New Releases by Tami Charles

"A story of perseverance, creativity, and Black joy highlighting a pivotal time in dancer and actress Debbie Allen''s life"--

An empowering follow-up to New York Times bestselling picture book All Because You Matter that celebrates the rich history of Black and brown men and women throughout history with soaring language and stunning illustration. Lyrical, affirmational, and bursting with love, We Are Here is a poignant story about Black and brown heritage and community. Full of assurance, tenderness, and triumph, this much-anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestselling picture book All Because You Matter offers an equally inspirational and arresting ode to all of the Black women and men throughout history who have made momentous contributions from the beginning of time. Tami Charles shares the beauty and excellence in the history of the Black community, assuring Black and brown children of the extraordinary legacy from which they come. Charles''s powerful and empowering text is accompanied with illustrations by renowned artist Bryan Collier, a four-time Caldecott Honor recipient and a nine-time Coretta Scott King Award winner or honoree. We Are Here celebrates readers with pride, joy, and love, reminding them of their roots, inviting readers to imagine a future that shines ever bright, and strengthening them for their triumphant days to come!

These stories of Black trailblazers, communities, and experiences will inspire kids of all backgrounds. This uplifting collection of eight stories introduces readers to barrier-breaking artists and athletes, as well as Black culture and traditions. This collection includes e-book editions of Fearless Mary, Gordon Parks, Ice Breaker, More than Just a Game, Song in a Rainstorm, Sugar Hill, Tiara''s Hat Parade, and Touch the Sky.

From New York Times bestselling author Tami Charles and rising star illustrator Sharon Sordo comes the second book in a charming picture book series about a fun, spunky girl with strong opinions, big ideas, and a huge heart! Zuri Ray is back! And this time, she''s got a party to plan. With summer coming to an end, a backyard bash is an absolute must, and Zuri''s not letting her parents'' questionable tastes anywhere near the details. The food, the decorations, the entertainment--everything has to be perfect. Good thing her friends are ready to help! But when the party doesn''t go exactly according to plan, will Zuri be able to let loose and improvise? Or will the chaos be too much to handle? Perfect for fans of Fancy Nancy and Fresh Princess, Zuri Ray and the Backyard Bash highlights how much fun can be had even when plans fall apart.

Who is the greatest tennis player of all time?Thisstunning book, filled to the brim with color photographs and interesting information, picks Serena Williams! G.O.A.T. is an acronym that stands for Greatest Of All Time—and it takes lifelong dedication, nonstop hard work, and undeniable, unbelievable talent even to be considered for that honor. Serena Williams is the most decorated female tennis player of all time. She’s been ranked #1 by the Women’s Tennis Association countless times since 2002, and no one holds more Grand Slam titles—not just as a single’s player, but also, with her sister Venus, in women’s doubles. Find out all about this powerhouse player and her dozens of amazing victories in this entertaining book that’s packed with stats, sidebars, and details about the athlete’s journey. Sports-crazed kids will love it.

From New York Times bestselling author Tami Charles and rising star illustrator Sharon Sordo comes the first book in a charming picture book series about a fun, spunky girl with a huge heart! Meet Zuri Ray. She’s always willing to go the extra mile for family and friends and is up for any challenge. At least, that was before her best friend, Jessie, asked her to join a ballet camp. Now Zuri isn’t sure if she’s up for everything. While Jessie can’t wait to chassé and plié while wearing tight hair buns and frilly tutus, that doesn’t sound like Zuri at all! But she can’t let her friend down. Maybe classical ballet just needs a new spin . . . Perfect for fans of Fancy Nancy and Fresh Princess, Zuri Ray Tries Ballet encourages kids to follow their hearts and stay true to themselves!

A young girl in Haiti is eager to learn how to carry a basket to market in an exuberant picture book with universal appeal. “To carry the panye, we move gracefully, even under the weight of the sun and the moon.” In the hills above Port-au-Prince, a young girl named Fallon wants more than anything to carry a large woven basket to the market, just like her Manman. As she watches her mother wrap her hair in a mouchwa, Fallon tries to twist her own braids into a scarf and balance the empty panye atop her head, but realizes it’s much harder than she thought. BOOM! Is she ready after all? Lyrical and inspiring, with vibrant illustrations highlighting the beauty of Haiti, My Day with the Panye is a story of family legacy, cultural tradition, and hope for the future. Readers who are curious about the art of carrying a panye will find more about this ancient and global practice in an author’s note at the end.

