'Black Panther' fans, here's your next read

'Miles Morales: Spiderman' by Jason Reynolds
'Miles Morales: Spiderman' by Jason Reynolds
Courtesy of publisher

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Jeffrey Blair of EyeSeeMe African American Children's Bookstore in University City, Mo.

"Black Panther" fans, here's your next obsession.

Bookseller Jeffrey Blair recommends "Miles Morales: Spiderman," a young adult novel by The New York Times best-selling author Jason Reynolds.

"In the spirit of 'Black Panther' coming and the excitement that's coming on, this is a new 'Spiderman' that's coming out that features a young African-American," Blair said.

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The classic Marvel web-slinging superhero has been reinvented as Miles Morales, a junior in high school.

"Part of what we do at EyeSeeMe is allow individuals who might not have seen their story or their culture presented in literature have that opportunity," Blair said. "Being an African-American and living in New York, there are themes [in the book] that will really resonate."

"So, if you are a Spiderman fan, you're definitely going to love all the various challenges a young person has trying to be a superhero, and still having that parallel normal life in high school. It's a lot of fun."

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