Powerhouse author Ibi Zoboi made an enormous splash with her first YA novel, AMERICAN STREET, which received 5 starred reviews and was a National Book Award finalist, among many other accolades. This was followed by her acclaimed PRIDE, and the all-star anthology, BLACK ENOUGH.—And just around the corner is her fantastic middle-grade debut, MY LIFE AS AN ICE-CREAM SANDWICH. 

But what is coming next on this stellar horizon? I’m so glad you asked, because 2021 is going to knock your socks off. This deal has been months in the making, but we are thrilled that the news is out at last!

With alternating chapters in verse and prose, NIGERIA JONES is about a sixteen year-old who falls for a boy her father, the radical leader of a separatist movement, would disapprove of until she inadvertently travels back in time and is shunted between her new private school and the west coast of Africa in the early 1800s to inhabit the body of her young ancestor on the brink of being sold into slavery.

Trust me, you don’t want to miss this book! I am delighted to say that it was enthusiastically acquired by Alessandra Balzer at Balzer + Bray, in a two-book deal. Mark your calendars for 2021 J

Huge congrats, Ibi!

--Joan