Sugar Town Queens by Malla Nunn

Sugar Town Queens

Malla Nunn

Penguin Young Readers Group · Paperback · August 2, 2022

From Los Angeles Times Book Prize Award winner and Edgar Award nominee Malla Nunn comes a stunning portrait of a family divided and a powerful story of how friendship saves and heals.

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Who it’s for
Family secrets and steadfast friends give this coming-of-age story its mix of mystery and heart.
Genres
Prejudice & Racism for Teens, YA Mysteries, YA Family Stories
Published
Penguin Young Readers Group, August 2, 2022

About this book

From Los Angeles Times Book Prize Award winner and Edgar Award nominee Malla Nunn comes a stunning portrait of a family divided and a powerful story of how friendship saves and heals. When Amandla wakes up on her fifteenth birthday, she knows it's going to be one of her mother's difficult days. Her mother has had another vision. This one involves Amandla wearing a bedsheet loosely stitched as a dress.

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An outfit, her mother says, is certain to bring Amandla's father back home, as if he were the prince and this was the fairytale ending their family was destined for. But in truth, Amandla's father has long been gone--since before Amandla was born--and even her mother's memory of him is hazy. In fact, many of her mother's memories from before Amandla was born are hazy. It's just one of the many reasons people in Sugar Town give them strange looks--that and the fact her mother is white and Amandla is Black. When Amandla finds a mysterious address in the bottom of her mother's handbag along with a large amount of cash, she decides it's finally time to get answers about her mother's life. What she discovers will change the shape and size of her family forever. But with her best friends at her side, Amandla is ready to take on family secrets and the devil himself. These Sugar Town queens are ready to take over the world to expose the hard truths of their lives.

Secrets and Solidarity

Family secrets and steadfast friends give this coming-of-age story its mix of mystery and heart.

Come here for

  • A teen’s search for family answers, with friendship close at hand
  • A story attentive to race, memory, and belonging

Expect

  • A family portrait shaped by absence and hazy memories
  • Best friends facing hard truths together

Where it sits

YA Family Stories34%
YA Mysteries30%
Prejudice & Racism for Teens22%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • YA Mysteries
  • Africa for Teens
  • Prejudice & Racism for Teens
Authors
Malla Nunn
Publisher
Penguin Young Readers Group
Published
August 2, 2022
Format
Paperback
Reading lane
YA Mysteries