Through an unfolding series of raw moods and memories, author Backus transports himself back to 1983, when, as a young man out of college, he’d just arrived in Manhattan from Indiana, driving his dead grandmother’s 1968 Chevy Caprice to work at a pork-packing company with dreams of becoming a writer. His mundane work of meat …
This sing-along picture book adaptation takes “Giant Steps” by John Coltrane and fashions it into “Baby Steps,” adding lyrics that encourage little ones to move “first your right, then your left” to start their journey through life on their feet. Most of the pages feature a baby or toddler alongside parents, grandparents, and other trusted …
A married man (generously called Adonis) engages in various sexual escapades with a parade of different women. Readers begin the story knowing that Adonis has died, and the author uses a variety of different formats to tell the story of his downfall. These include poetry, short prose, quotes (some of which are in French), and …
Jacob is a Brooklyn native, staying on in Atlanta after graduating from Morehouse to take a job with a real estate developer who has won the contract to “revitaliz[e]” (aka destroy and gentrify) the Black neighborhoods near the Olympic Village. He knows he’s gay, but has had very little experience and has not come out …
Just as in Are You Stronger Than an Ant? (2024), Morgan peppers readers with intriguing questions: “Could you…climb up and down cliffs without any gear at all?” “Could you…ward off bad guys without a shield?” “Could you…light up the dark by giving off an inner glow?” Kids will likely respond with a resounding no, but …
Celeste’s mother, Queen Halia, has always considered her to be too emotional—like the irrational humans. In order to prove herself, Celeste has spent several cycles, the sirens’ unit of time, training to become a member of the Chorus, a militarized unit that patrols the seas. Before her final test, Celeste comes across an attractive human …
When the author began the Friendship Bench project with 14 grandmothers in the early 2000s, there were only six practicing psychiatrists in Zimbabwe. (Today, the number remains less than 20.) Designed to address the limited access many Zimbabweans have to mental health professionals, the Friendship Bench project deploys a team of “lay psychotherapists” to provide …
Brielle Petitfour dreams of becoming a renowned chef, serving up food from her Haitian culture to Miami’s upper crust via her elite supper club. But she’s also a zombie—or a zonbi, as they’re known in Creole. Brielle’s immigrant mother suffers chronic pain from an injury sustained while working for the white Banks family, the same …
November, 1895. Investigators Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn venture to the lively Shoreditch district of London in the middle of the night in search of the infamous Dawn Gang, which has been burglarizing local shops. The duo gets some helpful intel from Dutch, a streetwise beggar. As if on cue, Llewelyn is struck in the …
Seventeen-year-old Rioyn Orro dreams of protecting his realm of Seivan. It would entail joining Sansyre University’s Order of Soldiers, but his father, a general who finds his son too impulsive, won’t approve his enrollment. Rioyn plans to join anyway; histwin, Ayva, who thinks of herself as a “nerdy book girl,” is already signed up for …
