516 Books Published by Hachette Book Group on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Breakthrough: The Power of Disruptive Thinking

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (May 13, 2025)
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Doing things differently requires thinking differently and having the courage to challenge even the established ways of thinking and doing.

For most of our lives, we are encouraged to trudge along the well-worn paths of those who have come before us. We learn the rules - in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our churches - and most of the messages we receive tell us that following the rules will allow us to arrive at the lives we desire.

But when change becomes not only desirable but also urgently necessary, this way of being no longer serves us. In fact, in every human endeavor, every major leap forward, has involved a cataclysmic challenge to existing ways of thinking and being. Breakthroughs, by definition, run against the grain and almost always encounter skepticism and opposition.

In this book for leaders, thinkers, doers, and creators, Bishop T.D. Jakes illuminates the pathway to encouraging and unleashing disruptive thinking and provides the wisdom and practical skills we need to evolve our most original and potentially transformational ideas from vision to reality. Through his insight into how our minds and emotions work and through his experiences as a pastor, entrepreneur, and creator, Bishop Jakes leads us into a new way of relating to and transforming the world around us for good. Breakthrough will show you the mindset and the tools you need to create groundbreaking and meaningful change in your own life and in the world around you.


Click for more detail about Black Star by Kwame Alexander Black Star

by Kwame Alexander
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 24, 2024)
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In this second epic novel of bestselling The Door of No Return trilogy, we meet Charlie, Kofi’s granddaughter, who is living in the Jim Crow South and whose innocence is shattered when a racist incident hits home.

You can’t protect her from knowing. The truth is all we have.

12-year old Charley Cuffey is many things: a granddaughter, a best friend, and probably the best pitcher in all of Lee’s Mill. Set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball, Charley doesn’t need reminders from her best friend Cool Willie Green to know that she has lofty dreams for a Black girl in the American South.

Even so, Nana Kofi’s thrilling stories about courageous ancestors and epic journeys make it impossible not to dream big. She knows he has so many more to tell, but according to her parents, she isn’t old enough to know about certain things like what happened to Booker Preston that one night in Great Bridge and why she can never play on the brand-new real deal baseball field on the other side of town.

When Charley challenges a neighborhood bully to a game at the church picnic, she knows she can win, even with her ragtag team. But when the picnic spills over onto their ball field, she makes a fateful decision.

A child cannot protect herself if she does not know her history, and Charley’s choice brings consequences she never could have imagined.

In this thrilling second book of the Door of No Return trilogy, set during the turbulent segregation era, and the beginning of The Great Migration, Kwame Alexander weaves a spellbinding story of struggle, determination, and the unflappable faith of an American family.


Click for more detail about The Boldest White: A Story of Hijab and Community by Ibtihaj Muhammad The Boldest White: A Story of Hijab and Community

by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 24, 2024)
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In this call to bravery from Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, Faizah learns to overcome her fears and stand in front of the crowd in this beautiful celebration of family, fencing, and community.

Faizah loves being part of the community at her mosque, and she loves being part of the group at her fencing lessons. When all eyes are on her, though, Faizah freezes up. Mama says bravery will come with time, but there’s a fencing tournament coming up—does Faizah have what it takes to be bold?

Love, honesty, and courage shine through every page of this empowering picture book from the bestselling, award-winning team behind The Proudest Blue and The Kindest Red.


Click for more detail about Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote by Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote

by Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 10, 2024)
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Read about the electrifying and continuing fight for voting rights—and discover your place in it—in this dramatic exploration of American democracy, from renowned thought leader Michael Eric Dyson and widely celebrated author Marc Favreau.

One of the most important and least understood true stories of our nation, the fight for representation is an ongoing and epic quest to build the democracy sketched out in the Constitution but unfinished in the twenty-first century. With impeccable research and exhilarating prose, Represent tells the story of voting rights in the United States from the American Revolution up to the present day.

Each chapter takes on a new battle between the forces of people power and forces opposed to it. Readers will meet champions of freedom, including formerly enslaved revolutionaries, a Chinese American teenager, a Lakota Sioux activist, Black World War II veterans, a Mexican American student, and others who fought for their right to vote.

Drawing clear lines from then to now, Represent weaves this important struggle into a single American drama that will help readers understand our past, present, and future.


Click for more detail about Brown Girls Do Ballet: Celebrating Diverse Girls Taking Center Stage by Takiyah Wallace-McMillian and Janay Brown-Wood Brown Girls Do Ballet: Celebrating Diverse Girls Taking Center Stage

by Takiyah Wallace-McMillian and Janay Brown-Wood
Black Dog & Leventhal (Aug 27, 2024)
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This stunning children’s book from the photographer behind the Instagram sensation Brown Girls Do Ballet, combines irresistible photos of young ballerinas of color with inspirational text that empowers all children to express their true selves through movement and music.

When TaKiyah Wallace–McMillian went to enroll her three–year–old daughter into her first ballet class, she immediately noticed the lack of diversity of backgrounds and abilities among the students pictured on the school’s website. In response, TaKiyah, a photographer, began taking pictures of young dancers of color and launched an Instagram called Brown Girls Do Ballet. The Instagram was an instant sensation, drawing a community of dancers of all ages. A nonprofit organization, that provides resources, mentoring, and inspiration worldwide followed soon after.

Takiyah’s first children’s book is full of gorgeous photographs of irresistible young BIPOC ballerinas of all levels — from beginners to more experienced dancers. Writer JaNay Brown–Wood’s poetic text, inspired by the dancer’s graceful poses and powerful leaps, encourages young readers be proud of who they are and empowers them to take center stage. Brown Girls Do Ballet will inspire all readers to pursue their dreams no matter what barriers are put in front of them.


Click for more detail about Soul Step by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams Soul Step

by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jun 04, 2024)
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Follow one girl’s journey to discover the history and joy of step dancing.

What does sisterhood sound like? STOMP, CLAP!
How does pride move? FLIP, FLAP!
How do we uphold tradition? GO HARD, SNAP BACK!
SOUL STEP!

Written by the mother-daughter duo Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams, and gorgeously illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, Soul Step is a loving ode to sisterhood and the tradition of stepping that lets women and girls, and people of all backgrounds, step loud and be proud.


Click for more detail about Farewell, Amethystine by Walter Mosley Farewell, Amethystine

by Walter Mosley
Mulholland Books (Jun 04, 2024)
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Easy Rawlins’ latest client sends him down a warren of memory and nostalgia, blinding him to reason and risk, from “master of the genre,” (Washington Post) Walter Mosley.

January 1970 finds Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, LA’s premier Black detective, at 50 years of age despite all expectations. He has a loving family, a beautiful home, and a thriving investigation agency. All is right with the world… and then Amethystine Stoller, his own personal Helen of Troy, arrives. Her ex-husband is missing. A simple enough case. But even as Easy takes his first step in the investigation he trips. He falls into the memory of things past. Little things, like loss, love, a world war, and a hunger that has eaten at him since he was a Black boy on his own on the streets of Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas.

The missing ex, a young white man named Curt Fields, is found dead. Easy’s only real friend in the LAPD, Melvin Suggs, has gone into hiding rather than allow his femme fatale wife to go to the gas chamber. And that’s only the beginning.

Easy finds himself pressed into a reckoning. All of his success cannot succor his heart. The 1970’s have ushered in new expectations of men and women, Black and White, and Easy has to make a choice that will almost certainly hasten a permanent descent, one that might sunder his soul.


