Hey family!
You may have heard the news, but I’ve partnered with Disney to head up a middle grade book imprint called Freedom Fire! What does that mean? Well, if you’re subscribed to BBPD, it means you’re looking for books by Black authors, and that means you’ll love this new imprint. Freedom Fire will focus on books written by authors from around the Black diaspora celebrating joy, adventure, wonder and resilience. We have a stellar line launch line up, and this is where you, me, and this newsletter comes in.
I’m taking one Friday a month to talk about Freedom Fire, the books, the authors, and the mission. I hope you can join us, and even more importantly, share it with everyone you know. We know these stories are needed, we know the authors’ voices are necessary, but also, you as the reader are just as critical. That’s why I’m starting Freedom Fridays.
So join me as we celebrate, appreciate, and elevate Black stories year round. Freedom Fire is almost here—let’s spark a movement!
Shhh! the Baby's Asleep
Baby is finally asleep. But everyone is much too loud! Can Mom, Daddy, Grammy, Pop Pop, Shae, Dante, Rover the dog, and even the neighbor keep quiet? Just when they think they can rest--oh no. The baby's awake. One savvy little narrator knows just the way to make his baby sister fall back asleep: by reading her a good book!
A hilarious cast of characters will keep readers laughing throughout this amusing celebration of early literacy and intergenerational family relationships.
(Children’s)
Juneteenth Is
Juneteenth is the smell of brisket filling the air. Juneteenth is the sounds of music, dancing, and cheering ringing from the parade outside. It is love. It is prayer. It is friends and relatives coming together to commemorate freedom, hope for tomorrow, and one another.
This book is an ode to the history of the Black community in the United States, a tribute to Black joy, and a portrait of familial love. With poignant text and vivid illustrations, Juneteenth Is offers a window and a mirror for readers, resonating with kids who will see themselves reflected in its pages and those who hope to understand experiences beyond their own.
CELEBRATES BLACK JOY: At its root, this is a story of family and community. Vibrant illustrations capture the warmth and unity of Black families and Black communities in a portrait of beautiful joy.
REMEMBERING A LEGACY: Both a story of celebration and a commemoration of freedom, this book honors a past of struggle, resilience, and triumph. It recognizes Juneteenth not just as a holiday but as a cultural legacy. An author's note also explains the significance of the color red to Juneteenth--its use as a symbol of African American endurance and the ways Black communities weave the color into modern-day celebrations through food and clothing.
BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY: Juneteenth marks an undeniable truth of American history and remains a cultural touchstone for many Black Americans, making it important for all Americans to understand. Much-needed in this time of growing representation and discussion about equity and social justice, this book is a strong resource for parents and educators seeking to introduce Black history and encourage respectful conversations.
(Children’s)
Tasha's Voice
In this companion to the ground-breaking Where's Rodney?, a Black girl finds connection on a day out in nature.Tasha is a girl who has trouble finding her voice to speak in school or to even make a friend. Then her class visits a park, the best park ever. With the help of an encouraging park ranger, an understanding teacher, some new companions, and a tiny turtle, Tasha finds her voice amidst the wildflowers. This story takes place on the same class trip featured in Carmen Bogan's and Floyd Cooper's Where's Rodney?, once more showing the power of nature to transform a child.Beloved illustrator Floyd Cooper began the illustrations for this book; his mentee Daria Peoples finished them. In the back of the book, readers will learn how the book was completed following Cooper's passing in 2021 and will find two of his original sketches.
(Children’s)
Off-White
It's 1966 in Suriname, on the Caribbean coast of South America, and the long shadow of colonialism still hangs over the country. Grandma Bee is the proud, cigar-smoking matriarch of the Vanta family, which is an intricate mix of Creole, Maroon, French, Indian, Indigenous, British, and Jewish backgrounds. But Grandma Bee is dying, a cough has settled deep in her lungs.
