Seven-year-old Lena and her mother observe the variations in the color of their friends' skin, viewed in terms of foods and things found in nature.

"A revealing portrait of a young Black man asking questions about himself and where he belongs—long before he became one of the most important voices in America. This unique edition includes an introduction from the author, a full-color photo insert, and a family tree. In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American....

After her mother's suicide, grief-stricken Leigh Sanders travels to Taiwan to stay with grandparents she never met, determined to find her mother who she believes turned into a bird.

"A rich, dark fantasy of destiny, death, and the supernatural world hiding beneath the surface. Nettie Lonesome lives in a land of hard people and hard ground dusted with sand. She's a half-breed who dresses like a boy, raised by folks who don't call her a slave but use her like one. She knows of nothing else. That is, until the day a stranger attacks her. When nothing, not even a sickle to the eye can stop him, Nettie stabs him through the heart...

"Tough, smart, and struggling to stay afloat, August Snow is the embodiment of Detroit. The son of an African American father and a Mexican mother, August grew up in Detroit's Mexicantown and joined the Detroit police only to be drummed out of the force by a conspiracy of corrupt cops and politicians. But August fought back; he took on the city and got himself a $12 million wrongful dismissal settlement that left him low on friends. He has just returned...

Narrated by a man whose light skin enables him to "pass" for white, describes his journey through African-American society from genteel aristocrats to the musicians of ragtime.

When helicopter medic Daniel Bliant answers an emergency call at Phil's Bar, he can't believe who the bartender is: the beautiful woman he saw in his ER months before and hasn't been able to stop thinking about. He should forget her. After all, he knows he's damaged goods. But Annika is intelligent, fun and totally stunning--the breath of life he desperately needs after the incident that left him shattered. Annika Mehta is doing just fine. She loves...

The fortunes of a mulatto girl--as a slave during the Civil War and then as a woman freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.

"Quiara Alegria Hudes was the sharp-eyed girl on the stairs while her family danced in her grandmother's tight South Philly kitchen, "frizzy hair cut short, bangs teased into stiff clouds, sweat glistening in the summer fog, pamper-butt babies weaving between legs." Quiara was awed by her aunts and uncles and cousins, but haunted by the secrets of the family and the unspoken stories of the barrio -- even as she tried to find her own voice in the sea...

"'Ramona' is a tale of true love tested, of passionate characters beset by tragedy, of pure hearts at odds with greed. Set in Old California, this powerful and romantic narrative richly depicts the life of the fading Spanish order, the oppression of tribal American communities...and, inevitably, the brutal intrusion of white settlers. Ramona, an illegitimate orphan, grows up as the ward of overbearing Señora Moreno. But her desire for Alessandro,...