text:
580 Books Published by HarperCollins on Our Site — Book Cover Mosaic
Life Is God's Best Gift: Wisdom from the Ancestors on Finding Peace and Joy in Today's Worldby Sam Chege
Amistad (Jun 25, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
Following the success of the megabestselling Black Pearls, a collection of 365 African proverbs that illuminate the secret to peace and joy; and inspire the words of Cudjo Lewis in Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon.
In Africa, grandparents traditionally share their wisdom about life and culture with their grandchildren, using proverbs and stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. This beautiful keepsake volume includes 365 proverbs--one for each day of the year--partnered with brief, yet profound lessons and knowledge covering all facets of life.
Collected from countries across the African continent, these wise proverbs encourage children to treasure community over material items; show kindness to others; love from the heart and not the mind; exercise empathy; and strive for a global education. These thoughtful proverbs include insights such as:
Proverb: "Love, like rain, does not choose the grass on which it falls." (South Africa)
Insight: True love is blind. True love is not based on wealth, family, position, education, tribe, religion or class. Love can bind together a most unlikely couple, as the heart has reasons that reason does not understand.
Proverb: "When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground." (Gambia)
Insight: The elders of the community hold the wisdom of the world.
Devoting a little time, day by day for a full year, this holistic, enriching gift book can lead to inner peace and happiness.
One Night in Georgiaby Celeste O. Norfleet
Amistad (Jun 18, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
Set in the summer of 1968, a provocative and devastating novel of individual lives caught in the grips of violent history--a timely and poignant story that reverberates with the power of Alice Walker's Meridian and Ntozake Shange's Betsey Browne.
At the end of a sweltering summer shaped by the tragic assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy, race riots, political protests, and the birth of Black power, three coeds from New York City--Zelda Livingston, Veronica Cook, and Daphne Brooks--pack into Veronica's new Ford Fairlane convertible, bound for Atlanta and their last year at Spelman College. It is the beginning a journey that will change their lives irrevocably.
Unlikely friends from vastly different backgrounds, the trio has been inseparable since freshman year. Zelda, serious and unyielding, the heir of rebellious slaves and freedom riders, sees the world in black versus white. Veronica, the privileged daughter of a refined, wealthy family, strongly believes in integration and racial uplift. Daphne lives with a legacy of loss--when she was five years old, her black mother committed suicide and her white father abandoned her.
Because they will be going their separate ways after graduation, Zelda, Veronica, and Daphne intend to make lasting memories on this special trip. Though they are young and carefree, they aren't foolish. Joined by Veronica's family friend Daniel, they rely on the Motorist Green Book to find racially friendly locations for gas, rest, and food. Still, with the sun on their cheeks, the wind in their hair, and Motown on the radio, the girls revel in their freedom. Yet as the miles fly by, taking them closer to the Mason-Dixon line, tension begins to rise and the conversation turns serious when Daphne shares a horrifying secret about her life.
When they hit Washington, D.C., the joyous trip turns dark. In Virginia they barely escape a desperate situation when prison guards mistake Daniel for an escapee. Further south they barely make it through a sundown town. When the car breaks down in Georgia they are caught up in a racially hostile situation that leaves a white person dead and one of the girls holding the gun.
Rebelby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (May 28, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
The first novel in USA Today Bestselling Author Beverly Jenkins's compelling new series follows a Northern woman south in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War . . .
Valinda Lacy's mission in the steamy heart of New Orleans is to help the newly emancipated community survive and flourish. But soon she discovers that here, freedom can also mean danger. When thugs destroy the school she has set up and then target her, Valinda runs for her life--and straight into the arms of Captain Drake LeVeq.
As an architect from an old New Orleans family, Drake has a deeply personal interest in rebuilding the city. Raised by strong women, he recognizes Valinda's determination. And he can't stop admiring--or wanting--her. But when Valinda's father demands she return home to marry a man she doesn't love, her daring rebellion draws Drake into an irresistible intrigue.
Let Me Hear a Rhymeby Tiffany D. Jackson
Katherine Tegen Books (May 21, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
In�this striking new novel by the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly and Monday's Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson tells the story of three Brooklyn teens who plot to turn their murdered friend into a major rap star by pretending he's still alive. Brooklyn, 1998. Biggie Smalls was right: Things done changed. But that doesn't mean that Quadir and Jarrell are cool letting their best friend Steph's music lie forgotten under his bed after he's murdered—not when his rhymes could turn any Bed Stuy corner into a party. With the help of Steph's younger sister Jasmine, they come up with a plan to promote Steph's music under a new rap name: the Architect. Soon, everyone wants a piece of him. When his demo catches the attention of a hotheaded music label rep, the trio must prove Steph's talent from beyond the grave.As the pressure of keeping their secret grows, Quadir, Jarrell, and Jasmine are forced to confront the truth about what happened to Steph. Only, each has something to hide. And with everything riding on Steph's fame, they need to decide what they stand for or lose all that they've worked so hard to hold on to—including each other.
New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descentby Margaret Busby
Amistad (May 07, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
The companion to the classic anthology Daughters of Africa —a major international collection that brings together the work of more than 200 women writers of African descent, celebrating their artistry and showcasing their contributions to modern literature and international culture.
Contributors include:
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Yrsa Daley Ward
- Edwidge Danticat
- Phillippa Yrsa De Villiers
- Esi Edugyan
- Eve Ewing
- Nikky Finney
- Roxane Gay
- Joanne C. Hillhouse
- Margo Jefferson
- Barbara Jenkins
- Imbolo Mbue
- Nnedi Okorafor
- Chinelo Okparanta
- Minna Salami
- Zadie Smith
Twenty-five years ago, Margaret Busby's Daughters of Africa was published to international acclaim and hailed as " an extraordinary body of achievement — a vital document of lost history" (Sunday Times) and "the ultimate reference guide" (Washington Post). New Daughters of Africa continues that tradition for a new generation.
This magnificent follow-up to the original landmark anthology brings together fresh and vibrant voices that have emerged from across the globe in the past two decades, from Antigua to Zimbabwe and Angola to the United States. Key figures, including Margo Jefferson, Nawal El Saadawi, Edwidge Danticat, and Zadie Smith, join popular contemporaries such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Imbolo Mbue, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Taiye Selasi, and Chinelo Okparanta in celebrating the heritage that unites them. Each of the pieces in this remarkable collection demonstrates an uplifting sense of sisterhood, honors the strong links that endure from generation to generation, and addresses the common obstacles female writers of color face as they negotiate issues of race, gender, and class and address vital matters of independence, freedom, and oppression.
A glorious portrayal of the richness, magnitude, and range of these visionary writers, New Daughters of Africa spans a range of genres — autobiography, memoir, oral history, letters, diaries, short stories, novels, poetry, drama, humor, politics, journalism, essays, and speeches — demonstrating the diversity and extraordinary literary achievements of black women who remain underrepresented, and whose contributions continue to be underrated in world culture today.
With the Fire on Highby Elizabeth Acevedo
HarperTeen (May 07, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
A Prince on Paper: Reluctant Royalsby Alyssa Cole
Avon (Apr 30, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Reluctant Royals series returns with a good girl searching for the life that's not too big, and not too small, and the bad boy prince who might be just right for her�Nya Jerami fled Thesolo for the glitz and glamour of NYC but discovered that her Prince Charming only exists in her virtual dating games. When Nya returns home for a royal wedding, she accidentally finds herself up close and personal—in bed—with the real-life celebrity prince who�she loves to hate.For Johan�von Braustein, the red-headed step-prince of Liechtienbourg, acting as paparazzi bait is a ruse that protects his brother—the heir to the throne—and his own heart.�When a royal referendum threatens his brother's future, a fake engagement is the perfect way to keep the cameras on him.Nya and Johan both have good reasons to avoid love, but�as desires are laid bare behind palace doors, they must decide if their fake romance will lead to a happily-ever-after.
New Kidby Jerry Craft
HarperCollins (Feb 05, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real, from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft.Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in Americaby Ibi Zoboi, Tracey Baptiste, Coe Booth, Dhonielle Clayton, Brandy Colbert, Jay Coles, Lamar Giles, Leah Henderson, Justina Ireland, Varian Johnson, Kekla Magoon, Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Renée Watson, Rita Williams-Garcia, and others
Balzer + Bray (Jan 08, 2019)
Read Detailed Book Description
Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today�Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it�s like to be young and Black in America.
Black is…sisters navigating their relationship at summer camp in Portland, Oregon, as written by Renée Watson.
Black is…three friends walking back from the community pool talking about nothing and everything, in a story by Jason Reynolds.
Black is…Nic Stone's high-class beauty dating a boy her momma would never approve of.
Black is…two girls kissing in Justina Ireland'�s story set in Maryland.
Black is urban and rural, wealthy and poor, mixed race, immigrants, and more — because there are countless ways to be Black enough.
- Ibi Zoboi,
- Tracey Baptiste,
- Coe Booth,
- Dhonielle Clayton,
- Brandy Colbert,
- Jay Coles,
- Lamar Giles,
- Leah Henderson,/a>,
- Justina Ireland,
- Varian Johnson,
- Kekla Magoon,
- Tochi Onyebuchi,
- Jason Reynolds,
- Nic Stone,
- Liara Tamani,
- Renée Watson, and
- Rita Williams-Garcia
Traceby Pat Cummings
HarperCollins (Dec 31, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
In?a debut novel that's perfect for�fans of Jason Reynolds and Erin Entrada Kelly, award-winning�author/illustrator and educator�Pat Cummings?tells�a poignant story?about?grief,?love, and the?untold stories?that?echo?across?time.�Trace Carter doesn't know how?to?feel at ease in his new life in New York. Even though?his artsy Auntie Lea is cool, her brownstone still�isn't his?home.�Haunted by flashbacks of the accident that killed his parents, the best he can do is try to distract himself from memories of the past.But the past isn't done with him.�When Trace takes a wrong turn?in?the New York Public Library, he finds someone else lost in the stacks?with him: a crying little boy,?wearing?old,?tattered clothes.And though at�first�he can't quite believe he's seen a ghost, Trace�soon�discovers that the?boy�he saw?has ties to Trace's own history—and that he?himself?may be the key to setting the dead to rest.
Carla Hall's Soul Food: Everyday and Celebrationby Carla Hall
Harper Wave (Oct 23, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
Beloved TV chef (ABC's Emmy Award-winning The Chew and fan favorite on Bravo's Top Chef), Carla Hall takes us back to her own Nashville roots to offer a fresh, lip-smackin' look at America's favorite comfort cuisine.
In Carla Hall's Soul Food, the beloved chef and television celebrity takes us back to her own Nashville roots to offer a fresh, lip-smackin' look at America's favorite comfort cuisine and traces soul food's history from Africa and the Caribbean to the American South. Carla shows us that soul food is more than barbecue and mac and cheese. Traditionally a plant-based cuisine, everyday soul food is full of veggie goodness that's just as delicious as cornbread and fried chicken.
From Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Hot Sauce Vinaigrette to Tomato Pie with Garlic Bread Crust, the recipes in Carla Hall's Soul Food deliver her distinctive Southern flavors using farm-fresh ingredients. The results are light, healthy, seasonal dishes with big, satisfying tastes—the mouthwatering soul food everyone will want a taste of.
Recipes include:
- Cracked Shrimp with Comeback Sauce
- Ghanaian Peanut Beef Stew with Onions and Celery
- Caribbean Smothered Chicken with Coconut, Lime, and Chiles
- Roasted Cauliflower with Raisins and Lemon-Pepper Millet
- Field Peas with Country Ham
- Chunky Tomato Soup with Roasted Okra Rounds
- Sweet Potato Pudding with Clementines
- Poured Caramel Cake
With Carla Hall's Soul Food, you can indulge in rich celebration foods, such as deviled eggs, buttermilk biscuits, Carla's famous take on Nashville hot fried chicken, and a decadent coconut cream layer cake.
Featuring 145 original recipes, 120 color photographs, and a whole lotta love, Carla Hall's Soul Food is a wonderful blend of the modern and the traditional—honoring soul food's heritage and personalizing it with Carla's signature fresh style. The result is an irresistible and open-hearted collection of recipes and stories that share love and joy, identity, and memory.
A Very Large Expanse of Seaby Tahereh Mafi
HarperCollins (Oct 16, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
"A raw yet astoundingly elegant examination of identity, loneliness and family that is unflinching in its honesty and power. Tahereh Mafi holds nothing back—and the reader is better for it."—Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Ember in the Ashes series
The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Mya in the Middleby Crystal Allen
Balzer + Bray (Oct 16, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
The third book in the hilarious middle-grade series about Mya, the cowgirl-loving fourth grader—perfect for fans of Ramona the Pest and Clementine.
Things have changed in the Tibbs house, and Mya isn't happy about it. She's stuck in the middle between an exceptionally cute baby sister and an exceptionally smart older brother. And her tired parents seem to only notice the "exceptional" kids in the house.
So when a class project lassoes Mya into starting her own school newspaper, she's sure this will earn her the star status she wants from her parents. But the same project also gives Mya's archenemy, Naomi Jackson, a chance to prove she is a better friend to the twins, Skye and Starr, than Mya is . . . and soon Mya feels caught in the middle again, just like at home. Good gravy in the navy!
When Mya makes a monumental mistake in an effort to celebrate the twins, she stands to lose everything, including their friendship. Now she has to figure out how to get back in the saddle, grab those reins, and gallop her way toward fixing everything.
Swingby Kwame Alexander
Blink Young Adult Books (Oct 02, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
New York Times bestselling authors Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess (Solo) tell a lyrical story about hope, courage, and love that will speak to anyone who's struggled to find their voice. And the surprise ending shines a spotlight on the issues related to our current social divide, challenging perspectives and inspiring everyone to make their voice heard.When America is not so beautiful, or right, or just, it can be hard to know what to do. Best friends Walt and Noah decide to use their voices to grow more good in the world, but first they've got to find cool.Walt is convinced junior year is their year, and he has a plan to help them woo the girls of their dreams and become amazing athletes. Never mind that he and Noah failed to make the high school baseball team yet again, and Noah's love interest since third grade, Sam, has him firmly in the friend zone. Noah soon finds himself navigating the worlds of jazz, batting cages, the strange advice of Walt's Dairy Queen-employed cousin, as well as Walt's "Hug Life" mentality. Status quo seems inevitable until Noah stumbles on a stash of old love letters. Each page contains the words he's always wanted to say to Sam, and he begins secretly creating artwork using the lines that speak his heart. But when his private artwork becomes public, Noah has a decision to make: continue his life in the dugout and possibly lose the girl forever, or take a swing and finally speak out?At the same time, numerous American flags are being left around town. While some think it's a harmless prank and others see it as a form of peaceful protest, Noah can't shake the feeling something bigger is happening to his community. Especially after he witnesses events that hint divides and prejudices run deeper than he realized.As the personal and social tensions increase around them, Noah and Walt must decide what is really true when it comes to love, friendship, sacrifice, and fate.
Prideby Ibi Zoboi
Balzer + Bray (Sep 18, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
Pride and Prejudice gets�remixed in this smart, funny, gorgeous retelling of the classic, starring all characters of color, from Ibi Zoboi, National Book Award finalist and author of American Street.Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride�in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable. When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can't stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick's changing landscape, or lose it all. In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic.
Second Time Sweeter: A Blessings Novelby Beverly Jenkins
William Morrow (Aug 28, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
NAACP nominee and USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins continues her beloved Blessings series with a new heartwarming novel set in Henry Adams, Kansas.Malachi "Mal" July has run into trouble in the past. With a reputation as a player, he's now a recovering alcoholic and has made progress in redeeming himself in the eyes of his family and the citizens of Henry Adams, Kansas. He's not only turned his diner into a profitable business, but also mentors the town's foster kids. And he's even staying true to one woman—Bernadine Brown.But all it takes is a moment of pride to blind Mal to his blessings—a moment that makes him betray his friends and family, and lose Bernadine's trust and love. Will he ever be able to win her forgiveness?Meanwhile Homecoming Weekend is fast approaching, and store owner Gary Clark is reunited with his high school sweetheart. All it takes is a few minutes for them to realize the spark is still there, but is it too late for second chances? A little help from the good people of Henry Adams may give both Mal and Gary the best second chance at the happiness they missed the first time around�
Temper: A Novelby Nicky Drayden
Harper Voyager (Aug 07, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018!In a land similar to South Africa, twin brothers are beset by powerful forces beyond their understanding or control in this thrilling blend of science fiction, horror, magic, and dark humor—evocative of the works of Lauren Beukes, Ian McDonald, and Nnedi Okorafor—from the author of The Prey of Gods.Two brothers.
Seven vices.
One demonic possession.
Can this relationship survive?Auben Mutze has more vices than he can deal with—six to be exact—each branded down his arm for all the world to see. They mark him as a lesser twin in society, as inferior, but there's no way he'll let that define him. Intelligent and outgoing, Auben's spirited antics make him popular among the other students at his underprivileged high school. So what if he's envious of his twin Kasim, whose single vice brand is a ticket to a better life, one that likely won't involve Auben.The twins' strained relationship threatens to snap when Auben starts hearing voices that speak to his dangerous side—encouraging him to perform evil deeds that go beyond innocent mischief. Lechery, deceit, and vanity run rampant. And then there are the inexplicable blood cravings. . . .On the southern tip of an African continent that could have been, demons get up to no good during the time of year when temperatures dip and temptations rise. Auben needs to rid himself of these maddening voices before they cause him to lose track of time. To lose his mind. And to lose his . . .TEMPER
A Duke by Default: Reluctant Royalsby Alyssa Cole
Avon (Jul 31, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
Award-winning author Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series continues with a woman on a quest to be the heroine of her own story and the duke in shining armor she rescues along the way�New York City socialite and perpetual hot mess Portia Hobbs is tired of disappointing her family, friends, and—most importantly—herself. An apprenticeship with a struggling swordmaker in Scotland is a chance to use her expertise and discover what she's capable of. Turns out she excels at aggravating her gruff silver fox boss�when she's not having inappropriate fantasies about his sexy Scottish burr.Tavish McKenzie doesn't need a rich, spoiled American telling him how to run his armory�even if she is infuriatingly good at it. Tav tries to rebuff his apprentice—and his attraction to her—but when Portia accidentally discovers that he's the secret son of a duke, rough-around-the-edges Tav becomes her newest makeover project.��Forging metal into weapons and armor is one thing, but when desire burns out of control and the media spotlight gets too hot to bear, can a commoner turned duke and his posh apprentice find lasting love?
How Not to Get Shot: And Other Advice From White Peopleby D.L. Hughley
William Morrow (Jun 26, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
200 years ago, white people told black folks, "�I suggest you pick the cotton if you don't like getting whipped." Today, it's "comply with police orders if you don't want to get shot." Now legendary comedian/activist D. L. Hughley�confronts and remixes white people's "advice" in this "satirical but apt addition to the culture's fraught conversation about race" (New York Times Book Review)In America, a black man is three times more likely to be killed in encounters with police than a white guy. If only he had complied with the cop, he might be alive today, pundits say in the aftermath of the latest shooting of an unarmed black man. Or, Maybe he shouldn't have worn that hoodie � or, moved more slowly � not been out so late � Wait, why are black people allowed to drive, anyway? This isn't a new phenomenon. White people have been giving "advice" to black folks for as long as anyone can remember, telling them how to pick cotton, where to sit on a bus, what neighborhood to live in, when they can vote, and how to wear our pants. Despite centuries of whites' advice, it seems black people still aren't listening, and the results are tragic.Now, at last, activist, comedian, and New York Times bestselling author D. L. Hughley offers How Not to Get Shot, an illustrated how-to guide for black people, full of insight from white people, translated by one of the funniest black dudes on the planet. In these pages you will learn how to act, dress, speak, walk, and drive in the safest manner possible. You also will finally understand the white mind. It is a book that can save lives. Or at least laugh through the pain.Black people: Are you ready to not get shot! White people: Do you want to learn how to help the cause? Let's go!
Cece Loves Scienceby Kimberly Derting and Shelli R. Johannes
Greenwillow Books (Jun 19, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
Luna, a budding and inquisitive scientist, and her equally curious best friend, Isaac, conduct experiments to see whether Luna's dog, Einstein, will eat his vegetables.
Confessions of a Barefaced Womanby Allison Joseph
HarperTorch (Jun 12, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
In Confessions of a Barefaced Woman, Allison Joseph turns her keen and sassy eye on all the furious and hilarious conditions of modern black womanhood.
On The Come Upby Angie Thomas
Balzer + Bray (Jun 05, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
This is the highly anticipated second novel by Angie Thomas, the author of the #1�New York Times�bestselling, award-winning�The Hate U Give. Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least get some streams on her mixtape. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died right before he hit big, Bri's got massive shoes to fill. But when her mom unexpectedly loses her job, food banks and shut-off notices become as much a part of her life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.
On the Come Up is Angie Thomas's homage to hip hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are, and not who everyone expects you to be; and of the desperate realities of poor and working class black families.Brilliant, insightful, full of heart, this novel is another modern classic from one of the most influential literary voices of a generation.
Monday's Not Comingby Tiffany D. Jackson
Katherine Tegen Books (May 22, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
From the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly, Tiffany D. Jackson, comes a gripping new novel perfect for fans of E. Lockhart and Gillian Flynn about the mystery of one teenage girl's disappearance and the traumatic effects of the truth.Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn't turn up for the first day of school, Claudia's worried.When she doesn't show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn't just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year's rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best—and only—friend more than ever. But Monday's mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday's sister April is even less help.As Claudia digs deeper into her friend's disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she's gone?
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"by Zora Neale Hurston and Deborah G. Plant
Amistad (May 08, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
Join AALBC's book club in our online discussion of Barracoon during the entire month of September 2018
A major literary event: a never-before-published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God that brilliantly illuminates the horror and injustices of slavery as it tells the true story of one of the last known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade—abducted from Africa on the last "Black Cargo" ship to arrive in the United States.
In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama, just outside Mobile, to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was then the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation's history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo's firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States.
In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau, the African-centric community three miles from Mobile founded by Cudjo and other former slaves from his ship. Spending more than three months there, she talked in depth with Cudjo about the details of his life. During those weeks, the young writer and the elderly formerly enslaved man ate peaches and watermelon that grew in the backyard and talked about Cudjo's past—memories from his childhood in Africa, the horrors of being captured and held in a barracoon for selection by American slavers, the harrowing experience of the Middle Passage packed with more than 100 other souls aboard the Clotilda, and the years he spent in slavery until the end of the Civil War.
Based on those interviews, featuring Cudjo's unique vernacular, and written from Hurston's perspective with the compassion and singular style that have made her one of the preeminent American authors of the twentieth-century, Barracoon brilliantly illuminates the tragedy of slavery and of one life forever defined by it. Offering insight into the pernicious legacy that continues to haunt us all, black and white, this poignant and powerful work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture.
The Poet Xby Elizabeth Acevedo
HarperTeen (Mar 06, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
A National Book Award Longlist title! Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing�New York Times-bestselling�novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami's determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club, she doesn't know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can't stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent."Crackles with energy and snaps with authenticity and voice." —Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation"An incredibly potent debut." —Jason Reynolds, author of the National Book Award Finalist Ghost"Acevedo has amplified the voices of girls en el barrio who are equal parts goddess, saint, warrior, and hero." —Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street
I Am Enoughby Grace Byers
Balzer + Bray (Mar 06, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
I Am Enough is the picture book everyone needsThis is a gorgeous, lyrical ode to loving who you are, respecting others, and being kind to one another—from Empire actor and activist Grace Byers and talented newcomer artist Keturah A. Bobo. This is the perfect gift for mothers and daughters, baby showers, and graduation.We are all here for a purpose. We are more than enough. We just need to believe it.
Speak No Evil: A Novelby Uzodinma Iweala
Harper (Mar 06, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
"A lovely slender volume that packs in entire worlds with complete mastery. Speak No Evil explains so much about our times and yet is never anything less than a scintillating, page-turning read."—Gary Shteyngart "A wrenching, tightly woven story about many kinds of love and many kinds of violence.�Speak No Evil�probes deeply but also with compassion the cruelties of a loving home. Iweala's characters confront you in close-up, as viscerally, bodily alive as any in contemporary fiction."—Larissa MacFarquharIn the long-anticipated novel from the author of the critically acclaimed Beasts of No Nation, a revelation shared between two privileged teenagers from very different backgrounds sets off a chain of events with devastating consequences.On the surface, Niru leads a charmed life. Raised by two attentive parents in Washington, D.C., he's a top student and a track star at his prestigious private high school. Bound for Harvard in the fall, his prospects are bright. But Niru has a painful secret: he is queer—an abominable sin to his conservative Nigerian parents. No one knows except Meredith, his best friend, the daughter of prominent Washington insiders—and the one person who seems not to judge him.When his father accidentally discovers Niru is gay, the fallout is brutal and swift. Coping with troubles of her own, however, Meredith finds that she has little left emotionally to offer him. As the two friends struggle to reconcile their desires against the expectations and institutions that seek to define them, they find themselves speeding toward a future more violent and senseless than they can imagine. Neither will escape unscathed.In the tradition of Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah, Speak No Evil explores what it means to be different in a fundamentally conformist society and how that difference plays out in our inner and outer struggles. It is a novel about the power of words and self-identification, about who gets to speak and who has the power to speak for other people. As heart-wrenching and timely as his breakout debut, Beasts of No Nation, Uzodinma Iweala's�second novel cuts to the core of our humanity and leaves us reeling in its wake.
A Princess in Theory: Reluctant Royalsby Alyssa Cole
Avon (Feb 27, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
From acclaimed author Alyssa Cole comes the tale of a city Cinderella and her Prince Charming in disguise . . .Between grad school and multiple jobs, Naledi Smith doesn't have time for fairy tales�or patience for the constant e-mails claiming she's betrothed to an African prince. Sure. Right.�Delete! As a former foster kid, she's learned�that the only things she can depend on are herself and the scientific method, and a silly e-mail won't convince her otherwise.Prince Thabiso is the sole heir to the throne of Thesolo, shouldering the hopes of his parents and his people. At the top of their list? His marriage. Ever dutiful, he tracks down his missing betrothed. When Naledi mistakes the prince for a pauper, Thabiso can't resist the chance to experience life—and love—without the burden of his crown.The chemistry between them is instant and irresistible, and flirty friendship quickly evolves into passionate nights. But when the truth is revealed, can a princess in theory become a princess ever after?
Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionairesby Shomari Wills
Amistad (Jan 30, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
The astonishing untold history of America's first black millionaires—former slaves who endured incredible challenges to amass and maintain their wealth for a century, from the Jacksonian period to the Roaring Twenties—self-made entrepreneurs whose unknown success mirrored that of American business heroes such as Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Thomas Edison.
While Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Michael Jordan, and Will Smith are among the estimated 35,000 black millionaires in the nation today, these famous celebrities were not the first blacks to reach the storied one percent. Between the years of 1830 and 1927, as the last generation of blacks born into slavery was reaching maturity, a small group of smart, tenacious, and daring men and women broke new ground to attain the highest levels of financial success.
Black Fortunes is an intriguing look at these remarkable individuals, including Napoleon Bonaparte Drew—author Shomari Wills' great-great-great-grandfather—the first black man in Powhatan County (contemporary Richmond) to own property in post-Civil War Virginia. His achievements were matched by five other unknown black entrepreneurs including:
- Mary Ellen Pleasant, who used her Gold Rush wealth to further the cause of abolitionist John Brown;
- Robert Reed Church, who became the largest landowner in Tennessee;
- Hannah Elias, the mistress of a New York City millionaire, who used the land her lover gave her to build an empire in Harlem;
- Orphan and self-taught chemist Annie Turnbo-Malone, who developed the first national brand of hair care products;
- Madam C. J Walker, Turnbo-Malone's employee who would earn the nickname America's "first female black millionaire;";
- Mississippi school teacher O. W. Gurley, who developed a piece of Tulsa, Oklahoma, into a town for wealthy black professionals and craftsmen that would become known as "the Black Wall Street."
A fresh, little-known chapter in the nation's story—A blend of Hidden Figures, Titan, and The Tycoons—Black Fortunes illuminates the birth of the black business titan and the emergence of the black marketplace in America as never before.
This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) Americaby Morgan Jerkins
Harper Perennial (Jan 30, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
From one of the fiercest critics writing today, Morgan Jerkins' highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves her incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experiences to confront the very real challenges of being a black woman today—perfect for fans of Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, Rebecca Solnit's Men Explain Things to Me, and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists.Morgan Jerkins is only in her twenties, but she has already established herself as an insightful, brutally honest writer who isn't afraid of tackling tough, controversial subjects. In This Will Be My Undoing, she takes on perhaps one of the most provocative contemporary topics: What does it mean to "be"—to live as, to exist as—a black woman today? This is a book about black women, but it's necessary reading for all Americans.
Doubly disenfranchised by race and gender, often deprived of a place within the mostly white mainstream feminist movement, black women are objectified, silenced, and marginalized with devastating consequences, in ways both obvious and subtle, that are rarely acknowledged in our country's larger discussion about inequality. In This Will Be My Undoing, Jerkins becomes both narrator and subject to expose the social, cultural, and historical story of black female oppression that influences the black community as well as the white, male-dominated world at large.
Whether she's writing about Sailor Moon; Rachel Dolezal; the stigma of therapy; her complex relationship with her own physical body; the pain of dating when men say they don't "see color"; being a black visitor in Russia; the specter of "the fast-tailed girl" and the paradox of black female sexuality; or disabled black women in the context of the "Black Girl Magic" movement, Jerkins is compelling and revelatory.
Tempestby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Jan 30, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
From USA Today and AALBC.com Bestselling Author Beverly Jenkins comes a new novel in a mesmerizing series set in the Old West, where an arranged marriage becomes a grand passion…
What kind of mail-order bride greets her intended with a bullet instead of a kiss? One like Regan Carmichael—an independent spirit equally at home in denims and dresses. Shooting Dr. Colton Lee in the shoulder is an honest error, but soon Regan wonders if her entire plan to marry a man she's never met is a mistake. Colton, who buried his heart along with his first wife, insists he only wants someone to care for his daughter. Yet Regan is drawn to the unmistakable desire in his gaze.
Regan's far from the docile bride Colton was expecting. Still, few women would brave the wilds of Wyoming Territory for an uncertain future with a widower and his child. The thought of having a bold, forthright woman like Regan in his life—and in his arms—begins to inspire a new dream. And despite his family's disapproval and an unseen enemy, he'll risk all to make this match a real union of body and soul.
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Raceby Margot Lee Shetterly
HarperCollins (Jan 23, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
Based on the New York Times bestselling�book and the Academy Award�nominated movie, author Margot Lee Shetterly and illustrator Laura Freeman bring the incredibly inspiring true story of four black women who helped NASA launch men into space to picture book readers. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were good at math…really good. They participated in some of NASA's greatest successes, like providing the calculations for America's first journeys into space. And they did so during a time when being black and a woman limited what they could do. But they worked hard. They persisted. And they used their genius minds to change the world. In this beautifully illustrated picture book edition, we explore the story of four female African American mathematicians at NASA, known as "colored computers," and how they overcame gender and racial barriers to succeed in a highly challenging STEM-based career.
Mae Among the Starsby Roda Ahmed
HarperCollins (Jan 09, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
An Amazon Best Book of the MonthA beautiful picture book for sharing, inspired by the life of the first African American woman to travel in space, Mae Jemison.A great classroom and bedtime read-aloud, Mae Among the Stars is the perfect book for young readers who have big dreams and even bigger hearts!When Little Mae was a child, she dreamed of dancing in space. She imagined herself surrounded by billions of stars, floating, gliding, and discovering.She wanted to be an astronaut.Her mom told her, "If you believe it, and work hard for it, anything is possible."Little Mae's curiosity, intelligence, and determination, matched with her parents' encouraging words, paved the way for her incredible success at NASA as the first African American woman to travel in space.This book will inspire other young girls to reach for the stars, to aspire for the impossible, and to persist with childlike imagination.
Reflections by Rosa Parks: The Quiet Strength and Faith of a Woman Who Changed a Nationby Rosa Parks
Zondervan (Jan 09, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was not trying to start a movement. She was simply tired of the social injustice. Yet, her simple act of courage started a chain of events that forever shaped the landscape of American race relations.Now, decades after her quiet defiance inspired the modern civil rights movement, Mrs. Parks's own words tell of her courageous life, her passion for freedom and equality, and her strong faith. Reflections by Rosa Parks celebrates the principles and convictions that guided her through a remarkable life. It is a printed record of her legacy—her lasting message to a world still struggling to live in harmony.Including historic and beautiful pictures, this collection of Rosa Parks's reflections includes topics like dealing with fear, facing injustice, developing character and determination, faith in God, and her hope for the future."I want to be remembered as a person who stood up to injustice," writes Rosa Parks, "who wanted a better world for young people." With Mrs. Parks's words of wisdom, humility, and compassion, this book will inspire people of all races to carry on her great legacy.
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroadby Ann Petry
Amistad (Jan 02, 2018)
Read Detailed Book Description
This quintessential middle grade biography of Harriet Tubman now features a cover by NAACP Image Award winner and Caldecott Honor illustrator Kadir Nelson, a foreword by National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds, and additional new material. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad was praised by the New Yorker as "an evocative portrait," and by the Chicago Tribune as "superb." It is a gripping and accessible portrait of the heroic woman who guided more than 300 slaves to freedom and who is expected to be the face of the new $20 bill.Harriet Tubman was born a slave and dreamed of being free. She was willing to risk everything—including her own life—to see that dream come true. After her daring escape, Harriet became a conductor on the secret Underground Railroad, helping others make the dangerous journey to freedom.This award-winning introduction to the late abolitionist, which was named an ALA Notable Book and a New York Times Outstanding Book, also includes an index, a timeline, and other educational back matter.
The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoirby Jenifer Lewis
Amistad (Nov 14, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
From her more than three hundred appearances for film and television, stage and cabaret, performing comedy or drama, as an unforgettable lead or a scene stealing supporting character, Jenifer Lewis has established herself as one of the most respected, admired, talented, and versatile entertainers working today.This "Mega Diva" and costar of the hit sitcom black-ish bares her soul in this touching and poignant—and at times side-splittingly hilarious—memoir of a Midwestern girl with a dream, whose journey took her from poverty to the big screen, and along the way earned her many accolades.With candor and warmth, Jenifer Lewis reveals the heart of a woman who lives life to the fullest. This multitalented "force of nature" landed her first Broadway role within eleven days of her graduation from college and later earned the title "Reigning Queen of High-Camp Cabaret."In the audaciously honest voice that her fans adore, Jenifer describes her transition to Hollywood, with guest roles on hits like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Friends. Her movie Jackie's Back! became a cult favorite, and as the "Mama" to characters portrayed by Whitney Houston, Tupac Shakur, Taraji P. Henson, and many more, Jenifer cemented her status as the "Mother of Black Hollywood."��������� When an undiagnosed menatl�illness stymies Jenifer's career, culminating in a breakdown while filming The Temptations, her quest for wholeness becomes a harrowing and inspiring tale, including revelations of bipolar disorder and sex addiction.Written with no-holds-barred honesty and illustrated with more than forty color photographs, this gripping memoir is filled with insights gained through a unique life that offers a universal message: "Love yourself so that love will not be a stranger when it comes."
Hidden Figures Illustrated The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Raceby Margot Lee Shetterly
William Morrow (Oct 24, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
The #1 New York Times bestseller and the basis for the hit Academy Award-winning movie, now available in a beautifully designed, illustrated edition featuring more than two dozen never-before-seen photos.Hidden Figures is the untold true story of the African-American female mathematicians, "colored computers," at NASA who provided the calculations that helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space, set against the Jim Crow South and the civil rights movement.Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women. Originally math teachers in the South's segregated public schools, these gifted professionals answered Uncle Sam's call during the labor shortages of World War II. With new jobs at the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia, they finally had a shot at jobs that would push their skills to the limits.Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve one of things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden—four African American women who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades as they faced challenges, forged alliances, and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country's future.
A Good Cry: What We Learn From Tears and Laughterby Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Oct 24, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
One of America's most celebrated poets looks inward in this powerful collection, a rumination on her life and the people who have shaped her.The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements, turned hearts and informed generations. She's been hailed as a firebrand, a radical, a healer, and a sage; a wise and courageous voice who has spoken out on the sensitive issues, including race and gender, that touch our national consciousness. As energetic and relevant as ever, Nikki now offers us an intimate, affecting, and illuminating look at her personal history and the mysteries of her own heart. In A Good Cry, she takes us into her confidence, describing the joy and peril of aging and recalling the violence that permeated her parents' marriage and her early life. She pays homage to the people who have given her life meaning and joy: her grandparents, who took her in and saved her life; the poets and thinkers who have influenced her; and the students who have surrounded her. Nikki also celebrates her good friend, Maya Angelou, and the many years of friendship, poetry, and kitchen-table laughter they shared before Angelou's death in 2014.
We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and Trueby Gabrielle Union
Dey Street Books (Oct 17, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
In the spirit of Amy Poehler's Yes Please, Lena Dunham's Not That Kind of Girl, and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist,�a powerful collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, beauty, Hollywood, and what it means to be a modern woman.One month before the release of the highly anticipated film The Birth of a Nation, actress Gabrielle Union shook the world with a vulnerable and impassioned editorial in which she urged our society to have compassion for victims of sexual violence. In the wake of rape allegations made against director and actor Nate Parker, Union—a forty-four-year-old actress who launched her career with roles in iconic '90s movies—instantly became the insightful, outspoken actress that Hollywood has been desperately awaiting. With honesty and heartbreaking wisdom, she revealed her own trauma as a victim of sexual assault: "It is for you that I am speaking. This is real. We are real." In this moving collection of thought provoking essays infused with her unique wisdom and deep humor, Union uses that same fearlessness to tell astonishingly personal and true stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards, and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents. Genuine and perceptive, Union bravely lays herself bare, uncovering a complex and courageous life of self-doubt and self-discovery with incredible poise and brutal honesty. Throughout, she compels us to be ethical and empathetic, and reminds us of the importance of confidence, self-awareness, and the power of sharing truth, laughter, and support.
Unforgivable Love: A Retelling of Dangerous Liaisonsby Sophfronia Scott
William Morrow Paperbacks (Sep 26, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
"A dazzlingly dark and engaging tale full of heartbreak, treachery, and surprise."Kirkus
In this vivid reimagining of the French classic Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), it's the summer when Jackie Robinson breaks Major League Baseball's color barrier and a sweltering stretch has Harlem's elite fleeing the city for Westchester County's breezier climes, two predators stalk amidst the manicured gardens and fine old homes. Heiress Mae Malveaux rules society with an angel's smile and a heart of stone. She made up her mind long ago that nobody would decide her fate. To have the pleasure she craves, control is paramount, especially control of the men Mae attracts like moths to a flame.
Valiant Jackson always gets what he wants—and he's wanted Mae for years. The door finally opens for him when Mae�strikes a bargain: seduce her virginal young cousin, Cecily, who is engaged to Frank Washington. Frank values her innocence above all else.�If successful, Val's reward will be a night with Mae.���But Val secretly seeks another prize. Elizabeth Townsend is fiercely loyal to her church and her civil rights attorney husband. Certain there is something redeemable in Mr. Jackson. Little does she know that her worst mistake will be Val's greatest triumph.
Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Liesby Dick Gregory
Amistad (Sep 19, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
With his trademark acerbic wit, incisive humor, and infectious paranoia, one of our foremost comedians and most politically engaged civil rights activists looks back at 100 key events from the complicated history of black America.
A friend of luminaries including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evers, and the forebear of today's popular black comics, including Larry Wilmore, W. Kamau Bell, Damon Young, and Trevor Noah, Dick Gregory has been a provocative and incisive cultural force for more than fifty years. As an entertainer, he has always kept it indisputably real about race issues in America, fearlessly lacing laughter with hard truths. As a leading activist against injustice, he marched at Selma during the Civil Rights movement, organized student rallies to protest the Vietnam War; sat in at rallies for Native American and feminist rights; fought apartheid in South Africa; and participated in hunger strikes in support of Black Lives Matter.
In this collection of thoughtful, provocative essays, Gregory charts the complex and often obscured history of the African American experience. In his unapologetically candid voice, he moves from African ancestry and surviving the Middle Passage to the creation of the Jheri Curl, the enjoyment of bacon and everything pig, the headline-making shootings of black men, and the Black Lives Matter movement. A captivating journey through time, The Most Defining Moments in Black History According to Dick Gregory explores historical movements such as The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as cultural touchstones such as Sidney Poitier winning the Best Actor Oscar for Lilies in the Field and Billie Holiday releasing Strange Fruit.
An engaging look at black life that offers insightful commentary on the intricate history of the African American people, The Most Defining Moments in Black History According to Dick Gregory is an essential, no-holds-bar history lesson that will provoke, enlighten, and entertain.
Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Patby Patricia Williams
Dey Street Books (Aug 22, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
"I know a lot of people think they know what it's like to grow up in the hood. Like maybe they watched a couple of seasons of The Wire and they got the shit all figured out. But TV doesn't tell the whole story." — Ms. PatThey called her Rabbit.Patricia Williams (aka Ms. Pat) was born and raised in Atlanta at the height of the crack epidemic. One of five children, Pat watched as her mother struggled to get by on charity, cons, and petty crimes. At age seven, Pat was taught to roll drunks for money. At twelve, she was targeted for sex by a man eight years her senior. By thirteen, she was pregnant. By fifteen, Pat was a mother of two. Alone at sixteen, Pat was determined to make a better life for her children. But with no job skills and an eighth-grade education, her options were limited. She learned quickly that hustling and humor were the only tools she had to survive. Rabbit is an unflinching memoir of cinematic scope and unexpected humor. With wisdom and humor, Pat gives us a rare glimpse of what it's really like to be a black mom in America.
Soloby Kwame Alexander
Blink Young Adult Books (Aug 01, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
From award-winning and New York Times and AALBC.com bestselling author Kwame Alexander, with Mary Rand Hess, comes Solo, a YA novel written in poetic verse. Solo tells the story of seventeen-year-old Blade Morrison, who knows the life of a rock star isn't really about the glitz and glamour. All the new cars and money in the world can't make up for the scathing tabloid covers or the fact that his father is struggling with just about every addiction under the sun—including a desperate desire to make a comeback and regain his former fame. Haunted by memories of his mother—who died when Blade was nine—and the ruin his father's washed-up legacy and life have brought to the family, Blade is left to figure out life on his own. But, he's not all alone: He's got the friendship of a jazz-musician mentor, Robert; the secret love of a girlfriend, Chapel; and his music. All may not be well in the Morrison home, but things are looking up for Blade, until he discovers a deeply protected family secret—one that further threatens his relationship with his family and has him questioning his own identity. Thrown into a tailspin, Blade decides the only way he will understand his past and begin his future is to find out the truth behind the music and himself. He soon sets out on a journey that will change everything he thought to be true. His quest lands him in Ghana, stuck in a village just shy of where answers to the secret can be found. There, Blade discovers a friendship he couldn't have imagined, a people founded in family and community, and a reconciliation he never expected.
With his signature intricacy, intimacy, and poetic style, Kwame Alexander explores what it means to finally come home.
Solo features a stunning dust jacket with embossing and gloss.
AALBC.com's Founder, Troy Johnson says, "Get your copy today!"
Ways of Grace: Stories of Activism, Adversity, and How Sports Can Bring Us Togetherby James Blake and Carol Taylor
Amistad (Jun 27, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
Inspired by Arthur Ashe's bestselling memoir Days of Grace, a collection of positive, uplifting stories of seemingly small acts of grace from across the sports world that have helped to bridge cultural and racial divides.
Like many people of color, James Blake has experienced the effects of racism firsthand — publicly — first at the U.S. Open, and then in front of his hotel on a busy Manhattan street, where he was tackled and handcuffed by a police officer in a case of "mistaken identity." Though rage would have been justified, Blake faced both incidents with dignity and aplomb.
Athletes have long been at the forefront of social change. These are their stories.
In August 2015, American tennis star James Blake was standing on a busy Manhattan sidewalk and preparing to head to the US Open when he was tackled and handcuffed by a police officer in a case of "mistaken identity." Though rage would have been justified, Blake faced the incident with dignity, using it as an opportunity to raise awareness about the dangers of racial profiling.
In Ways of Grace, Blake reflects on his experiences and explores how other sports figures have used their public roles not only to overcome adversity but also to advocate for broader social justice—even when it means risking the loss of fans, sponsors, teammates, or the freedom to compete. Discussing stories ranging from those of former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, who spoke out in favor of gay marriage; to Billie Jean King, who famously became the champion for women everywhere when she won the "Battle of the Sexes"; to the hard-fought journeys of Serena and Venus Williams to achieve equal pay for women in professional tennis, Blake uncovers how athletes from across the globe have used sports to unite rather than to divide. Weaving together these and other poignant stories, he also goes beyond the well-known names from sports history to reveal the important contributions from athletes seemingly forgotten, people such as Peter Norman, the Australian sprinter and 1968 Olympic 200-meter silver medalist, who stood in solidarity with Tommie Smith and John Carlos during the controversial medal ceremony and paid the price for his display back home.
The result is a moving examination of how athletes have used their successes to further dialogue about our most pressing issues, despite the risks that have often accompanied that self-expression. Perfectly poised for our current political moment, a time when sports stars are leading the charge to preserve a diverse and tolerant world, Ways of Grace offers an urgent meditation on the rich history of athletics and activism, providing a profound testament to how the most difficult challenge for athletes frequently is not winning on the court, but standing up for their beliefs off of it.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Bodyby Roxane Gay
HarperCollins Publishers (Jun 14, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
"I believe this book will do more for more people than a truckload of all those happy ending books could ever do. Gay says this was a hard book to write. I am glad she managed to do it."from a Book Review by Sophfronia Scott
From the bestselling author of Bad Feminist: a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself.
"I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere… I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe."
In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as "wildly undisciplined," Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she explores her own past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings listeners along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself. With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself. How to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.
The Prey of Godsby Nicky Drayden
Harper Voyager (Jun 13, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
*WINNER: 2017 Compton Crook Award!*WINNER: 2017 RT Booklovers Award (Science Fiction)!*A Wall Street Journal "Summer Reading: One expert. One book" pick for 2017!*The RT Book Reviews "June 2017: Seal of Excellence" pick!*A B&N Sci Fi and Fantasy Blog "Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2017 So Far" pick!�*A Book Riot Best Books of 2017 Pick!*A Vulture "The 10 Best Fantasy Books of 2017" Pick!From a�new voice in the tradition of Lauren Beukes, Ian McDonald, and Nnedi Okorafor comes The Prey of Gods,�a fantastic, boundary-challenging tale, set in a South African locale both familiar and yet utterly new, which braids elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and dark humor. In South Africa, the future looks promising. Personal robots are making life easier for the working class. The government is harnessing renewable energy to provide infrastructure for the poor. And in the bustling coastal town of Port Elizabeth, the economy is booming thanks to the genetic engineering industry which has found a welcome home there. Yes—the days to come are looking very good for South Africans. That is, if they can survive the present challenges:A new hallucinogenic drug sweeping the country . . .An emerging AI uprising . . .And an ancient demigoddess hellbent on regaining her former status by preying on the blood and sweat (but mostly blood) of every human she encounters.It's up to a young Zulu girl powerful enough to destroy her entire township, a queer teen plagued with the ability to control minds, a pop diva with serious daddy issues, and a politician with even more serious mommy issues to band together to ensure there's a future left to worry about.Fun and fantastic, Nicky Drayden takes her brilliance as a short story writer and weaves together an elaborate tale that will capture your heart . . . even as one particular demigoddess threatens to rip it out.
Making Rent in Bed-Stuy: A Memoir of Trying to Make It in New York Cityby Brandon Harris
Amistad (Jun 06, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
A young African American millennial filmmaker's funny, sometimes painful, true-life coming-of-age story of trying to make it in New York City—a chronicle of poverty and wealth, creativity and commerce, struggle and insecurity, and the economic and cultural forces intertwined with "the serious, life-threatening process" of gentrification.Making Rent in Bed-Stuy explores the history and sociocultural importance of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn's largest historically black community, through the lens of a coming-of-age young American negro artist living at the dawn of an era in which urban class warfare is politely referred to as gentrification. Bookended by accounts of two different breakups, from a roommate and a lover, both who come from the white American elite, the book oscillates between chapters of urban bildungsroman and a historical examination of some of Bed-Stuy's most salient aesthetic and political legacies.Filled with personal stories and a vibrant cast of iconoclastic characters— friends and acquaintances such as Spike Lee; Lena Dunham; and Paul MacCleod, who made a living charging $5 for a tour of his extensive Elvis collection—Making Rent in Bed-Stuy poignantly captures what happens when youthful idealism clashes head-on with adult reality.Melding in-depth reportage and personal narrative that investigates the disappointments and ironies of the Obama era, the book describes Brandon Harris's radicalization, and the things he lost, and gained, along the way.
Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determinationby Herb Boyd
Amistad (Jun 06, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
"As a native Detroiter, I'm proud of the education I received at home, at the public schools and at Wayne County Community College. That foundation has helped keep EsoWon Books in business for nearly 30 years. Herb Boyd's book is a magnificent testament to the many Detroiters who made it possible to grow and develop. Herb profiles so many people that gave so much and who overcame so much. It's a stunning book."James Fugate, co-owner EsoWon Books
The author of Baldwin's Harlem looks at the evolving culture, politics, economics, and spiritual life of Detroit—a blend of memoir, love letter, history, and clear-eyed reportage that explores the city's past, present, and future and its significance to the African American legacy and the nation's fabric.
Herb Boyd moved to Detroit in 1943, as race riots were engulfing the city. Though he did not grasp their full significance at the time, this critical moment would be one of many he witnessed that would mold his political activism and exposed a city restless for change. In Black Detroit, he reflects on his life and this landmark place, in search of understand why Detroit is a special place for black people. Boyd reveals how Black Detroiters were prominent in the city's historic, groundbreaking union movement and—when given an opportunity—were among the tireless workers who made the automobile industry the center of American industry. Well paying jobs on assembly lines allowed working class Black Detroiters to ascend to the middle class and achieve financial stability, an accomplishment not often attainable in other industries.
Boyd makes clear that while many of these middle-class jobs have disappeared, decimating the population and hitting blacks hardest, Detroit survives thanks to the emergence of companies such as Shinola—which represent the strength of the Motor City and its continued importance to the country. He also brings into focus the major figures who have defined and shaped Detroit, including William Lambert, the great abolitionist, Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, Coleman Young, the city's first black mayor, diva songstress Aretha Franklin, Malcolm X, and Ralphe Bunche, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
With a stunning eye for detail and passion for Detroit, Boyd celebrates the music, manufacturing, politics, and culture that make it an American original.
Chasing Space: An Astronaut's Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chancesby Leland Melvin
Amistad (May 23, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this moving, inspirational memoir, a former NASA astronaut and NFL wide receiver shares his personal journey from the gridiron to the stars, examining the intersecting roles of community, perseverance and grace that align to create the opportunities for success.Leland Melvin is the only person in human history to catch a pass in the National Football League and in space. Though his path from the gridiron to the heavens was riddled with setbacks and injury, Leland persevered to reach the stars. While training with NASA, Melvin suffered a severe injury that left him deaf. Leland was relegated to earthbound assignments, but chose to remain and support his astronaut family. His loyalty paid off. Recovering partial hearing, he earned his eligibility for space travel. He served as mission specialist for two flights aboard the shuttle Atlantis, working on the International Space Station.In this inspirational memoir, the former NASA astronaut and professional athlete offers an examination of the intersecting role of community, perseverance, and grace that align to shape our opportunities and outcomes. Chasing Space is not the story of one man, but the story of many men, women, scientists, and mentors who helped him defy the odds and live out an uncommon destiny.As a chemist, athlete, engineer and space traveler, Leland's life story is a study in the science of achievement. His personal insights illuminate how grit and grace, are the keys to overcoming adversity and rising to success.
Also check out the version of Chasing Space for young readers.
Chasing Space Young Readers' Editionby Leland Melvin
Amistad (May 23, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
Meet Leland Melvin—football star, NASA astronaut, and professional dream chaser.In this inspiring memoir, adapted from the simultaneous version for adults, young readers will get to learn about Leland Melvin's remarkable life story, from being drafted by the Detroit Lions to bravely orbiting our planet in the International Space Station to writing songs with will.i.am, working with Serena Williams, and starring in top-rated television shows like The Dog Whisperer, Top Chef, and Child Genius.When the former Detroit Lion's football career was cut short by an injury, Leland didn't waste time mourning his broken dream. Instead, he found a new one—something that was completely out of this world.He joined NASA, braved an injury that nearly left him permanently deaf, and still managed to muster the courage and resolve to travel to space on the shuttle Atlantis to help build the International Space Station. Leland's problem-solving methods and can-do attitude turned his impossible-seeming dream into reality.Leland's story introduces readers to the fascinating creative and scientific challenges he had to deal with in space and will encourage the next generation of can-do scientists to dare to follow their dreams. With do-it-yourself experiments in the back of the book and sixteen pages of striking full-color photographs, this is the perfect book for young readers looking to be inspired.
Also check out the version of Chasing Space for adults.
Clayton Byrd Goes Undergroundby Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad (May 09, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
A National Book Award Longlist title that has earned 5 starred reviews!"This slim novel strikes a strong chord."—Publishers Weekly�(starred review)"This complex tale of family and forgiveness has heart."�—School Library Journal�(starred review)"Strong characterizations and vivid musical scenes add layers to this warm family story." —Kirkus Reviews�(starred review)"An appealing, realistic story with frequent elegant turns of phrase." —The Horn Book�(starred review)"Garcia-Williams skillfully finds melody in words." —Booklist�(starred review)From beloved Newbery Honor winner and three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia comes a powerful and heartfelt novel about loss, family, and love that will appeal to fans of Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander. Clayton feels most alive when he's with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen—he can't wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton's mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that's no way to live.Armed with his grandfather's brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping he can join them on the road. But on the journey that takes him through the New York City subways and to Washington Square Park, Clayton learns some things that surprise him.
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obamaby David J. Garrow
William Morrow (May 09, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERRising Star is the definitive account of Barack Obama's formative years that made him the man who became the forty-fourth president of the United States—from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the CrossBarack Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted him into the national spotlight and led to his election four years later as America's first African-American president. In this penetrating biography, David J. Garrow delivers an epic work about the life of Barack Obama, creating a rich tapestry of a life little understood, until now.Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama captivatingly describes Barack Obama's tumultuous upbringing as a young black man attending an almost-all-white, elite private school in Honolulu while being raised almost exclusively by his white grandparents. After recounting Obama's college years in California and New York, Garrow charts Obama's time as a Chicago community organizer, working in some of the city's roughest neighborhoods; his years at the top of his Harvard Law School class; and his return to Chicago, where Obama honed his skills as a hard-knuckled politician, first in the state legislature and then as a candidate for the United States Senate.Detailing a scintillating, behind-the-scenes account of Obama's 2004 speech, a moment that labeled him the Democratic Party's "rising star," Garrow also chronicles Obama's four years in the Senate, weighing his stands on various issues against positions he had taken years earlier, and recounts his thrilling run for the White House in 2008.In Rising Star, David J. Garrow has created a vivid portrait that reveals not only the people and forces that shaped the future president but also the ways in which he used those influences to serve his larger aspirations. This is a gripping read about a young man born into uncommon family circumstances, whose faith in his own talents came face-to-face with fantastic ambitions and a desire to do good in the world. Most important, Rising Star is an extraordinary work of biography—tremendous in its research and storytelling, and brilliant in its analysis of the all-too-human struggles of one of the most fascinating politicians of our time.
Mighty Truck: Muddymania!by Chris Barton
HarperCollins (Mar 28, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
Disney's Cars meets Superman with Mighty Truck: Muddymania, the second picture book in this series about an ordinary truck with extraordinary power!Whenever there's trouble in Axelburg, Clarence is ready to pump up, rev up, and transform into Mighty Truck to save the day! But when there's danger at the biggest, muddiest event in town, Clarence is in a jam. Can he zoom into action without revealing his secret to best pal Bruno and the whole crowd?Friendship is thicker than mud in Muddymania!, an all-wheel-drive adventure illustrated by Troy Cummings and written by award-winning, bestselling author Chris Barton.
