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AALBC Top Ten Sellers for December 1998

(click title to order book, click author's name for additional author information)

#1

One Day My Soul...Title:  One Day My Soul Just Opened Up: 40 Days and 40 Nights Towards Spiritual Strength and Personal Growth
(The all-time best selling book on the AALBC web site!)
Author:  Iyanla Vanzant
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Trade
Date Published:  December 1997
Format:  Trade Paper

Both an inspiring guide and a hands-on measurement tool that enables readers to chart their spiritual growth as it unfolds, One Day My Soul Just Opened Up encourages readers to use journal-writing as a self-awareness process. Vanzant introduces 40 principles to follow and embrace in daily living as guideposts on the path toward spiritual strength and understanding.

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#2


360 A Revolution of Black PoetsTitle: 360� - A Revolution of Black Poets
(For sale directly by the AALBC, 4nd consecutive month on the AALBC best seller list and all time best selling poetry book!)
Author:  Edited by Kalamu ya Salaam & Kwame Alexander
Publisher:  BlackWords
Date Published:  September 1998
Format:  Trade Paper

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#3

The Words Don't FitTitle:  Words Don't Fit In My Mouth
Author: Jessica C. Moore
Publisher:  Moore Black Press
Date Published:  April 1997
Format:  Trade Paper
(3rd consecutive month on the AALBC best seller list!)

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#4

Somebody Else's ChildTitle:  Somebody Else's Child
(Fourth consecutive as best-seller on the AALBC web site, and the #3 all-time best selling book on the AALBC web site!}
Author:  Terris McMahan Grimes
Publisher:  NAL/Dutton
Date Published:  February 1996
Format:  Mass Market Paperbound

Theresa is a career woman, a mother and a wife. When her mother calls to say there's trouble at her elderly neighbor's house and she's going over to investigate, Theresa has no choice but to get involved. Before the night is over, Theresa finds herself caught up in the harsh brutality of the streets, with a drive-by shooting, a mysterious kidnapping, and more.

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#5

ShimmershineThe Shimmershine Queens
by Camille Yarbrough
"A remarkable story about self-esteem and achievement"
-- Publishers Weekly

"A brave Book" -- Booklist

Angie, a 10-year-old inner-city kid, discovers "Shimmershine" -- the feeling you get when you believe in yourself and do your very best. 

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#6

The Car Washing StreetThe Car Washing Street - by Denise Lewis Patrick, illustrated by John Ward
Format: Hardcover
Publication Date: August 1993

From School Library Journal: 
Gr 1-3-Every Saturday, Matthew, a young African-American boy, loves to sit with his daddy and watch his neighbors, the Rodriguezes, Mr. Henry Hamilton, and Junior Boy Taylor, wash their cars. On this particularly hot day, one splash leads to another, and the car washing ends in a friendly communal water fight. Ward conveys a sense of community and sharing. The double-page spreads punctuated with outlined text blocks draw readers into the scene and give a sense of participation. However, the acrylic paintings lack realistic detail and appear flat and static. The implied routine and regularity of life on this immaculate urban block makes this a refreshing, if not totally believable, story about neighborliness with no conflict and lots of smiling faces.-Lauren Mayer, New York Public Library

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#7

Lyric of Lowly LifeLyrics of Lowly Life
Paul Laurence Dunbar

From The Reader's Catalog:  
Dunbar, who died in 1906, preferred the poetry he wrote in standard English, and only at the insistence of his editors continued to turn out volumes of the dialect poetry that brought him fame. Nevertheless, among the black poets working in dialect around the turn of the century, Dunbar best evoked the voices and attitudes of real people

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#8

Fauth in the valleyTitle:  Faith in the Valley: Lessons for Women on the Journey to Peace
Author:  Iyanla Vanzant
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Trade
Date Published:  April 1996
Format:  Trade Paper
A beautifully rendered meditation book to help and support women through the rough valley experiences of life--now reissued in a special keepsake edition that makes a wonderful Mother's Day gift.

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#9

Collecting African American ArtTitle:  Collecting African American Art; Works on Paper and Canvas
Author:  Halima Taha
Publisher:  Random House Value Publishing, Incorporated
Date Published:  November 1998
Format:  Trade Cloth

For art lovers and collectors, this book offers the first complete, beautifully illustrated guide to appreciating and acquiring artwork by Americans of African descent. 190 illustrations, 150 in color.

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#10

Meanest Thing to sayThe Meanest Thing to Say
by Bill Cosby
Varnette P. Honeywood (Illustrator)
Publisher: Scholastic  Publication Date: July 1997

With typical humor and insight, Bill Cosby teaches beginning readers the value of friendship and kindness in THE MEANEST THING TO SAY, a Little Bill Book. There's a new boy in Little Bill's class, and he's got a different game for the gang to play. Michael Reilly doesn't want to play basketball like the kids usually do; he prefers "Playing the Dozens." "You get twelve chances to say something mean to a person," Michael explains. "The meanest thing wins."

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