2021 Tuma's Monthly Book Box Titles

In this heartbreakingly beautiful story, a gentle but empowering voice encourages a fawn to face her fears when she comes across an obstacle blocking her path. Read more »

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the finale of Kwame Mbalia's trilogy, in which Tristan Strong faces off with his archenemy, King Cotton, once and for all. "Imagine if you combined Anansi the Spider, John Henry, and Marvel into, like, one book."-- New York Times best-selling author and Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander After reuniting... Read more »

Bestselling author Rick Riordan presents the second book in the New York Times best-selling Tristan Strong trilogy by Kwame Mbalia. Tristan Strong, just back from a victorious but exhausting adventure in Alke, the land of African American folk heroes and African gods, is suffering from PTSD. But there's no rest for the weary when his grandmother... Read more »

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... Read more »

This Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut about two enemy witches who must enter into a deadly alliance to take down a common enemy has the twisted cat-and-mouse of Killing Eve with the richly imagined fantasy world of Furyborn and Ember in the Ashes.

Divided by their order. United by their vengeance.

Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every...

“Sharp, witty and perfectly paced, And Now She’s Gone is one hell of a read!” —Wendy Walker, bestselling author of The Night Before

Isabel Lincoln is gone.

But is she missing?

It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated...

The first ever collection of short stories by Jaime Cortez, Gordo is set in a migrant workers camp near Watsonville, California in the 1970s. A young, probably gay, boy named Gordo puts on a wrestler’s mask and throws fists with a boy in the neighborhood, fighting his own tears as he tries to grow into the idea of manhood so imposed on him by... Read more »

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field.

Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the plate. Nothing can stop her from leading her team to the U12 fast-pitch... Read more »

A joyful, body-positive picture book, adapted for audio, about a young Indian American girl's journey to accept her body hair and celebrate her heritage after being teased about her mustache.

Laxmi never paid much attention to the tiny hairs above her lip. But one day while playing farm animals at recess, her friends point out that her whiskers... Read more »

The Thirty Names of Night

“An affecting, multigenerational coming-of-age story about a young Syrian American artist’s discovery of self and the truth behind his mother’s mysterious passing. Featuring alternating perspectives that weave the past into the present, this novel embodies the epistolary not just in form and address, but in the way it reads like a love letter to New York City, especially the immigrant, working-class, and LGBTQ underground of New York. A book with a heartbeat, despite all its ghosts.”

Serena Morales, Books Are Magic

In the Dream House

“A masterful look at the complexity of the queer experience. Machado employs a kaleidoscope approach to examine her relationship with an old partner, a woman who verbally, physically and emotionally assaulted her, her own personal experiences that led her to stay “in the dream house” of abuse, and society’s role in the oppression and devaluation of women, especially queer women and women of color. Through a mix of long and super short chapters, examples of old folk tales and pop culture, and more realistic narrative, Machado digs deep into the confusing, distorted and contradictory aspects of a toxic relationship, in which the victim begins to doubt her own reactions and motives. It’s a #fivestarreview for us, and #requiredreading! And the @librofm #audiobook features Machado reading! Amazing amazing amazing. ”

Jhoanna, Bel Canto Books

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Kink is a groundbreaking anthology of literary short fiction exploring love and desire, BDSM, and interests across the sexual spectrum, edited by lauded writers R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell, and featuring a roster of all-star contributors including Alexander Chee, Roxane Gay, Carmen Maria Machado, and more.

A... Read more »

After a public meltdown over her breakup from her cheating musician boyfriend, Cherisse swore off guys in the music industry and dating in general for a while, preferring to focus on growing her pastry-chef business. When her younger sister reveals she’s getting married in a few months, Cherisse hopes that will distract her mother enough to quit... Read more »

The Black Flamingo

“This beautiful novel in verse has a tender, loving lens on the toxic directions we're sometimes forced to grow in before we are able to come into our own. In that way, it reminds me of Moonlight. The epilogue is beautiful and stands on its own—I want to print it out and pin it up in every middle and high school.”

Miriasha, Phoenix Books

When Dimple Met Rishi meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this romantic comedy about two teen girls with rival henna businesses.

Nishat doesn't want to lose her family, but she also doesn't want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat... Read more »

“Sneaks up on you with its insight and poignancy.” —Entertainment WeeklyFrom

New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi comes a funny and emotional story about two estranged sisters and how far they’ll go to save one of their lives—even if it means swapping identities.

Jayne and June Baek are nothing alike. June’s three years older, a... Read more »

A powerful coming-of-age novel pulled from personal experience about the meaning of friendship, the joyful beginnings of romance, and the racism and religious intolerance that can both strain a family to the breaking point and strengthen its bonds.

Growing up in an affluent suburb of New York City, sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never thought... Read more »

One of the Good Ones

“I am SPEECHLESS. I am still processing. But what I do know, without a doubt, is that One of the Good Ones is a must-read, a beautiful gut punch by a sister duo that is poised to take the publishing world by storm. Maika and Maritza manage to pack so much into so little, each moment its own universe, tackling the enormously difficult topics of systemic racism, police brutality, coming out to religious parents, epigenetics, and grief. The multiple perspectives across multiple timelines are simply perfect, lending so much to the greater story, and mystery(! I never saw that twist coming), keeping you reading into the early hours. But amidst the greater discussions of dismantling the institutions that uphold respectability above all else, there is so much joy too. There is hope. There is friendship that crosses oceans (or countries as the case may be). There is a road to recovery. And that left me with the best kind of tears in my eyes.”

Britt, Second Star to the Right

The Girl and the Ghost

“THE GIRL AND THE GHOST is a book for every kid who loves ghost stories, who likes the more twisted version of fairy tales, and prefers some darkness in their happy endings. Suraya and Pink are best friends ever since Suraya's grandmother died and sent Pink to serve her when she was just a baby. Suraya is an awkward child and doesn't have any friends until a new girl comes to her school and they bond over their outsider status. Pink becomes jealous and his darker side is revealed in ways at times quite disturbing, prompting the trio to embark on a quest to help save Pink from himself. The heart of this story is the friendship between Suraya and Pink, which makes their falling out visceral for the reader even before Pink "goes bad". And readers should know that the bad is quite bad -- hallucinations that torture Suraya until she is visibly hurting, a clever manifestation of the way kids can hurt one another. Ultimately the resolution has even more depth than anticipated and had me tearing up with a melancholy that was totally earned in the final pages. This is not a happy ghost story, but it's one that will be beloved. Content Warnings for bullying, including physical harm, gross hallucinations, emotionally absent parent, demonic forces and their evil ways.”

FAith, Page 158 Books

If They Come for Us

“Raw, but not unpolished. Dripping with sadness and honey. Rage beyond anger, a lesson in history and violence. A comprehensible example of otherness in America for those who haven’t experienced it; for those who don’t know they’re perpetuating it. An honest portrayal of a life shaped by governments’ omissions, of the lies of the self and others, and of waking to the daylight, the promise held in sunshine, and in finding one’s own voice, own words, own way of telling one’s own story.”

BrocheAroe, River Dog Book Co.