Recommended Reads Books (List)

The site of the ruined ancestral home of Kwame Dawes's family, in one of the earliest post-slavery free villages in Jamaica, Sturge Town is at once a place of myth and, for Dawes, a metaphor of the journeying that has taken him from Ghana, through Jamaica, and to the United States. The poet ranges through time, pursued by a keen sense of mortality, and engages in an intimate dialogue with the reader--serious, confessional, alarmed, and sometimes teasing. Metrically careful and sonorous, these poems engage in a personal dialogue with the reader, serious, confessional, alarmed and sometimes teasing. They create highly visualized spaces, observed, remembered, imagined, the scenes of both outward and inner journeys. Whether finding beauty in the quotidian or taking astonishing imaginative leaps, these poems speak movingly of self-reflection, family crises, loss, transcendence, the shattering realities of political engagement, and an unremitting investment in the vivid indeterminacy of poetry.

If you feel like climate change and the state of our planet just keeps getting worse and there’s nothing we can do to stop it then you’ve picked up the right book–because tons of efforts are already underway to save our planet, and we’d love for you to join the fight.

Good News, Planet Earth is your go-to guide to learn about all the amazing sustainable developments that are being put in place worldwide to combat warming temperatures, pollution, deforestation, the use of wasteful products, and threats to our diverse wildlife.

Sustainability enthusiast Sam Bentley takes you on a journey around the world to teach you about everything from the net-free zone established in the Great Barrier Reef, a road that charges electric vehicles while they drive in Detroit, and the opening of carbon capturing plants in Europe that suck CO2 out of the air and store it safely underground.

As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

With hundreds of North American bird species facing population decline or at risk of extinction, right now is the perfect time to create a home-based habitat garden that offers birds the resources they need to safely feed, migrate, breed, and thrive.

Thankfully, making your outdoor space a secure and comfortable haven for many different bird species isn’t a Herculean task. It’s a matter of understanding the needs of our avian friends and how native plants, combined with purposeful garden design, can help meet those needs. And that’s exactly the know-how you’ll find here, outlined in a simple-to-follow, actionable format by author Jennifer McGuinness. 

Step beyond the seed-filled bird feeder and suet block, and learn how to further provide for birds.

What if rivers could talk and tell their stories? What would they tell us? In What Rivers Know, artist Basia Irland insinuates herself as the voice of major waterways as they struggle to navigate their changing relationships with humans and climate change. By hearing what the rivers have to say, Irland asserts we can attune ourselves to the "braided fusion of energies" in our natural world, better preparing us to meet the challenges posed by climate change and human interactions with the environment.

Through these "first-person accounts," readers learn the rivers' histories, current environmental health status, and evolving relationships with humanity. In addition, Irland discusses innovative practices for addressing pollution, recycling wastewater, and what steps--if any--are being taken to remedy their ailments.

When Works Progress Administration (WPA) editor Millie Lang finds herself on the wrong end of a potential political scandal, she's shipped off to Montana to work on the state's American Guide Series - travel books intended to put the nation's destitute writers to work.

Millie arrives to an eclectic staff claiming their missed deadlines are due to sabotage, possibly from the state's powerful Copper Kings who don't want their long and bloody history with union organizers aired for the rest of the country to read. But Millie begins to suspect that the answer might instead lie with the town's mysterious librarian, Alice Monroe.

More than a decade earlier, Alice Monroe created the Boxcar Library in order to deliver books to isolated mining towns where men longed for entertainment and connection. Alice thought she found the perfect librarian to staff the train car in Colette Durand, a miner's daughter with a shotgun and too many secrets behind her eyes.

Now, no one in Missoula will tell Millie why both Alice and Colette went out on the inaugural journey of the Boxcar Library, but only Alice returned.

The three women's stories dramatically converge in the search to uncover what someone is so desperately trying to hide: what happened to Colette Durand.

When an elderly Miracle Springs resident, Lucille Wynter, arranges for Nora to deliver an order of books to her creepy, crumbling Southern Gothic mansion on the outskirts of town, Nora doesn’t expect to be invited in. An agoraphobe, Lucille doesn’t leave Wynter House. But when Lucille doesn’t come to the door to collect her books, Nora begins to worry.

Forcing her way into Lucille’s dilapidated home, Nora is shocked to find rooms bursting with books and a lifeless Lucille at the foot of her stairs. After reading a note left behind by Lucille, Nora wonders if her death was an accident. Did she fall or was she pushed by someone seeking a valuable item hidden within Wynter House? Lucille’s children are clearly confident the house contains something of value, because they hire Nora to sift through the piles of books.

Nora’s obsession with Lucille’s collection becomes cause for concern among her friends in the Secret, Book, and Scone Society - she’s even neglecting her bookshop! But Nora does find something valuable deep inside Wynter House - a revelation about Lucille’s terrible past . . . and a secret worth a small fortune. But there’s someone who’d do anything to keep the truth buried amid the moldering tomes, and it’s up to Nora and her friends to track down a murderer before Wynter House’s lost library claims another victim . . .

Carrie Singleton is ready to kiss the single life goodbye. Her wedding to Dylan Avery is just a few weeks away, and a happy ending is about to be hers. But when a body is found on the lawn of their wedding venue, happily-ever-after is looking deadlier than ever. 

The victim turns out to be Billy Carpenter, a young man recently released from prison after serving time for a bank robbery. The stolen money he’d buried is gone and Carrie and the police suspect Billy’s two alleged co-conspirators, his friends Luke Rizzo and Tino Valdez. But then Luke is murdered and Tino is nowhere to be found. 

With no leads and only a week to go before her big day, Carrie is on the hunt for clues. She hopes to wrap up this investigation with a neat bow before she and Dylan tie the knot. Carrie has something old, something new, and something borrowed ready for her walk down the aisle. Now she needs to find the killer without becoming the ‘something blue.’

An invitation from a prestigious liberal arts college to buy their mystery-novel collection comes as a welcome surprise for Raymond Ambler, crime-fiction curator at New York City's prestigious 42nd Street Library. But his pleasure quickly turns sour when the collection's curator - Ambler's friend Sam Abernathy - tells him he plans to fight the acquisition tooth and nail.

The collection would make a fine addition to his holdings, but Ambler's not looking for drama. It's a shame, then, that drama's looking for him. Just a couple of weeks later, one of Abernathy's colleagues is shot dead from the library's roof, and all signs point to the crime-loving professor as the perpetrator of the violent act.

Why would Abernathy kill - and was it for his collection, for college politics, or for some dark secret yet to be revealed? Ambler's not sure his old friend's a killer, but he is sure he wants justice - for both the living and the dead.

John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and a passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious disease.

Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John be­came fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequi­ties that allow this curable, preventable infec­tious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

Flying from the screen to the page, it's Superman! The hit Adult Swim animated series gets an all-new comic book adventure--bridging the gap between seasons one and two, and told by the head writer of the show!

In 2023, My Adventures with Superman debuted on Adult Swim, dazzling viewers with a fresh, anime-inspired take on the Superman mythos--while retaining the enduring qualities of the Man of Steel, and his friends and enemies!

Picking up from the explosive end of season one, Clark's about to spend Christmas alone in Metropolis. Though he's feeling a bit down and out, a tip about a monster in the sewers sends Superman, Lois, and Jimmy into action! But what is this monster that can absorb anything it touches, and why is it here in Metropolis? And when a mysterious android is captured by a covert military group, Superman realizes he can't just bust through a government facility and take what he wants--this is a job for mild-mannered journalist Clark Kent!

Written by the head writer of My Adventures with Superman, Josie Campbell, and drawn by Pablo M. Collar, this collection brings the hit show to comics for the first time!

This volume collects My Adventures with Superman #1-6.

In 1832, in Canterbury, Connecticut, a " charming and picturesque" little school for young girls opens to accommodate around twenty residents. Educating girls is a bit ridiculous and useless, they think in the area, but harmless enough. Until the day when the " charming school", led by Prudence Crandall, announces that it will now welcome Black girls... . Thirty years before the abolition of slavery, some fifteen young people in the Crandall school are greeted by a wave of hostility of insane proportion. White America is afraid of some of its children. The story of this school and its legal legacy for civil rights cannot be understated. Crandall v. State (of Connecticut) was the first full-throated civil rights case in U.S. history. The arguments by attorneys in the Crandall case played a role in two of the most fateful Supreme Court decisions, Dred Scott v. Sandford, and the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education. It catapulted Ms. Crandall into a Civil Rights pioneer.

SWISH! Cheer courtside for a Muslim teen in this graphic novel—inspired by a true story—as she joins an all-girls, hijab-wearing basketball team and learns that she’s much more than a score.

Aliya is new to Wisconsin, and everything feels different than Florida. The Islamic school is bigger, the city is colder, and her new basketball team is… well, they stink.

Aliya’s still excited to have teammates (although Noura's not really Aliya's biggest fan) and their new coach really understands basketball (even if she doesn't know much about being Muslim.) This season should be a blast...if they could just start to win.

Join Aliya and the Peace Academy on a headline-making season where they strengthen their skills and their Muslim identities--all while discovering that it takes more than talent to be great, and that teamwork and self-confidence can define true success. 

For fans of The Crossover and Roller Girl, this graphic novel goes big with humor and heart as it explores culture and perceptions, fitting in and standing out, and finding yourself, both on and off the court.

Rei Kiriyama is a child prodigy. Rei Kiriyama is also an orphan who lives alone in an empty apartment. Rei Kiriyama is a teen working in an adult's world. Life is complicated for Rei. He's an up-and-coming shogi (Japanese chess) player on the verge of turning pro but he has no homelife or much of a life period outside his board game but thankfully with the help of some life-long friends he has an opportunity start all over again.

A stunning graphic novel memoir about growing up with an incarcerated parent.

