Prom-Themed Launch Party for BLACK GIRLS DON'T CRY by Alex Travis

Join us for (bloody) prom punch, tulle dresses (optional, but encouraged!), and a game of "shred your enemies" as we celebrate all the Final Girls who ever dodged death in order to claim their crown.

Local thriller author L.S. Stratton will be in conversation with Alex Travis. Join us for prom-ish festivities, a brief author discussion, followed by signing! Pre-order signed copies below.

About:

When a Black teen decides to run for prom queen at her predominantly white high school, the competition takes a deadly turn when the fight for the crown becomes a matter of life or death. A gripping YA thriller for readers of Jumata Emill's The Black Queen and Tiffany D. Jackson's The Weight of Blood.

Ida and JJ could have been the ultimate power couple of Banneker High. As the VP and president of their Black Student Union, the two seemed destined to be yearbook legends. But that was before JJ learned Ida was equally attracted to girls. JJ is already deep in a new relationship, which infuriates Ida--almost as much as when a sexist "hot list' starts circulating the school. It's bad enough anyone rated the girls on their looks, but the list has only white students. Seriously?

There has never been any racial diversity among the prom queen candidates at Banneker, so the BSU decides to make their own statement on beauty and run a candidate. Now Ida and JJ's new girlfriend are both competing for the title. Ida wants to make a point more than win the crown, but having smart, savvy Amayah as her campaign manager might just help her do both. She's already winning Ida's heart.

Competition is fierce. Suddenly the prom queen candidates start getting picked off one by one...dropping out and dropping dead. Forget winning a tiara. Who will live to see prom?

About the authors:

Alex Travis worked in autism research for three years and has a PhD in School Psychology. She is also the author of the YA thriller, . As a Black woman, she hopes to add to the growing canon of great YA work about Black teenagers. She lives in Virginia.

L.S. Stratton (who also writes under the penname Shelly Ellis) studied journalism and started out as a crime reporter for a small local newspaper, and is now an editor at a trade journal. She was selected as one of four finalists in the BET Books "First-Time Writers Contest" when she was 19 years old. Since then, she has authored ten books and has been nominated for various awards, including a NAACP Image Award® in the Literary Fiction Category, an African American Literary Award in the romance category, and a RT Reviewers’ Choice Award. Shelly lives in Maryland with her husband and their daughter. SUNDOWN GIRLS is her first thriller for Young Adults.