son bonitos. Después de algunos desafíos y momentos vergonzosos, además de la ayuda imprescindible de Camilla y tía Ruby, poco a poco Marlene emprende el camino de aprender a apreciar su pelo rizo y llevarlo con orgullo.
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A middle grade graphic novel about Marlene, a young girl who stops straightening her hair and embraces her natural curls.

Marlene loves three things: books, her cool Tía Ruby and hanging out with her best friend Camila. But according to her mother, Paola, the only thing she needs to focus on is school and "growing up." That means straightening her hair every weekend so she could have "presentable", "good hair".

But Marlene hates being in the salon and doesn't understand why her curls are not considered pretty by those around her. With a few hiccups, a dash of embarrassment, and the much-needed help of Camila and Tia Ruby―she slowly starts a journey to learn to appreciate and proudly wear her curly hair.

From Jesmyn Ward—the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow—comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.

“‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.’” —Inferno, Dante Alighieri

Let Us Descend is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.

From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this miracle of a novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land—the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet, a masterwork for the ages.

Join for an author talk with award-winning and beloved author, Renee Watson! 

EVENT DEETS

When: Saturday, October 28 at 2PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories Reading Garden (2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat. RSVP WITH BOOK to grab your seat along with a copy of Renee's newest book, Ways to Build Dreams. There will be additional titles on sale. However, you must purchase her newest book to join the signing line.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award winner Renée Watson continues her bestselling young middle grade series starring Ryan Hart.

Middle school is just around the corner for Ryan Hart, which means it’s time to start thinking about the future—and not just how to prank her brother, Ray!
Ryan wonders who she wants to be and what kind of person her family hopes she’ll become. Ryan has always been known for her sunny outlook, but can she keep hoping even when things seem hopeless? During Black History Month, Ryan learns more about her ancestors and local Black pioneers and their hopes for the future, for her generation. Drawing on the ambitions of those who came before her, and her own goals, Ryan is determined to turn her dreams into reality.
Grow and shine and share with Ryan Hart in this series that brings ever more humor, more love, and more fun.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Her novel, Piecing Me Together, received a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. Her books include the Ryan Hart series, Some Places More Than Others, This Side of Home, What Momma Left Me, Betty Before X, cowritten with Ilyasah Shabazz, Watch Us Rise, cowritten with Ellen Hagan, and Love is a Revolution, as well as acclaimed picture books: Places Where Hurricanes Happen, and Harlem’s Little Blackbird, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Renée splits her times between Portland, Oregon and New York City.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR 

Jasminne Mendez is a best-selling Dominican-American poet, translator, playwright and award winning author of several books for children and adults. Including the middle grade novel in verse Aniana del Mar Jumps In (Dial) which was released to four starred reviews. Her other books have received prizes from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Writer’s League of Texas and the International Latino Book Awards. She is an MFA graduate of the creative writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and a University of Houston alumni. She is the Program Director for the literary arts non-profit Tintero Projects and she lives and works in Houston, TX.