" ...Your dad is coming back home."

As far back as nine-year-old Jay Jay Patton can remember, her dad, Antoine has been in prison. Growing up in Buffalo, New York with her mom and younger brother, she's only been to visit him twice. Instead, the two have sent each other numerous letters -- Jay Jay's letters can take weeks or months to reach her dad, and some never even get delivered. What's it going to be like having Dad home?

This powerful coming-of-age graphic novel memoir tells Jay Jay Patton's life of growing up with a dad in -- and out of -- prison. How she and her dad were able to develop a powerful father/daughter bond and create Photo Patch -- a life-changing application that connects children to incarcerated parents. Because no child should have to grow up unable to engage with their parents. As Jay Jay says: "it's not a privilege for a kid to be able to talk to their parent. It's a right."

A mad young coach gathers soccer players from across the country to compete in a series of bizarre challenges in a high-tech colosseum he calls Blue Lock. It's a no-balls-barred battle to become Japan's next top striker, in this Squid Game–meets–World Cup manga, now available in print!

Anime coming soon!

Are you the world's top egoist?

After a disastrous defeat at the 2018 World Cup, Japan's team struggles to regroup. But what's mising? An absolute ace striker. The Football Union is hell-bent on creating a striker who hungers for goals and thirsts for victory, so Blue Lock -- a rigorous training ground for 300 of Japan's best and brightest youth players -- is created. To survive this battle royale, the last striker standing will have to out-muscle and out-ego everyone who stands in his way!

YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist

More than 250 women have played on the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, and most contributed to the battle for equal pay. This narrative nonfiction book by the award-winning author and journalist Elizabeth Rusch traces the evolution of that fight, bringing this important rights issue in sports and in our culture to the attention of young readers. Features extensive back matter.

With the passage of Title IX in 1972, the doors opened for young women to play sports at a higher level. But for the women on the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, being able to compete at an international level didn't mean fair treatment and fair compensation.

From economy-class airplane seats and inadequate lodging to minimal marketing and slashed wages, the women representing the United States at the Olympics, the World Cup, and other tournaments had reason to be fed up. They were expected to--and did--win, but they weren't compensated for their talent and dedication. With the help of their union and in collaboration with the men's team, they secured an equitable contract in 2022 that ultimately benefited both national teams as well as athletes of the future.

Elizabeth Rusch's A Greater Goal chronicles how members of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team fought to receive fair treatment and equal pay despite the intense pushback they received from U.S. Soccer, the governing body of soccer in the United States. With a narrative that includes player profiles and vignettes framed from team member perspectives, A Greater Goal illuminates the work, support, and grit needed to be treated with equality in a world that often undervalues the contributions of women.

Features extensive back matter, including a call to action, additional resources, and an index.

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats.

Nor do they have tails.

But they are most assuredly dead.

Nebula and Alex Award winner P. Djèlí Clark introduces a brand-new world and a fantastical city full of gods and assassins.

An NPR "Books We Love" choice of 2024, Indie Next Pick, LibraryReads Top Ten Selection, Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Selection, and Best-Of Book according to BookRiot

Eveen the Eviscerator is skilled, discreet, professional, and here for your most pressing needs in the ancient city of Tal Abisi. Her guild is strong, her blades are sharp, and her rules are simple. Those sworn to the Matron of Assassins—resurrected, deadly, wiped of their memories—have only three unbreakable vows.

First, the contract must be just. That’s above Eveen’s pay grade.

Second, even the most powerful assassin may only kill the contracted. Eveen’s a professional. She’s never missed her mark.

The third and the simplest: once you accept a job, you must carry it out. And if you stray? A final death would be a mercy. When the Festival of the Clockwork King turns the city upside down, Eveen’s newest mission brings her face-to-face with a past she isn’t supposed to remember and a vow she can’t forget.

The phenomenal fifth book in the Hunger Games series!

When you've been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

*Instant New York Times Bestseller*

The Davenports delivers a totally escapist, swoon-worthy romance while offering a glimpse into a period of African American history often overlooked.

"The perfect read for fans of escapist historical fiction.” —NBC’s TODAY

The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in a changing United States, their fortune made through the entrepreneurship of William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who founded the Davenport Carriage Company years ago. Now it's 1910, and the Davenports live surrounded by servants, crystal chandeliers, and endless parties, finding their way and finding love—even where they’re not supposed to.

There is Olivia, the beautiful elder Davenport daughter, ready to do her duty by getting married . . . until she meets the charismatic civil rights leader Washington DeWight and sparks fly. The younger daughter, Helen, is more interested in fixing cars than falling in love—unless it’s with her sister’s suitor. Amy-Rose, the childhood friend turned maid to the Davenport sisters, dreams of opening her own business—and marrying the one man she could never be with, Olivia and Helen’s brother, John. But Olivia’s best friend, Ruby, also has her sights set on John Davenport, though she can’t seem to keep his interest . . . until family pressure has her scheming to win his heart, just as someone else wins hers.

Inspired by the real-life story of the Patterson family, The Davenports is the tale of four determined and passionate young Black women discovering the courage to steer their own path in life—and love.

"The Davenports has it all: romance, heartbreak, courage." —Ebony
"A fresh, utterly enchanting read.” —Ayana Gray, New York Times bestselling author of the Beasts of Prey trilogy
"Deftly written . . . A dazzling debut." —Kirkus (starred review)
"Stunningly wrought . . . Presents a cast of take-charge women." —PW (starred review)
"It has the compulsive readability of Gossip Girl." —Booklist (starred review)
"Compelling . . . distinct and satisfying." —BCCB
"Skilled . . . Well-written . . . Sure to please." —SLJ
"If this whole series existed right now, I’d tear through it to the exclusion of everything else in my life." —Teen Librarian Toolbox

From the author of I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Youth Literature, comes a sharply observed YA novel about friendship, family, and self-discovery, amid a backdrop of a Filipino debut.

Lucia Cruz may be turning eighteen this year, but she is not the debutante type. Everything about a traditional Filipino debut feels all wrong for her. Besides, custom dictates that eighteen friends attend her for a special ceremony on her birthday, and Lucia only has one friend– Esmé Mares. They've stuck to each other's side all throughout high school, content to be friends with only each other. At least, Lucia thought they were content.

As it turns out, Esmé wants something different out of her senior year. And, on top of that, Lucia's mom has planned a debutante ball for her birthday behind her back. She'll be forced to cobble together a court of eighteen “friends” before her beloved lola arrives from the Philippines for this blessed occasion.

How far will Lucia stray from her comfort zone in order to play the role of dutiful daughter and granddaughter? Will she do the unthinkable– participating in a school sponsored activity? Will she discover that her sense of humor can be a way to connect with people, not just push them away?

With hundreds of North American bird species facing population decline or at risk of extinction, right now is the perfect time to create a home-based habitat garden that offers birds the resources they need to safely feed, migrate, breed, and thrive.

Thankfully, making your outdoor space a secure and comfortable haven for many different bird species isn’t a Herculean task. It’s a matter of understanding the needs of our avian friends and how native plants, combined with purposeful garden design, can help meet those needs. And that’s exactly the know-how you’ll find here, outlined in a simple-to-follow, actionable format by author Jennifer McGuinness. 

Step beyond the seed-filled bird feeder and suet block, and learn how to further provide for birds. Some of the topics covered in the book include:

• How to design a bird-centered habitat garden in spaces large and small
• Advice on providing fresh water year-round
• Understanding the connection between native plants and insects and the birds that rely on them
• How to design and plant a fruit garden, a bird seed garden, a runoff-absorbing rain garden, or even a container garden that nurtures birds
• Meet dozens of trees, shrubs, and other plants that support the insects almost all adult birds need to feed their young
• 18 step-by-step garden design projects and plant lists for creating a diversity of bird-friendly spaces
• Tips for preventing window strikes and cat kills
• Best practices for including bird feeders, nest boxes, and bird baths in your landscape

Whether your “spark bird” was a lightning-fast Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a brilliant Indigo Bunting, or a petite Hammond’s Flycatcher, it’s time to put out the welcome mat for birds in your home garden. YOU can make a significant impact on the lives of thousands of birds, whether they’re just passing through during migration or making a feather-lined summertime home for raising the next generation.

Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden is a four-season guide to combining bulbs with perennials and grasses in a loose, nonchalant style, from a leading figure in the New Perennial movement. From the earliest snowdrops to alpine violets, tulips, alliums, late autumn crocuses, and many more, bulbs add interest and color to the garden throughout the year. Renowned naturalistic garden designer, Jacqueline van der Kloet, has mastered a casual, magical technique where bulbs emerge playfully among other plants, as if dancing freely among the perennials and grasses. Both friendly and accessible, the book introduces bulbs as essential to any garden at any scale, inviting in pollinators, providing wonderful pops of color and personality, and extending a garden's bloom time in the shoulder seasons.

Permaculture--rooted in centuries-old techniques for growing food with care for the Earth--is the key to producing a bigger harvest than you ever thought possible on your balcony, patio, driveway, deck, and anywhere in between!

With sustainability as her guiding principle, Valéry Tsimba enthusiastically instructs home gardeners of all skill levels and backgrounds in her proven container gardening methods, from start to finish.

• Use the principles of permaculture to increase your garden's productivity, biodiversity, and beauty by starting small and going slow.
• Get set up: Pick the best planters and tools for your space and learn how to adapt to natural conditions like wind and sun exposure.
• Increase your harvest naturally with companion planting, small-space composting, chemical-free fertilizers, and staggered harvests.
• Learn which plants are best suited to container gardens, from leafy greens and pollinator-friendly flowers to strawberries and even melons!

Containers make gardening more accessible for everyone. Whether you live in an apartment, have a disability or chronic illness, have never gardened before, or are an experienced gardener new to permaculture, Container Gardening--The Permaculture Way brings sustainable gardening within reach.

