Sherri L. Smith

Experience a part of the epic Avatar saga that you won''t see in the films! Originally planned as the sequel to the 2009 Academy Award-winning film Avatar, James Cameron''s screenplay for Avatar: The High Ground was scripted and illustrated as three original graphic novels that are now compiled here along with an introduction and a 13-page sketchbook section that includes excerpts from the screenplay and character designs. It''s been more than a decade since Marine Jake Sully joined the Na''vi through an avatar body and became their leader in the fight against the destructive Resources Development Administration. Since forcing them to leave the moon, Pandora, Jake and his wife Neytiri have settled down and grown their family. Now, the RDA is returning, their massive fleet of ships are packed with firepower and their militaristic Security Operations have a fierce directive to take control of Pandora. Jake has everything on the line. War has returned to the Na''vi homeworld and it will take all they have to save it. Can the RDA be stopped before they make landfall?

A speculative middle grade novel about three generations of Black girls connected across time and space through a wormhole in their school locker.On the first day of eighth grade, thirteen-year-old Candace Wells opens her locker and is astonished when an unusual bird flies out. Soon after, a notebook mysteriously appears on the top shelf. There?s a name written in it, Tracey Auburn, and a year, 1988. On a whim, Candace writes in the notebook?and she''s shocked when a short time later, Tracey Auburn writes back.Then an invitation appears from Loretta Young, who had the locker in 1948, and the three meet up in the present day. Tracey Auburn is now 53 and a college professor, and Loretta Young is 93 and a quantum physicist. Loretta tells them that her life?s work has been to study the portal and others like it across Chicago and the state of Illinois. But Loretta is now an old woman, and she needs Tracey?s and Candace?s help to complete her research. And to truly get to the bottom of things, one will have to do the unimaginable?pass through the portal herself.

From the acclaimed author of Flygirl and the bestselling author of Code Name Verity comes the thrilling and inspiring true story of the desegregation of the skies.?This beautiful and brilliant history of not only what it means to be Black and dream of flying but to, against every odd, do so, completely blew me away.? ?Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award Winner for Brown Girl DreamingIn the years between World War I and World War II, aviation fever was everywhere, including among Black Americans. But what hope did a Black person have of learning to fly in a country constricted by prejudice and Jim Crow laws, where Black aviators like Bessie Coleman had to move to France to earn their wings?American Wings follows a group of determined Black Americans: Cornelius Coffey and Johnny Robinson, skilled auto mechanics; Janet Harmon Bragg, a nurse; and Willa Brown, a teacher and social worker. Together, they created a flying club and built their own airfield south of Chicago. As the U.S. hurtled toward World War II, they established a school to train new pilots, teaching both Black and white students together and proving, in a time when the U.S. military was still segregated, that successful integration was possible.Featuring rare historical photographs, American Wings brings to light a hidden history of pioneering Black men and women who, with grit and resilience, battled powerful odds for an equal share of the sky.

In a beautifully crafted and captivating graphic novel from award-winning writer Sherri L. Smith and Eisner-nominated artist Christine Norrie, a Japanese-American girl must survive years of uncertainty and questions of loyalty in Hiroshima during World War II. Amy is a thirteen-year-old Japanese-American girl who lives in Hawaii. When her great-grandmother falls ill, Amy travels to visit family in Hiroshima for the first time. But this is 1941. When the Japanese navy attacks Pearl Harbor, it becomes impossible for Amy to return to Hawaii. Conscripted into translating English radio transmissions for the Japanese army, Amy struggles with questions of loyalty and fears about her family amidst rumors of internment camps in America — even as she makes a new best friend and, over the years, Japan starts to feel something like home. Torn between two countries at war, Amy must figure out where her loyalties lie and, in the face of unthinkable tragedy, find hope in the rubble of a changed world.