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Set largely in Helena, Alabama, Blood at the Root tells the story of Malik Baron who has pain, anger and magic in his DNA. At age seven on the night his magic manifests, Malik’s mama disappears. Believing his magic is responsible for this loss and that he killed his mama, Malik buries his talent because he can’t always control it and because it reminds him of pain. Inspired by Toni Morrison, Ladarrion Williams sets out to cultivate a new era of Black fantasy with this book, one that celebrates Black boys and their magic, one that shouts, “Blackness is magic!” Given his mother’s disappearance andRead More →

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With her writing and illustrating for the graphic novel The Deep Dark, Molly Knox Ostertag takes readers on a journey into the psychology of dark thoughts and their potential to suck the life from us. Trying to survive senior year, Magdalena Herrera (aka Mags) is stuck in a small Southern California town under a mountain of responsibilities that include coursework, a part-time job, caring for her mostly bed-ridden abuela, and struggling with her gender and sexual identities. When her transgender childhood friend Nessa returns from college, Mags has a kindred spirit to help support her, and together they must make the choice to thrive orRead More →

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Ruby Hale, who avoids confrontation and spiders, hopes to be a travel influencer. Given that interest, she films, edits, and posts content to her YouTube Show, Ruby’s Hidden Gems. Seeing the feats other cultures have achieved and the architecture that they’ve built all speak to Ruby’s soul. So, when her French class schedules a trip to France, Ruby is beyond excited. She wants to soak in as much of the world as she can in order to earn her way to exploring more of it. Once Ruby reaches Paris, her adrenaline junkie friend Valerie Moreau encounters a young man named Julien who offers a tourRead More →

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Set in 1955 in Levittown, Pennsylvania, The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson explores a tumultuous period in our country’s history. During this time when school integration was new and Jim Crow Laws were still in effect, Levitt and Sons were mass-producing homes under the guise that they were helping to create affordable housing, especially for veterans. That housing, however, was for white families only, creating a deeply discriminatory practice. After serving as a soldier in World War II, Williams Greene is determined to provide access to the American Dream for his family. He is tired of the race riots in the big city,Read More →

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Set in both New York and Pennsylvania prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stepping Off by Jordan Sonnenblick tells a story of human relationship dynamics. The novel’s primary characters are three sixteen-year-old youth who navigate issues like parental death, divorce, and friendship challenges. Ava Green, Chloe Conti, and Jesse Dienstag are best friends whose parents own summer homes in Pennsylvania where the official motto of the vacation-home community is “The Real World Isn’t Real.” Tall Pines Landing provides an escape from the crowds, traffic, pollution, endless noise, and pressures of school and jobs in New York. Although she has a tendency toward a pricklyRead More →

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While not intended to teach Hindu mythology, We Shall Be Monsters by Tara Sim provides mythological cues and is a loose reimagining of the myth of Halahala. And because mythology is a mirror of humankind, Sim’s story has power to speak to all readers. Set in Dharati, India, We Shall Be Monsters features Kajal, who vows to bring her sister Lasya back from death. Because her body isn’t burned soon enough after death, Lasya warps into a bhuta, a wraithlike ghost with the ability to claim lives of its own. With her abilities to revive the dead, Kajal hopes to give her sister life againRead More →

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Set in 1994 in the United Kingdom, Boy Like Me by Simon James Green tells the story of high school junior Jamie Hampton who grew up in a time when thoughts of cuddling a same sex partner were considered a perversion. In fact, from 1988 to 2000 in Scotland and from 1988 to 2003 in England and Wales, Section 28 made homosexuality a crime. At sixteen years old, Jamie is dealing with issues of identity and self-discovery. Although he wants to be unique, Jamie is a straight-A student, a writer, an organizer, and somewhat of a book nerd. Better to fly under the radar andRead More →

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Love Off the Record by Samantha Markum is a romantic comedy to rival the best beach books.  Although the book is mostly cotton candy fluff with palpable romantic tension, it gives a serious nod to all readers who have insecurities (all of us, am I right?), especially those who are weight conscious or who struggle with body image issues. Nathaniel Wellborn III (aka Three) and Éowyn Evans (aka Wyn) are freshmen at Ohio State University. Competitive adversaries, the pair share the ambition of securing the next position as a reporter for the college newspaper, Torch, on their way to someday being editor-in-chief. Preferring investigative journalismRead More →

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A blend of horror, mystery, and thriller with a sprinkling of romance, Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine will appeal to a wide variety of readers. Set in New York, the novel features Olivia D’Angeli and Reagan Karl. Both sixteen-year-olds have an origin story anchored at Camp Lost Lake, a youth camp owned by the D’Angeli family. Tired of running, Reagan is determined to solve the murder that has her mother in hiding. She and her best friend, Jack, are determined to exonerate Reagan’s mother Lori Knight, aka Lauren Karl, so that Reagan can live a normal life free from the accusations thatRead More →