May We Suggest? This post contains recommendations from a CPL librarian. To get your own customized recommendation, just fill out the May We Suggest form — you can expect results within 10 days. All suggestions can be found on the May We Suggest blog or by liking May We Suggest on facebook.

If You Liked Black Panther...

Everybody is talking about Black Panther: the actors, the director, the characters, the rivalries, the music, the clothing, the politics. Take a look at some of the library materials featuring the filmmaker and cast, artists on the soundtrack, and the writers of the comic series, as well as other graphic novels and books about African and African-American history, heroes, and icons.

MacArthur Genius and National Book Award-winner T- Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me) takes the helm, confronting T'Challa with a dramatic upheaval in Wakanda. When a superhuman terrorist group that calls itself The People sparks a violent uprising, the land famed for its incredible technology and proud warrior traditions will be thrown into turmoil. If Wakanda is to survive, it must adapt - but can its monarch survive the necessary change? Collecting: Black Panther 1-4

Acclaimed alternative R&B artist SZA releases a brand new album. The first single, Love Galore, features Travis Scott. The album also includes the track Drew Barrymore and appearances from Kendrick Lamar and RZA..

Encyclopedia of black comics by Sheena C Howard

"The Encyclopedia of Black Comics, focuses on people of African descent who have published significant works in the United States or have worked across various aspects of the comics industry. The book focuses on creators in the field of comics: inkers, illustrators, artists, writers, editors, Black comic historians, Black comic convention creators, website creators, archivists and academics-- as well as individuals who may not fit into any category but have made notable achievements within and/or across Black comic culture"--.

Strange fruit by J. G Jones

An alien being falls to Earth during the Great Flood of 1927, destined to save a small Mississippi town from certain destruction. In the small town of Chatterlee, Mississippi, the Great Flood of 1927 was more than just the most catastrophic river flood in the history of the United States. It was the herald of change. While the rising river and broken levees ravaged the former plantation town from the outside, racial and social tensions tore it apart from within. But when an otherworldly being fell from the sky and challenged everything these divided people knew, it changed things . . . forever.

Damn [sound recording] by Kendrick Lamar

Just one year after releasing Untitled Unmastered, Grammy Award winner Kendrick Lamar returns with one of the most buzzed about albums of 2017. It includes the single HUMBLE..

Adonis Johnson never knew his famous father, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, who died before he was born. Still, there's no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed's legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa.

The man who made Luke Cage into the unbreakable hero he is today, Dr. Noah Burstein, is dead. But when Luke heads to New Orleans for the funeral, it turns out that there may be more to his father figure's death than he realized. Shady billionaires, amped-up gangs, and a shadowy figure from his past propel Luke into a world of mystery. The hunt he begins may end up destroying him...but when Cage is looking for answers, it's a bad day for anyone in his way!

Collecting the second Trees story, Two Forests. A survivor of the Blindhail Event looks for signs of imminent global disaster among the megaliths and relics of Orkney, while the new mayor of New York plans to extract his revenge for the awful thing that happened the day the Tree landed on Manhattan.

This sprawling, cumbersome, and often psychedelic effort feels like a glorious clearing house for the diverse and deep rapper, offering giant, cinematic, and challenging efforts... - Dave Jeffries

The award-winning animator behind Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Hotel Transylvania brings his visionary talents to Marvel! On the mean streets of Harlem, shoes are big, shirts are large, bottoms are belled and crime is rampant! But in the heart of the city, the world's hardest-working, smack-talking, chain-wearing super hero is on the streets and on the case! And his rates are reasonable! He's Cage! Dig it! But what happens when he's out of his element, trapped in a jungle a thousand miles from home, and hunted by savage beasts that walk like men? 

A remarkable work of reportage by Nobel Prize Laureate V. S. Naipaul that surveys belief and religion among the disparate peoples of Africa. Like all of Naipaul’s “travel” books, The Masque of Africa encompasses a much larger narrative and purpose: to judge the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of civilization. It is a masterly achievement by one of the world’s keenest observers and one of its greatest writers.

The world building of Wakanda continues in a love story where tenderness is matched only by brutality! You know them now as the Midnight Angels, but in this story they are just Ayo and Aneka, young women recruited to become Dora Milaje, an elite task force trained to protect the crown of Wakanda at all costs. Their first assignment will be to protect Queen Shuri... but what happens when your nation needs your hearts and minds, but you already gave them to each other? Meanwhile, former king T'Challa lies with bedfellows so dark, disgrace is inevitable. Plus, explore the true origins of the People's mysterious leader, Zenzi. Black Panther thinks he knows who Zenzi is and how she got her powers - but he only knows part of the story!

An untamed state by Roxane Gay

Mireille's perfect life is shattered when she is kidnapped by armed men in front of her father's estate in Haiti and must endure the horrors and torments of her captors while her father inexplicably resists paying for her ransom.

Motor crush. Vol. 1 by Brenden Fletcher

The team behind the critically-acclaimed revamp of Batgirl returns with an exciting sci-fi action-adventure series! By day, Domino Swift competes for fame & fortune in a worldwide motorcycle racing league By night, she cracks heads of rival gangs in brutal bike wars to gain possession of a rare, valuable contraband: an engine-boosting "machinenarcotic" known as Crush.

LUNELLA LAFAYETTE is a preteen super genius who wants to change the world-but learned the hard way that it takes MORE than just big brains. Fearful of the monstrous INHUMAN genes inside her, life is turned upside down when a savage, red-scaled tyrant is teleported from prehistoric past to a far-flung future we call TODAY. The pair are many things, and together the most amazing Marvel Team-Up. COLLECTING: MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR 1-6

A kung fu epic set in the back alleys and subway tunnels of Harlem, New York. Kyrie, an aspiring street artist who is struggling to make ends meet, learns that he is the last living descendant of a secret sect of ancient Shaolin Elders. Confused and unsure of where to turn, he finds a father figure in the mysterious Master Fong. Fong trains Kyrie in martial arts in anticipation of an attack from Red Fist, a relentless killer who has already murdered the rest of Kyrie's bloodline." -- ONIX annotation.

East meets West in this hip-hop infused samurai-gangster story in which a professional killer goes by the name of Ghost Dog and who lives by the age-old code of the samurai. When Ghost Dog's code is dangerously betrayed by the dysfunctional mafia family that occasionally employs him, he must find a way to defend himself without breaking the code of the samurai.

Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Manifold team up to confront a wave of street-level threats linked to the suspicious death of a Harlem activist, in a series debut that reveals surprising twists the history of the Marvel Universe.

We Were Eight Years in Power features Coates’s iconic essays first published in The Atlantic, including “Fear of a Black President,” “The Case for Reparations,” and “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” along with eight fresh essays that revisit each year of the Obama administration through Coates’s own experiences, observations, and intellectual development, capped by a bracingly original assessment of the election that fully illuminated the tragedy of the Obama era. We Were Eight Years in Power is a vital account of modern America, from one of the definitive voices of this historic moment.

Presents bold graphics, photographs, and collages created by Emory Douglas, the Black Panther Party's newspaper art director and later the party's Minister of Culture. "Discusses Douglas's seminal role in the crafting of the party's visual identity and cultural programs and his lasting influence on generations of artists and designers."--Dust jacket.

The true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: Being a better son to his mother, being a better partner to his girlfriend, and being a better father to T, their beautiful four-year-old daughter. Then he's gunned down by BART officers on New Year's Day in 2009, sending shock waves throught our nation.

This graphic novel tells unforgettable stories about Afro-Brazilian slaves who rebelled against oppression.

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. Their first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels.

Based on the vibrant true story of a young girl from the streets of rural Uganda whose world rapidly changes when she is introduced to the game of chess, and, as a result of the support she receives from her family and community, is instilled with the confidence and determination she needs to pursue her dream of becoming an international chess champion.

"South Africa has an established, vibrant and highly politicized contemporary art scene that is often in dialogue with the deep and recent past. South African Art explores this relationship between past and present, showing contemporary and historic art objects from the earliest human artistic tendencies three million years ago to 20th-century apartheid Resistance Art and the art of post-apartheid transformation. - Provided by publisher.

A founder of Black Lives Matter chronicles growing up sensitive and black in a country militarized against her community.With assistance from Bandele (Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother's Story, 2009, etc.), Khan-Cullors synthesizes memoir and polemic to discuss oppressive policing and mass imprisonment, the hypocrisy of the drug war, and other aspects of white privilege, portraying the social network-based activism of BLM and like-minded groups as the only rational response to American-style apartheid. - Kirkus

In this vast and vivid panorama of history, Martin Meredith follows the fortunes of Africa over a period of 5,000 years. With compelling narrative, he traces the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms and empires; the spread of Christianity and Islam; the enduring quest for gold and other riches; the exploits of explorers and missionaries; and the impact of European colonization. He examines, too, the fate of modern African states and concludes with a glimpse of their future.

Kendrick Lamar follows up a successful night at the Grammy Awards, which included five wins and a buzzworthy performance, with a new project which features studio versions of the untitled songs he performed on several TV shows.

To Pimp a Butterfly is as dark, intense, complicated, and violent as Picasso's Guernica, and should hold the same importance for its genre and the same beauty for its intended audience. ~ David Jeffries

Follows the life and career of musician and poet Tupac Shakur..

This journey through the concrete jungle of Compton is worth taking because of the artistic richness within, plus the attraction of a whip-smart rapper flying high during his rookie season. Any hesitation about the horror of it all is quickly wiped away by Kendrick's mix of true talk, open heart, open mind, and extended hand. Add it all up and even without the hype, this one is still potent and smart enough to rise to the top of the pile. ~ David Jeffries

A young black man meets his white girlfriend's parents at their estate, only to find out that the situation is much more sinister than it appears..

After another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps, one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark2s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.