The call of summer, sisterhood, and hearts in need of healing bring two best friends and their
college-age daughters to Napa Valley, California’s breathtaking wine country—where a long-held secret threatens to forever alter their relationships . . .

Since their fast friendship as teenagers over 30 years ago, Louisiana natives Remi Landry and Bianca Fuentes Perez have seen each other through the best and worst of times. Now, as Remi grieves the sudden death of her beloved husband of 25 years, and Bianca struggles with the fallout of a divorce she didn’t see coming, the women are amid their greatest challenges yet.

Remi and Gerard spent their honeymoon and summers in Napa and on the Sonoma Coast. Their love of wine led them to buy a Victorian home in Wine Country—and then a winery on the site of an age-old vineyard. They spoke endlessly about retiring to run their winery. But with Gerard gone, Remi must sort through his things and reevaluate their assets, and her future.

Bianca is grateful to be there for Remi. After all, Remi was her rock when Bianca’s husband left—and throughout the breast cancer diagnosis that followed. Now in remission, and with her daughter a thriving college freshman, Bianca hopes for a brighter future. But when Remi unearths a secret about her late husband so shattering even Bianca can’t help, the past casts a shadow over everything—and everyone . . .

Emotional and relatable, here is a captivating novel of the bonds of friendship, the power of love and forgiveness, and the revelation that sometimes comfort lies where you least expect it.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dafina

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 28, 2026

• Author: Monica Garner

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 149675042X

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496750426

In this YA fantasy novel perfect for fans of Heartless Hunter, a girl who has always served others decides to take power for herself.

Her magic feeds on lies.
His magic could destroy her.

Mira Kyler runs the court of Virdei from the shadows. Ever since she helped her half-brother Luc cheat his way into the role of Virdei's leader, she's used her lie-powered magic to collect secrets from members of court, then used them as blackmail to keep her brother in power.

Kaidren Vale has magic of his own-magic that can detect the precise nature of someone else's power with a single touch. Kaidren is after the throne, and Mira knows it could be his for the taking if he so much as brushes against her and discovers Mira has been manipulating the court with her power for years.

As Kaidren and Luc compete for the throne in The Trials-three deadly challenges-Mira realizes, even as she fights to keep her brother in power, that no matter who wins, she'll be stuck serving someone else. She's done hiding in the shadows. She wants the throne for herself.

To get it, she'll have to betray both her own brother and Kaidren-but the fiercer the competition gets, the more Mira realizes that the one boy who could destroy everything is the one boy she might not be able to resist.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury YA

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 7, 2026

• Author: Gabi Burton

• Edition ‏ : ‎ Unabridged

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1547617276

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1547617272

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Way Down comes a powerful print adaptation of the acclaimed, award-winning audiobook Soundtrack—a stirring story of music, friendship, and finding your voice in 2000s New York City.

★ “[A] stunning tribute to New York City’s creative scene . . . The text echoes with the sounds of N.Y.C., as Stuy perceives them, from beginning to end.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Stuy Grey plays the drums, just like his mom, a founding member of the all-black punk band the Bed-Stuy Magic Dusters. He teaches himself by watching videos of tap dancers. Now he’s left home, estranged from his mom and her abusive boyfriend. He’s camping out with his uncle on the Lower East Side. His landlord, Dunks, has chops: He shreds on only five strings. Add Alexis on bass guitar and Keith on horn: These teens are a band, busking in New York City subway stations to scrape enough money to record an album.

As their popularity grows, so do the pressures, from complicated family dynamics to the glare of unexpected public attention. And when the police start looking for their bassist, Stuy faces his toughest decision yet.

Adapted from the acclaimed Listening Library original audiobook and written with Jason Reynolds’s signature rhythm, heart, and honesty, Soundtrack: A Novel is a raw, resonant story about friendship, creativity, and what it truly means to find, and fight for, your voice.

The first full and definitive narrative of one of the most shocking and largely unknown events of racial injustice in US history: the execution of nineteen Black soldiers in Texas

On the sweltering, rainy night of August 23, 1917, one of the most consequential events affecting America’s long legacy of racism and injustice began in Houston, Texas. Inflamed by a rumor that a white mob was arming to attack them, and after weeks of police harassment, more than 100 African American soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, took their weapons without authorization and, led by a sergeant, marched into the largely Black San Felipe district of the city. Violent confrontations with police and civilians ensued and nineteen lives were lost.

The Army moved quickly to court-martial 118 soldiers on charges of mutiny and murder, even though a majority of the soldiers involved had never fired their weapons. Inadequately defended en masse by a single officer who was not a lawyer and had no experience in capital cases, in three trials undermined by perjured testimony and clear racial bias, and confronted by an all-white tribunal committed to a rapid judgment, 110 Black soldiers were found guilty—despite the fact that no mutiny had, in fact, taken place. In the predawn darkness of December 11, thirteen of them were hanged at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio—hastily and in secret, without any chance to appeal. News of the largest mass execution in the Army’s history outraged the country and inspired preventive legislation; and yet six more Black soldiers were executed in early 1918 and the rest were sentenced to life in prison.

