Charisse Carney-Nunes, writer, speaker and literary advocate, is the award-winning author of the children’s books, I AM BARACK OBAMA (2009), I DREAM FOR YOU A WORLD: A COVENANT FOR OUR CHILDREN (2007) and NAPPY (2006), as well as SONGS OF A SISTERMOM: MOTHERHOOD POEMS (2004). I AM BARACK OBAMA recently won a 2009 Honor Award from Skipping Stones Multicultural Magazine.

Charisse is the founder of a publishing company, Brand Nu Words LLC where she has sold over 25,000 books, and now concentrates on digital publishing. She is a senior officer of The Jamestown Project, an action-oriented think tank focusing on democracy; a Diamond Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; and a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was a schoolmate of President Obama, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where she was poet laureate.

Charisse is the Executive Producer of The Book Look, a featured blogger on the AALBC.com (African American Literature and Book Club), News One and elsewhere. She has served as a speaker or presenter for numerous national and regional organizations, and has appeared on Inside Edition, ABC News Now, CBS’s CW Network, Comcast’s CN-8, Radio One, and American Urban Radio Networks. She resides in Washington, DC with her husband of over fourteen years, Harvey, and their daughter and son. Visit her website, www.BrandNuWords.com where you may contact her for bookings and engagements. 

 

 
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I am Barack Obama
Click to order via Amazon

Illustrated by Ann Marie Williams

Hardcover: 36 pages
Publisher: Brand Nu Words (April 25, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0974814245
ISBN-13: 978-0974814247
Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches

Read an AALBC.com Book Review

Winner, 2009 Skipping Stones Magazine Honor Award

I Am Barack Obama is not a book about Barack Obama. Rather, it allows children to see themselves through the inspirational story of President Obama growing up as an ordinary child asking, "Who will change the world?"

Ultimately, he realizes that he will. I Am Barack Obama highlights for children their personal power to change the world. In the backmatter, children share stories of the possibilities for their lives, as they aspire to the greatness they have seen in Barack.

"Children must be empowered to know for sure that they can change the world. Charisse has captured this incredible moment in history by writing a book that allows young people to see themselves in President Obama. To me and so many others, Barack Obama represents intelligence, judgment, courage and service. Yet, the power in I Am Barack Obama is not in Barack himself. The power, instead, is in each and every child who finds their purpose and manifests a new destiny through Barack's example."
—Hill Harper, Author/Actor/Activist and Harvard Law schoolmate of Carney-Nunes and President Obama

 

I Dream for You a World: a Covenant for Our Children
Click to order via Amazon

Reading level: Ages 9 and up
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Nunes Productions,Ny Words Press (January 24, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0974814237
ISBN-13: 978-0974814230
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 10.2 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces

2007 Silver Medalist, Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards

I Dream for You a World takes the reader on a lyrical journey leading to a child’s understanding of the fundamental principles that were set forth in The Covenant with Black America. Using poetry, laced with intergenerational concepts and brilliant collage, the book effortlessly pieces together a vibrant mind’s view of the "better tomorrow" that everyone dreams for children. The back of the book is designed to enlighten children around each of the Covenant concepts, incorporating use of special African Adinkra symbols.

 

Nappy
Click to Order via Amazon

Reading level: Ages 9 and up
Hardcover: 24 pages
Publisher: Nunes Productions,Ny Words Press (April 15, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0974814210
ISBN-13: 978-0974814216
Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches

Black Caucus of the American Library Association Newsletter recommends Nappy. July 2007

Nappy is a humorous and delightfully illustrated children's story containing a powerful message about history, heritage and high self-esteem. Though joyful and lighthearted, the book is an educational tool for parents, teachers and older children with the back matter containing biographies about each of the African-American women honored in the story, alongside beautiful original sketches by the illustrator.

 

Songs of a Sistermom: Motherhood Poems
Click to Order via Amazon

Hardcover: 80 pages
Publisher: Brand Nu Words (February 29, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0974814202
ISBN-13: 978-0974814209
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches

Songs of a Sistermom: Motherhood Poems is a soulful and heartfelt look into the symphony of motherhood, through the poetic prism of one woman’s journey. The book celebrates the African-American mother and her experience, and was inspired by the author’s own experiences along with her association with a Washington, DC-based support group, Sistermoms, Inc., for African-American mothers and their families. The book examines four very different movements or phases of motherhood and "sings" about the diversity of feelings that mothers experience everyday.

 

Related Links

BrandNuWords

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The Book Look on AALBC.com