A
quirk of nature has caused some animals to evolve so that they think and
communicate like humans but still look like animals (only bigger) than they
were.
As they try to integrate into normal human society, they are met with
prejudice to the point of genocide.
The
slow, precise way this is done is disturbingly like the rise of Nazism in
Germany in the 30s and has, even more disturbingly, many parallels in today’s
world.
The
story is fast-paced and entirely credible, even though the main characters are
animals that talk and think like humans. I particularly liked the ending while,
at the same time, wishing that it could have been different. But it fits the
reality we live in.
This book says so much
about the world we live in and the deterioration of the more decent side of our
species as the world sinks into a right-wing…
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR. THE MOST ORIGINAL BOOK OF 2021
'Sheer inventiveness, wit, complexity, erudition, unexpectedness and originality' The Times***The village of Much Hemlock has always been a right-wing stronghold. British. Solid. Traditional. Then they move in. They're different from everyone else: they have a weird religion, an aggressive vegan agenda, and too many children. They may seem quiet and peace-loving, but who knows where it could lead?They are a family of human-sized rabbits, the result of an inexplicable anthropomorphising event half a century before. With a mass rehoming to Wales for 1.2 million rabbits looming,…
I’ve been fascinated by the way people respond to physical beauty since childhood—my teachers heaped praise on the pretty kids, reserving hard words for the less genetically blessed. This experience drove me to explore the pervasive ways in which unconscious beauty bias perpetuates injustice, and how it intersects with racism and privilege. Prison plastic surgery might sound like a punchline but for many, it was a lifeline. UK-born, I now live in San Francisco and have a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, New York. My work has been published by The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, and Fast Company, among others.
For months, Asian women in Oakland, CA, reported a nonstop stream of harassment and muggings by local youth. The problem: their harassers were Black. In a lineup, the women couldn't identify their attackers, and they walked free. To counter this, women in the community received cross-racial training...which failed. The robberies stopped when cameras were installed and the police didn't need a victim to ID anymore. Eberhardt’s book is full of gems like this, smart snippets of life, and the innate biases that run it. This smart examination of cognitive biases goes further than pointing out how racial biases influence criminal justice — it also offers some solutions, especially for unconscious prejudices. These take the form of unconscious bias training, and forcing people to deal with uncomfortable subjects.
"Poignant....important and illuminating."-The New York Times Book Review
"Groundbreaking."-Bryan Stevenson, New York Times bestselling author of Just Mercy
From one of the world's leading experts on unconscious racial bias come stories, science, and strategies to address one of the central controversies of our time
How do we talk about bias? How do we address racial disparities and inequities? What role do our institutions play in creating, maintaining, and magnifying those inequities? What role do we play? With a perspective that is at once scientific, investigative, and informed by personal experience, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt offers us the language and courage we…
As a writer, I strive to create stories that I wish I had found on shelves when I was younger. In that same way, every title on this list not only brings new ways to find adventures through reading, but will hopefully leave young readers with new skills to face the world around them. We often think just cause a story has fantastical elements that it makes them detached from reality, but give any of these a read and you'll find, the farther it is from real life, the brighter the common themes we all share shine through.
For any kids that are looking for their next space adventure. Davault's art style is welcoming and the story is a delight. I found Star Knights to hit that string of what it means to stand for our friends and how, as a kid, I too was looking for ways to connect with others.
A simple frog who wants to become a legendary knight finds himself on a magical journey. From the comic artist behind Oddity Woods comes a fantasy graphic novel with a lot of heart, adventure, and hijinks!
What makes a hero?
Brave Star Knights are heroes who go on adventures. But Tad is just a frog, and frogs can’t save the day. Can they? Determined to out-hop his mud-dweller fate and pursue his dream of being a knight, Tad finds himself on a quest with a surprise group of adventurers, including the Star King!
A reader. A librarian. A writer. I majored in History/English in college, partly because I love historical novels. When my editor asked that my second book be set during the California Gold Rush, I knew I wanted to write from the Mexican point of view - I’m a quarter Mexican. I soon found myself deep in research, learning about those years when Mexico owned what is now the American Southwest. Writing Daughter of Madrugada left me wondering: were some of my own ancestors displaced by American encroachment?
