Freedom Fire: Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek

Freedom Fire: Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek
Author: KWAME MBALIA
Publisher: Disney Electronic Content
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2024-10-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1368064795

The award-winning author of the best-selling Tristan Strong trilogy has created a secret world where kids can wield magic by summoning the power of their ancestors What do you get when you combine Kwame Mbalia's incredible imagination and world-building talent with trains, history, and ghosts? Nothing less than middle grade magic. On his twelfth birthday, Jackson "Jax" Freeman arrives at Chicago's Union Station alone, carrying nothing but the baggage of a scandal back in Raleigh. He's been sent away from home to live with relatives he barely knows. But even worse are the strangers who accost him at the train station, including a food vendor who throws dust in his face and a conductor who tries to steal his skin. At his new school, Jax is assigned to a special class for "summoners," even though he has no idea what those are . . . until he accidentally unleashes an angry spirit on school grounds. Soon Jax is embroiled in all kinds of trouble, from the disappearance of a new friend to full-out war between summoning families. When Jax learns that he isn't the first Freeman to be blamed for a tragedy he didn't create, he resolves to clear his own name and that of his great-grandfather, who was a porter back in the 1920's. By following clues, Jax and his schoolmates unlock the secrets of a powerful Praise House, evade vengeful ghosts, and discover that Jax may just be the most talented summoner of all. A unique magic-school fantasy from the best-selling and award-winning author of the Tristan Strong trilogy has just pulled into the station.

Freedom Fire: Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos

Freedom Fire: Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos
Author: Tracey Baptiste
Publisher: Disney Electronic Content
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2024-08-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1368074898

From the best-selling author of the Jumbies series comes an Afro-Caribbean-inspired story about three cousins who discover they are mokos--protector spirits--during carnival season in Brooklyn Weirdness and wonders abound in this colorful celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture by the author of the beloved Jumbies series. Twelve-year-old Misty and her mother have just moved from Trinidad to Brooklyn, New York, in time for the annual carnival celebrations over Labor Day weekend. Misty has plenty to deal with getting used to living with her cousins Aiden and Brooke in her new surroundings. On top of that, her mom is too busy trying to find a job and her aunts and uncles are too preoccupied with carnival preparations to pay any attention to her. Then really strange things begin to happen. A ball of feathers in the basement turns into a creature that squeaks and rolls around. When Misty and her cousins eat pieces of mango anchar, flames shoot out of their mouths. Most disturbing of all, Misty begins to see visions of the future--scary visions that soon come true. Misty discovers that she and her cousins come from a long line of mokos, people who have special powers meant to help them protect their community. Misty can see impending danger, Aiden can heal, and Brooke has crazy physical strength. The trio is just learning about their skills when Misty senses something watching her. And then each of the carnival events is disrupted by a different disaster. Some kind of evil force is clearly trying to stop the festivities. But why? And will moko magic be enough to save the day?

Buzz Books 2024: Fall/Winter

Buzz Books 2024: Fall/Winter
Author:
Publisher: Publishers Lunch
Total Pages: 860
Release: 2024-05-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1948586657

Buzz Books 2024: Fall/Winter is the 25th volume in our popular sampler series. This Buzz Books presents passionate readers with an insider’s look at nearly fifty of the buzziest books due out this season. Such major bestselling authors as Jamie Attenberg, Kira Jane Buxton, Jean Hanff Korelitz, and Dava Sobel are featured, along with literary figures like John Larison, Mason Coile, Kira Jane Buxton, and more. Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting, and diverse debut authors, and this edition is no exception. Anna Montague, editor at Dey Street Books, offers a novel about an unlikely late-in-life road trip for fans of Remarkably Bright Creatures. Among others are Julie Leong, Kristin Koval, Helena Echlin, Jane Yang, and Cebo Campbell. In this edition we’ve also included a selection of a graphic novel by the author known as unfins. Our robust nonfiction section covers such important subjects as pregnancy loss and the winter blues; a literary memoir from singer-songwriter Neko Case; and a biography of Marie Curie by Pulitzer Prize finalist Dava Sobel. Finally, we present early looks at new work from young adult authors, including the New York Times best-selling authors Kwame Mbalia, Judy I. Lin, and Robert Beatty; as well as new titles from Logan-Ashley Kisner, Amanda M. Helander, and Jill Tew. And be sure to look out for Buzz Books 2025: Spring/Summer, coming in January, for next season’s most talked about books.