If you are an intermediate or advanced gardener looking to level-up your growing skills, Simplify Vegetable Gardening is the ideal reference for meeting your goal. Your garden will flourish with the help of Tony’s growing prowess and eye-opening approach to enhancing plant health and yields that relies on a clear understanding of the interconnectedness of Earth’s many systems and how they each affect plant growth.

From the soil food web’s impact on plant nutrition and the atmosphere’s connection to photosynthesis to the effects of the water cycle on plant transpiration, Tony offers a deep dive into the science of growing a robust and sustainable home garden. You will learn how to:

• Optimize plant health by understanding mineral nutrition
• Enhance soil tilth by fostering the right microorganisms
• Maximize plant breeding and propagation techniques to grow more and better-adapted plants
• Boost production through the understanding of essential plant functions
• Improve biodiversity and plant resilience by adopting a mixed planting strategy
• Be a crucial part of your regional food system and enhance community food security

Plus, diversify your garden’s offerings through profiles of 16 plant families that encompass 81 different food crops. Each family profile provides information on how to cultivate these plants based on the commonalities of the plant family in which they belong.

The latest addition to Storey's bestselling Backyard Homestead series, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Growing Organic Food is a one-stop reference for all the key information food gardeners need to grow a healthy, bountiful garden. Author Tanya Denckla Cobb presents key information based on extensive research and years of experience, including when to start seeds for each type of crop (and at what temperature), how far apart to space seedlings, how to tell when a crop is ready to harvest, and notes on preservation. The book features a comprehensive companion planting guide and an in-depth review of the most effective organic pest control practices, including recipes for how to make your own pest deterrent sprays.

Design, plant, and tend a self-sustaining, high-yielding food garden that saves space by growing plants the way nature intended—in layers. 

Say goodbye to long, straight rows of vegetable plants lined up and waiting for attacks from pests and diseases, and say hello to an interplanted polyculture paradise, filled with layers of edible plants that outcompete weeds, share resources, and grow beautifully together.

In The Layered Edible Garden, author and food gardening pro Christina Chung of @fluent.garden introduces a modern approach to home food gardening that follows nature’s lead by growing plants in mixed communities, instead of in agriculture-centric monocultures.

By intentionally including edible plants from 8 different layers (trees, sub-canopy trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, annuals, ground covers, and edible roots) in your home garden, you’ll be building a mini “food forest” that will produce food for years to come and require less work and fewer resources.

The must-have guide for all garden aficionados! Even if you don't have space for an outdoor garden, this book is packed with practical information for propagating, growing, using, and preserving herbs and spices, no matter the size of your space! Author Linda Gray, who has written more than 50 print and digital books on healthy living, emphasizes clay pot and container gardening, with each plant profile containing growing advice for the herb or spice, including how to prepare the soil, when to sow and plant, when to harvest and gather, and how to use each herb and spice in food. The herbs and spices covered include aloe vera, basil, bay leaves, lavender, lemon balm, lovage, caraway, chili peppers, garlic, horse radish mustard, poppies, saffron, cilantro, cumin, dill, paprika, marjoram, and more. You'll find full-color photos of each herb and spice along with recipes for each one.

Harriet Tubman is among the most famous Americans ever born and soon to be the face of the twenty-dollar bill. Yet often she’s a figure more out of myth than history, almost a comic-book superhero. Despite being barely five feet tall, unable to read, and suffering from a brain injury, she managed to escape from her own enslavement, return again and again to lead others north to freedom without loss of life, speak out powerfully against slavery, and then become the first American woman in history to lead a military raid, freeing some seven hundred people. You could almost say she’s America’s Robin Hood, a miraculous vision, often rightly celebrated but seldom understood.

Tiya Miles’s extraordinary Night Flyer changes all that. With her characteristic tenderness and imaginative genius, Miles explores beyond the stock historical grid to weave Tubman’s life into the fabric of her world. She probes the ecological reality of Tubman’s surroundings and examines her kinship with other enslaved women who similarly passed through a spiritual wilderness and recorded those travels in profound and moving memoirs. What emerges, uncannily, is a human being whose mysticism becomes more palpable the more we understand it—a story that offers us powerful inspiration for our own time of troubles. Harriet Tubman traversed many boundaries, inner and outer. Now, thanks to Tiya Miles, she becomes an even clearer and sharper signal from the past, one that can help us to echolocate a more just and sustainable path.

Jenn M. Jackson, PhD, has been known to bring historical acuity to some of the most controversial topics in America today. Now, in their first book, Jackson applies their critical analysis to the questions that have long energized their work: Why has Black women’s freedom fighting been so overlooked throughout history, and what has our society lost because of our refusal to engage with our forestrugglers’ lessons?

A love letter to those who have been minimized and forgotten, this collection repositions Black women’s intellectual and political work at the center of today’s liberation movements.

Across eleven original essays that explore the legacy of Black women writers and leaders—from Harriet Jacobs and Ida B. Wells to the Combahee River Collective and Audre Lorde—Jackson sets the record straight about Black women’s longtime movement organizing, theorizing, and coalition building in the name of racial, gender, and sexual justice in the United States and abroad. These essays show, in both critical and deeply personal terms, how Black women have been at the center of modern liberation movements despite the erasure and misrecognition of their efforts. Jackson illustrates how Black women have frequently done the work of liberation at great risk to their lives and livelihoods.

With this unflinching account, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson invites readers into her life and world, tracing her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation.

Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt, a Peace Corps worker stationed in West Africa, Justice Jackson learned from her educator parents to take pride in her heritage since birth. She describes her resolve as a young girl to honor this legacy and realize her dreams: from hearing stories of her grandparents and parents breaking barriers in the segregated South, to honing her voice in high school as an oratory champion and student body president, to graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, where she performed in musical theater and improv and participated in pivotal student organizations.

Here, Justice Jackson pulls back the curtain, marrying the public record of her life with what is less known. She reveals what it takes to advance in the legal profession when most people in power don’t look like you, and to reconcile a demanding career with the joys and sacrifices of marriage and motherhood.

"Even now, nearly a century after her death, Marie Curie remains the only female scientist most people can name," writes Dava Sobel at the opening of her shining portrait of the sole Nobel laureate decorated in two separate fields of science--Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre and Chemistry by herself in 1911. And yet, Sobel makes clear, as brilliant and creative as she was in the laboratory, Marie Curie was equally passionate outside it. Grieving Pierre's untimely death in 1906, she took his place as professor of physics at the Sorbonne; devotedly raised two brilliant daughters; drove a van she outfitted with x-ray equipment to the front lines of World War I; befriended Albert Einstein and other luminaries of twentieth-century physics; won support from two U.S. presidents; and inspired generations of young women the world over to pursue science as a way of life.

As Sobel did so memorably in her portrait of Galileo through the prism of his daughter, she approaches Marie Curie from a unique angle, narrating her remarkable life of discovery and fame alongside the women who became her legacy--from France's Marguerite Perey, who discovered the element francium, and Norway's Ellen Gleditsch, to Mme. Curie's elder daughter, Irène, winner of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. For decades the only woman in the room at international scientific gatherings that probed new theories about the interior of the atom, Marie Curie traveled far and wide, despite constant illness, to share the secrets of radioactivity, a term she coined. Her two triumphant tours of the United States won her admirers for her modesty even as she was mobbed at every stop; her daughters, in Ève's later recollection, "discovered all at once what the retiring woman with whom they had always lived meant to the world."

The twentieth century American department store: a palace of consumption where every wish could be met under one roof - afternoon tea, a stroll through the latest fashions, a wedding (or funeral) planned. It was a place where women, shopper and shopgirl alike, could stake out a newfound independence. Whether in New York or Chicago or on Main Street, USA, men owned the buildings, but inside, women ruled.

In this hothouse atmosphere, three women rose to the top. In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband's department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II--before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies--becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel re-invented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats.

In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence, and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round.

Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education.

As the only daughter of a broke father, she is a valuable commodity. Removed from school and sold as a third wife to an old man, Adunni's life amounts to this: four goats, two bags of rice, some chickens and a new TV. When unspeakable tragedy swiftly strikes in her new home, she is secretly sold as a domestic servant to a household in the wealthy enclaves of Lagos, where no one will talk about the strange disappearance of her predecessor, Rebecca. No one but Adunni...

As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless servant, fourteen-year-old Adunni is repeatedly told that she is nothing. But Adunni won't be silenced. She is determined to find her voice - in a whisper, in song, in broken English - until she can speak for herself, for the girls like Rebecca who came before, and for all the girls who will follow.

According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient.

From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose—despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it—and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.

But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? 

Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation’s casino…and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step—an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that’s intent on devouring her whole.

With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she’s sure lies in the legends of her tribe’s past.  

When Anna’s own little sister also disappears, she’ll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation—both ancient and new—are strong, and sometimes, it’s the stories that never get told that are the most important.

When Ruth Handler walks into the boardroom of the toy company she co-founded and pitches her idea for a doll unlike any other, she knows what she’s setting in motion. It might just take the world a moment to catch up.

In 1956, the only dolls on the market for little girls let them pretend to be mothers. Ruth’s vision for a doll shaped like a grown woman and outfitted in an enviable wardrobe will let them dream they can be anything.

As Ruth assembles her team of creative rebels—head engineer Jack Ryan who hides his deepest secrets behind his genius and designers Charlotte Johnson and Stevie Klein, whose hopes and dreams rest on the success of Barbie’s fashion—she knows they’re working against a ticking clock to get this wild idea off the ground.

In the decades to come—through soaring heights and devastating personal lows, public scandals and private tensions— each of them will have to decide how tightly to hold on to their creation. Because Barbie has never been just a doll—she’s a legacy.

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment.

May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden. 

