BIPOC author

Thieves’ Gambit

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by Kayvion Lewis
First sentence: “A Quest can’t trust anyone in this world – except for a Quest.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered from the ARC piles at work.
Content: There is thievery, kidnapping, talk of killing, and some
mild swearing. It’s in the YA section (grades 6-8) of the bookstore.

Ross Quest is not only a member of one of the most notorious crime families, she’s a master thief. The problem is that after 17 years of doing this (she’s only 17 after all), she wants out. She’s got an escape plan, but then her mom gets kidnapped in a job gone wrong and the ransom is a lot more than Ross is able to pay. Enter the Thieves’ Gambit – a game for the best of the upcoming best, run by an international syndicate of thieves. Win, and you get a wish – anything you need. Lose – and you might be dead.

So, Ross decides to play the Gambit, out to win. What she didn’t expect was for her whole world to be turned upside down.

I have a soft spot for heist books and ones featuring teenage super-thieves, and this one scratched that itch. Add in that the main character is a Black girl and that the cast is super diverse, and you’ve got an excellent, fun book here. It made me anxious to read – which is really what you need from a heist book – and the twists and turns kept me on my toes. I really didn’t see the ending coming (though, admittedly, I’m not the closest reader, so maybe it was more obvious than I thought). At any rate, i liked Ross, I liked the way all the participants – there were eight that we followed, and while some got more screen time than others, I don’t feel like it was unbalanced – interacted and worked to go through the challenges. And even though the ending was left a bit open, I was satisfied with where it stopped.

So yeah: super fun, super intense, and a great read.

Moning Sun in Wuhan

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by Ying Chang Compestine
First sentence: “It feels as though hours have passed since the waitress took my order.”
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Content: There is talk of the COVID pandemic and the death of a parent. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Twelve-year-old Mei and her father are just surviving since her mother died a year ago. They go to work and school, and even though Mei likes to cook, she doesn’t really find any joy in it. Then, in January of 2020, a strange new disease crops up in their town in Wuhan. Suddenly Mei is cut off from her dad and friends. So, she figures out how to put her talent for cooking and organizing to help her neighborhood out in the early days of the lockdown.

So, I wanted to like this one. I appreciate that stories are starting to be told about the pandemic and I appreciate it being told from the perspective of the place where COVID started. But this one was just kind of… blah. It lacked any real conflict, and even the anxiety surrounding those first days of the pandemic. I get that it’s for younger kids, but it just wasn’t great.

That said, it’s good that it’s out there.

The Many Fortunes of Maya

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by Nicole C. Collier
First sentence: “Even though I’ve never seen one in person, wood thrushes are my favorite bird of all time.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s talk of separation and possibly divorce. It’s in the Middle-Grade section (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Maya’s planning on having a fantastic summer. She’s going to hang out with her best friend, Ginger, play soccer, get the MVP of their team, and make it onto the Chargers, the same team her Daddy played on when he was a kid. Except things don’t go as planned: the MVP goes to Ginger, who is also spending more time with Angelica, soccer camp isn’t everything Maya wanted it to be, and – even worse – her dad moves out, as he and Maya’s mom go through a trial separation. This throws Maya for the biggest loop: she thought her family was perfect the way it was…and no one asked her! How is her summer going to be great with all these bad things happening?

This one was super sweet and charming. I liked how the problems were quite serious for an 11-year-old – what is more important than friendships and your parents staying together? I liked that Collier wrote a book with a realistic portrait of parents whose marriage is struggling, but who put their child first, and are kind and loving. Even in their problems, it’s depicting a positive relationship. I liked that Maya was able to see that her friends being friends with others isn’t bad and that she was able to branch her passions out beyond just playing soccer.

A solid middle-grade book.

Audiobook: Soil

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by Camille T. Dungy
Read by the author
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing (I think? Maybe not?) and frank talk of racism and violence against Black people. It’s in the Creative Non-fiction section of the bookstore.

The premise of this is simple: Camille Dungy owns a house in Ft. Collins, Colorado, and she wants to make her overly-chemicalized turf lawn into something more environmentally friendly and sustainable. She writes about the process the “prairie project” as she and her husband dub it, but the book is more than that. It’s a reflection on environmental writing and the people who usually write (read: white, rich, often men) about the environment. It’s about the intersection of social and environmental justice. It’s how, as a Black woman, Dungy feels not only called to work the land but also compelled to protect it and welcome all living things.

