Denny S. Bryce

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

South Carolina

A Captivating Novel of Historical Fiction Perfect for Book Clubs

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement amidst an America convulsed by the 1960s, a pregnant young woman and her brash, profane aunt embark upon an audacious road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles to confront a decades-old mystery from 1920's Black Hollywood in this haunting novel of historical fiction from the author of Wild Women and the Blues. A lime-gold Ford Mustang is parked outside my building. Unmistakable. My Aunt Daisy, the driver, is an audacious woman that no one in our family actually speaks to. They only speak about her--and not glowingly. Still, she is part of my escape plan... 1928, Los Angeles: The newly-built Hotel Somerville is the hotspot for the city's glittering African-American elite. It embodies prosperity and dreams of equality for all--especially Daisy Washington. An up-and-coming journalist, Daisy anonymously chronicles fierce activism and behind-the-scenes Hollywood scandals in order to save her family from poverty. But power in the City of Angels is also fueled by racism, greed, and betrayal. And even the most determined young woman can play too many secrets too far... 1968, Chicago For Frankie Saunders, fleeing across America is her only escape from an abusive husband. But her rescuer is her reckless, profane Aunt Daisy, still reeling from her own shattered past. Frankie doesn't want to know what her aunt is up to so long as Daisy can get her to LA--and safety. But Frankie finds there's no hiding from long-held secrets--or her own surprising strength. Daisy will do whatever it takes to settle old scores and resolve the past--no matter the damage. And Frankie will come up against hard choices in the face of unexpected passion. Both must come to grips with what they need, what they've left behind--and all that lies ahead ... RAVES FOR Wild Women and the Blues "The best kind of historical novel: immersive, mysterious and evocative." --Ms. Magazine "Vibrant. . . . A highly entertaining read!" --New York Times Bestselling author Ellen Marie Wiseman "The music practically pours out of the pages." --Oprah Daily

In the Face of the Sun

3b5c2e99-b727-40d6-bfcf-9ea6ff3ff48a-1

#nonfiction #paperback #history #fiction #blackfiction #historicalfiction #historical #neworleans Pristine condition, read once, smoke free home

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Michigan

A Novel

Black Bottom Saints

cf7a76e8-4d3f-4dc2-a0be-56f7f8e0b9b3-1

Morgan Parker

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

"Unflinchingly irreverent, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartbreakingly honest." --Elizabeth Acevedo, National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X

In the vein of powerful reads like The Hate U Give and The Poet X, comes poet Morgan Parker's pitch-perfect novel about a black teenage girl searching for her identity when the world around her views her depression as a lack of faith and blackness as something to be politely ignored.

Trapped in sunny, stifling, small-town suburbia, seventeen-year-old Morgan knows why she's in therapy. She can't count the number of times she's been the only non-white person at the sleepover, been teased for her "weird" outfits, and been told she's not "really" black. Also, she's spent most of her summer crying in bed. So there's that, too.

Lately, it feels like the whole world is listening to the same terrible track on repeat--and it's telling them how to feel, who to vote for, what to believe. Morgan wonders, when can she turn this song off and begin living for herself?

Loosely based on her own teenage life and diaries, this incredible debut by award-winning poet Morgan Parker will make readers stand up and cheer for a girl brave enough to live life on her own terms--and for themselves.

"Morgan Parker put THIS song on--and I hope it never turns off." --Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out

"A triumphant first impression in the YA space." --Entertainment Weekly

"An incredibly heartfelt, deep story about a girl's coming of age." --Refinery29


Who Put This Song On?

0b2d9b55-d93b-4f53-9c5c-a5dc73568689-1

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Massachusetts

Tara M. Stringfellow

New Jersey

READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy. “I fell in love with this family, from Joan’s fierce heart to her grandmother Hazel’s determined resilience. Tara Stringfellow will be an author to watch for years to come.”—Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—Oprah Daily, Essence, Glamour, Business Insider, Marie Claire, The Millions, She Reads, Book Riot, Bad Form Summer 1995: Ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s explosive temper and seek refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. This is not the first time violence has altered the course of the family’s trajectory. Half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass—only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in the city. Joan tries to settle into her new life, but family secrets cast a longer shadow than any of them expected. As she grows up, Joan finds relief in her artwork, painting portraits of the community in Memphis. One of her subjects is their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who claims to know something about curses, and whose stories about the past help Joan see how her passion, imagination, and relentless hope are, in fact, the continuation of a long matrilineal tradition. Joan begins to understand that her mother, her mother’s mother, and the mothers before them persevered, made impossible choices, and put their dreams on hold so that her life would not have to be defined by loss and anger—that the sole instrument she needs for healing is her paintbrush. Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of unforgettable voices that move back and forth in time, Memphis paints an indelible portrait of inheritance, celebrating the full complexity of what we pass down, in a family and as a country: brutality and justice, faith and forgiveness, sacrifice and love.

