Most Anticipated Books This August
Looking for your next read? Check out our most anticipated books dropping this month. We can’t wait for you to to see how good they are, from picture books and YA novels to adult nonfiction.
Boogie Boogie, Y’all by C.G. Esperanza
Bronx born and raised author-illustrator C.G. Esperanza’s latest is a gorgeous picture book that’s also a tribute to the borough– its parks, its trains, and especially its vibrant graffiti. It tells the story of three kids realizing how much beauty really is in their community, and their mission to make others see it, too.
Radiant Fugitives: A Novel by Nawaaz Ahmed
Seema’s a success, a high powered political consultant in San Francisco. But she’s been estranged from her family after coming out as lesbian, and though she’s hoping their relationship will heal as she turns to them in the final stages of her pregnancy, painful family secrets start to be revealed.
Three Rooms by Jo Hamya
Finding a “room of one’s own”, famously recommended by Virginia Woolf proves to be elusive in the present day. Hamya’s debut novel follows a woman who goes from rented room to rented couch to her childhood home, in an increasingly expensive, out of reach world– and one starting to be shaken by the rise of nationalism.
Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Award winning writer and activist Dunbar-Ortiz’s latest unpacks the myth that America is a nation by and for immigrants, and instead takes a critical look at the colonialism, racism, and structural inequality that masquerades as an “inspiring” “immigrant” story.
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Dubois by Honorée Fannone Jeffers
Award-winning poet and essayist Fannone Jeffers’s (2020 National Book Award nominee) debut novel follows Ailey Pearl, a Black woman living up North but with family history in Georgia. And it’s a history she begins digging into, sets out to make sense of, and learns to live with, in all its complexity, hurt, and joy.
Sugar Town Queens by Malla Nunn
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Award winner Nunn’s new YA novel follows Amandla, who finds an address she doesn’t recognize in her mother’s handbag the day of her 15th birthday. Curious, Amandla believes that maybe the address might have something to do with her absentee father. It’s worth mentioning, things are further complicated by the fact that Amandla’s mother experiences mysterious visions, and has one of Amandla’s father that same morning. What Amandla finds out will soon change their family forever.
Tomatoes for Neela by Padma Lakshmi, Illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal
From the host of Top Chef and Taste the Nation Padma Lakshmi, and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal comes a beautifully made picture book about the power of food and family, and how cooking together can bring loved ones together, despite barriers like physical distance.