(S)Kin

Fifteen-year-old Marisol—a soucouyant, or shape-shifting witch, who turns into a flying fireball once a month and feeds on other people’s life forces—longs to escape her magical legacy and wishes she could have a different life. Far away from the monsters and myths back home in the Caribbean and trying to forge a new path in New York City, she and her mother eke out an existence working at a bakery owned by their boss and landlord, Jean-Pierre. Meanwhile, Genevieve, a 17-year-old Black and white dancer living with a painful skin condition that keeps her up at night, struggles to juggle the demands of high school and her boyfriend Micah’s jealousy. The arrival of a new nanny for her white father and stepmother’s twin newborns compels Genevieve to discover a hidden connection to her absent mother, her cultural roots, and Marisol. Using gripping verse, Zoboi (Nigeria Jones) delves into each teen’s inner turmoil, tackling themes of misogynoir, colorism, and immigration via complicated mother-daughter dynamics. The girls’ shifting perspectives appear on alternating sides of the book’s pages, only combining once they meet; an ambiguous resolution rounds out this searing exploration of personal growth and self-discovery. Ages 13–up. Agent: Georgia Bodnar, Noyan Literary. (Feb.)