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A FINALIST FOR THE 2025 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

SIX STARRED REVIEWS

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Ibi Zoboi comes her groundbreaking contemporary fantasy debut—a novel in verse based on Caribbean folklore—about the power of inherited magic and the price we must pay to live the life we yearn for.

“Our new home with its

thick walls and locked doors

wants me to stay trapped in my skin—

but I am fury and flame.”

Fifteen-year-old Marisol is the daughter of a soucouyant. Every new moon, she sheds her skin like the many women before her, shifting into a fireball witch who must fly into the night and slowly sip from the lives of others to sustain her own. But Brooklyn is no place for fireball witches with all its bright lights, shut windows, and bolt-locked doors.… While Marisol hoped they would leave their old traditions behind when they emigrated from the islands, she knows this will never happen while she remains ensnared by the one person who keeps her chained to her magical past—her mother.

Seventeen-year-old Genevieve is the daughter of a college professor and a newly minted older half sister of twins. Her worsening skin condition and the babies’ constant wailing keep her up at night, when she stares at the dark sky with a deep longing to inhale it all. She hopes to quench the hunger that gnaws at her, one that seems to reach for some memory of her estranged mother. When a new nanny arrives to help with the twins, a family secret connecting her to Marisol is revealed, and Gen begins to find answers to questions she hasn’t even thought to ask.

But the girls soon discover that the very skin keeping their flames locked beneath the surface may be more explosive to the relationships around them than any ancient magic.

Finalist for the National Book Award

About the Author

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Ibi Zoboi is the New York Times bestselling author of American Street, a National Book Award finalist; Nigeria Jones, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; Pride; My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich; Okoye to the People: A Black Panther Novel for Marvel; and the Walter Award and LA Times Book Prize–winning Punching the Air, cowritten with Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam. She is also a two-time Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner for her picture book The People Remember and her middle grade biography of Octavia Butler, Star Child. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her family. You can find her online at ibizoboi.net.

Praise For…

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★ "Bold and exciting. Readers will fly through Zoboi’s latest masterpiece and crave more stories featuring Caribbean folklore. An ambitious contemporary fantasy that will grip readers from the first page." - Booklist (starred review)
★ “The stage is set for secrets and supernatural discoveries. The slow, methodical unraveling of how interwoven the two teenage girls’ stories is the treat of this sharp verse narrative.” - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
"[A] rich modern take paying homage to classic portrayals from Caribbean folklore. Decadent. This fantastical novel-in-verse will please fans of contemporary fantasy and poetry alike." - BookPage
★ “The verse format offers a rhythmic and accessible read while challenging stereotypes regarding colorism and racism. An essential book.” - School Library Journal (starred review)
★ “Readers will enjoy the ways the monstrous characters’ human facades shift. A vividly creative, heart-pounding poetic journey.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Ambitious and unapologetic in its rendering, deftly addressing themes of colorism, assimilation, and inheritance. This fast-paced fever dream of a tale crackles and sparks on the page—almost burning the fingertips as it weaves folklore into reality." - Amber McBride, National Book Award finalist and author of Me (Moth)
Praise for AMERICAN STREET: “Brimming with culture, magic, warmth, and unabashed rawness, Zoboi [is], without question, an inevitable force in storytelling.” - Jason Reynolds, award-winning author of Long Way Down and coauthor of All American Boys
“Zoboi displays her immense talent in a new genre by creating a first-class, haunting urban fantasy. Will likely be loved by fans of Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye.” - Shelf Awareness
★ "Skillfully captures the complexities of identity and belonging, offering a powerful narrative about two girls struggling to understand who they are and where they come from." - Horn Book (starred review)
★ “Zoboi delves into each teen’s inner turmoil, tackling themes of misogynoir, colorism, and immigration via complicated mother-daughter dynamics. [A] searing exploration of personal growth and self-discovery.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)