Black by Popular Demand
We are back and strong, switching over from Mailchimp to Substack. Thanks for hanging with us!
As always, we spotlight an independent Black-owned bookstore each week. This week check out Marcus Books of Oakland, CA. Happy reading!
ELLIE ENGLE SAVES HERSELF
Leah Johnson
Ellie Engle doesn't stand out. Not at home, where she's alone with her pet fish since her dad moved away and her mom has to work around the clock . Not at the bakery, where she helps out old Mr. Walker on the weekends. And definitely not at school, where her best friend Abby--the coolest, boldest, most talented girl in the world--drags Ellie along on her never-ending quest to "make her mark." To someone else, a life in the shadows might seem boring, or lonely. But not to Ellie. As long as she has Abby by her side and a comic book in her hand, she's quite content.
Too bad life didn't bother checking in with Ellie. Because when a freak earthquake hits her small town, Ellie wakes up with the power to bring anything back to life with just her touch. And when a video of her using her powers suddenly goes viral, Ellie's life goes somewhere she never imagined--or wanted: straight into the spotlight.
Surviving middle school is hard enough. Surviving middle school when paparazzi are camped out on your front lawn and an international pop singer wants you to use your powers on live tv and you might be in love with your best friend but she doesn't know it? Absolutely impossible.
NIGERIA JONES
Ibi Zoboi
Warrior Princess. That's what Nigeria Jones's father calls her. He has raised her as part of the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia. Nigeria is homeschooled and vegan and participates in traditional rituals to connect her and other kids from the group to their ancestors. But when her mother--the perfect matriarch of their Movement--disappears, Nigeria's world is upended. She finds herself taking care of her baby brother and stepping into a role she doesn't want.
Nigeria's mother had secrets. She wished for a different life for her children, which includes sending her daughter to a private Quaker school outside of their strict group. Despite her father's disapproval, Nigeria attends the school with her cousin, Kamau, and Sage, who used to be a friend. -There, she begins to flourish and expand her universe.
As Nigeria searches for her mother, she starts to uncover a shocking truth. One that will lead her to question everything she thought she knew about her life and her family.
PREGNANT WHILE BLACK
Monique Rainford
A tragedy is unfolding all around us and is receiving well overdue attention. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy than their white peers. But Dr. Monique Rainford is working to better understand these disparities and do something about them.
Pregnant While Black is a hopeful exploration of the issues pregnant Black women face in America. Within these pages, Dr. Rainford draws on over twenty years of experience working in obstetrics and gynecology to offer a primer on Black pregnancies and how to better care for them. She shares the successes and testimonies of Black women who have struggled during pregnancy and childbirth, anchoring the stories of these women with carefully researched facts. Despite medical advances over the last twenty years, for Black women, the overwhelming dangers of carrying and delivering children remain and it only seems to be getting worse.
SUMMER ON SAG HARBOR
Sunny Hostin
In a hidden enclave in Sag Harbor, affectionately known as SANS--Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Nineveh--there's a close-knit community of African American elites who escape the city and enjoy the beautiful warm weather and beaches at their vacation homes. Since the 1930s, very few have known about this part of the Hamptons on Long Island, and the residents like it that way.
That is, until real estate developers discover the hidden gem. And now, the residents must fight for the soul of SANS.
Against the odds, Olivia Jones has blazed her own enviable career path and built her name in the finance world. But hidden behind the veneer of her success, there is a gaping hole. Mourning both the loss and the betrayal of Omar, a surrogate father to her and her two godsisters, Olivia is driven to solve the mystery of what happened to her biological father, a police officer unjustly killed when she was a little girl.
Untethered from her life in New York City, Olivia moves to a summer home in Sag Harbor and begins forging a new community out in SANS. Friendships blossom with Kara, an ambitious art curator; and Whitney, the wife of an ex-basketball player and current president of the Sag Harbor Homeowners Association; and a sexy new neighbor and single father, Garrett, who makes her reconsider her engagement with Anderson. She also takes to a kind, older gentleman named Mr. Whittingham, but soon discovers he too is not without his own troubles.
As the summer stretches on, each relationship teaches her more about who she really is. Though not without cost, Olivia's search for her authentic identity in the secret history of her family of origin and her fight to preserve her new Black utopia, will lead her to redefine the meaning of love, friendship, community, and family--and restore her faith in herself, her relationships, and her chosen path.
A FAMILY PRAYER
Shay Youngblood
In A Family Prayer, acclaimed novelist Shay Youngblood brings to life the prayer of a little brown girl who finds joy in asking God to keep her family safe. Young readers will celebrate every auntie, cousin, and grandmother in their life. But more than just her biological relatives, each family member is a maternal or paternal archetype, someone in her community who represents the title of mother, father, auntie, and the like.
My sister is a blessing
She keeps my secrets
Braids my hair
And helps me find my way
Sisters are a blessing
Keep them safe from harm
My Auntie is a blessing
She sings sweet songs
Rocks me to sleep
and whispers stories in the dark
Aunties are a blessing
Keep them safe from harm
A Family Prayer champions the age-old wisdom that raising a family takes a village--and that the love of a community runs soul deep.
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