Click for more detail about Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You

by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Apr 09, 2024)
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The #1 New York Times bestseller!

This chapter book edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller by luminaries Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds is an essential introduction to the history of racism and antiracism in America

RACE. Uh-oh. The R-word.

But actually talking about race is one of the most important things to learn how to do.

Adapted from the groundbreaking bestseller Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, this book takes readers on a journey from present to past and back again. Kids will discover where racist ideas came from, identify how they impact America today, and meet those who have fought racism with antiracism. Along the way, they’ll learn how to identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their own lives.

Ibram X. Kendi’s research, Jason Reynolds’s and Sonja Cherry-Paul’s writing, and Rachelle Baker’s art come together in this vital read, enhanced with a glossary, timeline, and more.


Click for more detail about A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

by Tia Williams
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 06, 2024)
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is an epic love story one hundred years in the making…

Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.

Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.

When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories, and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.

One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.

Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.


Click for more detail about This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets by Kwame Alexander This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets

by Kwame Alexander
Little, Brown and Company (Jan 30, 2024)
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A breathtaking poetry collection on hope, heart, and heritage from the most prominent and promising Black poets and writers of our time, edited by Why Fathers Cry at Night author and #1 New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander.

In this comprehensive and vibrant poetry anthology, bestselling author and poet Kwame Alexander curates a collection of contemporary anthems at turns tender and piercing and deeply inspiring throughout. Featuring work from well-loved poets such as Rita Dove, Jericho Brown, Warsan Shire, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith, Terrance Hayes, Morgan Parker, and Nikki Giovanni, This Is the Honey is a rich and abundant offering of language from the poets giving voice to generations of resilient joy, "each incantation," as Mahogany L. Browne puts it in her titular poem, is "a jubilee of a people dreaming wildly."

This essential collection, in the tradition of Dudley Randall’s The Black Poets and E. Ethelbert Miller’s In Search of Color Everywhere, contains poems exploring joy, love, origin, race, resistance, and praise. Jacqueline A. Trimble likens "Black woman joy" to indigo, tassels, foxes, and peacock plumes. Tyree Daye, Nate Marshall, and Elizabeth Acevedo reflect on the meaning of "home" through food, from Cuban rice and beans to fried chicken gizzards. Clint Smith and Cameron Awkward-Rich enfold us in their intimate musings on love and devotion. From a "jewel in the hand" (Patricia Spears Jones) to "butter melting in small pools" (Elizabeth Alexander), This Is the Honey drips with poignant and delightful imagery, music, and raised fists.

Fresh, memorable, and deeply moving, this definitive collection a must-have for any lover of language and a gift for our time.


Click for more detail about Why Does Everything Have to Be about Race?: 25 Arguments That Won’t Go Away by Keith Boykin Why Does Everything Have to Be about Race?: 25 Arguments That Won’t Go Away

by Keith Boykin
Bold Type Books (Jan 23, 2024)
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Some arguments about race refuse to go away. It's time, once and for all, to shatter them.

The most toxic racial arguments share one of five traits. They try to erase Black history, prioritize white victimhood, deny Black oppression, promote myths of Black inferiority, or rebrand racism as something else entirely. They're all designed to distract society from racial justice, but now we have the tools to debunk them.

With a mixture of personal experience, reportage, and extensive research, Keith Boykin takes a wrecking ball to twenty-five of the most widespread deceptions about race, such as:

  • The Civil War was about states' rights, not slavery
  • Affirmative action is reverse discrimination
  • Critical Race Theory is indoctrinating children to hate one another

and shows us how to refute lies, myths, and misinformation with history, knowledge, and truth.


Click for more detail about Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum

by Antonia Hylton
Legacy Lit (Jan 23, 2024)
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In the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a page-turning 93-year history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the nation’s last segregated asylums, that New York Times bestselling author Clint Smith describes as "a book that left me breathless."

On a cold day in March of 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they became the first twelve patients of the state’s Hospital for the Negro Insane. For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports readers behind the brick walls of a Jim Crow asylum.

In Madness, Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton tells the 93-year-old history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the last segregated asylums with surviving records and a campus that still stands to this day in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She blends the intimate tales of patients and employees whose lives were shaped by Crownsville with a decade-worth of investigative research and archival documents. Madness chronicles the stories of Black families whose mental health suffered as they tried, and sometimes failed, to find safety and dignity. Hylton also grapples with her own family’s experiences with mental illness, and the secrecy and shame that it reproduced for generations.

As Crownsville Hospital grew from an antebellum-style work camp to a tiny city sitting on 1,500 acres, the institution became a microcosm of America’s evolving battles over slavery, racial integration, and civil rights. During its peak years, the hospital’s wards were overflowing with almost 2,700 patients. By the end of the 20th-century, the asylum faded from view as prisons and jails became America’s new focus.

In Madness, Hylton traces the legacy of slavery to the treatment of Black people’s bodies and minds in our current mental healthcare system. It is a captivating and heartbreaking meditation on how America decides who is sick or criminal, and who is worthy of our care or irredeemable.


Click for more detail about Your First Million: Why You Don’t Have to Be Born Into a Legacy of Wealth to Leave One Behind by Arlan Hamilton Your First Million: Why You Don’t Have to Be Born Into a Legacy of Wealth to Leave One Behind

by Arlan Hamilton
Little, Brown Spark (Jan 02, 2024)
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How to build a legacy of wealth and impact, from the “bold and relentless disruptor” changing the face of entrepreneurship in America (Black Enterprise).

Having lived nearly her entire life below the poverty line before going on to attain wealth and success as an entrepreneur and investor, Arlan Hamilton knows that entrepreneurship is the quickest path to money and power—particularly for those who haven’t had much of it in the past. In Your First Million, she shows how anyone—no matter what they look like or how much money they have—can tap into all the new tools they already have at their disposal to get their million-dollar idea off the ground.

Readers will learn: how to identify unmet needs, raise money, choose the right collaborators, create multiple income streams, and turn their unique knowledge and experience into a profitable businesses—while reinvesting in their communities and empowering others to do the same.

If we can change who gets to decide what new ideas are worthy, and who gets to turn those ideas into reality, not only can we change our own circumstances—we can change the world.


Click for more detail about Ida B. Wells Marches for the Vote by Dinah Johnson Ida B. Wells Marches for the Vote

by Dinah Johnson
Christy Ottaviano Books (Jan 02, 2024)
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A stunning picture book biography about the early life of Ida B. Wells, her incredible work as a suffragist, and her critical role in the Women’s March of 1913.

Ida B. Wells grew up during a time when women did not have the right to vote. But Ida aspired for equality; she had learned from her parents to forge a life through hope and bravery, so she worked tirelessly to fight for an America that was fair to everyone regardless of race and gender. Her courageous activism made her one of the most influential civil rights leaders in American history. Here is Ida’s story with a specific spotlight on her fearless role in the Women’s March of 1913.


Click for more detail about Keyana Loves Her Friend by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley Keyana Loves Her Friend

by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Dec 12, 2023)
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Catch up with Keyana in the amazing follow-up to Keyana Loves Her Family! Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (I Love My Hair!) pens a friend-focused sequel in this picture book series following an imaginative six-year-old and the people and places she adores.

Keyana is back and it’s time for a slumber party!

Keyana is hosting her very best friend, Nia, over for a night of games, dancing, and splashing in the pool! But when Keyana and Nia have trouble seeing eye-to-eye, they’ll have to come together to remember just how much they care about each other.

With more warm illustrations by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow, Natasha Anastasia Tarpley’s Keyana Loves her Friend gives young-readers a fresh new lesson on conflict resolution and the importance of friendship.


Click for more detail about The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power by Robin L. Smith and Courtney B. Vance The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power

by Robin L. Smith and Courtney B. Vance
Balance (Nov 07, 2023)
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A moving combination of memoir, psychology, and practical tools, this book offers Black men guidance and support for reclaiming mental well-being and finding whole, full-hearted living.

Early in his career, actor Courtney B. Vance lost his father to suicide. Recently, he lost his godson to the same fate. Still, as mental health discourse hits the mainstream, it leaves the most vulnerable out of the conversation: Black men.

In America, we teach that strength means holding back tears and shaming your own feelings. In the Black community, these pressures are especially poignant. Poor mental health outcomes— including diagnoses of depression and anxiety, reliance on prescription drugs, and suicide— have skyrocketed in the past decade. Institutionalized racism, microaggressions, and stress caused by socioeconomic factors have led Black individuals to face worse mental health outcomes than any other demographic.

In this book, Courtney B. Vance seeks to change this trajectory. Along with professional expertise from famed psychologist Dr. Robin Smith (popularly known as ""Dr. Robin""), Courtney B. Vance explores issues of grief, relationships, identity, and race through the telling of his own most formative experiences. Together, Courtney and Dr. Robin provide a guide for Black men navigating life’s ups and downs, reclaiming mental well-being, and examining broken pieces to find whole, full-hearted living. Self-care is an act of revolution. It’s time to revolutionize mental health in the Black community.


Click for more detail about The Bronx Is My Home by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris The Bronx Is My Home

by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris
Christy Ottaviano Books (Oct 24, 2023)
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Welcome to The Bronx, New York! A picture book celebration of hometown pride including the history, landscape, cuisines, cultures, and activities unique to this vibrant community.

There’s only one place where you can see bodegas and businesses bustling on every street, taste the most delicious empanadas in the world, smell the salty sea air of Pelham Bay, and pet horses at the Bronx Equestrian Center. From sunrise to sunset, Santiago and Mami have many treasures to enjoy in their neighborhood on a beautiful Saturday, including colorful birds on the Siwanoy Trail and fresh cannolis on Arthur Avenue.

This energetic and joyful family story offers both a journey through and a love letter to this special borough. The Bronx Is My Home is a triumphant celebration of hometown pride, as well as a heartfelt invitation to all.


Click for more detail about Curlfriends: New in Town (a Graphic Novel) by Sharee Miller Curlfriends: New in Town (a Graphic Novel)

by Sharee Miller
Little, Brown Ink (Oct 10, 2023)
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New Kid meets The Baby-sitters Club in this graphic novel series opener about the Curlfriends, four inseparable Black girls who show us the meaning of true friendship—and being your true self.

Charlie has a foolproof plan for the first day at her new middle school. Even though she’s used to starting over as the new kid—thanks to her military family’s constant moving—making friends has never been easy for her. But this time, her first impression needs to last, since this is where her family plans to settle for good.

So she’s hiding any interests that may seem "babyish," updating her look, and doing her best to leave her shyness behind her…but is erasing the real Charlie the best way to make friends?

When not everything goes exactly to plan—like, AT ALL—Charlie is ready to give up on making new friendships. Then she meets the Curlfriends, a group of Black girls who couldn’t be more different from each other, and learns that maybe there is a place for Charlie to be her true self after all.

Sharee Miller’s graphic novel debut starts off an exciting contemporary series featuring four Black girls who each have a unique story, and each learns lessons about friendship, family, and being their true selves.


Click for more detail about Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X: The Fatal Friendship (a Young Readers Adaptation of Blood Brothers) by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X: The Fatal Friendship (a Young Readers Adaptation of Blood Brothers)

by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith
Christy Ottaviano Books (Oct 03, 2023)
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Discover the remarkable relationship between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, and how their bond affected the movement for Black pride and independence in the 1960s in this nonfiction book for young readers.

Freshly adapted for young readers, this in-depth portrait showcases the complex bond between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, revealing how Malcolm helped mold Cassius Clay into Muhammad Ali and influenced his rise as an international symbol of Black pride and Black independence. Yet when Malcolm was expelled from the Nation of Islam for criticizing the conduct of its leader, Elijah Muhammad, Ali turned his back on Malcolm, a choice that some believe tragically contributed to the minister’s assassination in February 1965.

Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X is the story of how Ali redefined what it means to be a Black athlete in America, informed by Malcolm’s leadership. An extraordinary portrait of love, friendship, and power as well as deceit and betrayal, here is a window into the public and private lives of two national icons, and the tumultuous period in the American Civil Rights Movement that they helped to shape.


Click for more detail about Thicker Than Water: A Memoir by Kerry Washington Thicker Than Water: A Memoir

by Kerry Washington
Little, Brown Spark (Sep 26, 2023)
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Award-winning actor, director, producer, and activist Kerry Washington shares the "exquisitely moving" journey of her life so far (Isabel Wilkerson), and the bravely intimate story of discovering her truth.

While on a drive in Los Angeles, on a seemingly average afternoon, Kerry Washington received a text message that would send her on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. In an instant, her very identity was torn apart, with everything she thought she knew about herself thrown into question.

In Thicker than Water, Washington gives readers an intimate view into both her public and private worlds—as a mother, daughter, wife, artist, advocate, and trailblazer. Chronicling her upbringing and life’s journey thus far, she reveals how she faced a series of challenges and setbacks, effectively hid childhood traumas, met extraordinary mentors, managed to grow her career, and crossed the threshold into stardom and political advocacy, ultimately discovering her truest self and, with it, a deeper sense of belonging.

Throughout this profoundly moving and beautifully written memoir, Washington attempts to answer the questions so many have struggled with: Who am I? What is my truest and most authentic self? How do I find a deeper sense of connection and belonging? With grace and honesty, she inspires readers to search for—and find—themselves.


Click for more detail about Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones Leslie F*cking Jones

by Leslie Jones
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 19, 2023)
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Hey you guys, it’s Leslie. I’m excited to share my story with you.

Now, I’m gonna be honest: Some of the details might be vague because a b*tch is fifty-five and she’s smoked a ton of weed. But while bits might be a touch hazy, I can promise you the underlying truth is REAL. Whether I’m talking about my childhood growing up in the South, my early stand-up days driving from gig to gig through the darkest parts of our country and praying I wouldn’t get murdered, what Chris Rock told Lorne Michaels, that time I wanted to shoot Whoopi Goldberg on SNL, and yeah, I’ll tell you all about Ghostbusters and the nudes and Supermarket Sweep and The Daily Show … I’m sharing it all in these pages. It’s not easy being a woman in comedy, especially when you’re a tall-*ss Black woman with a trumpet voice. I have to fight so that no one takes me for granted, and no one takes advantage. These are the stories that explain why. (Cue the Law & Order theme.)


