KEKLA MAGOON is the author of eleven novels, including The Season of Styx Malone, The Rock and the River, and How It Went Down. She has received an NAACP Image Award, the John Steptoe New Talent Award, two Coretta Scott King Award honors, and the Walter Award honor and been long-listed for the National Book Award. Kekla holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she now teaches. www.keklamagoon.com.
TOCHI ONYEBUCHI is the author of the young adult novel Beasts Made of Night and its sequel, Crown of Thunder. He holds an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and a JD from Columbia Law School. His fiction has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction and Omenana magazines, his nonfiction in the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy and on Twitter @tochitruestory.
JASON REYNOLDS is a New York Times bestselling author. His award-winning work includes When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys, As Brave as You, For Every One, the Track series, and Long Way Down, a Newbery and Printz Award honoree. You can find his ramblings at www.jasonwritesbooks.com.
NIC STONE, author of Odd One Out and the New York Times bestselling and William C. Morris Award finalist Dear Martin, was born and raised in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating from Spelman College, she worked extensively in teen mentoring and lived in Israel for a few years before returning to the US to write full-time. You can find her online at www.nicstone.info.
LIARA TAMANI is the author of Calling My Name, a PEN American Literary Award finalist and SCBWI Golden Kite Award honoree. Liara’s forthcoming novel is All the Things We Never Knew. She holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College and a BA from Duke University. She lives in Houston, Texas, and can be found online at www.liaratamani.com.
RENÉE WATSON is the author of seven books for children, including This Side of Home and What Momma Left Me. Her New York Times bestselling novel Piecing Me Together received the Coretta Scott King Award and a Newbery honor. She has given readings and lectures at the United Nations, the Library of Congress, and the US Embassy in Japan. She is the founder of I, Too Arts Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the legacy of Langston Hughes and nurturing voices from underrepresented communities. Visit Renée at www.reneewatson.net.
RITA WILLIAMS-GARCIA is the celebrated author of ten novels for young adults and middle grade readers. Her most recent novel, Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, won the 2018 NAACP Image Award for Literature for Young People and was named a 2017 National Book Award Finalist. She is most known for her Coretta Scott King Award–winning Gaither Sisters novels. She can be found online at www.ritawg.com.
IBI ZOBOI holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of Pride, the forthcoming middle grade novel My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, and American Street, a National Book Award finalist, a New York Times Notable Book, and best book of the year as listed by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.
About the Editor
Photo credit Joseph Zoboi
IBI ZOBOI was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing has been published in the New York Times Book Review, the Horn Book magazine, and the Rumpus, among others. She is the author of American Street, a National Book Award finalist, and Pride. She now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their three children. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.
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Copyright
“Half a Moon” copyright © 2019 by Renée Watson
“Black Enough” copyright © 2019 by Varian Johnson
“Warning: Color May Fade” copyright © 2019 by Leah Henderson
“Black. Nerd. Problems.” copyright © 2019 by Lamar Giles
“Out of the Silence” copyright © 2019 by Kekla Magoon
“The Ingredients” copyright © 2019 by Jason Reynolds
“Oreo” copyright © 2019 by Brandy Colbert
“Samson and the Delilahs” copyright © 2019 by Tochi Onyebuchi
“Stop Playing” copyright © 2019 by Liara Tamani
“Wild Horses, Wild Hearts” copyright © 2019 by Jay Coles
“Whoa!” copyright © 2019 by Rita Williams-Garcia
“Gravity” copyright © 2019 by Tracey Baptiste
“The Trouble with Drowning” copyright © 2019 by Dhonielle Clayton
“Kissing Sarah Smart” copyright © 2019 by Justina Ireland
“Hackathon Summers” copyright © 2019 by Coe Booth
“Into the Starlight” copyright © 2019 by Nic Stone
“The (R)Evolution of Nigeria Jones” copyright © 2019 by Ibi Zoboi
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
www.epicreads.com
COVER ART © 2018 BY STEPHANIE SINGLETON
Digital Edition JANUARY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-269874-2
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-269872-8
1819202122PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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