This is one of the funniest, and saddest, books ever. When Kenny starts telling the story, it’s dead winter in Flint. Michigan. Cold enough to make your spit freeze. Momma, who grew up in Alabama, begins yearning for the South. By reputation, Momma’s momma is the strictest, meanest grandma ever. Kenny - who’s never met her - decides Grandma Sands must look like a troll. Dad and Momma decide that Grandma Sands is the perfect person to straighten out big brother Byron, who shows signs of turning into a juvenile delinquent. So... Join the Watsons. Get in their car (also known as the Brown Bomber), listen to the tires roll onto I-75, and imagine what’s going to happen when Byron meets his doom.
Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree about an unforgettable family on a road-trip during one of the most important times in the civil rights movement.
When the Watson family-ten-year-old Kenny, Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron-sets out on a trip south to visit Grandma in Birmingham, Alabama, they don't realize that they're heading toward one of the darkest moments in America's history. The Watsons' journey reminds us that even in the hardest times, laughter and family can help us get through anything.
I am a former children’s librarian who writes books for children and young adults. I love history, especially black history. We didn’t get much in school when I was a child, so I’ve been catching up on some of what I missed. I am particularly drawn to under-told stories about people who deserve more recognition for their contributions. I’m proud that some of those people are members of my own family.
Based on actual slave documents, Ashley Bryan, through his accomplished paintings and poetry, imagines the lives of eleven men and women sold at auction in 1828. We learn the market prices of the eleven, but Bryan goes deep, showing us the true value of each unique individual. The soul and spirit of this lovely book lay in the astounding resilience, the survival of hope and dreams in the hearts and minds of these enslaved people. Amidst the ugliness of slavery, Bryan manages to leave me uplifted, even joyful — joyful about the unwavering human belief in and desire for freedom.
Imagine being looked up and down and being valued as less than chair. Less than an ox. Less than a dress. Maybe about the same as...a lantern.
You, an object. An object to sell.
In his gentle yet deeply powerful way, Ashley Bryan goes to the heart of how a slave is given a monetary value by the slave owner, tempering this with the one thing that CAN'T be bought or sold-dreams. Inspired by the actual will of a plantation owner that lists the worth of each and every one of his "workers", Bryan has created collages around that document,…
Laura A. Macaluso researches and writes about monuments, museums, and material culture. Interested in monuments since the 1990s, the current controversies and iconoclasm (monument removals) have reshaped society across the globe. She works at the intersection of public art and public history, at places such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
Teachable Monuments is an expensive book, but it is also a book useful for integrating the work of scholars with teachers, using monuments to examine and create new meanings from monument culture via curriculum and classroom activities. The book comes after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, a seismic event in the United States and abroad which hastened the removals of many Confederate and Columbus monuments, as well as monuments in Europe and beyond.
Monuments around the world have become the focus of intense and sustained discussions, activism, vandalism, and removal. Since the convulsive events of 2015 and 2017, during which white supremacists committed violence in the shadow of Confederate symbols, and the 2020 nationwide protests against racism and police brutality, protesters and politicians in the United States have removed Confederate monuments, as well as monuments to historical figures like Christopher Columbus and Dr. J. Marion Sims, questioning their legitimacy as present-day heroes that their place in the public sphere reinforces.
The essays included in this anthology offer guidelines and case studies tailored for…
I fell in love with Pride & Prejudice variations over a decade ago when I did a Google search for “Pride & Prejudice sequel” because I was desperate to read more of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. I’ve read hundreds, if not thousands, of variations and fan fiction over the years. Last year, I finally developed the courage to start writing my own which (I flatter myself) has been well-received by readers of JAFF (Jane Austen Fan Fiction). I write them in between running my blog, homeschooling my three children, recording my podcast, and surviving the hot Texas summers.
My favorite trope for Pride & Prejudice variations is a forced or arranged marriage. In this book, Mr. Darcy’s infamously rude proposal to Elizabeth is overheard. Rumors quickly spread, and they are quickly forced to marry or else be ruined.
I really enjoy watching Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy working hard to make their marriage work. I admire her determination to make the best of the situation, and I love seeing Darcy fall in love with her all over again.
"I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding." --Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice
When Fitzwilliam Darcy makes an impetuous offer of marriage to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, he is convinced they have as good a chance as any for a harmonious life together. That is, until an overheard conversation changes everything, and Darcy realizes he is now joined in perpetuity to a woman who loathes the very sight of him.
