Flying Lessons and Other Stories

Whether it is basketball dreams, family fiascos, first crushes, or new neighborhoods, this bold anthology—written by the best children’s authors—celebrates the uniqueness and universality in all of us.

In a partnership with We Need Diverse Books, industry giants Kwame Alexander, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter Dean Myers, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson join newcomer Kelly J. Baptist in a story collection that is as humorous as it is heartfelt. This impressive group of authors has earned among them every major award in children’s publishing and popularity as New York Times bestsellers.

From these distinguished authors come ten distinct and vibrant stories.

Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia H. Powell

From acclaimed author Patricia Hruby Powell comes the story of a landmark civil rights case, told in spare and gorgeous verse. In 1955, in Caroline County, Virginia, amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty, two teenagers fell in love. Their life together broke the law, but their determination would change it. Richard and Mildred Loving were at the heart of a Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races, and a story of the devoted couple who faced discrimination, fought it, and won.

We Know It Was You by Maggie Thrash

Twin Peaks meets Pretty Little Liars in acclaimed author Maggie Thrash’s new Strange Truth series.

It’s better to know the truth. At least sometimes.

Halfway through Friday night’s football game, beautiful cheerleader Brittany Montague—dressed as the giant Winship Wildcat mascot—hurls herself off a bridge into Atlanta’s surging Chattahoochee River.

Just like that, she’s gone.

Eight days later, Benny Flax and Virginia Leeds will be the only ones who know why.

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

The dazzling new novel from Nicola Yoon, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything (in theaters May 19 2017!), will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other!

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? 

Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli

A new enhanced edition, featuring an extended transcript from Melissa Anelli's exclusive interview with J. K. Rowling and a new, updated chapter! 

Melissa Anelli wears a ring that was a gift to her from J.K. Rowling, given as a measure of appreciation for the work she does on The Leaky Cauldron, where her job entails being a fan, reporter, guardian, and spokesperson for the Harry Potter series.

For ten years, millions of fans have lived inside literary history, the only fans to know what it was like when Harry Potter was unfinished. When anticipation for a book was just as likely to cause a charity drive as a pistol shootout. When millions of rabid fans looked to friends, families, neighbors, forums, discussion groups, fan fiction and podcasts to get their fix between novels. When the death of a character was a hotter bet than who'd win the World Series. When one series of books had the power to change the way books are read.

This has been a time when a book was more popular than movies, television, and video games. The series has spawned a generation of critical thinkers and new readers. The New York Times changed the way it reported book sales just to avoid a continual overpowering of its bestseller list.

These events must be given their proper context, and this moment must be preserved.  The series will remain important to literature and pop culture, but the experience will change. Harry's fate will be as commonly known as the identity of Luke Skywalker's father, and readers who never had to wait for a Harry Potter book will have no idea what transpired when the series had hundreds of millions of people waiting desperately for the next volume.

We are the first wave of Harry Potter fans, the ones that are living in the time that shapes how Harry Potter will be remembered for all time. But when this era is over, fans will need some way to remember this strange, wonderful, dizzying experience. Future fans, too, will want to know what they missed. Harry Potter will exist as a seven-book series, but without the indivisible story of the cultural, literary and emotional impact the series has made, the story is incomplete. How can a fan understand Harry Potter without hearing about the midnight book parties, the scams, the theories, the burglaries, the bets, the bannings, and most importantly, the worldwide camaraderie spurred on by mutual love of a boy wizard? How can they know how Harry Potter changed and touched the lives of so many without hearing it first hand?

Harry, A History tells this story.  It tells the personal story of Melissa Anelli's journey through the very heart of Harry Potter fandom.  And wraps this phenomenon up into one narrative, factual volume – one book that tells what happened when Harry Potter met the world.

City of Saints and Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Gone Girl in this enthralling murder mystery set in Kenya.

 

In the shadows of Sangui City, there lives a girl who doesn't exist. After fleeing the Congo as refugees, Tina and her mother arrived in Kenya looking for the chance to build a new life and home. Her mother quickly found work as a maid for a prominent family, headed by Roland Greyhill, one of the city’s most respected business leaders. But Tina soon learns that the Greyhill fortune was made from a life of corruption and crime. So when her mother is found shot to death in Mr. Greyhill's personal study, she knows exactly who’s behind it.

With revenge always on her mind, Tina spends the next four years surviving on the streets alone, working as a master thief for the Goondas, Sangui City’s local gang. It’s a job for the Goondas that finally brings Tina back to the Greyhill estate, giving her the chance for vengeance she’s been waiting for. But as soon as she steps inside the lavish home, she’s overtaken by the pain of old wounds and the pull of past friendships, setting into motion a dangerous cascade of events that could, at any moment, cost Tina her life. But finally uncovering the incredible truth about who killed her mother—and why—keeps her holding on in this fast-paced nail-biting thriller.

A heart-pounding, jaw-dropping thriller you don't want to miss! 

Crazy Messy Beautiful by Carrie Arcos

When your namesake is Pablo Neruda—the greatest love poet of all time—finding “the one” should be easy. After all, sixteen-year-old aspiring artist Neruda Diaz has been in love many times before. So it’s only a matter of time before someone loves him back.

Callie could be that someone. She’s creative and edgy, and nothing like the girls Neruda typically falls for, so when a school assignment brings them together, he is pleasantly surprised to learn they have a lot in common. With his true love in reach and his artistic ambitions on track, everything is finally coming together.

But as Neruda begins to fall faster and harder than ever before, he is blindsided by the complicated nature of love—and art—in more ways than one. And when the relationships he’s looked to for guidance threaten to implode, Neruda must confront the reality that love is crazier, messier, and more beautiful than he ever realized—and riskier, too, than simply saying the words.

This book was so easy to love!  I love the poetry of Pablo Neruda and this book is a great homage.