Lost between the timeless lines of Homer’s epic, the women of Troy finally stand to be counted. Their story is one you’ve never encountered, and it will change the fate of Troy forever.

Andromache has proven herself a capable leader, but can she maintain that hard-won status now that she is the mother to the city’s long-awaited heir? With enemies closing in, Andromache must bring together a divided city in time to make a final stand.

Rhea is a Trojan spy, but she never expected to find love in the enemy camp. When the final battle lines are drawn, Rhea must decide where her loyalties lie and how much she is willing to lose.

Helen is no longer the same broken woman first brought to Troy as a captive. Given a second chance at life, she must cast off her shroud of grief and use her healing gifts to save Troy’s greatest hope.

Cassandra has seen Troy’s fate. But she knows the truth is only as valuable as the person who tells it . . . and few in Troy value her. All that is about to change. One hero will rise, another will fall . . . and this time, Cassandra will have her say.

1950s Hollywood: Every actress wants to play Salome, the star-making role in a big-budget movie about the legendary woman whose story has inspired artists since ancient times.

So when the film’s mercurial director casts Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingenue, in the lead role, she quickly becomes the talk of the town. Vera also becomes an object of envy for Nancy Hartley, a bit player whose career has stalled and who will do anything to win the fame she believes she richly deserves.

Two actresses, both determined to make it to the top in Golden Age Hollywood—a city overflowing with gossip, scandal, and intrigue—make for a sizzling combination.

But this is the tale of three women, for it is also the story of the princess Salome herself, consumed with desire for the fiery prophet who foretells the doom of her stepfather, Herod: a woman torn between the decree of duty and the yearning of her heart.

Gods and men wage their petty wars, but it is the women of spring who will have the last word...

Demeter did not always live in fear. Once, the goddess of spring loved the world and the humans who inhabited it. After a devastating assault, though, she becomes a shell of herself. Her only solace is her daughter, Persephone.

A balm to her mother's pain, Persephone grows among wildflowers, never leaving the sanctuary Demeter built for them. But she aches to explore the mortal world--to gain her own experiences. Naïve but determined, she secretly builds a life of her own under her mother's watchful gaze. But as she does so, she catches the eye of Hades, and is kidnapped...

Forced into a role she never wanted, Persephone learns that power suits her. In the land of the living, though, Demeter is willing to destroy the humans she once held dear--anything to protect her family. A mother who has lost everything and a daughter with more to gain than she ever realized, their story will irrevocably shape the world.

1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild destroyed French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.

1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.

2021 Hugo Award Winner for Best Graphic Story or Comic

The follow-up to #1 New York Times Bestseller Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, comes Octavia E. Butler's groundbreaking dystopian novel

In this graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, the award-winning team behind Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, the author portrays a searing vision of America's future. In the year 2024, the country is marred by unattended environmental and economic crises that lead to social chaos. Lauren Olamina, a preacher's daughter living in Los Angeles, is protected from danger by the walls of her gated community. However, in a night of fire and death, what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny . . . and the birth of a new faith.

A 2022 National Book Award for Young People's Literature Finalist

“Phenomenal . . . Timely and timeless, a must-read not just for sports fans but for everyone.”?New York Times Book Review

On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships.

In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest. Cowritten with Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Honor recipient Derrick Barnes and illustrated with bold and muscular artwork from Emmy Award–winning illustrator Dawud Anyabwile, Victory. Stand! paints a stirring portrait of an iconic moment in Olympic history that still resonates today.

In Orisha, Volume 1, the world’s most powerful human is a humble African teenager who has the potential to save humankind. 

This African shonen manga fantasy features fun-loving teen Aboki, who unexpectedly receives the superhuman power of the Orisha, powerful beings imbued with godlike power who are born from celestial seeds that randomly appear throughout the world and can use their immense power for good or evil.

When Aboki gains a seed, he is reluctant to use the power at all. As he builds alliances with loyal companions, Aboki must also prevent those who wish to use his new Orisha powers for their own conquests. But can he trust everyone around him? Will his happy outlook on life be ruined by a gnawing cynicism that humankind is inherently corrupt?

Orisha, Volume 1 is an uplifting tale of how those with superhuman powers are connected with the planet—and to life itself.

Orisha is rated T for Teen, recommended for ages 13 and up.

Saturday AM, the world’s most diverse manga-inspired comics, are now presented in a new format! Introducing Saturday AM TANKS, the new graphic novel format similar to Japanese Tankobons where we collect the global heroes and artists of Saturday AM. These handsome volumes have select color pages, revised artwork, and innovative post-credit scenes that help bring new life to our popular BIPOC, LGBTQ, and/or culturally diverse characters.

Join in even more adventures with the other action-packed Saturday AM TANKS series:Apple Black, Clock Striker, Gunhild, Hammer, Henshin!, The Massively Multiplayer World of Ghosts, Oblivion Rouge, Saigami, Soul Beat, Titan King, Underground, and Yellow Stringer.

The new Captain America has a big shield to carry. Is he up to the task? Find out in these subversive, exciting and uplifting short stories inspired by the Marvel comic book universe, written by celebrated Black authors.

The new Captain America has a heavy shield to hold. As a Black man in America, Sam Wilson knows he has to be twice as good to get half as much credit. He must be a paragon of virtue for a nation that has mixed feelings towards him. In these thirteen brand-new stories, the all-new Captain America must thwart an insurrectionist plot, travel back in time, foil a racist conspiracy, and save the world over and over again.

As the Falcon, Sam Wilson was the first African American super hero in mainstream comic books. Sam’s trials and tribulations reflect the struggles many Black Americans go through today, as Sam balances fighting supervillains and saving the world with the difficulties of being the first Black Captain America. This action-packed anthology inspired by the Marvel comic book universe, will see Sam team up with familiar friends like Steve Rogers, Redwing and Nomad, while fighting Hydra, Sabretooth, Kingpin, and other infamous villains.

These are stories of death-defying courage, Black love and self-discovery. These are the stories of a super hero learning what it means to be a symbol.

These are the stories of Sam Wilson.

Featuring original stories by Maurice Broaddus, Jesse J. Holland, Gar Anthony Haywood, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Kyoko M., Sheree Renee Thomas, Gary Phillips, Danian Jerry, Gloria J. Browne Marshall, Glenn Parris, Christopher Chambers, Alex Simmons.

2023 ALA Best Graphic Novels for Children

The daughter of a river god, raised by a human father and bound to a tragic destiny. An African fantasy-adventure graphic novel inspired by the mythology of the Zambezi River and the history of the Kariba Dam, one of the largest dams ever constructed.

From the director of Aau's Song, a Star Wars: Visions film from Lucasfilm, and the director of the 2023 NYICFF award-winning The Smeds and the Smoos

Siku has always called the Zambezi River her home. She understands the water - and strangely enough, it seems to understand her, too, bending to her will and coming to her aid in times of need. But things are changing on the river - a great dam is being built, displacing thousands of Shonga people - and things are changing in Siku, too, as her ability to manipulate water grows out of control, and visions of a great serpent pull her further from reality and her loving father, Tongai.
 

When Tongai ventures to the Kariba Dam to find a cure for Siku and never returns, she sets off to find him with the help of Amedeo, the young son of Kariba's chief engineer. Together, they traverse elephant graveyards, rugged jungles, and ancient ruins, outrunning pirates, bootleggers, and shape-shifting prophets ready to use Siku to their own advantage. But Siku soon discovers that her father has been shielding a terrible secret: Siku is actually the daughter of the Great River Spirit, Nyaminyami, and the only way to bring about the necessary rumuko - a ritual which has brought balance to the Zambezi for centuries - is for Siku to give up the only life she's ever known.

With the future of the Shonga resting on her shoulders, Siku must journey to the source of the river to understand the ancient power hidden within her.

Growing up in the same apartment complex, Yuuki and Natsuha have known each other forever. They’ve been friends for so long that everyone just assumes they’re a couple! But as they both approach the final stretch of high school, they get a silly, totally-not-serious idea— what if they actually started dating? What a ridiculous thing to say! Unless...?

In this debut speculative YA mystery, a Black teen with premonition-like powers must solve her friend's disappearance before she finds herself in the same danger, perfect for fans of Ace of Spades.

Sariyah Lee Bryant can hear what people need—tangible things, like a pencil, a hair tie, a phone charger—an ability only her family and her best friend, Malcolm, know the truth about. But when she fulfills a need for her friend Deja who vanishes shortly after, Sariyah is left wondering if her ability is more curse than gift. This isn’t the first time one of her friends has landed on the missing persons list, and she’s determined not to let her become yet another forgotten Black girl. 

Not trusting the police and media to do enough on their own, Sariyah and her friends work together to figure out what led to Deja’s disappearance. When Sariyah’s mother loses her job and her little brother faces complications with his sickle cell disease, managing her time, money, and emotions seems impossible. Desperate, Sariyah decides to hustle her need-sensing ability for cash—a choice that may not only lead her to Deja, but put her in the same danger Deja found herself in.

A cozy sapphic romantasy about a teen witch trying to keep her family’s apothecary up and running, with a little help from her ex-best friend—and first crush.

“Brewed with Love will charm readers with its magic potions, quirky town, sweet romance, and witchy vibes.” —F.T. Lukens, New York Times bestselling author of Otherworldly

Plant witch Sage Bishop intends to run her family’s apothecary one day. The doors just have to stay open until she can take over from her nana. That’s why she spends all her time perfecting a tonic that’ll put Bishop Brews on the map.

She certainly doesn’t need their latest hire—and her ex–best friend—Ximena Reyes causing any distractions. Alas, at the first sight of Ximena’s cheeky smile, Sage flees the shop, allowing someone to break into Bishop Brews and steal the tonic she’s been tinkering with, one that wipes their high school cheer captain’s memory.

