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BRING JUDGMENT DAY

Promulgated by folklorist John Lomax, who brought Ledbetter to a national stage, both moniker and myth do the “talented and multifaceted” performer an injustice, argues Emmy and Peabody winner Bernard convincingly. Born in Louisiana in 1889, Ledbetter grew up in the teeth of Jim Crow and was serving his third prison sentence when he met Lomax and his son Alan as they collected folk songs at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1933. Following his release, he traveled with John Lomax gathering so

THE MANCHINEEL

Elyse Santiago is a beautiful young woman with a traumatic past. Having killed the man who sexually abused her by feeding him toxic sap from the manchineel plant when she was 12 years old, Elyse now shares her ongoing fascination with all things botanical with her devoted base of Instagram followers. Her best friend, Stella, whose abusive husband died of a heart attack and left her a wealthy widow, throws a house party and introduces her to Ben Deluca, a talent acquisition lawyer who sees showb

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The planet of Ninivon is ruled by a tyrant: The alien Vampire and his blood-drinking, purple-eyed soldiers arrived from space and conquered the free nations, human and humanoid alike. Zeno fought the Vampire’s forces as a member of the Rangers—the elite fighting force of the Republic—but after hearing reports of the death of his closest friend, Alexandra, he quit the war. Now, 10 years later, he serves as a librarian in the semi-independent city of Sarpedon, keeping his head down so as not to w

INSIDE THE COMPOST BIN

In this handy guide for would-be garden composters, general directions for creating and using compost paired with illustrations that teem with tiny soil residents are followed by even more explicit procedures and advice featuring ingredients and temperature charts. In the appealing pictures, a light-skinned parent and child with large, shiny eyes tend to a small, leafless tree, which plainly “needs love,” by filling up a nearby bin with organic detritus that is attacked by armies of small, wrig

LITTLE GHOST MAKES A FRIEND

Little Ghost, a tiny, floating, sheetlike wisp, wonders what it would be like to have a friend. He and his mother have been haunting a tottering old house for 100 years. Though Little Ghost loves his community, he’s only comfortable coming out on Halloween, when he can blend in and won’t scare his neighbors. When a new family moves in next door, Little Ghost secretly observes them and realizes that he and their young daughter, Anya, have a lot in common. Eyes scrunched tight and arms splayed ou

SAM LACY AND WENDELL SMITH

In this new entry in Routledge’s Historical Americans series, the author tells the life stories of Sam Lacy and Wendell Smith, from their childhoods and early years through their careers as baseball journalists for Black-owned ventures (Lacy for Baltimore’s Afro-American and Smith for the Pittsburgh Courier) to the very different ends of their lives: Smith only lived until his 50s and died in 1972 (Chicago mayor Richard Daley paid his respects: “We have lost a great citizen, who was interested

WYLIE FINDS A DINOSAUR

“A little boy, his name is Wylie. / He’s seldom sad AND often smiley.” Wylie is a young boy with pale skin and brown hairwhose father’s hobby is digging for fossils and other buried treasure. Wylie goes out with his dad one day. While the father methodically investigates a hill, Wylie wanders ahead and comes across a bone. Analysis by professors from Southern Methodist University reveal the bone to be from a hitherto unknown type of dinosaur—a Nodosaur. Wylie makes the news, and is featured in

RESCUE PARTY

The foreword and introduction explain how Fowler, quarantining in a rural Connecticut cabin after shuttering his Brooklyn storefront, posted to the shop’s Instagram account a call to make art with the purpose of buoying a beleaguered populace. Though overwhelmingly North American and European and always in English, responses came from around the globe: three-by-three grids of left-to-right sequential art, whimsical, sentimental, psychedelic, and sometimes all three at once. Many of the works co

IF YOU TELL A LIE

In their different ways, Blakely Garner, Thera Grey, Grace Howard, and Meg Watson had all been misfits. They bonded at Camp Pendleton, a place for gifted children, with Blakely as their natural leader. Trouble arrived, or was revealed, in the form of tennis coach Jared Crosby, whose good looks made Blakely think she could use an apparently compromising photo Meg took of the two of them to make Clint, a fellow camper, jealous. The prank succeeded beyond everyone’s wildest dreams, and not in a go

IMAGINARY STRANGERS

Camille Prescott is a sociopath. She doesn’t love her perfect husband, Will, or her children, 6-year-old Georgiana and 4-year-old Jackson. Instead, she does such a conscientious job of faking love that she’s taken in her family and everyone else. And her lifelong masquerade isn’t really Camille’s fault, for, as her therapist back in Chicago once told her, “sociopaths were made, but psychopaths were born,” and Camille was made by Lucinda Nichols, her monstrously abusive mother. Persuading Will t

I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU

Los Angeles teenager Maya is about to graduate from high school. She and her longtime girlfriend, Alana, set out on a hike to see the superbloom of brilliant wildflowers in Antelope Valley, just like they do every year. Maya, who struggles with anxiety, loves Alana fervently, even though she can be mean and cutting, dismissing Maya’s needs whenever she actually manages to voice them. Showing some real strength, Maya breaks up with Alana as they stand among the flowers—and then, after Alana mock

NEAR MISSES & COWBOY KISSES

Seventeen-year-old talented artist Riley Thomas’ world has been turned upside down. Her parents’ new jobs require her family to relocate to small-town Nebraska from Southern California the summer before her senior year. Even worse, Mom and Dad are dragging Riley and her younger brother on a week of forced family fun with the Oregon Trail Adventure Co. Cowboy Colton Walker is the reigning 18-and-under solo lasso champion and the strong, silent type, whose family’s business is guiding wagon train

SEEING THROUGH

“Music, sex, and addiction have intersected or collided in my life, catalysts for confusion, beauty, and restlessness.” So writes Gordon, the author of such acclaimed operas as The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and My Life With Albertine. The music runs throughout this episodic memoir as “the cause of most of my joy in life, as well as much of my unhappiness. Sometimes it’s a bed of nails, at others, a field of clouds.” It does not emerge easily, but when it does, it often does gloriously, fed b

NE'ER DUKE WELL

Though he was born and raised in New Orleans, Peter Kent has unexpectedly become the Duke of Stanhope. He’s enjoyed getting a chance to lecture his new peers in the House of Lords about the urgent necessity of abolishing slavery in all British colonies, but he still longs for his old life. When he learns that his father had two unacknowledged illegitimate children—12-year-old Lu and 10-year-old Freddie—he sees a chance to use his new authority for something positive, but he’s told that if he wa

MANUFACTURE LOCAL

As a business owner whose patented product has been sold to the Ford Motor Company, the United States Army, and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, among others, the author is well aware of the difficulties confronting 21st-century manufacturing inside the U.S. Blending his personal success story with commentary on national economic policy, Gardner calls for a renewed national emphasis on manufacturing in this concise treatise and ode to “the unsung strength of America’s core industry.” The b

THE SEAFORTH HEIRESS

By June of 1803, 20-year-old Mary Mackenzie has had her fill of the island of Barbados. She and her family have been there for two years, ever since her father was appointed colonial governor of the island, the Crown’s Caribbean center of trade. (Barbados’ wealth is derived from its prodigious production of sugar cane, farmed by African slaves.) It is on the island where Mary first confronts the cruelty with which the British colonists treat their slaves. To her dismay, she discovers that even

WAITING TO WELCOME

Andani is excited to have a new cousin, but in her culture, newborns aren’t given a name or brought outside the home until seven days have passed. The baby has a week to decide whether to stay in the human world or return to the spirit world. Until then, Andani must await “the stranger,” a placeholder used to refer to a baby before the “outdooring” naming celebration occurs. Waiting isn’t easy for Andani, though she and her relatives keep busy. Cassava needs to be prepared, corn needs to be mil

THE AMBIVALENT DAUGHTER

The author’s mother, Gertrude, was 84 years old when she suffered a sudden stroke. Gertrude was a lively woman who, every spring, escaped the heat of her Florida home by making a long drive to New Jersey to visit family and friends, a trip she’d managed alone for years. The stroke took away her independence, as she was left paralyzed on one side of her body and reliant on a wheelchair. Gorny, an assistant professor in special education, stepped into the role of caregiver. Gorny’s younger sister

HOW TO THINK IMPOSSIBLY

Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, so it is his job to think outside the conventional box. In his latest book, following The Flip and The Superhumanities, the author interrogates the nature of consciousness, belief, even reality itself. His thesis is that the body of things considered impossible by the norms of rational thought and scientific inquiry is so large, when taken as a whole, that it should be placed at the center of discour

MORE THAN TWO, SECOND EDITION

This thorough handbook covers all aspects of living polyamorously—from one’s initial decision to embrace the lifestyle and common communication mistakes to strategies to help tackle jealousy and set healthy boundaries. Some sections apply to readers in any kind of relationship, such as the need for a healthy sense of self-love. Other parts are specifically for those in polyamorous relationships, like a discussion about when and how often to begin new relationships. Each chapter begins with a re