The Hate U Giveby Angie Thomas
Balzer + Bray (Feb 28, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
Now a Major Motion Picture! Read our film review.p>Eight Starred Reviews! #1 New York Times Bestseller!"Absolutely riveting!" Jason Reynolds"Stunning." John Green"This story is necessary. This story is important." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Heartbreakingly topical." Publishers Weekly (starred review)"A marvel of verisimilitude." Booklist (starred review)"A powerful, in-your-face novel." The Horn Book (starred review)Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr doesor does notsay could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
Obama: From Promise to Powerby David Mendell
Amistad (Feb 21, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
Barack Obama is arguably the most dynamic political figure to grace the American stage since John F. Kennedy. His meteoric rise from promise to power has stunned even the cynics and inspired a legion of devout followers.�For anyone who wants to know more about the man, David Mendell's Obama is essential reading. Mendell, who covered Obama for the Chicago Tribune, had far-reaching access to the Chicago politician as Obama climbed the ladder to the White House, the details of which he shares in this compelling biography. Positioning Obama as the savior of a fumbling Democratic party, Mendell reveals how Obama conquered Illinois politics and paved the way brick by brick for a galvanizing, historic presidential run.�With a new afterword by the author, which includes a fresh perspective on Barack Obama following his two historic terms as the first African-American president, and with exclusive interviews with family members and top advisers, and details on Obama's voting record, David Mendell offers a complete, complex, and revealing portrait. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in American politics in general and President Barack Obama in particular.
American Streetby Ibi Zoboi
Balzer + Bray (Feb 14, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
A National Book Award Longlist title with five starred reviews! American Street is an evocative and powerful coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Everything, Everything; Bone Gap; and All American Boys.In this stunning debut novel, Pushcart-nominated author Ibi Zoboi draws on her own experience as a young Haitian immigrant, infusing this lyrical exploration of America with magical realism and vodou culture. On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life. But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola's mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit's west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own. Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?
Eye On the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Pressby James Mcgrath Morris
Amistad (Feb 07, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
Acclaimed biographer James McGrath Morris brings into focus the riveting life of one of the most significant yet least known figures of the civil rights era—pioneering journalist Ethel Payne, the "First Lady of the Black Press"—elevating her to her rightful place in history at last.For decades, Ethel Lois Payne has been hidden in the shadows of history. Now, James McGrath Morris skillfully illuminates this ambitious, influential, and groundbreaking woman's life, from her childhood growing up in South Chicago to her career as a journalist and network news commentator, reporting on some of the most crucial events in modern American history.Morris draws on a rich and untapped collection of Payne's personal papers documenting her private and professional affairs. He combed through oral histories, FBI documents, and newspapers to fully capture Payne's life, her achievements, and her legacy. He introduces us to a journalist who covered such events as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Little Rock school desegregation crisis, the service of black troops in Vietnam, and Henry Kissinger's 26,000-mile tour of Africa.A self-proclaimed "instrument of change" for her people, Payne broke new ground as the Washington correspondent for the Chicago Defender. She publicly prodded President Dwight D. Eisenhower to support desegregation, and her reporting on legislative and judicial civil rights battles enlightened and activated black readers across the nation. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized Payne's seminal role by presenting her with a pen used in signing the Civil Rights Act. In 1972, she became the first female African American radio and television commentator on a national network, working for CBS. Her story mirrors the evolution of our own modern society.Inspiring and instructive, moving and comprehensive, Eye on the Struggle illuminates this extraordinary woman and her achievements, and reminds us of the power one person has to transform our lives and our world.With 16 pages of black-and-white photos.
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Eraby Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
Amistad (Jan 31, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this outstanding cultural biography, the author of the New York Times bestseller A Slave in the White House chronicles a critical yet overlooked chapter in American history: the inspiring rise and calculated fall of the black elite, from Emancipation through Reconstruction to the Jim Crow Era—embodied in the experiences of an influential figure of the time, academic, entrepreneur, and political activist and black history pioneer Daniel Murray.
In the wake of the Civil War, Daniel Murray, born free and educated in Baltimore, was in the vanguard of Washington, D.C.'s black upper class. Appointed Assistant Librarian at the Library of Congress—at a time when government appointments were the most prestigious positions available for blacks—Murray became wealthy through his business as a construction contractor and married a college-educated socialite. The Murrays' social circles included some of the first African-American U.S. Senators and Congressmen, and their children went to the best colleges—Harvard and Cornell.
Though Murray and other black elite of his time were primed to assimilate into the cultural fabric as Americans first and people of color second, their prospects were crushed by Jim Crow segregation and the capitulation to white supremacist groups by the government, which turned a blind eye to their unlawful—often murderous—acts. Elizabeth Dowling Taylor traces the rise, fall, and disillusionment of upper-class African Americans, revealing that they were a representation not of hypothetical achievement but what could be realized by African Americans through education and equal opportunities.
As she makes clear, these well-educated and wealthy elite were living proof that African Americans did not lack the ability to fully participate in the social contract as white supremacists claimed, making their subsequent fall when Reconstruction was prematurely abandoned all the more tragic. Illuminating and powerful, her magnificent work brings to life a dark chapter of American history that too many Americans have yet to recognize.
Breathlessby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Jan 31, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
A strong-willed beauty finds herself in the arms of the handsome drifter from her past, in this second book in the sizzling series set in the Old West, from USA Today Bestselling Author Beverly Jenkins As manager of one of the finest hotels in Arizona Territory, Portia Carmichael has respect and stability�qualities sorely missing from her harsh childhood. She refuses to jeopardize that by hitching herself to the wrong man. Suitors are plentiful, but none of them has ever looked quite as tempting as the family friend who just rode into town�and none has looked at her with such intensity and heat. Duchess. That�s the nickname Kent Randolph gave Portia when she was a young girl. Now she�s a stunning, intelligent woman�and Kent has learned his share of hard lessons. After drifting through the West, he�s learned the value of a place to settle down, and in Portia�s arms he�s found that and more. But convincing her to trust him with her heart, not just her passion, will be the greatest challenge he�s known�and one he intends to win�
The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: The Wall of Fame Gameby Crystal Allen
Balzer + Bray (Jan 31, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
The most fabulous nine-year-old cowgirl in Texas is back in this heartwarming and hilarious sequel to The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdown! Perfect for fans of Clementine and Ivy and Bean. Nine-year-old Mya Tibbs is in a triple heap of trouble. As the Tibbs household prepares for the new baby, Mya is extra excited to spend time with her mom watching their favorite Annie Oakley marathon before her new sister arrives. Until she's cornered into a bet with her number-one enemy, Naomi Jackson, that she can beat her in the famous fourth-grade Wall of Fame Game—which means Mya is stuck studying every night instead of hanging out with Mom. As if that wasn't enough, Mya just entered Bluebonnet's annual chili cook-off, even though she doesn't know how to cook! Holy moly!Can Mya find a way to beat Naomi, win the chili cook-off, and get some special mom/daughter time before it's too late?
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote Historyby Walter Dean Myers
HarperCollins (Jan 24, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
Allegedlyby Tiffany D. Jackson
Katherine Tegen Books (Jan 24, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
4 starred reviews! Orange Is the New Black meets Walter Dean Myer's Monster in this gritty, twisty, and haunting debut by Tiffany D. Jackson about a girl convicted of murder seeking the truth while surviving life in a group home.Mary B. Addison killed a baby. Allegedly. She didn't say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? There wasn't a point to setting the record straight before, but now she's got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary's fate now lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But does anyone know the real Mary?
Difficult Womenby Roxane Gay
HarperCollins Publishers (Jan 03, 2017)
Read Detailed Book Description
Award-winning author and powerhouse talent Roxane Gay burst onto the scene with An Untamed State and the New York Times bestselling essay collection Bad Feminist. Gay returns with Difficult Women, a collection of stories of rare force and beauty, of hardscrabble lives, passionate loves, and quirky and vexed human connection.
The women in these stories live lives of privilege and of poverty, are in marriages both loving and haunted by past crimes or emotional blackmail. A pair of sisters, grown now, have been inseparable ever since they were abducted together as children and must negotiate the elder sister's marriage. A woman married to a twin pretends not to realize when her husband and his brother impersonate each other. A stripper putting herself through college fends off the advances of an overzealous customer. A Black engineer moves to Upper Michigan for a job and faces the malign curiosity of her colleagues and the difficulty of leaving her past behind. From a girls fight club to a wealthy subdivision in Florida where neighbors conform, compete, and spy on each other, Gay delivers a wry, beautiful, haunting vision of modern America reminiscent of Merritt Tierce, Jamie Quatro, and Miranda July.
Jump: Take the Leap of Faith to Achieve Your Life of Abundanceby Steve Harvey
Amistad (Dec 05, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
The number-one New York Times bestselling author shares the secret of his success and teaches you how to achieve the blessed full life that belongs to youOn January 13, 2016, at the close of a taping of Family Feud, Steve Harvey spontaneously began to speak. Not knowing that the cameras were still rolling, the $100 million-dollar host offered his studio audience insights into his own happiness and success. His staff, also moved by Steve's passionate words, shared the riveting six-minute video on social media. The clip immediately went viral, with more than 58 million views worldwide! In this very personal and illuminating guide, the #1 New York Times bestselling author elaborates on those spontaneous remarks. His message is simple: You need to JUMP like your life depends on it—because it does—if you truly want a life of peace and abundance. Jump explores seven vulnerable "seasons" in the Emmy Award-winner life: being homeless and living out of his car, flunking out of college, enduring the emotional turmoil of a second failed marriage, risking stability to pursue his dream of television stardom, overcoming the Miss Universe mishap, blending his family, and owing the Internal Revenue Service $20 million. Steve uses these uncomfortable moments to explain his core principles and teach you what it means to JUMP: ��������� Identifying the lesson and the blessing in all that life brings our way;��������� Isolating particular moments when we must be still and when we must take action;��������� Implementing "humble aggression" to achieve our dreams;��������� Placing past mistakes in our rearview mirror and creating a fresh life story;��������� Letting go of people who are weighing us down;��������� Taking responsibility in the face of adversity. At the heart of this mesmerizing read is faith—the confidence in knowing that leaping will elevate our lives, and that we will be caught when we fall. Don't stand on the cliff of life and watch others soar by, Steve tells us. If you take a leap of faith, God will open your parachute and "Give you life more abundantly." Life is an incredible journey. It's not good enough to exist—you need to live. You need to JUMP—to take a leap of faith, a risk toward the rich life God has planned for you.
Hidden Figures Young Readers' Editionby Margot Lee Shetterly
HarperCollins (Nov 29, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Margot Lee Shetterly's book is now available in a new edition perfect for young readers. This is the amazing true story of four African-American female mathematicians at NASA who helped achieve some of the greatest moments in our space program. Now a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African-American women who lived through the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country.
Two Naomisby Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Audrey Vernick
Balzer + Bray (Sep 13, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
A realistic contemporary story of two girls, both named Naomi, whose divorced parents begin to date—perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia.
Other than their first names, Naomi Marie and Naomi Edith are sure they have nothing in common, and they wouldn't mind keeping it that way.
Naomi Marie starts clubs at the library and adores being a big sister. Naomi Edith loves quiet Saturdays and hanging with her best friend in her backyard. And while Naomi Marie's father lives a few blocks away, Naomi Edith wonders how she's supposed to get through each day a whole country apart from her mother.
When Naomi Marie's mom and Naomi Edith's dad get serious about dating, each girl tries to cling to the life she knows and loves. Then their parents push them into attending a class together, where they might just have to find a way to work with each other—and maybe even join forces to find new ways to define family.
Hidden Figuresby Margot Lee Shetterly
William Morrow (Sep 06, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.
Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.
Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.
Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.
Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country's future.
Another Brooklyn: A Novelby Jacqueline Woodson
Amistad (Aug 09, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
The acclaimed New York Times bestselling and National Book Award�winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming delivers her first adult novel in twenty years.Running into a long-ago friend sets memory from the 1970s in motion for August, transporting her to a time and a place where friendship was everything—until it wasn't. For August and her girls, sharing confidences as they ambled through neighborhood streets, Brooklyn was a place where they believed that they were beautiful, talented, brilliant—a part of a future that belonged to them.But beneath the hopeful veneer, there was another Brooklyn, a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where ghosts haunted the night, where mothers disappeared. A world where madness was just a sunset away and fathers found hope in religion. Like Louise Meriwether's Daddy Was a Number Runner and Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina, Jacqueline Woodson's Another Brooklyn heartbreakingly illuminates the formative time when childhood gives way to adulthood—the promise and peril of growing up—and exquisitely renders a powerful, indelible, and fleeting friendship that united four young lives.
Stepping to a New Day: A Blessings Novelby Beverly Jenkins
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jun 28, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
NAACP nominee and USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins returns to the town of Henry Adams with a story of family, friendship, love, and second chances.In Henry Adams, Kansas, you can't start over without stirring things up . . .Many a good woman has had to leave a no-good man, but how many of them took a back-seat to his 600-lb. hog? On her own for the first time, Genevieve Gibbs is ecstatic, even if certain people preferred the doormat version of Ms. Gibbs. Finding someone who appreciates the "new" her has only just hit Gen's to-do list when T.C. Barbour appears in her life.A tiny Kansas town is a far cry from his native Oakland, California, but it's just the change T. C. needs. While helping his divorced nephew acclimate to single fatherhood, T. C. lands a gig driving a limo for the most powerful woman in Henry Adams. It's a great way to meet people—and one in particular has already made the job worthwhile. All it takes is a short trip from the airport for Genevieve to snag T.C.'s attention for good.But it wouldn't be Henry Adams without adding more drama to the mix. When Gen's ex Riley returns with his hog in tow, it sets off a chain of events that can ruin everything—unless the residents pull together once again to save the day.
Every Little Step: My Storyby Bobby Brown and Nick Chiles
Dey Street Books (Jun 13, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Early on, I cemented my reputation as the bad boy of R & B. And it stuck. But now that label feels too one-dimensional. I feel like I owe it to myself and the ones I love, and will always love, to be honest. I want to tell the real story."
Bobby Brown, the singer, dancer, and all-around amazing performer, first became famous at the age of fourteen as a part of the Boston group New Edition. But it was his solo career and the release of his 1988 album, Don't Be Cruel, with its chart-topping title track, as well as hit songs "My Prerogative" and "Every Little Step," that made him infamous. As he toured the world, wowing fans, scoring hit after hit, earning millions, Brown found himself the fodder of tabloids. When he married the most celebrated singer in the world at the time, pop princess Whitney Houston, he began a life under a microscope. The couple's every move was tracked, and jaw-dropping stories were told about drug addiction, physical violence, and worse, with Brown always cast as the villain. Forever branded, Brown was trapped in a spiral of rage against the media and drug addiction, fighting for the will to get himself clean and keep his family together.
Now the man behind the misconceptions, rumors, and lies bares his soul. In this honest, raw, and at times heartbreaking account, Brown tells the truth of his life. Every Little Step is the story of a kid growing up in the projects of Boston, always on the move and always looking for an audience. Brown reveals what really happened when he left New Edition to launch his solo career and tales of his relationships with some of the most prominent pop divas in the world, including intimate details of his marriage to Houston that describe the purity of their love and the devastation he felt as it crumbled. Most poignantly, he finally speaks about losing his beloved daughter Bobbi Kristina. And through it all, Brown shows himself to be a family man, devoted to his children and his wife; a man who cared for both of his parents right up until their deaths; and a man who can admit where he faltered, but had the strength to stand up again.
- "I became famous with New Edition when I was just fourteen.
- As a solo artist, I released an album before my twentieth birthday that many have noted as altering the course of R&B music.
- In my twenties, I fell in love with the biggest music star on the planet.
- Our marriage kept more than a few gossip tabloids in business.
- I am still trying to grapple with the incredible pain and trauma of losing my daughter.
- But despite my three decades in the harsh media glare, the public has never really heard my story."
What Bobby Brown is thinking, what he's doing, what he did do, what he didn't do.
Black Man, White House: An Oral History of the Obama Yearsby D.L. Hughley
William Morrow (Jun 07, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
New York Times Bestseller (Humor)"The book everyone is laughing about!"—Joe Scarborough, Morning JoeFor two centuries, presidents hoping to secure their legacies have sought out biographers. But who could possibly capture the inspiring yet bizarre reality of the first black man to call the White House his crib, a tenure that brought hope, change, and health care to millions, but also spawned birthers, backlash, and the bewildering rise of Donald Trump? Thankfully, as the end of President Barack Obama's pioneering two terms in office drew near, the First Lady had a stroke of genius: "Honey, all these presidential biographies are written by old white guys. Why not hook a brother up for once?"Enter D.L. Hughley. When the comedy legend got the call from the White House, he knew this was the assignment of a lifetime. Of course he would become a political biographer: what else could his decades of experience bringing unflinching truth and hilarity to the American people have been building toward?And so D.L. proudly raised his finger to "The System"* and set out to record a true and accurate** oral history of the Obama years, interviewing everyone from Obama's esteemed Democratic colleagues in Washington to Republican pols who dare not speak his name and segments of the "conservative base" who have irrefutable proof that Obama is a Kenyan-born Muslim and Saddam Hussein's second cousin thrice removed AND a Coldplay fan. Protected by the Patriot Act and the promise of a presidential pardon, Hughley bitch-slapped virtually every rule of journalism in pursuit of his mission: hacking into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server; infiltrating Trump's tanning sessions; staking out each of Mitt Romney's 752 mansions; even eavesdropping on Bill Clinton's late-night escapades.At the end of it all, Hughley had bravely assembled an explosive dossier that would make Edward Snowden (and even the NSA) blush. Black Man, White House is the culmination of these extraordinary comedic efforts, an authoritative work on the Obama presidency that is destined to enlighten and entertain patriots, scholars, and Yes-We-Can'ers for generations to come.*The Dewey Decimal system.**What, librarians? Go ahead and try to shelve this book in fiction.
The Mother: A Novelby Yvvette Edwards
Amistad (May 10, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
The author of the critically acclaimed A Cupboard Full of Coats makes her hardcover debut with a provocative and timely novel about an emotionally devastated mother's struggle to understand her teenage son's death, and her search for meaning and hope in the wake of incomprehensible loss.The unimaginable has happened to Marcia Williams. Her bright and beautiful sixteen-year-old son, Ryan, has been brutally murdered. Consumed by grief and rage, she must bridle her dark feelings and endure something no mother should ever have to experience: she must go to court for the trial of the killer—another teenage boy—accused of taking her son's life.How could her son be dead? Ryan should have been safe—he wasn't the kind of boy to find himself on the wrong end of a knife carried by a dangerous young man like Tyson Manley. But as the trial proceeds, Marcia finds her beliefs and assumptions challenged as she learns more about Ryan's death and Tyson's life, including his dysfunctional family. She also discovers troubling truths about her own. As the strain of Ryan's death tests their marriage, Lloydie, her husband, pulls farther away, hiding behind a wall of secrets that masks his grief, while Marcia draws closer to her sister, who is becoming her prime confidant.One person seems to hold the answers—and the hope—Marcia needs: Tyson's scared young girlfriend, Sweetie. But as this anguished mother has learned, nothing in life is certain. Not anymore.A beautiful, engrossing novel that illuminates some of the most important and troubling issues of our time, The Motheris a moving portrait of love, tragedy, and survival—and the aftershocks from a momentary act of cruel violence that transforms the lives of everyone it touches.
The Summer of Me: A Novelby Angela Benson
William Morrow Paperbacks (Apr 19, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
The nationally bestselling author of Delilah's Daughters and The Amen Sisters returns with a moving story about a single mother who discovers the woman she can be in one unforgettable summer.
As a single mother, Destiny makes sacrifices for her children including saying goodbye for the summer so they can spend time with their father and stepmother. Though she ll miss them with all her heart, the time alone gives her an opportunity to address her own needs, like finish getting her college degree. But Destiny's friends think her summer should include some romance.
Destiny doesn't want to be set up until she meets Daniel. The handsome, warm and charming pastor soon sweeps Destiny off her feet. But is romance what she really wants? Or needs?
As the days pass, Destiny will make new discoveries about herself, the man she's fallen for, and the people around her. And she'll face challenging choices. But most of all, she ll grow in ways she never imagined, learning unexpected lessons about trust, forgiveness, and the price of motherhood and truly become the woman she wants to be."
Lazaretto: A Novelby Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Harper (Apr 12, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
Diane McKinney-Whetstone's nationally bestselling novel, Tumbling, immersed us into Philadelphia's black community during the Civil Rights era, and she returns to the city in this new historical novel about a cast of nineteenth-century characters whose colorful lives intersect at the legendary Lazaretto—America's first quarantine hospital.Isolated on an island where two rivers meet, the Lazaretto quarantine hospital is the first stop for immigrants who wish to begin new lives in Philadelphia. The Lazaretto's black live-in staff forge a strong social community, and when one of them receives permission to get married on the island the mood is one of celebration, particularly since the white staff—save the opium-addicted doctor—are given leave for the weekend. On the eve of the ceremony, a gunshot rings out across the river. A white man has fired at a boat carrying the couple's friends and family to the island, and the captain is injured. His life lies in the hands of Sylvia, the Lazaretto's head nurse, who is shocked to realize she knows the patient.Intertwined with the drama unfolding at the Lazaretto are the fates of orphan brothers. When one brother commits a crime to protect the other, he imperils both of their lives—and the consequences ultimately deliver both of them to the Lazaretto.In this masterful work of historical fiction, Diane McKinney-Whetstone seamlessly transports us to Philadelphia in the aftermath of the Civil War and Lincoln's assassination, beautifully evoking powerful stories of love, friendship and humanity amid the vibrant black community that flourished amid the troubled times.
Mighty Truckby Chris Barton
HarperCollins (Mar 29, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
Meet Clarence, a rickety old truck who goes from average to awesome when an unexpected trip through a mysterious truck wash transforms him. With pumped-up tires, a revved-up engine, and a squeaky-clean exterior, Clarence becomes a town hero! In his first adventure, Clarence—aka "Mighty Truck"—pulls a friend from the mud, rescues a kitten, and stops a loose beam from destroying Axleburg. Fans of Disney's Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine will love this action-packed picture book, illustrated by Troy Cummings and written by bestselling author Chris Barton (of Shark vs. Train)!
This Kid Can Fly: It's about Ability (Not Disability)by Aaron Philip
Balzer + Bray (Feb 16, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
Hi there! I'm Aaron, and I have a disability called cerebral palsy. I'm a disability activist, an artist, alien (yup) and a kawaii person.
"His story is truly amazing and so eye-opening. I thought I was 'aware' about what people with disabilities endure. As I worked with him I realized that I didn't know the half of it!"Tonya Bolden
"At once beautiful and heartbreaking, Aaron Philip found a way to make me laugh even as I choked up, found a way to bring on my empathy without ever allowing me to feel sorry for him. An eye-opening debut."Jacqueline Woodson
In this heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting memoir, Aaron Philip, a fourteen-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, shows how he isn't defined so much by his disability as he is by his abilities.
Written with award-winning author Tonya Bolden, This Kid Can Fly chronicles Aaron's extraordinary journey from happy baby in Antigua to confident teen artist in New York City. His honest, often funny stories of triumph—despite physical difficulties, poverty, and other challenges—are as inspiring as they are eye-opening.
Includes photos and original illustrations from Aaron's personal collection.
Forbiddenby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Jan 26, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
USA Today bestselling author Beverly Jenkins returns with the first book in a breathtaking new series set in the Old WestRhine Fontaine is building the successful life he's always dreamed of—one that depends upon him passing for White. But for the first time in years, he wishes he could step out from behind the fa�ade. The reason: Eddy Carmichael, the young woman he rescued in the desert. Outspoken, defiant, and beautiful, Eddy tempts Rhine in ways that could cost him everything . . . and the price seems worth paying.Eddy owes her life to Rhine, but she won't risk her heart for him. As soon as she's saved enough money from her cooking, she'll leave this Nevada town and move to California. No matter how handsome he is, no matter how fiery the heat between them, Rhine will never be hers. Giving in for just one night might quench this longing. Or it might ignite an affair as reckless and irresistible as it is forbidden . . .
The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdownby Crystal Allen
Balzer + Bray (Jan 26, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
A hilarious and spunky new heroine in the vein of the heroines of such beloved books as Ramona the Pest, Ivy and Bean, and Clementine, from Crystal Allen—the acclaimed author of How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy. Nine-year-old Mya Tibbs is boot-scootin' excited for the best week of the whole school year—SPIRIT WEEK! She and her megapopular best friend, Naomi Jackson, even made a pinky promise to be Spirit Week partners so they can win the big prize: special VIP tickets to the Fall Festival! But when the partner picking goes horribly wrong, Mya gets paired with Mean Connie Tate—the biggest bully in school. And she can't get out of it. Good gravy.Now Naomi is friend-ending mad at Mya for breaking a promise—even though Mya couldn't help it—and everyone at school is calling Mya names. Can Mya work with Mean Connie to win the VIP tickets and get her best friend back?
Abundance Now: Amplify Your Life & Achieve Prosperity Todayby Lisa Nichols
Dey Street Books (Jan 05, 2016)
Read Detailed Book Description
New York Times bestselling author, Personal Transformation guru, and life coach for the Steve Harvey Show and Today, Lisa Nichols shares her journey from scarcity to abundance, outlining steps everyone can take to create abundance in career, relationships, self, and finances while creating a legacy for others to follow.
Twenty years ago, Lisa Nichols was a single mother dependent on public assistance and jumping from one dead end job to the next. Determined to break out of the defeatist mindset, negative behavior, and bad habits that were holding her back from success, she resolved to change her life. Today, she leads the life of her dreams.
In Abundance Now, this icon in the field of personal transformation shares her secrets to creating a life that is rich in every way possible. Focusing on the four areas of life that must be refined to bring true abundance, or the 4 E s Enrichment, Enchantment, Engagement, Endowment Nichols identifies the framework upon which a fulfilled existence is built. Abundance Now offers provocative lessons, actionable plans and real-life case-studies, and makes clear what we must do every day to attract abundance, how to act as if we are already leading abundant lives, and how to open the door to a life of richness in our work, our relationships, our finances, and in our view of ourselves.
Sweetie Pie's Cookbook: Soulful Southern Recipes, from My Family to Yoursby Robbie Montgomery
Amistad (Oct 20, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
The beloved owner of the wildly popular Sweetie Pie's restaurant, and star of the OWN reality television show Welcome to Sweetie Pie's shares recipes for her renowned soul food and the lessons she's learned on the path to success.Growing up in Mississippi and St. Louis, Robbie Montgomery, the oldest of nine children, was often responsible for putting meals on the family table. Working side by side with her mother in their St. Louis kitchen, Robbie learned to prepare dozens of classic soul food dishes.Now, at seventy-two, Miss Robbie passes down those traditions for generations of fans to enjoy in Sweetie Pie's Cookbook. Robbie takes you into the kitchen to prepare her most favored meals—smothered pork chops, salmon croquettes, baked chicken—and tells you heartfelt and humorous stories, including amazing tales from her life at the restaurant and on the road as a back-up singer. Miss Robbie began her culinary career on the road—in the segregated America of the1960s, finding welcoming restaurants in small cities and towns was often challenging for African-Americans. When a collapsed lung prematurely ended her singing career, Miss Robbie returned to St. Louis, using her formidable cooking talent to open a soul food restaurant that would make her legend.Through her show and this special cookbook, Miss Robbie hopes to maintain the place of soul food cooking—its recipes, history, and legacy—in American culture for decades to come.Sweetie Pie's Cookbook includes 75-100 gorgeous color photos and an Index.
Where Everybody Looks Like Me: At the Crossroads of America's Black Colleges and Cultureby Ron Stodghill
Amistad (Sep 22, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
A richly reported account of the forces threatening America's historic black colleges and universities—and how diverse leaders nationwide are struggling to keep these institutions and black culture alive for future generations.American education is under siege, and few parts of the system are more threatened than black colleges and universities. Once hailed as national treasures, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) such as Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Howard University—the backbone of the nation's black middle class which have produced legends including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Oprah Winfrey—are in a fight for survival. The threats are numerous: Republican state legislators are determined to merge, consolidate, or shut down historically black colleges and universities; Ivy League institutions are poaching the best black high school students; President Obama's push for heightened performance standards, and cuts in loan funding from the U.S. Department of Education.In this tightly woven narrative full of intriguing characters, Where Everybody Looks Like Me chronicles this near breaking point for black colleges. Award-winning journalist Ron Stodghill offers a rare behind-closed-doors look into the private world of the boards of directors, the black intelligentsia, the leaders of business, law, politics, culture, and sports, and other influential figures involved in the debate and battle to save these institutions. Told from the perspective of a family, Where Everybody Looks Like Me shows their struggle to secure the best education for their child. Where Everybody Looks Like Me is a tale of vision and vanity—of boardroom backbiting, financial chicanery, idealism and passion. Here are administrators, celebrities, alumni, and others whose lives are intricately tied to these institutions and their fate—whether they will remain strong and vital, or become a revered part of our cultural past.
The Book of Luke: My Fight for Truth, Justice, and Liberty Cityby Luther Campbell
Amistad (Aug 04, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
The raw and powerful true story of how one man invented Southern Hip-Hop, saved the First Amendment, and became a role model for his disenfranchised Miami neighborhood—living proof that one person can make a difference in the world.A rap artist, wealthy musical entrepreneur, high school coach, and involved, active citizen—Luther Campbell's life is a reflection of modern America. His is a tale that touches on the most pressing issues of our time: sex, creativity versus the corporate bottom line, conservative values and artistic freedom, personal rights, the gangster mentality of music companies, the rise of entrepreneurship, and the power—and responsibilities—of individuals to care for their neighborhoods, their country, and the people around them.Born in Miami's notorious Liberty City neighborhood, Campbell saw firsthand poverty, despair, and crime. He also discovered the gift of transformation we all possess—knowledge that has made him a passionate fighter willing to take on the most powerful forces in the name of justice and what's right. His rap group 2 Live Crew and successful independent label made him a superstar and a multi-millionaire—and the center of enormous controversy.The "King of Dirty Rap" who helped pioneer the worldwide phenomenon known as the Miami Bass sound infuriated the conservative mainstream and became Public Enemy #1 when hip hop crossed the color line into white America. Campbell spent over a million dollars of his own money fighting cops and prosecutors all the way to the Supreme Court to protect his—and every other artist's—right to free speech, setting landmark legal precedents that continue to shape the entertainment industry today.Twenty years later, Campbell uses his fame and fortune to give back to the community, saving young men from the street corners and fighting for his people. Passionate, transformative, and inspiring, The Book of Luke is his story—a living testament to hope and change.
Spectacle: The Astonishing Life Of Ota Bengaby Pamela Newkirk
Amistad (Jun 01, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
An award-winning journalist reveals a little-known and shameful episode in American history, when an African man was used as a human zoo exhibit—a shocking story of racial prejudice, science, and tragedy in the early years of the twentieth century in the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Devil in the White City, and Medical Apartheid.
In 1904, Ota Benga, a young Congolese "pygmy"—a person of petite stature—arrived from central Africa and was featured in an anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World's Fair. Two years later, the New York Zoological Gardens displayed him in its Monkey House, caging the slight 103-pound, 4-foot 11-inch tall man with an orangutan. The attraction became an international sensation, drawing thousands of New Yorkers and commanding headlines from across the nation and Europe.
Spectacle explores the circumstances of Ota Benga's captivity, the international controversy it inspired, and his efforts to adjust to American life. It also reveals why, decades later, the man most responsible for his exploitation would be hailed as his friend and savior, while those who truly fought for Ota have been banished to the shadows of history. Using primary historical documents, Pamela Newkirk traces Ota's tragic life, from Africa to St. Louis to New York, and finally to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he lived out the remainder of his short life.
Illuminating this unimaginable event, Spectacle charts the evolution of science and race relations in New York City during the early years of the twentieth century, exploring this racially fraught era for Africa-Americans and the rising tide of political disenfranchisement and social scorn they endured, forty years after the end of the Civil War. Shocking and compelling Spectacle is a masterful work of social history that raises difficult questions about racial prejudice and discrimination that continue to haunt us today.
Ring around the Moon: A Novelby Mary Burnett Smith
William Morrow Paperbacks (May 19, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this thought-provoking and powerful novel, a young girl must grow up too soon as she watches her family disintegrate around her.A cry in the night awakens ten-year-old Amy Beale and alerts her to the difficulties in her parents' marriage. Earlier that steamy evening in July 1940, her mother, Arleatha, witnessed yet another of her husband's infidelities at one of his notorious "rent parties." Amy overhears her sobbing in the middle of the night, as Jack Beale begs for another chance. Arleatha agrees to give him one year. From her bed, a terrified Amy tries to strike a bargain with God: Keep the family together, and she will never do anything bad. Amen.In Ring Around the Moon, an older, wiser Amy looks back on that pivotal year as she chronicles the family's move from a small colored community to an affluent town nearby; the conflict there as she and her brothers, Lonnie and James, adjust to new friends, a new school, and interfering relatives and neighbors.As the months pass, the struggle between Jack and Arleatha continues. A proud man who feels trapped in his black skin, Jack wants a family but cannot help always looking for "the good life" for himself. Then a terrible incident threatens to break up the family once and for all.
After The Dance: My Life With Marvin Gayeby Jan Gaye and David Ritz
Amistad (May 01, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
Balm: A Novelby Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Amistad (May 01, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Problem of Painby C. S. Lewis
HarperOne (Apr 28, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis, one of the most renowned Christian authors and thinkers, examines a universally applicable question within the human condition: "If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?" With his signature wealth of compassion and insight, C.S. Lewis offers answers to these crucial questions and shares his hope and wisdom to help heal a world hungering for a true understanding of human nature.
Gone Crazy in Alabamaby Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad (Apr 21, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
Coretta Scott King Award Winner and AALBC.com bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters, who are about to learn what it's like to be fish out of water as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime.
It's the summer of 1969, and Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit Big Ma and her eighty-two-year-old mother, Ma Charles. Pa can't remind them enough that the South's not like Brooklyn, and that you can't get more southern than Alabama.
Across the field, through the pines, and over the creek is the Trotter home, where Ma Charles's half sister, Miss Trotter, lives. The two half sisters haven't spoken in years, each determined to hold on to her version of the truth. Dramatic Vonetta plays middleman to the two warring, elderly sisters, while Delphine struggles against her to bring the family together. As Delphine hears about family history that she never knew existed, she learns of a hurt that happened many years ago�which maybe can't be mended. But when a tragedy comes to the farm in Alabama, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible.
Powerful and humorous, this companion to the award-winning One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven stands on its own as a story that brilliantly reveals the history of an African-American family in all its richness and complexity, superbly written by master storyteller Rita Williams-Garcia.
Endangeredby Lamar Giles
HarperTeen (Apr 21, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
Edgar Award nominee for Best Young Adult Mystery
Endangered is a thrilling page-turner perfect for fans of Barry Lyga's I Hunt Killers, from acclaimed author Lamar Giles, author of the Edgar Award–nominated Fake ID.
The one secret she cares about keeping—her identity—is about to be exposed. That is, unless Lauren "Panda" Daniels—an anonymous photo blogger who specializes in busting classmates and teachers in compromising positions—plays along with her blackmailer's little game of Dare or… Dare.
But when the game turns deadly, Panda doesn't know what to do. And she may need to step out of the shadows to save herself… and everyone else on the Admirer's hit list.
Miss Jessie's: Creating a Successful Business from Scratch—Naturallyby Miko Branch
Amistad (Apr 14, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
Miss Jessie's is a memoir and business guide rich with inspirational life lessons and unique business advice from Miko Branch, the Chief Executive Officer of the dynamic Miss Jessie's—the company that revolutionized the hair care industry.
When Miko and her sister, Titi, were children, their grandmother, Miss Jessie, taught them independence and showed them the value of being "do it yourself" women, all while whipping up homemade hair concoctions at her kitchen table. As co-founders of Miss Jessie's, Miko reveals how she and Titi applied those lessons to create a successful business from scratch.
A family memoir with a wealth of practical business advice and handy hair tips, told in Miko'ss funny and relatable voice, Miss Jessie's is her remarkable story—from her childhood learning independence as a latchkey kid in Jamaica, Queens, to building a highly regarded company with her sister in their shared home salon in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Miko reflects on her hard-won insights working for her autocratic, iron-fisted father, and how the self-sufficiency she learned in childhood helped her blossom as a single mother with bills to pay, a child to raise, and a dream to pursue. She speaks honestly of her mistakes and successes, and of her role as an industry leader, negotiating multi-million dollar deals while at the same time restoring the self-esteem of natural and curly haired women.
Charming and enlightening, chock full of entertaining stories and invaluable instruction that can be applied to any business, and illustrated with 16 pages of photos, Miss Jessie's confirms that with effort the American Dream is possible.
How to Be Drawnby Terrance Hayes
William Morrow (Mar 31, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
A dazzling new collection of poetry by Terrance Hayes, the National Book Award�winning author of Lighthead
In How to Be Drawn, his daring fifth collection, Terrance Hayes explores how we see and are seen. While many of these poems bear the clearest imprint yet of Hayes's background as a visual artist, they do not strive to describe art so much as inhabit it. Thus, one poem contemplates the
principle of blind contour drawing while others are inspired by maps, graphs, and assorted artists. The formal and emotional versatilities that distinguish Hayes's award-winning poetry are unified by existential focus. Simultaneously complex and transparent, urgent and composed, How to Be Drawn is a mesmerizing achievement.
Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Nowby Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Harper (Mar 24, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
Continuing her journey from a deeply religious Islamic upbringing to a post at Harvard, the brilliant, charismatic and controversial�New York Times�and�Globe and Mail�#1 bestselling author of�Infidel and�Nomad�makes a powerful plea for a Muslim Reformation as the only way to end the horrors of terrorism, sectarian warfare and the repression of women and minorities.Today, she argues, the world's 1.6 billion Muslims can be divided into a minority of extremists, a majority of observant but peaceable Muslims and a few dissidents who risk their lives by questioning their own religion. But there is only one Islam and, as Hirsi Ali shows, there is no denying that some of its key teachings—not least the duty to wage holy war—are incompatible with the values of a free society.�For centuries it has seemed as if Islam is immune to change. But Hirsi Ali has come to believe that a Muslim Reformation—a revision of Islamic doctrine aimed at reconciling the religion with modernity—is now at hand, and may even have begun. The Arab Spring may now seem like a political failure. But its challenge to traditional authority revealed a new readiness—not least by Muslim women—to think freely and to speak out.Courageously challenging the jihadists, she identifies five key amendments to Islamic doctrine that Muslims have to make to bring their religion out of the seventh century and into the twenty-first. And she calls on the Western world to end its appeasement of the Islamists. "Islam is not a religion of peace," she writes. It is the Muslim reformers who need our backing, not the opponents of free speech.Interweaving her own experiences, historical analogies and powerful examples from contemporary Muslim societies and cultures,�Heretic�is not a call to arms, but a passionate plea for peaceful change and a new era of global toleration. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo murders, with jihadists killing thousands from Nigeria to Syria to Pakistan, this book offers an answer to what is fast becoming the world's number one problem.
If You Plant a Seedby Kadir Nelson
Balzer + Bray (Mar 03, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kadir Nelson, acclaimed author of Baby Bear and winner of the Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards, presents a resonant, gently humorous story about the power of even the smallest acts and the rewards of compassion and generosity.With spare text and breathtaking oil paintings, If You Plant a Seed demonstrates not only the process of planting and growing for young children but also how a seed of kindness can bear sweet fruit.
Eye On The Struggle: Ethel Payne, The First Lady Of The Black Pressby James Mcgrath Morris
Amistad (Feb 17, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
Acclaimed biographer James McGrath Morris brings into focus the riveting life of one of the most significant yet least known figures of the civil rights era—pioneering journalist Ethel Payne, the "First Lady of the Black Press"—elevating her to her rightful place in history at last.For decades, Ethel Lois Payne has been hidden in the shadows of history. Now, James McGrath Morris skillfully illuminates this ambitious, influential, and groundbreaking woman's life, from her childhood growing up in South Chicago to her career as a journalist and network news commentator, reporting on some of the most crucial events in modern American history.Morris draws on a rich and untapped collection of Payne's personal papers documenting her private and professional affairs. He combed through oral histories, FBI documents, and newspapers to fully capture Payne's life, her achievements, and her legacy. He introduces us to a journalist who covered such events as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Little Rock school desegregation crisis, the service of black troops in Vietnam, and Henry Kissinger's 26,000-mile tour of Africa.A self-proclaimed "instrument of change" for her people, Payne broke new ground as the Washington correspondent for the Chicago Defender. She publicly prodded President Dwight D. Eisenhower to support desegregation, and her reporting on legislative and judicial civil rights battles enlightened and activated black readers across the nation. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized Payne's seminal role by presenting her with a pen used in signing the Civil Rights Act. In 1972, she became the first female African American radio and television commentator on a national network, working for CBS. Her story mirrors the evolution of our own modern society.Inspiring and instructive, moving and comprehensive, Eye on the Struggle illuminates this extraordinary woman and her achievements, and reminds us of the power one person has to transform our lives and our world.With 16 pages of black-and-white photos.
This House Is Not for Sale: A Novelby E. C. Osondu
Harper (Feb 03, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
The award-winning author of Voice of America paints a vivid, fully imagined portrait of an extraordinary African family and the house that holds them together.A powerful tale of family and community, This House Is Not for Sale brings to life an African neighborhood and one remarkable house, seen through the eyes of a young member of the household. The house lies in a town seemingly lost in time, full of colorful, larger-than-life characters; at the narrative's heart are Grandpa, the family patriarch whose occasional cruelty is balanced by his willingness to open his doors to those in need, and the house itself, which becomes a character in its own right and takes on the scale of legend.From the decades-long rivalry between owners of two competing convenience stores to the man who convinces his neighbors to give up their earthly possessions to prepare for the end of the world, Osondu's story captures a place beyond the reach of the outside world, full of superstitions and myths that sustain its people.Osondu's prose has the lightness and magic of fable, but his themes—poverty, disease, the arrival of civilization in an isolated community—are timeless and profound. At once full of joyful energy and quiet heartbreak, This House Is Not for Sale is an utterly original novel from a master storyteller.
P.S. Be Elevenby Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad (Jan 27, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel and sequel to the New York Times bestseller and Newbery Honor Book One Crazy Summer, the Gaither sisters return to Brooklyn and find that changes large and small have come to their home. This extraordinary novel earned five starred reviews, with Publishers Weekly calling it "historical fiction that's as full of heart as it is of heartbreak" and The Horn Book considering it "funny, wise, poignant, and thought-provoking."After spending the summer in Oakland, California, with their mother and the Black Panthers, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern arrive home with a newfound streak of independence. The sisters aren't the only ones who have changed. Now Pa has a girlfriend. Uncle Darnell returns from Vietnam a different man. But Big Ma still expects Delphine to keep her sisters in line. That's much harder now that Vonetta and Fern refuse to be bossed around. Besides her sisters, Delphine's got plenty of other things to worry about—like starting sixth grade, being the tallest girl in her class, and dreading the upcoming school dance. The one person she confides in is her mother, Cecile. Through letters, Delphine pours her heart out and receives some constant advice: to be eleven while she can.Supports the Common Core State Standards
God Loves Haiti: A Novelby Dimitry Elias Leger
Amistad (Jan 06, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
A native of Haiti, Dimitry Elias L�ger makes his remarkable debut with this story of romance, politics, and religion that traces the fates of three lovers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the challenges they face readjusting to life after an earthquake devastates their city.Reflecting the chaos of disaster and its aftermath, God Loves Haiti switches between time periods and locations, yet always moves closer to solving the driving mystery at its center: Will the artist Natasha Robert reunite with her one true love, the injured Alain Destin�, and live happily ever after? Warm and constantly surprising, told in the incandescent style of Jos� Saramago and Roberto Bola�o, and reminiscent of Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez's hauntingly beautiful Love in The Time of Cholera, God Loves Haiti is an homage to a lost time and city, and the people who embody it.
Driving The King: A Novelby Ravi Howard
Harper (Jan 06, 2015)
Read Detailed Book Description
A daring and brilliant novel that explores race and class in 1950s America, witnessed through the experiences of Nat King Cole and his driver, Nat Weary.The war is over, the soldiers are returning, and Nat King Cole is back in his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, for a rare performance. His childhood friend, Nat Weary, plans to propose to his sweetheart, and the singer will honor their moment with a special song. While the world has changed, segregated Jim Crow Montgomery remains the same. When a white man attacks Cole with a pipe, Weary leaps from the audience to defend him—an act that will lead to a ten-year prison sentence.But the singer will not forget his friend and the sacrifice he made. Six months before Weary is released, he receives a remarkable offer: will he be Nat King Cole's driver and bodyguard in L.A.? It is the promise of a new life removed from the terror, violence, and degradation of Jim Crow Alabama.Weary discovers that, while Los Angeles is far different from the Deep South, it a place of discrimination, mistrust, and intolerance where a black man—even one as talented and popular as Nat King Cole—is not wholly welcome.An indelible portrait of prejudice and promise, friendship and loyalty, Driving the King is a daring look at race and class in pre-Civil Rights America, played out in the lives of two remarkable men.
Dark Girlsby Bill Duke and Shelia P. Moses
Amistad (Nov 11, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
In the tradition of the�New York Times�bestselling�I Dream a World�and�Crowns�comes this full-color companion volume to the acclaimed NAACP Award�nominated documentary�Dark Girls—an inspiring and breathtaking photo book that celebrates dark-skinned women.Black has never been more beautiful, witnessed by this magnificent collection featuring accomplished dark skinned-women from all walks of life. In�Dark Girls, celebrities such as Lupita Nyong'o,�Vanessa Williams, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Judge Mablean Ephriam, Brandi and Karli Harvey, and over seventy-five other outstanding women share intimate insights into what their dark skin means to them.Filled with gorgeous photographs, this thoughtful, sophisticated, alluring, and uplifting collection captures the elegance of dark skin—joyfully showcasing that we truly are beautiful for who we are.
Destiny's Captive (Destiny Trilogy)by Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Oct 28, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
In national bestselling author Beverly Jenkins' Destiny series, the Yates men play hard and live hard. And when they find that special woman, they fall hard . . .Noah Yates fully believes in the joys of a happy family and a good wife. But that's not the life for him. No, he would much rather sail the wild seas in search of adventure, not tied down. But then the unthinkable happens . . . he finds himself literally tied down. To a bed. By a woman.And Pilar isn't just an ordinary woman. She's descended from pirates. And after giving him one of the worst nights of his life, she steals his ship! Now Noah is on the hunt, and he'll stop at nothing to find this extraordinary woman . . . and make her his.
Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americansby James M. Washington
Amistad (Oct 14, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
In celebration of its twentieth anniversary, the classic collection of the most poignant and profound African-American prayers, redesigned and repackaged in a beautiful keepsake leather-bound edition with a stitched-in ribbon bookmark.A profound reflection of the spirit spanning 235 years of African-American faith—from the beginnings of slavery through Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement to today—Conversations with God brings together words of suffering, of hope, of love, of commitment, of the strength of God to heal and to lift us up.Collected from the letters and writings of common men as well as the works of prominent literary figures—W.E.B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Alice Walker—these warm and earnest prayers provide a glimpse into the struggles and strengths of people throughout history, and their passionate belief in the comforting and transformative power of faith.
Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success: Discovering Your Gift and the Way to Life's Richesby Steve Harvey
Amistad (Sep 09, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
In his phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Steve Harvey told women what it takes to succeed in love. Now, he tells everyone how to succeed in life, giving you the keys to fulfill your purpose.
Countless books on success tell you what you need to get that you don't already possess. In Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success, Steve Harvey tells you how to achieve your dreams using the gift you already have. Every one of us was born with a gift endowed by our creator—something you do the best at with very little effort. While it can be like someone else's, your gift is yours alone. No one can take it away. You are the only one who can use it—or waste it.
Steve shows how that gift holds your greatest chance at success, and the fulfillment of your life's mission and purpose. He helps you learn to define your gift—whether it's being a problem solver, a people-connector, a whiz with numbers, or having an eye for colors. He makes clear that your job is not your gift; you may use it in your work, but it can also be used in your marriage or relationship, your community, and throughout every aspect of your life. Throughout, he provides a set of principles that will help you direct your gift. "The scriptures say your gift will make room for you and put you in the presence of great men," Steve reminds us. This book is your roadmap to identifying your gift, acknowledging it, perfecting it, connecting it to a vehicle, and riding it to success. Because Success is the gift you already have."
Funny yet firm, told in Steve's warm and insightful voice, and peppered with anecdotes from his own life, practical advice, and truthful insights, this essential guide can help you transform your life and achieve everything you were born to.
Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissanceby Carla Kaplan
Harper Perennial (Sep 02, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
Celebrated scholar Carla Kaplan's cultural biography, Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance, focuses on white women, collectively called "Miss Anne," who became Harlem Renaissance insiders.
The 1920s in New York City was a time of freedom, experimentation, and passion—with Harlem at the epicenter. White men could go uptown to see jazz and modern dance, but women who embraced black culture too enthusiastically could be ostracized.
Miss Anne in Harlem focuses on six of the unconventional, free-thinking women, some from Manhattan high society, many Jewish, who crossed race lines and defied social conventions to become a part of the culture and heartbeat of Harlem.
Ethnic and gender studies professor Carla Kaplan brings the interracial history of the Harlem Renaissance to life with vivid prose, extensive research, and period photographs.
Bad Feminist: Essaysby Roxane Gay
Amistad (Aug 05, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay.
"Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I'm not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue."
In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.
Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better.
The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courageby Walter Dean Myers and Bill Miles
Amistad (Jul 22, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and renowned filmmaker Bill Miles deftly tell the true story of the unsung American heroes of the 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I in The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage.At a time of widespread bigotry and racism, the African American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment put their lives on the line in the name of democracy.The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage is a portrait of bravery and honor.Supports the Common Core State Standards
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Expanded Edition: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitmentby Steve Harvey and Denene Millner
Amistad (Jun 03, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
With translations in more than thirty languages, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man is the definitive relationship guide for women.
Steve Harvey can't count the number of impressive women he's met over the years—the many incredible women who can run a business, have three kids, maintain a household in tiptop shape, and chair a church group all at the same time. So, when it comes to relationships, why can't these same women figure out what makes men commit? According to Steve, it's because they're asking other women for advice when they should be going directly to the source. In this expanded edition, Steve includes an added section of all new advice, with tips on dealing with your partner's exes, spicing up your relationship, ensuring you're ready for that walk down the aisle, and much more.
Sometimes funny, often unflinchingly direct, but always truthful, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man is a book you must read if you want to understand how men think when it comes to relationships, intimacy, and love.
Unbreak My Heart: A Memoirby Toni Braxton
Amistad (May 20, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
The bestselling solo R&B artist finally opens up about her rocky past and her path to redemption
While Toni Braxton may appear to be living a charmed life, hers is in fact a tumultuous story: a tale of personal triumph after a public unraveling. In her heartfelt memoir, the six-time Grammy Award-winning singer and star of WE TV's hit reality series Braxton Family Values is apologetically honest in revealing the intimate details of her journey.
Toni and the entire Braxton clan have become America's favorite musical family, but what fans may not know is the intense guilt Toni once felt when she accepted a recording deal that excluded her sisters. That decision would haunt Toni for years to come, tainting the enormous fame she experienced as a popular female vocalist at the top of the charts. Despite her early accomplishments, Toni's world crumbled when she was forced to file for bankruptcy twice and was left all alone to pick up the pieces.
Always the consummate professional, Toni rebuilt her life but then found herself in the midst of more heartache. The mother of an autistic child, Toni had long feared that her son's condition might be karmic retribution for some of the life choices that left her filled with remorse. Later, when heart ailments began plaguing her at the age of forty-one and she was diagnosed with lupus, Toni knew she had to move beyond the self-recrimination and take charge of her own healing—physically and spiritually.
Unbreak My Heart is more than the story of Toni's difficult past and glittering success: it is a story of hope, of healing, and, ultimately, of redemption.
Darius & Twigby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (May 13, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
New York Times bestselling author and Printz Award winner Walter Dean Myers once again connects with teenagers everywhere in Darius & Twig, a novel about friendship and needing to live one's own dream. This touching and raw teen novel from the author of Monster, Kick, We Are America, Bad Boy, and many other celebrated literary works for children and teens is a Coretta Scott King Honor Book.Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that life in Harlem throws at them. The two friends must face down bullies, an abusive uncle, and the idea that they'll be stuck in the same place forever.
Heart of Goldby Beverly Jenkins
Amistad (Apr 29, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
Bestselling author Beverly Jenkins returns to the charming town of Henry Adams, Kansas, in this heartwarming story of family, friendship, and the surprises hidden in our lives
Henry Adams has had its fair share of drama ever since Bernadine Brown bought the town with her divorce settlement. Now, just when things are starting to settle down, it's about to get crazy again. . . .
Cephas Patterson doesn't just want to be left alone—if you dare step onto his property, he'll meet you with a shotgun and a warning to stay away from his gold. He reminds Zoey of the lonely time she spent living on the streets, so she quietly begins leaving him small offerings. But then Cephas dies and leaves a saddlebag of gold—to Zoey.
And that's not all. Zoey's parents are going through a trial separation; her former BFF, Devon, is giving her fits; and her friend Crystal has run away from home. Then there's Bernadine's mean-spirited baby sister, who has arrived unexpectedly, and an ongoing battle with a neighboring town that's about to heat up.
Will Henry Adams ever be the same again?
Hold Me In Contemptby Wendy Williams
Amistad (Apr 15, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberly Kind is trying to get beyond her roots. A successful, beautiful, and smart lawyer, she's finally finding direction in her life and getting off the streets. But a terrible accident threatens to throw her carefully laid plans off course. Now Kim's hiding a huge secret . . . one that could jeopardize everything. Enter King. A perfect mix of Justin Timberlake and David Beckham, the man oozes sex and has more swagger than anyone Kim's ever met. Their chemistry is off the charts. And after passion-filled nights, the intensity of their emotions takes both of them by surprise. Love was not supposed to be an option. Now it's the only thing holding them together. When their pasts come back with a vengeance, can love possibly be enough?
Delilah's Daughters: A Novelby Angela Benson
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 28, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
Delilah Monroe and her husband Rocky always dreamed of their three daughters making it big in show business as a musical trio. After Rocky's death, Delilah's determination is even stronger. However, her daughters…Roxanne, Veronica, and Alisha…aren't so sure. Roxanne is a cruiseline entertainer, while Alisha writes jingles for an ad agency by day and secretly composes her own songs at night. Veronica, whose dancing is better than her singing, is the one with the biggest opportunity due to her husband Dexter's grand plans…plans that are at the expense of her sisters. Delilah wants to keep her daughters together, but they have minds of their own. Soon Roxanne, Veronica, and Alisha embark on their own paths, only to find that the price of fame might be more than they're willing to give.
Worthy Brown's Daughterby Phillip Margolin
Amistad (Jan 21, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
Inspired by a true story, New York Times bestselling author Phillip Margolin turns his hand to historical fiction in this masterful saga about justice in the American West.
In the hands of critically acclaimed thriller writer Phillip Margolin, the fates of a recently widowed lawyer and a former slave intertwine in a breathtaking narrative about the extent of evil and the high price of true justice. Over two decades in the writing, Worthy Brown's Daughter is a compelling white-knuckle drama about two broken men risking everything for what they believe. Powerfully evocative of time and place, woven through with rich historical detail, it charts new territory for Margolin—but its epic, deeply human scope is still defined by the suspense and energy his fans have come to expect from his books.
Fake IDby Lamar Giles
Amistad (Jan 21, 2014)
Read Detailed Book Description
My name isn't really Nick Pearson. I shouldn't tell you where I'm from. I shouldn't tell you why my family moved to Stepton, Virginia. I shouldn't tell you who I really am, or my hair, eye, and skin color. And I definitely shouldn't tell you about my friend Eli Cruz and the major conspiracy Eli was about to uncover when he died—right after I moved to town. About how I had to choose between solving his murder with his hot sister, Reya, and "staying low-key" like the Program has taught me. About how moving to Stepton changed my life forever. But I'm going to.