Memphis

971f7d21-c226-4a35-a809-05ed3bb79d72-1

#hardcover #fiction #youngadult #socialjustice #ya #blackfiction #bipoc #ibizoboi 

From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo. The story that I thought was my life didn't start on the day I was born Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he's seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. "Boys just being boys" turns out to be true only when those boys are white. The story that I think will be my life starts today Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal's bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it? With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

Punching the Air

f44f79ea-ba13-43da-91ff-5f1f42778848-1

Alice Randall

Georgia

An enthralling literary tour-de-force that pays tribute to Detroit's legendary neighborhood, a mecca for jazz, sports, and politics, Black Bottom Saints is a powerful blend of fact and imagination reminiscent of E.L. Doctorow's classic novel Ragtime and Marlon James' Man Booker Award-winning masterpiece, A Brief History of Seven Killings. From the Great Depression through the post-World War II years, Joseph "Ziggy" Johnson, has been the pulse of Detroit's famous Black Bottom. A celebrated gossip columnist for the city's African-American newspaper, the Michigan Chronicle, he is also the emcee of one of the hottest night clubs, where he's rubbed elbows with the legendary black artists of the era, including Ethel Waters, Billy Eckstein, and Count Basie. Ziggy is also the founder and dean of the Ziggy Johnson School of Theater. But now the doyen of Black Bottom is ready to hang up his many dapper hats. As he lays dying in the black-owned-and-operated Kirkwood Hospital, Ziggy reflects on his life, the community that was the center of his world, and the remarkable people who helped shape it. Inspired by the Catholic Saints Day Books, Ziggy curates his own list of Black Bottom's venerable "52 Saints." Among them are a vulnerable Dinah Washington, a defiant Joe Louis, and a raucous Bricktop. Randall balances the stories of these larger-than-life "Saints" with local heroes who became household names, enthralling men and women whose unstoppable ambition, love of style, and faith in community made this black Midwestern neighborhood the rival of New York City's Harlem. Accompanying these "tributes" are thoughtfully paired cocktails--special drinks that capture the essence of each of Ziggy's saints--libations as strong and satisfying as Alice Randall's wholly original view of a place and time unlike any other.

See second picture for mark on bottom of book

Pennsylvania

Kristina Forest

New York

"Through this pitch-perfect rom-com, Kristina Forest explores the legacy of family and what it means to be young and full of artistic passion. I was utterly charmed from start to finish." --Maurene Goo, author ofSomewhere Only We Know

Now That I've Found You is a YA novel about searching for answers, love, and your eccentric grandma in all the wrong places.

Following in the footsteps of her überfamous grandma, eighteen-year-old Evie Jones is poised to be Hollywood's next big star. That is until a close friend's betrayal leads to her being blacklisted . . .

Fortunately, Evie knows just the thing to save her floundering career: a public appearance with America's most beloved actress--her grandma Gigi, akathe Evelyn Conaway. The only problem? Gigi is a recluse who's been out of the limelight for almost twenty years. Days before Evie plans to present her grandma with an honorary award in front of Hollywood's elite, Gigi does the unthinkable: she disappears.

With time running out and her comeback on the line, Evie reluctantly enlists the help of the last person to see Gigi before she vanished: Milo Williams, a cute musician Evie isn't sure she can trust. As Evie and Milo conduct a wild manhunt across New York City, romance and adventure abound while Evie makes some surprising discoveries about her grandma--and herself.

Now That I've Found You

6fef79eb-0cf0-4848-8802-51e6d2d57e79-1

Stories by Chunichi, Lakesa Cox, Meisha C. Holmes, Joy and Tysha, With Special Messages from Free and Wahida Clark. Bend in inside cover and sime pages as shown in pictures. Overall Pages are crisp and white.

Nevada

Girls in the Game (Street Chronicals)

#paperback #fiction #blackfiction #immigration #ya #youngadult 

Virginia

A National Book Award Finalist with five starred reviews! A New York Times Notable Book * Publishers Weekly Flying Start * Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * ALA Booklist Editors' Choice of 2017 (Top of the List winner) * School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Best Book of the Year * BookPage Best YA Book of the Year American Street is an evocative and powerful coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Everything, Everything; Bone Gap; and All American Boys. In this stunning debut novel, Pushcart-nominated author Ibi Zoboi draws on her own experience as a young Haitian immigrant, infusing this lyrical exploration of America with magical realism and vodou culture. On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life. But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit’s west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own. Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?