Click for more detail about Sing a Black Girl’s Song: The Unpublished Work of Ntozake Shange by Imani Perry Sing a Black Girl’s Song: The Unpublished Work of Ntozake Shange

by Imani Perry
Legacy Lit (Sep 12, 2023)
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Featured In:


  • The Millions "Most Anticipated" Books of 2023
  • LitHub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2023

About the Book


Sing a Black Girl’s Song is an extraordinary collection of unpublished works by the award-winning American literary icon Ntozake Shange. The anthology features essays, plays, and poems curated by National Book Award winner Imani Perry, and includes a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Tarana Burke. This collection serves as a continuation of Shange’s powerful legacy, standing shoulder to shoulder with other Black literary giants like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

A Trailblazer’s Journey


Beginning as a budding writer at Barnard College in the late ’60s, Shange grew into a literary force that transcended genre and form. By the time of her passing in 2018, she had etched an indelible mark on the American literary landscape. Her work was not just prose or poetry; it was a blend of dance, song, and verse that spoke volumes to the experiences of Black women and girls, as well as to the wider community.

Inside the Collection


The collection takes us on a literary journey through Shange’s life, shedding light on her formative years, the inspirations behind her seminal work for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, and her accomplishments thereafter. It features:

  • Early poems and politically charged verses from the Black Arts Movement era
  • Insights into her therapy sessions in a piece titled "The Couch"
  • Unpublished plays written after the international success of for colored girls
  • Essays and writings that capture the minutia and nuance of Black life

Legacy Continued


Sing a Black Girl’s Song is more than a collection; it’s a long-lasting gift to current and future generations. It captures Shange’s tender rhythm and cadence, as well as her fiery, revolutionary spirit. This posthumous collection solidifies her role as one of the most influential and fiercely celebrated artists of our time, and bolsters a literary tradition that has been a bedrock for generations of writers.


Click for more detail about The Art of Scandal by Regina Black The Art of Scandal

by Regina Black
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 01, 2023)
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A “wildly steamy, utterly heartwarming” (Tia Williams) debut filled with romance, artistic ambitions, political scandal, and finding love where you least expect it.

“Love would be so much easier if it were perfect…”

On the night of her husband Matt’s fortieth birthday, Rachel Abbott receives a sexy, explicit text from her husband that she quickly realizes was meant for another woman. Divorce is inevitable, and Rachel is determined not to leave her thirteen-year marriage empty-handed. Meanwhile, Matt, a rising star mayor with his eye on the White House, can’t afford a messy split in the middle of his reelection campaign. They strike a deal: Rachel gets one million dollars and their lavish house in the wealthy DC suburb of Oasis Springs, as long as she keeps playing the ideal Black trophy wife until the election.

Then Rachel meets Nathan Vasquez, a very handsome, very lost twenty-six-year-old artist, and their connection makes Rachel forget about being the perfect politician’s wife. As Rachel reawakens Nathan’s long-dormant artistic aspirations, their attraction becomes impossible to resist. But secrets are hard to keep in a town like Oasis Springs, and Nathan has a few of his own. With the risk of scandal looming and their hearts on the line, they’ll have to decide whether the possibility of losing everything is worth taking a chance on love.

The Art of Scandal is a sizzling, conversation-starting debut about rekindling passion, the transformative power of art, and finding love in unexpected places.


Click for more detail about Clouds Over California by Karyn Parsons Clouds Over California

by Karyn Parsons
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jul 11, 2023)
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From the author of the highly acclaimed How High the Moon comes a moving and heartfelt novel about how a girl’s family and friendships are turned upside down—just as the world is changing in 1970s Los Angeles.

Stevie’s life is fluctuating rapidly. She’s starting over in a brand new middle school. Quiet and observant, it’s hard for her to make friends. Plus, her mind is too occupied. The tension in her home is building as her parents’ arguments are becoming more frequent. To top it all off, Stevie’s older cousin Naomi is coming to live with the family in an attempt to keep her from a "bad" crowd—The Black Panthers.

Stevie agrees to keep Naomi’s secrets. She’s the cool big cousin, after all, and Stevie can’t help but notice the happy, positive effect the Black Panthers are having on Naomi’s confidence and identity—just like how Mom is making decisions for herself, even when Dad disapproves.

Stevie feels herself beginning to change as well. But one thing remains the same: she loves both of her parents, and she loves them together. Can her family stay in one piece despite the world shifting around them?


Click for more detail about Goodbye Earl: A Revenge Novel by Leesa Cross-Smith Goodbye Earl: A Revenge Novel

by Leesa Cross-Smith
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 03, 2023)
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Four women take fate into their own hands in this big-hearted story of friendship, resilience, and revenge on monstrous men, from the award-winning author of Half-Blown Rose.

Taking inspiration from the infamous, empowering song, Goodbye Earl follows four best friends through two unforgettable summers, fifteen years apart.

In 2004, Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline, and Kasey are in their final days of high school and on the precipice of all the things teenagers look forward to when anything in life seems possible … from falling in love, to finding their dream jobs, to becoming who they were meant to be.

In 2019, Kasey has returned to her small Southern hometown of Goldie for the first time since high school—and she still hasn’t told even her closest friends the truth of what really happened that summer after graduation, or what made her leave so abruptly without looking back. Now reunited with her friends in Goldie for a wedding, she’s determined to focus on the simple joy of being together again. But when she notices troubling signs that one of them might be in danger, she is catapulted back to that fateful summer. This time, Kasey refuses to let the worst moments of her past define her; this time, she knows how to protect those she loves at all costs.

Uplifting, sharp-edged, and unapologetic, Goodbye Earl is a funeral for all the "Earls" out there—the abusive men who think they can get away with anything, but are wrong—and a celebration of enduring sisterhood.


Click for more detail about Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
 by Ibram X. Kendi Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

by Ibram X. Kendi
Bold Type Books (Jun 20, 2023)
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The National Book Award-winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society.

Some Americans insist that we’re living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America — it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit.

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis.

As Kendi shows, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation’s racial inequities.

In shedding light on this history, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose racist thinking. In the process, he gives us reason to hope.


Click for more detail about The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle The Museum of Ordinary People

by Mike Gayle
Grand Central Publishing (May 30, 2023)
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In this “pure, unadulterated feel-good” and warmhearted novel, an old set of encyclopedias leads a young woman to a curious museum and one profoundly moving lesson: that every life is an extraordinary life (Kirkus).

BookRiot Most Anticipated Beach Reads of 2023
Shondaland Best Books of May

Still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, Jess is about to do the hardest thing she’s ever done: empty her childhood home so that it can be sold. As she sorts through a lifetime of memories, everything comes to a halt when she comes across something she just can’t part with: an old set of encyclopedias. To the world, the books are outdated and ready to be recycled. To Jess, they represent love and the future that her mother always wanted her to have.

In the process of finding the books a new home, Jess discovers an unusual archive of letters, photographs, and curious housed in a warehouse and known as the Museum of Ordinary People. Irresistibly drawn, she becomes the museum’s unofficial custodian, along with the warehouse’s mysterious owner. As they delve into the history of objects in their care, they not only unravel heart-stirring stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long-buried secrets that lie closer to home.

Inspired by an abandoned box of mementos, The Museum of Ordinary People is a poignant novel about memory and loss, the things we leave behind, and the future we create for ourselves.


Click for more detail about Paradise on Fire by Jewell Parker Rhodes Paradise on Fire

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 30, 2023)
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BCALA 2021 Best of the Best Book

A Cadmus Children’s Fiction Award for the Green Earth Book Award winner

From award-winning and bestselling author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change.

Addy is haunted by the tragic fire that killed her parents, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother. Years later, Addy’s grandmother has enrolled her in a summer wilderness program. There, Addy joins five other Black city kids—each with their own troubles—to spend a summer out west.