My name isn't really Nick Pearson.
I shouldn't tell you where I'm from.
I shouldn't tell you why my family moved to Stepton, Virginia.
I shouldn't tell you who I really am, or my hair, eye, and skin color.
And I definitely shouldn't tell you about my friend Eli Cruz and the major conspiracy Eli was about to uncover when he died—right after I moved to town. About how I had to choose between solving his murder with his hot sister, Reya, and "staying low-key" like the Program has taught me.
About how moving to Stepton changed my life forever.
But I'm going to.
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americansby Kadir Nelson
Amistad (Dec 23, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kadir Nelson's Heart and Soul—the winner of numerous awards, including the 2012 Coretta Scott King Author Award and Illustrator Honor, and the recipient of five starred reviews—now features eight pages of discussion and curriculum material.
The story of America and African Americans is a story of hope and inspiration and unwavering courage. This is the story of the men, women, and children who toiled in the hot sun picking cotton for their masters; it's about the America ripped in two by Jim Crow laws; it's about the brothers and sisters of all colors who rallied against those who would dare bar a child from an education. It's a story of discrimination and broken promises, determination, and triumphs.
Told through the unique point of view and intimate voice of a one-hundred-year-old African-American female narrator, this inspiring book demonstrates that in gaining their freedom and equal rights, African Americans helped our country achieve its promise of liberty and justice—the true heart and soul of our nation.
Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black And White In Canadaby Lawrence Hill
HarperCollins (Dec 01, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
He Said, She Saidby Kwame Alexander
Amistad (Nov 19, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sparks will fly in this hip-hop-hot teen novel that mixes social protest and star-crossed romance, from Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Honor�winning author Kwame Alexander! He Said, She Said is perfect for fans of Walter Dean Myers and Rachel Vail alike.He says: Omar "T-Diddy" Smalls has got it made—a full football ride to UMiami, hero-worship status at school, and pick of any girl at West Charleston High. She says: Football, shmootball. Here's what Claudia Clarke cares about: Harvard, the poor, the disenfranchised, the hungry, the staggering teen pregnancy rate, investigative journalism . . . the list goes on. She does not have a minute to waste on Mr. T-Diddy Smalls and his harem of bimbos.He Said, She Said is a fun and fresh novel from Kwame Alexander that throws these two high school seniors together when they unexpectedly end up leading the biggest social protest this side of the Mississippi—with a lot of help from Facebook and Twitter. The stakes are high, the romance is hot, and when these worlds collide, watch out!
Chasing Utopia: A Hybridby Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Oct 29, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
With Chasing Utopia, Nikki Giovanni, one of America's most celebrated artists, demands that the prosaic—flowers, birdsong, winter—be seen as poetic.The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements and inspired songs, turned hearts and informed generations. She's been hailed as a healer and a national treasure. But if her reputation is writ large upon the national stage, her heart resides in the everyday where family and lovers gather, friends commune, and those�no longer with us�are remembered.And at every gathering there is food, food as sustenance, food as aphrodisiac, food as memory. A pot of beans are flavored with her mother's sighs, this sigh part cardamom, that one the essence of clove; a lover requests a banquet as an affirmation of ongoing passion; an homage is paid to the most time-honored appetizer, soup.Chasing Utopia affirms once again why Nikki Giovanni is as energetic, "remarkable" (Gwendolyn Brooks), "wonderful" (Marian Wright Edleman), "outspoken, prolific, energetic" (New York Times), and as relevant as ever
Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generationby Questlove
Harper Design (Oct 22, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
From Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of the award-winning hip-hop group the Roots, comes this vibrant book commemorating the legacy of Soul Train—the cultural phenomenon that launched the careers of artists such as Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz, LL Cool J, and Aretha Franklin. Questlove reveals the remarkable story of the captivating program, and his text is paired with more than 350 photographs of the show's most memorable episodes and the larger-than-life characters who defined it: the great host Don Cornelius, the extraordinary musicians, and the people who lived the phenomenon from dance floor. Gladys Knight contributed a foreword to this incredible volume. Nick Cannon contributed the preface.
The Church Builder: A Novel (The Church Builder Series)by A.L. Shields
Amistad (Oct 09, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
One group focused on destroying all religion. One group struggling to preserve the church. One woman searching for the truth. For two months, small-town lawyer Bethany Barclay had been mourning the hit-and-run death of her enigmatic best friend, Annabelle Seaver. Then the son of her wealthiest client is found murdered in her kitchen. When Bethany herself becomes the leading suspect, she must flee both the authorities and a mysterious killer. But there is more at stake than she knows. Bethany is caught in the web of a shadowy organization determined to destroy Christianity. The final outcome rests on her ability to piece together the last three months of her best friend's life.
Destiny's Surrenderby Beverly Jenkins
Amistad (Sep 24, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
The child he didn't know he had . . .
Andrew Yates has come to a decision: it's time to stop sowing those oats and start a family. But searching for a bride isn't as simple as he'd hoped, and many of the respectable women of his acquaintance feel . . . lacking. Then beautiful, feisty Wilhelmina "Billie" Wells arrives at the family ranch with a toddler in her arms, claiming Drew is the father!
The woman he didn't know he loved . . .
Billie had no choice but to show up at Destiny in search of Drew. For the sake of their child, she's willing to leave him with his father so the boy can have a better life, but then, before she can blink, she's saying "I do" in front of a preacher in a marriage of convenience. All Billie and Drew have in common is the heat that brought them together, but can their sizzling passion lead to an everlasting love?
Kansas City Lightning: The Rise And Times Of Charlie Parkerby Stanley Crouch
Harper (Sep 24, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker is the first installment in the long-awaited portrait of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century, from Stanley Crouch, one of the foremost authorities on jazz and culture in America.Throughout his life, Charlie Parker personified the tortured American artist: a revolutionary performer who used his alto saxophone to create a new music known as bebop even as he wrestled with a drug addiction that would lead to his death at the age of thirty-four.Drawing on interviews with peers, collaborators, and family members, Kansas City Lightning recreates Parker's Depression-era childhood; his early days navigating the Kansas City nightlife, inspired by lions like Lester Young and Count Basie; and on to New York, where he began to transcend the music he had mastered. Crouch reveals an ambitious young man torn between music and drugs, between his domineering mother and his impressionable young wife, whose teenage romance with Charlie lies at the bittersweet heart of this story.With the wisdom of a jazz scholar, the cultural insights of an acclaimed social critic, and the narrative skill of a literary novelist, Stanley Crouch illuminates this American master as never before.
Miss Anne In Harlem: The White Women Of The Black Renaissanceby Carla Kaplan
HarperCollins Publishers (Sep 10, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
Celebrated scholar Carla Kaplan's cultural biography, Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance, focuses on white women, collectively called "Miss Anne," who became Harlem Renaissance insiders.
The 1920s in New York City was a time of freedom, experimentation, and passion—with Harlem at the epicenter. White men could go uptown to see jazz and modern dance, but women who embraced black culture too enthusiastically could be ostracized.
Miss Anne in Harlem focuses on six of the unconventional, free-thinking women, some from Manhattan high society, many Jewish, who crossed race lines and defied social conventions to become a part of the culture and heartbeat of Harlem.
Ethnic and gender studies professor Carla Kaplan brings the interracial history of the Harlem Renaissance to life with vivid prose, extensive research, and period photographs.
The Returnedby Jason Mott
Amistad (Aug 27, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
The sensational New York Times bestselling novel about an impossible miracle and a family given a second chance at life
Harold and Lucille Hargrave's eight-year-old son, Jacob, died tragically in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him . Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep—flesh and blood, still eight years old.
All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. But as chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality.
With spare, elegant prose and searing emotional depth, award-winning poet Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction.
Lead Me Home (Winds Of Change)by Stacy Hawkins Adams
Amistad (Jul 13, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
Shiloh Griffin has no identity outside of her roles as pastor's wife and mom. Some days that is enough. But not always. Particularly when she is partnered with the always confident, always gracious Jade Smith on a church ministry project. Rather than shying away from God in her nervousness, Shiloh clings to Him, seeking every day to redeem herself. When an opportunity arises for her to teach music at a local high school, she thinks maybe it's just the thing to give her more significance. Then Shiloh begins mentoring Monica, a fifteen-year-old student. When Monica learns she is pregnant, Shiloh must confront her own darkest secret in the desperate decision facing the teen. If she turns away, this teen's life?and her soul?could be in jeopardy. If she decides to stand up and help, she knows she's the one who risks losing everything. Stacy Hawkins Adams's second book in the Winds of Change series finds Shiloh at a life-changing crossroads: keep her halo intact, or lose her honor to save the girl's. "Elegantly emotional and intriguing, the story reaches deep to gently touch the soul." ?Publishers Weekly (starred review)
High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Societyby Carl Hart
Amistad (Jun 11, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
A pioneering neuroscientist shares his story of growing up in one of Miami's toughest neighborhoods and how it led him to his groundbreaking work in drug addiction.
As a youth, Carl Hart didn't realize the value of school; he studied just enough to stay on the basketball team. At the same time, he was immersed in street life. Today he is a cutting-edge neuroscientist—Columbia University's first tenured African American professor in the sciences—whose landmark, controversial research is redefining our understanding of addiction.
In this provocative and eye-opening memoir, he recalls his journey of self-discovery and weaves his past and present. Hart goes beyond the hype of the antidrug movement as he examines the relationship among drugs, pleasure, choice, and motivation, both in the brain and in society. His findings shed new light on common ideas about race, poverty, and drugs, and explain why current policies are failing.
Though Hart escaped neighborhoods that were dominated by entrenched poverty and the knot of problems associated with it, he has not turned his back on his roots. Determined to make a difference, he tirelessly applies his scientific research to help save real lives. But balancing his former street life with his achievements today has not been easy—a struggle he reflects on publicly for the first time.
A powerful story of hope and change, of a scientist who has dedicated his life to helping others, High Price will alter the way we think about poverty, race, and addiction—and how we can effect change.
A Brother's Honor (The Grangers)by Brenda Jackson
Amistad (May 28, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Granger brothers left behind their family's Virginia estate—and the bad memories it holds—years ago. But their dying grandfather's request brings them home: to a failing business, a legacy of secrets and a deathbed promise to make things right.
As the eldest brother, attorney Jace Granger is determined to take responsibility for Granger Aeronautics, his family's failing business. But the years of mismanagement seem impossible to untangle. As CEO, he hires a consultant to turn the company around. Smart, sexy Shana Bradford is the right person for the job—and the right woman to turn Jace's world upside down.
But the passion between them is jeopardized when old secrets begin to emerge. A woman from Jace's past suddenly reappears. And an explosive discovery changes everything Jace thinks he knows about his mother—and his father, who was convicted of her murder.
Jace Granger tried to leave his family history behind once before. But this time he needs to face the past…or risk losing his future.
Three brothers. One legacy. A lifetime of secrets.
P.S. Be Elevenby Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad (May 21, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel and sequel to the New York Times bestseller and Newbery Honor Book One Crazy Summer, the Gaither sisters return to Brooklyn and find that changes large and small have come to their home. This extraordinary novel earned five starred reviews, with Publishers Weekly calling it "historical fiction that's as full of heart as it is of heartbreak" and The Horn Book considering it "funny, wise, poignant, and thought-provoking."After spending the summer in Oakland, California, with their mother and the Black Panthers, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern arrive home with a newfound streak of independence. The sisters aren't the only ones who have changed. Now Pa has a girlfriend. Uncle Darnell returns from Vietnam a different man. But Big Ma still expects Delphine to keep her sisters in line. That's much harder now that Vonetta and Fern refuse to be bossed around. Besides her sisters, Delphine's got plenty of other things to worry about—like starting sixth grade, being the tallest girl in her class, and dreading the upcoming school dance. The one person she confides in is her mother, Cecile. Through letters, Delphine pours her heart out and receives some constant advice: to be eleven while she can.Supports the Common Core State Standards
Ask Wendy: Straight-Up Advice For All The Drama In Your Lifeby Wendy Williams
Amistad (May 07, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
Go ahead . . . ask her anything
Over the radio and now on her popular TV talk show, Wendy Williams has always been approached for her blunt, in-your-face words of advice. How's she doin'? "Ask Wendy" has become more than just a fan-favorite TV segment; it's her calling card. Wendy has helped her viewers cope with everything from backstabbing girlfriends and deadbeat boyfriends to crazy mothers-in-law and jealous coworkers. Fans trust Wendy, even when her advice is tough to hear. She's earned her reputation as "the friend in your head."
On TV Wendy only has a few minutes to respond to each audience member, but in Ask Wendy she goes deeper, answering questions sourced from viewers across the country. No question is off-limits and no situation is too outrageous for her to take on. Wendy shoots straight from those womanly hips of hers to help you manage all the crazy that comes into your life— keepin' it real by drawing on the personal experiences that have shaped her unique perspective. Wendy reveals never-before shared intimate secrets about struggling with weight, navigating rough times in her marriage, and learning to accept herself. Along with the usual girlfriend, boyfriend, and family drama, Wendy straight-talks on topics like style, body image, and office etiquette, and of course she tackles your wildest sex questions. If you've dealt with it, Wendy has a solution for it.
Filled with fun personality quizzes, Wendy's laugh-out-loud anecdotes, and tons of spot-on advice, Ask Wendy will help readers to end the drama in their lives.
Raising The Barby Gabrielle Douglas
Amistad (May 04, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
After competing in the 2012 London Olympics and winning two gold medals, Gabrielle Douglas's life changed forever … but in many important ways, it stayed the same. Inside these pages, Gabrielle shares an inside look at her day-to-day world, from the things that are still important to her—time with her friends and family, her favorite comfort foods, and her training routine—as well as what's it's like to suddenly walk the red carpet and interviewed by various people. Along the way, Gabrielle also offers tips on how you can raise the bar on your life and accomplish your dreams. Through candid photos taken by Gabrielle to exclusive images taken behind the scenes, experience what it's like to be an Olympic Champion and a normal teenage girl balancing a life in the spotlight with a life in the gym.
Plan D: How to Lose Weight and Beat Diabetes (Even If You Don't Have It)by Sherri Shepherd and Billie Fitzpatrick
It Books (Apr 30, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
In Plan D, Sherri Shepherd, Emmy Award winner and cohost of The View, presents her easy-to-follow program for losing weight, managing sugar sensitivity, and getting moving all to help you feel and look your best.For years, Sherri Shepherd was told that she was pre-diabetic. And for years, she ignored her doctor's advice to lose weight and get healthy before she developed full blown diabetes. When she finally got the big-D diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, the same disease that took her mother's life, Sherri vowed that she'd change her ways so that her son wouldn't be left alone, without a mother, as she had been.With the help of her doctor, she created this program, lost more than 40 pounds, and she looks great and has more energy than she did in her twenties. Sherri's diabetes is under control, and she was happy to show her stuff, wowing the world on Dancing with the Stars.
With tools to help you live a long and healthy life, Plan D is a smart and supportive plan designed to help you lose weight safely, make exercise a real, and fun, part of your life, and control your sugar sensitivity. And through it all, Sherri Shepherd is there, like a trusted friend, offering advice, encouragement, and of course a healthy dose of humor.
Darius & Twigby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (Apr 23, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
New York Times bestselling author and Printz Award winner Walter Dean Myers once again connects with teenagers everywhere in Darius & Twig, a novel about friendship and needing to live one's own dream. This touching and raw teen novel from the author of Monster, Kick, We Are America, Bad Boy, and many other celebrated literary works for children and teens is a Coretta Scott King Honor Book.Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that life in Harlem throws at them. The two friends must face down bullies, an abusive uncle, and the idea that they'll be stuck in the same place forever.
The Laura Lineby Crystal Allen
Balzer + Bray (Apr 23, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
A touching and funny story of one girl's journey to discover where she came from and the unlimited possibilities of who she can become, from Crystal Allen, the acclaimed author of How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy and The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdown.Laura Dyson wants two things in life: to be accepted by her classmates and to be noticed by ultracute baseball star Troy Bailey. But everyone at school teases her for being overweight, and Troy won't give her a second glance. Until one day, their history teacher announces a field trip to the run-down slave shack on her grandmother's property. Heck to the power of no way!Her grandmother insists that it's more than just an old shack; it's a monument to the strong women in their family—the Laura Line. But Laura knows better: her classmates will never accept her once they see the shack. So she comes up with the perfect plan to get the trip canceled . . . but when a careless mistake puts the shack—and the Laura Line—in jeopardy, Laura must decide what's truly important to her. Can Laura figure out how to get what she wants at school while also honoring her family's past?
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New Americaby Gilbert King
Amistad (Feb 19, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
Arguably the most important American lawyer of the twentieth century, Thurgood Marshall was on the verge of bringing the landmark suit Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court when he became embroiled in an explosive and deadly case that threatened to change the course of the civil rights movement and cost him his life.
In 1949, Florida's orange industry was booming, and citrus barons got rich on the backs of cheap Jim Crow labor. To maintain order and profits, they turned to Willis V. McCall, a violent sheriff who ruled Lake County with murderous resolve. When a white seventeen-year-old Groveland girl cried rape, McCall was fast on the trail of four young blacks who dared to envision a future for themselves beyond the citrus groves. By day's end, the Ku Klux Klan had rolled into town, burning the homes of blacks to the ground and chasing hundreds into the swamps, hell-bent on lynching the young men who came to be known as "the Groveland Boys."
And so began the chain of events that would bring Thurgood Marshall, the man known as "Mr. Civil Rights," into the deadly fray. Associates thought it was suicidal for him to wade into the "Florida Terror" at a time when he was irreplaceable to the burgeoning civil rights movement, but the lawyer would not shrink from the fight—not after the Klan had murdered one of Marshall's NAACP associates involved with the case and Marshall had endured continual threats that he would be next.
Drawing on a wealth of never-before-published material, including the FBI's unredacted Groveland case files, as well as unprecedented access to the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund files, King shines new light on this remarkable civil rights crusader, setting his rich and driving narrative against the heroic backdrop of a case that U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson decried as "one of the best examples of one of the worst menaces to American justice."
A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisonsby Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
Amistad (Feb 19, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
Paul Jennings was born into slavery on the plantation of James and Dolley Madison in Virginia, later becoming part of the Madison household staff at the White House. Once finally emancipated by Senator Daniel Webster later in life, he would give an aged and impoverished Dolley Madison, his former owner, money from his own pocket, write the first White House memoir, and see his sons fight with the Union Army in the Civil War. He died a free man in northwest Washington at 75. Based on correspondence, legal documents, and journal entries rarely seen before, this amazing portrait of the times reveals the mores and attitudes toward slavery of the nineteenth century, and sheds new light on famous characters such as James Madison, who believed the white and black populations could not coexist as equals; French General Lafayette who was appalled by this idea; Dolley Madison, who ruthlessly sold Paul after her husband's death; and many other since forgotten slaves, abolitionists, and civil right activists.
Radical: Fighting To Put Students Firstby Michelle Rhee
Harper (Feb 05, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
In Radical, Michelle Rhee, a fearless and pioneering advocate for education reform, draws on her own life story and delivers her plan for better American schools.Rhee's goal is to ensure that laws, leaders, and policies are making students—not adults—our top priority, and she outlines concrete steps that will put us on a dramatically different course. Informing her critique are her extraordinary experiences in education: her years of teaching in inner-city Baltimore; her turbulent tenure as chancellor of the Washington, DC public schools; and her current role as CEO of the education nonprofit StudentsFirst. Rhee draws on dozens of compelling examples from schools she's worked in and studied, from students who've left behind unspeakable home lives and thrived in the classroom to teachers whose groundbreaking methods have produced unprecedented leaps in student achievement.An incisive and intensely personal call-to-arms, Michelle Rhee's Radical is required reading for anyone who seeks a guide to not only the improvement of our schools, but also a brighter future for America's children.
Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Night the Music Stoppedby Cissy Houston
Amistad (Jan 29, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
The definitive account of Whitney Houston's astonishing life, ground-breaking career, and tragic death — complete with never-before-seen photographs — from the only one who truly knows the story behind the headlines: her mother, Cissy Houston.
Cissy has said little publicly about Whitney's heart-breaking death. Now, for the first time, she opens up and shares the unbelievable story of her daughter's life, as well as her own, and addresses Whitney's brightest and darkest moments.
A legendary Grammy Award–winning gospel singer in her own right, Cissy Houston shows how the lessons from her own musical journey helped to shape Whitney's career — from teaching Whitney to use her voice, to keeping her level-headed throughout her meteoric rise to fame.
With candor and respect, she sets the record straight about Whitney, exploring both her turbulent marriage and her misunderstood struggles with drug abuse. Cissy goes behind the tabloid headlines to show fans around the world the true, human side of a strong, successful — yet flawed — musical icon who died much too young.
America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Greatby Ben Carson
Amistad (Jan 22, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
In America the Beautiful, Dr. Ben Carson helps us learn from our past in order to chart a better course for our future.
From his personal ascent from inner-city poverty to international medical and humanitarian acclaim, Carson shares experiential insights that help us understand
… what is good about America
… where we have gone astray
… which fundamental beliefs have guided America from her founding into preeminence among nations
Written by a man who has experienced America's best and worst firsthand, America the Beautiful is at once alarming, convicting, and inspiring. You'll gain new perspectives on our nation's origins, our Judeo-Christian heritage, our educational system, capitalism versus socialism, our moral fabric, healthcare, and much more.
An incisive manifesto of the values that shaped America's past and must shape her future, America the Beautiful calls us all to use our God-given talents to improve our lives, our communities, our nation, and our world.
Nelson Mandelaby Kadir Nelson
Katherine Tegen Books (Jan 02, 2013)
Read Detailed Book Description
One day when Nelson Mandela was nine years old, his father died and he was sent from his village to a school far away from home, to another part of South Africa. In Johannesburg, the country's capital, Mandela saw fellow Africans who were poor and powerless. He decided then that he would work to protect them. When the government began to keep people apart based on the color of their skin, Mandela spoke out against the law and vowed to fight hard in order to make his country a place that belonged to all South Africans.
Kadir Nelson tells the story of Mandela, a global icon, in poignant verse and glorious illustrations. It is the story of a young boy's determination to change South Africa and of the struggles of a man who eventually became the president of his country by believing in equality for people of all colors. Readers will be inspired by Mandela's triumph and his lifelong quest to create a more just world.
Brick by Brickby Charles R. Smith Jr.
Amistad (Dec 26, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
Coretta Scott King Award-winners Charles R. Smith Jr. and Floyd Cooper deliver the compelling story behind the building of the White House, a powerful part of history rarely taught. The home of our president was built by many hands, several of them slaves', who undertook this amazing achievement long before there were machines to do those same jobs. With an insightful author's note and a list of selected resources, this book supports the Common Core State Standards.Stirring and emotional, Cooper's stunning illustrations bring to life the faces of those who endured hard, brutal work when the profit of their labor was paid to the master, not the slave. The fact that many were able to purchase their freedom after earning money from learning a trade speaks to the strength of those individuals. They created this iconic emblem of America, brick by brick.
Maybe the Saddest Thing: Poems (National Poetry)by Marcus Wicker
Harper Perennial (Oct 23, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
"These are wide-ranging Whitmanesque poems self-aware meditations that rap and jazz their way forward, talk back, backtrack, and scratch so hard they blow out the speakers with their complicated love for a huge cast of icons, from Pam Grier to Flavor Flav, from RuPaul to Dave Chapelle." Erika Meitner"Keats, too, would have admired the holy truth of Marcus Wicker, whose lyric wizardry astounds the ear." D.A. PowellWinner of the 2011 National Poetry Series Prize as selected by D.A. Powell, Marcus Wicker's Maybe the Saddest Thing is a sterling collection of contemporary American poems by an exciting new and emerging voice.
In the Land of Milk and Honeyby Joyce Carol Thomas
Amistad (Sep 18, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
I ease myself back in the window seat and breathe in as the train breathes out We're on our way! On our way to the Land of Milk and HoneyLemons as big as oranges, the cool Pacific Ocean, mountains that rise up beyond the outstretched bay California beckons as one girl makes her way west on a journey filled with excitement, hope, and the promise of a place where people from all paths come together and music fills the air.This is the true story of author Joyce Carol Thomas's trip from Oklahoma to California in 1948, when she moved there as a girl. During that time, many people went west, drawn by warmth and possibility, reflected in the people of all cultures and ethnicities who started a new life there.Coretta Scott King honoree Joyce Carol Thomas and Coretta Scott King Award winner Floyd Cooper capture the anticipation of a bright adventure and a world filled with freedom and opportunity.
The Cutting Season: A Novelby Attica Locke
Harper (Sep 18, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
From Attica Locke, a writer and producer of FOX's Empire:"The Cutting Season�is a rare murder mystery with heft, a historical novel that thrills, a page-turner that makes you think. Attica Locke is a dazzling writer with a conscience."—Dolen Perkins-Valdez,�New York Times�bestselling author of�WenchAfter her breathtaking debut novel,�Black Water Rising, won acclaim from major publications and respected crime fiction masters like James Ellroy and George Pelecanos, Locke returns with�The Cutting Season, a second novel easily as gripping and powerful as her first—a heart-pounding thriller that interweaves two murder mysteries, one on Belle Vie, a historic landmark in the middle of Lousiana's Sugar Cane country, and one involving a slave gone missing more than one hundred years earlier.�Black Water Rising�was nominated for a�Los Angeles Times Book Prize, an Edgar� Award, and an NAACP Image Award, and was short-listed for the Orange Prize in the U.K.
The Cutting Season: A Novelby Alain Locke
HarperLuxe (Sep 18, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
From Attica Locke, a writer and producer of FOX's Empire:"The Cutting Season�is a rare murder mystery with heft, a historical novel that thrills, a page-turner that makes you think. Attica Locke is a dazzling writer with a conscience."—Dolen Perkins-Valdez,�New York Times�bestselling author of�WenchAfter her breathtaking debut novel,�Black Water Rising, won acclaim from major publications and respected crime fiction masters like James Ellroy and George Pelecanos, Locke returns with�The Cutting Season, a second novel easily as gripping and powerful as her first—a heart-pounding thriller that interweaves two murder mysteries, one on Belle Vie, a historic landmark in the middle of Lousiana's Sugar Cane country, and one involving a slave gone missing more than one hundred years earlier.�Black Water Rising�was nominated for a�Los Angeles Times Book Prize, an Edgar� Award, and an NAACP Image Award, and was short-listed for the Orange Prize in the U.K.
Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Manby Steve Harvey
Amistad (Aug 28, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
In the New York Times bestseller Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man—the basis for the #1 box office smash—Steve Harvey gave millions of women around the globe insight into what men really think about love, intimacy, and commitment. In Straight Talk, No Chaser, he zeroes in on what motivates men and provides tips on how women can use that knowledge to get more of what they need out of their relationships, whether it's more help around the house or more money in the joint savings account. Harvey also shares invaluable information on:• How to minimize nagging and maximize harmony at home
• Dating tips for women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond
• What men think about "intimidating women"
Drawing on a lifetime of experience and the feedback women have shared with him in reaction to Act Like a Lady, media personality, philanthropist, and (finally) happily married man Steve Harvey proves once again—with his trademark wit and no-nonsense honesty—that he is the ultimate guide to understanding what men think when they think about women.
How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophyby Crystal Allen
Balzer + Bray (Aug 14, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
Thirteen-year-old Lamar Washington is the maddest, baddest, most spectacular bowler at Striker's Bowling Paradise. But while Lamar's a whiz at rolling strikes, he always strikes out with girls. And Lamar's brother is no help—Xavier earns trophy after trophy on the basketball court and soaks up Dad's attention, leaving no room for Lamar's problems. Then bad boy Billy Jenks convinces Lamar that hustling at the alley will help him win his dream girl, plus earn him enough money to buy an expensive pro ball and impress celebrity bowler Bubba Sanders. But when Billy's scheme goes awry, Lamar ends up ruining his brother's shot at college and damaging every relationship in his life. Can Lamar figure out how to mend his broken ties, no matter what the cost?
A Cupboard Full of Coats: A Novelby Yvvette Edwards
Amistad (Jul 31, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
"[A] gorgeously lyrical debut novel�.Engrossing and human to the core, Edwards's novel wrings the heart in the most tender of ways."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)"The novel is high drama, full of breathtaking tension, and, at times, brought to mind the works of Arthur Miller and August Wilson, both of whom knew a thing or two about secrets spilled across a kitchen table."—Attica Locke, author of Black Water RisingSoon the name on every fiction lover's lips will be Yvvette Edwards, thanks to her extraordinary debut novel, A Cupboard Full of Coats. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, one of Great Britain's most prestigious literary awards, and named one of Kirkus Review's Best Books of the Year, Edwards's powerful first novel is at once a poignant family drama and a gripping mystery—page-turning literature with an exhilarating infusion of noir. It is the story of Jinx, who believes she played a pivotal role in her mother's murder, until an old acquaintance appears at her door with seductive air, a long, strange story, and, quite possibly, the bitter truth. A truly stunning work of contemporary literary fiction that packs an emotional punch and keeps readers guessing to the end, A Cupboard Full of Coats is already being compared by critics to the novels of the master, Ruth Rendell.
Our Kind Of People: A Continent's Challenge, A Country's Hopeby Uzodinma Iweala
Harper (Jul 10, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
In 2005, Uzodinma Iweala stunned readers and critics alike with Beasts of No Nation, his debut novel about child soldiers in West Africa. Now his return to his native continent has produced Our Kind of People, a nonfiction account of the AIDS crisis that is every bit as startling and original.Iweala embarks on a remarkable journey in his native Nigeria, meeting individuals and communities that are struggling daily to understand both the impact and meaning of the disease. He speaks with people from all walks of life—the ill and the healthy, doctors, nurses, truck drivers, sex workers, shopkeepers, students, parents, and children. Their testimonies are by turns uplifting, alarming, humorous, and surprising, and always unflinchingly candid.Beautifully written and heartbreakingly honest, Our Kind of People goes behind the headlines of an unprecedented epidemic to show the real lives it affects, illuminating the scope of the crisis and a continent's valiant struggle.
Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Watersby Donald Bogle
Harper Perennial (Jun 26, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Mr. Bogle continues to be our most noted black-cinema historian."
—Spike Lee"Donald Bogle [is a] pioneering safe-keeper of the history of blacks in film."
—VogueFrom Donald Bogle, author of the bestselling Dorothy Dandridge and Toms, Coons, Mulattos, Mammies, and Bucks, a groundbreaking history of African American portrayals in Hollywood, comes the long-awaited, definitive biography of one of America's brightest and most troubled theatrical stars: actress and singer Ethel Waters. In Heat Wave, Bogle explores Waters' relationships with other performing greats, including Lena Horne, Count Basie, Vincent Minnelli, and many others, and paints a vivid, deeply human portrait of this legendary performer—a must-read for any fan of jazz, blues, and classic American cinema.
American Tapestryby Rachel L. Swarns
Amistad (Jun 19, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
A remarkable history of First Lady Michelle Obama's mixed ancestry, American Tapestry by Rachel L. Swarns is nothing less than a breathtaking and expansive portrait of America itself.In this extraordinary feat of genealogical research—in the tradition of The Hemmingses of Monticello and Slaves in the Family—author Swarns, a respected Washington-based reporter for the New York Times, tells the fascinating and hitherto untold story of Ms. Obama's black, white, and multiracial ancestors; a history that the First Lady herself did not know.At once epic, provocative, and inspiring, American Tapestry is more than a true family saga; it is an illuminating mirror in which we may all see ourselves.
By Love Possessed: Storiesby Lorna Goodison
Amistad (May 29, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
"A beautifully written and evocative book."
—Danielle Evans, author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize"Written by the hand of a poet, the prose in this collection is consistently beautiful."
—Elizabeth Nunez, author of Prospero's Daughter and Boundaries"I love the tender beautiful writing; I love the characters, and in many ways it felt as if I had met them before….I just love this book."
—Uwem Akpan, author of Say You're One of Them, an Oprah Book Club selectionInternationally renowned and award-winning poet Lorna Goodison brings us By Love Possessed, her long-anticipated collection of short fiction. Making dazzling use of the Creole patois of Jamaica, Goodison limns the beauty and despair of the human condition and explores the unique power of love to both uplift and destroy. Goodison's powerfully moving stories explore the pain, the struggle, and the triumph of Jamaicans—particularly women—those still living on their Caribbean island and those who have emigrated elsewhere. By Love Possessed is a rare and beautiful gift from an extraordinary writer who was mentored by the legendary Derek Walcott and who stands with Edwidge Danticat as a brave and breathtaking voice in contemporary literature.
It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadershipby Colin Powell
Amistad (May 22, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
Colin Powell, one of America's most admired public figures, reveals the principles that have shaped his life and career in this inspiring and engrossing memoir. A beautiful companion to his previous memoir, the #1 New York Times bestseller My American Journey, Powell's It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership is a trove of wisdom for anyone hoping to achieve their goals and turn their dreams into reality. A message of strength and endurance from a man who has dedicated his life to public service, It Worked for Me is a book with the power to show readers everywhere how to achieve a more fulfilling life and career.
A Wish and a Prayer: A Blessings Novel (Blessings Series)by Beverly Jenkins
William Morrow Paperbacks (Apr 10, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Returning to Henry Adams, Kansas, is akin to attending a family reunion. The characters are rich, and the kids all have a story to be told." Romantic Times"This series is a winner." Minneapolis ExaminerBestselling author Beverly Jenkins takes readers back to Henry Adams a small town originally founded by freed slaves for a delightful fourth visit with A Wish and a Prayer. Time spent in this close-knit community of lovable eccentrics is always quality time, and this trip promises to be especially memorable, with a pig on trial and new love blossoming. Loaded with heart and wit, Jenkins's A Wish and a Prayer is like coming home a welcome return that readers of Kimberla Lawson Roby and Angela Benson and African American romance fans will certainly want to experience.
Niv Lessons From Life Bible: Personal Reflections With Jimmy Carterby Jimmy Carter
Amistad (Mar 17, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
The NIV Lessons from Life Bible takes Mr. Carter's years of teaching Sunday school lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, GA, and meshes them with the text of the NIV Bible. Through �In Focus' articles, �Bible in Life' notes, in-depth studies and insightful observations and reflections, President Carter's teachings in this Bible provide fresh insights for you to study and contemplate. Features: • The full text of the clear, accessible NIV translation • Foreword by Jonathan Reckford, International CEO of Habitat for Humanity • Bible in Life notes: short, application-oriented notes on particular verses • In Focus Articles: longer articles on particular topics • Short prayers of application on select passages • Reflections: brief one-sentence sayings and quotations by Jimmy Carter • Presentation page
Coming Home: A Novel (Winds Of Change)by Stacy Hawkins Adams
Amistad (Mar 10, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
If forgiving your ex-husband was easy, everybody would do it. Brent had cheated on Dayna and coldly said goodbye to her seven long years ago?dashing her hopes of having children or growing old with the love of her life. Working hard to make herself successful as a hospital executive, Dayna has moved on, finding comfort in a new dating relationship with a faith-filled colleague, Warren. But when Brent resurfaces on her doorstep at just the wrong time, Dayna's heart threatens to come unglued. Why is Brent asking for forgiveness now? And why are he and his new wife, Tamara, interested in reconciliation with Dayna? The unbelievable answers in Coming Home begin to surface as Brent boldly asks Dayna to support him at the most crucial time of his life. While Tamara's heart brims with guilt, both women will discover what it means to reach beyond pain and baggage to love unconditionally, leaving the consequences to God.
The Valkyriesby Paulo Coelho
HarperOne (Feb 14, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
A classic masterwork of spiritual tension and realization from Paulo Coelho, this powerful story of one man's battle with self-doubt and fear is now available in a beautiful new package from HarperOne. An essential volume alongside Coelho's other bestselling and influential books, such as The Alchemist, The Pilgrimage, Brida, and The Winner Stands Alone, the searing and unforgettable narrative in The Valkyries asks the questions most central to all literature—and all of humanity's quest for understanding. Why is it that we destroy the things we love most? And how can we learn to let go of the past and believe in the future?
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man Movie Tie-in What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitmentby Steve Harvey and Denene Millner
Amistad (Jan 31, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
Steve Harvey can't count the number of impressive women he's met over the years—women who can run a business, keep a household with three kids in tiptop shape, and chair a church group all at the same time. So when it comes to relationships, why can't these women figure out what makes men tick? According to Steve, it's because they're asking other women for advice when they should be going directly to the source. In his indispensable relationship guide Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, now the basis for a major motion picture, Steve lets women inside the male mindset; introduces concepts such as the ninety-day rule; and reveals the five questions women should ask a potential partner to determine how serious he is.Sometimes funny, sometimes direct, but always truthful, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man is a book you must read if you want to understand how men think when it comes to relationships, intimacy, and love.
How To Be Blackby Baratunde Thurston
Harper (Jan 31, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Onion's Baratunde Thurston shares his 30-plus years of expertise in being black, with helpful essays like "How to Be the Black Friend," "How to Speak for All Black People," "How To Celebrate Black History Month," and more, in this satirical guide to race issues—written for black people and those who love them. Audacious, cunning, and razor-sharp, How to Be Black exposes the mass-media's insidiously racist, monochromatic portrayal of black culture's richness and variety. Fans of Stuff White People Like, This Week in Blackness, and Ending Racism in About an Hour will be captivated, uplifted, incensed, and inspired by this hilarious and powerful attack on America's blacklisting of black culture: Baratunde Thurston's How to Be Black.
Freedom's a-Callin Meby Ntozake Shange
Amistad (Jan 03, 2012)
Read Detailed Book Description
Award-winning poet Ntozake Shange and artist Rod Brown reimagine the journeys of the brave men and women who made their way to freedom on the Underground Railroad.Fleeing on the Underground Railroad meant walking long distances; swimming across streams; hiding in abandoned shanties, swamps, and ditches, always on the run from slave trackers and their dogs.ah might get hungry
ah may get tired
good Lawd /
ah may be freeThe Underground Railroad operated on secrecy and trust. But who could be trusted?There were free black and white men and women helping, risking their lives, too. Because freedom was worth any risk. Celebrated collaborators Ntozake Shange and Rod Brown pay tribute to the Underground Railroad, a universal story about the human need to be free.ah am a livin bein' & ah got to be free
One Crazy Summerby Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad (Dec 27, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.
When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.
Set during one of the most tumultuous years in recent American history, one crazy summer is the heartbreaking, funny tale of three girls in search of the mother who abandoned them-an unforgettable story told by a distinguished author of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia.
Lockdownby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (Dec 27, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
Walter Dean Myers enjoys speaking with kids in schools and juvenile detention facilities about writing and making positive decisions. He says, "I have enormous faith in young people."What's it like in juvie jail? Enter the world of fourteen-year-old Reese, who's locked up at Progress juvenile detention facility. Can he get a second chance?
Coretta Scottby Ntozake Shange
Katherine Tegen Books (Dec 27, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
Walking many miles to school in the dusty road, young Coretta Scott knew the unfairness of life in the segregated south. A yearning for equality began to grow. Together with Martin Luther King, Jr., she gave birth to a vision of change through nonviolent protest. It was the beginning of a journey—with dreams of freedom for all.
Through The Year With Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations From The 39Th Presidentby Jimmy Carter
Amistad (Dec 12, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
In Through the Year with Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth President of the United States takes you on a unique journey into the heart of the Christian faith. Based on more than three decades of practical Bible teaching, these readings draw from the riches of God's Word and the compelling experiences of Mr. Carter's own life. Whether through fascinating glimpses into behind-the-scenes activity at the White House, or insightful remembrances of his career in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Carter never ceases to connect the wisdom of Scripture with your own crucial place on the stage of life. Frank, honest, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always relevant, Through the Year with Jimmy Carter challenges readers to be more Christ-like every day of their lives.
Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Manby Steve Harvey and Denene Millner
Amistad (Nov 11, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
Steve Harvey can't count the number of impressive women he's met over the years—women who can run a business, keep a household with three kids in tiptop shape, and chair a church group all at the same time. So when it comes to relationships, why can't these women figure out what makes men tick? According to Steve it's because they're asking other women for advice when they should be going directly to the source. In Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Steve lets women inside the male mindset; introduces concepts such as the ninety-day rule; and reveals the five questions women should ask a potential partner to determine how serious he is.
Sometimes funny, sometimes direct, but always truthful, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man is a book you must read if you want to understand how men think when it comes to relationships, intimacy, and love.
Voice of America: Storiesby E. C. Osondu
Harper Perennial (Oct 25, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
"E.C. Osondu is a man with a clear head and a great ear, writing from crucial places." —Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom and The Corrections"With observant wonder and subtle humor, [Osondu] portrays�our unique capacity for hope and hopelessness rolled together." —Mary Gaitskill, author of Bad Behavior and VeronicaThis collection of vivid, compulsively readable stories marks the debut of Nigerian author E.C. Osondu, winner of the 2009 Caine Prize for African Writing. In the tradition of Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee, and Chinua Achebe (all patrons of the Caine Prize), Osondu's stories are wise, soul-stirring, and deeply compelling. In electrifying prose, he articulate the struggles of Nigerian immigrants in America, and refugees, villagers, and ex-patriots in Africa. Voice of America marks the beginning for a brave and remarkable new voice in African Literature.
Night Hawkby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Oct 25, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Beverly Jenkins has reached romance superstardom ."
—Detroit Free Press"Jenkins's sassy heroines, well drawn secondary characters and seamless incorporation of black history result in a fresh, winning historical."
—Publishers WeeklyThe premier name in African-American historical romance fiction, the incomparable Beverly Jenkins returns to the American West with Night Hawk—a blistering tale of high-stakes romance that unites a hard-as-nails bounty hunter with a gorgeous spitfire whom he rescues from a vigilante mob. Set in 1884 Wyoming, Night Hunter by multiple Emma Award winner Jenkins offers a breathtaking combination of passion and adventure that will surely increase her already substantial legion of dedicated fans.
The Secret Lives of the Four Wives: A Novelby Lola Shoneyin
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jul 05, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Alternately funny, shocking, and sad�a complex depiction of family and culture in modern-day Nigeria.
—Sacramento Book Review"A magical writer�.[A] delicious story."
—Huffington PostLola Shoneyin, a fresh and exciting new voice in contemporary fiction, sheds a fascinating light on the little known world of polygamy in modern-day Nigeria, in her fabulously entertaining debut novel, The Secret Lives of the Four Wives. Fans of The 19th Wife and HBO's Big Love will be enthralled by this colorful and captivating tale of a prosperous African family thrown into turmoil when the patriarch adds a young, well-educated fourth wife into the mix who threatens to expose the other wives' deepest, darkest secrets.
Teach Your Buffalo to Play Drumsby Audrey Vernick
Balzer + Bray (Jun 28, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
Does your buffalo pound on pots and pans?
Tap out rhythms at the dinner table?
It's not as unusual as you might think.
He's simply at the start of an exciting new journey.
A very loud musical journey that begins by teaching your buffalo to play drums.
(Did we mention it might be loud?)From the author and illustrator of Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? comes this hilarious musical romp about encouraging your buffalo to find his inner rock star.
Something Old, Something New: A Blessings Novel (Blessings Series)by Beverly Jenkins
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jun 07, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
Beloved bestselling author Beverly Jenkins introduced readers to the delightful town of Henry Adams and its unforgettable residents in Bring on the Blessings and returned for another visit in A Second Helping. Now she brings us back to the people we have grown to love in Something Old, Something New—this time for a long-awaited wedding that will live forever in our hearts!� Already one of the premier names in African-American historical romance fiction and thrilling contemporary romantic suspense, Jenkins is a wonderfully versatile storyteller who enchants with this poignant, heartwarming, and funny tale about the joys and trials of a uniquely endearing community that fans of Kimberla Lawson Roby and Angela Benson will especially appreciate.
Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Powerby James Mcgrath Morris
Harper Perennial (Apr 05, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
In nineteenth-century industrial America, while Carnegie provided the steel, Rockefeller the oil, Morgan the money, and Vanderbilt the railroads, Pulitzer ushered in the modern mass media. James McGrath Morris chronicles the epic story of Joseph Pulitzer, a Jewish Hungarian immigrant who amassed great wealth and extraordinary power during his remarkable rise through American politics and journalism. Based on years of research and newly discovered documents, Pulitzer is a classic, magisterial biography. It is a gripping portrait of the media baron who transformed American journalism into a medium of mass consumption and immense influence, and of the grueling legal battles he endured for freedom of the press that changed the landscape of American newspapers and politics.
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Storyby Ben Carson
Amistad (Mar 27, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
Read our Interview with Dr Carson about this book and film adaptation starring Cuba Gooding, Jr.
In 1987, Dr. Benjamin Carson gained worldwide recognition for his part in the first successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the back of the head. The extremely complex and delicate operation, five months in the planning and twenty-two hours in the execution, involved a surgical plan that Carson helped initiate.
Carson pioneered again in a rare procedure known as hemispherectomy, giving children without hope a second chance at life through a daring operation in which he literally removed one half of their brain.
But such breakthroughs aren't unusual for Ben Carson. He's been beating the odds since he was a child.
Raised in inner-city Detroit by a mother with a third grade education, Ben lacked motivation. He had terrible grades. And a pathological temper threatened to put him in jail. But Sonya Carson convinced her son that he could make something of his life, even though everything around him said otherwise.
Trust in God, a relentless belief in his own capabilities, and sheer
determination catapulted Ben from failing grades to the top of his
class--and beyond to a Yale scholarship . . . the University of Michigan
Medical School…and finally, at age 33, the directorship of pediatric
neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Today, Dr.
Ben Carson holds twenty honorary doctorates and is the possessor of a long
string of honors and awards, including the Horatio Alger Award, induction
into the "Great Blacks in Wax" Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, and an
invitation as Keynote Speaker at the 1997 President's National Prayer
Gifted Hands is the riveting story of one man's secret for success, tested against daunting odds and driven by an incredible mindset that dares to take risks. This inspiring autobiography takes you into the operating room to witness surgeries that made headlines around the world--and into the private mind of a compassionate, God-fearing physician who lives to help others. Through it all shines a humility, quick wit, and down-to-earth style that make this book one you won't easily forget. Dr. Benjamin Carson is director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He lives with his wife, Candy, and three sons in West Friendship, Maryland.
The Words of African-American Heroes (Newmarket Words Of Series)by Clara Villarosa
William Morrow (Mar 15, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
Celebrating notable African Americans, this inspirational and thoughtprovoking collection of quotations covers a wide range of African-American heroes, from Sojourner Truth to Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall to Jackie Robinson, Ella Fitzgerald to Harriet Tubman, Toni Morrison to Jesse Owens, George Washington Carver to Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks to Barack Obama, from profound historical figures to more current, popular ones, such as Oprah Winfrey, Nikki Giovanni, Spike Lee, and Snoop Dogg.Organized thematically, the selections explore key topics such as overcoming obstacles, teaching life lessons, and nurturing creativity. The book features more than 350 quotations memorializing the wisdom and strength of 200 notable African-American heroes. The sources for the quotations and an instructive biographical section are included as well.
Kickby Walter Dean Myers
HarperTeen (Feb 01, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
For the very first time in his decades-long career writing for teens, acclaimed and beloved author Walter Dean Myers writes with a teen, Ross Workman.Kevin Johnson is thirteen years old. And heading for juvie. He's a good kid, a great friend, and a star striker for his Highland, New Jersey, soccer team. His team is competing for the State Cup, and he wants to prove he has more than just star-player potential. Kevin's never been in any serious trouble … until the night he ends up in jail. Enter Sergeant Brown, a cop assigned to be Kevin's mentor. If Kevin and Brown can learn to trust each other, they might be able to turn things around before it's too late.
Career GPS: Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscapeby Linda Villarosa
Amistad (Jan 04, 2011)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Career GPS serves as the business coach you never had but always wanted."
—Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., author of Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office and See Jane Lead�Career GPS is a clear-eye, timely, and thought-provoking guide for any woman looking to advance up the corporate ladder and/or optimize her performance in any work environment, no matter what the state of the economy. Presented by Ella L.J. Edmondson Bell, Ph.D., founder and president of ASCENT—Leading Multicultural Women to the Top, and Linda Villarosa, award-winning former editor at Essence magazine and the New York Times, these "Strategies for Women Navigating the New Corporate Landscape" belongs on every working woman's bookshelf.
Be Careful What You Pray For (Reverend Curtis Black #7)by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Amistad (Dec 28, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberla Lawson Roby's Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books
Her first marriage didn't work out, but that isn't going to stop Alicia Black, the privileged daughter of the charismatic Reverend Curtis Black, from getting what she wants.
Alicia can't believe her good fortune. God has heeded her prayers, blessing her with the perfect second husband, Pastor JT Valentine, a handsome, dynamic man of the cloth with his own large congregation, just like her father.
Unfortunately, Alicia doesn't understand how much like Curtis her new husband truly is. JT has been sneaking around town with other women—and he only married her to get close to her father's money and fame. But while Alicia is blinded by love, her dad certainly isn't. After all, it takes one to know one—and who better to see into the darkness of a sinner's heart than Curtis Black?
Only a miracle can save the day. But God acts in mysterious ways, and soon Alicia will have to face some very crucial and life-changing decisions. This time, she's got to be careful what she prays for. . .
The Great Migration: Journey To The Northby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Dec 21, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
We were one family among the many thousands. Mama and Daddy leaving home, coming to the city, with their hopes and their courage, their dreams and their children, to make a better life.
When Eloise Greenfield was four months old, her family moved from their home in Parmele, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C.
Before Jan Spivey Gilchrist was born, her mother moved from Arkansas and her father moved from Mississippi. Both settled in Chicago, Illinois. Though none of them knew it at the time, they had all become part of the Great Migration.
In this collection of poems and collage artwork, award winners Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist gracefully depict the experiences of families like their own, who found the courage to leave their homes behind and make new lives for themselves elsewhere.
Straight Talk, No Chaser: How To Find, Keep, And Understand A Manby Steve Harvey and Denene Millner
Amistad (Dec 07, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
In the instant number one New York Times bestseller Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Steve Harvey gave millions of women around the globe insight into what men really think about love, intimacy, and commitment. In his new book he zeros in on what motivates men and provides tips on how women can use that knowledge to get more of what they need out of their relationships, whether it's more help around the house, more of the right kind of attention in the bedroom, more money in the joint bank account, or more truth when it comes to the hard questions, such as: Are you committed to building a future together? Does my success intimidate you? Have you cheated on me? In Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Man, Steve Harvey shares information on: - How to Get the Truth Out of Your Man
Tired of answers that are deceptive? Harvey lays out a three-tier, CIA-style of questioning that will leave your man no choice but to cut to the chase and deliver the truth. - Dating Tips, Decade by Decade
Whether you're in your twenties and just starting to date seriously, in your thirties and feeling the tick of the biological clock, or in your forties and beyond, Steve provides insight into what a man, in each decade of his life, is looking for in a mate. - How to Minimize Nagging and Maximize Harmony at Home
He said he'd cut the lawn on Saturday, and you may have been within reason to think that that meant Saturday before ten in the evening, but exploding at him is only going to ruin the mood for everyone, which means no romance. Steve shows you how to talk to your man in a way that moves him to action and keeps the peace. And there's much more, including Steve's candid answers to questions you've always wanted to ask men. Drawing on a lifetime of experience and the feedback women have shared with him in reaction to Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Harvey offers wisdom on a wealth of topics relevant to both sexes today. He also gets more personal, sharing anecdotes from his own family history. Always direct, often funny, and incredibly perceptive, media personality, comedian, philanthropist, and (finally) happily married husband, Steve Harvey proves once again that he is the king of relationships.
Dust Tracks On A Road: An Autobiographyby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial (Nov 02, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Warm, witty, imaginative. . . . This is a rich and winning book."—The New Yorker
Dust Tracks on a Road is the bold, poignant, and funny autobiography of novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, one of American literature's most compelling and influential authors. Hurston's powerful novels of the South—including Jonah's Gourd Vine and, most famously, Their Eyes Were Watching God—continue to enthrall readers with their lyrical grace, sharp detail, and captivating emotionality. First published in 1942, Dust Tracks on a Road is Hurston's personal story, told in her own words. The Perennial Modern Classics Deluxe edition includes an all-new forward by Maya Angelou, an extended biography by Valerie Boyd, and a special P.S. section featuring the contemporary reviews that greeted the book's original publication.
Midnightby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Oct 26, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Beverly Jenkins has reached superstardom."—Detroit Free Press�Beverly Jenkins enthralls romance readers once again with Midnight—a heart-soaring African American historical romance novel set during America's turbulent Revolutionary War. A story of passion and dangerous intrigue, Midnight unites a beautiful undercover spy—the notorious "Lady Midnight" who's helping the rebels fight for a nation's independence from the British—with a reckless and dashing adventurer on a mission of personal vengeance. Exciting, thrilling, wonderfully sensual—and alive with fascinating history—Midnight is further proof why Beverly Jenkins is one of the world's premier authors of African American romantic fiction.
She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Storyby Audrey Vernick
Balzer + Bray (Oct 19, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Effa always loved baseball. As a young woman, she would go to Yankee Stadium just to see Babe Ruth's mighty swing. But she never dreamed she would someday own a baseball team. Or be the first—and only—woman ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.From her childhood in Philadelphia to her groundbreaking role as business manager and owner of the Newark Eagles, Effa Manley always fought for what was right. And she always swung for the fences.From author Audrey Vernick and illustrator Don Tate comes the remarkable story of an all-star of a woman.
A Girl Named Misterby Nikki Grimes
Amistad (Aug 28, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
My boyfriend used to think it was cute, a girl named Mister. Used to think I was cute. Used to be my boyfriend what feels like a million years ago. Then again, I used to be a good Christian girl, the kind who would never, well… Just goes to show how little people know. Even I was surprised by me. Now, I close my eyes hoping to see exactly where I went wrong. Mary Rudine, called Mister by almost everyone, has attended church and sung in the choir for as long as she can remember. But then she meets Trey. His long lashes and smooth words make her question what she knows is right, and one mistake leaves her hiding a growing secret. Another Mary is preparing for her upcoming wedding and has done everything according to Jewish law. So when an angel appears one night and tells her that she?a virgin?will give birth, Mary can't help but feel confused, and soon finds herself struggling with the greatest blessing the world will ever know. Feeling abandoned, Mister is drawn to Mary's story, and together both young women discover the depth of God's love and the mysteries of his divine plan.
Dark Sonsby Nikki Grimes
Zondervan (Aug 26, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
A guy whose father ripped his heart out too. Me and you, Ishmael, we're brothers, two dark sons. Betrayed, lost, and isolated, the perspectives of two teenage boys?modern-day Sam and biblical Ishmael?unite over millennia to illustrate the power of forgiveness. "Both lyrical and powerful, Grimes' unusual novel is a meditation on faith and father-son relationships . . . Grimes' commanding metaphors, authoritative style, and complex characterizations are uniquely compelling." ?Publisher's Weekly, starred review "The elemental connections and the hop ("You made it in the end and so will I") will speak to a wide audience." ?Booklist, starred review
Going Rogue: An American Lifeby Sarah Palin
HarperCollins (Aug 24, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Going Rogue is the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir from Sarah Palin, one of America's most beloved and controversial political figures. Now with new material, Going Rogue offers plain talk from a true American original about her life, her career, and the future of the country she loves.
Tumbling: A Novelby Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Harper Perennial (Jun 29, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Even the air is palpable in Tumbling…The story moves forth on the power of Ms. McKinney-Whetstone's characters. Ms. McKinney-Whetstone captures the formidable struggle to protect both a community and a family." —New York Times Book Review "Warm and intimate…. Tumbling is an accomplished novel, with sharply drawn characters, exuberant prose, plenty of period detail and a wise, forgiving outlook on family life." — Los Angeles Times Book Review The beloved bestselling debut novel that launched the luminous career of Diane McKinney Whetstone, critically acclaimed author of Tempest Rising, Blues Dancing, Leaving Cecil Street, and Trading Dreams at Midnight. Writing in a style as accessible as Terry McMillan (Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back), yet with the literary touches of Toni Morrison (Beloved, Song of Solomon), McKinney Whetstone's Tumbling is the "warm and wonderful" (Nikki Giovanni), beautiful and uplifting story of Noon and Herbie and their tight-knit Philadelphia neighborhood in the 1940s and 50s.