Last Gate of the Emperor

Last Gate of the Emperor
Author: Kwame Mbalia
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2021-05-04
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1338665871

From Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel David Makonnen comes an Afrofuturist adventure about a mythical Ethiopian empire. Sci-fi and fantasy combine in this epic journey to the stars. Yared Heywat lives an isolated life in Addis Prime -- a hardscrabble city with rundown tech, lots of rules, and not much to do. His worrywart Uncle Moti and bionic lioness Besa are his only family... and his only friends. Often in trouble for his thrill-seeking antics and wisecracking sense of humor, those same qualities make Yared a star player of the underground augmented reality game, The Hunt for Kaleb's Obelisk. But when a change in the game rules prompts Yared to log in with his real name, it triggers an attack that rocks the city. In the chaos, Uncle Moti disappears. Suddenly, all the stories Yared's uncle told him as a young boy are coming to life, of kingdoms in the sky and city-razing monsters. And somehow Yared is at the center of them. Together with Besa and the Ibis -- a game rival turned reluctant ally -- Yared must search for his uncle... and answers to his place in a forgotten, galaxy-spanning war.

Forbidden City

Forbidden City
Author: James Ponti
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2022-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 153447921X

In this third “thrilling” (Kirkus Reviews) installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies help a fellow agent in another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls. After taking down a mole within their organization, the City Spies are ready for their next mission—once again using their unique skills and ability to infiltrate places adults can’t. The sinister Umbra has their sights set on recruiting a North Korean nuclear physicist by any means necessary, and the City Spies plan to keep an eye on his son by sending Paris to the chess prodigy’s tournaments in Moscow and Beijing. Meanwhile, Sydney’s embedded as a junior reporter for a teen lifestyle site as she follows the daughter of a British billionaire on tour with the biggest act on her father’s music label to uncover what links both the band and the billionaire have to a recent threat from an old Soviet missile base. From a daring break-in at one of London’s most exclusive homes to a dangerous undercover mission to a desperate search and rescue operation on the streets of Beijing, the City Spies have their work cut out for them on their most dangerous mission yet.

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (Volume 1)

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (Volume 1)
Author: Kwame Mbalia
Publisher: Disney Electronic Content
Total Pages: 491
Release: 2019-10-15
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1368054412

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods. Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie's notebook. Tristan chases after it--is that a doll?--and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature's hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world. Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?

Tamsin and the Deep

Tamsin and the Deep
Author: Neill Cameron
Publisher:
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2016-02-01
Genre: Lifesaving
ISBN: 9781910200773

Tamsin and her brother, Morgan, have always lived by the sea, but it's only when Tamsin wipes out on her surfboard and is dragged underwater by a sinister creature that they discover what dangers lurk beneath the waves.

Tristan Strong Destroys the World

Tristan Strong Destroys the World
Author: Kwame Mbalia
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

Seventh-grader Tristan must return to Alke and enlist the help of African gods and black folktale heroes when Nana is abducted from the Strong family farm in Alabama.

Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek

Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek
Author: Kwame Mbalia
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024
Genre: African American boys
ISBN: 9781368065092

When twelve-year-old African American Jackson Freeman is forced to move from Raleigh, North Carolina to Chicago he finds himself suddenly in a world of talking glasses and clocks, magical inheritance, and daredevil train porters in a fight against a terrifying evil.

The Phantom's Phantom

The Phantom's Phantom
Author: Robert Reginald
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780809562176

A pulp mystery magazine entitled The Phantom detective was issued from 1933 to 1953, featuring the character Richard Curtis Van Loan, aka the Phantom. After a 50-year hiatus, author Robert Reginald brings out a new Phantom Detective story with Van Loan's character.