The Houston Incident, as it became known, has remained largely untold, a deep stain on the Army’s record and pride. Award-winning historian and Army veteran John A. Haymond has spent six years researching the events surrounding the Incident and leading the efforts that ultimately led, in November 2023, to the largest act of retroactive clemency in the Army’s history when the verdicts were overturned and honorable discharges awarded to all the soldiers involved. His dramatic chronicle of what transpired—situated amongst the rampant racism in Texas and the country—is a crucially important and harrowing reminder of our racially violent past, offering the promise that justice, even posthumously, can prevail.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 14, 2026

• Author: John A. Haymond

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802167594

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802167590

From the author of Oshún and Me and the artist of Homegrown comes a joyful picture book that celebrates community and individuality, inspired by real people with disabilities everywhere.

Today is the best day of the year: PARADE DAY! It’s the day that Hazel’s city is a little bit shinier, everyone’s a little bit happier, and she gets to wear her sparkliest, coolest gear to celebrate and attend the disability pride parade.

As Hazel takes readers on an eye-opening journey through her city on her way to the parade, along the way they will see the various ways in which communities can evolve to be more accessible and safe for everyone. Whether it's putting dips in the curb for people using mobility aids, facilitating the use of service animals, or installing wheelchair accessible playground equipment, there are a lot of ways our communities can be made safer and more accessible for everyone.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Feiwel & Friends

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 24, 2026

• Author: Adiba Nelson

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 32 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250329027

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250329028
  

A child discovers a secret ingredient for nurturing plants—and for helping ailing loved ones, too—in this tender story by a two-time New York Times best-selling author celebrating the power of hope.

Everyone in Henry’s family loves plants and gardening. So why can he never get his little plant to grow, no matter how hard he tries? His mom has been able to grow anything since she was young, and even cultivated a whole orchard to help feed people who were hungry. Henry imagines his mother as a great tree, with branches wrapping around the whole community. “People and seeds have a lot in common,” his mom likes to say. “If you want them to grow strong, nourishment and sunlight aren’t enough—they also need hope.” When Henry’s mom becomes sick and it looks like she may not recover, this belief that she’s sown in her son becomes key to what happens next. Frederick Joseph, award-winning author of The Black Friend, offers a bighearted story about keeping hope alive in the face of grief—and a gentle allegory with an upbeat message about healing a fragile planet.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 3, 2026

• Author: Frederick Joseph

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 32 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1536233455

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1536233452

"An utter delight from start to finish." –Terah Shelton Harris, author of One Summer in Savannah, for Sisters with a Side of Greens

A heartwarming small-town tale of rediscovering joy in unexpected places. Starting over isn't easy, but sometimes it's exactly what we need.

Newly divorced and determined to prove she can stand on her own, Joyce Hicks moves back to small-town Texas, leaving behind the life she has known for decades for a fresh start in her late father's home. Unfinished renovations force her to share her kitchen with her tenant, Gabriella Santos, an aspiring chef with dreams of opening a restaurant inspired by her Black and Mexican roots. What begins as an inconvenience blossoms into an unlikely friendship between the two women as they learn to navigate their shared space.

Just as her life begins to settle, Joyce's summer plans upend when her grandson, Elijah, is dropped off for an unexpected seven-week stay, dredging up all kinds of buried things from her past―including visits from her ex-husband, judgment from her daughter, and insecurities that she never quite healed from. Meanwhile, Gabriella's passion for cooking and her vibrant personality infuse the household with energy, even as she faces her own struggles with self-doubt and heartbreak. 

Together, Joyce, Gabriella, and Elijah form a patchwork family that supports each other through life's highs and lows. When an old flame, Richard, reappears in Joyce's life, she must decide whether to embrace love head-on or to slow down and wait just a little longer for her happy ending.

More Praise for Michelle Stimpson

"Stimpson delivers raw, complex characters and a delicious storyline that will stay with the reader long after the last page." ― New York Times bestselling author Kim Michele Richardson for Sisters with a Side of Greens

"Full of heart, generosity, and charm." ― Lucy Gilmore, author of The Lonely Hearts Book Club, for Sisters with a Side of Greens

"This is a heartwarming story of misconceptions and learning to love people for who they are, not what you expect them to be." ― Booklist for Sisters with a Side of Greens

Dear Black Boy
You will teach the world
How to shine brightly
Just by being yourself

Celebrate the imagination, hard work, laughter, and dreams of Black boys with this expressive, empowering text from poet and author Mahogany L. Browne. With vibrant illustrations from artist Sawyer Cloud, this picture book is perfect for honoring big milestones and finding joy in everyday moments―a heartwarming and jubilant love letter to Black boys everywhere.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Roaring Brook Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 5, 2026

• Author: Mahogany L. Browne

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 32 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250268036

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250268037

Dear Black Girl
You teach the world
The power of creativity
Just by being yourself

Celebrate the creativity, bravery, dreams, and laughter of Black girls with this purposeful, powerful text from poet and author Mahogany L. Browne. With lush, bright illustrations from artist Sawyer Cloud, this picture book is perfect for honoring big milestones and finding joy in everyday moments―a heartwarming and jubilant love letter to Black girls everywhere.