With Bishop Brews now at risk of being shut down, Sage reluctantly partners with Ximena to find the culprit. As the mystery deepens, so do pesky old feelings. Their first kiss and Ximena’s subsequent ghosting keep replaying in Sage’s mind. Will she be able to resist Ximena’s charm, or will she let it work its magic for a second chance at love?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Dungeons and Drama comes another gaming romance that's sure to win you over!

Quinn Norton is starting over at a new high school and hopes that joining a D&D game will be the trick to making friends. The plan sounds even better when she’s invited into a group that includes Logan Weber, the cute and charming guy she met on her first day of class. But this isn’t your average D&D campaign— this group livestreams their games and enforces strict rules: no phones allowed, and no dating other group members.

Quinn is willing to accept the rules, even if it makes Logan off-limits. And she quickly learns that doing so won’t be a problem, since Logan goes from charismatic to insufferable as soon as she agrees to join. As their bickering—and bantering—intensifies inside and outside the game, Quinn can’t help wondering: Is Logan’s infuriating behavior a smokescreen for hidden feelings? Quinn is risking it all, and the twenty-sided dice are rolling!

A captivating and profoundly moving novel with hints of supernatural intrigue, blending We Were Liars and Your Name into a can’t-miss read for fans of You’ve Reached Sam.

Thirty years ago, Grace’s mom left her hometown of Hermitage, Florida and never looked back—which is exactly why Grace thinks it’s the safest place to spend her summer now. Since her mom died in a car crash, Grace has been desperate to get away from the memories and reminders of her loss. Spending the summer transcribing cassette tapes for the Hermitage Historical Society might be boring, but boring is just what Grace needs.

Until she hears the voice of Jake Underwood—the boy who first recorded the cassette tapes back in 1992. When Grace realizes he can hear anything she records, despite thirty years of time between them, they strike up an impossible conversation through the tapes.

But the past isn’t any simpler than the present, and a mystery has haunted Hermitage through the generations. In the 1970’s, a hurricane made landfall and resulted in the tragic death of Jake’s uncle Charley. In a town as suffocatingly small as Hermitage, it’s impossible not to notice how no one talks about that storm, or Charley, and as the mystery unfurls, Grace can’t help but realize a worse truth: No one talks about Jake either. 

A beautifully written exploration of grief and what happens when untreated wounds bleed into future generations, The Underwood Tapes is the perfect read for anyone in need of a good, cathartic cry.

A blackout leads two teens to discover the intimacy and vulnerability that can only be shared in darkness in Our Beautiful Darkness, a fully illustrated YA novella from celebrated Angolan author Ondjaki and illustrator António Jorge Gonçalves.

Translated from Portuguese by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

A Kirkus Best YA Book of 2024 
A Five Books Best New Book for Teens of 2024

The light goes out suddenly. And in this absence of light, a pair of teenagers bare their souls. Into the warm silence of the night, they share a conversation filled with their stories and dreams... and maybe even a first kiss.

Set against the backdrop of the civil war that ravaged Angola in the 1990s, this book weaves the country's history with a teenage boy's family stories. But when a power outage shrouds the neighborhood in darkness, everyday realities fade away... As the boy and a girl sit talking in the backyard, memory gives way to imagination and vulnerability, and the space between them becomes charged with emotional electricity.

Their resulting conversation is both a meditation on the storytelling impulse and a gripping narrative of first love that, through its particulars, ascends to the universal.

Twenty-seven-year-old Emily doesn't have a lot going well in her life right now. She dreams of a creative career but works as a receptionist in an auto shop. She longs for big city life but lives in a small town on Prince Edward Island. She craves a close group of friends but is stuck with irritating, car-obsessed coworkers.

What Emily does have is a 300+ day streak on the New York Times Wordle. But one day, with only one guess left and no clue what the answer is, she's forced to turn to one of her irritating, car-obsessed coworkers, John, for help - and in doing so, realizes that he might not be so irritating after all.

As they make their way, word by word, toward a 365-day streak, Emily is drawn into a surprising romance that will take her outside of her comfort zone - and challenge everything she thought she knew about happiness, success, and love.

August Hodges was supposed to be the silent partner in Sugar Blitz Cupcakes. Emphasis on silent. That is until his impromptu feminist rant about how women bakers are the backbone of the industry and baking cupcakes isn’t a threat to masculinity goes viral, making him the hottest bachelor in town. With a new location in the works, August and his partners decide to capitalize on this perfect opportunity to help cement their place in the community. But the hiring of his best friend’s younger sister, the woman who has haunted some of his best dreams for years, was as much of a shock as his new-found fame.

Social media manager Sloane Dell fell hard for her brother’s best friend the moment she met him more than a decade ago, but that teenage infatuation cost her dearly. Still, she accepts her brother’s request to revamp the bakery’s social media presence to take advantage of August’s newfound popularity, knowing it’s the big break her fledgling career needs. She’ll just ignore the fact that August is still August, i.e. sexier and sweeter than any man has a right to be. And that he drives her crazy with his resistance to all her ideas. 

They vow to leave the past in the past. But when an explosive make-out session makes it clear their attraction burns hotter than ever, Sloane and August are forced to reconsider what it means to take a risk and chase your dreams.

Meg Bloomberg is in a pickle. When Meg’s ex turns out to be a total player, she and her bestie take off for a mood-lifting pickleball excursion to Bainbridge Island. It’s supposed to be an easy lob, a way to heal, not the opening serve to a new courtside romance that’s doomed to spin out.

No matter how Meg tries, she can’t shake her feelings for Ethan Fine. A charismatic environmental consultant and Bainbridge local, Ethan seems like the real deal. But when Meg discovers that Ethan is sabotaging her home court, she decides the match is over.

It’s time for Meg to take control of her own game. And maybe, just maybe…love will bounce back.

It took exactly twenty-four hours for Atlanta publicist Emma Walters's life to go from near-perfect to a monumental disaster. One day to break up with her boyfriend, get fired, and inherit a farm. All that's left is for her to take the still-smoking remains of her dignity and flee to her new farm in Green Acres, Georgia.

However, Emma's new country life is anything but peaceful. The quirky locals seem to inexplicably dislike her, and farming proves way messier than she expected. Adding to her frustration is Dan Pednekar, the farm's infuriatingly handsome manager, who doubts her ability to handle even the simplest tasks.

Emma soon discovers that the farm isn't exactly what it seems. It doesn't sell anything, making her wonder if it's just a glorified petting zoo or if Dan is hiding something much bigger. With suspiciously named shops like Four and Twenty Blackbirds lining Main Street, it's clear that the whole town might be in on a secret.

But when the farm - and the livelihood of the townsfolk - is threatened, Emma must come up with a plan to save it. Because when you farm around, it's just a matter of time before everyone finds out.

Columnist Anna Appleby has left her love life behind after a painful divorce. Who needs a man when she has two kids, a cat, and uncontested control of the TV remote? Besides, she’d rather be single than subject herself to the hell of online dating. But her office rival is vying for her column, and no column means no stable source of income. In a desperate attempt to keep her job, Anna finds herself pitching a unique angle: seven dates, all found offline, chosen by her children.

From awkward encounters to unexpected connections, Anna gamely begins to put herself out there, asking out waiters, the mailman, and even her celebrity crush. But when a romantic connection appears where she least expected it, will she be brave enough to take another chance on love?

Some things aren’t supposed to exist outside of our imagination.

Thirteen years ago, monsters emerged from the shadows and plunged Kierse’s world into a cataclysmic war of near-total destruction. The New York City she knew so well collapsed practically overnight. In the wake of that carnage, the Monster Treaty was created. A truce...of sorts.

But tonight, Kierse—a gifted and fearless thief—will break that treaty. She’ll enter the Holly Library...not knowing it’s the home of a monster. He’s charming. Quietly alluring. Terrifying. But he knows talent when he sees it; it’s just a matter of finding her price.

Now she’s locked into a dangerous bargain with a creature unlike any other. She’ll sacrifice her freedom. She’ll offer her skills. Together, they’ll put their own futures at risk. But he’s been playing a game across centuries—and once she joins in, there will be
no escape...

On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university's rare books library. They're not allowed in the library after closing time, but it's the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform - one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they'll scatter in different directions to start their real lives?

But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out - and one of them drops dead. As the body count rises, with nothing but the books to protect them, the group must figure out how to survive the night while trapped with a murderer.

One night locked in the library. What could go wrong?

Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she's concerned by just how many killers she's had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count...but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.

When someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town's new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the "Demon-Hunting Society," Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon.

With this unflinching account, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson invites readers into her life and world, tracing her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation.

Named “Ketanji Onyika,” meaning “Lovely One,” based on a suggestion from her aunt, a Peace Corps worker stationed in West Africa, Justice Jackson learned from her educator parents to take pride in her heritage since birth. She describes her resolve as a young girl to honor this legacy and realize her dreams: from hearing stories of her grandparents and parents breaking barriers in the segregated South, to honing her voice in high school as an oratory champion and student body president, to graduating magna cum laude from Harvard, where she performed in musical theater and improv and participated in pivotal student organizations.

Here, Justice Jackson pulls back the curtain, marrying the public record of her life with what is less known. She reveals what it takes to advance in the legal profession when most people in power don’t look like you, and to reconcile a demanding career with the joys and sacrifices of marriage and motherhood.

Through trials and triumphs, Justice Jackson’s journey will resonate with dreamers everywhere, especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and refuse to be turned aside. This moving, openhearted tale will spread hope for a more just world, for generations to come.

Ta-Nehisi Coates originally set out to write a book about writing, in the tradition of Orwell’s classic “Politics and the English Language,” but found himself grappling with deeper questions about how our stories—our reporting and imaginative narratives and mythmaking—expose and distort our realities.

