Soloby Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess is aNew York Timesbestseller!Kirkus ReviewssaidSolois, A contemporary heros journey, brilliantly told. Through the story of a young Black man searching for answers about his life,Soloempowers, engages, and encourages teenagers to move from heartache to healing, burden to blessings, depression to deliverance, and trials to triumphs.

Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, hed give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback. Or to no longer be part of a family known most for lost potential, failure, and tragedy, including the loss of his mother. The one true light is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her parents have forbidden their relationship, assuming Blade will become just like his father.

In reality, the only thing Blade and Rutherford have in common is the music that lives inside them. And songwriting is all Blade has left after Rutherford, while drunk, crashes his high school graduation speech and effectively rips Chapel away forever. But when a long-held family secret comes to light, the music disappears. In its place is a letter, one that could bring Blade the freedom and love hes been searching for, or leave him feeling even more adrift.

Solo:

• Is written byNew York Timesbestselling author and Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Book Award-winner Kwame Alexander
• Showcases Kwames signature intricacy, intimacy, and poetic style, by exploring what it means to finally go home
• An #OwnVoices novel that features a BIPOC protagonist on a search for his roots and identity
• Received great reviews fromPublishers Weekly,School Library Journal,Booklist, andKirkus.

If you enjoySolo, check outSwingby Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess.