Strong Words

A Tristan Strong Novel (Book 1-3)

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the finale of Kwame Mbalia's trilogy, in which Tristan Strong faces off with his archenemy, King Cotton, once and for all, now in paperback.Imagine if you combined Anansi the Spider, John Henry, and Marvel into, like, one book.--New York Times best-selling author and Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander After reuniting with Ayanna, who is now in his world, Tristan travels up the Mississippi in pursuit of his archenemy, King Cotton. Along the way they encounter new haints who are dead set on preventing their progress north to Tristan's hometown of Chicago. It's going to take many Alkean friends, including the gods themselves, the black flames of the afokena gloves, and all of Tristan's inner strength to deliver justice once and for all. Shocking twists, glorious triumphs, and a cast of unforgettable characters make this series conclusion as satisfying as it is entertaining.Complete your middle grade fantasy collection with these best-selling fan fav

The best-selling and awarding-winning novel about a Black boy who helps folk heroes and gods through storytelling is now a dynamic graphic novel!The talented team of Robert Venditti and Olivia Stephens brings to glorious full color the novel that best-selling author Jason Reynolds called A brilliant action adventure rooted in African American lore. Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie's notebook. Tristan chases after it--is that a doll?--and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature's hands, Tristan punches the tree

An exploration of how heteronormative bias is deeply embedded in the internet, hidden in algorithms, keywords, content moderation, and more.In The Digital Closet, Alexander Monea argues provocatively that the Internet became straight by suppressing everything that is not, forcing LGBTQ+ content into increasingly narrow channels―rendering it invisible through opaque algorithms, automated and human content moderation, warped keywords, and other strategies of digital overreach. Monea explains how the United States’ thirty-year “war on porn” has brought about the over-regulation of sexual content, which, in turn, has resulted in the censorship of much nonpornographic content―including material on sex education and LGBTQ+ activism. In this wide-ranging, enlightening account, Monea examines the cultural, technological, and political conditions that put LGBTQ content into the closet. Monea looks at the anti-porn activism of the alt-right, Christian conservatives, and anti-porn feminists, who

A proposal that we think about digital technologies such as machine learning not in terms of artificial intelligence but as artificial communication.Algorithms that work with deep learning and big data are getting so much better at doing so many things that it makes us uncomfortable. How can a device know what our favorite songs are, or what we should write in an email? Have machines become too smart? In Artificial Communication, Elena Esposito argues that drawing this sort of analogy between algorithms and human intelligence is misleading. If machines contribute to social intelligence, it will not be because they have learned how to think like us but because we have learned how to communicate with them. Esposito proposes that we think of “smart” machines not in terms of artificial intelligence but in terms of artificial communication.To do this, we need a concept of communication that can take into account the possibility that a communication partner may be not a human being but an al

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the finale of Kwame Mbalia's trilogy, in which Tristan Strong faces off with his archenemy, King Cotton, once and for all.Imagine if you combined Anansi the Spider, John Henry, and Marvel into, like, one book.--New York Times best-selling author and Newbery Medalist Kwame AlexanderAfter reuniting with Ayanna, who is now in his world, Tristan travels up the Mississippi in pursuit of his archenemy, King Cotton. Along the way they encounter new haints who are dead set on preventing their progress north to Tristan's hometown of Chicago. It's going to take many Alkean friends, including the gods themselves, the black flames of the afokena gloves, and all of Tristan's inner strength to deliver justice once and for all. Shocking twists, glorious triumphs, and a cast of unforgettable characters make this series conclusion as satisfying as it is entertaining.Complete your middle grade fantasy collection with these best-selling fan favorites: Rick Riorda

Bestselling author Rick Riordan presents the second book in the New York Times best-selling and award-winning Tristan Strong trilogy by Kwame Mbalia, now in paperback.Mbalia's universe continues to excite through sheer conceptual brilliance, nonstop action and adventure, and--let's be honest--the comical aggression of sidekick god Gum Baby.--BooklistWhen Tristan's Nana is abducted from the Strong family farm, our hero has to return to Alke to rescue her from a folktale villain with an ax to grind--er, make that a hammer.Tristan Strong, just back from a victorious but exhausting adventure in Alke, the land of African American folk heroes and African gods, is suffering from PTSD. But there's no rest for the weary when his grandmother is abducted by a mysterious villain out for revenge. Tristan must return to Alke--and reunite with his loud-mouthed sidekick, Gum Baby--in order to rescue Nana and stop the culprit from creating further devastation. Anansi, now a web developer in Tristan's p

Bestselling author Rick Riordan presents the second book in the New York Times best-selling Tristan Strong trilogy by Kwame Mbalia. Tristan Strong, just back from a victorious but exhausting adventure

Winner of a Coretta Scott King Author HonorBest-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African Ame

From baby pictures in the cloud to a high school's digital surveillance system: how adults unwittingly compromise children's privacy online.Our children's first digital footprints are made before they

Tough-as-nails Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong returns in this electrifying ninth installment of the series, by USA Today bestselling author Jon Land1994: Texas Ranger Jim Strong investigates a mass murde

Life hacking as self-help for the creative class in the digital age: using systems in pursuit of health, wealth, and productivity.Life hackers track and analyze the food they eat, the hours they sleep

Why technology is not an end in itself, and how cities can be “smart enough,” using technology to promote democracy and equity.Smart cities, where technology is used to solve every problem, are hailed

The one woman this cowboy can't resist is the only one who isn't falling for his charms...After weeks on the trail, Sam Monroe is looking forward to a hot bath, a home-cooked meal, and a real bed. In

A heartwarming western romance about a cowboy who gets a second chance with the first love he couldn't forget in the rugged beauty of the Montana mountains. . . Don't miss this special 2-in-1 edition

Tired of living by Jim Crow laws in the southern state of Mississippi, teenager Sherman Byrd wants nothing more than to discover God’s purpose for his life. The youngest son of sharecroppers, determin

Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong takes on a gang of neo-Nazis in Strong Cold Dead, an action-packed novel of the critically acclaimed Caitlin Strong series by Jon Land 1944: Texas Ranger Jim Strong invest

Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong returns in Jon Land's Strong Cold Dead, a thriller with heart-stopping action and a high-stakes terrorist plotThe terrorist organization ISIS is after a deadly toxin that c

ISIS comes to Texas in Jon Land's Strong Cold Dead, a Caitlin Strong novelThe terrorist organization ISIS is after a deadly toxin that could be the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The same toxin

Texas ranger Caitlin Strong is involved in an international plot rooted in secrets from the Cold War in Strong Light of Day, the seventh installment of Jon Land's New York Times bestselling Caitlin St