Deep in the forest the kids learn new (and to them) strange skills: camping, hiking, rock climbing, and how to start and safely put out campfires. Most important, they learn to depend upon each other for companionship and survival.

But then comes a devastating forest fire…

Addy is face-to-face with her destiny and haunting past. Developing her courage and resiliency against the raging fire, it’s up to Addy to lead her friends to safety. Not all are saved. But remembering her origins and grandmother’s teachings, she’s able to use street smarts, wilderness skills, and her spiritual intuition to survive.


Click for more detail about Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Recipes, Letters, and Remembrances by Kwame Alexander Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Recipes, Letters, and Remembrances

by Kwame Alexander
Little, Brown and Company (May 23, 2023)
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BOOK RELEASE MAY 23, TOUR BEGINS MAY 24!


New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medalist winner Kwame Alexander presents accessible and moving love poems dedicated to the two greatest loves in his life—his daughters.

In a powerfully intimate collection, Kwame Alexander shares original, courageous poems about the relationships that taught him how to love. He takes us through stories of his parents: from being awkward newlyweds in the sticky Chicago summer of 1976, to the sometimes-contradictory ways they showed their love for him. He explores his own relationships—the precariousness of his early marriage working in a jazz club with his first wife, and his difficulties as a new father. Alexander attempts to deal with the grief of his mother’s recent passing and shares with the reader the solace he found in learning how to perfect her famous fried chicken dish. With an open heart, Alexander weaves these stories of his past to try and understand his newest love: his daughters.

Full of heartfelt reminisces, family recipes, and personal letters, Why Fathers Cry at Night inspires bravery and vulnerability in every reader who has experienced the reckless passion, heartbreak, and joy that define the whirlwind trials and tribulations of love.


Click for more detail about A Song for Juneteenth by Zetta Elliott A Song for Juneteenth

by Zetta Elliott
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 09, 2023)
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This emotional and lyrical picture book by acclaimed poet Zetta Elliott, with breathtaking illustrations by debut illustrator David Anthony Geary, celebrates the importance of Juneteenth as well as the resilience of Black families and the power of community.

Black child
you were birthed from a
dark
jeweled expanse
infinite and vast
but holy as the womb

Never forget it was HOPE that birthed you… .

From birth to beyond, from slavery to freedom, and from generation to generation, this powerful and evocative book shows the breadth and depth of Black history.


Click for more detail about Disruptive Thinking: A Daring Strategy to Change How We Live, Lead, and Love by T. D. Jakes Disruptive Thinking: A Daring Strategy to Change How We Live, Lead, and Love

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (May 09, 2023)
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In this inspiring book for leaders, thinkers, and doers, learn how to do things differently and find the courage to challenge the established ways of thinking and doing.

For most of our lives, we are encouraged to trudge along the well-worn paths of those who have come before us. We learn the rules - in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our churches - and most of the messages we receive tell us that following the rules will allow us to arrive at the lives we desire.

But when change becomes not only desirable but also urgently necessary, this way of being no longer serves us. In fact, in every human endeavor, every major leap forward, has involved a cataclysmic challenge to existing ways of thinking and being. Breakthroughs, by definition, run against the grain and almost always encounter skepticism and opposition.

In this book for leaders, thinkers, doers, and creators, Bishop T.D. Jakes illuminates the pathway to encouraging and unleashing disruptive thinking and provides the wisdom and practical skills we need to evolve our most original and potentially transformational ideas from vision to reality. Through his insight into how our minds and emotions work and through his experiences as a pastor, entrepreneur, and creator, Bishop Jakes leads us into a new way of relating to and transforming the world around us for good. Disruptive Thinking will show you the mindset and the tools you need to create groundbreaking and meaningful change in your own life and in the world around you.


Click for more detail about Disruptive Thinking Study Guide: A Daring Strategy to Change How We Live, Lead, and Love by T. D. Jakes Disruptive Thinking Study Guide: A Daring Strategy to Change How We Live, Lead, and Love

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (May 09, 2023)
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*A COMPANION TO THE BOOK DISRUPTIVE THINKING*

In this helpful study guide, learn how to do things differently and find the courage to challenge the established ways of thinking and doing.

For most of our lives, we are encouraged to trudge along the well-worn paths of those who have come before us. We learn the rules - in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our churches - and most of the messages we receive tell us that following the rules will allow us to arrive at the lives we desire.

But when change becomes not only desirable but also urgently necessary, this way of being no longer serves us. In fact, in every human endeavor, every major leap forward, has involved a cataclysmic challenge to existing ways of thinking and being. Breakthroughs, by definition, run against the grain and almost always encounter skepticism and opposition.

In this book for leaders, thinkers, doers, and creators, Bishop T.D. Jakes illuminates the pathway to encouraging and unleashing disruptive thinking and provides the wisdom and practical skills we need to evolve our most original and potentially transformational ideas from vision to reality. Through his insight into how our minds and emotions work and through his experiences as a pastor, entrepreneur, and creator, Bishop Jakes leads us into a new way of relating to and transforming the world around us for good. Disruptive Thinking will show you the mindset and the tools you need to create groundbreaking and meaningful change in your own life and in the world around you.


Click for more detail about Big by Vashti Harrison Big

by Vashti Harrison
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 02, 2023)
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Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award


“Measuring almost 12 by 10 inches this ‘big’ children’s book is gorgeous visually, in word, and intent.” —Troy D. Johnson, Founder of the African American Literature Book Club (AALBC)

A New York Times Bestseller
A Kids’ Indie Next List Pick
A Publishers Weekly Summer Reading List Pick
An Amazon Best Book of the Month

Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, “big” becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is.

From a New York Times bestselling and award-winning creator, this deeply moving story shares valuable lessons about fitting in, standing out, and the beauty of joyful acceptance.

Big is the first picture book both written and illustrated by award-winning artist Vashti Harrison. Big traces a child’s journey to self-love and shows the power of words to both hurt and heal. With spare text and exquisite illustrations, this emotional exploration of being big in a world that prizes small is a tender portrayal of how you can stand out and feel invisible at the same time.


Click for more detail about Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay

by Kelly McWilliams
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 02, 2023)
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A sharp-witted, timely novel that explores cancel culture, anger, and grief, and challenges the romanticization of America’s racist past with humor and heart, for fans of Dear Martin by Nic Stone and Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Harriet Douglass lives with her historian father on an old plantation in Louisiana, which they’ve transformed into one of the South’s few enslaved people’s museums. Together, while grieving the recent loss of Harriet’s mother, they run tours that help keep the memory of the past alive.

Harriet’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of mother and daughter Claudia and Layla Hartwell—who plan to turn the property next door into a wedding venue, and host the offensively antebellum-themed wedding of two Hollywood stars.

Harriet’s fully prepared to hate Layla Hartwell, but it seems that Layla might not be so bad after all—unlike many people, this California influencer is actually interested in Harriet’s point of view. Harriet’s sure she can change the hearts of Layla and her mother, but she underestimates the scale of the challenge…and when her school announces that prom will be held on the plantation, Harriet’s just about had it with this whole racist timeline! Overwhelmed by grief and anger, it’s fair to say she snaps.

Can Harriet use the power of social media to cancel the celebrity wedding and the plantation prom? Will she accept that she’s falling in love with her childhood best friend, who’s unexpectedly returned after years away? Can she deal with the frustrating reality that Americans seem to live in two completely different countries? And through it all, can she and Layla build a bridge between them?