The approaching end has her thinking about the members of her family she's lost, and especially one of her favorite granddaughters, Heli, who has been sent away to the Netherlands because of an affair with her white teacher. Ultimately, there's only one question Bee must answer: What is a family? If her descendants are spread across the world, don't look similar, don't share a heritage, and don't even know each other, what bond will they have once she has died?
A moving portrait of a woman finding peace in the legacy that is her daughters and granddaughters, Off-White, keenly translated by Lucy Scott and David McKay, is also a searing and complex portrait of male violence, the legacy of colonialism, and a dismantling of what it means to be "white". Written after a nearly 20-year break from publishing, Off-White is another masterpiece from the only Surinamese author to win the prestigious Dutch Literature Award.
(Literary)
The Kiss Countdown
A struggling event planner and a sinfully hot astronaut must decide if their fake relationship is worth a shot at happily-ever-after, in this starry debut.
Risk-averse event planner Amerie Price is jobless, newly single, and about to lose her apartment. With no choice but to gamble on her shaky start-up, the last thing she needed was to run into her smug ex and his new, less complicated girlfriend at Amerie's favorite coffee shop. Panicked, she pretends to be dating the annoyingly sexy man she met by spilling Americano all over his abs. He plays along--for a price.
Half the single men in Houston claim to be astronauts, but Vincent Rogers turns out to be the real deal. What started as a one-off lie morphs into a plan: for the three months leading up to his mission, Amerie will play Vincent's doting partner in front of his loving but overly invested family. In exchange, she gets a rent-free room in his house and can put every penny toward her struggling business.
What Amerie doesn't plan for is Vincent's gravitational pull. While her mind tells her a future with this astronaut is too unpredictable, her heart says he's exactly what she needs. As their time together counts down, Amerie must decide if she'll settle for the safe life--or shoot for the stars.
(Romance)
Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy
A practical guide to aging and health for women who have felt ignored or marginalized by the medical profession, from a leading OB/GYN and expert on menopausal and post-reproductive health
There's not enough talk around women's health, and what little there is rarely helps. Women are routinely warned, lectured, or threatened about their health. Or they are ignored, dismissed, or shamed. But they are rarely empowered. And empowerment, more than anything, is what women--and women of color, in particular--need.
Grown Woman Talk is for every woman who has felt marginalized or overwhelmed by a healthcare system that has become more impersonal, complex, and difficult to navigate than ever. It's also for any woman who is simply standing at the intersection of aging and health, anxious and wanting solutions.
Part medical handbook, part memoir, and part sister-girl cheerleader, this book is filled with useful resources and real-life stories of victory and defeat. It not only highlights the current data around women's health issues, but it also places that data in a helpful context.
In a tone that is lively and intimate but unflinchingly direct, Dr. Sharon Malone details how to live better, age better, and get better medical treatment, especially when it's most needed. This is not a medical activism book designed to fight the power. This is a book designed to show women that they already have the power--they need only to increase their capacity and willingness to use it.
Most important, Grown Woman Talk seeks to eradicate the silence that surrounds women's health by facilitating discussion between women of all ages and encouraging more accurate and productive medical insights. It is Dr. Sharon's belief that giving women more agency can, literally, give them life.
(Nonfiction)
The Smoke That Thunders
In this mesmerizing fantasy rooted in Urhobo and West African folklore, sixteen-year-old Naborhi longs for a life away from her small, traditional clan in Kokori. But as her rite of passage approaches and she is betrothed to an arrogant young man, Naborhi feels her dreams slipping away from her.
Then Naborhi becomes bonded to a mysterious animal and begins having harrowing visions of a kidnapped boy. She soon meets Atai, the son of an Oracle from a rival queendom, and learns that she is being guided by the gods. She and Atai, along with Naborhi's eager-for-adventure cousin, Tamunor, set off across the continent to rescue the mysterious boy. But when they find him--and find out his true identity--Naborhi realizes there is more than just her freedom at stake: she must stop a war that has already been set in motion.
(Young Adult)