In the first of the book’s three intertwining essays, Coates, on his first trip to Africa, finds himself in two places at once: in Dakar, a modern city in Senegal, and in a mythic kingdom in his mind. Then he takes readers along with him to Columbia, South Carolina, where he reports on his own book’s banning, but also explores the larger backlash to the nation’s recent reckoning with history and the deeply rooted American mythology so visible in that city—a capital of the Confederacy with statues of segregationists looming over its public squares. Finally, in the book’s longest section, Coates travels to Palestine, where he sees with devastating clarity how easily we are misled by nationalist narratives, and the tragedy that lies in the clash between the stories we tell and the reality of life on the ground.

Written at a dramatic moment in American and global life, this work from one of the country’s most important writers is about the urgent need to untangle ourselves from the destructive myths that shape our world—and our own souls—and embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths.

In Another Word for Love, Carvell Wallace excavates layers of his own history, situated in the struggles and beauty of growing up Black and queer in America.

Wallace is an award-winning journalist who has built his career on writing unforgettable profiles, bringing a provocative and engaged sensitivity to his subjects. Now he turns the focus on himself, examining his own life and the circumstances that frame it—to make sense of seeking refuge from homelessness with a young single mother, living in a ghostly white Pennsylvania town, becoming a partner and parent, raising two teenagers in what feels like a collapsing world.

With courage, vulnerability, and a remarkable expansiveness of spirit—not to mention a thrilling, and unrivaled, storytelling verve—Another Word for Love makes an irresistible case for life, healing, the fullness of our humanity, and, of course, love. It could be called a theory of life itself—a theory of being that will leave you open to the wonder of the world.

Red Tails, George Lucas’s celebration of America’s first Black flying squadron, the Tuskegee Airmen, should have been a moment of victory for Doug Melville. He expected to see his great-uncle Benjamin O. Davis Jr.—the squadron’s commander—immortalized on-screen for his selfless contributions to America. But as the film rolled, Doug was shocked when he realized that Ben Jr.’s name had been omitted and replaced by the fictional Colonel A. J. Bullard. And Ben’s father, Benjamin O. Davis Sr., America’s first Black general who helped integrate the military, was left out completely.

Dejected, Doug looked inward and realized that unless he worked to bring their inspirational story to light, it would remain hidden from the world just as it had been concealed from him.

Invisible Generals recounts the lives of a father and his son who always maintained their belief in the American dream. As the inheritor of their legacy, Melville retraces their steps, advocates for them to receive their long-overdue honors, and unlocks the potential we all hold to retrieve powerful family stories lost to the past.

Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.

Longing to break away, Charlotte befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest Black families. Just as Charlotte starts to envision a future, a familiar face from her past reappears: Evie, her friend from White Oaks, has been brought to the city by the plantation mistress, and she’s desperate to escape. But as Charlotte and Nell conspire to rescue her, in a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, they soon discover that fighting for Evie’s freedom may cost them their own.

When life rewrites the story, only friendship will see them through.

After years of hard work, four best friends - Celeste, Yasmeen, Toni and Leslie - are finally on the verge of opening the bookstore of their dreams. A place where their community can find solace with an intriguing new read, a comforting beverage, and book-loving friends.

But before they can cut the ribbon, their worlds are upended. Toni receives devastating news just months before her wedding, while Celeste's struggling marriage threatens to collapse completely. Leslie learns a shocking secret about her family, and a lotto ticket changes Yasmeen's life - but not for the better.

As the bookstore's grand opening fast approaches, the four women must lean on each other now more than ever to navigate their grief and uncertainty. And together, they'll learn that sometimes, even life's most unexpected plot twists can lead to beautiful new beginnings.

Texas Ranger Darren Mathews isn't sure he's been a good cop, but believes he's got a shot at being a good man - if he manages to dodge the potential indictment hanging over his head and if he, from here on out, pledges allegiance to the truth. It's a virtue the country appears to have wholly lost its grip on, but one Darren sees as his salvation. He is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves, hoping for the peace of country living at his beloved farmhouse, when he is visited by someone who couldn't hold the truth on her tongue if it was dipped in sugar, a woman who's always been bent of tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn't missing at all), Darren must decide if his can trust his mother is telling the truth - and what her ulterior motive may be.

In The Accomplice, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and award-winning mystery writer Aaron Philip Clark introduce readers to New York-born and Texas-bred Nia Adams, who always dreamt of becoming a Texas Ranger. She knows the dangers of the job, and as the first Black female ranger, she knows the politics, but she's never encountered a criminal like Desmond Bell. A Vietnam vet turned thief, Desmond steals more than money; he steals the secrets of the rich and powerful and blackmails them for millions. When Desmond steals from the Duchamps, the wealthiest family in the country, Nia's investigation into the robbery threatens to expose him and the criminal enterprise he works for. 

As the bodies pile up, Nia digs deeper for the truth, putting her life and career in danger. It's a deadly cat-and-mouse game between ranger and thief, but to protect their family's secrets, the Duchamps won't hesitate to kill them both.

In a world without white people, what does it mean to be Black?

One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn’t even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old left behind by her white mother and step-family.

Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across a truly “post-racial” America in search for answers. But neither of them are prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it.

Velma Frye is many things. A pilot, a former bootlegger, a well-seasoned traveler, a jazz pianist...and a wielder of celestial magic. She's also a member of the mystical Rhodes family as well as an investigator for arcane oddities for a magic rights organization, dealing with both simple and complicated cases. And when a pocket watch instigates a magical brawl after one of her flight shows, things become very complicated.

In 1930s America, enchanted items are highly valuable, especially in the waning days of the magical Prohibition. As Velma digs deeper, she discovers the watch is part of a collection of dangerous artifacts manipulating people across the country - and in some cases, leading to their deaths. Something about all this is tickling Velma's memories, and the more she discovers, the more these seemingly isolated incidents feel as if they're building to something apocalyptic.

"Don't let the white man take the house."

These are the last words King Solomon says to his son before he dies. Now all four Solomon siblings must return to North Carolina to save the Kingdom, their ancestral home and 200 acres of land, from a development company, who has their sights set on turning the valuable waterfront property into a luxury resort.

While fighting to save the Kingdom, the siblings must also save themselves from the secrets they've been holding onto. Junior, the oldest son and married to his wife for eleven years, is secretly in love with another man. Second son Mance can't control his temper, which has landed him in prison more than once. CeCe, the oldest daughter and a lawyer in New York City, has embezzled thousands of dollars from her firm's clients. Youngest daughter Tokey wonders why she doesn't seem to fit into this family, which has left an aching hole in her heart that she tries to fill in harmful ways. As the Solomons come together to fight for the Kingdom, each of their façades begins to crumble and collide in unexpected ways.

The charming slice-of-life manga about a café run by a polar bear that inspired the beloved anime!

Polar Bear has a penchant for puns and runs a serene café frequented by humans and animals alike. Regulars include a panda who has a part-time job being a panda at the local zoo, his keeper (who has a crush on the café’s waitress), and a pretentious penguin. Join the colorful clientele through the seasons in this comforting and humorous manga about daily specials, romantic complications, and quirky workplaces, a tale that inspired a 50-episode anime adaptation. This 4-volume edition of the complete manga series–in English for the first time–will include bonus color content!
 

New folklore-inspired tales abound in this anthology of eight fantasy stories written and drawn by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, featuring a bonus sketchbook section.

From a search for the beating heart of a long-dead sorcerer, to a pirate girl who makes a deal with the devil, to the titular boy who wins a grim prize in a game with some undead interlopers, and more.

Mignola builds a brand-new world filled with the weird, wicked and whimsical in this volume that will delight longtime Hellboy fans and new readers alike.

“A stirringly mythic, emotionally resonant, and gloriously alternative take on the Man of Steel.” -Entertainment Weekly “Maniacally brilliant.” -The New York Times “All-Star Superman is exciting, bold and supercool… all the makings of a classic.” -Variety “Morrison gets what’s fun about Superman: he’s ridiculously powerful, and therefore he just sees and does and has lots of incredibly cool, totally bizarre stuff.” -TIME Magazine, Best Comics of 2007 “A must-read series.” -Metro Toronto, Best Ongoing Comic Book Series of 2006 “The most enjoyable incarnation of Superman in almost 30 years.” -A.V. Club par Eisner Award Winner: Best New Series The Man of Steel goes toe-to-toe with Bizarro, his oddball twin, and the new character Zibarro, also from the Bizarro planet. And Superman faces the final revenge of Lex Luthor in the form of his own death! All-Star Superman is a spectacular reimagining of the Superman mythos, from the Man of Steel’s origin to his greatest foes and beyond. Combining their singular talents to create a new and brilliant vision of the Man of Steel, comics storytellers Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely are reunited with their WE3 collaborator Jamie Grant for one of the greatest Superman stories ever imagined. Collects All-Star Superman #1-12. The DC Black Label imprint features classic DC characters in compelling, standalone stories written and illustrated by world-class authors and artists.

"An enchanting space opera in which aliens and humans find common ground despite differing cultures, foods, and worlds, and learn the true meaning of home." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Defender of the cosmos! Vanquisher of evil! Failure at frisbee??

Corgi shenanigans, epic space battles, and intergalactic heroes abound in this uplifting, action-packed adventure about the powerful connection between humans and their pets from GLAAD Media Award nominee Ben Kahn (Renegade Rule, Elle Campbell Wins Their Weekend) and illustrator Georgeo Brooks (Immortals Fenyx Rising: From Great Beginnings).

Eleven-year-old Reuben Mahmud just wants a break. When he takes his pet corgi, Mr. Muffins, to the park, he expects to get just that—a break. But what he gets instead is an alien invasion right smack dab in the middle of his neighborhood! Oh! And apparently Mr. Muffins is the chosen one destined to save the galaxy? This should be interesting . . .