“A Haitian grandmother and granddaughter share a holiday, a family recipe, and a story of freedom. . . . A stunning and necessary historical picture book.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The shake-shake of maracas vibrates down to my toes. Ti Gran’s feet tap-tap to the rhythm. Every year, Haitians all over the world ring in the new year by eating a special soup, a tradition dating back to the Haitian Revolution. This year, Ti Gran is teaching Belle how to make Freedom Soup just like she was taught when she was a little girl. Together, they dance and clap as they prepare the holiday feast, and Ti Gran tells Belle about the history of the soup, the history of Belle’s family, and the history of Haiti, where Belle’s family is from. In this celebration of cultural traditions passed from one generation to the next, Jacqueline Alcántara’s lush illustrations bring to life both Belle’s story and the story of the Haitian Revolution. Tami Charles’s lyrical text, as accessible as it is sensory, makes for a tale that readers will enjoy to the last drop.

A ripped-from-the-headlines novel of ambition, music, and innocence lost, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds! Be bold. Get seen. Be Heard.For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown.So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean "Mercury" Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it.Until they''re not.Denver begins to realize that she''s trapped in Merc''s world, struggling to hold on to her own voice. As the dream turns into a nightmare, she must make a choice: lose her big break, or get broken.Inspired by true events, Muted is a fearless exploration of the dark side of the music industry, the business of exploitation, how a girl''s dreams can be used against her -- and what it takes to fight back.

A lyrical, heart-lifting love letter to black and brown children everywhere: reminding them how much they matter, that they have always mattered, and they always will, from powerhouse rising star author Tami Charles and esteemed, award-winning illustrator Bryan Collier. Discover this poignant, timely, and emotionally stirring picture book, an ode to black and brown children everywhere that is full of hope, assurance, and love.Tami Charles pens a poetic, lyrical text that is part love letter, part anthem, assuring readers that they always have, and always will, matter. This powerful, rhythmic lullaby reassures readers that their matter and their worth is never diminished, no matter the circumstance: through the joy and wonder of their first steps and first laughter, through the hardship of adolescent struggles and the pain and heartbreak of current events, they always have, and always will, matter. Accompanied by illustrations by renowned artist Bryan Collier, a four-time Caldecott Honor recipient and a nine-time Coretta Scott King Award winner or honoree, All Because You Matter empowers readers with pride, joy, and comfort, reminding them of their roots and strengthening them for the days to come.Lyrical, personal, and full of love, All Because You Matter is for the picture book audience what The Hate U Give was for YA and Ghost Boys was for middle grade: a conversation starter, a community touchstone, and a deep affirmation of worth for the young readers who need it most.

"A compelling read about the quest for fame!" —Debbie Allen, star of Fame "Redemption is a heartbeat away." —Guadalupe Garcia McCall, author of the Pura Belpre Award winner Under the Mesquite Beatriz dreams of a life spent dancing--until tragedy on the day of her quinceañera changes everything. Up until her fifteenth birthday, the most important thing in the world to Beatriz Mendez was her dream of becoming a professional dancer and getting herself and her family far from the gang life that defined their days--that and meeting her dance idol Debbie Allen on the set of her favorite TV show, Fame. But after the latest battle in a constant turf war leaves her brother, Junito, dead and her mother grieving, Beatriz has a new set of priorities. How is she supposed to feel the rhythm when her brother''s gang needs running, when her mami can''t brush her own teeth, and when the last thing she can remember of her old self is dancing with her brother, followed by running and gunshots? When the class brainiac reminds Beatriz of her love of the dance floor, her banished dreams sneak back in. Now the only question is: will the gang let her go? Set in New Jersey in 1984, Beatriz''s story is a timeless one of a teenager''s navigation of romance, her brother''s choices, and her own family''s difficult past. A companion novel to the much-lauded Like Vanessa.