• ublisher ‏ : ‎ Roaring Brook Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 5, 2026

• Author: Mahogany L. Browne

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 32 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250268044

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250268044

SIX STARRED REVIEWS!

Award-winning creators Anne Wynter and Micha Archer share a mother-daughter tale about delighting in small pleasures throughout the city. Perfect for fans of Oge Mora and Sophie Blackall.

Anne Wynter perfectly captures the hurry and hustle of a busy day. But when plans change and a girl and her mother slow down to savor small pleasures, the real celebration begins.

Dazzling, kaleidoscopic cut paper artwork from Caldecott Honor ar

tist Micha Archer highlights each special moment in this sweet tribute to time spent together.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarion Books

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 24, 2026

• Author: Anne Wynter

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 40 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063238292

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063238299

In this heartwarming celebration of familial love, Auntie's favorite nephew has to navigate the growing pains of becoming a big cousin.

Auntie’s baby boy knows he’s the king of her heart―until the day she brings home someone new. Suddenly, his blankie is shared, his snuggle spot is different, and his big feelings are hard to handle. How can Auntie’s love stretch far enough for them both?

But just when it seems like baby cousin is totally taking over, one sweet smile changes everything.

Bursting with heart and humor, Auntie's Baby is a tender reminder that love doesn’t get smaller when families grow―it only gets bigger.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 7, 2026

• Author: Breanna J. McDaniel

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 32 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250881307

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250881304

Publishers Weekly • Best Books of 2025 [Nonfiction]
Foreign Policy • Most Anticipated Books of 2025

“Howard French’s The Second Emancipation stands the second half of the last century on its geopolitical head.” ―David Levering Lewis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

From the acclaimed author of Born in Blackness comes an extraordinary account of Africa’s liberation from colonial oppression, a work that fundamentally reshapes our understanding of modern history.

The Second Emancipation, the second work in a trilogy from best-selling author Howard W. French about Africa’s pivotal role in shaping world history, underscores Adam Hochschild’s contention that French is a “modern-day Copernicus.” The title―referring to a brief period beginning in 1957 when dozens of African colonies gained their freedom―positions this liberation at the center of a “movement of global Blackness,” with one charismatic leader, Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972), at its head.

That so few people today know about Nkrumah is an omission that French demonstrates is “typical of our deliberate neglect of Africa’s enormous role in the birth of the modern world.” Determined to re-create Nkrumah’s life as “an epic twentieth-century story,”The Second Emancipationbegins with his impoverished, unheralded birth in the far-western region of Ghana’s Gold Coast. But blessed with a deep curiosity, a young Nkrumah pursued an overseas education in the United States. Nowhere is French’s consummate style more vivid than in Nkrumah’s early years in Depression-era America, especially in his mesmerizing portrait of a culturally effervescent Harlem that Nkrumah encountered in 1935 before heading to college. During his student years in Pennsylvania and later as an activist in London, Nkrumah became steeped in a renowned international Black intellectual milieu―including Du Bois, Garvey, Fanon, Padmore, and C.L.R. James, who called him “one of the greatest political leaders of our century”―and formed an ideology that readied him for an extraordinarily swift and peaceful rise to power upon his return to Ghana in 1947.

Four years later, in a political landslide he engineered while imprisoned, Nkrumah stunned Britain by winning the first general election under universal franchise in Africa, becoming Ghana’s first independent prime minister in 1957. As leader of a sovereign nation, Nkrumah wielded his influence to promote the liberation of the entire continent, pushing unity as the only pathway to recover from the damages of enslavement and subjugation. By the time national military and police forces, aided by the CIA, overthrew him in 1966, Nkrumah’s radical belief in pan-African liberation had both galvanized dozens of nascent African states and fired a global agenda of Black power.

In its dramatic recasting of the American civil rights story and in its tragic depiction of a continent that once exuded all the promise of a newly won freedom,The Second Emancipationbecomes a generational work that positions Africa at the forefront of modern-day history.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 6, 2026

• Author: Howard W. French

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 512 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1324099372

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1324099376

A FINALIST FOR THE 2025 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

SIX STARRED REVIEWS

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ibi Zoboi comes her groundbreaking contemporary fantasy debut—a novel in verse based on Caribbean folklore—about the power of inherited magic and the price we must pay to live the life we yearn for.

“Our new home with its

thick walls and locked doors

wants me to stay trapped in my skin—

but I am fury and flame.”

Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked doors.… While Marisol hoped they would leave their old traditions behind when they emigrated from the islands, she knows this will never happen while she remains ensnared by the one person who keeps her chained to her magical past—her mother.

Seventeen-year-old Genevieve is the daughter of a college professor and a newly minted older half sister of twins. Her worsening skin condition and the babies’ constant wailing keep her up at night, when she stares at the dark sky with a deep longing to inhale it all. She hopes to quench the hunger that gnaws at her, one that seems to reach for some memory of her estranged mother. When a new nanny arrives to help with the twins, a family secret connecting her to Marisol is revealed, and Gen begins to find answers to questions she hasn’t even thought to ask.

But the girls soon discover that the very skin keeping their flames locked beneath the surface may be more explosive to the relationships around them than any ancient magic.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Versify

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 22, 2026

• Author: Ibi Zoboi

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062888889

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062888884

Ingredients

Vibrant fusion of fiction, folklore and food

Jamaica's culture, wisdom and the healing power of plants

Storytelling meeting the kitchen pot

Characters whose lives are transformed through plant-based meals and personal awakenings

The mysterious guidance of Mama Inez, a matriarch whose spirit stirs both heart and heritage

The rich flavors and rhythms of Jamaica, where food becomes a bridge between tradition, wellness and self-discovery

Instructions

Get real, wholesome Jamaican, plant-based recipes; perfect whether you're just curious about plant-based eating, adding new dishes to your weekly table, or embracing a fully plant-powered lifestyle.

Discover how food can heal, connect and empower, and taste the stories of a Jamaica where every meal tells a tale.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ LMH Publishers

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 10, 2026

• Author: Lorrimer Burford (Author), Joyett Burford (Author)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 174 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9766571341

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9766571344

A celebration of hope and the promise of new babyhood by Sibert Honoree Traci N. Todd and Coretta Scott King Honoree Loveis Wise

An inspirational love letter from caregiver to a child, Hello, Beautiful is an intimate and uplifting depiction of love and courage. With its warmth and promise for a bold and confident future, it lyrically reminds children that they should take up space, follow their own unique paths, and find humanity in everyone around them and, most importantly, in themselves—because that is beautiful.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 7, 2026

• Author: Traci N. Todd

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 32 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 059335298X

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593352984

Taryn Ellison doesn’t do relationships.

She learned early in life that standing still for love gets you hurt. So she runs from anything that asks too much of her heart. After watching her mother fall for the wrong men over and over, Taryn built a life where no one could get close enough to leave scars. Walls up. Exit routes ready. Always moving.

Then there’s Zion Wade.
The steady one. The patient one.

Her best friend’s brother and VP of A&R for his family's music empire, Zion understands why Taryn runs. He sees the fear beneath her sarcasm, and the independence she uses as armor. So when they finally cross the line they've been dancing around for years, and she tries to act like it meant nothing, he doesn't push.

He just stays.

Long enough for her walls to crack.
Long enough for her to realize the thing she’s spent her life running from might be the thing she wants more than anything.

She can’t avoid him. Not at his family’s record label, not at Sunday dinners with his sister Simone, not when everyone around them feels the pull between them long before either of them admits it.

But Taryn knows what no one else does: Good things don’t last, and love doesn’t stay. And the closer she gets to Zion, the more she sees herself becoming the one thing she swore she'd never be.

Her mother's daughter.

Set against the backdrop of a Black Southern music dynasty navigating legacy, loyalty, and healing, Always Running is a story about choosing vulnerability over self-protection, and discovering that the scariest love doesn’t rush you, but it does ask you to trust it.

This isn't a slow burn. It's a slow surrender.

Perfect for readers who love:

• A soft, steady hero who values patience over pressure

• Heroines who feel real, guarded, and deeply relatable

• Big family energy and Sunday dinner traditions

• Best friend’s brother romance with years of wanting

• Romance that unfolds like a slow R&B groove

• Steamy scenes with emotional depth

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GM6RQ9KY

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chapter & Soul LLC

• Author: N.W. Brown

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 13, 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 484 pages

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8994022719

Can Abby keep her cool after turning into a social media superstar?

When Abby accidentally becomes a viral sensation on the intergalactic social media network GalaxyGram, she goes all in on raising her follower count as high as she can. But as she struggles to keep up with her audience's endless appetite for new content, she starts to wonder if online fame is worth the toll it takes on her personal life. When the galaxy's biggest influencer, Moxie on Mars, offers to collab, Abby wonders if it might be too late to go back to the way things were. Can she figure out a way to get her real life back on track and keep her followers engaged at the same time?

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Albert Whitman & Company

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 9, 2026

• Author: Andrea J. Loney

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 96 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 080750436X

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807504369

A social activist, journalist, public theologian, and international speaker who has become a powerful and brilliant voice of her generation offers a bold path to liberation and healing for people of African descent struggling in the shadows of the American Dream.

The United States is at a critical juncture in its history. Not since the 1960s has the nation been so racially divided. White supremacy remains America’s Achilles’ heel—a moral failure that haunts us and holds us back from being the great nation we profess. For centuries, people of African descent have endured unimaginable hatred and discrimination which has manifested in pain and trauma passed from generation to generation. To break free from this historical cycle of suffering and be truly free at last, Black and brown people must reimagine ourselves, our communities, this country, and our relationship to Africa.

Weaving storytelling, socioeconomic analysis, and cultural criticism with the spiritual and political threads of liberation theology and Pan Africanism, Imagine Freedom empowers us to begin the difficult but necessary work of decolonizing our minds and overcoming the lies we have been told about ourselves for centuries. Sobering and inspiring, filled with despair and hope, Rahiel Tesfamariam dares us to see the world through a larger historical and global lens— to understand how our quests for freedom and healing are intrinsically connected to our past, present, and future. By widening our vision, we discover new ways of imagining self, community, nation, and world, and most importantly, a new way to achieve the freedom that has been too long denied.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amistad

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 3, 2026

• Author: Rahiel Tesfamariam

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063253097

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063253094

What if the strength you spent your whole life proving isn't the strength you actually need? SOFT is a raw faith-forward memoir about a woman shaped by two worlds - slow-rooted Mississippi and sharp-edged New York - who learns that true resilience isn't hardness but holy softness: the courage to surrender, the wisdom to listen, and the power to love without armor. Through failed marriages, motherhood in the midst of chaos, near foreclosure, and a final, life anchoring love, Stacey Loper discovers that softness is not weakness; It's a God-given strategy for thriving as a wife, mother, and friend. Women are exhausted by “survival mode.” Many were raised to equate strength with control, especially in marriage and parenting, only to find themselves hardened, disconnected and spiritually dry. Soft reframes strength through a Christ-centered lens: softness as discernment, boundaries, trust, and spirit-led surrender. It's a blueprint for women who want flourishing homes and whole hearts - without losing their voice, value, or vision.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GS1HT6Z6

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ WestBow Press

• Author: Stacey Loper

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 9, 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 128 pages

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8385065738

Joaquín survives racism in the American Rust Belt and returns to Mexico carrying an idea too provocative to ignore.

What begins as reflection on injustice grows into a political theory that challenges the society around him.

This short novel does not ask whether racism is right or wrong. It asks what happens when the oppressed stop seeking recognition and instead act with purpose.

On the Origins of the American Racist Party is political fiction for readers willing to follow an argument all the way to its end.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GHFW6FXP

• Publisher ‏ : ‎SP

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 17, 2026

• Author: Xavier Villarreal

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 106 pages

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8241305688

From CNN’s Abby Phillip comes a fresh, nuanced portrait of legendary civil rights activist, Rev. Jesse Jackson.

“A joyful, rich, must-read biography of a politician whose flaws and gifts were in constant, intense competition.” ―Jake Tapper

Jesse Jackson was one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. He was a civil rights leader, activist, and an adept politician whose presidential runs shaped the course of Democrat politics to this day. In A Dream Deferred, Abby Phillip charts the course of his life through conversations with Jackson himself, as well as interviews with his inner circle, political peers, critics, and historians.

Focusing on his presidential runs in 1984 and, especially, 1988, Phillip highlights how Jackson built an unlikely coalition that showed the power of the Black vote and the resonance of an inclusive message of economic populism. His experience working under Martin Luther King; his organizing the SLCC’s Operation Breadbasket in Chicago and beyond; and his roots in the deep South combined into two astonishingly impactful presidential campaigns. Appealing to the working people of urban enclaves like Chicago, young people on college campuses, and Black people across the South, white farmers in rural areas and many others, he created the modern Democratic coalition―one that has been used by all major Democrats seeking national success from Obama to Biden to Harris.

Drawing on her expert reporting and natural storytelling skills, Abby Phillip has written a rousing popular history brimming with humanity, politics, and hope that sheds new light on an American icon.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Flatiron Books

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 27, 2026

• Author: Abby Phillip

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 352 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250806305

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250806307

A profound meditation on hip hop’s transformative power, In the Hour of Chaos takes us deep into the mind of the genre’s most unabashed revolutionary.

This book is not an autobiography. It’s not a manifesto. It’s a razor-sharp investigation into hip hop and rap music by searing lyricist and global music icon Chuck D of Public Enemy.
 
Engaging with some of the world’s leading thinkers on hip hop, “Professor Chuck” sets out on a journey that celebrates fifty years of hip hop and charts paths forward for its future. Exploring the intersections of hip hop with Black radicalism and feminism, media and technology, and globalization and politics, this curated collection shows the power of culture and the arts not only to bring people together but to bring about political change in this current hour of chaos.

Features conversations with leading thinkers, including Robin D. G. Kelley, H. Samy Alim, Jeff Chang, Davey D, Scot Brown, Cheryl L. Keyes, Gaye Theresa Johnson, Bryonn Bain, Maya Jupiter, Adam Bradley, Joan Morgan, and more.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 10, 2026

• Author: Chuck D

• Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 352 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520427394

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520427396

The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But does the nation begin in 1776, or do we trace its origins to some point earlier―for example, the arrival of the first enslaved people in 1619 or the initial settlement of Indigenous people? What’s at stake with establishing a date that marks the nation’s origins? Where does the history of the nation begin? In colonial New England, the Chesapeake, or in the Southwest?

In this unprecedented volume, leading thinkers come together to debate these―and many other―issues. Their conversation shows that U.S history is not just about what happened but who gets to tell the story and the political implications of the narratives we tell. The participants include two Pulitzer Prize winners: Nikole Hannah-Jones, who created the 1619 Project and ignited a national conversation about slavery and the nation’s founding; and Annette Gordon-Reed, who documented Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemmings. The other specialists include experts in Asian American, civil rights, Native American, Latino, LGBT, and early American history.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Georgia Press

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 1, 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 176 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0820377120

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0820377124

Winner of the William C. Morris Debut YA Book Award
Three starred reviews!

A Black, autistic teen tries to figure out what happened the night his older brother was unjustly arrested in this “propulsive” (Jas Hammonds, award-winning author of We Deserve Monuments), moving story about brotherhood, identity, and social justice.

All Aiden has ever wanted to do was play football just like his star quarterback brother, Brandon. An overstimulation meltdown gets in the way of Aiden making the team during summer tryouts, but when the school year starts and a spot unexpectedly needs to be filled, he finally gets a chance to play the game he loves.

However, not every player is happy about the new addition to the team, wary of how Aiden’s autism will present itself on game day. Tensions rise. A fight breaks out. Cops are called.

Brandon interferes on behalf of his brother, but is arrested by the very same cops who, just hours earlier, were chanting his name from the bleachers. When he’s wrongly charged for felony assault on an officer, everything Brandon has worked for starts to slip away, and the brothers’ relationship is tested. As Brandon’s trial inches closer, Aiden is desperate to figure out what really happened that night. Can he clear his brother’s name in time?

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atheneum Books for Young Readers

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 15, 2025

• Author: DeAndra Davis

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1665952652

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1665952651

• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.8 ounces

• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up

A New York Times Bestseller
"This suspenseful YA thriller is yet another testament to Jackson’s talent.”—ELLE

New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson delivers another stunning, ripped-from-the-headlines thriller, following a freshman girl whose college life is turned upside down when her roommate’s ex-convict brother moves into their dorm and starts controlling their every move.

Out from under her overprotective parents, Jordyn is ready to kill it in prelaw at a prestigious, historically Black university in Washington DC. When her new roommate’s brother is released from prison, the last thing Jordyn expects is to come home and find the ex-convict on their dorm room sofa. But Devonte needs a place to stay while he gets back on his feet—and how could she say no to one of her new best friends?

Devonte is older, as charming as he is intelligent, pushing every student he meets to make better choices about their young lives. But Jordyn senses something sinister beneath his friendly advice and growing group of followers. When one of Jordyn’s roommates goes missing, she must enlist the help of the university’s lone white student to uncover the mystery—or become trapped at the center of a web of lies more tangled than she can imagine.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quill Tree Books

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 7, 2025

• Author: Tiffany D. Jackson

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063271273

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063271272

BLACK CAUCUS OF THE ALA - CHILDREN & YOUTH LITERARY AWARDS WINNER

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.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wednesday Books

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 4, 2025

• Author: Channelle Desamours

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250334810

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250334817

Harriet the Spy meets Black Mirror in The Genie Game, the start of a thrilling new middle-grade series from Jordan Ifueko, author of the New York Times bestselling fantasy Raybearer.

Four starred reviews! “Positive, powerful, and action-packed.” (Kirkus)

Valentine Adesanya has two missions: 1) become a Feared and Fabulous Film Director and 2) find her missing big sister, Mango. She suspects The Trio Trust, a collection of creepy mega-companies that now rule the United States, made Mango disappear.

A text lures Valentine to a magical boba shop, which comes to life and tells Valentine she is now a GENIE: a member of the General Employee Network of Immortal Engineers, an underground workforce run by the Trio Trust. Genies may only leave their bottles to grant the wishes of mortals. With each granted wish, The Trio Trust gains more magic, and so the Trio hosts a glamorous wish-granting competition, rewarding top players with fabulous prizes. The twist?

The greedy Trio forbids genies from using magic. Genies must grant wishes using nothing but smarts, luck, and elbow grease.

To free her sister Mango and escape the Genie Game, Valentine must score more wish-granting points than any other Genie. But how did the Trio Trust get so powerful in the first place? Why is a magical monster stomping through her home city of Gloss Angeles?

And why does the Trio Trust seem so afraid of 13-year-old Valentine Adesanya?ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GTZYM8PS

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amulet Books

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2026

• Author: Jordan Ifueko

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1419764373

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1419764370

• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.74 pounds

• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 10 - 14 years

Some games are just meant to be lost...

For triplets, Cortez, Colton, and Cobra Masters, when something happens to one, it starts a chain reaction with the other two. However, when Cortez falls in love and gets married, Colton and Cobra decide that's where the domino effect ends. Colton prefers short-term relationships. However, for Cobra, no-strings-attached affairs suit him just fine. Colton and Cobra are die-hard bachelors and masters of the game'. But for how long?

What happens when they meet the women who are destined to master their hearts?

NOTE - You can read Cortez Masters and Victoria Bennett's story in THE BENNETTS' WEDDING; and you can read Colton Masters and Kelly Perkins' story in MASTERS OF THE GAME - COLTON.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GTZYM8PS

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Madaris Publishing Company

• Author: Brenda Jackson

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 2026

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 251 pages

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8993256924

For fans of Ainsley Earhardt and Matthew Paul Turner, this lyrical and heartwarming picture book introduces little ones to prayer and its infinite meanings, encouraging connection with God in moments big and small.

When we lie down to sleep or bless our food before we eat, we pray. But what is prayer?

Prayer is gratitude. Prayer is love. Prayer is a gift from God that everyone can use in times of need. It can be said in a shout or a whisper, in the pews of a church or on the living room couch. Prayer is simple―anyone can do it.

With simple, sweet, contemplative text from award-winning author Tameka Fryer Brown and sweet illustrations from rising-star artist Alleanna Harris, Prayer Is is a gentle exploration of the different meanings of prayer seen through the eyes of a girl and her family―the perfect gift for baby showers, christenings, birthdays, or any moment in a child’s life.

Did you enjoy Prayer Is? Then you’ll love these picture books from Tameka Fryer Brown: All the Greatness in You and Brown Baby Lullaby.

From bestselling author Ruth Forman and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honoree Raissa Figueroa comes a lyrical and vivid picture book celebrating motherhood, daughterhood, and the magic of love.

Do I love you?

Love shapes every moment in our lives. From a morning sunrise with colors bold to dandelion wishes carried on the wind to an evening sunset with shades soft and cool, the world is made of love.

Here is a book that asks and answers the most important question loved ones can ever share: Do I love you? Yes, I do!

Rich with accessible, no-nonsense wisdom, this invaluable guide shows women how to utilize their leadership ability and maximize their potential in all areas of their life.

As “mentors in your pocket,” three successful Black women executives—Elaine Meryl Brown, Marsha Haygood, and Rhonda Joy McLean—share their strategies for playing, and ultimately winning, the power game in corporate America. This updated edition of their 2009 classic The Little Black Book of Success offers all corporate professionals—from college students to entry level employees, senior executives to global leaders—across all industries advice to help them find success. Covering topics like navigating unconscious biases and microaggressions, managing a global workforce, returning to the office after years of remote work, and the importance of self-care, this edition has been optimized for today's culturally and politically complex world.

Anchored in the wisdom of experience—navigating their own transitions from high-powered corporate jobs to becoming entrepreneurs, authors, public speakers, and community leaders—Brown, Haygood, and McLean share all they have learned (and wish they had known), so future generations of professionals can benefit and flourish at work and beyond.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the National Book Award finalist and author of Pet comes a novel set in a magical West African world, about a teen girl who must save her missing twin while learning to navigate her own terrifying new powers.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Elle, Horn Book, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, The Boston Globe Blue Ribbon Awards List

Somadina and her twin brother, Jayaike, are practically the same person: they finish each other's sentences and make each other whole. When the twins come of age, their magical gifts begin to develop, but while Jayaike's powers enchant, Somadina's cause fear to ripple through her town.

Always an outsider, Somadina now faces blatant--and dangerous--hostility. And things go from bad to worse when her brother—the one person she trusted—vanishes. Somadina knows that no matter the dangers, she must track him down. Even if it means entering the Sacred Forest. Even if it means grueling, otherworldly travel she may not survive. Even if it means finding the hidden places where those closest to the spirit world don't dare to go. Does Somadina have the strength --within both her body and her soul -- for the trying journey ahead?

National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi masterfully weaves a tale of family, identity, and the power of the past, in a world where the extraordinary is ordinary.

From the Newbery Honor-winning author of Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom comes a joyful picture book set to “This Little Light of Mine.” With a unique jacket and case cover, it’s the perfect gift for all of life’s milestones.

This little light reflects
an everlasting flame:
Hope that was passed down to you
by those who overcame.
A new sun is rising.
Tomorrow's yours to claim.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Read or sing along to affirmations that will inspire children as well as adults to dream big and commemorate every success. The powerful text reminds readers that everyone has potential for greatness; it shines brightly from within and sparks your determination to reach for the stars, even when you feel doubt.

The vibrant illustrations focus on kids and adults enjoying everyday moments like reading, gardening, and reuniting, as well as commemorating milestones and achievements, like graduating or winning a medal. Certain images also pay homage to historical changemakers such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Shirley Chisholm, and others who paved the way for the Black community.

With two distinct illustrated covers, one on the jacket and the other on the case, this book is the perfect gift for graduation and life’s major milestones. It encourages everyone to fan their spark into a flame, celebrate joy, and cherish each moment.

The limited deluxe edition will include sprayed edges

A steamy, forbidden enemies to lovers romance about love after loss. It is the first book in the New Haven series, interconnected standalones featuring second chances, fiery passion, and Black heroines who get their happily ever afters.

Sloane

Dominic Alexander is my late husband's best friend and the last man on Earth that I should want. He's arrogant, dismissive, and up until recently has only ever used those dark eyes of his to look right through me. For the last twelve years, he's taken a sick pleasure in making me feel paper thin, like my entire existence is of no consequence to him at all.

But now, things are different.

After one drunken night and a surprisingly sexy act of heroism, he's started to be...nice. Treating me like something other than the physical embodiment of his annoyance, which would be nice if it didn't make me feel all the things I swore to never feel for another man after my husband died.

Dominic

Sloane Kent is going to be my undoing.

What's worse: I think I'm going to enjoy being unraveled by the gold flecks in her hazel eyes and the adorable little way she scrunches her nose up when we're arguing, which we've done a lot of over the past decade. She thinks it's because I hate her, and I've always let her think that because the alternative is...untenable.

But something is changing between us, and I don't know how to stop myself from breaking every promise I've ever made to myself regarding my best friend's wife. Promises that include never telling her that there's a long list of things I feel about her, but hate isn't one of them.

"Nothing is hotter and more fun than Danielle Allen’s writing."-- Ali Hazelwood

Because life’s too short, and mean girls ain’t sh…
Jazmyn Payne fled her hometown―and the fatphobes who made her life hell– the minute she graduated high school. Growing up, her haven was her Aunt Addison, and when her health takes a drastic turn, she insists that Jazz should spice up her life. Emphasis on spice.

But dating is the last thing Jazz had on her mind.

Until Lamar Anderson sits next to her at the local sports bar. He is sexy, fun, and refreshingly drama free. With him she's able to pretend that everything is alright. But as real life intrudes, Jazz has to decide if she can leave the past where it belongs… for a love that she deserves.

Practice a new framework for dismantling racial bias in our society, our workplaces, and ourselves: by learning to detect it as well as people of color do.

How do we combat racism in a world determined to tell us it doesn’t exist?
 
To hold the line against racism, we need to know it when we see it. And as the dominant racial group in our society, White people must take up the charge. The problem, says researcher, DEI leader, and organizational consultant Dr. Evelyn Carter, is that White people haven’t been socialized to detect racial bias in the way people of color do. Racism is more than using racial slurs or overt, hateful speech, and it’s more than unintentional slights; it's about an entire system that upholds Whiteness as the preferred standard. 
 
Fortunately, detecting it is a skill that can be learned.

Was That Racist? is a re-education, call to action, and practical guide, full of research-backed strategies including how to: cultivate a growth mindset about bias, unlearn colorblindness and practice color consciousness, talk to kids about race and racism - and bring others along for the journey.

At a time when DEI is under coordinated attack, Was That Racist? is the essential toolkit for anyone who believes we all have a role to play in creating a more equitable world.

A scorching second-chance romance between a talented screenwriter and a phenomenal musician from "a fantastic storyteller and superb writer." ―NPR

​You never forget your first love. Isn't that what they say? Verity Hill knows this truth intimately. She didn't simply miss Wright "Monk" Bellamy when they parted ways in college. She's haunted by his touch. Every kiss, any lover since—it's a shadow of what they had. 

Time heals all wounds. Isn't that what they say? Monk doesn't believe that for a second. He wasn't simply betrayed when he and Verity split. He was devastated, with parts of him left behind in the ruins of all that was destroyed. 

More than a decade after their disastrous breakup, Verity and Monk must work together on the set of an epic Harlem Renaissance biopic. With Monk, now a world-class musician, creating the score, and Verity, an award-winning screenwriter, penning the script, there's Oscar buzz before shooting even begins. This once-in-a-lifetime project could catapult them both to new heights, but can they can put the past behind them for the sake of the film…for the sake of something more?