Ryan's Staff Picks

Told in separate voices, eighteen-year-old Tyler Jones, top graduate of Aurora Academy, and a group of misfits and troublemakers embark on their first mission with Auri, a stowaway from the distant past.

When she wakes up in the body of her cat, Mitten Man, bullied fifth-grader Poppy attempts to navigate the world as a cat, while Mitten Man, tired of his owner's timidity, is out to take over middle school--as Poppy.

Twelve-year-old Erec Rex stumbles upon a world where magic has not been forgotten, and must survive the ultimate test in order to save the magical kingdom he was born to rule.

In this stylish and complex memoir, Laymon, an English professor at the University of Mississippi and novelist (Long Division), presents bittersweet episodes of being a chubby outsider in 1980s Mississippi. He worships his long-suffering, resourceful grandmother, who loves the land her relatives farmed for generations and has resigned herself to the fact of commonplace bigotry. Laymon laces the memoir with clever, ironic observations about secrets,...

"From Percival Everett--a recipient of the NBCC Lifetime Achievement Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Booker Prize, and numerous PEN awards--comes James, a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby...

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 smart mouth, 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...

"A Little Devil in America is an urgent project that unravels all modes and methods of Black performance, in this moment when Black performers are coming to terms with their value, reception, and immense impact on America. With sharp insight, humor, and heart, Abdurraqib examines how Black performance happens in specific moments in time and space--midcentury Paris, the moon, or a cramped living room in Columbus, Ohio. At the outset of this project,...

"This is the story of Begonia, who was abandoned at a retirement home when she was a baby. You might think that's the worst thing that could happen to someone, but for Bug, the worst is yet to come. You see, Swamp Root Manor isn't just any old house. It's alive, it's haunted, and everyone in it is...a little bit Odd. Everyone except Begonia. And while she's waiting for her Oddity to arrive, the manor is running out of money, thanks in no small part...

Built to explore Mars, Resilience begins to develop human-like feelings as he learns from the NASA scientists who assembled him, and as he blasts off and explores Mars, Resilience must overcome different obstacles as he explores the red planet.

In order to steal the Midnight Drum and free her powerful grandmother, twelve-year-old vampire Serwa deceptively collaborates with her rival Declan, a Slayer, but joining forces compels Serwa to confront truths about herself she has tried hard to deny.