Why McWilliams wrote Your Plantation Prom is Not Okay:
Periodically, a celebrity of some kind gets married on a plantation. It hits the news, people express outrage, an apology is or is not made…and then somehow we all forget about it and the cycle starts over again. From the perspective of a novelist, that's both fascinating and horrifying. Grown adults continue to disrespect historical sites and worse, some schools in the South still host proms at old plantations, perpetuating that culture. When someone pretends that a plantation is about love and good old-fashioned family values, it keeps us on very different wavelengths. For me, as an often white-presenting person, I’ve been running smack into that other wavelength my whole life. No matter our race, we all need to grieve the legacy of slavery to move forward.


Click for more detail about Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith Half-Blown Rose

by Leesa Cross-Smith
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 18, 2023)
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An irresistible story of a woman remaking her life after her husband’s betrayal leads to a year of travel, art, and passion in Paris, from the award-winning author of This Close to Okay.

Vincent, having grown up as the privileged daughter of artists, has a lovely life in many ways. At forty-four, she enjoys strolling the streets of Paris and teaching at the modern art museum; she has a vibrant group of friends; and she’s even caught the eye of a young, charismatic man named Loup. But Vincent is also in Paris to escape a painful betrayal: her husband, Cillian, has published a bestselling book divulging secrets about their marriage and his own past, hinting that when he was a teenager, he may have had a child with a young woman back in Dublin—before he moved to California and never returned.

Now estranged from her husband, Vincent has agreed to see Cillian again at their son’s wedding the following summer, but Loup introduces new complications. Soon they begin an intense affair, and somewhere between dinners made together, cigarettes smoked in the moonlight, hazy evenings in nightclubs, and long, starry walks along the Seine, Vincent feels herself loosening and blossoming.

In a journey that is both transportive and intimate, Half-Blown Rose traverses Paris, art, travel, liminal spaces, and the messy complexities of relationships and romance, with excerpts from Cillian’s novel, playlists, and journal entries woven throughout. As Cillian does all he can to win her back, Vincent must decide what she wants … and who she will be.


Click for more detail about Simon B. Rhymin’ Gets in the Game  by Dwayne Reed Simon B. Rhymin’ Gets in the Game

by Dwayne Reed
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Apr 04, 2023)
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The humorous and heartwarming third book in the Simon B. Rhymin’ series, by America’s favorite rapping teacher from Chicago, will have readers bopping along to the beat as Simon joins the community basketball team. When eleven-year-old Simon Barnes joins the basketball team, he’s so excited to be part of a neighborhood tradition. But when he shoots an AIR BALL, Simon knows he needs reinforcements. He recruits his best friend C.J. to the team and it’s finally looking like the Creighton Park Panthers have a shot at breaking their four-season losing streak—until some of the other players abandon them for a better team. Now Simon isn’t sure the Panthers will ever have a chance at winning. But with the help of his friends, a pep rally featuring epic beats, and some Creighton Park pride, maybe the team can finally prove they have what it takes not simply to win, but to be a part of something that matters.


Click for more detail about Above Ground by Clint Smith Above Ground

by Clint Smith
Little, Brown and Company (Mar 28, 2023)
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A remarkable poetry collection from Clint Smith, the #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Critics Circle award-winning author of How the Word Is Passed.

Clint Smith’s vibrant and compelling new collection traverses the vast emotional terrain of fatherhood, and explores how becoming a parent has recalibrated his sense of the world. There are poems that interrogate the ways our lives are shaped by both personal lineages and historical institutions. There are poems that revel in the wonder of discovering the world anew through the eyes of your children, as they discover it for the first time. There are poems that meditate on what it means to raise a family in a world filled with constant social and political tumult. Above Ground wrestles with how we hold wonder and despair in the same hands, how we carry intimate moments of joy and a collective sense of mourning in the same body. Smith’s lyrical, narrative poems bring the reader on a journey not only through the early years of his children’s lives, but through the changing world in which they are growing up—through the changing world of which we are all a part.

Above Ground is a breathtaking collection that follows Smith’s first award-winning book of poetry, Counting Descent.


Click for more detail about I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir by Debra Lee I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir

by Debra Lee
Legacy Lit (Mar 07, 2023)
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A riveting memoir by the former CEO of Black Entertainment Television (BET), about the glamorous and ugly moments of being a high-powered Black woman executive in the entertainment industry.

As an incredible glass-ceiling breaker and the woman who brought timeless television shows like The Game and Being Mary Jane to cable, Debra Lee has been the visionary responsible for elevating Black images and storytelling for over thirty years. Now she’s telling her own story, in an intimate and eye-opening tale about the triumphant and tricky moments of a career in entertainment.

I Am Debra Lee is a page-turner, filled with deeply personal revelations, juicy celebrity intel, and electrifying behind-the-scenes stories that reveal how she went from a girl raised in the segregated South to leading the first Black company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and how she juggled social responsibility while managing a company targeted toward the Black community. In a rousing narrative, Lee writes: “I don’t just love Black culture—the magic in our hair, the swagger in our steps, the particular way we can say ‘alright now’ to fit our changing moods—Black culture saved me.”

In her exciting debut, she answers all of our questions about building an unapologetically Black enterprise as a Black woman. What to do when you’re forced to attend a board meeting eight weeks after a C-section. How to manage a team of men when you’re the first female CEO at the company. How she learned the hard way to say no to those in power when their vision didn’t align with her purpose.

I Am Debra Lee tackles lessons that women CEOs rarely dare to. She addresses her personal struggles with motherhood and “having it all,” navigating reproductive choice, fertility, and #MeToo while achieving great professional success. Being Black in America and in corporate life isn’t easy for anyone, especially women. But Lee shows how she evolved from a shy girl who dreaded public speaking in front of a crowd to becoming a force to be reckoned with as she helped build the leading entertainment company for Black audiences and consumers of Black culture globally.

I Am Debra Lee is a must-read for all strivers in any industry. Lee is a truthteller about the critical choices that Black leaders face. As she has done her whole career, in this book, she opens the door for others to come after her, by sharing the truth behind her own inspiring story of power, perseverance, and success.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Every Man a King: A King Oliver Novel by Walter Mosley Every Man a King: A King Oliver Novel

by Walter Mosley
Mulholland Books (Feb 21, 2023)
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In this highly anticipated sequel from Edgar Award-winning “master of craft and narrative,” Walter Mosley, Joe King Oliver is entangled in a dangerous case when he’s asked to investigate whether a white nationalist is being unjustly set up. (National Book Foundation)

When friend of the family and multi-billionaire Roger Ferris comes to Joe with an assignment, he’s got no choice but to accept, even if the case is a tough one to stomach. White nationalist Alfred Xavier Quiller has been accused of murder and the sale of sensitive information to the Russians. Ferris has reason to believe Quiller’s been set up and he needs King to see if the charges hold.

This linear assignment becomes a winding quest to uncover the extent of Quiller’s dealings, to understand Ferris’ skin in the game, and to get to the bottom of who is working for whom. Even with the help of bodyguard and mercenary Oliya Ruez—no regular girl Friday—the machine King’s up against proves relentless and unsparing. As King gets closer to exposing the truth, he and his loved ones barrel towards grave danger.

Mosley once again proves himself a “master of craft and narrative,” in this carefully plotted mystery that is at once a classic caper, a family saga and an examination of fealty, pride and how deep debt can go.

