The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

African American & Black

The Secret Dead Club by Karen Strong

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The Secret Dead Club by Karen Strong
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While Karen Strong’s previous two middle-grade books have had ghosty elements, The Secret Dead Club is a full-fledged haunted ghost story. After Wednesday Thomas moves back to her mom’s hometown in Georgia she realizes she’s not the only middle school girl who sees ghosts. This exciting mystery uses themes of friendship and grief to help the reader know themselves better. This story masterfully includes (what can be seen as) delicate topics such as getting your period or how emotions can manifest physically in your body to create an extremely relatable and readable book.?

The Secret Dead Club by Karen Strong, (List Price: $17.99, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 9781665904506, August 2024)

Reviewed by Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee

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The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee
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In this new romcom m by Karmen Lee, we’ve got BFFs turned rivals meeting again after 10 years when they’re both teaching at the same high school, and sparks are flying! Ava has been teaching at her old high school for several years now, and she’s settled in. But when she discovers that the new teacher is her old best friend who became her biggest bowling team rival, she’s unsettled. Grace is back in her hometown after being dissatisfied with teaching at college and longs for her hometown. But to be honest, she also wants to mend fences with Ava too. But when they both take on the coaching positions of the school’s new bowling team, they find that they’ll definitely have to find a way to get along.

The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee, (List Price: $12.99, Afterglow Books, 9781335041630, May 2024)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in , Georgia

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What Love Looks Like by Laura Obuobi, Anna Cunha (illus.)

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What Love Looks Like by Laura Obuobi, Anna Cunha (illus.)
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What Love Looks Like will make an excellent bedtime story or a way to stretch your imagination and practice mindfulness. Each spread takes Papa and Afia to a new place where they imagine all the things they can see and feel. And with every new place, they imagine they share what love can feel like. Perfect for readers who love Grace Lin & Kate Messner’s Once Upon a Book or Micha Archer’s Daniel Finds a Poem; I can’t wait to share this one with kids and grownups too!

What Love Looks Like by Laura Obuobi, Anna Cunha (illus.), (List Price: $19.99, HarperCollins, 9780063222434, June 2024)

Reviewed by Johanna Albrecht, McIntyre’s Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina

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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
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I didn’t think it was possible to read a book and feel both completely hopeless and hopeful at the end but leave it up to Octavia Butler to write the impossible.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler, (List Price: $16.99, Grand Central Publishing, 9781538732182, April 2019)

Reviewed by Ndobe Foletia, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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I Heard by Jaha Nailah Avery

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I Heard by Jaha Nailah Avery
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So many stories. It reminds me of The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, and the rhymes and cadence of I Heard make it a wonderful pick for a read-aloud. One of our storyteller friends says some picture books are meant to be read with the people sitting right next to you, and others translate up from that to be told to a big crowd of listeners. This one, with its sonorous title, is meant to be proclaimed, and the detail in the illustrations by Walthall begs another go-through to see all the faces.

I Heard by Jaha Nailah Avery, (List Price: $17.99, Charlesbridge, 9781623543822, April 2024)

Reviewed by Lisa Yee Swope, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon

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The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon
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When Dally steps inside the Secret Library, her life changes. Each book whisks her through time and connects her with her family’s past. From a seafaring pirate adventure to a connection closer to home, new stories open and reveal where she is meant to be. An adventure story with depth.

The Secret Library by Kekla Magoon, (List Price: $18.99, Candlewick, 9781536230888, May 2024)

Reviewed by Rae Ann Parker, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

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woke up no light by Leila Mottley

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woke up no light by Leila Mottley
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What I hope is the beginning of a Leila Mottley renaissance, woke up no light is a poetry collection that solidifies Mottley’s status as one of our time’s best new young writers. Split into four sections defined as girlhood, neighborhood, falsehood, and womanhood, Mottley’s poetry reads as tender yet raw, her musings especially on womanhood and coming into your own are glittering pieces of writing that any reader can acknowledge are full of both heart, hardships, and truth. A remarkable collection for people looking to get into poetry, or for the established readers of the genre!

woke up no light by Leila Mottley, (List Price: $28, Knopf, 9780593319710, April 2024)

Reviewed by Grace Sullivan, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror Stories by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell

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by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell
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I love a horror anthology and a final girl story is even better! This book is a mix of powerhouse authors of color that portray strong black women triumphing over baddies – both human and not. Don’t worry, not EVERYONE survives, so you’ll still get lots of heart-pounding terror, thrills, and chills – plus a side of humor in some tales!

The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror Stories by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell, (List Price: $19.99, Flatiron Press, 9781250871657, April 2024)

Reviewed by Andrea Richardson, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall

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I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall
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A beautiful punch in the gut like one from the mosh pit on a Saturday night. Mariah Stovall’s full-length debut sweeps her readers into the tender yet vicious embrace of teenage friendship and meditates on putting on your own life jacket before trying to help others. Stovall reveals connections and personal history slowly, moving between past, present, and future, all woven through with the heroes of post-hardcore, punk, and emo. This novel bears a re-read to untangle the ways that music and fiction intertwine.

I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both by Mariah Stovall, (List Price: $28, Soft Skull, 9781593767600, 2024-02-13)

Reviewed by Mikey LaFave, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

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The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
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Yes, this book is 790 pages. Yes, I thought that was more than a little daunting, but I’m so happy that I challenged my attention span and read this novel. Part coming-of-age story, part examination of racial injustice in higher education, part sweeping historical saga, and part family drama, The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois spans centuries yet somehow still feels so focused and pictorial. Apparently, Jeffers is an accomplished poet, and the language here definitely reflects that. I’m going to stop this blurb here because if I talk too much, I won’t be able to stop for 800 pages myself, but if you commit to this book, it won’t disappoint you.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisThe Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, (List Price: $20, Harper Perennial, 9780062942951, May 2022)

Reviewed by Sam Edge, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

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Madness by Antonia Hylton
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Hylton’s Madness shines a light on the intersection of systemic racism and mental health, and the legacy of de-institutionalization. Crownsville in Maryland was once the only asylum that accepted Black patients and also served as an unofficial jail for the same population, where some families would never know that their loved one had lived and died within its walls. Antonia Hylton treats this topic with the care it deserves, weaving in her own family’s hardships with mental illness, and the oral histories of the workers and patients of Crownsville. A necessary read for anyone interested in equity and anti-racist medicine.

Madness by Antonia Hylton, (List Price: $30, Legacy Lit, 9781538723692, January 2024)

Reviewed by Jordan April, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

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Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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I’m not one for short stories, but Friday Black may have changed that. Drop into these stories in media res, and be swept into the dystopia of racism, consumerism, and injustice. Adjei-Brenyah’s fresh voice and twisted creativity has an uncanny ability to build complex worlds with few words and endless ingenuity. Read this, then Chain Gang All-Stars, for Adjei-Brenyah’s brilliance on a novel’s scale.

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, (List Price: $16.99, Mariner Books, 9781328911247, October 2018)

Reviewed by RC Collman, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hell, North Carolina

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Like So by Ruth Forman

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Like So by Ruth Forman
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With gorgeous illustrations, this is a sweet story about the love between a grandmother and child. This one will tug at your heart strings!

Like So by Ruth Forman, (List Price: $18.99, Little Simon, 9781665917544, January 2024)

Reviewed by Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

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The New Naturals by Gabriel Bump

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The New Naturals by Gabriel Bump
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The US has been a breeding ground for utopian societies since its earliest days. The seekers we meet in The New Naturals are brought together by grief, anger, marginalization and mental illness, dreaming of a better place and acceptance. A sad but ultimately hopeful tale.

The New Naturals by Gabriel Bump, (List Price: $27, Algonquin Books, 9781616208806, November 2023)

Reviewed by Maggie Robe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
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Yaa Gyasi reinvents the notion of historical fiction in this haunting, sweeping tale of enslavement, colonialism, power, greed, despair, determination, and hope. I was captivated from page one! She brings to life the human cost of surviving the larger, often brutal, forces driving history through the gripping, visceral story of one extended family. Three hundred years of history come to life: from Ghana to Harlem and more as we follow their fates across continents and through time. A very moving book.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, (List Price: $16.95, Vintage, 9781101971062, May 2017)

Reviewed by Liz Feeney, E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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