32 Candles: A Novelby Ernessa T. Carter
Amistad (Jun 22, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
"32 cheers for Ernessa T. Carter! She's created one of the freshest, funniest characters I've ever read….32 Candles is a charmer."
—Carleen Brice, author of Orange Mint and Honey�32 Candles by exciting newcomer Ernessa T. Carter is the slightly twisted, utterly romantic, and deftly wry story of Davie Jones, who, if she doesn't stand in her own way, just might get the man of her dreams. �For fans of John Hughes's "Sixteen Candles", 32 Candles is a fresh and fun fiction debut for every fan of romantic comedy.
Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?by Audrey Vernick
Balzer + Bray (Jun 22, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Your buffalo is growing up. He plays with friends. He shares his toys. He's smart! But is he ready for kindergarten? (And is kindergarten ready for him?) Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? is a hilarious look at first-day-of-school jitters from author Audrey Vernick and illustrator Daniel Jennewein.
Bitch Is The New Black: A Memoirby Helena Andrews
Harper (Jun 01, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Strong, sassy, always surprising—and titled after a Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" monologue by Tina Fey—Bitch Is the New Black is a deliciously addictive memoir-in-essays in which Helena Andrews goes from being the daughter of the town lesbian to a hot-shot political reporter… all while trying to answer the question, "can a strong, single, and successful black woman ever find love?" Fans of Sloane Crosley (I Was Told There'd Be Cake) will love the bold and brassy Bitch Is the New Black.
Black Water Rising: A Novel (Jay Porter Series)by Attica Locke
Amistad (Apr 20, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Attica Locke—a writer and producer of FOX's Empire—delivers an engrossing, complex, and cinematic thriller about crime and racial justiceLos Angeles Times�Book Prize Finalist (Mystery/Thriller)
Edgar Award Nominee (Best First Novel)
The Orange Prize for Fiction (Shortlist)"A near-perfect balance of trenchant social commentary, rich characterizations, and action-oriented plot…. Attica Locke [is] a writer wise beyond her years."?—�Los Angeles Times"Atmospheric… deeply nuanced… akin to George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane….� Subtle and compelling."?—�New York Times.
"I may be the luckiest writer alive, and I am certainly the most humbled.
Black Water Rising has been nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, a Strand Magazine Critics Award, and is a finalist for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize. And just this morning [April 20th 2010] it was announced that the book is on the short list for the Orange Prize for Fiction, one of the most prestigious awards for literature in the UK.
Black Water Rising is now in paperback. Help spread the word about a little book that's catching a lot of people's attention. If you already have a copy, buy two more for your friends. And please pass this email along…"
Many thanks!
xo Attica Locke (Tuesday, April 20, 2010)
Writing in the tradition of Dennis Lehane and Greg Iles, Attica Locke, a
powerful new voice in American fiction, delivers a brilliant debut thriller
that readers will not soon forget.
Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a dingy strip mall. But he's long since made peace with not living the American Dream and carefully tucked away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.
Houston, Texas, 1981. It is here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night in a boat out on the bayou when he impulsively saves a woman from drowning—and opens a Pandora's box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston's corporate power brokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.
With pacing that captures the reader from the first scene through an exhilarating climax, Black Water Rising marks the arrival of an electrifying new talent.
Pynter Bender: A Novelby Jacob Ross
HarperCollins UK (Apr 01, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Pynter Bender is a child of the cane fields of Grenada, the second smallest independent state in the world;�a boy born blind but whose eyes are healed, allowing him to see great beauty. Pynter's father leaves him to be brought up by the Bender women, a close-knit group of aunts and cousins, and Pynter's early life is shaped by them. He begins to understand a world beyond them when his uncle, Birdie the Beloved, the best baker on the island, occasionally returns to the family on his brief periods out of jail. When Pynter comes to love a woman, and later flees his family to hide in the canes from the marauding soldiers, he can no longer ignore the violent world beyond the yard where he lives. This extraordinary debut novel charts the painful awakening of a rural population, essentially organized around serfdom, into a raw and uncertain future that can only be achieved through fighting—a civil war that Pynter is drawn in to. Pynter Bender is about the conflict between the world of men and women, men who walk away from their families and from the cane fields, and their women who forbear.
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the Worldby Mildred Pitts Walter
Amistad (Mar 09, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Ten-year-old Justin hates that his sisters and his mama are always fussing at him. They make him feel stupid because he can't clean his room or cook. But why should he? He'd rather be outside playing. After all, cooking and cleaning is just "women's work." That's why Justin is glad when his grandfather invites him back to his ranch for the summer. Justin is sure he can get away from all the women and do some actual "men's work," such as cleaning fish, mending fences, and riding horses. But back at the ranch, Justin learns some unexpected lessons and soon realizes that anyone can do anything once they learn how.
My Holy Bible For African-American Children, Kjvby Cheryl Willis Hudson and Wade Hudson
Amistad (Feb 07, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
"African-American parents long for a Bible that can help them explain God's Word and their faith to their children. My Holy Bible for African-American Children answers that need. Included are illustrations by African-American artists, popular Negro spirituals, Heroes of Our Faith, inspirational Christian quotes, and information that ties scripture to a child's life. African-American children will find meaningful connections to God through features that speak directly to their life experiences and heritage. Features include: Large print type for easy reading 32 full-color tip-in pages with illustrations from African-American artists Introductions to each book of the Bible Dictionary-concordance, and maps Presentation page for gift giving Complete text of the popular King James Version with the words of Christ in red."
Lockdownby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (Feb 02, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
When I first got to Progress, it freaked me out to be locked in a room and unable to get out. But after a while, when you got to thinking about it, you knew nobody could get in, either.It seems as if the only progress that's going on at Progress juvenile facility is moving from juvy jail to real jail. Reese wants out early, but is he supposed to just sit back and let his friend Toon get jumped? Then Reese gets a second chance when he's picked for the work program at a senior citizens' home. He doesn't mean to keep messing up, but it's not so easy, at Progress or in life. One of the residents, Mr. Hooft, gives him a particularly hard time. If he can convince Mr. Hooft that he's a decent person, not a criminal, maybe he'll be able to convince himself.Acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers offers an honest story about finding a way to make it without getting lost in the shuffle.
Bicycles: Love Poemsby Nikki Giovanni
Amistad (Feb 02, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
In a career that has earned her accolades, honorary degrees, and awards from both fellow poets and everyday poetry lovers, Nikki Giovanni has established herself as a writer who can entertain and challenge, inform and inspire. Sometimes controversial, sometimes ethereal, but always beautiful, her poems move readers of all hues and generations. With Bicycles, she's collected poems that serve as a companion to her 1997 Love Poems. An instant classic, that book—romantic, bold, and erotic—expressed notions of love in ways that were delightfully unexpected. In the years that followed, Giovanni experienced losses both public and private: a mother's passing, a sister's too, and a massacre on the campus where she teaches. Yet just when it seemed life was spinning out of control, Giovanni rediscovered love—what she calls the antidote. Here romantic love—and all its manifestations, the physical touch, the emotional pull, the hungry heart—is distilled as never before by one of our most talented poets.
Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother's Storyby asha bandele
Amistad (Jan 19, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
When asha bandele fell in love with a prisoner serving a twenty-to-life sentence and became pregnant with his daughter, she had reason to hope they would live together as a family. But soon after Nisa was born, asha's dreams were shattered. Her husband, Rashid, was denied parole and told he'd be deported to his native Guyana once released. Suddenly a statistic—a black single mother in New York City—asha kept it together on the outside while falling apart on the inside. Despite having a great job at a high-profile magazine and a beautiful daughter whom she adored, asha began drinking and smoking and stumbled into a relationship that opened new wounds—descending into depression when her life should have been filled with love and joy.
A lyrical, astonishingly honest memoir, Something Like Beautiful is not only asha's story but also the story of thousands of women who struggle daily with little help and much against them.
Wench: A Novelby Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Amistad (Jan 05, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez is startling and original fiction that raises provocative questions of power and freedom, love and dependence. An enchanting and unforgettable novel based on little-known fact, Wench combines the narrative allure of Cane River by Lalita Tademy and the moral complexities of Edward P. Jones's The Known World as it tells the story of four black�enslaved women in the years preceding the Civil War. A stunning debut novel, Wench marks author Perkins-Valdez—previously a finalist for the 2009 Robert Olen Butler Short Fiction Prize—as a writer destined for greatness.
A Second Helping: A Blessings Novel (Blessings Series)by Beverly Jenkins
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 05, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
"A story done in a way that only Beverly Jenkins can do. Simply superb!"—New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson��"[A] heartwarming story of love, community, and family….Bring on the Blessings is a tasty reading confection that you'll savor long after the story ends."
—Angela Benson, author of The Amen Sisters�Beverly Jenkins, the bestselling author of Bring on the Blessings, returns readers to the enchanting Kansas town of Henry Adams for A Second Helping of love, laughter, and mayhem. Filling her poignant and wonderful tale with a cast of endearingly eccentric characters—and setting it against the rich historical backdrop that has become her trademark—Jenkins ("A superstar" —Detroit Free Press) delights from page one. Kimberla Lawson Roby fans take note: A Second Helping is supremely satisfying fare…and you'll definitely be ready for thirds!
What Obama Means: …for Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Futureby Jabari Asim
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 05, 2010)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Provocative and compelling."�—New York�Newsday�"Both entertaining and insightful."—Washington Post Book World"It should be on the required reading list."�—Chicago Sun-Times�What Obama Means by Jabari Asim, renowned cultural critic and author of The N Word, is a timely and sharp analysis of how the "Obama phenomenon"�exhibits progress in�American politics and society.�A�frequent guest and commentator on "The Colbert Report," "The Today Show," NPR's "Diane Rehm Show" and many other media programs, Asim also�examines�how cultural and political forces�led to the�watershed 2008 presidential election while indicating�what the�election�means for every American.
We Troubled the Watersby Ntozake Shange
Amistad (Oct 20, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Jim Crow; Brown v. Board of Education; Bull Connor; KKK; Birmingham; the Lorraine Motel; Rosa; Martin; and Malcolm. From slavery to the separation of "colored" and "white" and from horrifying oppression to inspiring courage, there are countless stories—both forgotten and immortalized—of everyday and extraordinary people who acted for justice during the civil rights movement that changed our nation. Award-winning poet Ntozake Shange and illustrator Rod Brown give voice to all those who fought for their unalienable rights in a triumphant book about the power of the human spirit.
Capturedby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Sep 29, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Captured is a high-stakes historical romance from Beverly Jenkins, award-winning author of Night Song and Jewel, in which a stunning young slave and a roguish privateer share forbidden passion on the high seas.
The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problemsby Van Jones
HarperOne (Sep 29, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Steadily—by redefining green—Jones is making sure that our planet and our people will not just survive but also thrive in a clean-energy economy."
—Leonardo DiCaprio
A New York Times bestseller, The Green Collar Economy by award-winning human rights activist and environmental leader Van Jones delivers a much-needed economic and environmental solution to today's two most critical problems. With a revised introduction and new afterword by the author—a man who counsels President Barack Obama on environmental policy—The Green Collar Economy and Jones have been highly praised by a multitude of leaders and legislators, including Al Gore, Senator Tom Daschle, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Van Jones was named one of "The World's 100 Most Influential People of 2009" by Time magazine, and with The Green Collar Economy he offers a wise, necessary, and eminently achievable plan for saving the earth and rescuing working class Americans.
A Deep Dark Secretby Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow (Sep 29, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberla Lawson Roby explores the consequences of a life-altering family trauma in A Deep Dark Secret, tackling controversy with the same storytelling brio and startling insight into human nature that made her previous books New York Times bestsellers. Leaving behind the world of philandering preacher Curtis Black and his family—featured in her acclaimed novels Too Much of a Good Thing, Love and Lies, Sin No More, and The Best of Everything—Roby enters the life of a little girl hiding A Deep Dark Secret and gets to the troubling root of an all too prevalent societal and family issue.�Both groundbreaking and ultimately hopeful, this coming-of-age story is powerful, brave, and unforgettable.
The 50th Lawby 50 Cent and Robert Greene
Harper (Sep 08, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
In The 50th Law, hip hop and pop culture icon 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) joins forces with Robert Greene, bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, to write a "bible" for success in life and work based on a single principle: fear nothing. With stories from 50 Cent's life on the streets and in the boardroom as he rose to fame after the release of his album Get Rich or Die Tryin', as well as examples of others who have overcome adversity through understanding and practicing the 50th Law, this deeply inspirational book is perfect for entrepreneurs as well as anyone interested in the extraordinary life of Curtis Jackson.
Sins of the Fatherby Angela Benson
William Morrow Paperbacks (Aug 25, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Her blistering family saga, Sins of the Father, is another glorious demonstration of her superior storytelling prowess. The tale of a wealthy black entrepreneur with two families and the catastrophic consequences when they both collide, Sins of the Father blends romance, drama, inspiration, and intrigue in an unforgettable tale of redemption and, ultimately, of love.
Our Lady of the Night: A Novelby Mayra Santos-Febres
Harper Perennial (Aug 11, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
The epic story of the complex, sensual, tragic, and remarkable life of a legendary Puerto Rican madamBorn into poverty and then abandoned by her mother, Isabel "La Negra" Luberza blossoms into a supremely sensual young woman. Obsessed with attaining aristocratic status—armed with incredible physical presence, indomitable ambition, and keen intelligence—she meets Fernando Fornar�s, the man who will forever change her life. With a parcel of land given to her by her rich, white married lover, Isabel transforms herself into a hard-edged and merciless businesswoman—abandoning her own newborn son to become Puerto Rico's most feared and respected madam, a collector of society's secrets, a queen of the notorious brothel that emerges as the island's true political and economic heart.Set against the rich backdrop of the Caribbean and the United States during the tumultuous years of World War II, Mayra Santos-Febres's Our Lady of the Night is a breathtaking novel of passion, power, and the devastating price of achieving everything one wishes for.
Trading Dreams at Midnight: A Novelby Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Harper Perennial (Jun 30, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Neena's mother, Freeda, disappeared on a cold February morning in 1984, leaving the fifteen-year-old Neena and her younger sister, Tish, in the care of Nan, their stern grandmother. Two decades later, Neena—no longer living in Philadelphia—supports herself by blackmailing married men. Returning to her childhood home when a sting goes terribly wrong, she avoids her grandmother while attempting to pull one last hustle on a prominent local lawyer. But discovering that Tish has been hospitalized with pregnancy complications forces Neena to come to terms with the woman who raised her and the truth about the woman who abandoned her. As Neena, Tish, and Nan reunite, each confronts her own memories of the past and dreams for the future.
Let's Get It On: A Novelby Jill Nelson
Amistad (Jun 02, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Sister Jill isn't just a foot soldier in what passes for war between the sexes. She's our commander-in-chief and follow we must."
�—Pearl Cleage, New York Times bestselling author of What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day�Let's Get it On is acclaimed author Jill Nelson's spicy, raucously satiric follow-up to her sensational bestseller Sexual Healing. Fans of Zane and The Vow, as well as Nelson's own Voluntary Slavery, are going to love this outrageously provocative story about an attempt to open a "full service spa" for women on Martha's Vineyard. "Jill Nelson tells it like it is," Essence magazine writes, and the New York Times Book Review calls Nelson, "Fearless. She also knows how to construct a compelling narrative."
Start Where You Are: Life Lessons In Getting From Where You Are To Where You Want To Beby Chris Gardner and Mim E. Rivas
Amistad (May 12, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Gardner is encouraging us all to start where we are and dare to make our lives bigger and stronger, more satisfactory, and better. Chris Gardner is a knockout!"—Maya Angelou��Chris Gardner's astonishing memoir—the phenomenal New York Times bestseller, The Pursuit of Happyness, which inspired the film of the same name starring Will Smith—served as a shining beacon of hope for countless people. In Start Where You Are, "a book that teaches you how to transform the impossible into the possible" (Sidney Poitier), Gardner offers indispensible life lessons in getting from where you are to where you want to be.
Hollyhoodby Valerie Joyner
William Morrow Paperbacks (May 05, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
There are three things you need to know if you're gonna survive in Hollyhood Money rules the day Tyrone Hart clawed his way up from DC's drug-infested streets to the rich and glamorous world of Hollywood. A producer and Tinseltown heavyweight, he's got the cash to burn . . . but what happens when the ratings drop? Lies rule your lifeTo the public, Ty's best friend, Maxwell, is a Zen-influenced writer who never lets anything ruffle his cool demeanor . . . but in private he has a secret that makes him rehab-bound. Sitcom star Leede will kill to keep his status, while his leading lady, Naja, could never love anyone who isn't her . . . And sex rules your nightsTy's girlfriend might pressure him to get married…but she's not about to give up her extracurricular playdates! And it's hard to stay faithful when there are ten gorgeous women for every step Ty takes.Determined to live his dream, Ty uses his street-sense and savvy instincts to keep control of his career, his show, his life . . . and his friends. Hollywood might be the land of dreams, but in Hollyhood the only dreams you get are the ones you make yourself.
Night Songby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Apr 28, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
A Traitorous Heart . . .Cara Lee Henson knows no soldiercan be trusted to stay in one place—and thatincludes handsome Sergeant Chase Jeffersonof the Tenth Cavalry. Dallying withthe dashing man in blue could cost the pretty, independent Kansas schoolteacher herjob and her reputation. So Cara is determinedto repel Chase's advances—even thoughher aloof facade barely masks hersmoldering desire.A Blazing Passion . . .Never before has Chase longed for a woman the way he ached for lovely Cara Lee.The strong-willed ebony beauty, however,will not surrender easily. But with tenderwords and soulful caresses, Chase intendsto conquer the reluctant schoolmarm'smisgivings—and teach her how to love fully,sensuously . . . and forever.
My Name Is Jason. Mine Too.: Our Story. Our Way.by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin
HarperTeen (Apr 21, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Our story. Our way.A poetAn artistOne blackOne whiteTwo voicesOne journey
Deceptionby Selena Montgomery
Avon (Mar 31, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Always on the run . . . Playing the odds has always been Fin Borders' forte. She knows when to get out to keep from losing everything. But an innocent woman has been accused of murder, and to help, Fin will have to go back to the small southern town of her birth. It's a place she's been running from her entire life, a place of violence, where she got by with nothing more than her wits. Returning to Hallden, Georgia, means facing the ghosts of a brutal crime that Fin will never forget—and risking her own life.But Fin isn't the only one in Hallden hunting for a killer. FBI Special Agent Caleb Matthews is deep undercover, hiding his true identity and his own desperate history. Working alone is far too dangerous, so he and Fin must learn to trust each other. But as they grow closer, they are unprepared for the passion that takes hold . . . and the shocking deception that could destroy everything they hold dear.
The Air Between Us: A Novelby Deborah Johnson
Amistad (Mar 24, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Revere, Mississippi, with its population of "20,000 and sinking," is not unlike most Southern towns in the 1960s. Blacks live on one side of town and whites on the other. The two rarely mix. Or so everyone believes. But the truth is brought to the forefront when Critter, who is only ten, black and barely tall enough to see over the dashboard, drives Billy Ray—wounded in a suspicious hunting accident—to the segregated Doctor's Hospital. Dr. Cooper Connelly, the town's most high-profile resident, assures Billy Ray's family he'll be fine. He dies, however, and most people assume it is just a typical hunting accident—until the sheriff orders an investigation.Suddenly the connections between white and black are revealed to be deeper than anyone expects, which makes the town's struggle with integration that much more complicated and consuming. Dr. Connelly takes an unexpectedly progressive view toward integration; the esteemed Dr. Reese Jackson, who is so prominent that even Ebony has profiled him, tries to stay above the fray. At times, it seems the town's only distraction is the racially ambiguous Madame Melba, a fortune-teller and "voyeur" with a past.With endearing, fully realized characters and a mystery that will keep readers guessing until the final page, The Air Between Us will keep you engrossed until the end.
Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynchingby Paula J. Giddings
Harper Paperbacks (Mar 03, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Heralded as a landmark achievement upon publication, Ida: A Sword Among Lions is a sweeping narrative about a country and a crusader embroiled in the struggle against lynching—a practice that imperiled not only the lives of black men and women, but also a nation based on law and riven by race. At the center of the national drama is Ida B. Wells (1862-1931). Born to slaves in Mississippi, Wells began her activist career by refusing to leave a first-class ladies' car on a Memphis railway and rose to lead the nation's first campaign against lynching. For Wells, the key to the rise in violence was embedded in attitudes not only about black men, but also about women and sexuality. Her independent perspective and percussive personality gained her encomiums as a hero—as well as aspersions on her character and threats of death. Exiled from the South by 1892, Wells subsequently took her campaign across the country and throughout the British Isles before she married and settled in Chicago. There she continued her activism as a journalist, suffragist, and independent candidate in the rough-and-tumble world of the Windy City's politics.With meticulous research and vivid rendering of her subject, Giddings also provides compelling portraits of twentieth-century progressive luminaries, blacks and whites who worked with Wells during some of the most tumultuous periods in American history. In this groundbreaking work, Paula J. Giddings brings to life the irrepressible personality of Ida B. Wells and gives the visionary reformer her due.
Jumpedby Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad (Feb 24, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
The wrong angleTrina: "Hey," I say, though I don't really know them. The boyed-up basketball girl barely moves. The others, her girls, step aside. It's okay if they don't speak. I know how it is. They can't all be Trina.Dominique: Some stupid little flit cuts right in between us and is like, "Hey." Like she don't see I'm here and all the space around me is mines. I slam my fist into my other hand because she's good as jumped.Leticia: Why would I get involved in Trina's life when I don't know for sure if I saw what I thought I saw? Who is to say I wasn't seeing it from the wrong angle?Acclaimed author Rita Williams-Garcia intertwines the lives of three very different teens in this fast-paced, gritty narrative about choices and the impact that even the most seemingly insignificant ones can have. Weaving in and out of the girls' perspectives, readers will find themselves not with one intimate portrayal but three.
Brida: A Novel (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Amistad (Feb 10, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Brida, a young Irish girl, has long been interested in various aspects of magic but is searching for something more. Her search leads her to people of great wisdom. She meets a wise man who dwells in a forest, who teaches her to trust in the goodness of the world, and a woman who teaches her how to dance to the music of the world. As Brida seeks her destiny, she struggles to find a balance between her relationships and her desire to become a witch.This enthralling novel incorporates themes that fans of Paulo Coelho will recognize and treasure. It is a tale of love, passion, mystery, and spirituality from the master storyteller.
Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, And Commitmentby Steve Harvey and Denene Millner
Amistad (Jan 27, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Harvey offers surprising insights into the male mentality and gives women strategies for taming that unruly beast."
—Philadelphia Inquirer"Women should listen to Steve Harvey when it comes to what a good man is about. Steve Harvey dispenses a lot of fabulous information about men."
—Aretha FranklinThe #1 New York Times bestseller from the new guru of relationship advice, Steve Harvey's Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man is an invaluable self-help book that can empower women everywhere to take control of their relationships. The host of a top-rated radio show listened to by millions daily—and of cable TV's The Steve Harvey Project—Harvey knows what men really think about love, intimacy, and commitment. In Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, the author, media personality, and stand-up comedian gets serious, sharing his wealth of knowledge, insight, and no-nonsense advice for every good woman who wants to find a good man or make her current love last.
Bring On The Blessings (Blessings Series)by Beverly Jenkins
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 27, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
On Bernadine Brown's fifty-second birthday she received an unexpected gift—she caught her husband, Leo, cheating with his secretary. She was hurt—angry, too—but she didn't cry woe is me. Nope, she hired herself a top-notch lawyer and ended up with a cool $275 million. Having been raised in the church, she knew that when much is given much is expected, so she asked God to send her a purpose.The purpose turned out to be a town: Henry Adams, Kansas, one of the last surviving townships founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. The failing town had put itself up for sale on the Internet, so Bernadine bought it. Trent July is the mayor, and watching the town of his birth slide into debt and foreclosure is about the hardest thing he's ever done. When the buyer comes to town, he's impressed by her vision, strength, and the hope she wants to offer not only to the town and its few remaining residents, but to a handful of kids in desperate need of a second chance. Not everyone in town wants to get on board though; they don't want change. But Bernadine and Trent, along with his first love, Lily Fontaine, are determined to preserve the town's legacy while ushering in a new era with ties to its unique past and its promising future.
What Looks LIke Crazy On an Ordinary Day (Idlewild)by Pearl Cleage
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 27, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
After a decade of elegant pleasures and luxe living with the Atlanta brothers and sisters with the best clothes and biggest dreams, Ava Johnson has temporarily returned home to Idlewild—her fabulous career and power plans smashed to bits by cold reality. But what she imagines to be the end is, instead, a beginning. Because, in the ten-plus years since Ava left, all the problems of the big city have come to roost in the sleepy North Michigan community whose ordinariness once drove her away; and she cannot turn her back on friends and family who sorely need her in the face of impending trouble and tragedy. Besides which, that one unthinkable, unmistakable thing is now happening to her: Ava Johnson is falling in love.Acclaimed playwright, essayist, New York Times bestselling author, and columnist Pearl Cleage has created a world rich in character, human drama, and deep, compassionate understanding, in a remarkable novel that sizzles with sensuality, hums with gritty truth, and sings and crackles with life-affirming energy.
The Best of Everything (Reverend Curtis Black #6)by Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow (Jan 13, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberla Lawson Roby's Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books
"The Best of Everything is one of the best things you'll put on your shopping list this week." —Tennessee Tribune �Readers who just can't get enough of the Reverend Curtis Black—the charming con man and insufferable womanizer who stars in Sin No More, The Best-Kept Secret, and other acclaimed, bestselling novels by Kimberla Lawson Roby—are going to love his daughter, Alicia. In the New York Times bestseller The Best of Everything, Alicia Black takes center stage while the rascally pastor stands on the sidelines, and Roby triumphs once again. The Best of Everything, is provocative entertainment—a treat for fans of Terry McMillian, E. Lynn Harris, and Eric Jerome Dickey—because when it comes to outrageous behavior, "like father, like daughter" definitely applies.
Daughters Of Men: Portraits Of African-American Women And Their Fathersby Rachel Vassel
Amistad (Jan 06, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
From actress Sanaa Lathan to Georgia State Supreme Court chief justice Leah Ward Sears, many African-American women attribute much of their success to having a positive father figure In Daughters of Men, author Rachel Vassel has compiled dozens of stunning photographs and compelling personal essays about African-American women and their fathers. Whether it's a father who mentors his daughter's artistic eye by taking her to cultural events or one who unwaveringly supports a risky career move, the fathers in this book each had his own unique and successful style of parenting. The first book to showcase the importance of the black father's impact on the accomplishments of his daughter, Daughters of Men provides an intimate look at black fatherhood and the many ways fathers have a lasting impact on their daughters' lives.
Michelle Obama: Meet The First Ladyby David Bergen Brophy
Amistad (Jan 06, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Michelle Obama has been by her husband's side throughout his historic presidential campaign, a dynamic personality whether she is delivering speeches or hitting the dance floor on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Follow the story of a hardworking girl growing up on the South Side of Chicago and how she has inspired our nation to believe in the American Dream that her life exemplifies. In her own stirring words: America should be a place where you can make it if you try. Written by David Bergen Brophy, this in-depth biography captures the heart and soul of the First Lady behind the campaign for change.
Mr. and Mrs. Prince: How an Extraordinary Eighteenth-Century Family Moved Out of Slavery and into Legendby Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Amistad (Jan 06, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Merging comprehensive research and grand storytelling, Mr. and Mrs. Prince reveals the true story of a remarkable pre-Civil War African-American family, as well as the challenges that faced African-Americans who lived in the North versus the slaves who lived in the South. Lucy Terry, a devoted wife and mother, was the first known African-American poet and Abijah Prince, her husband, was a veteran of the French and Indian wars and an entrepreneur. Together they pursued what would become the cornerstone of the American dream—having a family and owning property where they could live, grow, and prosper. Owning land in both Vermont and Massachusetts, they were well on their way to settling in when bigoted neighbors tried to run them off. Rather than fleeing, they asserted their rights, as they would do many times, in court. Here is a story that not only demonstrates the contours of slavery in New England but also unravels the most complete history of a pre-Civil War black family known to exist. Illuminating and inspiring, Mr. and Mrs. Prince uncovers the lives of those who could have been forgotten and brings to light a history that has intrigued but eluded many until now.
The Winner Stands Alone Intlby Paulo Coelho
Harper (Jan 01, 2009)
Read Detailed Book Description
Language:Chinese.Paperback. Pub Date :2009-1-1 343 Audio Delivery At the Cannes Film Festival. a successful. driven entrepreneur goes to the darkest lengths to reclaim a lost love Captured in all their crassness are producers. actors.. aspiring starlets. supermodels. and notorious fashionistas. whose lives and actions hold sway over millions.
Moses, Man of the Mountainby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Dec 30, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this 1939 novel based on the familiar story of the Exodus, Zora Neale Hurston blends the Moses of the Old Testament with the Moses of black folklore and song to create a compelling allegory of power, redemption, and faith. Narrated in a mixture of biblical rhetoric, black dialect, and colloquial English, Hurston traces Moses's life from the day he is launched into the Nile river in a reed basket, to his development as a great magician, to his transformation into the heroic rebel leader, the Great Emancipator. From his dramatic confrontations with Pharaoh to his fragile negotiations with the wary Hebrews, this very human story is told with great humor, passion, and psychological insightthe hallmarks of Hurston as a writer and champion of black culture.
Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaicaby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Dec 30, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Based on acclaimed author Zora Neale Hurston's personal experiences in Haiti and Jamaicawhere she participated as an initiate rather than just an observer during her visits in the 1930sTell My Horse is a fascinating firsthand account of the mysteries of Voodoo. An invaluable resource and remarkable guide to Voodoo practices, rituals, and beliefs, it is a travelogue into a dark, mystical world that offers a vividly authentic picture of ceremonies, customs, and superstitions.
Brothers & Sisters: Family Poemsby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Dec 23, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Brothers and sisters can be dear, can be company, can bring cheer, can start arguments, can make noise, can cause tears, can break toys . . .Brothers and brothers. Sisters and sisters. Brothers and sisters. Full, half, step, old and young, close in age and far apart. The bond between all siblings is powerful and special. Celebrate the love of brothers and sisters everywhere with award-winning author Eloise Greenfield in this poignant collection of poems for and about families, illustrated by renowned artist Jan Spivey Gilchrist in pen and ink and vibrant watercolor.
Any Known Bloodby Lawrence Hill
Amistad (Dec 02, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Langston Cane V is 38, divorced and working as a government speechwriter, until he's fired for sabotaging the minister's speech. It seems the perfect time for Langston, the eldest son of a white mother and prominent black father, to embark on a quest to discover his family's past — and his own sense of self. Any Known Blood follows five generations of an African-Canadian-American family in a compelling story that slips effortlessly from the slave trade of 19th-century Virginia to the modern, predominantly white suburbs of Oakville, Ontario — once a final stop on the Underground Railroad. Elegant and sensuous, wry and witty, it is an engrossing tale about one man's attempt to find himself through unearthing and giving voice to those who came before him.
Seraph on the Suwanee: A Novelby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Dec 02, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Acclaimed for her pitch-perfect accounts of rural black life and culture, Zora Neale Hurston explores new territory with her novel Seraph on the Suwanee—a story of two people at once deeply in love and deeply at odds, set among the community of "Florida Crackers" at the turn of the twentieth century. Full of insights into the nature of love, attraction, faith, and loyalty, it follows young Arvay Henson, convinced she will never find true happiness, as she defends herself from unwanted suitors with hysterical fits and religious fervor. But into her life comes bright and enterprising Jim Meserve, who knows that Arvay is the woman for him, and nothing she can do will dissuade him.Alive with the same passion and understanding of the human heart that made Their Eyes Were Watching God a classic, Hurston's Seraph on the Suwanee masterfully explores the evolution of a marriage and the conflicting desires of an unforgettable young woman in search of herself and her place in the world.Acclaimed for her pitch-perfect accounts of rural black life and culture, Zora Neale Hurston explores new territory with her novel Seraph on the Suwanee—a story of two people at once deeply in love and deeply at odds, set among the community of "Florida Crackers" at the turn of the twentieth century. Full of insights into the nature of love, attraction, faith, and loyalty, it follows young Arvay Henson, convinced she will never find true happiness, as she defends herself from unwanted suitors with hysterical fits and religious fervor. But into her life comes bright and enterprising Jim Meserve, who knows that Arvay is the woman for him, and nothing she can do will dissuade him.Alive with the same passion and understanding of the human heart that made Their Eyes Were Watching God a classic, Hurston's Seraph on the Suwanee masterfully explores the evolution of a marriage and the conflicting desires of an unforgettable young woman in search of herself and her place in the world.
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Lifeby Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Dec 02, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
The only collaboration between the two brightest lights of the Harlem RenaissanceZora Neale Hurston and Langston HughesIn 1930, two giants of African American literature joined forces to create a lively, insightful, often wildly farcical look inside a rural Southern black communitythe three-act play Mule Bone. In this hilarious story, Jim and Dave are a struggling song-and-dance team, and when a woman comes between them, chaos ensues in their tiny Florida hometown. This extraordinary theatrical work broke new ground while triggering a bitter controversy between the collaborators that kept it out of the public eye for sixty years.This edition of the rarely seen stage classic features Hurston's original short story, "The Bone of Contention," as well as the complete recounting of the acrimonious literary dispute that prevented Mule Bone from being produced or published until decades after the authors' deaths.
Michelle Obama: Meet the First Ladyby David Bergen Brophy
HarperCollins (Dec 01, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Michelle obama has been by her husband's side throughout his historic presidential campaign, a dynamic personality whether she is delivering speeches or hitting the dance floor on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Follow the story of a hardworking girl growing up on the South Side of Chicago and how she has inspired our nation to believe in the American Dream that her life exemplifies. In her own stirring words: America should be a place where you can make it if you try. Written by David Bergen Brophy, this in-depth biography captures the heart and soul of the First Lady behind the campaign for change.
Ida B. Wells: Let The Truth Be Toldby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (Oct 28, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Ida B. Wells was an extraordinary woman. Long before boycotts, sit-ins, and freedom rides, Ida B. Wells was hard at work to better the lives of African Americans.An activist, educator, writer, journalist, suffragette, and pioneering voice against the horror of lynching, she used fierce determination and the power of the pen to educate the world about the unequal treatment of blacks in the United States. Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers tells the story of this legendary figure, which blends harmoniously with the historically detailed watercolor paintings of illustrator Bonnie Christensen.Supports the Common Core State Standards
Guardianby Julius Lester
Amistad (Oct 28, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
There are times when a tree can no longer withstand the pain inflicted on it, and the wind will take pity on that tree and topple it over in a mighty storm. All the other trees who witnessed the evil look down upon the fallen tree with envy. They pray for the day when a wind will end their suffering. I pray for the day when God will end mine. In a time and place without moral conscience, fourteen-year-old Ansel knows what is right and what is true. But it is dangerous to choose honesty, and so he chooses silence. Now an innocent man is dead, and Ansel feels the burden of his decision. He must also bear the pain of losing a friend, his family, and the love of a lifetime. Coretta Scott King Award winner and Newbery Honoree Julius Lester delivers a haunting and poignant novel about what happens when one group of people takes away the humanity of another.
Alek: My Life from Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodelby Alek Wek
Amistad (Aug 26, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Alek Wek has been the face of ad campaigns for companies ranging from Coach to Michael Kors to Nars and has worked the runways on behalf of designers such as Diane von Furstenberg and Christian Dior. Yet her defining moments extend beyond the runways of New York, Milan, Paris, and London. Born to a middle-class family in the Sudan, Wek found her life suddenly inverted when civil war broke out among outlaw militias, the Muslim-dominated government, and southern rebels. The conflict not only killed two million people, it created an entire community of refugees, including Wek's familymany of whom fled to London. Here is Wek's incredible, daring story of rising from refugee to international supermodel.
Up Pops the Devilby Angela Benson
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jul 29, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Two hard years in prison have changed Wilford ""Preacher"" Winters for the better. He did his time, now he's going to ""do the right thing."" But the women in his life have other ideas.Tanya, the sleek and sexy mother of his two kids, is much too
The Blacker The Berryby Joyce Carol Thomas
Amistad (Jul 01, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
We are color struck
The way an artist strikes
His canvas with his brush of many hues
Look closely at these mirrors
these palettes of skin
Each color is rich
in its own right
Black is dazzling and distinctive, like toasted wheat berry bread; snowberries in the fall; rich, red cranberries; and the bronzed last leaves of summer. In this lyrical and luminous collection, Coretta Scott King honorees Joyce Carol Thomas and Floyd Cooper celebrate these many shades of black beautifully.
Recklessby Selena Montgomery
Avon (Jun 24, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Independent, stunning, and smart, Kell Jameson has the life she's always dreamed about. A partner at a tony Atlanta law firm that represents famous—if guilty—clients, she's far from her days as a lonely orphan in rural Georgia. But one frantic phone call will bring her back to the place she's spent years trying to escape. The head of her childhood orphanage has been accused of murder, and Kell is her only hope for freedom. From the first moment Kell meets Sheriff Luke Calder, tempers and attraction flare. Ruggedly handsome and a stickler for law and order, Luke finds Kell compelling. Unfortunately, she represents his prime suspect. Forced to work together, they dig deep into the town's scandals . . . but Kell has a secret of her own. She trusts Luke enough to fall in love—but does she trust him enough to reveal the reckless past she's worked so hard to keep hidden?
One in a Millionby Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow (Jun 17, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
A poignant and satisfying story of hope, Kimberla Lawson Roby's One in a Million beautifully shows us the difference between what we think we want and what we actually need to be truly happy. Kennedi Mason thinks she's the luckiest woman on earth. She loves her job, she has a wonderful best friend, and she's been married for ten years to her soul mate. There's nothing she can think of that could make her life any better. Then one fateful day Kennedi receives a piece of news that will turn her world upside down. She's excited about it, and she knows that her husband, Blake, will be over the moon. He has always dreamed of this one thing happening, and she can't wait until he comes home so she can tell him. But when she sees Blake that evening, he has a special announcement of his own. It shocks Kennedi into silence and wipes the admission she was planning to make right out of her mind. In an instant, her life and her marriage have changed, but not at all in the way that she had expected.
The Importance of Being Dangerousby David Dante Troutt
Harper Paperbacks (Jun 03, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
In the 1990s, as the Internet boomed and investments soared to unthinkable heights, many people were left with their feet planted firmly on the ground, looking enviously up at the more fortunate winners in life's game of roulette. This is the era in which we meet Sidarra, Griff, and Yakoob—hardworking folks who can't seem to get a toehold while wealth explodes around them. Each has personal struggles, but when they join the Central Harlem Investment Club, a plan to restore a little justice to their lives takes shape.It seems Yakoob has found a way to siphon off funds from wealthy individuals—the kind of people who are well insured and will probably barely notice the missing money. But in order to justify personal gain at others' expense, the group decides to pick their victims based on people who have done harm to the black community in the past. A plan hatched in a dark pool hall could be a way to escape their drab lives and bring some equality back to the world.But when the group takes in Yakoob's shady neighbor Raul, their scheme takes a sinister twist. Now, with murder in the mix, and the possibility of serious consequences, their best-laid plans may spiral into much more dangerous territory. . . .
Collected Storiesby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (May 13, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Collected here are twenty-six of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's most brilliant and enchanting short stories, presented in the chronological order of their publication in Spanish from three volumes: Eyes of a Blue Dog,Big Mama's Funeral, and The Incredible and Sad Tale of lnnocent Er�ndira and Her Heartless Grandmother. Combining mysticism, history, and humor, the stories in this collection span more than two decades, illuminating the development of Marquez's prose and exhibiting the themes of family, poverty, and death that resound throughout his fiction.
The Women Who Raised Me: A Memoirby Victoria Rowell
William Morrow Paperbacks (May 01, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Born as a ward of the state of Maine, the child of an unmarried Yankee blueblood mother and an unknown black father, Victoria Rowell beat the odds. The Women Who Raised Me is the remarkable story of her rise out of the foster care system to attain the American Dreamand of the unlikely series of women who lifted, motivated, and inspired her along the way.From Agatha Armsteada black Bostonian who was Victoria's longest-term foster mother and first noticed her spark of creativity and talentto Esther Brooks, a Paris-trained prima ballerina who would become her first mentor at the Cambridge School of BalletThe Women Who Raised Me is a loving, vivid portrait of all the women who would help Victoria transition out of foster care and into New York City's wild worlds of ballet, acting, and adulthood. Though Victoria would go on to become an accomplished television and film star, she still carried the burden of loneliness and anxiety, particularly common to those "orphans of the living" who are never adopted. Vividly recalled and candidly told, her story is transfixing, redemptive, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, inspiring.
Jewelby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Apr 29, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
A proposal she had no choice but to accept . . . Though Eli Grayson is one of the most handsome, charming, and intelligent men in Grayson Grove, no one will take a chance on a confirmed bachelor. Unwilling to give up his dreams, Eli convinces his friend Jewel to pose as his wife. Their masquerade is to last just one night . . . but when word gets out, Eli and Jewel must tie the knot to save his career—and her reputation.Became a love she never expected . . . Angry at being forced to turn her life upside down, Jewel never imagined that a white-hot passion would consume her once she and Eli became husband and wife. Sharing a bed has turned their prim friendship into a sensuous love affair . . . but when a woman from Eli's past returns to stir up trouble, he and Jewel will learn just how far they'll go to protect the precious gem of their newfound passion.
Uncle Tom's Children (P.S.)by Richard Wright
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Apr 29, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Set in the American Deep South, each of the powerful novellas collected here concerns an aspect of the lives of black people in the post-slavery era, exploring their resistance to white racism and oppression. Originally published in 1938, Uncle Tom's Children was the first book from Richard Wright, who would continue on to worldwide fame as the author of numerous works, most notably the acclaimed novel Native Son and his autobiography, Black Boy.
Redbone: The Millionaire and the Gold Diggerby Ron Stodghill
Amistad (Feb 19, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Lance Herndon was at the top of his game in 1996. At age forty-one he was a self-made millionaire, the owner of Access, Inc., a successful information-systems consulting company. As a prominent member of Atlanta's young, wealthy, and powerful set, he was surrounded by black Atlanta's "beautiful people." But when he failed to show up for work one day, friends and family started to worry. Their worry soon turned to horror when he was found murdered in his own home, his head smashed in—in what appeared to be either an act of jealousy-fueled rage or a seedier sex crime. With a laundry list of ex-wives and lovers, competitors, critics, and admirers in hand, detectives had to break through the city's upper crust to discover his killer. Journalist Ron Stodghill tells the riveting, true story of this investigation.Part investigative thriller, part sociological commentary, Redbone offers a truly intriguing story that channels insight into one of America's great metropolises.
The Witch Of Portobello: A Novel (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Amistad (Feb 05, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of who we are?That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well—or hardly at all. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy, and sacrifice.
Pagan Spainby Richard Wright
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Feb 05, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
A master chronicler of the African-American experience, Richard Wright brilliantly expanded his literary horizons with Pagan Spain, originally published in 1957. The Spain he visited in the mid-twentieth century was not the romantic locale of song and story, but a place of tragic beauty and dangerous contradictions. The portrait he offers is a blistering, powerful, yet scrupulously honest depiction of a land and people in turmoil, caught in the strangling dual grip of cruel dictatorship and what Wright saw as an undercurrent of primitive faith. An amalgam of expert travel reportage, dramatic monologue, and arresting sociological critique, Pagan Spain serves as a pointed and still-relevant commentary on the grave human dangers of oppression and governmental corruption.
Black Power: Three Books from Exile: Black Power; The Color Curtain; and White Man, Listen!by Richard Wright
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Feb 05, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Originally published in 1954, Richard Wright′s Black Power is an extraordinary nonfiction work by one of America's premier literary giants of the twentieth century. An impassioned chronicle of the author's trip to Africa' Gold Coast before it became the free nation of Ghana, it speaks eloquently of empowerment and possibility, and resonates loudly to this day. Also included in this omnibus edition are two nonfiction works Wright produced around the time of Black Power. White Man, Listen! is a stirring collection of his essays on race, politics, and other essential social concerns ("Deserves to be read with utmost seriousness"-New York Times). The Color Curtain is an indispensable work urging the removal of the color barrier. It remains one of the key commentaries on the question of race in the modern era. ("Truth-telling will perhaps always be unpopular and suspect, but in The Color Curtain, as in all his later nonfiction, Wright did not hesitate to tell the truth as he saw it"-Amritjit Singh, Ohio University)
Like Trees, Walking: A Novelby Ravi Howard
Harper Paperbacks (Jan 22, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Based on the true story of a modern-day lynching in America, Ravi Howard's widely acclaimed debut novel exposes one of the most tragic chapters in the history of the American South.
On the morning of March 21, 1981, in Mobile, Alabama, nineteen-year-old Michael Donald was found dead, his body badly beaten and hanging from a tree on Herndon Avenue. Brothers Paul and Roy Deacon of the Deacon Memorial Funeral Home are called upon to bury their close friend and classmate, and the experience will leave them forever changed. Along with other residents of their hometown, the Deacon brothers must struggle to understand the circumstances surrounding Donald's murder—the city's first lynching in more than sixty years and a gruesome reminder of racial inequalities in the New South.
Sin No More (Reverend Curtis Black #5)by Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow (Jan 22, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberla Lawson Roby's Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books
A man who once thrived on wickedness and counted on forgiveness, Curtis Black has changed his ways. Back in the heart of his congregation and his family, he will no longer stray from the beaten path. Or so he's promised his long-suffering wife, Charlotte. But the sins of the past have strange ways of coming to light. First, Curtis's former mistress shows up with their newborn baby daughter—named Curtina—and insists that Curtis be a part of their lives. Charlotte has forbidden her husband to have anything to do with them, but the trouble is, Curtis's newfound conscience is leading him to have uncomfortable thoughts of responsibility. Also, the interim pastor who took over while Curtis was on a book tour is threatening blackmail. He's gotten too used to life at the pulpit and will do everything in his power to stay there.Meanwhile, Charlotte has her own previous transgressions to deal with. The man who claims to be her son's biological father has turned up and wants to make amends for the past thirteen years. If Charlotte gives in to his increasing requests, she may lose the only child she has left. However, Curtis and Charlotte have been through too much together to give up now. They must work harder than ever—as a mother and a father, as husband and wife—to save their family, their marriage, and their souls.
A Father's Lawby Richard Wright
Amistad (Jan 08, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Introduction by Richard Wright's daughter Julia Wright
A Father's Law is the novel Richard Wright, acclaimed author of Black Boy and Native Son, never completed. Written during a six-week period near the end of his life, it appears in print for the first time, an important addition to this American master's body of work, submitted by his daughter and literary executor, Julia, who writes:
It comes from his guts and ends at the hero's "breaking point." It explores many themes favored by my father like guilt and innocence, the difficult relationship between the generations, the difficulty of being a black policeman and father, the difficulty of being both those things and suspecting that your own son is the murderer. It intertwines astonishingly modern themes for a novel written in 1960.
Prescient, raw, powerful, and fascinating, A Father's Law is the final gift from a literary giant.Julia Wright Photo Credit: C-Span2 BookTV Television Broadcast Screen Shot Captured April 2008.
Jonah's Gourd Vine: A Novelby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial (Jan 08, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Hurston's novel Jonah''s Gourd Vine was derived from the short story "The Gilded Six-Bits" which was published in Story magazine in 1933.
Jonah's Gourd Vine, Zora Neale Hurston's first novel, originally published in 1934, tells the story of John Buddy Pearson, "a living exultation" of a young man who loves too many women for his own good. Lucy, his long-suffering wife, is his true love, but there's also Mehaley and Big 'Oman, as well as the scheming Hattie, who conjures hoodoo spells to ensure his attentions. Even after becoming the popular pastor of Zion Hope, where his sermons and prayers for cleansing rouse the congregation's fervor, John has to confess that though he is a preacher on Sundays, he is a "natchel man" the rest of the week. And so in this sympathetic portrait of a man and his community, Zora Neale Hurston shows that faith, tolerance, and good intentions cannot resolve the tension between the spiritual and the physical. That she makes this age-old dilemma come so alive is a tribute to her understanding of the vagaries of human nature.
Mules and Menby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Jan 08, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Mules and Men is a treasury of black America's folklore as collected by a famous storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed an oral history of the South since the time of slavery. Returning to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, to gather material, Zora Neale Hurston recalls "a hilarious night with a pinch of everything social mixed with the storytelling." Set intimately within the social context of black life, the stories, "big old lies," songs, Vodou customs, and superstitions recorded in these pages capture the imagination and bring back to life the humor and wisdom that is the unique heritage of African Americans.
Collected Novellasby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Jan 08, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
Renowned as a master of magical realism, Gabriel Garcia Marquez has long delighted readers around the world with his exquisitely crafted prose. Brimming with unforgettable characters and set in exotic locales, his fiction transports readers to a world that is at once fanciful, haunting, and real. Leaf Storm, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's first novella, introduces the mythical village of Macondo, a desolate town beset by torrents of rain, where a man must fulfill a promise made years earlier. No One Writes to the Colonel is a novella of life in a decaying tropical town in Colombia with an unforgettable central character. Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a dark and profound story of three people joined together in a fatal act of violence.
The Complete Storiesby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Jan 08, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
This landmark gathering of Zora Neale Hurston's short fictionmost of which appeared only in literary magazines during her lifetimereveals the evolution of one of the most important African American writers. Spanning her career from 1921 to 1955, these stories attest to Hurston's tremendous range and establish themes that recur in her longer fiction. With rich language and imagery, the stories in this collection not only map Hurston's development and concerns as a writer but also provide an invaluable reflection of the mind and imagination of the author of the acclaimed novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Harvey Moon, Museum Boyby Pat Cummings
Amistad (Jan 02, 2008)
Read Detailed Book Description
To liven up his class trip, Harvey Moon brings his pet lizard, Zippy, along to the museum.Whoops.When Zippy escapes, Harvey's adventures begin. You'll be laughing and wondering what's next as knights, dinosaurs, and even mummies get into the act.Cut loose in a museum setting with a brave boy, a lively lizard, a funny plot—and award-winning author and artist Pat Cummings at her entertaining best.
Donavan's Double Troubleby Monalisa DeGross
Amistad (Dec 26, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Donavan thought that fourth grade would be his best year ever. Instead, it's turning out to be nothing but trouble: 1. He's failing math class.2. If his grades don't improve, his whiz-kid younger sister will have to tutor him! 3. When his beloved Uncle Vic returns from overseas combat as a paraplegic, everyone else is happy that he's safe at home. But all Donavan feels is uncomfortable and sad.4. Grandma insists on inviting Uncle Vic to the biggest family event of the school year, and she's not taking no for an answer! But what will the other kids think when they see Uncle Vic in a wheelchair?From the author of Donavan's Word Jar comes an inspiring story that explores what it means to be a hero.
Take The Risk: Learning To Identify, Choose, And Live With Acceptable Riskby Ben Carson
Amistad (Dec 19, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
No risk, pay the cost. Know risk, reap the rewards. In our risk-avoidance culture, we place a high premium on safety. We insure our vacations. We check crash tests on cars. We extend the warranties on our appliances. But by insulating ourselves from the unknown?the risks of life?we miss the great adventure of living our lives to their full potential. Ben Carson spent his childhood as an at-risk child on the streets of Detroit, and today he takes daily risks in performing complex surgeries on the brain and the spinal cord. Now, offering inspiring personal examples, Dr. Carson invites us to embrace risk in our own lives. From a man whose life dramatically portrays the connection between great risks and greater successes, here are insights that will help you dispel your fear of risk so you can dream big, aim high, move with confidence, and reap rewards you've never imagined. By avoiding risk, are you also avoiding the full potential of your life? The surgery was as risky as anything Dr. Ben Carson had seen. The Bijani sisters?conjoined twins?shared part of a skull, brain tissue, and crucial blood flow. One or both of them could die during the operation. But the women wanted separate lives. And they were willing to accept the risk to reach the goal, even against the advice of their doctors … As a child on the dangerous streets of Detroit, and as a surgeon in operating theaters around the world, Dr. Ben Carson has learned all about risk?he faces it on a daily basis. Out of his perilous childhood, a world-class surgeon emerged precisely because of the risks Dr. Carson was willing to take. In his compelling new book, he examines our safety-at-all-costs culture and the meaning of risk and security in our lives. In our 21st-century world, we insulate ourselves with safety. We insure everything from vacations to cell phones. We go on low-cholesterol diets and buy low-risk mutual funds. But in the end, everyone faces risk, like the Bijani twins did with their brave decision. Even if our choices are not so dramatic or the outcome so heartbreaking, what does it mean if we back away instead of move forward? Have we so muffled our hearts and minds that we fail to reach for all that life can offer us?and all that we can offer life? Take the Risk guides the reader through an examination of risk, including: • A short review of risk-taking in history. • An assessment of the real costs and rewards of risk. • Learning how to assess and accept risks. • Understanding how risk reveals the purpose of your lives.
Like The Flowing River: Thoughts And Reflectionsby Paulo Coelho
HarperCollins (Dec 01, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Always True to You in My Fashionby Valerie Wilson Wesley
Avon (Nov 27, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Three smart, independent single women are being driven to distraction by the same maddening man during the same seven months . . .Randall Hollis is rich, handsome, and charming—a true-to-life dream-lover.Artist Medora Jackson has loved Randall since college and is now desperately trying to cut him loose . . . which may be far more difficult than she thinks.Ana Reese-Mitchell is a wealthy widow and art collector haunted by the death of her best friend and the specter of her cruel late husband. She hopes that Randall will be her second chance at love.And ambitious graduate student Taylor Benedict is sure he will be the first rung on her ladder to success.A man for all seasons, Randall represents a different romantic illusion to all three. And each will ultimately discover more about him—and herself—than she ever bargained for.
No Girl Needs A Husband Seven Days A Weekby Nina Foxx
William Morrow Paperbacks (Nov 20, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
A husband can be good for a number of things:Companionship (when he's home)Household repairs (if he's handy)Good loving (if you're lucky), but . . . no girl needs a husband seven days a week!Marie needs her "stay-at-home husband" to clean the house and babysit the kids, so she can take care of business coast-to-coast . . . and enjoy some harmless flirting on the side.Mai's perfectly content to be the perfect wife to a successful corporate superstar—throwing lavish parties and organizing gala charity fundraisers. But it's funny how quickly everything can change with just a single phone call . . . from prison!And high-powered ad exec Kennedy believes the best husband is no husband at all. Hot encounters with a succession of studs keep her going strong as she climbs to the top of her profession.A spouse is fine as long as he doesn't screw up the rest of your life. Now three lovely ladies who think they have this "husband" thing all worked out are about to learn that, when it comes to love and marriage, "perfection" can always be improved upon. And it's going to be one wild ride!
Daughters Of Men: Portraits Of African-American Women And Their Fathersby Rachel Vassel
Amistad (Oct 30, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
From actress Sanaa Lathan to Georgia State Supreme Court chief justice Leah Ward Sears, many African-American women attribute much of their success to having a positive father figure In Daughters of Men, author Rachel Vassel has compiled dozens of stunning photographs and compelling personal essays about African-American women and their fathers. Whether it's a father who mentors his daughter's artistic eye by taking her to cultural events or one who unwaveringly supports a risky career move, the fathers in this book each had his own unique and successful style of parenting. The first book to showcase the importance of the black father's impact on the accomplishments of his daughter, Daughters of Men provides an intimate look at black fatherhood and the many ways fathers have a lasting impact on their daughters' lives.
Deadly Sexyby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Oct 30, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Though her Lexus may be broken down on the California freeway, Jessi Teresa Blake is no damsel in distress. Rich, smart, and beautiful, JT, or "Lady Blake," as she is called, is one of the toughest sports agents around. She's negotiated megabucks contracts for every superstar in the business, and only the most confident of men can match wits with her. Men like Reese Anthony, the impossibly sexy trucker who gives her a lift back to Oakland.
