by Sophie Mackintosh
In a toxic society that dictates which women are allowed to raise children, one woman defiantly risks everything to become a mother in Sophie Mackintosh's brilliant and heartbreaking sophomore novel Blue Ticket.
There are two types of women: those with white tickets raise families, and those with blue tickets do not. Deemed unsuitable for motherhood, Calla, with a blue ticket, is encouraged to indulge in sexual promiscuity. But after a lifetime of being told she is flawed--"there was lack in my brain, my body,
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by Billy-Ray Belcourt
In A History of My Brief Body, Billy-Ray Belcourt, a member of the Driftpile Cree Nation, combines autobiographical vignettes with incisive analysis and decolonial theory, creating poetic meditations on how NDNs (Native Indians) can wield joy as a means of escaping a colonial world.
Belcourt (This Wound Is a World) begins by explaining how the "trauma of colonialism" is known to produce men who "self-destruct." Identifying as queer added another worrisome barrier to his future. Yet he didn't feel shame being
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by Atinuke, illus. by Angela Brooksbank
In Catch That Chicken!, Atinuke (Anna Hibiscus series) combines irresistible characters with an engaging narrative and sets her age-appropriate tale of self-empowerment in a cozy compound in West Africa.
Lami's compound is busy, with Sister Sadia, who is "speedy at spelling"; friend Fatima, who is "fast at braiding hair"; and big brother Bilal, who is "brave with bulls." But when it comes to catching chickens, Lami is speedier, faster and braver than anyone. In fact, Lami is "the best chicken catcher in the
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