This was such an enjoyable audiobook experience. Dungy is an excellent narrator, and I felt myself not only learning from her but having my own need to garden and see growing things affirmed. I should be better about growing things that are native here, as opposed to just planting any old thing (and seeing what grows), which is kind of what I do now. But, I loved and respected what Dungy had to say about the earth, the environment, and about social justice.

Excellent.

School Trip

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by Jerry Craft
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: New Kid, Class Act
Content: There are some shenanigans and awkward moments. It’s in the Middle-Grade Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

Jordan and his friends have a long-awaited school trip to Pairs. They’re all excited for different reasons; Jordan especially since he wants to see all the art with his art teacher. However, to the actions of several tech-savvy kids, the teachers assigned to the various trips get all mixed up, and the teachers going to the Paris trip know nothing. That’s a chance for Maury to shine: his mother went to school in Paris, and they visit often. He is able to show the other kids all the cool spots. As they go through the city of lights, the kids learn to navigate friendships and talk about their feelings and how they are treated. Sometimes everyone being in a new place can make it easier to talk about things you aren’t able to back home.

I really like this series. I like Craft’s art style and the way he has many different characters that all have some depth to them. I like that he’s not afraid to talk about racism or just the way kids can mistreat each other without realizing it. I do like that the kids are mostly complex characters. It’s a fun book, but also a thoughtful one. My only complaint is that Jordan’s parents decided what high school he would attend (he got into an art-specific high school) without letting him have his say. But that’s a minor thing in such a well-done graphic novel.

Highly recommended.

Amari and the Great Game

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by B. B. Alston
First sentence: “I sprint down the sidewalk, flying past designer boutiques, luxury shops, and a fancy art gallery.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Amari and the Night Brothers
Content: There is some bullying by other kids (and some adults) and some intense moments. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the first book, obviously.

It’s the start of her first full summer as Junior Agent and Amari Peters is excited. Sure, her brother is still in a magically-induced coma that no one can figure out. and, sure the under-Prime Minister (or something like that) is making a stink about having magicians in the Bureau. But Amari’s going to have a great summer. That is until a time-freeze happens and it doesn’t affect her. It’s so powerful, though, that it has to be a magician’s doing, and it’s left the entire Magical council frozen. Suddenly, what was going to be a great summer turns into one full of suspicion and increasingly hostile circumstances at camp. On top of which, Amari has been challenged to a Great Game with none other than Dylan, for the Crown of the League of Magicians.

Is Amari up to all the challenges?

I love a good series, and this is quite a good series. Alston keeps up the level of action and suspense while having Amari do something that’s familiar – investigate a problem that’s leading to discrimination against magicians – while also making it new and fresh. There are some of the same faces as well as new ones, a lot of the same challenges which Amari handles better – or just differently, and some new faces mixed in as well. It’s familiar without being stale, which is nice.

And Alston knows how to spin a good tale: he keeps up the pace while still allowing Amari and her friends to become fully fleshed-out people. I haven’t liked a series this much since Percy Jackson, and I’m looking forward to the next one!

Audio book: Pet

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by Akwaeke Emezi
Read by Christopher Meyer
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is a lot of mild swearing and one f-bomb, and illusions to sexual assault. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Jam lives in a world free of monsters. The citizens of the city of Lucille defeated the monsters and created a just and equitable world. But one night, Jam’s mother, Bitter, paints a monstrous-looking creature, and Jam accidentally brings it through the canvas into the real world. Initially, Jam thinks the creature is a monster, but it – Pet – is out to Hunt monsters, which it says is in the home of Jam’s best friend, Redemption. Hunting monsters is not an easy task, and it is one that Jam resists at first, but eventually, they recruit Redemption’s help to find and defeat the monster.

The thing is: the monsters aren’t “monsters”. They’re people who do monstrous things. Which is what I thought at the beginning, but then an actual non-human being showed up, and I was confused: is monster literal? Is it metaphorical? Is it both? I don’t know.

That’s not saying that I wasn’t intriged by this one. Myers was a fabulous narrator, and he kept me engaged in the story when I was confused about what was going on. I loved the representation: Jam is trans and Black, and the matter-of-fact-ness of Jam’s personhood was refreshing.

