Smart Aunties

Auntie Sue wears blue. Auntie Dots wears spots - here are seven of the smartest aunties you could ever wish to meet! With colourful pictures and simple rhymes, this lively story book is perfect for beginner readers.

An aunt is not just another mother—and aunts defy any sort of archetypal image. Like humanity, they span the spectrum, from down-home Auntie Em to the uninhibited Auntie Mame. Some aunts are smart, others are crazy. Some act bravely, others downright foolish. Now in Ingrid Sturgis’s marvelous Aunties, she gives these extraordinary women their due, sharing a wonderful, eclectic collection of thirty personal essays that explore the complex, seldom-profiled bond between aunts and their nieces and nephews. Profiling a variety of aunts from different cultures, temperaments, and walks of life—the surrogate mother, the wild aunt, the eccentric aunt, the mentor—the essays are written by well-known journalists and authors such as Pearl Cleage and M.J. Rose, as well as everyday people . . . all of whom bring their subjects to stirring life in their own unique ways. “Tia Sonia” made her living as an old-world witch in Honduras, providing her niece, Beverly James, with a tenuous connection to the country of her birth—and imparting a valuable lesson after she fails to predict her own tragic demise; the dramatic and glamorous “Tropical Aunts”—also known as Aunt Debs and Aunt Ava—ventured north from Florida only twice, but left an indelible mark on Enid Shomer’s ideas about being an independent woman; in the heartwarming “Bloodsense,” Mark Holt-Shannon’s magical Aunt Lolly, a woman with a heart as big as the ocean, provided unconditional love—and a bridge between three boys and the father who left them all behind. A wonderful celebration of family, Aunties is a labor of the heart and a show of reverence to the women whose intangible gifts of love and respect often pass without recognition. Through the vivid memories of real relationships, these narratives pay tribute to aunts everywhere.

What should have been a family celebration of Chinese New Year descends into chaos when longtime foes crash the party in this hilariously entertaining novel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. After an ultra-romantic honeymoon across Europe, Meddy Chan and her husband Nathan have landed in Jakarta to spend Chinese New Year with her entire extended family. Chinese New Year, already the biggest celebration of the Lunar calendar, gets even more festive when a former beau of Second Aunt’s shows up at the Chan residence bearing extravagant gifts—he’s determined to rekindle his romance with Second Aunt and the gifts are his way of announcing his courtship. His grand gesture goes awry however, when it’s discovered that not all the gifts were meant for Second Aunt and the Chans—one particular gift was intended for a business rival to cement their alliance and included by accident. Of course the Aunties agree that it’s only right to return the gift—after all, anyone would forgive an honest mistake, right? But what should have been a simple retrieval turns disastrous and suddenly Meddy and the Aunties are helpless pawns in a decades-long war between Jakarta’s most powerful business factions. The fighting turns personal, however, when Nathan and the Aunties are endangered and it’s up to Meddy to come up with a plan to save them all. Determined to rescue her loved ones, Meddy embarks on an impossible mission—but with the Aunties by her side, nothing is truly impossible…

A brilliant young doctor is dead ? and someone has to take the blame. Former refugee David Tran becomes the Golden Boy of Australian medical research and invents a drug that could transform immunology. Eight volunteers are recruited for the first human trial, a crucial step on the path to global fame for David and windfall gains for his investors. But when David dies in baffling circumstances, motives are put under the microscope. With its origins in a real-life drug trial that ended in tragedy, Eight Lives is told from the perspectives of David?s friends, family and business associates, who all played a role in his downfall. A smart, sophisticated thriller that explores power, class and prejudice, Eight Lives will keep you engrossed until the last page.

Based on her popular Instagram @Hatecopy and her experience in a South Asian immigrant family, artist Maria Qamar has created a humorous, illustrated “survival guide” to deal with overbearing “Aunties,” whether they’re family members, annoying neighbors, or just some random ladies throwing black magic your way. We’ve all experienced interference from our Aunties—they are at family parties and friendly get-togethers, finding ways to make your life difficult, trying to get you to marry their sons, and telling you to lose weight while simultaneously feeding you a second dinner—and it has stunted our social growth and embarrassed us in front of our friends and cool cousins for years. This tongue-in-cheek guide is full of advice designed to help you manage Aunty meddling and encourages you to pursue your passions—from someone who has been through it all. Qamar confesses to throwing sweatshirts over crop-tops to get out of the house without being questioned, hiding her boyfriend in a closet, and enduring overbearing parents endless pressuring her to become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Holding onto your cultural identity is tough. Always interfering Aunties make it even harder. But ultimately, Aunties keep our lives interesting. As an Aunty-survivor and a woman who has lived the cross-cultural experience, Qamar defied the advice of her aunties almost every step of the way, and she is here to remind you: Trust No Aunty.

American-born artist Chris is forced to reconsider his conception of family during a visit to his mother’s Caribbean homeland. “Thoroughly satisfying . . . This bighearted narrative of love, loss, and family is handled with grace and beauty.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review “Alecia McKenzie’s tender new novel [is] an emotionally resonant ode to adopted families and community resilience.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice After a personal tragedy upends his world, American-born artist Chris travels to his mother’s homeland in the Caribbean hoping to find some peace and tranquility. He plans to spend his time painting in solitude and coming to terms with his recent loss and his fractured relationship with his father. Instead, he discovers a new extended and complicated “family.” The people he meets help him to heal, even as he supports them in unexpected ways. Told from different points of view, this is a compelling novel about unlikely love, friendship, and community, with surprises along the way.

Winner of the Comedy Women In Print Prize 2021 ‘Whip-smart, original and so funny. I found it impossible to put down and lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud’ Beth O’Leary, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Road Trip Your family would kill to see you happy

If girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice and boys are made of slugs and snails and puppy-dog tails, what are aunties made of? Aunties are not the same. Some are short, some are tall, and some work in offices, and some in a mall. Some go to the gym, and others do yoga on the roof. Other aunties work in tall buildings and type fast, and some create delicious meals for their fans. But any way they are made, aunties are the greatest givers of pure love. In this delightful rhyming story, children learn about different cultures, careers, and environments while discovering all the different ways to see their aunties.

"The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice is a community manifesto of essays, poems, recipes, and art describing people who stepped up in the absence of government leadership. In March 2020, when the US government failed to provide personal protective equipment in the face of COVID-19, the Auntie Sewing Squad emerged to meet a critical need--sewing masks--and to critique the US government failure to protect the public's health. Led primarily by Asian American women and other women of color, including some who learned to sew from refugee mothers and grandmothers working in sweatshops, the Auntie Sewing Squad openly tells a history of exploited immigrant labor, while turning it on its head. The Auntie Sewing Squad became a cadre of dispersed mask-sewers who nimbly funneled masks to asylum seekers, indigenous communities, incarcerated people, and many others in need of protection. Sewing masks became a way not only to meet a public health need, but also to come together in mutual aid and to support cross-racial solidarity and political action in a moment of social upheaval"--