6 Books to Read This June
So much happening this June! Not only is it Pride Month, it’s National Caribbean American Heritage Month. Here’s a look at books coming out this month we can’t wait for, including picks by LGBTQ+ and Caribbean authors. And you can also help support The Bronx Is Reading and keep the literary community in the borough going when you make a purchase through our bookstore! Just click on any book that might interest you below, and make sure you check out our full bookstore selection here.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR DANCING by Nicola Yoon
An instant #1 New York Times Bestseller when it dropped! Evie Thomas doesn’t believe in love, not after a vision of a couple coming together and falling apart flash before her eyes. But it gets complicated when she starts falling for X, the mysterious boy at her dance studio. It’s the latest book from Nicola Yoon, author of bestsellers like The Sun Is Also a Star and Everything, Everything. Watch our keynote with her here!
FIFTEEN HUNDRED MILES FROM THE SUN by Jonny Garza Villa
Julián Luna’s plans to stay under the radar until he can finish high school, get out of San Antonio, and start college in LA. But one impulsive tweet later, he finds himself unintentionally outed. While Jules reckons with both the good and the bad of being out, Mat, someone who might change everything for him, comes into his life. But with Mat on the other side of the country, Jules has to face this reckoning alone. See our panel featuring author Jonny Garza Villa here!
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris
An instant #1 New York Times Bestseller when it released and on countless publications’s lists as their most anticipated book of 2021, book club pick lists, and a People Best Book of Summer, it’s Harris’s hot off the presses debut novel. Nella Rogers is fed up with being the only Black employee at the NYC publishing house she works at. Nella’s initially thrilled when another Black employee, Hazel, finally joins, but things take a turn when Hazel rises through the ranks and leaves Nella behind. And things get dangerous when ominous, threatening notes start appearing on Nella’s desk.
JOSEPHINE AGAINST THE SEA by Shakirah Bourne
Shakirah Bourne’s latest book follows 11 year-old Josephine as she deals with the everyday triumphs and pitfalls of growing up, from trying out for the cricket team to coming to terms with a potential new stepmom. But there’s a twist– this book isn’t just your typical coming of age fare, instead it weaves Caribbean mythology into Josephine’s story. This book isn’t out until early July, but we wanted to make sure to include it as part of Caribbean Heritage Month.
THE NATURAL MOTHER OF THE CHILD by Krys Malcolm Belc
Krys Malcolm Belc’s new memoir explores how pregnancy, birth, and parenthood shaped his relationship to his gender and allowed him to explore and come to terms with it. Belc incorporates visual elements throughout this memoir while exploring what it means to have a body and what it means to be a parent, and telling a story of taking control of your own narrative.