Book Review

Click for more detail about It’s Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women’s Bodies by Jessica Wilson It’s Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women’s Bodies

by Jessica Wilson
Hachette (Feb 07, 2023)
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WE WILL REWRITE THE NARARTIVE OF BLACKNESS THAT CENTERS AND CELEBRATES OUR JOY.

In It’s Always Been Ours eating disorder specialist and storyteller Jessica Wilson challenges us to rethink what having a “good” body means in contemporary society. By centering the bodies of Black women in her cultural discussions of body image, food, health, and wellness, Wilson argues that we can interrogate white supremacy’s hold on us and reimagine the ways we think about, discuss, and tend to our bodies.

A narrative that spans the year of racial reckoning (that wasn’t), It’s Always Been Ours is an incisive blend of historical documents, contemporary writing, and narratives of clients, friends, and celebrities that examines the politics of body liberation. Wilson argues that our culture’s fixation on thin, white women reinscribes racist ideas about Black women’s bodies and ways of being in the world as “too much.” For Wilson, this white supremacist, capitalist undergirding in wellness movements perpetuates a culture of respectability and restriction that force Black women to perform unhealthy forms of resilience and strength at the expense of their physical and psychological needs.

With just the right mix of wit, levity, and wisdom, Wilson shows us how a radical reimagining of body narratives is a prerequisite to well-being. It’s Always Been Ours is a love letter that celebrates Black women’s bodies and shows us a radical and essential path forward to rediscovering their vulnerability and joy.


Click for more detail about Bet on Black: The Good News about Being Black in America Today by Eboni K. Williams Bet on Black: The Good News about Being Black in America Today

by Eboni K. Williams
Legacy Lit (Jan 31, 2023)
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Essence Magazine 2023 Must Read

Journalist, attorney, and star of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York reshapes the cultural landscape of achievement by showing why Black unity is crucial to individual and collective success.

Eboni K. Williams knew that an important part of her mission as a media personality would be to unabashedly place Blackness on a pedestal. Williams has long known that Blackness is a rich, expansive place that centers resilience, excellence, beauty, panache, and brilliance. But these notions of Blackness have long been distorted by American racism, where for generations Black folks have been expected to live a subordinate, second-class existence in the country they call home.

“No more!” Williams says, proclaiming that the good news about being Black today is that our community has unprecedented access to an array of tools to honor our Blackness however we see fit, whenever we see fit, wherever we see fit. Bet on Black is thus a call to action for Black people all over the world to adopt a fresh, highly informed mindset that will change lives. She delves into some of the cornerstones of leading a first-class Black life, including:

  • Don’t Let Anyone Make You Their Black Sidekick
  • Carry Your Blackness Proudly Everywhere You Go
  • Subvert Stereotypes and Do You
  • Disrupt Oppressive Power Structures
  • No Need to Codeswitch, Show Up as You Beautifully Are
  • Get Together - Black Community is Invincible When We Get Together

She does this all while sharing intimate details of her own story, so that you will better get to know the Eboni that you’ve seen on The View and The Real Housewives of New York and heard on her own podcast series Holding Court.

Williams’s writing is at turns entertaining, relatable, and incredibly inspiring; after finishing this book, you will be reawakened to own your worth and understand the value of celebrating Blackness—whether yours or others’. As Williams said in her infamous tagline, “I’ve had to work twice as hard for half as much, but now I’m coming for everything.” And she won’t be satisfied until her people have unfettered access to everything right alongside her. She boldly proclaims that Blackness is the single most misunderstood construct in America. And in Bet on Black, Williams invites you to join her on the quest to show the world what Blackness really is.


Click for more detail about Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life by Jerry Pinkney Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life

by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jan 17, 2023)
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An inspiring memoir of a Caldecott-winning artist and one of the most acclaimed children’s book illustrators of all time, sharing the story of a young artist who finds the courage to follow his passion against all odds.

Jerry Pinkney—creator of Caldecott Medal-winning The Lion & the Mouse and The Little Mermaid—drew everywhere, all the time. Since childhood, it was how he made sense of the world—how he coped with the stress of being a sensitive child growing up in crowded spaces, struggling with a learning disability, in a time when the segregation of Black Americans was the norm. Only drawing could offer him a sense of calm, control, and confidence. When friends and siblings teased him about having the nickname “Jerry” as his only name, his mother always said, “Just ‘Jerry’ is enough. He’ll make something of that name someday.” And so he did, eventually becoming one of the most celebrated children’s book illustrators of all time and paving the way for countless other Black artists.

Jerry’s vivid recollections and lively sketchbook drawings of his youth in postwar America tell an inspiring story of how a hardworking boy pursued his passion in less-than-ideal circumstances and became a legendary artist against all odds.


Click for more detail about The Kindest Red: A Story of Hijab and Friendship by Ibtihaj Muhammad The Kindest Red: A Story of Hijab and Friendship

by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jan 10, 2023)
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The sequel to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Proudest Blue shows the power of friendship and kindness, from Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad.

It’s picture day and Faizah can’t wait to wear her special red dress with matching hair ribbons, passed down from her mother and sister. Faizah’s teacher starts the day by asking her students to envision the kind of world they want, inspiring Faizah and her friends to spend the day helping one another in ways large and small.

But when it’s time for sibling pictures, Faizah realizes that she and her older sister, Asiya, don’t match like her classmates do with their siblings. With help from her classmates inspired by Asiya’s hijab, Faizah finds that acts of kindness can come back to you in unexpected ways.

From Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad and fellow bestselling, award-winning creators S.K. Ali and Hatem Aly comes a heartfelt exploration of friendship, faith, and the joy of spreading kindness wherever you go.


Click for more detail about Nobody’s Magic (Paperback) by Destiny O. Birdsong Nobody’s Magic (Paperback)

by Destiny O. Birdsong
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 10, 2023)
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In this glittering triptych novel, Suzette, Maple and Agnes, three Black women with albinism, call Shreveport, Louisiana home. At the bustling crossroads of the American South and Southwest, these three women find themselves at the crossroads of their own lives.

Suzette, a pampered twenty-year‑old, has been sheltered from the outside world since a dangerous childhood encounter. Now, a budding romance with a sweet mechanic allows Suzette to seek independence, which unleashes dark reactions in those closest to her. In discovering her autonomy, Suzette is forced to decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order to make her own way in the world.

Maple is reeling from the unsolved murder of her free‑spirited mother. She flees the media circus and her judgmental grandmother by shutting herself off from the world in a spare room of the motel where she works. One night, at a party, Maple connects with Chad, someone who may understand her pain more than she realizes, and she discovers that the key to her mother’s death may be within her reach.

Agnes is far from home, working yet another mind‑numbing job. She attracts the interest of a lonely security guard and army veteran who’s looking for a traditional life for himself and his young son. He’s convinced that she wields a certain “magic,” but Agnes soon unleashes a power within herself that will shock them both and send her on a trip to confront not only her family and her past, but also herself. This novel, told in three parts, is a searing meditation on grief, female strength, and self‑discovery set against a backdrop of complicated social and racial histories. Nobody’s Magic is a testament to the power of family—the ones you’re born in and the ones you choose. And in these three narratives, among the yearning and loss, each of these women may find a seed of hope for the future.


Click for more detail about An American Story by Kwame Alexander An American Story

by Kwame Alexander
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jan 03, 2023)
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New York Times Bestselling author Kwame Alexander pens a powerful picture book that tells the story of American slavery through the voice of a teacher struggling to help her students understand its harrowing history.