Life: Selected Quotationsby Paulo Coelho
Harper (Oct 23, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
This collection of selected quotes from Paulo Coelho's impressive body of work is a must�have item for fans of this celebrated and internationally bestselling author. A beautiful book with four�colour artwork by the renowned Norwegian artist Anne Kristin Hagesaether, it contains inspirational quotes from such beloved Coelho titles as Eleven Minutes, The Valkyries, The Devil And Miss Prym, The Zahir, and the mega bestseller The Alchemist. Whether read in one sitting or savoured gradually, this is a visually stunning and enlightening look into Coelho's extraordinary perspective on life �one that has won over millions of readers worldwide and made Coelho one of the top�selling authors in the world.
Lift Every Voice and Singby James Weldon Johnson
HarperCollins (Oct 01, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
From award-winning illustrator Bryan Collier, a stunning new picture book version of the well-known song that has become known as the African-American National Hymn.
Why War Is Never a Good Ideaby Alice Walker
HarperCollins (Sep 18, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Though War is OldIt has notBecome wise.Poet and activist Alice Walker personifies the power and wanton devastation of war in this evocative poem.Stefano Vitale's compelling paintings illustrate this unflinching look at war's destructive nature and unforeseen consequences.
All Aunt Hagar's Children: Storiesby Edward P. Jones
Amistad (Aug 28, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Three years after the publication of his much-heralded, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Known World, Edward P. Jones returned with an elegiac, luminous masterpiece, All Aunt Hagar's Children. In these fourteen sweeping and sublime stories, Jones resurrects the minor characters in his first award-winning story collection, Lost in the City. The result is vintage Jones: powerful, magisterial tales that showcase his ability to probe the complexities and tenaciousness of the human spirit. All Aunt Hagar's Children is filled with people who call Washington, D.C., home. Yet it is the city's ordinary citizens, not its power brokers, who most concern Jones. Here, everyday people who thought the values of the South would sustain them in the North find "that the cohesion born and nurtured in the south would be but memory in less than two generations."
Harriet Tubman: Conductor On The Underground Railroadby Ann Petry
Amistad (Aug 14, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Horn Book called this classic biography of Harriet Tubman an "unusually well-written and moving life of the 'Moses of her people.'" An accessible portrait of the woman who guided more than 300 slaves to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad was an ALA Notable Book and a New York Times Outstanding Book, and includes an index.Supports the Common Core State Standards
Marrying Upby Nina Foxx
Avon (Jul 31, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Ring Is Not Enough … … not if, like Paris Montague, you come from a long line of women who know how to marry. In her family, the unspoken rule has always been: never wed someone who's not as well off as you, and her mother wants her last unattached daughter to find a wealthy "Mr. Right" right now. But Paris is doing just fine with her no-strings-attached relationship with her sexy secret lover, Tyson. The man may not have money, but he knows how to push all the right buttons! Then JaBari Nolan enters the picture — rich, charming, and oh-so-fine, with definite husband potential. But Paris can't shake the feeling that there's something shady going on with the all-too-perfect Mr. Nolan. Time's running out, and Paris is going to have to choose between sweet Tyson and seductive JaBari. And maybe "up" is not the way to take it …
The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynastyby Lawrence Otis Graham
Harper Perennial (Jul 03, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Blanche Kelso Bruce was born a slave in 1841, yet, remarkably, amassed a real-estate fortune and became the first black man to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. He married Josephine Willson—the daughter of a wealthy black Philadelphia doctor—and together they broke down racial barriers in 1880s Washington, D.C., numbering President Ulysses S. Grant among their influential friends. The Bruce family achieved a level of wealth and power unheard of for people of color in nineteenth-century America. Yet later generations would stray from the proud Bruce legacy, stumbling into scandal and tragedy.Drawing on Senate records, historical documents, and personal letters, author Lawrence Otis Graham weaves a riveting social history that offers a fascinating look at race, politics, and class in America.
These Are My Confessionsby Joy Deja King, Electa Rome Parks, Cheryl Robinson, and Meta Smith
Avon Red (Jun 26, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sizzling hot and soulful secret "confessions" from four of the most exciting voices in erotic black fiction!Bianca's job as the new personal assistant to an arrogant NBA superstar is unending hell. But when the lights go down—and the uniform comes off—she's seduced by this hard-bodied athlete's off-the-court moves . . .
Love B-Ball Style by Joy KingKennedy Logan is too ashamed to reveal the truth about her steamyrelationship with hot, insatiable Drake—his sweet lies and hellacious lovemaking—to anyone except her private diary . . .
These Are My Confessions by Electa Rome ParksFresh from a break-up, uptight, unfulfilled middle school teacher Alexis heads to Texas, where they say everything is bigger—and where she finds a tasty Dallas police officer who's strapped with way more than a gun . . .
Strapped by Cheryl RobinsonLucky went from waitress to recording star, with a string of hits and a Miami mansion. Now she's back home in the Windy City to tease and torture the handsome, cheating stud who broke her heart. But the man's hot loving may be too hard for her to resist . . .
Divas Need Love Too by M�ta Smith
Unfinished Businessby Karyn Langhorne Folan
Avon (May 29, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Black activist Erica Johnson wears her causes on her sleeve—literally. With her class of beloved fourth graders depending on her to represent their concerns, Erica's ready to confront golden-boy conservative senator Mark Newman. And she's willing to suffer through a night in jail and a battle of wits with a real-life war hero, if it will help get the children the money they need.Mark Newman's a worthy adversary. But there's a more human side to the ambitious politician with the dreamy blue eyes—from the physical pain of his war wound, to his grief over his wife's death. Though they disagree on every hot-button issue, Erica and Mark can't resist their attraction or ignore the unfinished business between them—much to the delight of those trying to use this new relationship against the senator. And when Erica starts receiving some particularly vicious hate mail she has to decide if this handsome dream from the right/wrong side of the political fence is worth risking her heart for . . . and maybe her life.
sex.lies.murder.fame.: A Novelby Lolita Files
Harper Paperbacks (May 01, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Gifted with rock star looks and a genius IQ, Penn Hamilton has been inspiring awe since he was a baby. Now he's ready to take on the world and claim his rightful place in the midst of celebrity. As a Writer. Rapper. Model. God. Unfortunately, the world's not quite ready for him.But when Penn meets Beryl Unger, high-powered editrix to literati and glitterati alike, sparks fly. Sparks fly even higher when he meets one of Beryl's authors, superstar romance author Sharlyn Tate. Two women, one man. A man with no boundaries, who will stop short of nothing—even brutal, vicious murder—to have the success and adulation he so desperately desires.
Wild Sweet Loveby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Apr 24, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Teresa July has led a hard life, but now she has a chance to put her train robbing past behind her. Armed with a new job as a cook to one of Philadelphia's elite families, Teresa is determined to start her life anew, and nothing��not even her boss's stuck�up (and far too handsome) son��is going to stand in her way. Madison Nance is sick of his mother taking in women from the wrong side of the tracks, just to see them turn on her generosity. That's why it's up to him to keep a close eye on Teresa's every move. At least, that's the only logical explanation for why he can't get the young woman out of his mind. But when a woman from Madison's past threatens Teresa's future, the two reluctant lovers must join forces is they're ever going to have a chance at happiness.
The Devil And Miss Prym: A Novel Of Temptation (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Amistad (Apr 10, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
A stranger arrives at the remote village of Viscos, carrying with him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars. He comes searching for the answer to a question that torments him: Are human beings, in essence, good or evil? In welcoming the mysterious foreigner, the whole village becomes an accomplice to his sophisticated plot, which will forever mark their lives.A novel of temptation by the internationally bestselling author Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym is a thought-provoking parable of a community devoured by greed, cowardice, and fear—as it struggles with the choice between good and evil.
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Themby Francine Prose
Harper Perennial (Apr 10, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose.In Reading Like a Writer, Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writers Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov and discovers why their work has endured. She takes pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot's Middlemarch. She looks to John Le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue, to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail, and to James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield for clever examples of how to employ gesture to create character. She cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which literature is crafted.Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Themby Francine Prose
Harper Perennial (Apr 10, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose.
In Reading Like a Writer, Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writers—Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov—and discovers why their work has endured. She takes pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot's Middlemarch. She looks to John Le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue, to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail, and to James Joyce and Katherine Mansfield for clever examples of how to employ gesture to create character. She cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which literature is crafted.
Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.
Black Boyby Richard Wright
Harper Perennial (Mar 27, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
You'll find Black Boy on President Obama's Bookshelf
This incredible bestselling classic is Richard Wright's unforgettable and eloquent autobiography of growing up in the Jim Crow South.
Black Boy is Richard Wright's unforgettable story of growing up in the Jim Crow South. Published in 1945, it is often considered a fictionalized autobiography or an autobiographical novel because of Wright's use of fiction techniques (and possibly fictional events) to tell his story. Nevertheless, the book is a lyrical and skillfully wrought description of Wright's hungry youth in rural Mississippi and Memphis, told from the perspective of the adult Wright, who was still trying to come to grips with the cruel deprivations and humiliations of his childhood.
Life in the pre'civil rights South was intensely alienating for young Richard. At every turn, his desire to communicate was stunted, whether by famiIy members who insisted he "hush!" or by teachers who harassed and mocked him. He was surrounded by people he considered contemptibly ignorant, people who willingly allowed their lives to be restricted by tradition and authority no matter how illegitimate or self-destructive. Whether they were racist whites or passive, uncompassionate blacks, his fellow southerners viewed Richard's independence and intelligence with suspicion and scorned and humiliated him for his family's poverty. He lashed out by hitting the streets: He was already drinking by the time he turned six, and he fought constantly. He finally found his outlet in writing; by the end of the book, he decided that there was nothing he could ever do to improve his life in the South and committed to moving to Chicago to pursue his art.
When first published, Black Boy was considered by many to be an angry attack on the racist South because of Wright's hard-hitting portrayal of the racism he faced, not to mention his already-acquired reputation as a "protest writer." But the book's value goes deeper than that: Wright bears witness to the American struggle for the right of self-definition. His own quest to escape the suffocating world of his childhood and find a place where he could freely exercise his individuality, creativity, and integrity was ultimately successful. But Black Boy also offers insight into an entire culture of people, both black and white, who had unthinkingly accepted a narrowly prescribed course of life. As Wright put it, "[though] they lived in America where in theory there existed equality of opportunity, they knew unerringly what to aspire to and what not to aspire to." Despite Wright's stifling environment, his story is inspirational for its portrait of how a black boy shucked off the limited expectations of those around him and dared to aspire.'Sacred Fire
Cookedby Jeff Henderson
William Morrow (Feb 20, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Jeff Henderson was just another inner-city black kid born into a world of poverty and limited options, where crime seemed to provide the only way to get out. Raised mostly by his single mother, who struggled just to keep food on the table, Jeff dreamed big. He had to get out and he soon did by turning to what so many in his community did: dealing drugs. But Jeff was no ordinary drug dealer; by twenty-one, he was one of the top cocaine dealers in San Diego, making up to $35,000 a week. Two years later he was indicted on federal drug trafficking charges and sentenced to almost twenty years in prison. Before he knew what had hit him, he was looking at spending most of his life behind bars. The street life had been the only one he'd ever known and even incarcerated he was too hardheaded to realize that no good would come of it.That is, until he was assigned to one of the least desirable prison jobs: washing dishes. That job helped turn his whole life around. It gave him access to the prison kitchen and he became fascinated watching his fellow prisoners cook for the thousands of other inmates and prison officials. Henderson learned to cook in prison. Not cocaine, but food. And his dream was born: Once outside, he would become a chef.It was a tough, seemingly impossible journey for an ex-con. Few chefs would give him the opportunity to cook in their restaurants. And once hired, he endured racism and sabotage in the kitchen. But Henderson refused to accept rejection. Driven by a dream and an unshakable will to succeed, Chef Jeff worked hard to overcome unimaginable adversity and eventually reached the top of his profession, becoming executive chef at Caf� Bellagio in Las Vegas.Alive with the energy of the streets, the sober reality of prison, and the visceral thrill of being inside the fast-paced kitchens of great restaurants, Cooked is an intense, intimate tale of crime, punishment, and redemption—a deeply poignant story of how the worst wrong can lead to the most extraordinary right.
Hattie Mcdaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywoodby Jill Watts
Amistad (Feb 06, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Hattie McDaniel is best known for her performance as Mammy, the sassy foil to Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. Though the role called for yet another wide�grinned, subservient black domestic, McDaniel transformed her character into one who was loyal yet subversive, devoted yet bossy. Her powerful performance would win her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and catapult the hopes of Black Hollywood that the entertainment industry ��after decades of stereotypical characters�� was finally ready to write more multidimensional, fully realized roles for blacks. But racism was so entrenched in Hollywood that despite pleas by organizations such as the NAACP and SAG ��and the very examples that Black service men were setting as they fought against Hitler in WWII�� roles for blacks continued to denigrate the African American experience. So rather than see her stature increase in Hollywood, as did other Oscar�winning actresses, Hattie McDaniel, continued to play servants. And rather than see her popularity increase, her audience turned against her as an increasingly politicized black community criticized her and her peers for accepting degrading roles. "I'd rather play a maid then be a maid," Hattie McDaniel answered her critics but her flip response belied a woman who was herself emotionally conflicted about the roles she accepted but who tried to imbue each Mammy character with dignity and nuance.
Hot Boyzby Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk)
Avon (Jan 30, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
There are no siblings more charmed than the Wilson brothers of Ladera Heights, California. Fine and famous pro golfer Mason has money, respect, a beautiful, loving wife and two wonderful teenage children. Claude's the most successful realtor in the "Black Beverly Hills." And handsome, carefree, "baby boy" Torino, who runs big brother Mason's club, Foreplay, can pick and choose the honeys he wants to share his time and his bed with.But beneath the surface of ideal lives are secrets that could shatter three perfect dreams and shake a family to its core. Legacies of loss and obligation, of tragedy and madness, threaten everything the Wilsons have worked so hard to achieve, exposing deep, raw, and devastating wounds that an outside world cannot see—wounds that can only be healed through honesty and love.
Coffee Will Make You Black: A Novelby April Sinclair
Harper Paperbacks (Jan 30, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
I still thought breasts might be more trouble than they were worth. Growing up reminded me a little bit of Hide and Go Seek. When it was your time to grow up, Natrue said, "Here I come, ready or not." And Nature could always find you.
Ain't Gonna Be the Same Fool Twiceby April Sinclair
Harper Paperbacks (Jan 30, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Jean "Stevie" Stevenson, the indomitable heroine of Coffee Will Make You Black, is back — somewhat older and wiser, with some experience and a college degree — diving headfirst into the hot tub, free love, yoga, and vegetarian lifestyle of 1970s San Francisco. In this liberating new world of raised consciousness, mind-expanding, and disco-dancing, a soul sister with passion and daring has room to experiment with life and love to find out who she really is.Jean "Stevie" Stevenson, the indomitable heroine of Coffee Will Make You Black, is back-somewhat older and wiser, with some experience and a college degree-diving headfirst into the hot tub, free love, yoga, and vegetarian lifestyle of 1970s San Francisco. In this liberating new world of raised consciousness, mind-expanding, and disco-dancing, a soul sister with passion and daring has room to experiment with life and love to find out who she really is.
Love and Lies(Reverend Curtis Black #4)by Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow (Jan 30, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberla Lawson Roby's Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books
Truth and lies . . .At long last, the Reverend Curtis Black appears to be living the straight life. The all-too-human preacher is a bestselling author now, and he and his wife, Charlotte, are raising two adorable children. But the ever-suspicious Charlotte doesn't trust that Curtis has put his womanizing past behind him. While he's on the road promoting his latest book, she knows that there just needs to beone extra-devoted fan in his flock for him to stray.Secrets and lies . . .Still, Charlotte is no angel herself, and she's been keeping plenty of secrets from Curtis while he's been away. For one thing, their daughter, Marissa, is behaving bizarrely, reminding Charlotte a bit too much of the man with whom she had an affair five years ago—an affair Curtis won't let her forget. Then there are the disturbing visits from her so-called brother-in-law, a man once involved with drugs and the law. Curtis has forbidden the family to see him, but the guy simply keeps turning up on Charlotte's doorstep no matter how hard she tries to keep him away. Charlotte believes with all her heart that things will be better once Curtis comes home.Love and lies . . .But Charlotte should be careful what she wishes for. She thinks love is enough to untangle the web of lies she and Curtis have woven for themselves. What she doesn't know is that when her husband finally returns, she'll have some tough decisions to make if she wants to save her soul and salvage her marriage.
Topazby Beverly Jenkins
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 30, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Ambitious newspaper reporter Kate Love's determination to unmask a railroad stock swindler has led her to the brink of matrimony with the wealthiest, most eligible black man in the East—the very scoundrel she intends to expose! But at the last possible moment a champion appears to whisk her away from the altar: Dix Wildhorse, a Black Seminole marshal from Oklahoma's Indian country. A daring black knight whom Kate's father sent to rescue—and wed—the free-spirited ebony hellion, Dix ignites fires within her with just a touch, a whisper, a brazen kiss. But Kate isn't about to abandon her career to become the dutiful wife of a lawman who wants to keep her wrapped up in a protective cocoon. As the battle of wills intensifies, the heat of their passion blazes with unmatched fury. And only total surrender will unleash the sweet ecstasy of love.
I Left My Back Door Open: A Novelby April Sinclair
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 30, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Chicago deejay Daphne "Dee Dee" Dupree is sassy and successful—but a series of catastrophic relationships has left her gun-shy. Now with her own life and the lives of those closest to her seemingly coming apart at the seams, she's going to have to leave the safe cocoon of her broadcasting booth to face her world, her secrets, and a new promise of mature love fearlessly and head-on.
The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998by Nikki Giovanni
Harper Perennial (Jan 23, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
This omnibus covers Nikki Giovanni's complete work of poetry from 1967�1983. THE COLLECTED POETRY OF NIKKI GIOVANNI will include the complete volumes of five adult books of poetry: Black Feeling Black Talk/Black Judgement, My House, The Women and the Men, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, and Those Who Ride the Night Winds. Nikki self�published her first book Black Feeling, Black Talk/BlackJudgement in 1969, selling 10,000 copies; William Morrow published in 1970. Know for its iconic revolutionary phrases, it is heralded as one of the most important volumes of modern African�American poetry and is considered the seminal volume of Nikki's body of work. My House (Morrow 1972) marks a new dimension in tone and philosphy��This is Giovanni's first foray into the autobiographical. In The Women and the Men (Morrow 1975), Nikki displays her compassion for the people, things and places she has encountered��She reveres the ordinary and is in search of the extraordinary. Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (Morrow 1978) is one of the most poignant and introspective of all Giovanni's collections. These poems chronicle the drastic change that took place during the 1970s��when the dreams of the Civil Rights era seemed to have evaporated. Those Who Ride the Night Winds (Morrow 1983) is devoted to "the day trippers and midnight cowboys," the ones who have devoted their lives to pushing the limits of the human condition and shattered the constraints of the stautus quo.
Acolytes: Poemsby Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Jan 23, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
A collection of eighty all new poems, Acolytes is distinctly Nikki Giovanni, but different. Not softened, but more inspired by love, celebration, memories and even nostalgia. She aims her intimate and sparing words at family and friends, the deaths of heroes and friends, favorite meals and candy, nature, libraries, and theatre. But in between, the deep and edgy conscience that has defined her for decades shines through when she writes about Rosa Parks, hurricane Katrina, and Emmett Till's disappearance, leaving no doubt that Nikki has not traded one approach for another, but simply made room for both.
Changing Facesby Kimberla Lawson Roby
HarperCollins Publishers (Jan 02, 2007)
Read Detailed Book Description
Meet Whitney, Taylor, and Charisse, three women who have been best friends since high school. However, this devoted troika is about to discover a wave of unexpected troubles.
Whitney is a plus-size woman who just can't turn down a box of Krispy Kremes or find a man who will stay put.
Taylor is in a long-term relationship with a boyfriend who's allergic to commitment.
Charisse is married, with two adorable children, but somehow doesn't have what she really wants—or needs.
Then suddenly Charisse spins out of control. Her doormat husband manages to stand up to her and even threatens to go public with a very shady secret Charisse had hoped to keep hidden, especially from her interfering mother. Desperate, she decides that only a very risky scheme will save her.
One constant for these women has been the support they've offered one another. But this time, how far can friendship go?
Bronzeville Boys And Girlsby Gwendolyn Brooks
Amistad (Dec 26, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
This classic picture book from Pulitzer Prize�winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, paired with full-color illustrations by Caldecott Honor artist Faith Ringgold, explores the lives and dreams of the children who live together in an urban neighborhood. In 1956, Gwendolyn Brooks created thirty-four poems that celebrated the joy, beauty, imagination, and freedom of childhood. Bronzeville Boys and Girls features these timeless poems, which remind us that whether we live in the Bronzeville section of Chicago or any other neighborhood, childhood is universal in its richness of emotions and new experiences.
Secrets and Liesby Selena Montgomery
Avon (Dec 26, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
She may be smart and beautiful, but she's also standing between him and a very lucrative item he needs to "recover" in this African-American love story that blends passion with action that is sure to thrill romance readers.
She just witnessed her uncle's murder, she's running for her life, and now Dr. Katelyn Lyda is face-to-face with a breathtaking man who could be her salvation. Tall, sexy, his eyes full of mysterious promises, he seems to have the answer she needs.It's too bad Sebastian Caine is one of the bad guys . . . A "recovery specialist" skilled at separating prized possessions from their owners, Sebastian is after an ancient relic. But he reconsiders the job when he finds himself staring at the wrong end of a gun. The beautiful lady with her finger on the trigger seems to have everything he needs—and not just the artifact. Sebastian's conscience has never bothered him before—but then he has never wanted any woman more.With her life in jeopardy, Kat wonders how far she can trust Sebastian Caine . . . how long she can resist him . . . and dare she fall in love?
Autobiography of My Dead Brotherby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (Oct 31, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
The thing was that me and Rise were blood brothers, but sometimes I really didn't know him. . . .As Jesse fills his sketchbook with drawings and portraits of Rise, he tries to make sense of the complexities of friendship, loyalty, and loss in a neighborhood plagued by drive-bys, vicious gangs, and abusive cops.
Raising Hell: The Reign, Ruin, and Redemption of Run-D.M.C. and Jam Master Jayby Ronin Ro
Harper Paperbacks (Oct 31, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
The year is 1978. Saturday Night Fever is breaking box office records. All over America kids are racing home to watch Dance Fever, Michael Jackson is poised to become the next major pop star, and in Hollis, Queens, fourteen-year-old Darryl McDaniels—who will one day go by the name D.M.C.—busts his first rhyme: "Apple to peach, cherry to plum. Don't stop rocking till you all get some." Darryl's friend Joseph Simmons—now known as Reverend Run—thinks Darryl's rhyme is pretty good, and he becomes inspired. Soon the two join forces with a DJ—Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell—and form Run-D.M.C. Managed by Run's brother, Russell Simmons, the trio, donning leather suits, Adidas sneakers, and gold chains, become the defiant creators of the world's most celebrated and enduring hip-hop albums—and in the process drag rap music from urban streets into the corporate boardroom, profoundly changing everything about popular culture and American race relations.
Dreamgirlsby Denene Millner
HarperEntertainment (Oct 31, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
It was a time of miraculous change in America, as the cry for justice and equality rang out, from the Deep South to the West Coast. And in the Motor City, a new sound was about to explode that would break down the barriers between white and black. Three close friends from the Detroit streets, Effie, Deena, and Lorrell, had the electrifying talent to bring any audience leaping to its feet—and with the help of C.C.'s groundbreaking music and Curtis's vision and ruthless ambition, they were poised on the giddy brink of greatness. But fame never comes cheap. And truth, loyalty, and love will always have to struggle to survive in the spotlight's merciless glare . . .
Jokes My Father Never Taught Me: Life, Love, and Loss with Richard Pryorby Rain Pryor
HarperEntertainment (Oct 31, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
The loving yet brutally honest memoir of the daughter of comedy legend Richard Pryor Rain Pryor was born in the idealistic, free-love 1960s. Her mother was a Jewish go-go dancer who wanted a tribe of rainbow children, and her father was Richard Pryor, perhaps the most compelling and brilliant comedian of his era. In this intimate, harrowing, and often hilarious memoir, Rain talks about her divided heritage, and about the forces that shaped her wildly schizophrenic childhood. In her father's house, she bonded with Richard's grandmother, Mamma, a one-time whorehouse madam who never tired of reminding Rain that she was black. In her mother's house, and in the home of her Jewish grandparents, Rain was a "mocha-colored Jewish princess," learning how to cook everything from kugel to beef brisket. It seemed as if Rain was blessed with the best of both worlds, but it didn't quite work out that way. Life at Mom's was unstable in the extreme, while at Richard's place Rain was exposed to sex and drugs before she had even learned to read. "Daddy," she told her father one day, sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at the advanced age of eight, "the whores need to be paid." Jokes My Father Never Taught Me is both lovingly told and painfully frank: the story of a girl who grew up adoring her father even as she feared him—and feared for him—as his drug problems grew worse. In 1980 Pryor tried to kill himself by setting himself on fire, then joked that it had been an accident: "No one ever told me you couldn't mix cookies with two types of milk!" In his later years, Pryor succumbed to multiple sclerosis, and Rain watched in tears as her father became a shell of his former self. Once, in an unusually introspective mood, Pryor asked his daughter, "Why do you love me, Rainy, when I can be so mean?" Jokes My Father Never Taught Me answers that poignant question and many more. It is an unprecedented look at the life of a legend of comedy, told by a daughter who both understood the genius and knew the tortured man within.
The Pursuit of Happynessby Chris Gardner and Quincy Troupe
Amistad (Oct 24, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
Read an AALBC.com Movie Review
The astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall StreetAt the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm than Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him as part of the city's working homeless and with a toddler son. Motivated by the promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, the two spent almost a year moving among shelters, "HO-tels," soup lines, and even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station. Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of the city's invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district. More than a memoir of Gardner's financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family's cycle of men abandoning their children. Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness conjures heroes like Horatio Alger and Antwone Fisher, and appeals to the very essence of the American Dream.
Confessions of a Video Vixenby Karrine Steffans
Amistad (Oct 17, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
Part tell-all, part cautionary tale, this emotionally charged memoir from a former video vixen nicknamed 'Superhead' goes beyond the glamour of celebrity to reveal the inner workings of the hip-hop dancer industry—from the physical and emotional abuse that's rampant in the industry, and which marked her own life—to the excessive use of drugs, sex and bling.
Once the sought-after video girl, this sexy siren has helped multi-platinum artists, such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly and LL Cool J, sell millions of albums with her sensual dancing. In a word, Karrine was H-O-T. So hot that she made as much as $2500 a day in videos and was selected by well-known film director F. Gary Gray to co-star in his film, A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel. But the film and music video sets, swanky Hollywood and New York restaurants and trysts with the celebrities featured in the pages of People and In Touch magazines only touches the surface of Karrine Steffans' life.
Her journey is filled with physical abuse, rape, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness and single motherhood—all by the age of 26. By sharing her story, Steffans hopes to shed light on an otherwise romanticised industry and help young women avoid the same pitfalls she encountered. If they're already in danger, she hopes to inspire them to find a way to dig themselves out of what she knows first-hand to be a cycle of hopelessness and despair.
Queen of the Scene Book and CDby Queen Latifah
Laura Geringer (Oct 01, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
This ruler of the playground has got game. B-ball, stickball, jump rope, soccer—there's nothing she won't try. And watch out, boys, because she's representing all the girls, and the Queen has girl power to the max! Queen Latifah, the Grammy Award-winning First Lady of Hip-Hop, teams up with the Coretta Scott King New Talent Award-winning artist Frank Morrison in a celebration of spirit and pride. Baby, it's the best.
Inspired By… The Bible Experience: New Testamentby Inspired By Media Group
Zondervan (Sep 27, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
The 2007 Audiobook of the Year winner — the most prestigious award for excellence in audiobooks! This unique, epic re-enactment of the New Testament (full Bible is also available) on audio CD is fully-dramatized, performed by a cast of more than 200 leading actors, musicians, personalities and clergy, many of whom have won or been nominated for Oscar and Emmy awards, such as Samuel Jackson, Blair Underwood, Angela Bassett, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. The entire script uses the accessible and most up-to-date Today's New International Version (TNIV) Bible translation. Experience the Bible in a whole new way with Inspired By�The Bible Experience.
The Known Worldby Edward P. Jones
Amistad (Aug 29, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, The Known World is a daring and ambitious work by Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones.The Known World tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order, and chaos ensues. Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities.
The Zahir: A Novel Of Obsessionby Paulo Coelho
Amistad (Jul 03, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
The narrator of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in Paris and enjoys all the privileges money and celebrity bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war correspondent who has disappeared along with a friend, Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover. Was Esther kidnapped, murdered, or did she simply escape a marriage that left her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn't have any answers, but he has plenty of questions of his own. Then one day Mikhail finds the narrator and promises to reunite him with his wife. In his attempt to recapture a lost love, the narrator discovers something unexpected about himself.
Original Zinn: Conversations On History And Politicsby Howard Zinn
Amistad (Jun 27, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
Historian, activist, and bestselling author Howard Zinn has been interviewed by David Barsamian for public radio numerous times over the past decade. Original Zinn is a collection of their conversations, showcasing the acclaimed author of A People's History of the United States at his most engaging and provocative. Touching on such diverse topics as the American war machine, civil disobedience, the importance of memory and remembering history, and the role of artists—from Langston Hughes to Dalton Trumbo to Bob Dylan—in relation to social change, Original Zinn is Zinn at his irrepressible best, the acute perception of a scholar whose impressive knowledge and probing intellect make history immediate and relevant for us all.
Diary Of An Ugly Ducklingby Karyn Langhorne Folan
HarperTorch (Jun 27, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
What makes an otherwise sane woman appear on a reality TV show?Especially one as drastic as Ugly Duckling? For Audra Marks, the last straw comes when she loses her shot with handsome Art Bradshaw to the prettier and lighter-skinned Esmeralda Prince. Audra's always lived in a classic movies fantasy world of diva dames and handsome heroes, where the costumes are gorgeous, the good guys always win, and love always triumphs. But now, her heart broken, she's decided to do anything to get back her man and show her hypercritical mother she can "pretty up" with the best of them in the bargain.After all, if the folks at Ugly Duckling can transform a homely, buck-toothed white girl into a ravishing beauty, just think what they'll be able to do with Audra! But until she truly believes she's beautiful inside, it won't matter how hot and pretty they make the outside package. And Audra's obsession with perfection may be leading her farther and farther away from what's really important — and blinding her to the love that's been waiting there all along . . .
The Friendly Fourby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Jun 13, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
THE FRIENDLY FOUR Celebrate summer with Coretta Scott King Award winners Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist! Drum: Didn't I call this summer a bummer? All: Not anymore, not anymore. Drum: I was alone, and life was lonely. All: But not anymore, Drum: 'cause we're the Friendly Four! When Drum, Dorene, Louis, and Rae enter one another's lives unexpectedly, they embark on an unforgettable summer of discovery and creative play together. With individual poems and poems for multiple voices, Eloise Greenfield follows four children as they explore the bonds of friendship, family, and community.
Just Short of Crazyby Nina Foxx
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jun 13, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
When smart, successful, levelheaded lawyer Alexis Pearson gets blindsided by her faithless fianc�, who disses and dumps her, she decides to change everything. Gone are the trendy dreads in favor of her own soft and natural tresses. She's going to get her body, mind, and spirit in shape with tae kwan do classes — and maybe kick some butt in the process to work out the aggression brought on by the abandonment . . . and her boss's unsubtle offers to help mend her busted heart. Of course, she never intended for it all to get out of hand — and she certainly didn't mean to break the elbow of her first-time sparring partner, Remedy Brown.At least she got the attention of this tall, dark, and very handsome nightclub owner with the unfortunate name. And though Alexis is wary about diving recklessly too soon into the relationship fire again, she can't help wondering if sexy, warm-hearted Remedy might be a remedy for what's ailing her. But the man comes with some crazy baggage — namely Ayzah, his estranged and deranged ex-wife, who's pure, unadulterated 'hood. And suddenly both the personal and professional lives of the "new" Alexis Pearson are about to get a lot wilder . . . and riskier.
Their Eyes Were Watching Godby Zora Neale Hurston
Amistad (May 30, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
Born and raised in Eatonville, Florida, the first incorporated all-black town in the United States, Zora Neale Hurston (1903-60) ranks among the most influential writers of the 20th century, not simply for her influence on subsequent African-American writers but also for the passionate voice she gave to black culture in this country. After attending Morgan State College, Howard University, and Columbia University, Hurston began her career as a folklorist and social anthropologist, traveling to Haiti to study the evolution of the voodoo tradition. She quickly rejected the distanced, scientific attitude of the researcher, however, in order to become immersed in the culture. In two volumes, Mules and Men (1935) and Tell My Horse (1938), Hurston gathered the tales of the American South and the Caribbean. Hurston is most known, however, for her 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel that created controversy by refusing to admit black inferiority while simultaneously refusing to depict its characters as victims of a world that thought them inferior. Two recent volumes, The Sanctified Church (1981) and Spunk (1984), collect her essays and short fiction, respectively.
The Vow: A Novelby Denene Millner, Angela Burt-Murray and Mitzi Miller
Amistad (May 30, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this runaway hit novel, three best friends come together for their sorority sister's glitzy wedding in Atlanta and make a vow to get married within one year. As they embark on their search to find their soul mates, they navigate the full-contact sport known as being a SSBFLA (successful, single, black, female in L.A.) and negotiate the shark-infested waters of making a name for themselves professionally in Hollywood.Can Trista, the hyper-driven celebrity agent, find the time to schedule a meaningful romance? Will Amaya, the sexy starlet, convince the married hip hop-label exec she has been seeing to leave his wife, or will the NBA star steal her heart in the final seconds? After undergoing a complete makeover, will Vivian, the jaded gossip columnist, win back the father of her child?As seductive as it is empowering, The Vow is a page-turner that will keep you cheering for these women as they discover that their desire to find a husband isn't as important as finding themselves.
By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept: A Novel Of Forgivenessby Paulo Coelho
Amistad (May 23, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
From Paulo Coelho, author of the international bestseller The Alchemist, comes a poignant, richly poetic story that reflects the depth of love and life.Rarely does adolescent love reach its full potential, but what happens when two young lovers reunite after eleven years? Time has transformed Pilar into a strong and independent woman, while her devoted childhood friend has grown into a handsome and charismatic spiritual leader. She has learned well how to bury her feelings . . . and he has turned to religion as a refuge from his raging inner conflicts. Now they are together once again, embarking on a journey fraught with difficulties, as long-buried demons of blame and resentment resurface after more than a decade. But in a small village in the French Pyrenees, by the waters of the River Piedra, a most special relationship will be reexamined in the dazzling light of some of life's biggest questions.
A House Is Not a Home: A B-Boy Blues Novelby James Earl Hardy
Amistad (May 23, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this final chapter in James Earl Hardy's groundbreaking B-Boy Blues series, Mitchell "Little Bit" Crawford and Raheim "Pooquie" Rivers are all grown up. Mitchell is a stay-at-home dad renovating his dream house, writing, and raising his godson and half-sister in Brooklyn's up-and-coming Fort Greene neighborhood. He's fairly happy, but he can't help feeling that something — or someone — is missing from his life.Fresh from rehab for a gambling addiction, Raheim has a new lease on life, but it's precarious — his career as an actor has stalled, he hasn't seen his son in years, and the short-lived sexual trysts that punctuated his life no longer satisfy him. Hell-bent on change, Raheim has finally figured out who he wants to be with forever. But will Mitchell give Raheim the second chance he so desperately wants?
There Is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Meby Alice Walker
HarperCollins (May 09, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
There is a roadAt the bottomOf my FootWalking me.In a beautifully poetic and gently provocative text, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker invites readers young and old to see the world — and our place in it — through new eyes.Glowing colors and radiant images accompany this joyous celebration of the connections and interconnections between self, Nature, and creativity.
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coastby Douglas Brinkley
William Morrow (May 09, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
In the span of five violent hours on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed major Gulf Coast cities and flattened 150 miles of coastline. Yet those wind-torn hours represented only the first stage of the relentless triple tragedy that Katrina brought to the entire Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama.First came the hurricane, one of the three strongest ever to make landfall in the United States — 150-mile-per-hour winds, with gusts measuring more than 180 miles per hour ripping buildings to pieces.Second, the storm-surge flooding, which submerged a half million homes, creating the largest domestic refugee crisis since the Civil War. Eighty percent of New Orleans was under water, as debris and sewage coursed through the streets, and whole towns in south-eastern Louisiana ceased to exist.And third, the human tragedy of government mis-management, which proved as cruel as the natural disaster itself. Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, implemented an evacuation plan that favored the rich and healthy. Kathleen Blanco, governor of Louisiana, dithered in the most important aspect of her job: providing leadership in a time of fear and confusion. Michael C. Brown, the FEMA director, seemed more concerned with his sartorial splendor than the specter of death and horror that was taking New Orleans into its grip.In The Great Deluge, bestselling author Douglas Brinkley, a New Orleans resident and professor of history at Tulane University, rips the story of Katrina apart and relates what the Category 3 hurricane was like from every point of view. The book finds the true heroes — such as Coast Guard officer Jimmy Duckworth and hurricane jock Tony Zumbado.Throughout the book, Brinkley lets the Katrina survivors tell their own stories, masterly allowing them to record the nightmare that was Katrina. The Great Deluge investigates the failure of government at every level and breaks important new stories. Packed with interviews and original research, it traces the character flaws, inexperience, and ulterior motives that allowed the Katrina disaster to devastate the Gulf Coast.
Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marleyby Christopher John Farley
Amistad (May 02, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
Bob Marley was a reggae superstar, a musical prophet who brought the sound of the Third World to the entire globe. Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley goes beyond the myth of Marley to bring you the private side of a man few people ever really knew. Drawing from original interviews with the people closest to Marley � including his widow, Rita, his mother, Cedella, his band mate and childhood friend, Bunny Wailer, his producer Chris Blackwell, and many others � Legend paints an entirely fresh picture of one of the most enduring musical artists of our times.
White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Eraby Shelby Steele
HarperCollins (May 01, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
Winds of the Stormby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Apr 25, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
Archer Le Veq owes his life to the woman who rescued him from certain death at the height of the Civil War…a woman known only as "the Butterfly." Now, in the dark, waning days of Reconstruction, he needs the courageous and beautiful former spy…in more ways than before!Zahra Lafayette thinks her days of intrigue are far behind her, until she is asked to go on one more mission. Posing as an infamous madam in New Orleans, Zahra must gather information to ensure the safety of the South's freedmen. The last thing she expected was to see Archer Le Veq again. He is as arrogant as he is handsome, but there is something about this dusky and debonair hotelier that sends her senses singing. Zahra knows she will need to guard her secrets, but no peril awaiting her compares with the treachery of Zahra's own heart—for, Lord help her, she burns to taste the man and to lose herself in his powerful embrace.
Hidden Sinsby Selena Montgomery
HarperTorch (Apr 25, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Devil in HerMara Reed's been stirring up trouble since she was eighteen—running scams, living on the edge, always on the run. Now, when two thugs are after her with murder on their minds, she's forced into hiding in her small Texas hometown. But cornered in an alley, only seconds from death, an unexpected rescuer comes to her aid—Dr. Ethan Stuart, the dark and beautiful scientist whose heart she once broke and betrayed . . . the only man Mara ever loved.A forensic anthropologist, Ethan is investigating a gruesome discovery—nearly one hundred dead bodies dating back fifty years—a mystery linked to the church once headed by Mara's father. Ethan needs Mara's help; she needs his protection. And their search for a shocking, devastating truth could lead them to forgiveness, salvation, passion, and back to love . . . if they can survive the journey.
Unburnable: A Novelby Marie-Elena John
Amistad (Apr 11, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this riveting narrative of family, betrayal, vengeance, and murder, Lillian Baptiste is willed back to her island home of Dominica to finally settle her past. Haunted by scandal and secrets, Lillian left Dominica when she was fourteen after discovering she was the daughter of Iris, the half-crazy woman whose life was told of in chant� mas songs sung during Carnival: Matilda Swinging and Bottle of Coke; songs about a village on a mountaintop and bones and bodies; songs about flying masquerades and a man who dropped dead. Lillian knew the songs well. And now she knows these songs — and thus the history — belong to her. After twenty years away, Lillian returns to face the demons of her past, and with the help of Teddy, the man she refused to love, she will find a way to heal.Set partly in contemporary Washington, D.C., and partly in post-World War II Dominica, Unburnable weaves together West Indian history, African culture, and American sensibilities. Richly textured and lushly rendered, Unburnable showcases a welcome and assured new voice.
I Got Somebody in Staunton: Storiesby William Henry Lewis
Harper Paperbacks (Apr 04, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
In twelve graceful, sensual stories, William Henry Lewis traces the line between the real and the imaginary, acknowledging the painful ghosts of the past in everyday encounters. Written in a style that has been acclaimed by our finest writers, from Edward P. Jones and Nikki Giovanni to Dave Eggers, I Got Somebody in Staunton is one of the most highly praised literary events to take on contemporary America.In the title story, a young professor befriends an enigmatic white woman in a bar along the back roads of Virginia, but has second thoughts about driving her to a neighboring town as his uncle's stories of lynchings resonate through his mind. Another tale portrays a Kansas City jazz troupe's travels to Denver, where they hope to strike it big. Meanwhile, a man in the midst of paradise must decide whether he will languish or thrive.With I Got Somebody in Staunton Lewis has lyrically and unflinchingly chronicled the lives of those most often neglected.
The Autumn of the Patriarchby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Mar 14, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
One of Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez's most intricate and ambitious works, The Autumn of the Patriarch is a brilliant tale of a Caribbean tyrant andthe corruption of power.From charity to deceit, benevolence to violence, fear of God to extreme cruelty, the dictator of The Autumn of the Patriarch embodies the best and the worst of human nature. Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez, the renowned master of magical realism, vividly portrays the dying tyrant caught in the prison of his own dictator-ship. Employing an innovative, dreamlike style, and overflowing with symbolic descriptions, the novel transports the reader to a world that is at once fanciful and real.
Thanks a Millionby Nikki Grimes
Greenwillow Books (Feb 28, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
What makes you thankful?A book?
Your family?How do you say thanks?
With a flower?
With a chocolate bar?
With a surprise?In sixteen extraordinary poems that range in form from a haiku to a rebus to a riddle, Nikki Grimes reminds us how wonderful it is to feel thankful, and how powerful a simple "thank you" can be.
One Hundred Years of Solitudeby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (Feb 21, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buend�a family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, and alive with unforgettable men and women — brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul — this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.
King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.by Wil Haygood
Harper Paperbacks (Feb 07, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
Before Barack Obama, Colin Powell, and Martin Luther King, Jr., there was Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. — the most celebrated and controversial black politician of his generation. An astute businessman known as "Mr. Civil Rights," he represented Harlem for twenty-four years in the House of Representatives. He was a man of the cloth and a civil rights leader, but Powell's reputation for flamboyance, arrogance, and womanizing made him his own worst enemy. In this towering and definitive biography, acclaimed journalist Wil Haygood paints a vivid portrait of one of black America's most memorable dignitaries.
Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiographyby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper Perennial (Jan 03, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Warm, witty, imaginative. . . . This is a rich and winning book."The New Yorker
Dust Tracks on a Road is the bold, poignant, and funny autobiography of novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, one of American literature's most compelling and influential authors. Hurston's powerful novels of the Southincluding Jonah's Gourd Vine and, most famously, Their Eyes Were Watching Godcontinue to enthrall readers with their lyrical grace, sharp detail, and captivating emotionality. First published in 1942, Dust Tracks on a Road is Hurston's personal story, told in her own words. The Perennial Modern Classics Deluxe edition includes an all-new forward by Maya Angelou, an extended biography by Valerie Boyd, and a special P.S. section featuring the contemporary reviews that greeted the book's original publication.
Jump at the Sun: A Novelby Kim McLarin
Harper Perennial (Jan 01, 2006)
Read Detailed Book Description
After a series of stressful personal transitions, Grace Jefferson finds herself in a new house in a new city and in a new career for which she feels dangerously unsuited: a stay-at-home mom. An educated and accomplished modern woman, a child of the Civil Rights dream, she is caught between the only two models of mothering she has ever known—a sharecropping grandmother who abandoned her children to save herself and a mother who sacrificed all to save her kids—as she struggles to find a middle ground. But as the days pass and the pressures mount, Grace begins to catch herself in small acts of abandonment that she fears may foretell a future she is powerless to prevent . . . or perhaps secretly seeks. Jump at the Sun is a novel about an isolating suburban life and the continuing legacy of slavery, about generational change and the price of living the dream for which our parents fought. In her bold and fearless voice, Kim McLarin explores both the highs and lows of being a mother, and how breaking the cycle of suffocation and regret, while infuriatingly difficult, is absolutely necessary.
Little Divasby Philana Marie Boles
Amistad (Dec 27, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Cassidy Carter has let everyone push her around long enough. Before seventh grade starts she will become independent.Life is changing fast for Cassidy: Her parents just got divorced and she's moved in with her dad. Even things between her and her strong-willed cousin and constant best friend, Rikki, are different. All Rikki seems to care about are boys and how to sneak past her preacher father to meet up with them. When a new girl, Golden, moves in next door, Cassidy sees a chance to make a change. With help from her two friends she will learn to test her own limits and summon her inner diva—because sometimes having a little attitude and respect for yourself is the only way to get what you want.
Beasts Of No Nation: A Novelby Uzodinma Iweala
Harper (Nov 08, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this stunning debut novel, Agu, a young boy in an unnamed West African nation, is recruited into a unit of guerrilla fighters as civil war engulfs his country. Haunted by his father's own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander.While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started — a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality spins further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood. His relationship with his commander deepens even as it darkens, and his camaraderie with a fellow soldier lends a deceptive sense of normalcy to his experience.In a powerful, strikingly original voice that vividly captures Agu's youth and confusion, Uzodinma Iweala has produced a harrowing, deeply affecting novel. Both a searing take on coming-of-age and a vivid document of the dark face of war, Beasts of No Nation announces the arrival of an extaordinary new writer.
Chango's Fireby Ernesto Quiñonez
Harper Perennial (Nov 01, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
In New York City's Spanish Harlem, Julio and Maritza are each searching for a path that will give their lives meaning, even if it's shadowed by controversy. Julio is an arsonist for hire, pocketing thousands of dollars from investors eager to capitalize on more expensive real estate. But when he has reason to stop setting his neighborhood ablaze and vows to change his ways, Julio's employers threaten his life — and the lives of those close to him. Maritza, meanwhile, has become the pastor of a progressive Pentecostal church — the perfect cover for the scam she's running. For the right price, she'll make anyone an American citizen.
With a cast of characters as colorful as the city itself, Ernesto Quinonez brings to life a landscape we can all recognize.
Black Laceby Beverly Jenkins
HarperTorch (Oct 25, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
The last thing Lacy Green needs is trouble—and handsome Mayor Drake Randolph has "danger" written all over him . . . especially when "His Fineness" accidentally runs her off the road. Despite Drake's sensuous charm, irresistible magnetism, and unwavering determination to make amends, she's thinking it might be smart to play it safe and keep her distance . . . if only his lips weren't so inviting.But trouble comes from a different source when Lacy, as the head of Detroit's Environmental Protection Department, launches an investigation into the activities of a ruthless developer. Suddenly, Lacy becomes a target, dragged down into a swamp of greed, corruption . . . and murder. Now Drake Randolph might be the only one in Motown who can keep Lacy alive . . .
Robert's Rules in Plain English: A Readable, Authoritative, Easy-to-Use Guide to Running Meetings, 2nd Editionby Doris P. Zimmerman
HarperCollins (Sep 20, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
A revised edition of the bestselling Robert's Rules in Plain English, which still stands as the most concise, most-user friendly guide to parliamentary procedure on the market today.If you've ever had to run a meeting according to parliamentary procedures, you know just how difficult it is to keep track of all the rules, much less follow them. Figuring out what to say and how to say it seems an impossible task. Robert's Rules in Plain English, 2nd edition, is the solution to that problem. Not only does it provide you with the essential, basic rules in simple, straightforward English, it also includes summaries, outlines, charts, and sample dialogues so you can see exactly how these rules work in practice.With an extended glossary and new chapters on electronic meetings and internet usage, Robert's Rules in Plain English, 2nd edition, is an authoritative, modern guide to running a meeting successfully and keeping it on track.
The Second Life of Samuel Tyneby Esi Edugyan
Harper Paperbacks (Aug 30, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this riveting narrative of family and middle-age angst, Esi Edugyan gives us Aster, an all-white suburban enclave. Far removed from the frenzied ways of city life, this small town at first seems an idyllic place to hide away, a place for a man like Samuel Tyne—an African immigrant caught in an impassive marriage, nursing a tenuous connection to his twin daughters, and harboring a growing hatred for his government job—to escape to. When his uncle Jacob suddenly dies, leaving him a rural estate, Samuel promptly packs up his reluctant family, and moves them to his uncle's crumbling mansion. But Samuel soon discovers that Aster is not the haven he had wished for. In fact, there's a strangeness to the town only to be outdone by the strangeness of his own daughters, who are particularly affected by the town's odd goings-on, including a number of mysterious fires. In short order, the new life Samuel Tyne envisioned for himself begins to disintegrate as a dark current of menace is turned upon his family.Already a book-club favorite, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne is a foreboding and mesmeric read from a welcome and dazzling new voice.
A People's History Of The United Statesby Howard Zinn
Harper Perennial (Aug 02, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
"It's a wonderful, splendid book—a book that should be read by every American, student or otherwise, who wants to understand his country, its true history, and its hope for the future." —Howard Fast, author of Spartacus and The Immigrants"[It] should be required reading." —Eric Foner, New York Times Book ReviewLibrary Journal calls Howard Zinn's iconic A People's History of the United States "a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those…whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories." Packed with vivid details and telling quotations, Zinn's award-winning classic continues to revolutionize the way American history is taught and remembered. Frequent appearances in popular media such as The Sopranos, The Simpsons, Good Will Hunting, and the History Channel documentary The People Speak testify to Zinn's ability to bridge the generation gap with enduring insights into the birth, development, and destiny of the nation.
Native Sonby Richard Wright
Harper Perennial (Aug 02, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Arnold Rampersad (Introduction)
Widely acclaimed as one of the finest books ever written on race and class divisions in America, this powerful novel reflects the forces of poverty, injustice, and hopelessness that continue to shape out society.
Richard Wright was born in 1908, thc first of two sons of a sharecropper. After publishing his first novel, Uncle Tom's Children, in 1938, Wright discovered to his alarm that "he had written a book which even bankers" daughters could read and feel good about. He swore that his next novel would be different. That book was Native Son, the story of Bigger Thomas's short and tragic life, which plumbs the blackest depths of human experience.
Native Son is told in three parts 'Fear, Flight, and Fate' which sum up, perfectly, Bigger Thomas's life. Badly in need of a job to help support his family, the ne'er-do-well Bigger goes to work as a driver for the Daltons, a rich white family. As he is pulled every which way by his mother, who wanted him to do the things she wanted him to do; by Mrs. Dalton, who wanted him to do the things she felt that he should have wanted to do; by Mary Dalton, the young mistress of the house, who challenged him to stand up for things he didn't understand; and by his need for independence and autonomy in the midst of a dependent situation'he missteps, accidentally killing Mary.
Native Son is not an uplifting book with a happy Hollywood resolution. It has been criticized for its cardboard portrayal of black pathology and heavy-handed Marxist message. But the book is an absolutely gripping potboiler that is also intellectually provocative. It is on one level a seedy, simple story of an unsympathetic character meeting his fate at his own hands, and on another an illuminating drama of an individual consciousness that challenges traditional definitions of heroism, character, and integrity. Bigger was less a character caught in a specific criminal activity than he was a crime waiting to happen.—Sacred Fire
Let The Lion Eat Strawby Ellease Southerland
Amistad (Jun 28, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Hailed upon publication by writers and critics alike, including Shirley Hazzard and Charles Johnson, Let the Lion Eat Straw is a dazzling novel that tells the story of Abeba Williams, whose mother abandons the poverty of the South �� and in the process her daughter �� for opportunities up North. Missing her mother, she clings to Mamma Habblesham, a woman with enviable reserves of love and hope. Their affection for each other seems boundless �� until Abeba's mother returns to take her to Brooklyn. As Abeba grows up, her exceptional musical talent promises to be an avenue of escape. But a handsome singer distracts her, and opportunities that once seemed so close begin to fall away. Now married with children of her own, she fights to maintain the dignity of her family. Let the Lion Eat Straw is a revelation of the glory in apparently ordinary lives.
Street Level: An Urban Fairytaleby Karyn Langhorne Folan
HarperTorch (Jun 28, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Ex-gangbanger Thea kicked thug life to the curb when her testimony put her ex-lover, the brutal kingpin Jango, in prison. Now she's giving back to the streets she came from, running her own business with her best friend, Chandra, and helping to raise Chandra's son, Malik. But when she comes to the aid of a handsome mugging victim, everything she has built — and become — is suddenly in danger.The badly beaten stranger is dignified, mysterious — and has the same remarkable gift that has guarded Thea her entire life. Through him, the absolute truth of her future becomes frighteningly clear: Jango's out — and looking for revenge. When the evils in her past threaten to destroy her present, Thea is left with no other hope but to hide in this evasive mystery man's world of money and power. But can a 'round-the-way girl really play princess and make it out alive? Or this time, will the price to get herself and her loved ones off the streets finally be too high?
Shifting Through Neutralby Bridgett M. Davis
Amistad (May 03, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Not yet a woman yet more than a little girl, Rae Dodson is caught up in her family's drama. Her hip older sister, Kimmie, whom her mother favors, has moved from New Orleans to join them in Detroit, a city that moves as if in synch with the Stevie Wonder tunes that play giddily from new automobiles fresh off the factory lots. Her bid whist�playing mother is as nervous as ever, and her father's chronic migraines seem less responsive to medication. And while they all occupy the same house, they might as well be living separate lives. When the tenuous peace finally breaks, Rae must decide where her loyalties lie: should she choose her emotionally distant mother, whom she adores, or her affectionate but needy father? Rae does choose and launches into a rich, loving relationship with her dad, for whom she shows a fierce, undying loyalty. But as she matures, she must find a way amid her own budding sexuality to be both Daddy's girl and her own woman.
Eleven Minutes: A Novel (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Amistad (Mar 29, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . ." A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness — sexual pleasure for its own sake — or risking everything to find her own "inner light" and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Shooterby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (Mar 29, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Cameron: "Deep inside, you know that whoever gets up in your face gets there because he knows you?re nothing, and he knows that you know it too." Carla: "What I?m trying to do is to get by — not even get over, just get by." Leonard: "I have bought a gaw-juss weapon. It lies beneath my bed like a secret lover, quiet, powerful, waiting to work my magic." Statement of Fact: 17-year-old white male found dead in the aftermath of a shooting incident at Madison High School in Harrison County. Conclusion: Death by self-inflicted wound. Ages 12+
Playing My Mother's Bluesby Valerie Wilson Wesley
William Morrow (Mar 15, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
In her triumphant new novel, bestselling author Valerie Wilson Wesley, one of the most respected and acclaimed voices in contemporary African American fiction, poignantly examines the stubborn bonds of family, passion, and a past that insists on repeating itself.Dani Carter was seven years old — her sister, Rose, seventeen — when their beautiful, impetuous mother, Maria, walked out of their lives, abandoning her husband and family for a love affair that would end tragically mere months later. Over the decades that followed, Dani was able to overcome the persistent pain and feelings of betrayal, eventually wedding a successful man and giving birth to a wonderful son. But love has long been missing from her marriage, propelling her into the arms of another and inspiring troubling thoughts of escape. If it were not for the distress caused by the recent death of her father, she might well have already been gone. The sins of the mother, Dani fears, have been visited upon the daughter.Dani's sister, Rose, never spoke or speaks of their lost parent. And their iron-willed, driven father — who channeled his shame and anger into phenomenal business success — always made it brutally clear that he considered his ex-wife to be evil incarnate. But Dani remembers a sweet, funny, vivacious young woman who did everything with exuberant love and tenderness. And now that she finds herself in a similar heartbreaking situation, Dani can't help but wonder who Maria really was.It's a puzzle that may soon be completed, after a lifetime of searching for missing pieces. Maria, calling herself Mariah, is about to reenter her daughters' worlds — at a time of emotional confusion and physical chaos — bearing secrets and bitter truths … and, perhaps, long-awaited answers to what could possibly drive a mother to sacrifice what was dearest to her heart.
Leaving Cecil Street: A Novelby Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Harper Perennial (Mar 01, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
In one West Philadelphia neighborhood, families come together in celebration of unity and togetherness. Their block parties provide a union that serves as a backdrop for discovering the truth about themselves and the people they think they know.Best friends Neet and Shay have depended on each other for most of their lives. However, their friendship will be tested when Neet becomes pregnant by one of the corner boys and Shay arranges an abortion that goes terribly wrong.To Shay's horror, Neet is left unable to bear children and embraces her mother's esoteric yet sometimes impractical religious beliefs as punishment for her sins.Meanwhile, Shay is left to struggle with her own growing maturity, the grief of losing a cherished friendship, and the disintegration of her parents' marriage. The two girls eventually choose their own separate paths.Leaving Cecil Street invokes those things that are most important — family, friendship, and love.
In The Paint: A Novelby Philana Marie Boles
Amistad (Feb 01, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
No One Writes to the Colonel: and Other Storiesby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial (Feb 01, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Written with compassionate realism and wit, the stories in this mesmerizing collection depict the disparities of town and village life in South America, of the frightfully poor and outrageously rich, of memories and illusions, and of lost opportunities and present joys.
Leaf Storm: and Other Storiesby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial (Feb 01, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Contains Leaf Storm, The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles, The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship, Monologue of Isabel Watching It Rain in Macondo, Nabo
Innocent Erendira: and Other Storiesby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial (Feb 01, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
This collection of fiction, representing some of Garc�a M�rquez's earlier work, includes eleven short stories and a novella, Innocent Er�ndira, in which a young girl who dreams of freedom cannot escape the reach of her vicious and avaricious grandmother.
The Best-Kept Secret (Reverend Curtis Black #3)by Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow (Feb 01, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberla Lawson Roby's Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books
Kim Roby's readers can't get enough of the Reverend Curtis Black, that self-justifying, greedy, womanizing flimflam man who is one of the biggest rascals ever to step into a church. In this outing, Curtis is starting over. He has a new job and a new wife, and of course he's convinced himself that this time he'll be good. But Curtis hasn't ever made a promise he could keep, and before long, he's up to his old tricks. The difference now is his third wife. She's unlike any woman Curtis has met before. And for the first time in his life, Curtis just might have met his match. Watch the sparks fly!
The Executioner's Gameby Gary Hardwick
William Morrow (Jan 04, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
An elite government assassin is sent to kill the man who trained him, only to find that his mission has been compromised and he is trapped in the deadliest game of all.
Luther Green is a government assassin. He is employed by E-1, an agency so secret, even the President is unaware of its activities. Luther was recruited from a military academy and plunged into a world where his only purpose was to eliminate America's worst enemies. Luther's mind and body were forged into a killing machine by Alex Deavers, a legendary agent who became Luther's mentor and best friend in the agency.
When his training was complete, Luther was dispatched around the globe, racking up an impressive list of successful kills. After a decade of service, Luther is a deadly weapon whose former life is a faded memory.
Luther is called back to America for a special assignment. Kilmer Gray, the current Director of E-1, informs Luther that his old friend, Alex Deavers, has turned rogue agent while on assignment in Africa. Deavers has disappeared and is rumored to be insane.
Luther accepts the job of terminating his old friend.
Luther, and his TWA (Tech & Weapons Advisor), Marcellus Hampton, track Deavers to the U.S. Deavers proves a dangerous and elusive target leading Luther on a chase through the bowels of America's inner cities, dropping clues which signal that all is not as it seems with the mission. Alex lures them into constant danger, testing Luther's skill and loyalty at each turn.
Finally, Deavers leads Luther to the latter's hometown, a place where Luther has not shown his face for over ten years. Suddenly, the game is compromised as Luther's family and old friends are targeted by the rogue agent.
Luther captures Deavers, but now he cannot terminate him, not until he discovers why his old friend turned rogue and what actually happened in Africa. When Luther discovers the truth, he realizes that he was marked for death from the start and must now turn rogue agent himself or face elimination.
Luther discovers a secret spanning a half century, involving billions of dollars and costing millions of innocent lives. Luther summons all of his skill and turns it against the agency which created him. In the climatic battle, Luther topples E-1, humbles a President and rediscovers the man who was turned into a killer.
Me & Neesie (reillustrated)by Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Jan 01, 2005)
Read Detailed Book Description
Janell does everything with her best friend, Neesie, but Mama and Daddy can't seem to understand that Neesie's not made up. She's very real … to Janell. In Me & Neesie, Eloise Greenfield offers a reassuring story about the special place an imaginary friend and a loving, caring family have in a little girl's heart. First published in 1975, Me & Neesie was selected as a Reading Rainbow book. This special thirtieth anniversary edition has been illustrated with new, vibrant paintings by Jan Spivey Gilchrist.
Monsterby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (Dec 28, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
This New York Times bestselling novel and National Book Award nominee from acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers tells the story of Steve Harmon, a teenage boy in juvenile detention and on trial. Presented as a screenplay of Steve's own imagination, and peppered with journal entries, the book shows how one single decision can change our whole lives.Fade In: Interior: Early Morning In Cell Block D, Manhattan Detention Center.Steve (Voice-Over)
Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I'll call it what the lady prosecutor called me … Monster.Supports the Common Core State Standards
May December Soulsby Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk)
HarperTorch (Dec 28, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
A sexy, honest, and spiritual journey
from a fresh new voice.Mariah Pijeaux is about to turn the big 4-0. Although she has always dreamed of becoming a broadcast journalist, she is working as a temporary assistant in Hollywood. She is a tall, striking mother of three with a honeysuckle complexion and a funky hairdo. Physically addicted to her boyfriend, Kareem Washington, an ex-professional basketball player wit the charm and charisma of a politician, Mariah yearns for a more emotionally satisfying relationship. She wants to break free from Kareem's narcissistic patterns, yet his skill at manipulating her mind and body make her feel stuck and controlled. She even attends local relationship seminars in an attempt to escape from her self-defeating patterns in relationships. And then she meets Malik Tolliver. He is a tall, dark man who just happens to be twentyone years old. She tries to resist his charm but is immediately drawn to him. This one, she hopes, will be different.Told in Mariah's own voice, May December Souls is a moving story of soul-searching and life lessons.
Plain Brown Wrapper: An Alex Powell Novelby Karen Grigsby Bates
HarperTorch (Dec 28, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
African-American reporter Alex Powell has the kind of curiosity that tends to get a nosy girl in big trouble. Luckily, she also has the wit and wiles to get out of it. But when Alex finds her boss, Everett Carson, dead at a black journalists' conference, she finds herself caught in a situation far nastier than normal … and in grave danger.At least she's not alone. Fellow journalist and old friend Paul Butler is determined to accompany Alex on her investigation into who killed Ev and why. The trail is leading Alex and Paul from California to D.C., New York, and the competitive social whirl of Martha's Vineyard … and into a relationship well beyond "friend." But when the truth about the murder of a man as hated as he was revered comes to light, all that — and everything else — could end for Alex Powell in a devastating instant.
The Edge of Dawnby Beverly Jenkins
HarperTorch (Oct 26, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
The beautiful daughter of a prominent Michigan doctor,Narice has never strayedanywhere near the wrong sideof the law. Then her fatheris brutally murdered — andsuddenly federal agents areswarming around her likeflies, making accusations about a stolen North African diamond. But before they can interrogate her, she is wrested from their grasp at gunpoint by a shadowy figure — and Narice Jordan is on the run.But is this dark, good-looking stranger who calls himself Saint her kidnapper or her savior? Narice knows nothing about any missing gem, yet there are two things she knows for certain:Only at Saint's side can she find her wayto her father's killers.And she'll have to trust this dangerous,ruthless, and deadly mystery man … if shewants to keep breathing.
I Am What I Ate…and I'm frightened!!!: And Other Digressions from the Doctor of Comedyby Bill Cosby
It Books (Sep 21, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
From the #1 US bestselling author, the hilarious US bestselling book of original essays for the adult market focusing on themes of health and food, which explores why Americans are hooked on such bad eating, drinking and other self�indulgent and self�destructive behaviours throughout their lives. The legendary Bill Cosby, America's most well�known comic, wants food lovers and over indulgers everywhere to know that they are not alone. This is an original collection of hilarious musings and digressions about our obsessions and addictions, from hoagies to stogies, from one of the funniest bestselling authors in the world.
Behind Closed Doorsby Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow Paperbacks (Sep 21, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Regina Moore and Karen Jackson, lifelong best friends, are living the kind
of life most women only fantasize about. With beautiful homes, fulfilling
careers, and two adoring husbands, their joy could not be greater, their
worlds could not be richer. But suddenly, shattering truths about the loving
men they thought they knew turn happiness into anguish and rage. For Karen
and Regina, nothing they believed in or cherished can ever be the same as it
Yet, in the painful process of starting over, new doors will open, and two women who once had it all will rediscover the power of honesty and friendship…and learn the true scope and meaning of love.
Schooling Carmenby Kathleen Cross
Avon A (Sep 01, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Learning the Hard Way Carmen DuPr#232; knows she's one fine-looking woman — and any man who insists on making a fool of himself over her deserves the heartless treatment she's so good at dishing out. As far as Carmen's concerned, being gorgeous entitles her to anything she wants: an undeserved promotion, expensive gifts, courtside Lakers tickets, and more. But the results of a routine medical exam threaten to knock this beauty off her pedestal — she might have to trade her looks for her life. Is a life without beauty worth living? Carmen's not so sure — which is why she's risking hers by ignoring her doctor's advice. Then one day a very sexy stranger walks into her world, insisting there's a whole lot more to Carmen Dupr#232; than what's on the surface — and he's dishing out some serious schooling in a few subjects Carmen knows little about — like faith and hope … and love.
Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in Americaby Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden
Harper Perennial (Jul 27, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Based on the African American Women's Voices Project, Shifting reveals that a large number of African American women feel pressure to com-promise their true selves as they navigate America's racial and gender bigotry. Black women "shift" by altering the expectations they have for themselves or their outer appearance. They modify their speech. They shift "White" as they head to work in the morning and "Black" as they come back home each night. They shift inward, internalizing the searing pain of the negative stereotypes that they encounter daily. And sometimes they shift by fighting back.With deeply moving interviews, poignantly revealed on each page, Shifting is a much-needed, clear, and comprehensive portrait of the reality of African American women's lives today.
Going Buck Wildby Nina Foxx
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jun 29, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Let's go crazy!Successful Claudia Barrett seems to be doing it all right.She's a vice president at her firm, with an engagement ring on her finger from the man who's loved her since high school. So what if she's been wearing it for five years — and her classic, expensive, dull everyday outfits make her look like someone fatally allergic to a good time?What exactly is wrong with the girl?She's bored, for one thing. She's thirty years old and in a rut — and best friend, Pam, thinks it's time Claudia got her freak on. It's time to inject a little action, adventure, and good old-fashioned lust into this sister's life. But practicing what Pam is preaching and going buck wild could have some serious consequences, especially when tall, dark, and dangerous Cody is added to the mix.
Shifting Through Neutralby Bridgett M. Davis
Amistad (May 04, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
For Rae Dodson, the early seventies are as hopeful and promising as the peace signs popping up everywhere. The signature sounds of Motown are filling Detroit's airwaves, and automobile factories are supporting a burgeoning black middle class, which works by day and plays bid whist by night. Rae's hip older sister, Kimmie, has moved home from New Orleans;her mother's nerves have calmed enough for her to stop taking her "vitamins"; her father has discovered new painkillers that ease his chronic migraines; and now, despite her parents' sleeping in separate rooms, the peace between them seems to be holding. All that shifts, however, when Rae's mother suddenly takes off with her lover down a stretch of highway.Left to care for her ailing father, Rae grows up faster than any young girl should and is forced to admit that her mother may be incapable of love, that her father's love may be too all-consuming. What's most obvious is that neither seems fully capable of looking after Rae, who is searching not only for a way to make her family whole again but also for a way to make sense of her own budding sexuality.With fully realized characters and an infinitely imaginative storyline, Shifting Through Neutral heralds the arrival of a promising new talent.
Warrior Of The Light: A Manualby Paulo Coelho
HarperOne (Mar 01, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Paulo Coelho inspired millions of readers around the world and became one of the most beloved storytellers of our time with the international bestselling phenomenon The Alchemist. Now, in the beloved companion to his classic, The Warrior of The Light: A Manual invites us to live out our dreams to embrace the uncertainty of life, and to rise to our own unique destiny. In his inimitable style, Paulo Coelho shows readers how to embark upon the way of the Warrior: the one who appreciates the miracle of being alive, the one who accepts failure, and the one whose quest leads him to become the person he wants to be.
Success Runs In Our Race: The Complete Guide To Effective Networking In The Black Communityby George C. Fraser
William Morrow Paperbacks (Mar 01, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
A completely updated and revised edition of a bestselling book that has helped tens of thousands of people learn how to network effectively, Success Runs in Our Race is more important than ever in this fluctuating economy. With scores of anecdotes taken from interviews with successful African Americans — from Keith Clinkscales, founder and former CEO of Vanguarde Media, to Oprah Winfrey — Fraser shows how to network for information, for influence, and for resources. Readers will learn, among other things, how to cultivate valuable listening skills, which conferences blacks are most likely to attend when looking to build their business network, and how to effectively circulate a r�sum�.More than a guide for personal achievement, this is an information-packed bible of networking that also seeks to inspire a social movement and a rebirth of the "Underground Railroad," in which successful African Americans share the lessons of self-determination and empowerment with those still struggling to scale the ladder of success.
Black Is Brown Is Tanby Arnold Adoff
HarperCollins Publishers (Jan 06, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Brown-skinned momma, the color of chocolate milk and coffee pumpkin pie, whose face gets ginger red when she puffs and yells the children into bed. White-skinned daddy, not white like milk or snow, lighter than brown, With pinks and tiny tans, whose face gets tomato red when he puffs and yells their children into bed. Children who are all the colors of the race, growing up happy in a house full of love. This is the way it is for them; this is the way they are, but the joy they feel extends to every reader of this book.
Black is brown is tan is a story poem about being, a beautiful true song about a family delighting in each other and in the good things of the earth.
Living Waterby Obery M. Hendricks, Jr
HarperOne (Jan 06, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sprung from the pages of The New Testament, Living Water is a gripping and lyrical portrayal of a young women's search for identity set against the strict social confines of the time. This extraordinary first novel brings to life one of the most mysterious and intriguing characters in the Bible � the woman at the well. In a village torn apart by senseless violence, a young girl struggles to mute her passion for life to survive the harsh social restrictions of her people. Catapulted into a series of abusive marriages, she soon becomes a woman unrecognisable from the little girl she once was. After her fifth husband is found bloody and beaten, she emerges amid the scandal and accusations to try and reclaim her life. In the tradition of Their Eyes Are Watching God, The Color Purple and Paradise, Obery Hendricks uses both fine detail and broad strokes to crisply depict this period of early history. And in doing so, this sophisticated literary debut delivers a universal tale of liberation and reconciliation, love and faith.
Too Much of a Good Thing (Reverend Curtis Black #2)by Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow (Jan 06, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberla Lawson Roby's Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books
The bestselling, Blackboard Award�winning author of the enormously successful A Taste of Reality spins a riveting tale about a philandering preacher that readers will love to hate. Curtis Black might be a man of the cloth, but with his irresistible looks, seductive charm, and charismatic personality, he's particularly beloved by his female parishioners — and almost every other woman he's ever met. The trouble is, Curtis is married. At first he tries to resist temptation, but not for long. His insatiable appetite for women quickly gets the best of him. Overwhelmed by his sizzling love affairs and busy trying to convince the deacon board of the need for an ATM in the back of the church, Curtis has his hands full. Meanwhile Mariah, his second wife, is slowly discovering that beneath the tranquil and loving facade of their marriage a storm of lies and betrayal is about to rage. Not to mention that Curtis's already shaky relationship with his teenaged daughter, Alicia, has reached the breaking point. Feeling neglected and unloved, Alicia searches for solace in the arms of a stranger, and before long she finds herself in a dangerous situation. Eventually, the women in Curtis's life find that with a little careful planning — sneaky and otherwise — they can help Curtis reap the punishment that he so richly deserves. In this captivating and dramatic sequel to Casting the First Stone, Kimberla Lawson Roby, with her trademark wit and insight, sets sparks flying.
Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conferenceby David J. Garrow
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 06, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, this is the most comprehensive book ever written about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Based on more than seven hundred interviews with all of King's surviving associates, as well as with those who opposed him, and enhanced by the author's access to King's personal papers and tens of thousands of pages of FBI documents, this is a towering portrait of a man's metamorphosis into a legend.
The Edge of Midnightby Beverly Jenkins
HarperTorch (Jan 01, 2004)
Read Detailed Book Description
Blackboard bestselling author Beverly Jenkins launches her first contemporary romantic suspense with this exciting sizzler. Sparks fly when Mykal Chandler, the head of a covert government agency, fights to protect the woman he has fallen in love with.
Sarita Grayson is desperate. That's the only explanation for her late night rendezvous with a bag of stolen diamonds. But then a handsome stranger stands between her and a clean getaway. In the struggle for freedom, she accidentally shoots him.Mykal Chandler, head of a covert government agency NIA, can't believe he's been shot. He's shocked, he's furious, but he's also attracted to this sassy woman. Unfortunately, Sarita has stumbled unto a smuggling plot and he'll need to protect her, even if he has to kidnap her to do it. But Sarita isn't one to go quietly into the night…
In The Land Of Words: New And Selected Poemsby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Dec 23, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
This treasured poetry collection by Coretta Scott King Award-winning collaborators Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist journeys to a place where words, creativity, and imagination abound. Featuring twenty-one poems illustrated with sewn fabric collages, this tribute to the written word invites readers to look within themselves to discover what inspires them.Eloise Greenfield, winner of the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award, says: The words can come from a memory, or a dream, or something I see or hear or wonder about or imagine. . . . Maybe there's a place where words live, where our minds and hearts can go and find them when we want to write or read. I like to imagine that there is such a place. I call it "The Land of Words."Includes an author's note, a table of contents, sources, and an index
No Laughter Hereby Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad (Dec 23, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Even though they were born in different countries, Akilah and Victoria are true best friends. But Victoria has been acting strange ever since she returned from her summer in Nigeria, where she had a special coming-of-age ceremony. Why does proud Victoria, named for a queen, slouch at her desk and answer the teacher's questions in a whisper? And why won't she laugh with Akilah anymore? Akilah's name means "intelligent," and she is determined to find out what's wrong, no matter how much detective work she has to do. But when she learns the terrible secret Victoria is hiding, she suddenly has even more questions. The only problem is, they might not be the kind that have answers. In this groundbreaking novel, Coretta Scott King Honor winner Rita Williams-Garcia uses her vividly realistic voice to explore an often taboo practice that affects millions of girls around the world every year. Readers will identify with headstrong, outspoken Akilah, whose struggle to understand what's happened to Victoria reveals a painful truth in an honest and accessible way.
God Bless the Childby Arthur Herzog, Jr.
HarperCollins (Dec 23, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Mama may have,
Papa may have,
But God bless the child
That's got his own!
That's got his own."
The song "God Bless the Child" was first performed by legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday in 1939 and remains one of her enduring masterpieces. In this picture book interpretation, renowned illustrator Jerry Pinkney has created images of a family moving from the rural South to the urban North during the Great Migration that reached its peak in the 1930s. The song's message of self-reliance still speaks to us today but resonates even stronger in its historical context. This extraordinary book stands as a tribute to all those who dared so much to get their own.
Uncle Tom's Childrenby Richard Wright
Harper Perennial (Dec 23, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Set in the American Deep South, each of the powerful novellas collected here concerns an aspect of the lives of black people in the postslavery era, exploring their resistance to white racism and oppression. Published in 1938, this was the first book from Wright, who would continue on to worldwide fame as the author of the novels Native Son and Black Boy.
This Far by Faith: Stories from the African American Religious Experienceby Juan Williams
William Morrow Paperbacks (Dec 23, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
A companion to the PBS series, This Far by Faith isthe story of how religious faith inspired the greatest social movementin American history — the U.S. Civil Rights movement.Hailed upon publication as a beautiful, seminal book on the role of the church in the African American community as well as on the social history of America, This Far by Faith reveals the deep religious conviction that empowered a people viewed as powerless to blaze a path to freedom and deliverance, to stand and be counted in this one nation under God. Here are the stories of politics, tent revivals, and the importance of black churches as touchstones for every step of the faith journey that became the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.Using archival and contemporary photography, historical research, and modern-day interviews, This Far by Faith features messages from some of today's foremost religious leaders.
Beauty, Her Basketby Sandra Belton
Greenwillow Books (Dec 23, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sea grass basket . . .Sweetgrass basket . . .Beauty, Her Basket."I stick my nose inside the basket as far as it can go. I want to smell its secrets."Sandra Belton and Cozbi A. Cabrera invite you to the Sea Islands, where a young girl, her cousin Victor, and their Nana are spending the summer together. Therewill be stories to share and pictures to see and secrets worth knowing. Secrets about these times and the old times and tomorrow, too.
The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, 1968-1998by Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Nov 25, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
For the first time ever, the complete poetry collection spanning three decades from Nikki Giovanni, renowned poet and one of America's national treasures.When her poems first emerged during the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s, Nikki Giovanni immediately took her place among the most celebrated, controversial, and influential poets of the era. Now, more than thirty years later, Giovanni still stands as one of the most commanding, luminous voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape.The first of its kind, this omnibus collection covers Nikki Giovanni's complete work of poetry from three decades, 1968�1998. The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni contains Giovanni's first seven volumes of poetry: Black Feeling Black Talk, Black Judgement, Re: Creation, My House, The Women and the Men, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, and Those Who Ride the Night Winds. Arranged chronologically with a biographical timeline and introduction, a new afterword from the author, title and first-line indexes, and extensive notes to the poems, this collection is the testimony of a life's work — from one of America's most beloved daughters and powerful poets.Known for their iconic revolutionary phrases, Black Feeling Black Talk (1968), Black Judgement (1968), and Re: Creation (1970) are heralded as being among the most important volumes of contemporary poetry. My House (1972) marks a new dimension in tone and philosophy — it signifies a new self-confidence and maturity as Giovanni artfully connects the private and the public, the personal and the political. In The Women and the Men (1975), Giovanni displays her compassion for the people, things, and places she has encountered — she reveres the ordinary and is in search of the extraordinary. Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978) is one of the most poignant and introspective. These poems chronicle the drastic change that took place during the 1970s — in both the consciousness of the nation and in the soul of the poet — when the dreams of the Civil Rights era seemed to have evaporated. Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983) is devoted to "the day trippers and midnight cowboys," the ones who have devoted their lives to pushing the limits of the human condition and shattering the constraints of the status quo.Each volume reflects the changes Giovanni has endured as a Black woman, lover, mother, teacher, and poet. A timeless classic, The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni is the evocation of a nation's past and present — intensely personal and fiercely political — from one of our most compassionate, vibrant observers.
A Small Nation of People: W. E. B. Du Bois and African American Portraits of Progressby David Levering Lewis
Amistad (Sep 23, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
As the world prepared for the Exposition Universalle de 1900 in Paris, W.E.B. Du Bois was approached to help represent African American life. He came with a cache of stunning photographs to illustrate the progress of Negroes in America — thereby offering a photographic counterpoint to the prolific stereotyping of blacks that left viewers awestruck.With insights from Pulitzer Prize winner David Levering Lewis and Mac-Arthur Fellow photo historian Deborah Willis, A Small Nation of People presents more than one hundred and fifty of these important photographs together for the first time since their initial unveiling. Here is an incredible treasure trove of illustrations of African Americans in front of their new businesses, universities, and homes — sometimes modest, sometimes elegant. Here, too, are beautiful Victorian-era portraits of blacks whose varied hues show how diverse black Americans truly were. Viewed together, the collection reveals in glorious detail what Du�Bois saw — a small nation of people prepared to make their mark on America.
Get Some Loveby Nina Foxx
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jul 29, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Dark and lovely Angelica Chappee was brought up right by her loving grandparents. Still reeling from the shock of losing the two people she cared for most in this world, she's anything but ready for what's waiting for her in her dear departed "Pop-pop's" will. It turns out her grandfather was rich — millionaire-rich! And it's all coming to Angelica — if the innocent, almost-21-and-never-been-kissed Baton Rouge baby can prove that she's no longer a …Well this is just crazy — and the last thing she would have expected from that sweet old man! And six days is so little time to go from being Ms. Don't-Touch-Me to Hot Lady Love! But a cool couple mil is a strong incentive. And Juan Delgado, that fine black Puerto Rican prince from the Bronx, NYC, who's down South on family business, would be turning her head anyway, fortune or no.Still, Angelica's a "good" girl — and gettin' it on with a stranger seems wrong! And now the money is attracting some shady characters with very bad motives … so Angelica's got something else to worry about besides her virtue!Smart, sexy, fast, and fun, Nina Foxx's Get Some Love is a pure delight.
The Polished Hoeby Austin Clarke
Amistad (Jun 17, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
When Mary-Mathilda, one of the most respected women on the colonized island of Bimshire (also known as Barbados), calls the police to confess to a crime, the result is a shattering all-night vigil. She claims the crime is against Mr. Belfeels, the powerful manager of the sugar plantation that dominates the villagers' lives and for whom she has worked for more than thirty years as a field laborer, kitchen help, and maid. She was also Mr. Belfeels's mistress, kept in good financial status in the Great House of the plantation, and the mother of his only son, Wilberforce, a successful doctor, who after living abroad returns to the island.Set in the period following World War II, The Polished Hoe unravels over the course of twenty-four hours but spans the lifetime of one woman and the collective experience of a society characterized by slavery. Infused with Joycean overtones, this remarkable novel — winner of the 2002 Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best Book Award, Canada and Caribbean region; and a bestseller in Canada — evokes the power of memory and the indomitable strength of the human spirit.
Love the One You're With (B-Boy Blues, Book 5)by James Earl Hardy
Amistad (Jun 03, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Do men and monogamy mix? It's not a question Mitchell "Little Bit" Crawford gave much thought to until his beaufriend of almost two years, Raheim "Pooquie" Rivers, an All-American jeans model, heads to Hollywood to make his first feature film. As Mitchell soon discovers, the temptation to cheat is very real . . . and it seems to be everywhere. An ex even pops up hoping to pick up where they left — and got — off. While intrigued, Mitchell chalks all the attention up to "the married man" syndrome: one is much more desirable when he's attached to someone else.But as he continues to run into bisexual musician Montgomery "Montee" Simms, the look-but-don't-touch rule is put to the test. As he and Montee get closer, Mitchell's idealistic beliefs about commitment are challenged. Will he love the one he's with because he can't be with the one he loves?
I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the Worldby Martin Luther King, Jr.
HarperOne (Apr 29, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Special 75th Anniversary Edition
"His life informed us, his dreams sustain us yet."*On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial looking out over thousands of troubled Americans who had gathered in the name of civil rights and uttered his now famous words, "I have a dream..." It was a speech that changed the course of history.This fortieth-anniversary edition honors Martin Luther King Jr.'s courageous dream and his immeasurable contribution by presenting his most memorable words in a concise and convenient edition. As Coretta Scott King says in her foreword, "This collection includes many of what I consider to be my husband's most important writings and orations." In addition to the famed keynote address of the 1963 march on Washington, the renowned civil rights leader's most influential words included here are the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," the essay "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence," and his last sermon, "I See the Promised Land," preached the day before he was assassinated.Editor James M. Washington arranged the selections chronologically, providing headnotes for each selection that give a running history of the civil rights movement and related events. In his introduction, Washington assesses King's times and significance.*From the citation of the posthumous award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., July 4, 1977
A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speechesby Martin Luther King, Jr.
HarperOne (Apr 29, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
"We've got some difficult days ahead," civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., told a crowd gathered at Memphis's Clayborn Temple on April 3, 1968. "But it really doesn't matter to me now because I've been to the mountaintop. . . . And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."These prophetic words, uttered the day before his assassination, challenged those he left behind to see that his "promised land" of racial equality became a reality; a reality to which King devoted the last twelve years of his life.These words and others are commemorated here in the only major one-volume collection of this seminal twentieth-century American prophet's writings, speeches, interviews, and autobiographical reflections.�A Testament of Hope�contains Martin Luther King, Jr.'s essential thoughts on nonviolence, social policy, integration, black nationalism, the ethics of love and hope, and more.
The Twentieth Century: A People's Historyby Howard Zinn
Amistad (Feb 04, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Containing just the twentieth-century chapters from Howard Zinn's bestselling A People's History of the United States, this revised and updated edition includes two new chapters — covering Clinton's presidency, the 2000 Election, and the "war on terrorism."Highlighting not just the usual terms of presidential administrations and congressional activities, this book provides you with a "bottom-to-top" perspective, giving voice to our nation's minorities and letting the stories of such groups as African Americans, women, Native Americans, and the laborers of all nationalities be told in their own words.
Living Waterby Obery M. Hendricks, Jr
HarperOne (Feb 04, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sprung from the pages of The New Testament, Living Water is a gripping and lyrical portrayal of a young women's search for identity set against the strict social confines of the time. This extraordinary first novel brings to life one of the most mysterious and intriguing characters in the Bible — the woman at the well.
African American Audio Experienceby Richard Wright, Lorraine Hansberry, Nikki Giovanni, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Gwendolyn Brooks
Caedmon (Jan 21, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
The leading voices of African-American letters come together in this essential collection of poems, prose and theater performance. One of the most significant occurrences in America during the 20th century was the rise of African-American writers to the forefront of literature. Documenting their views on American culture and its tragic and glorious history, African-American writers' contributions reflected their struggle for equality and paved the way into a brighter future for their country. This collection includes selections of some of the best of those works, with an original introduction by Nikki Giovanni: Black Boy by Richard Wright. A classic of American autobiography, this subtly crafted narrative chronicles one man's coming of age in the Jim Crow South. Performed by Brock Peters. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. An emotionally lacerating landmark of American theater, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is presented here with a full cast performance starring Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. Excerpts from The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. A collection of poems from one of the most commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape. Read by the author. Excerpts from the "Tall Tales" Chapter of Every Tounge Got to Confess by Zora Neale Hurston. Collected in the 1920s, these stories pay tribute to the richness of Black vernacular and reflect — with wit, wisdom, compassion, and style — the sorrows and joys of the African-American heritage. Performed by Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. Excerpts from Langston Hughes Reads. A rare and exceptional recording on one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century. Three poems by Gwendolyn Brooks. "We Real Cool," "Malcolm X," and "The Sermon on the Warpland." Performed by Ruby Dee.
One of the most significant occurrences in America during the 20th century was the rise of African-American writers to the forefront of literature. Documenting their views on American culture and its tragic and glorious history, African-American writers' contributions reflected their struggle for equality and paved the way into a brighter future for their country. This collection includes selections of some of the best of those works, with an original introduction by Nikki Giovanni:
Black Boy by Richard Wright. A classic of American autobiography, this subtly crafted narrative chronicles one man's coming of age in the Jim Crow South. Performed by Brock Peters.
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. An emotionally lacerating landmark of American theater, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is presented here with a full cast performance starring Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis.
Excerpts from The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. A collection of poems from one of the most commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape. Read by the author.
Excerpts from the "Tall Tales" Chapter of Every Tounge Got to Confess by Zora Neale Hurston. Collected in the 1920s, these stories pay tribute to the richness of Black vernacular and reflect -- with wit, wisdom, compassion, and style -- the sorrows and joys of the African-American heritage. Performed by Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis.
Excerpts from Langston Hughes Reads. Arare and exceptional recording on one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century.
Three poems by Gwendolyn Brooks. "We Real Cool," "Malcolm X," and "The Sermon on the Warpland." Performed by Ruby Dee.
The Chocolate Shipby Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk)
Avon A (Jan 01, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
After three years together, Mia can't help wondering if she's got a real future with Miles — who's all that and then some, as long as the words "love" and "commitment" don't creep into the conversation. But the lady's willing to put her doubts aside until after the vacation they've planned together with a group of their closest friends: a luxurious Caribbean cruise on the maiden voyage of the Chocolate Ship. The brainchild of billionaire black entrepreneur Delmonte Harrison, it's the "Love Boat" with a soulful spin.En route to Paradise, anything can happen and anything goes. Wings are sprouted, taboos are tolerated, truths are revealed, hearts are broken and reassembled — and lovin' is served up as hot as Caribbean spice. All of a sudden Miles has a new crew of admirers. And Mia, who has caught the roving eye of the very fine Delmonte Harrison himself, is well on her way to discovering that temptation fever does not discriminateFrom Marissa Monteilh, the acclaimed author of May December Souls, comes a sizzling, sexy, fabulous, funny, and wonderfully romantic adventure of personal discoveries and glorious reawakenings on the unpredictable sea of love.
A Taste of Realityby Kimberla Lawson Roby
William Morrow (Jan 01, 2003)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kimberla Lawson Roby returns with another moving and triumphant novel about a woman who, against all odds, battles the most blatant kind of workplace discrimination while dealing with a crumbling marriage and a trusted friend s betrayal. On the surface, Anise seems to have it all: a successful career, a solid marriage, and good friends. But when she applies for a promotion at work, she loses out to a white colleague who isn t nearly as qualified for the job. However, the problem at work is only the beginning of Anise s troubles. After being married for four seemingly blissful years, she discovers that her husband is having an affair. And to make matters worse, her best friend at word is keeping dangerous secrets. But Anise is no quitter. As brave as she is determined, she reaches deep inside her soul to find the strength and courage to overcome heartbreak and stay her course. Ultimately, she will discover that what is worth having is worth fighting for in her career and, most importantly, in her heart. With a compelling plot and writing that captures every emotion, A Taste of Reality is a deeply poignant and unforgettable story.
Honey, I Loveby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Dec 24, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
To one young narrator, it's the simple things that mean the most, like sharing laughter with a friend, taking family rides in the country, and kissing her mama's arm. When this poem was first published in 1978 in Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems, Eloise Greenfield reminded us that love can be found just about anywhere. Now, twenty-five years later, she and celebrated children's book artist Jan Spivey Gilchrist present a stunning, newly illustrated anniversary edition that invites readers to celebrate the simple joys of loving and living.
Sounderby William H. Armstrong
HarperCollins (Dec 24, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
Set in the Deep South, this Newbery Medal-winning novel tells the story of the great coon dog, Sounder, and the poor sharecroppers who own him. During the difficult years of the nineteenth century South, an African-American boy and his poor family rarely have enough to eat. Each night, the boy's father takes their dog, Sounder, out to look for food and the man grows more desperate by the day. When food suddenly appears on the table one morning, it seems like a blessing. But the sheriff and his deputies are not far behind. The ever-loyal Sounder remains determined to help the family he loves as hard times bear down on them.This classic novel shows the courage, love, and faith that bind an African-American family together despite the racism and inhumanity they face. Readers who enjoy timeless dog stories such as Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows will find much to love in Sounder.Supports the Common Core State Standards
Communion: The Female Search for Loveby bell hooks
William Morrow (Dec 24, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
Renowned visionary and theorist bell hooks began her exploration of the meaning of love in American culture with the critically acclaimed All About Love: New Visions. She continued her national dialogue with the bestselling Salvation: Black People and Love. Now hooks culminates her triumphant trilogy of love with Communion: The Female Search for Love.Intimate, revealing, provocative, Communion challenges every female to courageously claim the search for love as the heroic journey we must all choose to be truly free. In her trademark commanding and lucid language, hooks explores the ways ideas about women and love were changed by feminist movement, by women's full participation in the workforce, and by the culture of self-help. Communion is the heart-to-heart talk every woman — mother, daughter, friend, and lover — needs to have.
A Pair Like No Otha': A Novelby Hunter Hayes
William Morrow Paperbacks (Dec 03, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
She had 1001 reasons to say no…
They weren't enough. Shemone Waters and Darnell Williams were best friends in high school. Smart, sexy Shemone didn't let the very mean streets of Harlem drag her down. But Darnell made one critical mistake — and he was sent to prison because of it. Now, at twenty-nine, the sistah's making a name for herself as a columnist for the hot African-American magazine Sister Soul Magazine. She's on the fast track up, with precious little time for romance … or danger. And her carefully thoughtout "ten-year plan" is moving along without a hitch — right up until Darnell Williams comes home. Has he changed? Is Darnell a new man … or just another ex-con temporarily back on the streets until another misstep puts him back behind bars? All Shemone knows is he's the handsomest hunk of dark chocolate to enter her life in an age, and this bad boy makes her feel soooo good! Following her heart for the first time ever could be the biggest mistake she ever makes and cost her the career and the future she's worked so hard for. But this could be love-hot, breathtaking, and real. And love is the biggest risk of all…. From Hunter Hayes, one of the most exciting new voices in African-American fiction, comes a moving and unforgettable novel of hard choices and new beginnings … and the bold and beautiful chances the heart makes you take.
Meeting of the Waters: A Novelby Kim McLarin
Harper Perennial (Dec 01, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
Porter Stockman, a determined white reporter, is covering the riots in the streets of South Central Los Angeles for the Philadelphia Record on the day that four Los Angeles police officers are acquitted of assaulting Rodney King. When Lenora Page, a black woman, risks her own safety to come to his aid and then disappears into the chaos, Porter fears he'll never see her again. But weeks later their paths intersect once more when Lenora — a prominent reporter for the Baltimore Sun — accepts a job offer from his newspaper.During the course of the next year, Porter fights to win the trust and love of the suspicious and deeply conflicted Lenora. As they become a couple, they are forced to reexamine their assumptions about race . . . as well as their own insecurities, assumptions, and deeply hidden — but nevertheless powerful — fears about their union.Probing divided allegiances, split loyalties, and the pain of confronting one's own prejudice, this poignant novel presents an impassioned and bittersweet look at interracial love in America today.
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poemsby Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Nov 05, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
"One of her best collections to date." —Essence
Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea is a tour de force from Nikki Giovanni, one of the most powerful voices in American poetry and African American literature today. From Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgment in the 1960s to Bicycles in 2010, Giovanni's poetry has influenced literary figures from James Baldwin to Blackalicious, and touched millions of readers worldwide. In Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea, Giovanni turns her gaze toward the state of the world around her, and offers a daring, resonant look inside her own self as well.
A Chance at Loveby Beverly Jenkins
Avon (Sep 03, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
Loreli Winters never imagined she'd end up a "mail-order bride" in middle-of-nowhere Kansas — until the two adorable orphan nieces of a dusky dream named Jake Reed beg her to be their new "mama." And one look at the dark, devastatingly handsome man is enough to entice her to abandon her California plans and stay put for a while in this one-horse frontier town.Strong, sensible Jake was hoping for a wife to help him raise his girls, but Loreli may be more than he can handle. He can't stop wondering what it would be like to hold the fiery enchantress close and kiss her deeply. Surely he could never compete with the sophisticated gents she has known, yet he intends to try. But will his honest passion be enough to take a chance on a long-shot called love?
Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice, and Lifeby Jabari Asim
Harper Paperbacks (Sep 03, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
Patrick Dorismond, Abner Louima, and Amadou Diallo — hear what a jury of prominent African Americans has to say about the black man's struggle for justice in America Prompted by the killing of Amadou Diallo and the acquittal of the four New York City police officers who mistook him for an armed criminal, this collection of essays by prominent black male writers offers twelve unique and startling perspectives on what it's like for a black man living in an inherently racist society. Coming from a broad spectrum of economic and social backgrounds, the poets, journalists, lawyers, writers, and academics that make up this jury write forcefully and eloquently about growing up and raising sons, identifying with others and yearning to be set apart, attempting reasonable discourse, and succumbing to unspeakable anger. Together these essays deconstruct the monolithic myths that shroud our nation's black men and offer small rays of hope that on the streets, at school and work, and in the courtroom justice will be served.
Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do: A Novelby Valerie Wilson Wesley
William Morrow Paperbacks (Sep 03, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
At forty, artist-turned-librarian Eva Hutchinson isn't looking for a change. But on a hot Friday the 13th in June, Hutch, her husband of ten years, picks up his suitcase and walks into the night, searching for the "joy" that he feels is missing from their marriage. Suddenly, playing by the old rules doesn't make much sense to a not-quite-young sister whose stable world has turned upside down. Now Eva is alone with an empty heart in a big, empty house. Hutch fears he is falling in love with the neglected wife of his wealthy, philandering best friend. Charley, Eva's law-school-bound daughter, wants to chuck it all and become a stand-up comedian — while Stephen, Hutch's son, harbors a secret that will rock his father's world. And into the mix strolls Isaiah Lonesome, a handsome hunk of a twenty-eight-year-old jazz musician who will teach Eva to play some lusty new riffs on love's oldest song.
West of Rehoboth: A Novelby Alexs D. Pate
Harper Perennial (Aug 20, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
Set in the early 1960s, West of Rehoboth is the moving story of twelve-year-old Edward Massey. Each summer, to escape the heat of Philadelphia, Edward's family moves to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The "coloreds only" side of a pristine resort on Rehoboth Beach offers work for his mother and a sandy playground for his sister. But for Edward — an imaginative, inquisitive boy — it offers the chance to understand his reclusive, curmudgeonly Uncle Rufus, a man caught in a swirl of hard luck and bad choices. Forging a tenuous bond, their relationship will take Edward on a harrowing journey through Rufus's past, facing the violence, disappointment, and frustration that shaped his destiny. Award-winning author Alexs Pate tells a mesmerizing story — of family, of coming of age, of reconciliation — revealing the extraordinary compassion and healing power of one unforgettable boy.
The Justus Girlsby Slim Lambright
Harper Perennial (Jul 01, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
Women like us.
In the 1960s, four African-American preteens banded together to form the Justus Girls, a crack drill team, and vowed to be friends forever. But Peaches, Sally Mae, Jan, and Roach drifted apart. Troubles like ours.
Decades later the sudden death of one brings the remaining Justus Girls together once more. One is now a new grandmother; another is a devout Muslim, while the third is a would-be entrepreneur. Friendship we could all use.
Realizing their bond is still strong, the Justus Girls vow to uncover what happened to their fallen friend. It is a pact that will lead them to the darkest corners of the past and reveal secrets that have remained long buried.
Soul Survivors: The Official Autobiography of Destiny's Childby Beyonce
HarperEntertainment (Apr 01, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
It must be a part of human nature to love drama. We never would have sold as many records — and we never would have been this popular — if our member changes did not happen. Up until that point, we were squeaky-clean nice girls who couldn't get on the cover of any magazines. —Beyonc� KnowlesThey're beautiful, they're talented, they're bootylicious . . .From first kisses and broken hearts to pillow fights and legal battles to losing friends and finding strength in God, Beyonc� Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams share it all. Their example of survival has made Destiny's Child one of the most beloved, bestselling female groups ever. Here for the first time, the three share the struggles that have made them stronger, from Beyonc�'s battles with weight loss and shyness, Kelly's coming to terms with growing up without a dad, and Michelle's triumph over grade-school bullies. They've grown up under the media microscope, and have had to deal with lineup changes and media rumors. Now they set the record straight. The demands and drama, the schedules and scrutiny — from the tour bus to the dressing rooms to backstage at awards shows, Beyonc�, Kelly, and Michelle talk about what it takes to be successful. Whether it's changing outfits in the rain, changing their hair color, or changing a name, they've done it. Don't be mistaken, they're not a prefab group of young girls — they're smart, independent women with a lot of soul. When these ladies had only minutes of studio time to work with Wyclef Jean to remix one of their songs, they didn't stress, they just started singing faster — and the result was a unique sound that put them on the map. Everyone has caught on to the Destiny's Child groove — Whitney Houston, Bono, and Michael Jackson have all given them props, and the King of Pop himself serenaded them with a rendition of "Bootylicious."Beyonc�, Kelly, and Michelle take you behind the scenes of a video rehearsal at which Aaliyah rewound their practice music, to the set of Austin Powers 3, where a starstruck Beyonc� felt anything but foxy before auditioning for the part of Foxxy Cleopatra, and backstage at the Grammys, where a last-minute costume change fiasco nearly kept Michelle from going onstage. With total honesty, these soul survivors not only dish the details of their past, but share their hopes, plans, and dreams for the future.
You Know Better: A Novelby Tina McElroy Ansa
William Morrow (Apr 01, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
It is the spring weekend of the Peach Blossom Festival in the tiny middle Georgia town of Mulberry, but things are far from sweet for the Pines women. LaShawndra, an eighteen-year-old hoochie-mama who wants nothing more out of life than to dance in a music video, has messed up…again. But this time she isn't sticking around to hear about it.Not that her mother seems to care; after all, Sandra is busy working on her real estate career and on the local minister. It's LaShawndra's grandmother, Lily, a former schoolteacher, principal, school board administrator, and highly respected cornerstone of the Mulberry community, who is scouring the streets at midnight looking for her granddaughter.Over the course of one weekend these three disparate women, guided by a trio of unexpected spirits, will learn to face the pain in their lives and discover that with reconciliation comes the healing they all desperately seek. In this magical, deeply resonant novel, Tina McElroy Ansa goes straight to the heart of women's relationships to reveal the soul that bonds us all.
Color Of Justice: A Novel Of Suspenseby Gary Hardwick
William Morrow (Jan 08, 2002)
Read Detailed Book Description
Acclaimed author, screenwriter, and filmmaker Gary Hardwick has been called "the Elmore Leonard of black mystery writers" (Seattle Times). Now he returns with a shattering tale of suspense that revitalizes the crime novel with passion, truth, and an uncompromising insight into a world defined by money, power, and dangerous secrets.Color of JusticeDetroit detective Danny Cavanaugh is a white Irish Catholic cop who has been raised in the dangerous bosom of the inner city. He speaks and acts with the unmistakable attitude of a black man, which has made him an enigma to his colleagues and a legend on the street. But lately Cavanaugh has come under fire: His alleged use of excessive force has placed him under the intense scrutiny of his department's superiors. He's been rocked by a devastating and suspicious personal tragedy. His live-in African American girlfriend is growing distant. And a horrific double homicide is threatening to push him over the edge.An affluent black couple has been savagely tortured and executed in their upscale home. It is a monstrous crime whose cunning perpetrator seems to understand the intricacies of forensic science. The killings appear to be an isolated incident to most in Detroit's Special Crimes Unit, but Cavanaugh detects the troubling shade of something uglier. A second murder -the slaying of yet another prominent member of Detroit's African American elite-confirms his suspicions and plunges Cavanaugh into the treacherous underbelly of the city, a place where he has spent much of his life but is still unwelcome.Cavanaugh discovers that there is something deadly and explosive infecting the Motor City and starts a full-throttle investigation. But a white cop with a checkered past doesn't win any friends asking embarrassing questions of the city's black power elite, and the enemies he makes threaten to destroy everything he still holds in his tenuous grasp. It will take all of his strength and ingenuity, both as a cop and a denizen of the street, for Danny Cavanaugh to stay alive in the wake of a terrifying crime wave and its shocking and unthinkable repercussions, as each harrowing revelation carries him closer to brutal truths about himself … and uncovers a motive for murder as stark and sharply delineated as black and white.
Salvation: Black People and Loveby bell hooks
Harper Perennial (Dec 18, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Acclaimed visionary and intellectual bell hooks began her exploration of the meaning of love in American culture with the bestselling All About Love: New Visions. Here she continues her love song to the nation in the groundbreaking and soul-stirring Salvation: Black People and Love.Whether talking about the legacy of slavery, relationships and marriage in Black life, the prose and poetry of our most revered artists and leaders, the liberation movements of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, or hip-hop and gangsta rap culture, hooks lets us know what love's got to do with it.Salvation is work that helps us heal — and shows us how to create beloved American communities.
Finding Fish: A Memoirby Antwone Fisher
William Morrow Paperbacks (Dec 18, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Baby Boy Fisher was raised in institutions from the moment of his birth in prison to a single mother. He ultimately came to live with a foster family, where he endured near-constant verbal and physical abuse. In his mid-teens he escaped and enlisted in the navy, where he became a man of the world, raised by the family he created for himself.Finding Fish shows how, out of this unlikely mix of deprivation and hope, an artist was born — first as the child who painted the feelings his words dared not speak, then as a poet and storyteller who would eventually become one of Hollywood's most sought-after screenwriters.A tumultuous and ultimately gratifying tale of self-discovery written in Fisher's gritty yet melodic literary voice, Finding Fish is an unforgettable reading experience.
Hue And Cry: Storiesby James Alan McPherson
Amistad (Nov 27, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Hue and Cry is the remarkably mature and agile debut story collection from James Alan McPherson, one of America's most venerated, most original writers. McPherson's characters — gritty, jazzy, authentic, and pristinely rendered — give voice to unheard struggles along the dividing lines of race and poverty in subtle, fluid prose that bears no trace of sentimentality, agenda, or apology.First published in 1968, this collection includes the Atlantic Prize-winning story "Gold Coast" (selected by John Updike for the collection Best American Short Stories of the Century) and introduced America to McPherson's unforgettable, enduring vision and distinctive artistry.
Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-Tales from the Gulf Statesby Zora Neale Hurston
Harper (Nov 27, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Imagine the situations in which these speech acts occur. Recall a front stoop, juke joint, funeral, wedding, barbershop, kitchen: the music, noise, communal energy, and release. Dream. Participate the way you do when you allow a song to transport you, all kinds of songs, from hip-hop rap to Bach to Monk, each bearing its different history of sounds and silences."— From the Foreword by John Edgar WidemanAfrican-American folklore was Zora Neale Hurston's first love. Collected in the late 1920s, Every Tongue Got to Confess is the third volume of folk-tales from the celebrated author of Their Eyes Were Watching God. It is published here for the first time.These hilarious, bittersweet, often saucy folk-tales — some of which date back to the Civil War — provide a fascinating, verdant slice of African-American life in the rural South at the turn of the twentieth century. Arranged according to subject — from God Tales, Preacher Tales, and Devil Tales to Heaven Tales, White-Folk Tales, and Mistaken Identity Tales — they reveal attitudes about slavery, faith, race relations, family, and romance that have been passed on for generations. They capture the heart and soul of the vital, independent, and creative community that so inspired Zora Neale Hurston.In the foreword, author John Edgar Wideman discusses the impact of Hurston's pioneering effort to preserve the African-American oral tradition and shows readers how to read these folk tales in the historical and literary context that has — and has not — changed over the years. And in the introduction, Hurston scholar Carla Kaplan explains how these folk-tales were collected, lost, and found, and examines their profound significance today.In Every Tongue Got to Confess, Zora Neale Hurston records, with uncanny precision, the voices of ordinary people and pays tribute to the richness of Black vernacular — its crisp self-awareness, singular wit, and improvisational wordplay. These folk-tales reflect the joys and sorrows of the African-American experience, celebrate the redemptive power of storytelling, and showcase the continuous presence in America of an Africanized language that flourishes to this day.
Supreme Justice: A Novel Of Suspenseby Gary Hardwick
HarperTorch (Oct 30, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Young U.S. attorney Marshall Jackson is handed the biggest case of his career when Supreme Court Justice Farrel Douglas is gunned down in Detroit. Conservative Justice Douglas had more than a few enemies in the city's African-American community, and no one is surprised when one of its most notorious radical activists is charged with the crime.But when contradictory evidence turns up that suggests there is more to the murder than meets the eye, Marshall is forced to take the investigation into his own hands, aided by his childhood-friend-turned-cop Danny Cavanaugh. They discover there is one other person who can nail the killer, a man whom Marshall hates — Moses, a hardened street criminal…and his twin brother.Marshall will risk everything to follow a twisted trail of guilt, suspicion, and murder straight up the political ranks to a dangerous — and unexpected — source.
Blowbackby Eric Fullilove
Amistad (Sep 18, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
A terrifying international incident has just begun the countdown to nuclear war.The one man who can stop it has just been framed for the murder of one of Washington, D.C.'s darlings.The clock is running. So is he.On India's border, a weapon of mass destruction tips the world's balance of power. In Washington, D.C., a well-dressed man is stopped by the cops for DWB — Driving While Black. In a darkened hallway, a killer waits for a beautiful woman to come home. And Eric James Fullilove's shattering, relentlessly suspenseful thriller about race, power, and justice has just begun.The president's national security advisor, Richard Whelan, is tough, smart, and black. Coming from Harvard to the White House, he knows how to play political games. But be's about to get a refresher course in the rules of the street. Framed for a brutal murder, Whelan is suddenly a fugitive on the run, a pawn in a chilling conspiracy, and the only man who can put the pieces together and stop a nuclear holocaust — if he can just stay alive.In Blowback, author Eric James Fullilove introduces an exciting, new black character who is part Richard Kimball, part Jack Ryan, part Shaft — and all hero.
Too Beautiful for Wordsby Monique W. Morris
Amistad (Sep 01, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
He walked up all close to me, and I remember he smelled so sweet — like love without sex. From his soft, clean, honey-colored face to the milky white of his teeth, this man caught ahold of my heart and yanked it straight through my body. It was a wonderful feelin' — natural and dark. And it only got sweeter when he told me that I could come to one of his parties and see his "family" for myself . . . I hadn't ever thought 'bout bein' a ho before, but I did want to do whatever could keep me close to that man standin' in front of me.In the tradition of Sister Souljah, Sapphire, and Paul Beatty comes a stunning new voice in fiction, Monique W. Morris, and her novel, Too Beautiful for Words.Peaches was a good high school girl until she met Jesus, the pimp who turned her out. They had a child named Jason, who was raised in a group home. Now a young man with a son of his own, Jason meets Chinaka, a former Black Panther who had befriended Peaches. Just as she tried to rescue his mother, Chinaka sets her sights on Jason, who is looking to get into the family business.In stark, moving prose, Monique W. Morris brings us into the lives of Peaches, Jesus, Jason, and Chinaka, whose words capture with exquisite honesty the brutality and humanity of the streets. They will resound in your mind long after you've closed the book.
The Multicultiboho Sideshow: A Novelby Alexs D. Pate
Harper Perennial (Aug 21, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this provocative and searing satire, young, unpublished, African American author Ichabod Word captures and holds hostage unsuspecting law officer Bloom. Icky proceeds to regale Bloom with a rambling tale of anger and woe about Dewitt McMichael, a benefactor of artists of color who is now a garbage bag-wrapped corpse in the corner of his living room. Even if it proves to be his last, desperate act on this earth, Icky is determined to vent in full the bizarre circumstances that led to the latter's demise — a mind-boggling chronicle of power, immorality, money, political stratification, racial discrimination, brilliant creation, and desecration.Alternately sobering and screamingly funny, Alexs D. Pate's The Multicultiboho Sideshow is a blistering and remarkable work that spares nothing and no one.
I Wish I Had a Red Dressby Pearl Cleage
William Morrow (Jul 03, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Joyce Mitchell was widowed far too young when her beloved husband, Mitch, died in a tragic accident five years ago. Since then she's kept her hands full and her mind and heart occupied by running The Sewing Circus, an all-girl group she founded to provide badly needed services like day care and job counseling to young women, many of whom are single mothers. More important, The Circus is a place for lively, wide-ranging, heart-to-heart discussions that will help members grow into what Joyce likes to call "twenty-first-century free women."All in all, Joyce has a full and rich life. She has her work, her family, her friends, and her town. But there are some nights when she crawls into bed alone and has to admit that something is missing. What she doesn't have is that red dress she keeps dreaming about or a social life that would accommodate it even if she braved the mail and bought one. To further complicate matters, she may not have The Sewing Circus much longer, as the state legislature has decided not to fund the group's vital but hard-todefine work with young women who are too often regarded as problems rather than possibilities.Feeling defeated and pessimistic, Joyce reluctantly agrees to keep a date for dinner at the home of her best friend, Sister — a reverend like no other-and finds not only a perfect meal but a tall, dark stranger named Nate Anderson. Nate has just joined the administration at the high school and his unexpected presence in Idlewild touches a chord in Joyce that she thought her heart had forgotten how to play. Nate feels the same immediate connection, but both have enough experience with broken hearts to take it real slow. Besides, they've got too much work to do to concentrate on falling in love….But life moves at its own pace, and as Sister says, "if you want to make God laugh, make plans." Particularly when it comes to matters of the heart. Joyce decides the trick is to stay focused and to remember that nothing is as sexy as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, especially if you tell it while you're wearing a perfect red dress….