And in the end, the book is probably more about complacency than anything else: Lucille thought that they had defeated the monsters, which meant there were not going to be any more monsters, ever. This turned out to be untrue, so maybe we just have to keep fighting the monsters even if it’s hard and we don’t want to?

Anyway, that’s what I got out of it.

Audio book: The Black Flamingo

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by Dean Atta
Read by the author
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, talk of gay sex, and (older) teen drinking and drug use. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Michael has spent his life feeling different from everyone else. A mixed-race kid (half-Black, half-Greek-Cypriate) in a mostly white London neighborhood, and as a boy who likes more traditionally “girly” things. He tries to find a place for himself in a religious school, with a female best friend, and in the drama department, though some of his crushes on boys don’t go over well (he gets the “you’re going to hell” speech more than once). But it’s not until he gets to university, and finds the Drag club, that he truly begins to Find Himself.

I read this as part of Trans Awareness Readathon week, mostly because I thought there would be more about gender fluidity and drag. There wasn’t. However, there was a lot about identity in general, both as a Black man in a majority white society and as a gay man in a conservative school. It was good – though listening to it on audio means I missed out on the novel as verse aspect. And because it was read by the author (who did well with it), I mistakenly thought it was a memoir for a while (there are some striking similarities between Michael the character and Atta the author). Even with all of that, it was a short, good listen, and I’m glad I got to experience Michael and his story.

Amari and the Night Brothers

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by B. B. Alston
First sentence: “I’m sitting in the principal’s office.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are some scary moments, mostly with monsters, and instances of bullying. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Amari’s older brother (and hero), Quinton, has been missing for six months. He had graduated from high school, he had a job – or so he said – and then he just… disappeared. And it’s been affecting Amari’s school life, mostly because she just knows he’s not dead like everyone else assumes. And so when Quinton appears to her in a Wakeful Dream with a nomination to go to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs summer camp, she figures it’s the best way she has to find out what Really Happened. 

Once there, though, Amari discovers that she is a magician; one with a percentage of magic so high that it’s almost impossible. This brings attention to her, and not always the good kind. Additionally, she is trying out to be a Junior Agent in the Department of Supernatural investigations, which is where her brother worked before his disappearance, and she’s met with all sorts of pushback for wanting to be one of the Elite. And, to top it all off, the evil magician Moreau (yes, like in the Island of Dr…) has a nefarious plan to destroy the Bureau and have magicians take over, and wants Amari to join him. 

I think the marketing material is “Artemis Fowl” meets “Men in Black” but I think it’s more along the Percy Jackson lines. A girl, who doesn’t know her worth, finds a secret camp of people with similar powers, and comes into her own fighting a battle by the end of the book? Comparisons aside, this is a LOT of fun. I liked Amari, felt her struggles were real, glad she found some good friends along the way, and there was a satisfying ending as well as leaving things open for the next book in the series (which I immediately put on hold at the library). I think Alston is one of those writers who, like Riordan, has the potential to capture a whole generation (or two) of children’s imaginations. 

I can’t wait to read the next one!

Audiobook: The Sum of Us

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by Heather McGhee
Read by the author
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It deals with some tough issues, and there is some swearing. It’s in the Sociology section of the bookstore.

Heather McGhee, a lawyer, former president of Demos, and someone who specializes in how the American economy works tackles how the idea of a “zero-sum game” between Black and white people is a losing proposition, and not just for people of color. For everyone. She looks at the economy, the housing market, environmental regulations, education, among other areas, and breaks down how racism is at the root of, well, pretty much everything, and how that is costing everyone. It’s especailly relevant for a white person to read: to be shown how white people, especially poor white people, will vote against their interests because the Powers That Be have convinced them that, well, at least they’re not Black (or Latinx, or an immigrant, or…)

I do have to admit up front that I’m not sure I got all her arguments and data, because I listened to the book and sometimes my attention wanders. And I was somewhat unsatisfied that there really wasn’t any clear solutions laid out, except for just “get out of your comfort zone, work with people not like you, and do better”. Which, in reality, is probably not a bad solution. There is a sense of urgency, though: things aren’t just going to get better on their own. If we want things to improve (and maybe we don’t because we’re white, and well-off, and maybe They should just Work Harder?), then we need to get involved. Start local. 

McGhee was a good narrator, and I think this is one of those books that i will think about for a long time.