Black by Popular Demand
Books by Black authors releasing each week!
Happy Juneteenth tomorrow! The year 1865 was 159 years ago. While there is still much to be done for Black Lives, Black by Popular Demand is here to push one Black book at a time.
Check out Socialight Society Bookshop in Lansing, MI!
Happy Reading!
You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!): A Lil Tj Book
In this debut picture book from Taraji P. Henson, quirky, stylish and a bit off-the-cuff Lil TJ is ready for her first day of school. But when she gets there, TJ finds that everything she does is a little different than everyone else and she's standing out in all the wrong ways. Once TJ's classmate Beau notices, he relentlessly teases her. TJ is filled with anxiety and doubt until she recalls some important words of wisdom from her Grandma Patsy. When she looks inside to her own creativity and personality, she figures out how to help herself make new friends! --and helps someone else too!
(Children’s)
Little Rot
Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from the breakup, visits an exclusive sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally and suddenly upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, collide into the scene just as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city's corrupt and glittering underworld, they're all looking for a way out, fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them.
(Literary)
Do the Work: A Guide to Understanding Power and Creating Change.
Power is complex. But Do The Work is a guide to navigating those complexities. From ancient theories of power to contemporary examples, from cultural patterns to personal insights, this guide provides a foundation for examining hierarchies and inequalities and establishes a framework for understanding power and how it shapes our lives and communities.
Between these pages, theory, commentary, and analysis create an engaging, creative, and mindful reading experience. This guide features approachable overviews of complex topics, thought-provoking questions, evocative illustrations, pages for your reflections, and steps we can all take to reframe our relationship to power and reinvigorate our desire to empower the people around us.
(Nonfiction)
Joy Takes Root
It's Joy's first summer in her grandmother's South Carolina garden--a rite of passage. In the midst of okra, spinach, and strawberries, Grammy teaches Joy that plants are friends with many uses. Herbs, for example, can be turned into medicine.
There in Grammy's abundant backyard, Joy learns to listen for the heartbeat of the earth and connect it to her own as she takes deep breaths and puts her intentions into the soil. By the story's end, she learns to grow seeds in her own garden, honoring all that her grandmother taught her. With sensory-rich illustrations from award-winning illustrator Ashleigh Corrin, Joy Takes Root is a blissful reminder of all that might bloom.
(Children’s)