The Justus Girlsby Slim Lambright
Harper (Jun 19, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Women like us.In the 1960's, four African-American preteensbanded together to form the Justus Girls, a crack drill team. They vowed to be friends forever, but Peaches, Sally Mae, Jan, and Roach drifted apart. It is Peaches's sudden death that brings them together again. The hip-swinging Sally Mae is a new grandmother; the beautiful and once-shy Roach has become a devout Muslim named Rasheeda; and the levelheaded Jan has launched her own business.Troubles like ours.The Justus Girls soon find out that they need each other now just as much as in the old days. Jan's husband has died and her business is faltering. Rasheeda faces the battle of her life, trying to keep custody of her two sons. And though Sally Mae doesn't know it yet, her past is about to catch up with her.Friendship we could all use.The JG's make a pact to find out what happened to Peaches, to meet once a week, and to reclaim their own lives. It's a pact that will take them through the old neighborhood, with all its characters, and reveal secrets that have remained unspoken for too long. Through it all, the Justus Girls rediscover the love, laughter, and support they had forgotten, but that rescues them just in the nick of time.
Black and Beautifulby Barbara Summers
Harper Paperbacks (Feb 06, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
From Ophelia DeVore in the 1940's and today's Tyra Banks, Grace Jones, and Naomi Campbell, Black and Beautiful highlights more than sixty years of the Black fashion model's triumphs and struggles. Barbara Summers, a Ford Model for seventeen years, interviewed dozens of models and selected more than 250 photos for this landmark publication.� Celebrating the strength and style of these fascinating women and their groundbreaking careers, this book is a gorgeous tribute to the beauty of Black women everywhere.
Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germanyby Hans J. Massaquoi
William Morrow Paperbacks (Feb 06, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
This is a story of the unexpected.In Destined to Witness, Hans Massaquoi has crafted a beautifully rendered memoir — an astonishing true tale of how he came of age as a black child in Nazi Germany. The son of a prominent African and a German nurse, Hans remained behind with his mother when Hitler came to power, due to concerns about his fragile health, after his father returned to Liberia. Like other German boys, Hans went to school; like other German boys, he swiftly fell under the Fuhrer's spell. So he was crushed to learn that, as a black child, he was ineligible for the Hitler Youth. His path to a secondary education and an eventual profession was blocked. He now lived in fear that, at any moment, he might hear the Gestapo banging on the door — or Allied bombs falling on his home. Ironic,, moving, and deeply human, Massaquoi's account of this lonely struggle for survival brims with courage and intelligence.
Sweet Whispers, Brother Rushby Virginia Hamilton
Amistad (Jan 09, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Why had he come to her, with his dark secrets from a long-ago past? What was the purpose of their strange, haunting journeys back into her own childhood? Was it to help Dab, her retarded older brother, wracked with mysterious pain who sometimes took more care and love than Tree had to give? Was it for her mother, Vy, who loved them the best she knew how, but wasn't home enough to ease the terrible longing?Whatever secrets his whispered message held, Tree knew she must follow. She must follow Brother Rush through the magic mirror, and find out the truth. About all of them.
Money, Power, Respect: What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Knowby Denene Millner and Nick Chiles
William Morrow (Jan 09, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
First, In What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know, the bold and beautiful Denene Milner and Nick Chiles gave the real deal of love and relationships. It was hailed as the African American Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. Then, in What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know About Sex, the savvy supercouple told African American daters and maters how to get it on and heat it up in the bedroom … or wherever else couple may find themselves.Now Nick and Denene have set their sites on three of the hottest topics facing couples today.
- Money. Can he deal when she makes more?
- Power. He's at the office 24/7. Where does she get her face-time?
- Respect. How much of their dirty laundry should both he and she air to their friends? In their inimitable he-said/she-said format and hip approach, Denene and Nick reveal the real deal on what black men and women think about financial issues, power struggles, and the importance of respect. They delve into everything , from whose career is more important to who should punish the kids to who should pay for dinner.Enlivened by their trademark humor and sassy and bold approach, the message in Money, Power, Respect is crystal clear: While money issues may lead to power struggles, this doesn't have to lead to lack of Respect. In this perspective and insightful guide, Nick and Denene show couples how engaging in fierce, sincere communication will have both partners wearing the pants in the family.
Salvation: Black People and Loveby bell hooks
William Morrow (Jan 09, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Acclaimed visionary and intellectual, bell hooks began her exploration of the meaning of love in American culture with the bestselling All About Love: New Visions. Here she continues her love song to the nation with the groundbreaking and soul-stirring Salvation: Black People and Love. Intimate and revolutionary, Salvation is a gift as provocative as it is healing.Written from a historical and cultural perspective, Salvation takes an incisive look at the transformative power of love in the lives of African-Americans. Whether talking about the legacy of slavery, relationships, and marriage in black life, the prose and poetry of Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Maya Angelou, the liberation movements of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, sexual pain or pleasure, hip-hop and gangsta rap culture, addiction, greed, or the failure of black leadership, hooks lets us know what love's got to do with it.Combining the passionate politics of W E. B. DuBois with fresh, contemporary insights, hooks brilliantly offers new visions that will heal our nation's wounds from a culture of lovelessness.Her writings on love and its inextricable links to race, class, family, history, and popular culture raise one pivotal question: How can we create beloved American communities? Salvation is bell hooks's journey to answer this question-an offering for everyone who cares about the souls of black folk.
All About Love: New Visionsby bell hooks
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jan 09, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
"The word "love" is most often defined as a noun, yet…we would all love to better if we used it as a verb," writes bell hooks as she comes out fighting and on fire in All About Love. Here, at her most provacative and intensely personel, the renowned scholar, cultural critic, and feminist skewers our view of love as romance. In its place she offers a proactive new ethic for a people and a society bereft with lovelessness.As bell hooks uses her incisive mind and razor-sharp pen to explode th question "What is love?" her answers strike at both the mind and heart. In thirteen concise chapters, hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society's failure to provide a model for learning to love. Razing the cultural paradigm that the ideal love is infused with sex and desire, she provides a new path to love that is sacred, redemptive, and healing for the individuals and for a nation. The Utne Reader declared bell hooks one of the "100 Visionaries Who Can Change Your Life." All About Love is a powerful affirmation of just how profoundly she can.
Every Time A Rainbow Diesby Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad (Jan 01, 2001)
Read Detailed Book Description
Wealth Happens One Day at a Time: 365 Days to a Brighter Financial Futureby Brooke Stephens
Harper Business (Dec 26, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Does a secure financial life seem to difficult to imagine let alone achieve? Does wealth strike you as an impossible dream? Whether you're living from paycheck to paycheck, or simply confused by the world of stocks, bonds, and brokers, it's never too late to change your situation. All you need is a little help.By spending just ten to fifteen minutes a day with this immensely helpful book, you'll discover that financial security is just steps away. Filled with the wisdom and advice of a seasoned expert, this year-old program for success shows you how to:change your attitude and change your lifebreak out of debt and control your spendingchoose investments and make your money growprotect your gains and prepare for a comfortable retirementgive your children or grandchildren a secure start in life and much more!
A Long Way from Homeby Connie Briscoe
Avon (Oct 03, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Spanning more than sixty years, A Long Way from Home is the story of Susie; her daughter, Clara; and her granddaughter, Susan—house slaves born and reared at Montpelier, the Virginia plantation of President James Madison. Proud and intelligent, these women are united by love, fierce devotion, and a desire for freedom that grows stronger year by year.A Long Way from Home vividly re-creates Southern life and the ambivalent, shifting relationships on both sides of the color divide, from the cruelty and insidious benevolence of white owners to the deep yearnings and complex emotions of the slaves themselves. It is an unforgettable story that pays homage to the African-American experience and to the ancestors whose lives and histories are indelibly entwined with our own.
The Big Pictureby Ben Carson
Amistad (Oct 01, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Dr. Ben Carson is known as the originator of ground-breaking surgical procedures, a doctor who turn impossible hopes into joyous realities. He is known as well as a compassionate humanitarian who reaches beyond corporate boardrooms to touch the lives of inner-city kids. What drives him? The Big Picture. A vision of something truly worth living for, something that calls forth the best of his amazing talents, energy, and focus. In The Big Picture, Dr. Carson shares with you the overarching philosophy that has shaped his life, causing him to rise from failure to far-reaching influence. This book is not about HOW to succeed—it's about WHY to succeed. It's about broadening your perspectives. It's about finding a vision for your own life that can reframe your priorities, energize your efforts, and inspire you to change the world around you.
Guide My Feet: Prayers and Meditations for Our Childrenby Marian Wright Edelman
Harper Perennial (Sep 19, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Here are� prayers and meditations for parents and others who strive to instill values of faith, integrity, compassion, and service in our children at a time when these ideas are threatened by commercialism and violence. With warmth and conviction, Edleman shares his own prayers as well as inspirational readings from others.� Turn in this book for guidelines and support—again and again.
Shoe's on the Otha' Footby Hunter Hayes
HarperTorch (Sep 05, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Love in the city is a different kind of crazy Unattached and independent, a free spirit flying high uptown, Leslie is black, beautiful, twenty-one. . .and still a virgin. Not that there's any lack of interested males in this level-headed young sista's world. But she's got too much self -respect—and too much going on—to take a wrong step that just might trip her up but good. So why is her one weakness a hardworking chocolate dream named Benjamin—who's much older than she is (thirty-four!). . .and just happens to be living with another woman and their teenage son? Of course, Leslie could have her cousin Rachelle's problems, A divorced mother of three, Rachelle could easily bask in the steady, loving—if penniless—devotion of Anthony, who is fine. . .and twelve years her junior. But of course, it's Eustace—married Eustace—who makes her knees buckle. It's a city full of hard choices—some good, some bad. . .some crazy—and each one has its consequences. So what else can a girlfriend do except try to keep her head while she follows her heart. . .all in the name of love?
Alwaysby Timmothy B. McCann
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jul 25, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
It's election night and Henry Louis Davis II waits for the results that could make him the first African-American president of the United States…the impossible goal he had held since the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot…back when he shared his dreams with the love of his teenage life as they promised each other it would be for "always."The years have taken Henry along a path filled with highs and lows. His wife, Leslie, is his lover and best friend, a woman to whom he has pledged himself for always. His long ago love, Cheryl, is the mother of a grown daughter…with a yearning for the one man whom she has loved for always. Now three people face an historic night alone—each recalling the dreams of yesterday and the promises of tomorrow that will bring them to a love meant to last for…Always
Black Profiles In Courageby Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Alan Steinberg
Amistad (Jul 03, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this ideal introduction to black history, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar examines the lives of heroic African Americans and offers their stories as inspiring examples for young people, who too rarely encounter positive black role models in history books or in the media.Profiled here are Peter Salem, the volunteer soldier who turned the tide at Bunker Hill; Joseph Cinque, leader of a daring revolt on the slave ship Amistad; Frederick Douglass, self-taught writer-orator and escaped slave who forced President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation years ahead of schedule; Harriet Tubman, who led at least three hundred slaves to freedom; Lewis Latimer, whose scientific work was integral to the achievements of Bell and Edison; and many more.Shining a bright light on the touchstones of character, these exemplary stories reemphasize the integral role of African Americans in weaving the fabric of our nation and form an empowering legacy from which Americans of all ages can draw inspiration, wisdom, and pride.
The Fifth Mountainby Paulo Coelho
Amistad (Apr 26, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
A Struggle of the Spirit and a Search for the TruthWritten with the same masterful prose and clarity of vision that made The Alchemist an international phenomenon, The Fifth Mountain is Paulo Coelho's inspiring story of the Biblical prophet Elijah. In the ninth century B.C., the Phoenician princess Jezebel orders the execution of all the prophets who refuse to seek safety in the land of Zarephath, where the unexpectedly finds true love with a young widow. But this newfound rapture is to be cut short, and Elijah sees all of his hopes and dreams irrevocably erased as he is swept into a whirlwind of events that threatens his very existence. In what is truly a literary milestone, Coelho gives a quietly moving account of a man touched by the hand of God who must triumph over his frustrations in a soul-shattering trail of faith.
Bootlegby Damon Wayans
Harper Paperbacks (Apr 05, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Nothing is too outrageous for Damon Wayans. Whether he's talking about family, celebrities, racism, relationships, politics, or sex, he takes no prisoners. And in Bootleg, Damon brings it all on, uncut and uncensored. Filled with laughs, craziness, and lots of truth, Bootleg will leave you hurting for more! Celebrities: When I found out that Steven Spielberg has two black kids, I was amazed. Where did he get these kids from? Were they props left over from The Color Purple? Black Leaders: I must have been asleep the day they elected Al Sharpton as the black representative. He is the only leader in history to show up to a rally wearing a tight red velour sweat suit with a roller in the front of his hair. Religion: Thanks to preachers, a lot of people have given up on religion completely. Today, going to church is like going to Vegas. You'll leave thinking, "Man, I lost $75.00 up in this motha."
The Color of Our Future: Race in the 21st Centuryby Farai Chideya
Harper Perennial (Mar 07, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Two years ago, Newsweek named Farai Chideya to its "Century Club" of a hundred people to watch as we approached the year 2000. Beautiful, savvy, and wired for sound, she's an ideal guide to the new, multiracial America that's emerging as the next generation grows up and begins to shape our society. From coast to coast, from urban 'hoods to Indian reservations to lily-white small towns, she talks to young men and women about their views on race, painting a vivid portrait of a notion in transition, as America ceases to be defined by the black/white divide and enters a more complex multiethnic era. Most of all, she allows the voices of the next generation — black, while, Latino, Asian, Native American, and multiracial — to ring out with truth and clarity.Since the Civil Rights movement, most Americans have thought of race as a black and white issue. That won't be the case for long. By the year 2050, there will be more nonwhite than white Americans, and most of the nonwhite population will be Asian and Latino, not black. Increasingly, America is becoming a multiracial society. Americans in their teens and twenties are at the forefront of this cultural revolution. In The Color of Our Future, young journalist Farai Chideya explores how members of the next generation deal with race in their own lives and how the decisions they make determine America's ethnic future. From urban hoods to Native American reservations to lily-white small towns, Chideya talks to young men and women about their personal views of race, painting a vivid portrait of a nation in transition. In clear, compelling language, she describes young people dealing with the complexities of diversity in their everyday lives. She writes of a young interracial couple pitted against their community in the South and of the white teens in Indiana, birthplace of the Klan, who get their black, hip-hop aesthetic from MTV. She interviews a Native American who wants to be the next Bill Gates, bringing computer access to his reservation in Montana, and a Mexican-American woman, working for the border patrol in El Paso, who catches the destitute Mexicans who flock into the United States to work for affluent white Texans. All these young people have clear, strong ideas about the impact of race on everything from education to pop culture. They are honest, sometimes brutally so, about their own prejudices. Their moving stories are the blueprint for the future of America. With a discerning ear and sharp insight, Chideya allows the voices of the next generation — black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, and multiracial — to ring out with truth and clarity and guide us to the kaleidoscope of our future.Since the Civil Rights movement, most Americans have thought of race as a black and white issue. That won't be the case for long. By the year 2050, there will be more nonwhite than white Americans, and most of the nonwhite population will be Asian and Latino, not black. Increasingly, America is becoming a multiracial society. Americans in their teens and twenties are at the forefront of this cultural revolution. In The Color of Our Future, young journalist Farai Chideya explores how members of the next generation deal with race in their own lives and how the decisions they make determine America's ethnic future. From urban hoods to Native American reservations to lily-white small towns, Chideya talks to young men and women about their personal views of race, painting a vivid portrait of a nation in transition. In clear, compelling language, she describes young people dealing with the complexities of diversity in their everyday lives. She writes of a young interracial couple pitted against their community in the South and of the white teens in Indiana, birthplace of the Klan, who get their black, hip-hop aesthetic from MTV. She interviews a Native American who wants to be the next Bill Gates, bringing computer access to his reservation in Montana, and a Mexican-American woman, working for the border patrol in El Paso, who catches the destitute Mexicans who flock into the United States to work for affluent white Texans. All these young people have clear, strong ideas about the impact of race on everything from education to pop culture. They are honest, sometimes brutally so, about their own prejudices. Their moving stories are the blueprint for the future of America. With a discerning ear and sharp insight, Chideya allows the voices of the next generation—black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, and multiracial—to ring out with truth and clarity and guide us to the kaleidoscope of our future.
A Season On The Reservation: My Soujourn With The White Mountain Apachesby Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Stephen Singular
William Morrow (Feb 01, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has always been fascinated by history-nineteenth-century American history in particular. Tired of L.A., restless and looking for new adventure, challenge, and discovery, he decides to go live among the Apaches he's read about. He encounters a complex reality. The kids on the Alchesay Falcons team don't easily embrace what he's trying to teach them on the court. Gradually they begin to learn from him as he begins to learn from them. He teaches them to push out of their comfort zone and try new things, both in sports and in life. They give him something he didn't quite expect: a way to reconnect with his passion for basketball. This is a story about the qualities we have in common and the things that still divide us in terms of race, culture, and history. Along the way, we get to know the kids, the coaches, the town of Whiteriver and Alchesay High, the tribe-but most of all, we get closer to Kareem, a man well into middle age who wants to pass along his knowledge and experience in basketball and life. Kareem gives something back, and in so doing receives more than he ever imagined.
I Have Heard of a Landby Joyce Carol Thomas
HarperCollins Publishers (Jan 28, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
I have heard of a land
Where the imagination has no fences
Where what is dreamed one night
Is accomplished the next dayIn the late 1880s, signs went up all around America - land was free in the Oklahoma territory. And it was free to everyone: Whites, Blacks, men and women alike. All one needed to stake a claim was hope and courage, strength and perseverance. Thousands of pioneers, many of them African-Americans newly freed from slavery, headed west to carve out a new life in the Oklahoma soil. Drawing upon her own family history, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Thomas has crafted an unforgettable anthem to these brave and determned people from America's past. Richly illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award honoree Floyd Cooper, I Have Heard of a Land is a glorious tribute to the Afrian-American pioneer spirit. 00-01 Sequoyah Children's Book Award Masterlist
What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know About Sex: The Real Deal On Passion, Loving, And Intimacyby Denene Millner and Nick Chiles
Amistad (Jan 26, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sex fascinates us. Scares us. Troubles us. Sex, not baseball, is the real American pastime. But the rules are often kept under wraps, and no one's quite sure about the definition of a home run. Until now.Bestselling authors Denene Millner and Nick Chiles break open the vault and reveal the real deal on what African Americans think about sex. Drawing on their own experiences as husband and wife — and those of their friends who were willing to give it up they offer insights and sizzling tips for communicating, seducing and heating up the bedroom (or wherever else couples may find themselves . . . ). In their own unique way, they help couples communicate about sex — from their favorite pleasure to their most sinful fantasy — to keep a relationship healthy and hot. It makes for some steamy reading….What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know About Sex rides the coattails of two bestsellers: Denene Millner's The Sistahs' Rules and What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know, which she wrote with her husband, Nick Chiles. Now, Millner and Chiles once again venture boldly into each other's heads to discover-and decode — what African American men and women really think about sex and intimacy. In a he said/she said format, the authors discuss the emotional and physical landscape of sex with one specific goal: to help other couples communicate about sex-from their favorite pleasures to their most sinful fantasies — to keep a relationship healthy and hot. Ranging from the first date to the first baby, from missionary style to love-making so creative that your whole body blushes, What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know About Sex replaces myth with reality, wipes away taboo, and begins a dialogue about sex and intimacy so real that it will deepen any love connection.What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know About Sex rides the coattails of two bestsellers: Denene Millner's The Sistahs' Rules and What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know, which she wrote with her husband, Nick Chiles. Now, Millner and Chiles once again venture boldly into each other's heads to discover-and decode—what African American men and women really think about sex and intimacy. In a he said/she said format, the authors discuss the emotional and physical landscape of sex with one specific goal: to help other couples communicate about sex-from their favorite pleasures to their most sinful fantasies—to keep a relationship healthy and hot. Ranging from the first date to the first baby, from missionary style to love-making so creative that your whole body blushes, What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know About Sex replaces myth with reality, wipes away taboo, and begins a dialogue about sex and intimacy so real that it will deepen any love connection.
With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Togetherby Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee
It Books (Jan 26, 2000)
Read Detailed Book Description
This is the captivating, inspiring autobiography of a star couple who've celebrated 50 years of marriage. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee are legendary stars of the American stage, television, and film, a beloved and revered couple cherished not just for their acting artistry but also for their lifelong commitment to civil rights, family values, and the black community. Now they look back on a half- century of their personal and political struggles to maintain a healthy marriage and to create the record of distinguished accomplishment that earned each a Presidential Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. With Ossie and Ruby overflows with consummate storytelling skill developed by decades in the spotlight. From their early years as struggling actors in Harlem's black theater to Broadway and Hollywood stardom, they regale the reader with colorful, entertaining tales of the places they've been and the people they've met. But their charming humor is leavened with a more serious side, as they share their experiences of keeping a family together in a world where scandal and divorce is the rule, and of being artists and political activists in an era of intense racial ferment. Born into the struggle, their characters were shaped by the dynamic collisions of life, politics, and art; and from those experiences, they achieved some sense of their worth as married people, friends, and lovers. Warm, positive, and compelling, this is a book that will surprise and challenge readers everywhere — black and white, male and female, young and old. Lifting the veil of public image, media hype, and mystique, Ossie and Ruby speak of the real-life dilemmas and rewards of their lifelong search for purpose and value. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee are legendary stars of the American stage, television, and film, a beloved and revered couple cherished not just for their acting artistry but also for their lifelong commitment to civil rights, family values, and the black community. Now they look back on a half- century of their personal and political struggles to maintain a healthy marriage and to create the record of distinguished accomplishment that earned each a Presidential Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.With Ossie and Ruby overflows with consummate storytelling skill developed by decades in the spotlight. From their early years as struggling actors in Harlem's black theater to Broadway and Hollywood stardom, they regale the reader with colorful, entertaining tales of the places they've been and the people they've met. But their charming humor is leavened with a more serious side, as they share their experiences of keeping a family together in a world where scandal and divorce is the rule, and of being artists and political activists in an era of intense racial ferment. Born into the struggle, their characters were shaped by the dynamic collisions of life, politics, and art; and from those experiences, they achieved some sense of their worth as married people, friends, and lovers.Warm, positive, and compelling, this is a book that will surprise and challenge readers everywhere — black and white, male and female, young and old. Lifting the veil of public image, media hype, and mystique, Ossie and Ruby speak of the real-life dilemmas and rewards of their lifelong search for purpose and value.Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee are legendary stars of the American stage, television, and film, a beloved and revered couple cherished not just for their acting artistry but also for their lifelong commitment to civil rights, family values, and the black community. Now they look back on a half- century of their personal and political struggles to maintain a healthy marriage and to create the record of distinguished accomplishment that earned each a Presidential Medal for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.With Ossie and Ruby overflows with consummate storytelling skill developed by decades in the spotlight. From their early years as struggling actors in Harlem's black theater to Broadway and Hollywood stardom, they regale the reader with colorful, entertaining tales of the places they've been and the people they've met. But their charming humor is leavened with a more serious side, as they share their experiences of keeping a family together in a world where scandal and divorce is the rule, and of being artists and political activists in an era of intense racial ferment. Born into the struggle, their characters were shaped by the dynamic collisions of life, politics, and art; and from those experiences, they achieved some sense of their worth as married people, friends, and lovers.Warm, positive, and compelling, this is a book that will surprise and challenge readers everywhere — black and white, male and female, young and old. Lifting the veil of public image, media hype, and mystique, Ossie and Ruby speak of the real-life dilemmas and rewards of their lifelong search for purpose and value.
Chesapeake Songby Brenda Lane Richardson
Harper Paperbacks (Dec 08, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Her thirteen-year marriage troubled by hurt and doubts, Tamra Lane embarks on a spiritual journey into her past and draws strength from the experiences of her mother and grandmother. Reprint. PW. LJ.
Lead Me Home: An African-American's Guide Through The Grief Journeyby Carleen Brice
Harper Perennial (Nov 09, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
When a loved one dies, we embark on a journey that is marked by anguish, confusion, fear, and loneliness. For African Americans, the grief journeys often includes more complicated and painful emotions: frustration with the knowledge that black men and women have a greater chance of dying from major common diseases than their white counterparts; anger at the frequency of drug- and violence-related deaths; and the collective grief of a community that has buried too many of its young people.In Lead Me Home, Carleen Brice gently guides you through the strange terrain of grief to the promise of home-a place where we have not only survived our losses, but are wiser and stronger because of them. She shares her personal story of loss and recovery, as well as the stories of others, so that you will know you are not alone. Here are practical tips for making difficult passage, as well as spiritual inspiration for helping you hang on until you make it to welcoming shores.
Renaissance in Harlemby Lionel C. Bascom
William Morrow (Nov 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Digging beneath the glitter of the African American artistic outpouring early in this century dubbed the Harlem Renaissance, journalist Bascom unearths another Harlem from forgotten WPA Writer's Project manuscripts in the Library of Congress. Selecting 50 pieces by 11 WPA writers who worked in Harlem in the 1930s, Bascom challenges standard versions of the Renaissance's dimensions—everything from when it began and ended to its content and style. His selections take us beyond the close-knit circle of black intellectuals usually credited with producing the fruits of the most celebrated post-Civil War, pre-Civil Rights season of African American self-discovery. The pieces resound not with the voices of the glitterati but with a vernacular chorus about everyday life during the Great Negro Migration. (That migration, which brought blacks from the rural South to the urban North in massive numbers, changed not merely the complexion of upper Manhattan but transformed it into the world's black capital.) This important book promises to shift discussions about Harlem, the Renaissance, New York, and Depression-era America in popular culture, literature, history, and folklore. Highly recommended. —Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Blues Dancing: A Novelby Diane McKinney-Whetstone
William Morrow (Oct 20, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
From the beloved author of Tumbling and Tempest Rising comes a new novel, Blues Dancing—a richly spun tale of love and passion, betrayal, redemption, and faith, set in contemporary Philadelphia.In the early seventies, Verdi, a pampered, cloistered daughter of a southern preacher, heads to Philadelphia to enroll at the university. There she meets Johnson, a city boy. Their differences draw them together—he loves her gentility, she is seduced by his charisma. Their relationship is pure sweetness until Johnson teaches her the one thing that will change her life irrevocably—how to love heroin. Enter Rowe, the conservative black professor who rescues Verdi from her overwhelming addiction and then falls desperately in love with her, leaving his sophisticated wife for this confused southern girl. Rowe and Verdi live a comfortable existence for twenty years, even though he attempts to strain Verdi's relationship with her first cousin and dearest friend, Kitt. As the novel opens, Kitt tells Verdi that Johnson is back in town and Verdi feels her safe and protected world teeter off balance. Once they lay their eyes on each other, they realize that the years have not dulled their passion as they skid uncontrollably toward the desires of their youth. Blues Dancing makes for rich interplay as the author allows time to inform her characters' lives in provocative ways.In the early seventies, Verdi, a pampered, cloistered daughter of a southern preacher, heads to Philadelphia to enroll at the university. There she meets Johnson, a city boy. Their differences draw them together—he loves her gentility, she is seduced by his charisma. Their relationship is pure sweetness until Johnson teaches her the one thing that will change her life irrevocably—how to love heroin. Enter Rowe, the conservative black professor who rescues Verdi from her overwhelming addiction and then falls desperately in love with her, leaving his sophisticated wife for this confused southern girl. Rowe and Verdi live a comfortable existence for twenty years, even though he attempts to strain Verdi's relationship with her first cousin and dearest friend, Kitt. As the novel opens, Kitt tells Verdi that Johnson is back in town and Verdi feels her safe and protected world teeter off balance. Once they lay their eyes on each other, they realize that the years have not dulled their passion as they skid uncontrollably toward the desires of their youth. Blues Dancing makes for rich interplay as the author allows time to inform her characters' lives in provocative ways.In the early seventies, Verdi, a pampered, cloistered daughter of a southern preacher, heads to Philadelphia to enroll at the university. There she meets Johnson, a city boy. Their differences draw them together—he loves her gentility, she is seduced by his charisma. Their relationship is pure sweetness until Johnson teaches her the one thing that will change her life irrevocably—how to love heroin. Enter Rowe, the conservative black professor who rescues Verdi from her overwhelming addiction and then falls desperately in love with her, leaving his sophisticated wife for this confused southern girl. Rowe and Verdi live a comfortable existence for twenty years, even though he attempts to strain Verdi's relationship with her first cousin and dearest friend, Kitt. As the novel opens, Kitt tells Verdi that Johnson is back in town and Verdi feels her safe and protected world teeter off balance. Once they lay their eyes on each other, they realize that the years have not dulled their passion as they skid uncontrollably toward the desires of their youth. Blues Dancing makes for rich interplay as the author allows time to inform her characters' lives in provocative ways.
A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in Americaby Shelby Steele
Harper Perennial (Oct 06, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
From the author of the award-winning bestseller The Content of Our Character comes a new essay collection that tells the untold story behind the polarized racial politics in America today. In A Dream Deferred Shelby Steele argues that a second betrayal of black freedom in the United States—the first one being segregation—emerged from the civil rights era when the country was overtaken by a powerful impulse to redeem itself from racial shame. According to Steele,1960s liberalism had as its first and all-consuming goal the expiation of America guilt rather than the careful development of true equality between the races. This "culture of preference" betrayed America's best principles in order to give whites and America institutions an iconography of racial virtue they could use against the stigma of racial shame. In four densely argued essays, Steele takes on the familiar questions of affirmative action, multiculturalism, diversity, Afro-centrism, group preferences, victimization—and what he deems to be the atavistic powers of race, ethnicity, and gender, the original causes of oppression. A Dream Deferred is an honest, courageous look at the perplexing dilemma of race and democracy in the United States—and what we might do to resolve it.
Water, Water (Harper Growing Tree)by Eloise Greenfield
HarperFestival (Sep 08, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
I see lakes,
and ponds,
and waterfalls, oh
water, water, water, everywhere I go.From splashing to sipping, award-winning poet Eloise Greenfield covers all that's exhilarating about water. This cool, rhythmic text is at once entertaining and educational. Jan Spivey Gilchrist's bright watercolor illustrations are as refreshing as the text and help pursue this favorite element from the kitchen sink to the sea.
The End of Fashion: The Mass Marketing Of The Clothing Businessby Teri Agins
William Morrow Paperbacks (Aug 18, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Fashion is a multibillion-dollar international business; it permeates our lives and our economies. Yet there has never been a book of solid, hard-hitting, uncompromising business/cultural/social journalism on this subject—because the fashion press is subsidized by the very industry it covers. Teri Agins, however, covers the fashion beat for a publication that does not rely upon fashion advertising—and she is thereby uniquely unfettered and able to finally tell the whole truth about this gigantic, flamboyant, and endlessly fascinating business.Her book traces an arc from the origins of couture and its apotheosis in the early part of this century to the advent of prjt-a-porter post.World War II and the sweeping changes that have taken place as the century ends. It is an arc from when "fashion" was defined by elite French designers whose clothes could be afforded only by the global socialites—but whose designs were copied and followed by everyone else—to the point where the rules are set by the consumers, and the designers must follow them. It is an arc from class to mass; from art to commodity. Above all, it is the story of the triumph of marketing.The narrative includes profiles of designers Emmanuel Ungaro, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, and Zoran, as well as retailers Marshall Field and the Gap.The End of Fashion is classy and stylish, filled with insider details; it is dishy and lively and fun—as well as astute and full of insights about how the changes in the fashion business have reflected changes in the culture over the last fifty years.
The Best Defenseby Ellis Cose
HarperTorch (Aug 04, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Justice Isn't Always Black and WhiteCutthroat defense attorney and rising celebrity Felicia Fontaine is about to tackle her biggest—and seemingly most unwinnable—case yet, defending a white businessman accused of killing an office rival, a Hispanic man promoted over him. With her reputation and confidence on the line, the ever-savvy Felicia needs to watch her every step to successfully get through this controversial case dubbed the "Affirmative Action Murder" by a salacious press. She won't get any breaks from the prosecution, though, for the DA is none other than her toughest adversary, and former flame, Mario Santiago, a smart, ethical professional who'll do what it takes—even if it means risking his new marriage—to win a conviction.
Thrust into the spotlight of a critical and unrelenting media, under the wary eyes of a divided country, these two passionate lawyers will face off in a trial that will explore the deceptive difference between justice and revenge—a case where truth has no meaning against outrage, envy, ambition, and desire. A case you will never forget.
Finding Makebaby Alexs D. Pate
Avon (Aug 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
While at a bookstore signing copies of his first novel, an African-American author recognizes the teenaged daughter whom he had abandoned years earlier, and the two struggle to bridge the gap between them. By the author of Losing Absalom. 22,500 first printing.
Easier to Kill (A Tamara Hayle Mystery)by Valerie Wilson Wesley
Avon (Jul 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
P.I Tamara Hayle and her latest client, popular radio personality Mandy Magic, share the same roots both grew up in the hardscrabble projects on one of the meanest streets in Newark. But that's what brings her to Tamara Hayle. Mandy Magic knows that each act of vandalism and seemingly random murder brings the demons of her yesterdays closer and each day that passes makes her easier to kill.
Girlfriendsby Anita Bunkley, Sandra Kitt, and Eva Rutland
HarperTorch (Jun 03, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Through Think and Thin Money problems. Kid problems. Man problems. Even when the going gets toughest, you've still got your friends. You may not always see eye to eye, but your friends are beside you through it all—health and sickness, marriage and divorce, wealth and poverty, and more. Now, three acclaimed African-American novelist—Anita Bunkley, Sandra Kitt and Eva Rutland—introduce you to some wonderful new women in poignant stories that touch the heart. Filled with hope and forgiveness, laughter and understanding, tears and love, these stories capture the wonderful, resilient bond that transforms women into sisters—the bond that makes us…. Girlfriends
Until...by Timmothy B. McCann
William Morrow Paperbacks (Jun 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
She's a lawyer with high ideals and high-profile victories to her credit, the only African-American female in a prestigious southern firm who's won the respect and admiration of her colleagues. Young, smart, and attractive, with a bright future, a home of her own, loyal friends, and a man devoted to making her happy, life seems just about perfect…yet something is missing.He's a successful African-American entrepreneur, devastatingly good looking, personable, yet unable to escape the pain of a past love who is gone but can't be forgotten.Yesterday fades in the dawn of a new tomorrow…and the magic of a love they have dreamed of all their lives.
Patrick's Pals #7 Large And In Chargeby Robb Armstrong and Bruce Smith
HarperEntertainment (May 05, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Patrick Ewing's homey, Fat Craig Adams, is pumped for the upcoming one-on-one contest at Douglass Park. Thet little extra meat on his bonees has never kept him from playing a mean game of hoops!But lately, a fathead named DC has been teasing Craig about his weight. DC's cruel slames are starting to mess with Craigs mind…and his game. Can he pull himself together in time to show Thompsonville what makes him Phat Craig?
The Heart of the Artistby Rory Noland
Zondervan (May 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Over 100,000 sold •Great for individuals and teams •Includes provocative discussion questions "I wish I had your gift!" How do you handle those words as a creative artist? Somewhere between pride and self-abasement lies true humility—just one aspect of the balanced character God wants to instill in you as an actor, a musician, a visual artist, or other creative person involved in ministry. God is interested in your art and your heart. The Heart of the Artist deals head-on with issues every person in an arts ministry faces: •Servanthood Versus Stardom •Excellence Versus Perfectionism •The Spiritual Disciplines of the Artist •The Artist in Community . . . and more The Heart of the Artist will give you a better understanding of yourself and your unique place in the body of Christ. You'll find wisdom and encouragement that can help you survive the challenges and reap the rich joys of a ministry in the creative arts. "Breathtakingly personal, practical, and poignant."—Timothy Tien, New York, New York "I am better for having applied these principles. . . . A must-read for church staff, creative types, growing Christians, human beings."—Rev. Ginny Allen, Jackson, Mississippi "Rory Noland pinpoints issues that often arise in the life of the artist, and gives good, biblical solutions. A must-have for Christian artists in any field."—Tom Hinkle, Tulsa, Oklahoma Rory Noland is director of Heart of the Artist Ministries (www.heartoftheartist.org), an organization dedicated to turning teams of church artists into communities of grace. A composer songwriter, author, and speaker, Rory is a graduate of the Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University and served for twenty years as music director at Willow Creek Community Church.
Blues: For All the Changes: New Poemsby Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Apr 21, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Intimate, edgy, and unapologetic, Blues: For All the Changes bears the mark of Nikki Giovanni's unmistakable voice.In a career that has spanned three decades, Giovanni has created an indispensable body of work and earned a place amoung the nation's most celebrated and controversial poets; Gloria Naylor calls her "one of our national treasures." Now, in these fifty-two new poems, Giovanni brings the passion, fearless wit, and intensely personal self that have defined her life's work to a new front.Invoking the fates and exalting the rhythm of the everyday, Giovanni writes with might and majesty. From the environment to our reliance on manners, from sex and politics to love among Black folk, Blues is a masterwork with poems for every soul and every mood: The poignant "Stealing Home" pays tribute to Jackie Robinson, while "Road Rage Blues" jams on time and space; Giovanni celebrates love's absolut power in "Train Rides" and laments life's trasience in "Me and Mrs. Robin." With the tenderness that has made her on of our most accessible and beloved poets, Giovanni evokes a world that is not only just but also happy. Her powerful stand engages the world with a truth telling that is as eloquent as it is elegant.Intimate, edgy, and unapologetic, Blues For All the Changes bears the mark of Nikki Giovanni's unmistakable voice. At once political and intensely personal, this long-awaited volume embodies the fearless passion and wit that have made Nikki Giovanni one of our most accessible poets; her audience defies all boundaries of race, class, age, and style.From the poignant "Stealing Home," Ms. Giovanni's tribute to Jackie Robinson, to the defiant "Road Rage Blues," a jam on time and space, these fifty-one poems challenge the fates and invoke the precarious state of our environment, Giovanni's battle with illness, manners, and other topics seminal to one of our most compassionate, outspoken observers.With a reverence for the power of language, Blues For All the Changes will once again enchant Nikki Giovanni's extensive following and inspire those who are newly discovering her work.
Respecting the Soul: Daily Reflections for Black Lesbians and Gaysby Keith Boykin
Avon Books (P) (Apr 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
DAILY AFFIRMATIONS FOR SPIRITUAL RENEWAL, EMPOWERMENT, FUFILLMENT AND GROWTH We're looking for answers to life's questions. We all want to reach our goals, maintain a loving relationship, and strengthen our ties to family and community. But how do we face our doubts and fears? How do we reconcile the prejudice of others with the truth we know about ourselves? And how do we deal with the obstacles that stand in our way? The primary challenge facing black lesbians and gays are internal, not external. The deepest wounds are usually self-inflicted, leaving behind the scars of internalized racism and homophobia. With a unique insight for every day of the calendar year, Respecting the Soul can help change this reality by provoking, inspiring and empowering you, sensitizing your families and friends, and sharing the wisdom and experience of hundreds of well-known people who have contributed to our collected history. Let the words of acclaimed black gender-benders like Alvin Ailey, Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, Peter J. Gomes, Lorraine Hansberry, E. Lynn Harris, Carl Lewis, Little Richard, and RuPaul inspire and uplift you-and give you the encouragement you need to respect your soul.
Civilityby Stephen L. Carter
Harper Perennial (Mar 03, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
The acclaimed author of "The Culture of Disbelief" proves to readers that manners matter to the future of America.
Race For Success: The Ten Best Business Opportunities For Blacks In Americaby George C. Fraser
Amistad (Feb 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Race For Success is both an inspiration and a game plan for people just starting out, as well as for those looking for a career change. Infused throughout with Fraser's passionate, positive message and clear-cut direction, it is backed by profiles of ten top Black achievers who share the secrets of their success.
Tempest Rising: A Novelby Diane McKinney-Whetstone
Harper Perennial (Jan 20, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Set in west Philadelphia in the early sixties, Tempest Rising tells the story of three sisters, Bliss, Victoria, and Shern, budding adolescents raised in a world of financial privilege among the upper-black-class. But their lives quickly unravel as their father's lucrative catering business collapses. He disappears and is presumed dead, and their mother suffers an apparent breakdown. The girls are wrenched from their mother, and as the novel opens they are living in foster care in a working-class neighborhood in the home of Mae, a politically connected card shark. Though Mae is filled with syrupy names like "pudding" and "doll face" for the foster girls, she is abusive to her own child, Ramona, a twenty-something stunning beauty. As Ramona struggles with Mae's abuse and her own hatred for the foster children, she also tries to keep at bay a powerful attraction she has for her boyfriend's father.Diane McKinney-Whetstone richly evokes the early 1960s in west Philadelphia in this spicy story of loss and healing, redemption and love.
Blues People: Negro Music in White Americaby Amiri Baraka
Harper Perennial (Jan 20, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
"The path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music — through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz… [If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music."So says Amiri Baraka in the Introduction to Blues People, his classic work on the place of jazz and blues in American social, musical, economic, and cultural history. From the music of African slaves in the United States through the music scene of the 1960's, Baraka traces the influence of what he calls "negro music" on white America — not only in the context of music and pop culture but also in terms of the values and perspectives passed on through the music. In tracing the music, he brilliantly illuminates the influence of African Americans on American culture and history.
Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Classby Lawrence Otis Graham
Harper (Jan 06, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Debutante cotillions. Arranged marriages. Summer trips to Martha's Vineyard. All-black boarding schools. Memberships in the Links, Deltas, Boul�, or Jack and Jill. Million-dollar homes. An obsession with good hair, light complexions, top credentials, and colleges like Howard, Spelman, and Harvard… This is the world of the black upper classan exclusive, mostly hidden group that lives awkwardly between white America and mainstream black America. Our Kind of People is the first book written about the insular world of the black upper class by a member of this hard-to-penetrate group. A conservative network of families dating back to the first black millionaires of the 1880s, the black elite has developed its own rules for membership and for maintaining a place in a world that is unaware of its vast contributions. Through six years of interviews with more than three hundred prominent families and individuals, journalist and commentator Lawrence Otis Graham weaves together the revealing stories and fascinating experiences of upper-class blacks who grew up with privilege and power. Best known for his provocative New York magazine expos� of elite golf clubs, when he left his law firm and went undercover as a busboy at an all-white Connecticut country club, Graham now turns his attention to the black elite. Sometimes gossipy and always poignant, Graham visits and profiles upper-class families and institutions in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Detroit, Nashville, Memphis, Los Angeles, and New Orleansalways revealing who passes the "brown paper bag and ruler test" and who doesn't. With photographs and stories, the author takes us to the mansions they built in the 1880s, as well as to black-tie debutante cotillions and dinners hosted by the "best" families and social groups. He visits families that trace their lineage to prominent whites, profiles major politicians, and interviews guests who attended a famous $60,000 wedding held in 1923 by New York's wealthiest black family. He takes us on a limousine ride with the richest black man in America and introduces us to socialites who are adept at screening celebrities, Baptists, and "new money" blacks out of their circles. Graham reveals the history of the black summer camps and boarding schools that opened in the 1920s, and the black insurance firms and banks that were founded in the 1930s. Our Kind of People even takes us into the Wall Street offices and Fifth Avenue apartments of today's millionaire black bankers and entrepreneur, who make up the new wave of elite African Americans. Weaving together these stories with his own first-person narrativeone that tells of his childhood experiences in black elite social clubs and of wealthy family friends who "passed" for white in order to gain access to better jobsGraham reveals a group that has been simultaneously heroic, snobbish, generous, and ambitious. Both poignant and inspirational, Our Kind of People gives readers a firsthand look into a very private community that has played a major role in American history.
In The Spiritby Susan L. Taylor
Amistad (Jan 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Twenty-two lifelines to personal growth and fulfillment from the editor in chief of Essence magazine. When Susan L. Taylor rose to editor in chief of Essence magazine more than a decade ago, she began writing an editorial column in which she shares her thoughts and feelings about how developing one's inner awareness ensures the wisdom and clarity needed to create a deeply satisfying and fulfilling life. The monthly column called "In the Spirit" is one of the most popular in the magazine. Susan L. Taylor connects with the reader in a personal and meaningful way, in a voice that is sisterly, informed, and motivating. She challenges her readers to transcend their fears, to face inevitable challenges in their lives courageously, and to use change as an opportunity to grow. "We limit ourselves because change may well mean dealing with the disapproval of the very people we rely on for support. Often words of inspiration and motivation, but she also suggests specific methods for working through problems and improving our emotional and spiritual health. "We are not powerless spectators of life. We are co-creators with God, and all around is are the gifts, the clay, that we can use to shape our world," she says. Susan L. Taylor writes passionately about what she has seen and learned in the course of her travels throughout the United States, Caribbean, and Africa. Her essays have helped many to balance the demanding world of work and business with the personal world of family and friendship. She shares bits of her own life—her loves, her trails, and triumphs—and the lessons she's learned. Many of Susan L. Taylor's readers already collect her editorials and find in them a source of encouragement, self-affirmation, empowerment, and peace of mind. Now they can have new essays and a few previously published favorites elegantly bound in a gift-sized paperback edition to keep for themselves or to give as a gift of love to those who are special to them.
Girlfriendsby Connie Briscoe, Eva Rutland, and Anita Bunkley
HarperCollins (Jan 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Three African American Stories.
The Color of Our Future : Our Multiracial Futureby Farai Chideya
William Morrow (Jan 01, 1999)
Read Detailed Book Description
Since the Civil Rights movement, most Americans have thought of race as a black and white issue. That won't be the case for long. By the year 2050, there will be more nonwhite than white Americans, and most of the nonwhite population will be Asian and Latino, not black. Increasingly, America is becoming a multiracial society. Americans in their teens and twenties are at the forefront of this cultural revolution. In The Color of Our Future, young journalist Farai Chideya explores how members of the next generation deal with race in their own lives and how the decisions they make determine America's ethnic future. From urban hoods to Native American reservations to lily-white small towns, Chideya talks to young men and women about their personal views of race, painting a vivid portrait of a nation in transition. In clear, compelling language, she describes young people dealing with the complexities of diversity in their everyday lives. She writes of a young interracial couple pitted against their community in the South and of the white teens in Indiana, birthplace of the Klan, who get their black, hip-hop aesthetic from MTV. She interviews a Native American who wants to be the next Bill Gates, bringing computer access to his reservation in Montana, and a Mexican-American woman, working for the border patrol in El Paso, who catches the destitute Mexicans who flock into the United States to work for affluent white Texans. All these young people have clear, strong ideas about the impact of race on everything from education to pop culture. They are honest, sometimes brutally so, about their own prejudices. Their moving stories are the blueprint for the future of America. With a discerning ear and sharp insight, Chideya allows the voices of the next generation(black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, and multiracial(to ring out with truth and clarity and guide us to the kaleidoscope of our future.
For The Love Of The Game: Michael Jordan And Me (Trophy Picture Books)by Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Dec 17, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
This inspiring poem encourages children to view life with the same determination and passion that Michael Jordan displays in how he plays basketball. By listening to their inner voice and looking to those who love and support them, children can find their own way to fly. Distinguished poet Eloise Greenfield and celebrated artist Jan Spivey Gilchrist honor the beauty of the human spirit and offer a timeless message that will resonate with readers young and old.
Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Womanby Queen Latifah
William Morrow (Dec 16, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
Queen Latifah is a sensation.At nineteen, she was the first female solo rapper to have a major record deal. Four years later she had become a top television actress and movie star. She earned a Grammy, started a record label, and became the president of her own company. Today she is rap music's most enduring female force. But how did Dana Owens, a young girl from Newark, New Jersey, become Queen Latifah and make it to the top of the charts? The most powerful voice in rap has always been quiet about her life. Until now.At once autobiographical and inspirational, Ladies First is the story of a young woman, making tough decisions and terrible mistakes — about sex and drugs and about who was real and who wasn't — before she was old enough to drive. It is about the reign of depression that descended on her after her brother's tragic death and how she found a sustaining love in God when it seemed the world was trying to break her. Ladies First is about being confident and sensual in a big, strong body and about blocking out the junk to let in the good. It is about how anyone — whether from the poorest means or the richest — can hold her head high in a world full of attitude.In a queen's universe, each experience is a lesson. Keeping it real and making no excuses, Queen Latifah shares her truth about what's important in life. Full of wisdom and revelations, Ladies First will instill in you the same self-esteem, respect, and courage that brought Queen Latifah peace and her independent edge. Allow her to guide you to discover who you are — inside and out-as you discover who she is.Ladies First is one woman's journey to find the riches that were in her life all along, and it is a message of majesty for everyone.With Ladies First, the queen who lives within all of us will rise.
Steppin' Out with Attitude: Sister, Sell Your Dream!by Anita Bunkley
Harper Perennial (Oct 01, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
Bestselling novelist and motivational speaker Anita Bunkley shows women, especially African American women, how to put their talent, service, dream, or product in the spotlight. Whether you're a businesswoman, an entrepreneur, or a young woman entering the job market, Steppin' Out with Attitude will help you put your unique talents and abilities to work. Anita Bunkley empathetically addresses those readers who have a tendency to downplay their skills and to undersell themselves. Through short exercises and practical tips, she provides a step-by-step program that offers both practical advice and emotional support. Quotes, inspirational passages, stories about the author's life experiences as a novelist and motivational speaker, and testimonials from prominent women will also help you pave the way to success. Bunkley zeroes in on the three D's: desire, discipline, and drive. Self-knowledge is the key to maximizing potential, and Bunkley helps you crystallize your goals and provide a solid understanding of what is fueling your quest. Steppin' Out with Attitude shows you how to: set lofty goals and eliminate procrastination shun the victim mentality be bold enough to contact sisters for mentoring and support exchange destructive habits for constructive ones forgive and forget—immediately develop a money management system that works for you write effective r�sum�s, press releases, and marketing materials look and act as if you've already arrived believe sincerity will be rewarded Practical and motivational, Steppin' Out with Attitude gives women the confidence to go for it!
The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race In Americaby Shelby Steele
Harper Perennial (Sep 23, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this controversial essay collection, award-winning writer Shelby Stelle illuminates the origins of the current conflict in race relations—the increase in anger, mistrust, and even violence between black and whites. With candor and persuasive argument, he shows us how both black and white Americans have become trapped into seeing color before character, and how social policies designed to lessen racial inequities have instead increased them. The Content of Our Character is neither "liberal" nor "conservative," but an honest, courageous look at America's most enduring and wrenching social dilemma.
Miss Opheliaby Mary Burnett Smith
William Morrow (Sep 16, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
Part coming-of-age story and part slice of life, this remarkable novel explores the issues of abortion, illegitimacy, adultery, and skin color.Rural Virginia, 1948. Belly Anderson is now in the autumn of her life. She cannot help but reminisce about the last summer of her childhood and the events that transpired which irrevocably changed her.A strong-willed and free-spirited eleven-year-old, Belly reluctantly leaves her home in rural Pharaoh and goes to Jamison to help her mean Aunt Rachel recover from surgery. Belly has two reasons for deciding to go to Jamison: She's left alone when her only friend becomes pregnant and is sent away, and she hopes that she'll be allowed to take piano lessons from Miss Ophelia—her mother's childhood friend.While taking lessons from Miss Ophelia, Belly soon grows very fond of her teacher and forms a deep bond with her. Then, she learns a terrible secret about Miss Ophelia—a secret that forces Belly to grow up and learn what it really means to be an adult.Compelling, moving, and deeply absorbing, Miss Ophelia is an unforgettable, timely story that will resonate with readers long after the final page is turned.
No Hiding Place: A Tamara Hayle Mysteryby Valerie Wilson Wesley
Avon (Sep 01, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
In just three Tamara Hayle mysteries, Valerie Wilson Wesley has created one of the most memorable private investigators to hit urban streets in years. As the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel has proclaimed, "Tamara continues to emerge as a strong, decisive woman." When the grieving mother of a slain hoodlum begs the Newark p.i. to look into the unsolved murder, Tamara initially refuses, but then discovers a connection between the victim and her late policeman brother. Her search for the truth takes Tamara from the grittiest sections of the city to its middle class neighborhoods where family secrets are preserved at any cost. However, as the case creeps into her personal life, Tamara learns that when it comes to murderthere is no hiding place.
Black Boyby Richard Wright
HarperCollins (Aug 05, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
You'll find Black Boy on President Obama's Bookshelf
This incredible bestselling classic is Richard Wright's unforgettable and eloquent autobiography of growing up in the Jim Crow South.
Black Boy is Richard Wright's unforgettable story of growing up in the Jim Crow South. Published in 1945, it is often considered a fictionalized autobiography or an autobiographical novel because of Wright's use of fiction techniques (and possibly fictional events) to tell his story. Nevertheless, the book is a lyrical and skillfully wrought description of Wright's hungry youth in rural Mississippi and Memphis, told from the perspective of the adult Wright, who was still trying to come to grips with the cruel deprivations and humiliations of his childhood.
Life in the pre'civil rights South was intensely alienating for young Richard. At every turn, his desire to communicate was stunted, whether by famiIy members who insisted he "hush!" or by teachers who harassed and mocked him. He was surrounded by people he considered contemptibly ignorant, people who willingly allowed their lives to be restricted by tradition and authority no matter how illegitimate or self-destructive. Whether they were racist whites or passive, uncompassionate blacks, his fellow southerners viewed Richard's independence and intelligence with suspicion and scorned and humiliated him for his family's poverty. He lashed out by hitting the streets: He was already drinking by the time he turned six, and he fought constantly. He finally found his outlet in writing; by the end of the book, he decided that there was nothing he could ever do to improve his life in the South and committed to moving to Chicago to pursue his art.
When first published, Black Boy was considered by many to be an angry attack on the racist South because of Wright's hard-hitting portrayal of the racism he faced, not to mention his already-acquired reputation as a "protest writer." But the book's value goes deeper than that: Wright bears witness to the American struggle for the right of self-definition. His own quest to escape the suffocating world of his childhood and find a place where he could freely exercise his individuality, creativity, and integrity was ultimately successful. But Black Boy also offers insight into an entire culture of people, both black and white, who had unthinkingly accepted a narrowly prescribed course of life. As Wright put it, "[though] they lived in America where in theory there existed equality of opportunity, they knew unerringly what to aspire to and what not to aspire to." Despite Wright's stifling environment, his story is inspirational for its portrait of how a black boy shucked off the limited expectations of those around him and dared to aspire.—Sacred Fire
Skin Deep: The Story of Black Models in America and Abroadby Barbara Summers
Amistad (Aug 01, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
Black models are living proof that beauty is more than skin deep.Skin Deep brings readers face to face with some of the most beautiful women in the world: Black models. For the past 50 years they have redefined beauty, fashion, and style in dramatic ways. Each era would exalt its star models: Dorothea Towles, Helen Williams, Naomi Sims, Beverly Johnson, Iman, Naomi Campbell, and Tyra Banks, among them. Less well known are the many other talented, elegant women who enjoyed careers as well. At every level of achievement, however, they all confronted challenges testing their courage, endurance, and integrity.How they succeeded - and sometimes failed - is thecompelling essence of
Skin Deep.Only an insider could tell the story of Black models with the authenticity it deserves. Barbara Summers, a Ford model for 17 years, spent a decade interviewing dozens of models and fashion professionals on three continents to record their experiences. With insight and flair, she gives voice to familiar faces. With an artist's eye, she pored over hundreds of images by the world's most acclaimed photographers to select the more than 250 pictures that make this volume a landmark publication.Black models transformed the fashion industry.Popular culture around the world would never be the same again. Beyond advertisements for clothes and cosmetics, they projected visions of a far more precious but far less tangible product: freedom.
Magic City: A Novelby Jewell Parker Rhodes
Harper Perennial (Jun 23, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1921. A white woman and a black man are alone in an elevator. Suddenly, the woman screams, the man runs out, and the chase to capture and lynch him begins. When Joe, a young man trying to be the next Houdini, is accused of rape, he must perform his greatest escape by eluding a bloodthirsty lynch mob. And Mary, the motherless daughter of a farmer who tries to marry her off to the farmhand who viciously raped her, must find the courage to help exonerate the man she had accused with her panicked cry. Based on true events, Magic City is a portrait of an era, climaxing in the heroic but doomed stand that pitted the National Guard against a small band of black men determined to defend the town they had built into the "Negro Wall Street." Named by the Chicago Tribune as a Favorite Book of 1997
My Soul to Keepby Tananarive Due
HarperCollins Publishers (Apr 28, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
When Jessica marries David, he is everything she wants in a family man: brilliant, attentive, ever youthful. Yet she still feels something about him is just out of reach. Soon, as people close to Jessica begin to meet violent, mysterious deaths, David makes an unimaginable confession: More than 400 years ago, he and other members of an Ethiopian sect traded their humanity so they would never die, a secret he must protect at any cost. Now, his immortal brethren have decided David must return and leave his family in Miami. Instead, David vows to invoke a forbidden ritual to keep Jessica and his daughter with him forever.
Harrowing, engrossing and skillfully rendered, My Soul to Keep traps Jessica between the desperation of immortals who want to rob her of her life and a husband who wants to rob her of her soul. With deft plotting and an unforgettable climax, this tour de force reminiscent of early Anne Rice will win Due a new legion of fans.
Cumbayahby Floyd Cooper
Amistad (Apr 24, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Cumbayah" is an enduring campfire song for children and a source of inspiration for adults. Though its roots are in the African-American tradition, it speaks to people of many different cultures, ages, and religious. With power and grace, Floyd Cooper depicts scenes from everyday life that emphasize how people all over the world are united in spirit. Here is an uplifting book that, with its simple lyrics, can also help teach children to read and sing. A historical note and a musical arrangement are included.
My Aunt Came Back (Harper Growing Tree)by Pat Cummings
HarperFestival (Feb 28, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
My aunt came back.For toddlers just discovering the joy of mimicking words and sounds, this exuberant chant is perfect to read aloud.My aunt came back from Timbuktu
she brought me back a wooden shoe.
A favorite aunt travels to exotic-sounding places and back again, into the arms of her delighted niece. This spirited chant is perfect for reading aloud with toddlers just discovering the joy of mimicking new words and sounds.
My aunt came back from Timbuktu
she brought me back a wooden shoe.
A favorite aunt travels to exotic-sounding places and back again, into the arms of her delighted niece. This spirited chant is perfect for reading aloud with toddlers just discovering the joy of mimicking new words and sounds.
Color-Blind: Seeing Beyond Race In A Race-Obsessed Worldby Ellis Cose
Amistad (Jan 07, 1998)
Read Detailed Book Description
Is a truly race-netrual society possible? Can the United States wipe the slate clean and surmount the racism of its past? Or is color blindness just another name for denial? In this penetrating and provocative book, Ellis Cose probes the depths of the American mind and exposes the contradictions, fears, hopes and illusions embedded in our complicated perceptions of race. Looking beyond the platitudes and pronouncements that tend to distort reality rather than illuminate it, Cose offers a visionary analysis of the steps we must take if we are serious about finding a true resolution to the thorny problem of race in America.
Chinua Achebe: Critical Perspectives Past and Present (Amistad Literary Series)by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Amistad (Nov 01, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
Meet Danitra Brownby Nikki Grimes
Amistad (Sep 22, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
This spirited collection of poems introduces young readers to Danitra Brown, the most splendiferous girl in town, and her best friend, Zuri Jackson. "The poignant text and lovely pictures are an excellent collaboration, resulting in a look at touching moments of universal appeal."
Soul Foodby LaJoyce Brookshire
HarperTorch (Sep 05, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
Teri, Maxine and Bird are as different as three sisters could be. Teri is beautiful and practical, a successful lawyer who has no patience for dreamers. Maxine is a happy, loving wife and mother, but wonders if she is doing anything important with her life. Bird, the youngest, runs a thriving business, while her husband, an ex-con, can't seem to buy a break. As widely varied as they may be, all three come together to visit their mama's home every Sunday, working to put Mother Joe's delicious soul food on the table. But when Mother Joe takes ill suddenly, her family starts to fall apart at the seams. It is up to Ahmad, Maxine's young son, who has always shared a special bond with his grandmother, to show his aunts, uncles and parents how to find the heart and soul of their extraordinary family before it is lost forever. A movie from 20th Century Fox starring Vanessa Williams and Vivica A. Fox
Where Evil Sleepsby Valerie Wilson Wesley
Avon (Jun 01, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
Death doesn't take a holiday even when Tamara does.Off to sunny Kingston, Jamaica, for some much needed relaxation, former Newark cop and hard-working p.i. Tamara Hayle is pleased at first to join fellow Jersey homegirl, Lilah Love, for a night on the town. But with Lilah's abusive husband and his friend Delaware Brown along, the evening starts out bad and gets much worse especially when, after a blackout, the lights come abruptly up on a fresh corpse, a murder weapon with Tamara's fingerprints all over it, and two missing companions who have vanished with her money and identification.Now Tamara's at risk in a strange place far from home. She's already lost paradise. And with death heading her way again, she's about to lose a lot more unless she can stop a killer before the killer stops her.
The Spirit of a Man: A Vision of Transformation for Black Men and the Women Who Love Themby Iyanla Vanzant
HarperOne (May 09, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
Dynamic and truthful, inspirational and wise; Iyanla Vanzant, author, orator and authority on spirituality from an African perspective, delivers a soaring message of faith and empowerment to Black men and to their mothers, daughters, and wives.Long known as the country's leading authority on spirituality and empowerment of Black women, Iyanla Vanzant now offers a message of faith, self-knowledge, and courage for Black men in struggles, crises, and victories we face in today's society. Teaching Black men to recognize and tap the energy of our own spirits, Vanzant uses a brilliant and transforming blend of ancient African spirituality, practical self-help advice, and contemporary faith to help Black men—and the women who love them—nurture the strength and power that are our birthright.
America's Dreamby Esmeralda Santiago
Harper Perennial (Apr 25, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
America Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, cleaning up after wealthy foreigners who don't look her in the eye. America's Dream is a lyrical first novel of her emancipation from abusive relationships and her journey of self-discovery to America. "I wish I could write like Esmeralda Santiago! …Read this book: be inspired." —Terry McMillan.
Black Lies, White Lies: The Truth According to Tony Brownby Tony Brown
William Morrow Paperbacks (Feb 24, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
PBS television commentator and syndicated radio talk-show host Tony Brown has been called an "out-of-the-box thinker" and, less delicately, and "equal opportunity ass kicker." Those who attempt to pigeonhole him do so at their own peril. This journalist, media commentator, self-help advocate, entrepreneur, public speaker, film director, and author is a hard man to pin a label on — and an even more difficult man to fool.In Black Lies, White Lies, Tony Brown does what few high-profile African Americans have done before: He dares to challenge the lies of both Black and White leaders, and he dares to tell the truth. He attacks White racism and Black self-victimization with equal vehemence. He condemns integration as a disastrous policy, not for just Blacks but for the entire country. And he confronts the Black Talented Tenth, White liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, demagogues, and racists on all sides for their self-serving lies, their failures, and their lack of vision.But Tony Brown does not simply slash and burn. He also offers farsighted, workable solutions to America's problems. He provides a blueprint for American renewal bases on his belief that although we may not have come to this country on the same ship, we are all now in the same boat.
Love Poemsby Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Feb 14, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
In a career that has spanned more than a quarter century, Nikki Giovanni has earned the reputation as one of America's most celebrated and contoversial writers.Now, she presents a stunning collection of love poems that includes more than twenty new works.From the revolutionary "Seduction" to the tender new poem, "Just a Simple Declaration of Love," from the whimsical "I Wrote a Good Omelet" to the elegiac "All Eyez on U," written for Tupac Shakur, these poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which Nikki Giovanni is beloved and revered.Romantic, bold, and erotic, Love Poems expresses notions of love in ways that are delightfully unexpected. Articulating in sensuous verse what we know only instinctively, Nikki Giovanni once again confirms her place as one of our nations's most distinguished poets and powerful truth-tellers.In a career that has spanned more than a quarter century, starting with her explosive early years in the Black Rights Movement, Nikki Giovanni has earned a reputation as one of America's most celebrated and controversial writers. Her mind-speaking work has made her a universal favorite and a number-one best-seller.The love poems-the revolutionary "Seduction," the whimsical "I Wrote a Good Omelet," and the tender "My House" to name just a few-are among the most beloved of all Nikki Giovanni's works. Now, Love Poems brings together these and other favorites with over twenty new poems. Romantic, bold, and erotic, Love Poems will once again confirm Nikki Giovanni's place among the country's most renowned poets and truth tellers.
Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen: A Biographyby Jervis Anderson
HarperCollins (Feb 01, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
Bayard Rustin's influence on American culture is perhaps immeasurable. He played a key role in infusing the Civil Rights movement with the principles of nonviolence; one of the movement's ablest strategists, he was responsible for organizing two of its most momentous events.
In this biography, Jervis Anderson, who once worked with Rustin, describes the life of this leading Black intellectual from his imprisonment as a conscientious observer during WWII to his relationships with Dr. King, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Dorothy Height and the controversy he caused in his later years when he took issue with certain aspects of the Black Power movement. Written with the cooperation of Rustin's friends and colleagues, and with complete access to his personal papers, this is the definitive biography of one of the most important heroes of the Civil Rights movement.
As organizer of the 1963 March on Washington,
the Montgomery bus boycott, and architect of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
Rustin's influence on American culture has been immeasurable. Written with complete access
to Rustin's personal papers, this biography delves into the character of this influential
man. Photos.
Review from Kirkus :
A vividly rendered life of a critical figure in the African- American struggle for civil rights. Bayard Rustin, writes New Yorker staff writer Anderson (This Was Harlem, 1982), was a man of sometimes contradictory parts--so much so that at his funeral service a friend described Rustin (19121987) as ``a Quaker without an ounce of goodyness; an ex-communist without a trace of vindictiveness; a Gandhian without one trace of holiness; an ex-con without one trace of self-pity or self-dramatization; a passionate advocate of civil rights who wasted little time brooding about racism.'' He was also an intellectual of complex, learned tastes, a collector of art and textiles, a skilled interpreter of Bach and Donizetti, a champion of Alvin Ailey's dance company, and a fine athlete.
Drawing on interviews with dozens of Rustin's acquaintances and colleagues, Anderson recounts the activist's contributions to African-American culture and to the work of organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Congress for Racial Equality. Jailed for 28 months for refusing conscription during WW II, Rustin was also an early disciple of Gandhi, and it was he who made the Indian pacifist's ideas an important part of Dr. Martin Luther King's program. Those ideas were lost in the militancy of the late 1960s and early '70s, Anderson writes, and Rustin's role in the movement was diminished. Anderson carefully examines Rustin's many contributions to the civil-rights movement, noting that ``no important black figure of his generation responded to as many causes in which the values of democracy and fair play were at stake.'' Although he never achieved prominence as a leader in these causes, and indeed was marginalized in many of them, Rustin was, Anderson maintains, of inestimable importance in making them known. This well-written biography is a fitting tribute to a great civil libertarian.
The Darden Dilemma: 12 Black Writers on Justice, Race, and Conflicting Loyaltiesby Ellis Cose
HarperCollins (Jan 01, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
Explores the stark differences in white and black perceptions of American justice in a collection of essays by twelve eminent African-American writers, scholars, and legal professionals—including Ellis Cose, Anita Hill, and Stanley Crouch.
Kia Tanishaby Eloise Greenfield
Harpercollins Childrens Books (Jan 01, 1997)
Read Detailed Book Description
Loving to run more than anything else, the exuberant Kia Tanisha is frustrated when she is always told to stop, until her big sister finds a place where Kia can run and run without crashing into anything.
Integrityby Stephen L. Carter
Harper Perennial (Dec 19, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
Why do we care more about winning than about playing by the rules? Integrity - all of us are in favor of it, but nobody seems to know how to make sure that we get it. From presidential candidates to crusading journalists to the lords of collegiate sports, everybody promises to deliver integrity, yet all too often, the promises go unfulfilled. Stephen Carter examines why the virtue of integrity holds such sway over the American political imagination. By weaving together insights from philosophy, theology, history and law, along with examples drawn from current events and a dose of personal experience, Carter offers a vision of integrity that has implications for everything from marriage and politics to professional football. He discusses the difficulties involved in trying to legislate integrity as well as the possibilities for teaching it. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer said, "In a measured and sensible voice, Carter attempts to document some of the paradoxes and pathologies that result from pervasive ethical realism… If the modern drift into relativism has left us in a cultural and political morass, Carter suggests that the assumption of personal integrity is the way out."
Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential For Excellenceby Ben Carson
Amistad (Dec 08, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
In this follow-up to his best-selling Gifted Hands, Dr. Ben Carson prescribes his personal formula for success. And who could better advise than a man who has transformed himself from a ghetto kid into the most celebrated pediatric neurosurgeon in the world? With an acrostic, Dr. Carson spells out his philosophy of living: T-Talents/time: Recognize them as gifts. H -Hope for all good things and be honest. I -Insight from people and good books. N -Be nice to all people. K -Knowledge: Recognize it as the key to living. B -Books: Read them actively. I -In-depth learning skills: Develop them. G -God: Never get too big for Him. Think Big emphasizes how to evaluate and respond to problems in order to overcome them and make the most of your inner potential. Written in the tradition of his best-selling autobiography Gifted Hands, Think Big is guaranteed to touch the hearts of readers everywhere.
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Storyby Ben Carson
Amistad (Dec 08, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
Ben Carson, M.D., works medical miracles. Today, he's one of the most celebrated neurosurgeons in the world. In Gifted Hands, he tells of his inspiring odyssey from his childhood in inner-city Detroit to his position as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital at age 33. Ben Carson is a role model for anyone who attempts the seemingly impossible as he takes you into the operating room where he has saved countless lives. Filled with fascinating case histories, this is the dramatic and intimate story of Ben Carson's struggle to beat the odds — and of the faith and genius that make him one of the greatest life-givers of the century.
Wole Soyinka: Critical Perspectives Past and Present (Amistad Literary Series)by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Amistad (Nov 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
Eight Men: Short Storiesby Richard Wright
Harper Perennial (Oct 09, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Wright's unrelenting bleak landscape was not merely that of the Deep South, or of Chicago, but that of the world, of the human heart," said James Baldwin, and here, in these powerful stories, Richard Wright takes readers into this landscape one again. Eight Men presents eight stories of black men living at violent odds with the white world around them. As they do in his classic novels, the themes here reflect Wright's views on racism and his fascination with what he called"the struggle of the individual in America"
Shortcutby Donald Crews
Greenwillow Books (Sep 20, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
The train tracks ran right by Bigmama's house in Cottondale, and the children were warned to stay off the tracks. But one night they were late, and the tracks were a shortcut, so they started off. And when there was no turning back, they heard the train coming.
A Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized Worldby Lawrence Otis Graham
Harper Perennial (Aug 30, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
Informed and driven by his experience as an upper-middle-class African American who lives and works in a predominately white environment, provocative author Lawrence Otis Graham offers a unique perspective on the subject of race. An uncompromising work that will challenge the mindset of every reader, Member of the Club is a searching book of essays ranging from examining life as a black Princetonian and corporate lawyer to exploring life as a black busboy at an all white country-club. From New York magazine cover stories Invisible Man and Harlem on My Mind to such new essays as "I Never Dated a White Girl" and "My Dinner with Mister Charlie: A Black Man's Undercover Guide to Dining with Dignity at Ten Top New York Restaurants," Graham challenges racial prejudice among White Americans while demanding greater accountability and self-determination from his peers in black America. "In Member of the Club. [Graham writes of] heartbreaking ironies and contradictions, indignities and betrayals in the life of an upper-class black man." —Philadelphia Inquirer "Lawrence Graham Surely knows about the pressures of being beholden to two very different groups." —Los Angeles Times Lawrence Otis Graham is a popular commentator on race and ethnicity. The author of ten other books, his work has appeared in New York magazine, the New York Times and The Best American Essays.
Purging Racism from Christianity: Freedom & Purpose Through Identityby Jeff Edwards
Zondervan (Jun 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
Jefferson Edwards issues a call for blacks to know and accept their biblical identity, erase inferiority, and unite white and black children of God.
Devil's Gonna Get Him (Tamara Hayle Mysteries)by Valerie Wilson Wesley
Avon (Jun 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
Cop-turned-struggling p.i., Tamara Hoyle is a hardworking sisterWith bills to pay and a teenage son to raise. So when LincolnStorey the richest, rudest black man in the county-offers herbig bucks to dig up the dirt on his stepdaughter's lover, Tamaragladly agrees, even though said lover once broke her heart. Butthen Storey drops dead at his own fancy fundraiser right beforeTamara's very eyes. And before she knows it, ties of loyalty andfriendship have dragged her deep into a lethal world of treacheryand dangerous ambitions, where everybody has a nasty littlesecret and is better off With Lincoln Storey dead.
We Need to Talkby Robert G. Barnes
Zondervan (Apr 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
Marriage-enrichment specialists Robert and Rosemary Barnes show you how to overcome roadblocks to communication and develop heart-level intimacy with your spouse. Drawing from a wealth of real-life experiences, they share insights that will help you unlock doors to thoughts and feelings. You'll learn how to move past each other's outer walls to discover the rich, often fragile world that lies inside. We Need to Talk is a hands-on, "how-to" book for couples at all stages of marriage. Helpful summaries and questions at the end of each chapter encourage open and honest sharing and provide practical ways for you to - Reduce misunderstandings and defensiveness - Set aside time for meaningful conversation - Get through to a clammed-up "shellfish," a prickly "porcupine," an elusive "prairie dog," or a vegged-out "couch potato" - Talk frankly about sensitive subjects — including sex - Rebuild communication after a serious rift. This engaging, easy-to-read book helps you communicate heart-to-heart — for a lifetime.
The Betweenby Tananarive Due
Harper Perennial (Mar 27, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
When Hilton was just a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake. When Hilton's wife, the only elected African-American judge in Dade County, FL, begins to receive racist hate mail, he becomes obsessed with protecting his family. Soon, however, he begins to have horrible nightmares, more intense and disturbing than any he has ever experienced. Are the strange dreams trying to tell him something? His sense of reality begins to slip away as he battles both the psychotic threatening to destroy his family and the even more terrifying enemy stalking his sleep. Chilling and utterly convincing, The Between follows the struggles of a man desperately trying to hold on to the people and life he loves, but may have already lost. The compelling plot holds readers in suspense until the final, profound moment of resolution.
Finding Our Way: The Teen Girls' Survival Guideby Linda Villarosa
Harper Perennial (Feb 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
A unique, illustrated guide that helps teen girls discover who they are, what they want in life, and how they can get it in today's complex world.
The Garden Thrives: Twentieth-Century African-American Poetryby Clarence Major
Harper Perennial (Feb 01, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Garden Thrives: 20th Century African-American Poetry, edited by Clarence Major, collects the best of what African-American poets have to offer. Featuring works that span from the turn of the century through the Harlem Renaissance and the profoundly political 1960s and '70s to the diversity of contemporary society, The Garden Thrives is the first truly comprehensive anthology of 20th-century African-American poetry. The Garden Thrives showcases luminaries and heretofore lesser-knowns, with pieces by well-known contemporary poets, standouts from the Harlem Renaissance and works from the turn of the century, when many black American poets published to a solely black audience. The Garden Thrives contains the work of nearly 100 poets, including Nobelist Derek Walcott; Pulitzer-winners Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa and Gwendolyn Brooks; Paul Laurence Dunbar; Jean Toomer; Langston Hughes; Arna Bontemps; Countee Cullen; Audre Lorde; Alice Walker; Robert Hayden; Esses Hemphill; Ntozake Shange and Nikki Giovanni. As the end of the century approaches, The Garden Thrives eloquently demonstrates that African-American poets have been instrumental in defining and advancing the aesthetic of poetry in this country.
The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1995by Nikki Giovanni
William Morrow (Jan 11, 1996)
Read Detailed Book Description
When Nikki Giovanni's poems first emerged from the Black Rights Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately took a place among the most celebrated and controversial poets of the era. Finally, here is the first compilation of Nikki Giovanni's poetry. It is the testimony of a life's work from one of the commanding voices to grace America's political and poetic landscape at the end of the twentieth century.From the revolutionary "The Great Pax Whitie" and "Poem for Aretha" to the sublime "Ego Tripping" and the tender "My House," these 150 mind-speaking, truth-telling poems are at once powerful yet sensual, angry yet affirming. Arranged chronologically, they reflect the changes Giovanni has endured as a Black woman, lover, mother, teacher, and poet. Here is the evocation of a nation's past and present — intensely personal and fiercely political — from one of our most compassionate, outspoken observers.
Rite of Passageby Richard Wright
HarperTeen (Dec 19, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Johnny, you're leaving us tonight . . ." Fifteen-year-old Johnny Gibbs does, well in school, respects his teachers, and loves his family. Then suddenly, with a few short words, his idyllic life is shattered. He learns that the family he has loved all his life is not his own, but a foster family. And now he is being sent to live with someone else. Shocked by the news, Johnny does the only thing he can think of: he runs. Leaving his childhood behind forever, Johnny takes to the streets where he learns about living life—the hard way. Richard Wright, internationally acclaimed author of Black Boy and Native Son, gives us a coming-of-age story as compelling today as when it was first written, over fifty years ago."Johnny Gibbs arrives home jubilantly one day with his straight A report card to find his belongings packed and his mother and sister distraught. Devastated when they tell him that he is not their blood relative and that he is being sent to a new foster home, he runs away. His secure world quickly shatters into a nightmare of subways, dark alleys, theft and street warfare… Striking characters, vivid dialogue, dramatic descriptions, and enduring themes introduce a enw generation of readers to Wright's powerful voice."—SLJ. Notable 1995 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
Brown Honey in Broomwheat Teaby Joyce Carol Thomas
Amistad (Dec 08, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
�A cycle of a dozen lyrical poems exploring issues of African-American identity through delicately interwoven images. . . . Laden with meaning, the poetry is significant and lovely. Cooper's paintings, with vibrant, unsentimentalized characters in earth tone illumined with gold, are warm, contemplative'a beautiful complement to Thomas's eloquence. A must.' 'K. �Poems rooted in home, family, and the African-American experience…. Highly readable and attractive.' 'BL.
1994 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book for Nonfiction
1994 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book for Illustration
1994 Teachers' Choices (IRA)
Notable 1994 Childrens' Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
1994 Notable Trade Books in the Language Arts (NCTE)
100 Books for Reading and Sharing (NY Public Library)
1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)
The Great Migration: An American Storyby Jacob Lawrence
HarperCollins (Sep 15, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
Around the time of WWI, large numbers of African Americans began leaving their homes in the rural South in search of employment in the industrial cities of the North. In 1940, Lawrence chronicled their journey of hope in a flowing narrative sequence of paintings."This stirring picture book brings together the sixty panels of Lawrence's epic narrative Migration series, which he created in 1940-1941. They tell of the journey of African-Americans who left their homes in the South around World War I and traveled in search of better lives in the northern industrial cities. Lawrence is a storyteller with words as well as pictures: his captions and introduction to this book are the best commentary on his work. A poem at the end by Walter Dean Myers also reveals [as do the paintings] the universal in the particulars." ��BL.
Notable Children's Books of 1994 (ALA)
1993 Books for Youth Editors' Choices (BL)
1994 Teachers' Choices (IRA)
Notable 1994 Childrens' Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
1994 Carter G. Woodson Outstanding Merit Book (NCSS)
1994 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
When Death Comes Stealing (Tamara Hayle Mysteries)by Valerie Wilson Wesley
Avon (Jul 01, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
A tough and savvy Newark cop-turned-P.I., Tamara Hoyleis a sister with a mission: to raise her kid right in a mean town. But now the post has come knocking — bringing trouble to her door in the person of her "dog" of a former husband, DeWayne.Suspicious "accidents" have claimed the lives of two ofDeWayne's sons from different marriages. And though goodsense warns Tamara to steer clear of her charming, lowdown ex, she has little choice but to offer him her investigative expertise — because a killer may now be drawing fatally close to home — to Tamara's only son.
A Man's World: How Real Is Male Privilege - And How High Is Its Price?by Ellis Cose
Amistad (Jun 01, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
The author reports on the discontent and confusion men are feeling as changing gender roles and expectations challenge the very core of male identity. The author makes clear that white men are the only males feeling vulnerable and off balance. Black men are considered a pathologically dangerous and endangered species. But, many men regardless of race or ethnicity fear that their rights and roles are shrinking before their eyes.
White Man, Listen!by Richard Wright
Harper Perennial (May 01, 1995)
Read Detailed Book Description
Originally published in 1957, White Man, Listen! is comprised of lectures Wright delivered in Europe. Wright has much of merit to say about psychology of the world's darker peoples. Awareness of this psychology on the part of Western diplomats and newspapermen should make for the reporting of less nonsense than has been true in the past. Recommended for public, college and university.
The Rage Of A Privileged Class: Why Are Middle-Class Blacks Angry? Why Should America Care?by Ellis Cose
Amistad (Dec 02, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
A controversial and widely heralded look at the race-related pain and anger felt by the most respected, best educated, and wealthiest members of the black community.
Body & Soul: The Black Women's Guide to Physical Health and Emotional Well-Beingby Linda Villarosa
Harper Perennial (Nov 01, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sponsored by the National Black Women's Health Project, this honest, straight-from-the-heart guide addresses the physical, emotional, and spiritual health issues and concerns of Black women today.
Mary McLeod Bethune (Crowell Biographies)by Eloise Greenfield
HarperCollins (Jul 21, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
"The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest."These are the words of Mary McLeod Bethune. She worked her whole life to make the world a better place. As a child, she loved to read. As a woman, she loved to teach. She started a school; she founded a hospital. Everywhere she saw a need, she searched for a solution.
Nouvelle Soul: Short Storiesby Barbara Summers
Amistad (Jun 01, 1994)
Read Detailed Book Description
William and the Good Old Daysby Eloise Greenfield
HarperCollins (Oct 20, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
�Once again Greenfield displays commendable sensitivity in this story about an African-American boy who must cope with a beloved grandmother's illness.'—Publishers Weekly. �This poignant exploration of a child's feelings of loss, sorrow, and hope features a closely knit African-American family and community, lovingly depicted in paintings.� A wonderful sense of neighborhood permeates the pages of this touching book.'—SLJ.
Notable 1994 Childrens' Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
A Hard Road To Glory: A History Of The African American Athlete: Vol 3 1946-Presentby Arthur Ashe
Amistad (Oct 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
This informative book gives readers the whole history of blacks in baseball, from its infancy in black colleges to the present, covering the establishment of both major leagues and the Negro Leagues, Jackie Robinson's reintegration of professional sports, and Curt Flood's struggle to establish a free agency.
A Hard Road To Glory: A History Of The African American Athlete: Boxingby Arthur Ashe
Amistad (Oct 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
Boxing has given the African-American athlete an opportunity to catch the national imagination through physical prowess. The earlier boxers, such as Jack Johnson and Joe Louis, stood as symbols of black equality if not superiority. Even before Johnson there were super black boxers. This book tells their stories and looks at their records. The text and reference materials for this book were taken from the three-volume set, A Hard Road to Glory,and combined into this single volume.
A Hard Road To Glory: A History Of The African American Athlete: Footballby Arthur Ashe
Amistad (Oct 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
African-American athletes changed the game of football. Who? How? and When? are the questions answered in this volume devoted completely to the African-American's participation in football. It has the stories and records of club, college and professional players, as well as coaches — including the achievements of athletes in the traditional black colleges. The text and reference materials for this book were taken from the three-volume set, A Hard Road to Glory, and combined into this single volume.
A Hard Road To Glory: A History Of The African American Athleteby Arthur Ashe
Harper Paperbacks (Aug 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
African-American athletes have been excelling in track and field since the first modern Olympics. While this volume tells the story of such internationally known athletes as Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph, among others; it also introduces or reminds us of such steller performers as John Woodruff, Wyomia Tyus and Nell Jackson. This volume is devoted completely to the African-American's participation in track & field. It reveals the legends and records of club and college participants, as well as coaches — including the achievements of athletes in the traditional black colleges. The text and reference materials for this book were taken from the three-volume set, A Hard Road to Glory,and combined into this single volume.
Alex Haley's Queen: The Story Of An American Familyby Alex Haley and David Stevens
William Morrow (Jun 25, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
Tracing his family history on his father's side, the author of Roots begins with his great-great-grandfather, James Jackson, Sr., a white plantation owner. 500,000 first printing. $400,000 ad/promo. Lit Guild Super Release. TV tie-in.
The Price You Payby Barbara Summers
Amistad (Jun 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
When a prestigious cosmetics company in New York City prepares to launch a daring new ad campaign with a Black model, the search involves more than finding the right girl. Once found, she's got to stay alive. So far, of the many called and the few chosen, not one has lived to enjoy her success. And no one seems to know why.The Price You Pay is a stunning first novel that explores the mixed blessings bestowed on women who live off their looks and dreams. Money, power, reputation — and even more — are at stake in this world of off-and-on glitter. But the players are eager and plentiful.Makeup artist extraordinaire, Max loves it all — the fabulous clothes, the lights-camera-action, the fashion wars with all the drama. Confidant to the stars, he's seen the rise, fall, and burn out. He knows where the bodies are buried. And he knows why.Karine Belfort, the West Indian princess with the beautiful face and the ambitious attitude, arrives from Paris to break out of conventional success in magazines and on runways. Everyone agrees that she is destined for the big time. Almost everyone.Nicky Knight, a California girl new to New York, wants to follow in her model mother's footsteps. As she does, she finds herself in dengerous territory where even her father, a worldy music mogul, cannot protect her. Business tycoon Thomas N. Thompson rose from poverty in Mississippi to become one of the wealthiest men in America. Now his brilliant daughter, Cristina, president of his company, is challenging his authority with a vision of her own. As these characters collide with each other and with an extensive, colorful cast, the spotlights move beyond the on-cue smiles of the modeling world to the darker dramas of racism and madness. The short stories of Nouvelle Soul broke critical ground and introduced Barbara Summers as a new lietrary voice to be reckoned with. This dazzling debut novel wil surely adavnce her position among today's most talented writers. A former professional model herself, Summers knows the world she writes about firsthand, grounding her fiction in the studios, boardrooms, and bedrooms of present-day image makers. The Price You Pay is part whodunit, part love story, and a wholly satisfying excursion through a world we look at, but rarely into.
Sequoyah's Gift: A Portrait of the Cherokee Leaderby Janet Klausner
HarperCollins Publishers (Jun 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
Chronicles the life of the extraordinary nineteenth-century Cherokee leader who, recognizing the need for written record of Cherokee culture, created a system of writing for the Cherokee language.
A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete 1619-1918by Arthur Ashe
Amistad (May 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete, 1610-1918 (Vol 1) covers the period from 1619, when Africans were first brought to these shores as slaves, to 1918, the end of the First World War. From 1865 through 1896, African Americans succeeded spectacularly in sports. It was this period that gave rise to Jack Johnson, the first Black heavy weight champion; Marshall Taylor, "the world's fastest cyclist"; and Isaac Murphy, the first three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby.
The Outsider (Perennial Library)by Richard Wright
Harper Perennial (Apr 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Outsider is Richard Wright's compelling story of a black man's attempt to escape his past.
She Come Bringing Me That Little Baby Girlby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Jan 30, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
A young boy resolves his disappointment with his new baby sister by becoming an older brother. �How he changed his opinion about his sister is developed in a . . . visual and verbal paean to familial love.' —H. �[The] pictures are superb.' —Washington Post. Notable Children's Books of 1971�1975 (ALA)
1974 Boston Globe�Horn Book Award Honor Book
Children's Choices for 1975 (IRA/CBC)
1975 Irma Simonton Black Award (Bank St. College of Ed.)
Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoirby Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little
Amistad (Jan 30, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
Three generations of African-American women remember their "childtimes" in this lyrical memoir spanning a century of American history. This book preserves the lives and communities of times past for future generations. Complete with a family tree, Eloise Greenfield and Lessie Jones Little's Childtimes beautifully captures the experiences of grandmother, mother, and daughter as they recall moments from their childhood.Supports the Common Core State Standards
Absolutely Nothing To Get Alarmed About: The Complete Novels Of Charles Wrightby Charles Wright
Amistad (Jan 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Complete Novels of Charles Wright
Double Stitch: Black Women Write About Mothers and Daughtersby Mary Helen Washington
Harper Perennial (Jan 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
Maya Angelou provides the foreword for this collection of poetry, fiction, and memoir about mothers and daughters, written by such well-known black writers as Alice Walker, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and others. Reprint. 35,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo.
The March on Washingtonby James Haskins
Harpercollins Childrens Books (Jan 01, 1993)
Read Detailed Book Description
Award-winning author James Haskins turns his attention to the historic March on Washington in this timely look at one of the pivotal events of the Civil Rights movement. Haskins skillfully traces the history of the movement and details the planning, progression, and outcome of that momentous march. (HarperCollins)
Ben Carsonby Ben Carson
Amistad (Oct 01, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
The Today's Heroes series introduces readers ages 8-12 to modern, well-known Christians who have shown courage and persistence in the face of adversity.
Calling the Wind: Twentieth-Century African-American Short Storiesby Clarence Major
HarperCollins (Oct 01, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
Pivotal stories from post-slavery days through the Harlem Renaissance and into the nineties.
Lost in the City: Storiesby Edward P. Jones
William Morrow (Jun 01, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
Set in the nation's capital, a collection of stories about black Americans living in Washington, D.C., introduces characters who struggle daily with loss—of family, of friends, of memories, and of themselves. 15,000 first printing.
Which Way Freedom? (Obi and Easter Trilogy)by Joyce Hansen
Amistad (Feb 01, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
Obi had never forgotten the sounds of his mother's screams on the day he was sold away from her. Making plans to run away to find her was a secret game he played with friend Buka, an old African who lived at the edge of the farm.When the Civil War began, Obi knew it was time to run — or be sold again. If he was caught, he'd be killed…or worse. But if he stayed, he might never know freedom.
Out From This Placeby Joyce Hansen
HarperCollins (Feb 01, 1992)
Read Detailed Book Description
After their daring run for freedom, Obi and Easter were separated in the confusion of the Civil War. But now that the war is over and the slaves are free, Easter sets out to find her old friend and take control of her life, in the powerful sequel to the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Which Way Freedom?
In Evil Hourby Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Harper Perennial (Nov 20, 1991)
Read Detailed Book Description
Written just before One Hundred Years of Solitude, this fascinating novel of a Colombian river town possessed by evil points to the author's later flowering and greatness.
Tituba of Salem Villageby Ann Petry
HarperCollins (Oct 20, 1991)
Read Detailed Book Description
Tituba, the minister's slave, gazed into the stone watering trough. She did not see her own reflection. Instead, she saw a vision of herself, surrounded by angry people. The people were staring at her. Their faces showed fear. That was several years ago. It is now 1692, and there is strange talk in Salem Village. Talk of witches. Several girls have been taken with fits, and there is only one explanation: Someone in the village has been doing the devil's work. All eyes are on Tituba, the one person who can tell fortunes with cards, and who can spin a thread so fine it must be magic. Did Tituba see the future that day at the watering trough? If so, Could she actually be hanged for practicing witchcraft?
An Enchanted Hair Tale (Reading Rainbow Book)by Alexis De Veaux
Harpercollins Childrens Books (Oct 01, 1991)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sudan suffers from the general ridicule of his strange-looking hair, until he comes to accept and enjoy its enchantment.
Under The Sunday Treeby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Jan 30, 1991)
Read Detailed Book Description
�Too special for just once-a-week reading, Eloise Greenfield's 20 exuberant poems are matched by the bright colors of Mr. Amos Ferguson's life-filled paintings. His native Caribbean glows as vividly in the words as in the full-page primitive pictures. . . . A perfect collaboration between two master imagemakers." 'SLJ. 1988 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book for Illustration
Notable Children's Books of 1988 (ALA)
Children's Books of 1989 (Library of Congress)
Now Is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedomby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad (Jan 01, 1991)
Read Detailed Book Description
History has made me an African American. It is an Africa that I have come from, and an America that I have helped to create.Since they were first brought as captives to Virginia, the people who would become African Americans have struggled for freedom. Thousands fought for the rights of all Americans during the Revolutionary War, and for their own rights during the Civil War. On the battlefield, through education, and through their creative genius, they have worked toward one goal: that the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness be denied no one.Fired by the legacy of men and women like Abd al Rahman Ibrahima, Ida B. Wells, and George Latimer, the struggle continues today. Here is African-American history, told through the stories of the people whose experiences have shaped and continue to shape the America in which we live.
The Chinese Americansby Milton Meltzer
HarperCollins (Nov 01, 1990)
Read Detailed Book Description
Traces the history of the Chinese in the United States describing their contributions to the development of this country and their struggle for economic and social equality.
Storm in the Nightby Mary Stolz
Amistad (Sep 30, 1990)
Read Detailed Book Description
Storm in the night.
Thunder like mountains blowing up.
Lightning licking the navy-blue sky.
Rain streaming down the windows,
babbling in the downspouts.
And Grandfather? . . .
And Thomas? . . .
And Ringo, the cat?
They were in the dark.
Too early to go to bed, and with only flashes of lightning to see by, Thomas and his grandfather happily find themselves re-discovering the half-forgotten scents and sounds of their world, and having a wonderful time learning important, new things about each other in a spirited conversation sparked by darkness.Mary Stolz and Pat Cummings have each brought their unique talents to this lyrical tale about a magical, stormy night and a special relationship.
Black Dance in America: A History Through Its Peopleby James Haskins
Harper & Row (May 01, 1990)
Read Detailed Book Description
A history of African-American dance in the United States discusses such celebrated artists as Bill ""Bojangles"" Robinson, Katherine Dunham, Arthur Mitchell, and others who were influential in the dance world. By the author of Black Theater in America. Reprint.
Hector lives in the United States now: The story of a Mexican-American childby Joan Hewett
J. B. Lippincott (Jan 01, 1990)
Read Detailed Book Description
Text and photographs document the day-to-day happenings and milestones in the life of a young Mexican boy whose family seeks amnesty in the United States under the Immigration Reform and Control Act.
Choosing a College: A Guide for Parents and Studentsby Thomas Sowell
HarperCollins (Jul 01, 1989)
Read Detailed Book Description
Discusses types of schools, kinds of education, evaluation criteria, campus visits, and admissions procedures
The Story of Jumping Mouseby John Steptoe
HarperCollins (May 26, 1989)
Read Detailed Book Description
"You will reach the far-off land if you keep hope alive within you." The words of Magic Frog give courage to the young mouse on his long and perilous journey to reach the wonderful land of legend. He faces many obstacles on his quest and sacrifices much to help others in need. But the mouse's compassion and faith in himself prove to be a source of great power…and bring him rewards even beyond his dreams.
Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essaysby Thomas Sowell
William Morrow (Feb 01, 1989)
Read Detailed Book Description
Essays analyze American social conditions, foreign policy, economics, law, education, and race relations
Echo of Lionsby Barbara Chase-Riboud
William Morrow (Jan 01, 1989)
Read Detailed Book Description
Baby Saysby John Steptoe
Amistad (Apr 20, 1988)
Read Detailed Book Description
Baby wants what babies always want: to get big brother's (or sister's) attention! "The author-artist depicts the tender, caring relationship of an older brother for his baby brother. The experience is universal….Fresh and appealing."
Sisterby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Jun 26, 1987)
Read Detailed Book Description
�Doretha is thirteen, black, and confused by her ambivalence about herself. . . . Leafing through her diary, Doretha remembers—and each memory of the past four years reveals something about her and about the people she has loved. The book is strong in perception, in its sensitivity, in its realism.' —C. Outstanding Children's Books of 1974 (NYT)
Black music in America: A history through its peopleby James Haskins
Thomas Y. Crowell Co. (Jan 01, 1987)
Read Detailed Book Description
Surveys the history of black music in America, from early slave songs through jazz and the blues to soul, classical music, and current trends.
The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearlby Virginia Hamilton
HarperTrophy (Dec 03, 1986)
Read Detailed Book Description
One long time ago, Pretty Pearl god child lived high on a mountaintop in Africa with all other gods. Curious about mankind and itching to show off her powers, she came down off the mountain with her brother, know-all best god John de Conquer, and sailed on a slave ship for America. There she saw the suffering of the black people, and felt their sorrow right behind her eyes . Pretty Pearl knew now was her time to act.Brother John gave her a magical necklace, a set of rules to follow, and a warning to be careful. "Them human bein's be awful tricky," he said."they has most winnin' ways." Drawing upon her fabulous storehouse of black legend, myth, and folklore, Virginia Hamilton has ventured into new ways of exploring the human spirit in this extrodinary fantasy filled with mysteries, beauty, and hope.
Living in Two Worldsby Maxine B. Rosenberg and George Ancona
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books (Sep 01, 1986)
Read Detailed Book Description
Book by Rosenberg, Maxine B., Ancona, George
Surprises (I Can Read Book 3)by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Amistad (Aug 27, 1986)
Read Detailed Book Description
�These thirty-eight poems offer beginning readers a chance to try some verse. With drawings that pack a lot of action, a friendly book that will connect with everyday lives and lend a little music along the way.' —BL. Notable Children's Books of 1984 (ALA)
Best Books of 1984 (SLJ)
Children's Books of 1984 (Library of Congress)
Valide: A Novel of the Haremby Barbara Chase-Riboud
William Morrow (Jun 01, 1986)
Read Detailed Book Description
This is a novel about life inside a harem.
Honey, I Love And Other Love Poemsby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (May 23, 1986)
Read Detailed Book Description
An ALA Notable Children's Book, Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems includes sixteen poems that tell of love and the simple joys of everyday life, seen through the eyes of a child: playing with a friend, skipping rope, riding on a train—or keeping Mama company till Daddy gets back.Each of these sixteen "love poems" is spoken straight from the perspective of a child. Riding on a train, listening to music, playing with a friend…each poem elicits a new appreciation of the rich content of everyday life. The poems are accompanied by both portrait and panorama drawings that deepen the insights contained in the words.This beloved book of poetry is a Reading Rainbow Selection and the winner of George C. Stone Center for Children's Books' Recognition of Merit Award. Supports the Common Core Learning Standards
C.L.O.U.D.S.by Pat Cummings
William Morrow (May 01, 1986)
Read Detailed Book Description
Chuku the angel is given the job of painting the skies of New York City, an assignment he approaches with reluctance, but grows to love.
Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?by Thomas Sowell
William Morrow Paperbacks (Dec 17, 1985)
Read Detailed Book Description
It is now more than three decades since the historic Supreme Court decision on desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education. Thomas Sowell takes a tough, factual look at what has actually happened over these decades — as distinguished from the hopes with which they began or the rhetoric with which they continue, Who has gained and who has lost? Which of the assumptions behind the civil rights revolution have stood the test of time and which have proven to be mistaken or even catastrophic to those who were supposed to be helped?
Trouble's Childby Mildred Pitts Walter
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books (Sep 01, 1985)
Read Detailed Book Description
Martha longs to leave her island home off the Louisiana coast and go to high school where she can learn more than the ways of her midwife grandmother and perhaps someday broaden the lives of the superstitious villagers.
Jimmy Lee Did Itby Pat Cummings
William Morrow (Sep 01, 1985)
Read Detailed Book Description
Artie keeps telling his sister that the messes all over their house are the work of the elusive Jimmy Lee.
On Wings Made Of Gauzeby Nikky Finney
William Morrow (Aug 01, 1985)
Read Detailed Book Description
Marxism: Philosophy and Economicsby Thomas Sowell
William Morrow (Mar 01, 1985)
Read Detailed Book Description
Sowell leads the listener through the Marxian scheme of ideas, shattering some existing interpretations of Marx which have developed through repetition rather than through scholarship. 6 cassettes.
Junius over farby Virginia Hamilton
Harper & Row (Jan 01, 1985)
Read Detailed Book Description
After his grandfather leaves his family and returns to a dangerous situation on his home island in the Caribbean, fourteen-year-old Junius decides to follow him in search of his lost heritage.
I Have a Sister—My Sister Is Deafby Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson
Amistad (May 23, 1984)
Read Detailed Book Description
A young deaf child who loves to run and jump and play is affectionately described by her older sister. �Can give young children an understanding of the fact that deaf children . . . share all the interests of children with normal hearing.' 'C. �A friendly, affirmative look [at the everyday experiences of the two sisters].' 'BL. 1979 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book
A Reading Rainbow Selection
Children's Books of 1977 (Library of Congress)
Just Us Womenby Jeannette Caines
Amistad (May 23, 1984)
Read Detailed Book Description
"No boys and no men-just us women," Aunt Martha tells her niece. And together they plan their trip to North Carolina in Aunt Martha's brand-new car. This is to be a very special outing-with no one to hurry them along, the two travelers can do exactly as they please.
Daggers and Javelins: Essays, 1974-1979by Amiri Baraka
William Morrow (Jan 01, 1984)
Read Detailed Book Description
Because We Areby Mildred Pitts Walter
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books (Oct 01, 1983)
Read Detailed Book Description
After a misunderstanding with a white teacher, black honor student Emma is transferred from the integrated high school where she has excelled to a segregated school where she finds a different kind of challenge.
Mexico and the United States: Their Linked Destiniesby Ernest Barksdale Fincher
Harper & Row (Jul 01, 1983)
Read Detailed Book Description
A study of the historical relationship between the United States and Mexico, with particular emphasis on Mexico's emerging role as a world leader.
Confirmation: Anthology of African American Womenby Amiri Baraka
William Morrow (Mar 01, 1983)
Read Detailed Book Description
Book by Baraka, Imamu Amiri
My Mama Needs Meby Mildred Pitts Walter
William Morrow (Jan 01, 1983)
Read Detailed Book Description
Jason wants to help, but isn't sure that his mother needs him at all after she brings home a new baby from the hospital.
American Hungerby Richard Wright
HarperCollins (Dec 01, 1982)
Read Detailed Book Description
American Hunger, published posthumously in 1977, was originally intended as the second volume of Black Boy.
Rainbow Jordanby Alice Childress
HarperTeen (Jun 01, 1982)
Read Detailed Book Description
Here is Rainbow Jordan: too brave to be a child, too scared to be a woman. "Powerful, eloquent, revealing…the memory of this exceptional heroine is likely to linger a long time."
Justice and Her Brothersby Virginia Hamilton
Avon Books (Mm) (Sep 01, 1981)
Read Detailed Book Description
An eleven-year-old and her older twin brothers struggle to understand their supersensory powers.
The Chaneysville Incident: A Novelby David Bradley
HarperCollins (Apr 01, 1981)
Read Detailed Book Description
Returning to his home town in Pennsylvania to bury his outcast, and supposedly illiterate, father, historian John Washington discovers a library of unmarked journals left for him. In them he discovers a history of slavery and his forebears' part in the resistance movement.
Count on Your Fingers African Styleby Claudia Zaslavsky
Amistad (Aug 01, 1980)
Read Detailed Book Description
Describes how finger counting is used for communication of price and quantity in an African market place.
Guests in the Promised Landby Kristin Hunter
Avon Books (Mm) (Jun 01, 1980)
Read Detailed Book Description
A "must read" classic!
Daddy is a Monster … Sometimesby John Steptoe
J. B. Lippincott (Jan 01, 1980)
Read Detailed Book Description
Bweela and Javaka relate the incidents that make Daddy a monster in their eyes.
Movin' Up, Pop Gordy Tells His Storyby Berry Gordy
Amistad (Oct 01, 1979)
Read Detailed Book Description
The autobiography of Berry Gordy, Sr., son of a slave and father of the founder of Motown Records.
Andrew Young, Man With a Missionby James Haskins
Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books (Apr 01, 1979)
Read Detailed Book Description
An account of the life of Andrew Young, including his activities as a clergyman, civil rights worker, legislator, and United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
Bible Tales (Perennial Library)by Dick Gregory
Harper & Row (May 01, 1978)
Read Detailed Book Description
very hard to find
Richard Wright Readerby Richard Wright
HarperCollins (Jan 01, 1978)
Read Detailed Book Description
"Richard Wright" (1908-1960) was one of the landmark authors of twentieth-century American literature as well as one of the most formidable and eloquent black voices of his day. In nearly 900 pages the editors have collected his most essential and evocative writing: essays like"Black Power" and"Pagan Spain"; selections from his autobiography Black Boy; most of the photographs and the complete text of Wright's folk history of the African-American experience 12 Million Black Voices; representative criticism, articles, letters, and poetry; the complete novellas"The Man Who Lived Underground" and"Big Black Good Man"; and generous excerpts from novels like Uncle Tom's Children, Native Son, The Outsider, The Long Dream, Savage Holiday, and Lawd Today. The result is a beautifully wrought miniature panorama of the career of a writer whose immense talent was matched only by his humanity.
Daniel Inouye (Crowell Biographies)by Jane Goodsell and Haru Wells
HarperCollins (Oct 01, 1977)
Read Detailed Book Description
A biography of the first Congressman from the state of Hawaii who was also the first American of Japanese descent to serve in the Congress of the United States.
Mary McLeod Bethune (Crowell Biographies)by Eloise Greenfield
Harper & Row (Apr 01, 1977)
Read Detailed Book Description
Biography of Mary Jane McLeod Bethune who made numerous contributions to education for Afro-Americans.
Africa Dreamby Eloise Greenfield
Amistad (Jan 01, 1977)
Read Detailed Book Description
An African-American child dreams of long-ago Africa, where she sees animals, shops in a marketplace, reads strange words from an old book, and returns to the village where her long-ago granddaddy welcomes her. �Greenfield's lyrical telling and Byard's marvelous pictures make this book close to an ideal adventure for children, black or white.' —Publishers Weekly. 1978 Coretta Scott King Award
The Story of Stevie Wonderby James Haskins
William Morrow (Jan 01, 1976)
Read Detailed Book Description
A biography of the blind composer, pianist, and singer who was a child prodigy and went on to win nine Grammy awards.
All is wellby Julius Lester
William Morrow (Jan 01, 1976)
Read Detailed Book Description
The soul murder case: A confession of the victimby Robert Deane Pharr
Avon (Jan 01, 1975)
Read Detailed Book Description
Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord! the Life of Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel Singers (Women of America)by Jesse Jackson
Harper & Row (May 01, 1974)
Read Detailed Book Description
A biography of the famous black gospel singer who hoped, through her art, to break down some of the barriers between black and white people.
Ms. Africa: Profiles of Modern African Womenby Louise Crane
J. B. Lippincott (May 26, 1973)
Read Detailed Book Description
Brief biographies of thirteen prominent African women emphasizing their achievements in their chosen careers. Included are Angie Brooks, Margaret Kenyatta, and Miriam Makeba.
Rosa Parksby Eloise Greenfield
HarperCollins (Jan 01, 1973)
Read Detailed Book Description
Moment of TruthWhen Rosa Parks was growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, she hated the unfair rules that black people had to live by — like drinking out of special water fountains and riding in the back of the bus. Years later, Rosa Parks changed the lives of African American in Montgomery — and all across America — with one courageous act. On a December evening in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. She was arrested and put in jail. But Rosa Parks fought back, along with many other African Americans. After a long struggle, their heroic efforts launched the modern Civil Rights Movement. How could one quiet, gentle woman have started it all? This is her story.
And the Sun God Said: That's Hipby Ernest Gregg
Harper & Row (Jan 01, 1972)
Read Detailed Book Description
Relates in verse the Sun God's creation of his black people.
Dutchman and The Slave: Two Playsby Amiri Baraka
Harper Perennial (Jan 01, 1971)
Read Detailed Book Description
Centered squarely on the Negro-white conflict, both Dutchman and The Slave are literally shocking plays—in ideas, in language, in honest anger. They illuminate as with a flash of lightning a deadly serious problem—and they bring an eloquent and exceptionally powerful voice to the American theatre.Dutchman opened in New York City on March 24, 1964, to perhaps the most excited acclaim ever accorded an off-Broadway production and shortly thereafter received the Village Voice's Obie Award. The Slave, which was produced off-Broadway the following fall, continues to be the subject of heated critical controversy.
No more lies: The myth and the reality of American history,by Dick Gregory
Harper & Row (Jan 01, 1971)
Read Detailed Book Description
Book by Gregory, Dick
Beyond All Pity (Modern Society)by Carolina Maria de Jesus
HarperCollins Distribution Services (Aug 06, 1970)
Read Detailed Book Description
Written on scraps of paper picked from the gutters, this is the raw, three-year old journal of a black Brazilian woman living in the slums of Sao Paulo, fighting each day for survival for herself and her three illegitimate children, each born of a different father. With fierce and stark simplicity she tells of her filthy house in the "Favela", describes the hunger that invades every shack, driving her to hunt for paper and metal that brought just enough money to keep the family alive.
Who Look At Meby June Jordan
Harper & Row (Jun 01, 1969)
Read Detailed Book Description
In the Meccaby Gwendolyn Brooks
Harper & Row (Jun 01, 1968)
Read Detailed Book Description
In The Mecca (1968), a long poem about a mother searching for her lost child in a Chicago apartment building. In The Mecca was nominated for the National Book Award for poetry.
The Trumpet of Conscienceby Martin Luther King, Jr.
Harper & Row (Jun 01, 1968)
Read Detailed Book Description
In November and December 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered five lectures for the renowned Massey Lecture Series of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Immediately released under the title Conscience for Change after King's assassination, it was republished as�The Trumpet of Conscience. Each oration speaks prophetically to today's perils, addressing issues of equality, conscience and war, the mobilization of young people, and nonviolence. The book concludes with "A Christmas Sermon on Peace," a powerful lecture about nonviolence as a path to world peace that was broadcast live from Ebenezer Baptist Church on Christmas Eve in 1967.
Native Sonby Richard Wright
Harper Perennial (Mar 01, 1940)
Read Detailed Book Description
Arnold Rampersad (Introduction)
Widely acclaimed as one of the finest books ever written on race and class divisions in America, this powerful novel reflects the forces of poverty, injustice, and hopelessness that continue to shape out society.
Richard Wright was born in 1908, thc first of two sons of a sharecropper. After publishing his first novel, Uncle Tom's Children, in 1938, Wright discovered to his alarm that "he had written a book which even bankers" daughters could read and feel good about. He swore that his next novel would be different. That book was Native Son, the story of Bigger Thomas's short and tragic life, which plumbs the blackest depths of human experience.
Native Son is told in three parts 'Fear, Flight, and Fate' which sum up, perfectly, Bigger Thomas's life. Badly in need of a job to help support his family, the ne'er-do-well Bigger goes to work as a driver for the Daltons, a rich white family. As he is pulled every which way by his mother, who wanted him to do the things she wanted him to do; by Mrs. Dalton, who wanted him to do the things she felt that he should have wanted to do; by Mary Dalton, the young mistress of the house, who challenged him to stand up for things he didn't understand; and by his need for independence and autonomy in the midst of a dependent situation'he missteps, accidentally killing Mary.
Native Son is not an uplifting book with a happy Hollywood resolution. It has been criticized for its cardboard portrayal of black pathology and heavy-handed Marxist message. But the book is an absolutely gripping potboiler that is also intellectually provocative. It is on one level a seedy, simple story of an unsympathetic character meeting his fate at his own hands, and on another an illuminating drama of an individual consciousness that challenges traditional definitions of heroism, character, and integrity. Bigger was less a character caught in a specific criminal activity than he was a crime waiting to happen.—Sacred Fire
Gingertownby Claude McKay
Harper & Brothers (Jan 01, 1932)
Read Detailed Book Description
Partiesby Carl Van Vechten
Avon (May 30, 1905)
Read Detailed Book Description
Gwendolenby Buchi Emecheta
HarperCollins Publishers (Nov 30, -0001)