Dragged into the middle of an epic space war, Reuben learns that the fate of the entire galaxy rests in Mr. Muffins’s adorable corgi paws. It’s going to take a lot more than tail wagging and butt waddling to end this war. To turn the tide of the conflict, intergalactic soldier Cassara must show Mr. Muffins how to tap into his cosmic power and be the hero the galaxy needs him to be. But when Mr. Muffins is separated from Reuben and a formidable giant mech-corgi arrives to conquer the world, Mr. Muffins’s powers are put to the test. Will Reuben be able to rise to the occasion to help his fluffy best friend? Do Cassara, Reuben, and Mr. Muffins have what it takes to end this war once and for all?

Noche is a Lechuza by night, an ethereal jet-black owl who guides the dead to the after. Except now, Noche cannot bring herself to escort her dead girlfriend, whose soul is fading the harder Noche holds on—an aching romance about first and second loves and finding the strength to let go.

“A spellbinding, hauntingly beautiful story that weaves together love, loss, and the supernatural.”
—AIDEN THOMAS, New York Times bestselling author of The Sunbearer Trials and The Cemetery Boys

Death waits for Estrella (Noche) Villanueva. In her human form, she is a lonely science girl grieving the tragic accidental drowning of her girlfriend, Dante Fuentes. At night, she is a Lechuza who visits her dead girlfriend at the lake, desperate for more time with her. The longer Dante’s soul roams the earth, the more likely it is that she will fade into the unknown, lost forever, but Noche cannot let go . . .

That’s when a new kid comes to town, Jax, another science nerd like Noche. They connect in a way she can’t ignore, seemingly pulled together by an invisible thread. For the first time, Noche begins to imagine a life without Dante. As Noche’s heart begins to beat for two people, her guilt flares. Then, she finds herself at risk of losing both Jax and Dante, and Noche is forced to question her purpose as a lechuza and everything she has ever believed in.

Featuring beautiful sprayed edges!

A young warrior dreams of proving his worth in the elite Guardian Tournament, fighting not only for himself but the fate of everything he loves.

Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian’s Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Heaven to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father’s pride—righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother.

But Jun’s father strictly forbids him from participating. He believes there is no future in Jun honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place.

As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself and the very survival of everyone he cares about.

Fans of Rachael Lippincott, Elise Bryant, and Dahlia Adler will love this joyful debut novel, a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between a hotheaded hockey player and the ice princess at the figure skating rink next door.

Charlie Porter is a force to be reckoned with, both on and off the hockey rink. When she accidentally starts a brawl after a game, she's suspended from school, meaning no hockey this season--and no chance to play in front of college scouts.

Alexa Goldstein's pairs skating partner was hurt in the fight, and with only four months until their next competition, pickings for a replacement are slim. So she strikes a deal with Charlie--skate with her at the competition well enough to place, and her Olympian mother will use her formidable connections to get Charlie in front of scouts at D-1 schools, even without her team.

It seems impossible, and not just because Charlie has never figure skated before. Where Charlie is powerful, Alexa is elegant; where Charlie is quick to blow up, Alexa is cold as ice. But as the frostiness between them starts to thaw, they begin to wonder if they've found a partner for more than just skating.

"Clever and intricate, with sizzling chemistry both on and off the ice. Charlie is a brash, endearing heroine who finds the perfect foil in ice queen Alexa." --Kelly Quindlen, bestselling author of She Drives Me Crazy

"With characters who are easy to root for, nail-biting competitions, and a gorgeous slow-burn romance, Carli J. Corson has written a book deserving of a gold medal. Grab your skates and swish on over to the bookstore to get It's a Love/Skate Relationship!" --Jason June, New York Times bestselling author

"Fiercely competitive and fantastically fun, It's a Love/Skate Relationship has enough sparks in its enemies-to-lovers romance to melt an entire ice rink. A definite winner of a sports romance, with high marks for great banter and a delightful cast!" --Dahlia Adler, award-winning author of Home Field Advantage

"This is the sapphic skating story I've been waiting for! Corson beautifully tackles the raw emotions and chaos of teen life with humor, compassion, and charm. It's a Love/Skate Relationship shows the power of teaming up to win gold and the magic of winning each other's hearts along the way." --Jenna Miller, author of We Got the Beat

"An utterly charming rom-com bursting at the seams with heart and humor. You'll be rooting for Charlie and Alexa--on and off the ice--from the very first page." --Alex Crespo, author of Saint Juniper's Folly and Queerceañera

A 2024 Edgar Award Nominee!

Survival and self-determination collide in this haunting, pulse-pounding science fiction novel from Edgar Award–winning author Matthew J. Kirby that spans both space and time.

“An intense, read-in-one-sitting kind of ride.″—Kirkus, starred review


2199. Deep-space exploration is a reality and teleportation is routine. But this time something has gone very, very wrong. Seventeen-year-old Jessica Mathers wakes up in a lander that’s crashed onto the surface of Carver 1061c, a desolate, post-extinction planet fourteen light-years from Earth. The planet she was supposed to be viewing from a ship orbiting far above.

The corridors of the empty lander are covered in bloody hand prints; the machines are silent and dark. And outside, in the alien dirt, there are fresh graves carefully marked with names she doesn’t recognize. Now Jessica must unravel the mystery of the destruction all around her—and the questionable intentions of a familiar stranger.

Jenna Chen has spent her life in the shadow of her flawless cousin. Jessica Chen is so smart she gets the top score on every test. Jessica Chen is so beautiful people stop in the hallway to stare at her. Jessica Chen is so perfect she got into Harvard.

And Jenna Chen will only ever be a disappointment.

So when Jenna makes a desperate wish to become her cousin, the last thing she expects is for it to come true--literally. All of a sudden she gets to live the life she's always dreamed of . . . but being the model student at cutthroat Havenwood Private Academy isn't quite what she'd imagined. Worse, people seem to be forgetting that someone named Jenna Chen ever existed. But isn't it worth trading it all away--her artistic talent, her childhood home, even the hope of golden boy Aaron Cai loving her back--to be Jessica Chen?

* Kids' Indie Next Pick *

Deep within a certain forest lives a young witch named Aria. She spends her days alone, growing herbs and knitting--until one winter morning when she encounters a white wolf collapsed in the snow! The mysterious beast not only talks but also, to her surprise, asks to live with her...Could this be the start of a big change for the small, lonely witch?!

In Japan, cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they’ll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon.

This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and it seemingly appears at random.

It’s also run by talking cats.

While customers at the Full Moon Coffee Shop partake in cakes and coffees and teas, the cats also consult their star charts, offering cryptic wisdom, and letting them know where their lives veered off course.

Every person who visits the shop has been feeling more than a little lost. For a down-on-her-luck screenwriter, a romantically stuck movie director, a hopeful hairstylist, and a technologically challenged website designer, the coffee shop’s feline guides will set them back on their fated paths. For there is a very special reason the shop appeared to each of them . . .

Coffee is one of the largest and most valuable commodities in the world. This is the story of its origins, its history, and the threat to its future, by the IACP Award–winning author of Darjeeling.

Located between the Great Rift Valley and the Nile, the cloud forests in southwestern Ethiopia are the original home of Arabica, the most prevalent and superior of the two main species of coffee being cultivated today. Virtually unknown to European explorers, the Kafa region was essentially off-limits to foreigners well into the twentieth century, which allowed the world's original coffee culture to develop in virtual isolation in the forests where the Kafa people continue to forage for wild coffee berries.

Deftly blending in the long, fascinating history of our favorite drink, award-winning author Jeff Koehler takes readers from these forest beginnings along the spectacular journey of its spread around the globe. With cafés on virtually every corner of every town in the world, coffee has never been so popular--nor tasted so good.

Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.

However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.

Tyler Merritt's video "Before You Call the Cops" has been viewed millions of times. He's appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and Sports Illustrated and has been profiled in the New York Times. The viral video's main point--the more you know someone, the more empathy, understanding, and compassion you have for that person--is the springboard for this book. By sharing his highs and exposing his lows, Tyler welcomes us into his world in order to help bridge the divides that seem to grow wider every day.

In I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler tells hilarious stories from his own life as a black man in America. He talks about growing up in a multi-cultural community and realizing that he wasn't always welcome, how he quit sports for musical theater (that's where the girls were) to how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) to how he ended up at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz because he thought they had a great theater program (they didn't). Throughout his stories, he also seamlessly weaves in lessons about privilege, the legacy of lynching and sharecropping and why you don't cross black mamas. He teaches readers about the history of encoded racism that still undergirds our society today.

Portland is famous for its rain, hipsters, craft beers . . . and coffee. Sage Caplin has high hopes for her coffee cart, Ground Rules, which she runs with her business partner, Harley—a genius at roasting beans and devising new blends. That’s essential in a city where locals have intensely strong opinions about cappuccino versus macchiato—especially in the case of one of Sage’s very first customers. . . .

Sage finds the man’s body in front of her cart, a fatal slash across his neck. There’s been plenty of anger in the air, from longtime vendors annoyed at Ground Rules taking a coveted spot in the food truck lot, to protesters demonstrating against a new high-rise. But who was mad enough to commit murder? Sage is already fending off trouble in the form of her estranged, con-artist mother, who’s trying to trickle back into her life. But when Sage’s very own box cutter is discovered to be the murder weapon, she needs to focus on finding the killer fast—before her business, and her life, come to a bitter end. . . .

Inspired by the ritual of sipping and stitching, Coffeehouse Knits is a stimulating collection of knitwear with an extra shot of something special. Whether you're joining friends at the coffee shop for community knitting or you're home enjoying the first cup of the day, perk up your knitting with: 

• 20 patterns that range in skill level from advanced beginner to intermediate--macchiato to espresso.
• Simple touches evoke the idea of everyone's favorite drink, from steaming swirls around a sweater yoke to coffee bean inspired motifs.
• Stirring essays from knitters explore community, connection, and caffeine.

