Black Mermaids

In a distant land where the sun kissed the treesThere lived Black Mermaids that swam in threes...¿Almost nine year old Kareemah's journey is told through poetic prose and vivid pictures that capture her beautiful skin and gravity-defying hair. A chance encounter with a trio of Black Mermaids leave her awashed in wonder over their existence: are Black Mermaids real?¿Kareemah and the Black Mermaids engages the imagination of young readers by reimagining the mythology surrounding mermaids. Suitable for all ages, rhyming verse will make this read aloud story the perfect addition to any personal or public library.

This enchanting tale of a cursed mythical creature and the lonely fisherman who falls in love with her is "a daring, mesmerizing novel…single-handedly bringing magic realism up-to-date" (Maggie O’Farrell, best-selling author of Hamnet). "Sentence by sensuous sentence, Roffey builds a verdant, complicated world that is a pleasure to live inside.... You might start to believe in the existence of mermaids.” —The New York Times In 1976, David is fishing off the island of Black Conch when he comes upon a creature he doesn’t expect: a mermaid by the name of Aycayia. Once a beautiful young woman, she was cursed by jealous wives to live in this form for the rest of her days. But after the mermaid is caught by American tourists, David rescues and hides her away in his home, finding that, once out of the water, she begins to transform back into a woman. Now David must work to win Aycayia's trust while she relearns what it is to be human, navigating not only her new body but also her relationship with others on the island—a difficult task after centuries of loneliness. As David and Aycayia grow to love each other, they juggle both the joys and the dangers of life on shore. But a lingering question remains: Will the former mermaid be able to escape her curse? Taking on many points of view, this mythical adventure tells the story of one woman’s return to land, her healing, and her survival.

Deep beneath the waves, a great enemy awakens . . . Corinne LaMer defeated the wicked jumbie Severine months ago, but things haven’t exactly gone back to normal in her Caribbean island home. Everyone knows Corinne is half-jumbie, and many of her neighbors treat her with mistrust. When local children begin to go missing, snatched from the beach and vanishing into wells, suspicious eyes turn to Corinne. To rescue the missing children and clear her own name, Corinne goes deep into the ocean to find Mama D’Leau, the dangerous jumbie who rules the sea. But Mama D’Leau’s help comes with a price. Corinne and her friends Dru, Bouki, and Malik must travel with mermaids across the ocean to fetch a powerful object for Mama D’Leau. The only thing more perilous than Corinne’s adventures across the sea is the jumbie that waits for her back home. With action-packed storytelling and inventive twists on Caribbean and West African mythology and fairy tales, Rise of the Jumbies is a breathlessly exciting tale of courage and friendship. An NPR Best Book of 2017 A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2017 A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017

Black Mermaids: All Ages Coloring Book was created to celebrate diversity in fantasy art. This coloring book featuring beautiful black mermaids with natural hairstyles and bonus affirmations.

When a mermaid princess needs help protecting her adorable sea goats from being eaten by a greedy kraken, the Princess in Black and her friends come to her rescue, working together to take down the big blue monster.

A Prince, a thousand-year-old Blue Whale, and the race against time to find the single most important thing to the waters' survival. For the waters to be perfect, an Odessa must connect to all life within them, and if the reigning Odessa loses her life, her sorcery is always passed to her first-born daughter. Only, the daughter the waters know of, is not the first. Asia's mother went missing eighteen years ago and since then, Asia has feared the one thing she always dreamt of working with.The ocean. So instead, she's been living life as a lab tech. She doesn't exactly love her job, but it pays the bills and she has money to spend on nights out with her girls. However, her most recent night out ends up with her gaining markings on her skin and losing body parts... Prince Zale is son to Emperor Ecthelion and Empress Océane. They rule Ocêllus, also known as the Royal Waters. News quickly arrives of O'Marilla's murder and the waters become a state of panic. Darya, the daughter of O'Marilla, arrives in Ocêllus to take her position as Odessa but unawares to anyone, she is not the first-born daughter. A single member of royalty and Priestess Noelani are always pulled to the next Odessa, but so are the murky sea witches who use hounds to do their dirty work. So, with a woman up on land unawares to how important she is, the hunt for her begins before she gets into the wrong hands. Who will find her first? And will Asia be able to find the one thing she needs in order to claim her sorcery so she can make the waters perfect again?

Corinne La Mer claims she isn’t afraid of anything. Not scorpions, not the boys who tease her, and certainly not jumbies. They’re just tricksters made up by parents to frighten their children. Then one night Corinne chases an agouti all the way into the forbidden forest, and shining yellow eyes follow her to the edge of the trees. They couldn’t belong to a jumbie. Or could they? When Corinne spots a beautiful stranger at the market the very next day, she knows something extraordinary is about to happen. When this same beauty, called Severine, turns up at Corinne’s house, danger is in the air. Severine plans to claim the entire island for the jumbies. Corinne must call on her courage and her friends and learn to use ancient magic she didn’t know she possessed to stop Severine and to save her island home.

Black is the Color begins with a 17th-century sailor abandoned at sea by his shipmates, and as it progresses he endures, and eventually succumbs to, both his lingering death sentence and the advances of a cruel and amorous mermaid. The narrative also explores the experiences of the loved ones he leaves behind, on his ship and at home on land, as well as of the mermaids who jadedly witness his destruction. At the heart of the story lie the dubious value of maintaining dignity to the detriment of intimacy, and the erotic potential of the worst-case scenario. Julia Gfrörer’s delicate drawing style perfectly complements the period era of Black is the Color, bringing the lyricism and romanticism of Gfrörer’s prose to the fore. Black is the Color is a book as seductive as the sirens it depicts.

A shocking story of the horrors of a political system that doped its youngsters to sporting superhero status, and then left them to fend for themselves. Shortlisted for the Impress and Cinnamon First Novel Prize, this East German noir thriller is set in 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Unhappy West Berlin police officer Sophia is called on to investigate the murder of her childhood friend Käthe, after her beaten body is discovered in Sophia's local park. Sophia is forced to return to the hometown she fled as a teenager with her enigmatic father Petrus, and Mia - a frightened child who turned up on her doorstep. She must investigate Käthe's murder and care for a mother she believed abandoned her. As she reluctantly delves into the sordid Stasi secrets of those she grew up with, Sophia uncovers a web of horrors about her own abusive past as a child-swimming star in the former GDR. But her hunt for the truth has not gone unnoticed by those close to her, people who still have too much to hide.

A teenager follows along as her mother moves from town to town—and man to man—in this coming-of-age novel: “Both hilarious and tragic . . . a radiant debut.” —The New York Times Book Review The inspiration for the cult-classic film starring Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci, and Cher, this novel is narrated by Charlotte Flax, a fourteen-year-old helplessly dragged by her mother from place to place, brief affair to brief affair. When they settle into a quiet New England town in 1963, the teenager yearns to stay put for once. With a convent just steps away from their home, this could be Charlotte’s chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a martyred Catholic saint—despite the fact that she’s Jewish. At the same time, the young caretaker at the convent is inspiring some unsaintly thoughts . . . “Patty Dann gives us a magnificent voice in the young Charlotte . . . Compelling and tender, touching and alive in her search to find some order in the chaos of her life.” —The New York Times Book Review “This is a really funny book about people trying to find something to hang onto in a world that keeps shifting under their feet. Patty Dann guides us through the guerilla war between mother and daughter, through the minefields that lie between being a child and being an adult, in a voice not like any we’ve heard before.” —John Sayles, director and novelist “Moments of pure gold . . . An energetic talent.” —Kirkus Reviews “Both of [the sisters’] characters are sharply etched and recognizable.” —Publishers Weekly “Poignant . . . a quirky charm.” —Booklist