Elizabeth Bennet’s expectations for matrimonial accord were never very high, having accepted Mr. Darcy’s proposal in a fit of pique, not love. Still, she is determined to…
Before becoming an author, I was a civil rights lawyer, so naturally, I’m drawn to stories that shine a light on prejudice and hatred for “the other.” My desire to combat the bigotry that stems from ignorance, coupled with my fascination with the historical struggles of the Jewish people, led me to write this latest book. Because my kids can trace their ancestors to Spain, I took an interest in learning everything I could about the Spanish Inquisition and the fate of the Jews of Spain. I added some of my own family lore from Russia and voila! When Lightnin’ Struck was born. The research gave me a great excuse to visit Spain!
A gripping account of a converso family--their ancestors had been Jewish but were forced to convert to Christianity—trying to survive in Spain during the 1492 Inquisition. This story most closely aligns with the thread of Jewish history underlying my book. It’s told by a young servant girl working for the family, who overcomes her firmly ingrained hatred of Jews and becomes a hero as she learns that what matters most is a person’s goodness, not the religious rituals they practice. It’s told with lavish detail that transports the reader to a dangerous time for anyone with Jewish blood in their ancestral line.
In 1492 people of the Jewish faith were leaving Spain by the thousands. Not even the Conversos, those who had converted to the Catholic faith, were safe. Inquisitors sought out heretics and encouraged informers to report anyone who might not be a "pure" Catholic. Those accused were then questioned and tortured. Many confessed to anything that would stop theirtorture. Those declared "guilty" could be burned at the stake.
In this atmosphere of uncertainty and terror, fourteen-year- old Maria finds herself alone and homeless. The Church assistsMaria by offering her the opportunity to work for the Delgados, a wealthy Converso family.…
I write and teach about nineteenth-century US history, and I am interested in immigration for both personal and professional reasons. A native of Dublin, Ireland, I did my undergraduate work in Edinburgh, Scotland, completed my graduate degree in New York City, moved to Austin, Texas for my first academic job and to Boston for my second job, and then returned to New City York to take up my current position at NYU, where I teach US immigration history and run Glucksman Ireland House. The key themes in my work—migration, diaspora, and empire—have been as central to my life journey as to my research and teaching.
Thoroughly researched, elegantly written, and deeply humane, Expelling the Poor shows how poverty—and Irish poverty in particular—shaped American immigration policy.
Until the late nineteenth century, Hidetaka Hirota demonstrates, individual states and cities controlled their own borders. They regulated, taxed, excluded, and removed the Irish poor, thereby laying the groundwork for the national policy that emerged in the 1880s.
By examining the impact of nativist sentiment, Hirota reveals how policies directed at the Irish-born poor, alongside the exclusion of Chinese laborers, explain the origins of immigration policy in the United States.
Expelling the Poor examines the origins of immigration restriction in the United States, especially deportation policy. Based on an analysis of immigration policies in major American coastal states, including New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Louisiana, and California, it provides the first sustained study of immigration control conducted by states prior to the introduction of federal immigration law in the late nineteenth century. The influx of impoverished Irish immigrants over the first half of the nineteenth century led nativists in New York and Massachusetts to develop policies for prohibiting the landing of destitute foreigners and deporting those already resident in the…
Reading certain texts in the Bible growing up began my love for all things supernatural. The more I studied the subject and understood the worldview of the biblical authors and of other ancient cultures, the more I began to see these scenes in vivid color. With my passion for theological study (personally and as part of a master’s program), my work as a police officer, and my love for fantasy fiction perfectly positions me to write stories in which deep supernatural elements intersect with the gritty and real space of everyday life.
Adeyemi’s book features wonderful powers and magic, all set in an epic setting.
The masterful way she writes, the supernatural world she paints, and her expert use of story elements all caused me to emote out loud in fits of “oh my god!”, “don’t do it!”, and “I can’t stand (insert person)!” while reading the book.
I’m always a sucker for writers who construct worlds in which powers fall into categories.
I love the idea of wondering which type of power would be best and which one would I want to have in real life.
Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut Children of Blood and Bone. Winner of the Tonight Show Summer Reads with Jimmy Fallon.
They killed my mother. They took our magic. They tried to bury us. Now we rise.
Zelie remembers when the soil of Orisha hummed with magic. When different clans ruled - Burners igniting flames, Tiders beckoning waves, and Zelie's Reaper mother summoning forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, anyone with powers was targeted and killed, leaving Zelie without…