Middle graders will laugh and cry with thirteen-year-old Vanessa Martin as she tries to be like Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America. In this semi-autobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin''s real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with a mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction and her own battle with self-confidence. But when a new teacher at school coordinates a beauty pageant and convinces Vanessa to enter, Vanessa''s view of her own world begins to change. Vanessa discovers that her own self-worth is more than the scores of her talent performance and her interview answers, and that she doesn''t need a crown to be comfortable in her own skin and see her own true beauty. "It''s such an honor to be the focal point of this wonderful book! Without a doubt, it will be inspiring to a new generation of young, talented girls well on their way to promising careers." --Vanessa Williams, Multi-Platinum Recording Artist, New York Times Best-Selling Author, Fashion Designer and star of Television, Film and the Broadway Stage "Like Vanessa has it all and then some! Gritty, poetic, emotionally true, Tami Charles wrings out every hope, every stumble and every triumph of a girl on an uneasy road to possessing her self, her strength and her own beauty. An unforgettable debut." --Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven ♦ "This debut is a treasure: a gift to every middle school girl who ever felt unpretty, unloved, and trapped by her circumstances."— Kirkus Reviews STARRED REVIEW ♦ "Charles evades the clichés and imbues Vanessa with an inner life that''s so real and personal it''s hard to deny the charm, heartbreak, and triumph of her story. . . . Superb."— Booklist STARRED REVIEW ♦ "Like Vanessa is an emotionally potent, engaging young adult story with a heroine whom it is impossible not to root for. The life lessons that Nessy learns are relevant and worthwhile for everyone."— Foreword Reviews STARRED REVIEW

2021-2022 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award Master List Black history meets the American West in this inspiring story of a woman who became a legend. A little-known but fascinating and larger-than-life character, Mary Fields is one of the unsung, trailblazing African American women who helped settle the American West. A former slave, Fields became the first African American woman stagecoach driver in 1895, when, in her 60s, she beat out all the cowboys applying for the job by being the fastest to hitch a team of six horses. She won the dangerous and challenging job, and for many years traveled the badlands with her pet eagle, protecting the mail from outlaws and wild animals, never losing a single horse or package. Fields helped pave the way for other women and people of color to become stagecoach drivers and postal workers.

Annabelle Louis is a military brat, and complete nerd who has always been homeschooled, but with her mother going on assignment in Afghanistan, she is going to have to attend middle school in Linden, New Jersey; her therapist suggests she try sports to make friends, and she creates a vlog, Daphne Doesn''t, in which she makes fun of all the things that she considers a waste of time (for example, sports and school)--the vlog proves to be a big hit, but when her classmates start sharing the videos, Annabelle''s secret identity may be exposed.

In her latest novel, the author of the Junior Library Guild Selection "Like Vanessa" follows seventh-grader Annabelle Louis, a super geek and perennial new kid who leads a double life as a hilarious, on-the-rise vlog star named Daphne. Illustrations.

Learning to dance before the winter ball is thirteen-year-old Annabelle''s latest challenge, supplying ample material for her video blog, Daphne Doesn''t--even more challenging is coping with the exposure of her secret identity (it turns out her friend John has known for weeks) by "cool" girl and sometime enemy Rachael, and finding a way to make what she has been hiding right with all her classmates.

When thirteen-year-old Annabelle''s mother gets her to dress up a little, she suddenly finds herself eating and shopping with the Rachael and the other "cool" girls, but also loosing the friends, like John, that she had already made; so, disgusted by what fashion is doing to her, she uses her vlog, Daphne Doesn''t, to make fun of it all and get back to her true self--but Rachael has figured out who Daphne is, and it looks like Annabelle''s secret identity is about to be exposed to the whole school.

Ridiculous makeup, blinding spotlights, and too much catty drama! Annabelle Daphne Louis starts her second assignment from her therapist to venture outside of her comfort zone at her new school. This time, she''s trying her hand at theater. Failing the auditions for Little Shop of Horrors, Annabelle finds her place backstage. But when Annabelle features some funny impersonations on her vlog, Daphne Doesn''t, the drama is just beginning. When the play director shares Daphne''s videos with the cast, Annabelle starts experiencing some real-life drama. And as her likes and followers increase like crazy, Annabelle begins to realize that it doesn''t mean anything if she doesn''t have the guts to make friends in real life.

In front of her followers, Daphne is a hilarious, on-the-rise teen vlog star. But at school Daphne is the ever-skeptical Annabelle Louis, eighth-grade super geek and perennial new kid. To cope with her mom''s upcoming military assignment in Afghanistan and her start at a brand new middle school, Annabelle''s parents send her to a therapist. Dr. Varma insists Annabelle try stepping out of her comfort zone, hoping it will give her the confidence to make friends, which she''ll definitely need once Mom is gone. Luckily there is one part of the assignment Annabelle DOES enjoy--her vlog, Daphne Doesn''t, in which she appears undercover and gives hilarious takes on activities she thinks are a waste of time. She is great at entertaining her online fans, yet her classmates don''t know she exists. Can Annabelle keep up the double life forever?