From one of the brightest and most acclaimed new lights in YA fiction, a fantastic new novel about a bi Black boy finding first love… and facing the return of the mother who abandoned his preacher family when he was nine.
THINGS WE COULDN’T SAY
by Jay Coles
Scholastic, September 2021
There’s always been a hole in Gio’s life. Not because he’s into both guys and girls. Not because his father has some drinking issues. Not because his friends are always bringing him their drama. No, the hole in Gio’s life takes the shape of his birth mom, who left Gio, his brother, and his father when Gio was nine years old. For eight years, he never heard a word from her . . . and now, just as he’s started to get his life together, she’s back. It’s hard for Gio to know what to do. Can he forgive her like she wants to be forgiven? Or should he tell her she lost her chance to be in his life? Complicating things further, Gio’s started to hang out with David, a new guy on the basketball team. Are they friends? More than friends? At first, Gio’s not sure . . . especially because he’s not sure what he wants from anyone right now. There are no easy answers to love— whether it’s family love or friend love or romantic love. In THINGS WE COULDN’T SAY, Jay Coles, acclaimed author of Tyler Johnson Was Here, shows us a guy trying to navigate love in all its ambiguity—hoping at the other end he’ll be able to figure out who is and who he should be.
Jay Coles is a graduate of Vincennes University and Ball State University. When he’s not writing diverse books, he’s advocating for them, teaching middle school students, and composing for various music publishers. His debut novel Tyler Johnson Was Here is based on true events in his life and inspired by police brutality in America. He resides in Indianapolis, Indiana.
After a matchmaking attempt for her best friend, Harper, goes horribly, embarrassingly wrong, Emmy is fed up. Why are boys so hard to figure out? But then something amazing happens . . . she wakes up with a new app on her phone: iSpeak Boy! Suddenly Emmy has access to the super-secret knowledge of how boys think—and who they like! Now Emmy is using her magical app to make matches left and right. But can she use it to help Harper, the only person who doesn’t seem to buy into Emmy’s “gift”? And when her secret gets out and the app ends up in the wrong hands, can Emmy undo all the damage she’s caused? From the author of 
L’artiste et auteur nigérian Àlàbá Ònájìn prépare une nouvelle série de BD, « The Adventures of Ajani », qui s’adresse autant aux adultes qu’aux enfants. Dans un style influencé par la « ligne claire » d’Hergé, Àlàbá Ònájìn présente le point de vue nigérian sur la fin de la domination britannique dans les années 1960 à travers son héros Ajani, journaliste yoruba malin et curieux et fervent partisan de l’indépendance.
Biographie de l’auteur : Àlàbá Ònájìn is a Freelance Cartoonist and Illustrator. He was born in Lagos state, Nigeria and has a Diploma in Freelance Cartooning and Illustration from The Morris College of Journalism, Surrey, Kent, UK. He is currently living in Lagos, Nigeria. He has always had a passion for telling stories through his drawings ever since he was introduced to Hergé’s Tintin books at a very young age; these books sparked an energy to bring his stories to young readers around the world. Ònájìn’s work includes Anike Eleko, a children’s comic book on girls’ education by Farafina Books, On Ajayi Crowther Street, a graphic novel published by Cassava Republic in collaboration with the German cultural organization Goethe Institut, and other art collaborations with UNESCO on the Role of Women in African History Project, illustrating the lives of three great African women: Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Empress Taytu Betul of Ethiopia, and Miriam Makeba.
Taken in the night and delivered to the flying city of Highgate when he was a small child, Milo Quick has never known another home. Now almost thirteen, Milo survives one daredevil grift at a time, relying only on his wits, speed, and an unfailingly loyal band of friends. War is coming to Highgate. As a massive armada surrounds the city, a small ship, the Halcyon, slips through the blockade. Led by a charismatic captain, the unconventional crew of the Halcyon has come to collect Milo for a bounty. But they too are being watched. As threats begin to close in on Milo, the truth will soon be revealed that he is not the true prize they seek, and that the stakes go far beyond the borders of the city, and time, as he knows it. In his debut novel for young readers, Jason Sheehan cleverly weaves together multiple points of view, creating a richly imagined world filled with danger, heart-racing adventure, and no shortage of wit.