In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee--the chance to travel back in time.

Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of making that journey. But time travel isn't so simple, and there are rules that must be followed. Most important, the trip can last only as long as it takes for the coffee to get cold. 

Heartwarming, wistful, mysterious and delightfully quirky, Toshikazu Kawaguchi's internationally bestselling novel explores the age-old question: What would you change if you could travel back in time?

Have you ever purchased coffee based on delectable flavor notes--strawberry jam, milk chocolate, hazelnut--only to find none of it in your cup? It's a common experience among coffee lovers.

These days, high-quality coffee can taste all kinds of ways, thanks to roasting techniques that help draw out the qualities of the bean. In addition to that characteristic coffee taste, you really can find hints of fruit, chocolate, and nuts in your cup--all it takes is a little knowledge, a little practice, and the ability to slow down and savor.

That's where How to Taste Coffee comes in. With the same accessible, no-shame approach she took in Craft Coffee, bestselling author Jessica Easto explains why flavor notes are not always as straightforward with coffee as they are with other beverages, such as wine, beer, and spirits. You'll learn how our senses perceive coffee, what creates and affects coffee flavor, and how to practice your sensory skills, using the same tools and resources as coffee professionals.

With nineteen exercises designed to help you identify and talk about what you're tasting, you'll come away with a more developed palate, an improved ability to choose coffee you're going to love, and a better understanding of the astounding complexity contained within these tiny beans.

Only Murders in Gotham, the smash-hit streaming program, is famous for filming in authentic New York locations and using real New Yorkers as extras. For its second season, they’ve chosen to spotlight the century-old Village Blend and its quirky crew of baristas. Shop manager and master roaster Clare Cosi is beyond thrilled, especially when her superb bulletproof coffee lands her a craft services contract for the production.

Madame, the eccentric octogenarian owner of the landmark shop, reveals an old kinship with the star of the show, comedian Jerry Sullivan. Now a Hollywood legend, Jerry frequented the Blend during his early years performing in Greenwich Village comedy clubs. But the past may hold more than nostalgia for Jerry. Suspicious accidents begin plaguing his shoot. Then a real bullet is fired from a stage gun, and Clare becomes convinced something sinister is afoot.

While Jerry’s production moves to exciting new locations, Clare keeps the coffee flowing—and her investigation going—even as a murderer lurks in the wings. But can she root out the rotten player in this Big Apple production before the lights go out on her?

Cold brew is taking the coffee world by storm, with its sweeter, mellower taste and potential health benefits. Brewed by leaving coffee grounds to steep in cold water for hours, it offers a completely new take on coffee - and once you try it, there's no going back. 

This handy guide will give you all the knowledge you need to get on top of the trend, with illustrated step-by-step techniques for making your own cold brew at home, plus expert advice to help you get the best results from your drink. Also featuring 35 delicious recipes for creating cocktails and desserts with your cold brew coffee, from Espresso Martini and Cold Brew Negroni to Coffee Chocolate Tart, this is a must-have for brewing beginners and small-batch artisans alike.

Still single, Bethany worries that she'll never find the love that her cousins have. In this third installment of Amy Clipston's Amish Marketplace series, love begins to bloom between a coffee shop owner and a quiet carpenter.

Bethany Gingerich runs a busy and successful coffee and donut stand at the Amish market where her three cousins have booths of their own. Outgoing and friendly, Bethany is thrilled that her shop is always full as her regular customers (and her cousins!) enjoy picking up their morning treats. Even though her business is doing well, she can't help but feel something is missing in her life.

Reserved carpenter Micah Zook and his grandfather, Enos, visit Bethany every Saturday morning to purchase coffee and donuts before going to work at Enos's custom outdoor furniture shop. Although Bethany has a crush on quiet Micah, she fears that her bubbly personality irritates him. Micah, still grieving the loss of his fiancée, is just too shy to pursue Bethany . . . but he just can't stop visiting the shop every week to see her warm and cheerful smile.

When Micah and his grandfather don't show up one Saturday morning, Bethany begins to worry. And when she learns that tragedy has struck, she wonders how to help Micah in his time of need. He needs a friend now more than ever, and Bethany may be just the kind of friend that God has provided for him.

The World Atlas of Coffee takes readers on a global tour of coffee-growing countries, presenting the bean in full-color photographs and concise, informative text. It covers where coffee is grown, the people who grow it and the cultures in which it is a way of life. It also covers the world of consumption -- processing, grades, the consumer and the modern culture of coffee.

Organized by continent and then country or region, The World Atlas of Coffee presents the world's favorite brew in color spreads packed with information.

Summer has ushered in a new season in the charming hamlet of Ashland, Oregon. Torte is bustling with tourists taking in star-drenched shows at the Elizabethan, setting out to hike in the surrounding Siskiyou Mountains, and sampling the bakeshop’s summer lineup of raspberry lemon tarts and mint mojito cold brews. Jules and the team are buzzing with excitement when they learn that Andy, Torte’s head barista, has been selected to compete in the West Coast Barista Cup.

The prestigious competition draws coffee aficionados from up and down the coast to Ashland. The winner will not only claim to be best-in-brew, but also be awarded a hefty cash prize. Andy’s nervous about his chances, but Jules is confident that her star barista will shine. However, things take a grim turn when head judge Benson Vargas spits out Andy’s first offering, claiming it to be the worst thing to ever touch his lips—and hours later, is found dead clutching Andy’s creamy latte. Suddenly Torte’s favorite barista becomes the number one suspect. There’s no roast for the weary. Jules will have to sleuth out whodunit to clear Andy’s name and catch a killer before she ends up with one foot in the grounds.

Coffee is an indispensable part of daily life for billions of people around the world. But few coffee drinkers know this story. It centers on the volcanic highlands of El Salvador, where James Hill, born in the slums of Manchester, England, founded one of the world’s great coffee dynasties at the turn of the twentieth century. Adapting the innovations of the Industrial Revolution to plantation agriculture, Hill helped turn El Salvador into perhaps the most intensive monoculture in modern history—a place of extraordinary productivity, inequality, and violence. In the process, both El Salvador and the United States earned the nickname “Coffeeland,” but for starkly different reasons, and with consequences that reach into the present.

Provoking a reconsideration of what it means to be connected to faraway people and places, Coffeeland tells the hidden and surprising story of one of the most valuable commodities in the history of global capitalism.

When Krissy Hancock and her best friend Vicki decide to open a bookstore café in their new town of Pine Hills, they decide to call it "Death by Coffee," after Krissy’s father’s most famous mystery novel. Little do they know how well the name fits…

On their very first day of business, Brendon Lawyer huffily takes his coffee…to the grave. It seems he had a severe allergy to peanuts…but how could there have been nuts in his coffee? And who stole his emergency allergy medication?

Fortunately, Krissy’s love of puzzles and mysteries leads her not only to Officer Paul Dalton, but also to many of her new neighbors, who aren’t terribly upset that the book is closed on Brendon. But one of them is a killer, and Krissy needs to read between the lies if she wants to save her new store—and live to see how this story ends…

We live in an era in which successful organizations can fail in a flash. But they can cope with change and thrive by creating a culture that supports positive pushback: questioning everything without disrespecting anyone.

Nigel Travis has forty years of experience as a leader in large and successful organizations, as well as those facing existential crisis - such as Blockbuster as it dawdled in the face of the Netflix challenge. In his ten years as CEO and chairman of Dunkin' Brands, Travis fine-tuned his ideas about the challenge culture and perfected the practices required to build it. He argues that the best way for organizations to succeed in today's environment is to embrace challenge and encourage pushback. Everyone - from the new recruit to the senior leader - must be given the freedom to speak up and question the status quo, must learn how to talk in a civil way about difficult issues, and should be encouraged to debate strategies and tactics-although always in the spirit of shared purpose. How else will new ideas emerge? How else can organizations steadily improve?

Through colorful storytelling, with many examples from his own career - including his leadership in turning around the fear-ridden culture of the London-based Leyton Orient Football Club, of which he is part owner - Travis shows how to establish a culture that welcomes challenge, achieves exceptional results, and ensures a prosperous future.

When Lana Lewis' best -- and most difficult -- employee abruptly quits and goes to work for the competition just days before the Sunshine State Barista Championship, her café's chances of winning the contest are creamed. In front of a gossipy crowd in the small Florida town of Devil's Beach, Lana's normally calm demeanor heats to a boil when she runs into the arrogant java slinger. Of course, Fabrizio "Fab" Bellucci has a slick explanation for jumping ship. But when he's found dead the next morning under a palm tree in the alley behind Lana's café, she becomes the prime suspect.

Even the island's handsome police chief isn't quite certain of her innocence. But Lana isn't the only one in town who was angry with Fabrizio. Jilted lovers, a shrimp boat captain, and a surfer with ties to the mob are all suspects as trouble brews on the beach.

With her stoned, hippie dad, a Shih Tzu named Stanley, and a new, curious barista sporting a punk rock aesthetic at her side, Lana's prepared to turn up the heat to catch the real killer. After all, she is a former award-winning reporter. As scandal hangs over her beachside café, can Lana clear her name and win the championship -- or will she come to a bitter end?

Eat homegrown food all year round and save money on your weekly shop by following this simple plan for self-sufficiency!

Huw Richards and Sam Cooper have spent the past two years planning and trialing their very own self-sufficiency garden in a 10 x 12.5 m plot, and now they've worked out the perfect formula. In this volume, you will learn: 

- Huw's self-sufficiency ethos, goals, and approaches
- How to create your garden and build all the growing spaces you will need, such as hot beds and polytunnels
- Month-by-month planting plans with guidance on key tasks throughout the year
- Useful kitchen tips, meal prep, storage, and preserving ideas along with base recipes so you can make the most of your crops