From the fireside tales in an African village, through the unspeakable passage across the Atlantic, to the backbreaking work in the fields of the South, this is a story of a people’s struggle and strength, horror, and hope. This is the story of American slavery, a story that needs to be told and understood by all of us. A testament to the resilience of the African American community, this book honors what has been and envisions what is to be.

This is a book for those who want to speak the truth.


Click for more detail about A Child’s Introduction to Jazz: The Musicians, Culture, and Roots of the World’s Coolest Music by Jabari Asim A Child’s Introduction to Jazz: The Musicians, Culture, and Roots of the World’s Coolest Music

by Jabari Asim
Black Dog & Leventhal (Dec 27, 2022)
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Get ready to swing with A Child’s Introduction to Jazz, an interactive journey into one of the richest and most soulful music genres in the world. Listen while you learn with QR codes that will connect you to the instruments and musical flair of jazz.

Welcome to jazz! Feel the music and rhythms of all the different styles of jazz, from swing and Dixieland to the blues and bebop, with this interactive introduction to the world’s coolest music.

Author Jabari Asim will take you on the journey through the history of jazz as you discover the most important musicians and singers while hearing some really cool sounds. You’ll learn all about the roots of jazz in Africa and New Orleans and how the music traveled to different parts of the United States and around the world. Along the way you’ll meet legendary trumpeter Louis Armstrong, who shaped a new form of jazz called improvisation; pianist and bandleader Duke Ellington, who helped create the big band sound of the swing era; and the singer Billie Holiday, whose songs such as “God Bless the Child,” “Don’t Explain,” and “Lady Sings the Blues” have become jazz standards.

Listen along to the sounds of jazz by downloading music and hearing instruments such as trumpets, clarinets, trombones, and even singers scatting as they improvise melodies. With a pull-out poster showing the different instruments of jazz, A Child’s Introduction to Jazz hits the perfect beat and will have you bebopping and scatting in no time!


Click for more detail about Keyana Loves Her Family by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley Keyana Loves Her Family

by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Dec 13, 2022)
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Natasha Anastasia Tarpley returns with a breakout new picture book series all about Keyana, the protagonist of her bestselling title I Love My Hair!, and the people and places she adores.

Keyana’s always full of big ideas. Her latest and greatest plan is to host a perfect family movie night. From aunts to uncles to her five favorite cousins, everyone is invited! She knows the best way to impress her guests is with a fabulous soiree, and there’s a lot on her to-do list. But when the night doesn’t go as planned, she’ll have to rely on a little help from the people she loves most.

With warm illustrations by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow, this character-centric new picture book series from Natasha Anastasia Tarpley will give Keyana a fresh, commercial update that’s perfect for today’s young readers.


Click for more detail about The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar The World Record Book of Racist Stories

by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 22, 2022)
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A new collection of hilarious, intergenerational anecdotes full of absurd detail about everyday experiences of racism from the New York Times bestselling authors of You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey, comedian Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey.

Families may not always see eye to eye; we get on each other’s nerves, have different perspectives and lives—especially when we consider how we’ve grown up in different generations. But for the Ruffin family and many others, there has been one constant that connects them: racism hasn’t gone anywhere.

From her raucous musical numbers to turning upsetting news into laughs as the host of The Amber Ruffin Show or in her Late Night with Seth Meyers segments, Amber is no stranger to finding the funny wherever she looks. With equal parts heart and humor, she and her sister Lacey Lamar shared some of the eye-opening and outrageous experiences Lacey had faced in Nebraska in their first book. Now, the dynamic duo makes it clear—Lacey isn’t the only one in the family with ridiculous encounters to share! Amber and Lacey have many more uproarious stories, both from their own lives and the entire Ruffin family.

Recounting the wildest tales of racism from their parents, their siblings, and Amber’s nieces and nephews, this intergenerational look at ludicrous (but all too believable) everyday racism as experienced across age, gender, and appearance will have you gasping with shock and laughter in turn. Validating for anyone who has first-hand experience, and revealing for anyone who doesn’t, Amber and Lacey’s next book helps us all find the absurdity in the pervasive frustrations of racism. Illuminating and packed with love and laughter, this is a must-read for just about everyone.


Click for more detail about The Wind at My Back: Resilience, Grace, and Other Gifts from My Mentor, Raven Wilkinson by Misty Copeland The Wind at My Back: Resilience, Grace, and Other Gifts from My Mentor, Raven Wilkinson

by Misty Copeland
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 15, 2022)
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From celebrated ballerina and New York Times bestselling author Misty Copeland, a heartfelt memoir about her friendship with trailblazer Raven Wilkinson which captures the importance of mentorship, shared history, and honoring the past to ensure a stronger future.

Misty Copeland made history as the first African-American principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre. Her talent, passion, and perseverance enabled her to make strides no one had accomplished before. But as she will tell you, achievement never happens in a void. Behind her, supporting her rise was her mentor Raven Wilkinson. Raven had been virtually alone in her quest to breach the all-white ballet world when she fought to be taken seriously as a Black ballerina in the 1950s and 60s. A trailblazer in the world of ballet decades before Misty’s time, Raven faced overt and casual racism, hostile crowds, and death threats for having the audacity to dance ballet.

The Wind at My Back tells the story of two unapologetically Black ballerinas, their friendship, and how they changed each other—and the dance world—forever. Misty Copeland shares her own struggles with racism and exclusion in her pursuit of this dream career and honors the women like Raven who paved the way for her but whose contributions have gone unheralded. She celebrates the connection she made with her mentor, the only teacher who could truly understand the obstacles she faced, beyond the technical or artistic demands.

A beautiful and wise memoir of intergenerational friendship and the impressive journeys of two remarkable women, The Wind at My Back captures the importance of mentorship, of shared history, and of respecting the past to ensure a stronger future.


Click for more detail about The Book of Mean People (20th Anniversary Edition) by Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison The Book of Mean People (20th Anniversary Edition)

by Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 08, 2022)
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A new edition for a new world of one of literary legend Toni Morrison’s first picture books with her son, Slade Morrison. With an afterword by bestselling and critically acclaimed author Jewell Parker Rhodes.

“This is a book about mean people. Some mean people are big. Some little people are mean.”

In Toni Morrison’s first illustrated book collaboration with her son Slade, she offers a humorous and insightful look at how children experience meanness and anger in our world. The Morrisons recognized that the world and its language can be confusing to young people. To a child, meanness can have many shapes, sizes, and sounds. The wise young narrator shows that meanness can be a whisper or a shout, a smile or a frown as the list of mean people grows to include parents, siblings, and bullies of several varieties.

Today’s young readers certainly know about meanness and will feel satisfied by having their perspective championed in The Book of Mean People as well as heartened by the book’s message of embracing optimism, kindness, and joy despite any meanness they encounter. And adult readers will no doubt recognize some of these situations from their own life.

With whimsical yet sophisticated art by bestselling illustrator Pascal Lemaitre, The Book of Mean People is as relevant today as it was when it was originally published 20 years ago.


Click for more detail about The World We Make by N. K. Jemisin The World We Make

by N. K. Jemisin
Orbit Books (Nov 01, 2022)
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Four-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts a glorious tale of identity, resistance, magic and myth.

All is not well in the city that never sleeps. Even though the avatars of New York City have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading—and destroying the entire universe in the process—the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside.

In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.

N.K. