A joyous exploration of imagination and finding inspiration, The Idea in You is the debut picture book from Questlove—New York Times bestselling author, six-time GRAMMY Award–winning drummer, producer, and Academy Award–winning filmmaker—and Coretta Scott King Honor Award–winning illustrator Sean Qualls

An idea can come from anywhere.
Start here: reach up into the sky
And unhook a star.

Questlove’s debut picture book, an uplifting story about passion, creativity, and joy—exuberantly illustrated by award-winning artist Sean Qualls—will inspire kids to find their own creative pursuits.

In Music Is History, bestselling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and his deep curiosity about history to examine America over the past fifty years. Choosing one essential track from each year, Questlove unpacks each song’s significance, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity.

A reissue of Greg Tate's classic, out-of-print collection of essays, with a new introduction by Hanif Abdurraqib and a new foreword by Questlove.

From one of the most original, creative, and provocative culture critics comes an eye-opening collection of essays and tales about American music and culture.

Under the guise of writing about a single subject, Greg Tate’s essays in Flyboy in the Buttermilk branch out from his usual and explore social, pop cultural, political, and economic subjects. Taking on a wide diversity of topics―from the rise of hip-hop; the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat; the music of Miles Davis, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Bad Brains, and many others; to the crisis of the Black intellectual and the irony of the GOP recruiting Black Americans― Tate writes in a brave and distinctive voice that is angry, joyous, anxious, and funny.

In every piece of this collection, Tate offers informed insight into where America is going and why.

The little-known heroes behind Motown's greatest hits are finally heard in this moving memoir filled with the rich historical atmosphere and emotional resonance of Hidden Figures, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Questlove's Music Is History.

Their voices can be heard on Motown classics such as "My Guy," "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," and "Stop! In the Name of Love"--immortal songs that defined an era. Relegated to the shadows behind the stars, the three professional backup singers who contributed to these smash hits and countless others were rarely known to the public.

In One Step Away, Motown legend Louvain Demps, joined by Emmy Award-winning journalist Paul Milliken, flips the record to at last tell the story of The Andantes--the powerhouse trio of Black women who secretly shaped the soundtrack of a generation--shining a warm spotlight on their talent and contributions.

Marlene Barrow. Jackie Hicks. Louvain Demps. They were Motown's "clean-up girls" -- the voices called in when the stars couldn't hit the notes. They recorded background vocals for thousands of songs--racking up as many Billboard hits as Elvis, Mariah, and Beyoncé. Yet for their contributions they were often paid $10 a session, denied credit, and excluded from history.

Now, in a story as electrifying as the music itself, Louvain recreates Motown's golden years and her experiences in helping to build the brand, taking us from the vibrant Detroit street corners where she first sang to Studio A. One Step Away is both an intimate personal portrait of a legendary time and a journey of resilience, reinvention, and survival.

Part overlooked history, part heartfelt reminiscence, part cultural reckoning, One Step Away is the missing story of the women who made Motown sing. Informative and entertaining, it restores The Andantes to their rightful place in American music and popular culture, alongside the legends whose voices they helped immortalize.

One Step Away includes a 16-pages photo insert.

New York Times bestselling author Tia Williams returns with an intensely romantic, deliciously sexy tale about a woman searching for her handsome seatmate on a European flight--and the unexpected places her hunt for love leads her.

Sasha Cruz knows types. As a booked-and-busy casting agent, she's always casting -- at happy hour, the post office, the grocery store, everywhere. She's all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn't do, however, are relationships. Too much energy, not enough time. Men find her intimidating, and she likes it that way.

But when Sasha's seated next to a mysterious, broodingly handsome Italian man on the way to a work trip in Paris, sparks fly - but they miss the chance to exchange contact information. Now, convinced that she's lost out on her soulmate, Sasha is on a manhunt to find Seat F.

Sasha enlists her work friend for help in the search, but when she accidentally emails the entire global company, colleagues around the world begin looking for Seat F, too - with some finding love along the way. Meanwhile, Sasha takes matters into her own hands, hiring a smoldering detective who complicates matters in unforeseen ways.

A new highly illustrated chapter book series set in both a Minecraft-style video game world and the real world of elementary school where friendships will be tested, courage will be discovered, and teamwork will always win!

Kat, Tai, and Alex are obsessed with the video game Otherworld. They strategize and play together all the time but are famous for their arguments while playing. They can’t help being passionate about what they love!Fresh off their latest fight, the kids discover that their school fundraiser is going to be an Otherworld tournament! All three of them are ecstatic, but they’re too stubborn to form a team while tensions are still running high. They’ll have to set all of that aside, though, when Kat, Tai, and Alex are magically zapped into Otherworld. With zombies to outrun and defenses to build, can the trio get it together long enough to get themselves out or will it be game over for good?

“This is a tender, deeply perceptive tale of what kin owes kin, and how we might work to mend old wounds together.”—Elle

In this stunning debut novel, four generations of complex Black women contend with motherhood and daughterhood, generational trauma and the deeply ingrained tensions and wounds that divide them as they redefine happiness and healing for themselves.

Erudite Evelyn, her cynical daughter Charlotte, and Charlotte’s optimistic daughter Corinna see the world very differently. Though they love each other deeply, it’s no wonder that their personalities often clash. But their conflicts go deeper than run-of-the-mill disagreements. Here, there is deep, dark resentment for past and present hurt.  

When Corinna gives birth to her own daughter, Camille, the beautiful, intelligent little girl offers this trio of mothers something they all need: hope, joy, and an opportunity to reconcile. They decide to work together to raise their collective daughter with the tenderness and empathy they missed in their own relationships. Yet despite their best intentions, they cannot agree on what that means.

After Camille eventually leaves her mother and grandmother in rural Tennessee for a more cosmopolitan life in Washington, DC with her great-grandmother, it’s unclear whether this complex and self-contained girl will thrive or be overwhelmed by the fears and dreams of three generations she carries. As she grows into a gutsy young woman, Camille must decide for herself what happiness will look like.

 In masterful, elegant prose, debut novelist Sarai Johnson has created a rich and moving portrait of Black women’s lives today.

Saving the school -- one con at a time. (And in paperback!)

"A political heist page-turner set in middle school? Is that even possible? Varian Johnson shows us how it's done." - Gordon Korman, author of SWINDLE "Do yourself a favor and start reading immediately." - Rebecca Stead, author of WHEN YOU REACH ME Jackson Greene swears he's given up scheming. Then school bully Keith Sinclair announces he's running for Student Council president, against Jackson's former friend Gaby de la Cruz. Gaby wants Jackson to stay out of it -- but he knows Keith has "connections" to the principal, which could win him the presidency no matter the vote count. So Jackson assembles a crack team: Hashemi Larijani, tech genius. Victor Cho, bankroll. Megan Feldman, science goddess. Charlie de la Cruz, reporter. Together they devise a plan that will take down Keith, win Gaby's respect, and make sure the election is done right. If they can pull it off, it will be remembered as the school's greatest con ever -- one worthy of the name THE GREAT GREENE HEIST.

Hip-Hop Is History is a book only Questlove could have written: a perceptive and personal reflection on the first half-century of hip-hop.

When hip-hop first emerged in the 1970s, it wasn’t expected to become the cultural force it is today. But for a young Black kid growing up in a musical family in Philadelphia, it was everything. He stayed up late to hear the newest songs on the radio. He saved his money to buy vinyl as soon as it landed. He even started to try to make his own songs. That kid was Questlove, and decades later, he is a six-time Grammy Award–winning musician, an Academy Award–winning filmmaker, a New York Times bestselling author, a producer, an entrepreneur, a cofounder of one of hip-hop’s defining acts (the Roots), and the genre’s unofficial in-house historian.

In this landmark book, Hip-Hop Is History, Questlove skillfully traces the creative and cultural forces that made and shaped hip-hop, highlighting both the forgotten but influential gems and the undeniable chart-topping hits—and weaves it all together with the stories no one else knows. It is at once an intimate, sharply observed story of a cultural revolution and a sweeping, grand theory of the evolution of the great artistic movement of our time. And Questlove, of course, approaches it with not only the encyclopedic fluency and passion of an obsessive fan but also the expertise and originality of an innovative participant.

Hip-hop is history, and also his history.

Groundbreaking new book based on the popular site blackcrossword.com featuring over 100 original puzzles inspired by the Diaspora and covering history, popular culture, trailblazers, literature, and politics.  

“Crosswords, and puzzles in general, are good in times of stress,” Will Shortz, the puzzle editor of The New York Times, has said, and during the pandemic sales of crossword puzzles and participants in online games such as Wordle, skyrocketed. Frustrated by the dearth of Black people creating puzzles or appearing as clues, entrepreneur Juliana Pache created blackcrossword.com in early 2023. The site at once took off counting such regular players and fans as Academy Award winner Questlove, popular social activist Brittney Packet Cunningham, and author and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib.

Now, to expand her platform, Pache is looking to bring her cultural crossword puzzles to book publishing. Like her site, the concept for the first BLACK CROSSWORD is a game that places emphasis on terms and clues from across the diaspora. By highlighting prominent cultural figures, movements, artistic achievements, and Black vernacular from across the globe, BLACK CROSSWORD on the page will serve as a simple yet impactful way for solvers to engage in the diaspora and celebrate Black culture.

In a crossword landscape that is predominantly white, BLACK CROSSWORD will provide puzzles to an underserved and passionate market. While the puzzles are meant to increase Black representation in crosswords, they also underscore the fact that this historically underserved market — Black solvers who would like puzzles that are culturally relevant to them—has the potential to become both a commercial hit and resonate with multiple generations of readers. BLACK CROSSWORD has the potential to become a series of books, including a general edition, a calendar edition, a pop culture edition across the diaspora, a Black History edition, and a trailblazer edition. While in a trade paperback format, BLACK CROSSWORD could have an elevated look/tone that would be a perfect gift or keepsake – the possibilities are endless.