American Street

404411b1-2089-454c-b76f-afdbc217f027-1

Eric Jerome Dickey

Known on the streets for her beauty and impressive motorcycle, Ducati discovers that she is pregnant just before her boyfriend decides to return to his wife, a situation that is complicated by a threat from her boyfriend's wife, the disappearance of her boyfriend's teenage daughter, and an attempt on Ducati's life. By the author of Genevieve. 100,000 first printing.

Chasing Destiny

541b5870-efe7-4858-a016-148fef75340e-1

Ibi Zoboi

Kentucky

Paradise

Yusef Salaam

Connecticut

Illinois

Memphis (1st Edition/Printing)

North Dakota

De'Shawn Charles Winslow

"A bighearted novel about family, migration, and the unbearable difficulties of love. Here's a cast of characters you won't soon forget." Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie "Winslow's impressive debut novel introduces readers to both a flawed, fascinating character in fiction and a wonderful new voice in literature." Real Simple, Best Books of 2019 A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Winner of the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Named a Most Anticipated Novel by TIME MAGAZINE * USA TODAY * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY * NYLON * SOUTHERN LIVING * THE LOS ANGELES TIMES * ESSENCE * THE MILLIONS * REAL SIMPLE* HUFFINGTON POST * BUZZFEED Let the people of West Mills say what they will about Azalea “Knot” Centre; they won't keep her from what she loves best: cheap moonshine, nineteenth-century literature, and the company of men. And yet, when motherhood looms, Knot begins to learn that her freedom has come at a high price. Low on money, ostracized from her parents and cut off from her hometown, Knot turns to her neighbor, Otis Lee Loving, in search of some semblance of family and home. Otis Lee is eager to help. A lifelong fixer, Otis Lee is determined to steer his friends and family away from decisions that will cause them heartache and ridicule. After his failed attempt to help his older sister, who lives a precarious life in the North, Otis Lee discovers a possible path to redemption in the chaos Knot brings to his doorstep. But while he's busy trying to fix Knot's life, Otis Lee finds himself powerless to repair the many troubles within his own family, as the long-buried secrets of his troubled past begin to come to light. Spanning decades in a rural North Carolina town where a canal acts as the color line, In West Mills is a magnificent, big-hearted small-town story about family, friendship, storytelling, and the redemptive power of love.

In West Mills

bce394c5-67d0-48ef-b47a-7cf342ea5690-1

Nic Stone

"When Rico sells a jackpot-winning lotto ticket, she thinks maybe her luck will finally change, but only if she and her popular and wildly rich classmate, Zan, can find the ticket holder who hasn't claimed the prize."--

Jackpot

c9a9ecf1-f334-4c3f-a34f-98288287e323-1

Slight yellow pages. Never read. From smoke and mold free home

Florida

Tolá Okogwu

New unread copy. No marks or creases on any pages. 

Ohio

Black Panther meets X-Men in this action-packed and empowering middle grade adventure about a British Nigerian girl who learns that her Afro hair has psychokinetic powers--perfect for fans of Amari and the Night Brothers, The Marvellers, and Rick Riordan!

Onyeka has a lot of hair­--the kind that makes strangers stop in the street and her peers whisper behind her back. At least she has Cheyenne, her best friend, who couldn't care less what other people think. Still, Onyeka has always felt insecure about her vibrant curls...until the day Cheyenne almost drowns and Onyeka's hair takes on a life of its own, inexplicably pulling Cheyenne from the water.

At home, Onyeka's mother tells her the shocking truth: Onyeka's psycho-kinetic powers make her a Solari, one of a secret group of people with super powers unique to Nigeria. Her mother quickly whisks her off to the Academy of the Sun, a school in Nigeria where Solari are trained. But Onyeka and her new friends at the academy soon have to put their powers to the test as they find themselves embroiled in a momentous battle between truth and lies...

Browse by categories

Save this search

Denny S. Bryce

In the Face of the Sun

Alice Randall

Black Bottom Saints

Morgan Parker

Who Put This Song On?

Morgan Parker

Who Put This Song On?

Tara M. Stringfellow

Memphis

Ibi Zoboi; Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air

Alice Randall

Black Bottom Saints

Morgan Parker

Who Put This Song On?

Kristina Forest

Now That I've Found You

Nikki Turner

Girls in the Game (Street Chronicals)

Alice Randall

Black Bottom Saints

Ibi Zoboi

American Street

Eric Jerome Dickey

Chasing Destiny

Ibi Zoboi

American Street

Toni Morrison

Paradise

Ibi Zoboi; Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air

Tara M. Stringfellow

Memphis (1st Edition/Printing)

Ibi Zoboi; Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air

Ibi Zoboi; Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air

De'Shawn Charles Winslow

In West Mills

Ibi Zoboi; Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air

Nic Stone

Jackpot

Ibi Zoboi; Yusef Salaam

Punching the Air

Tolá Okogwu

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun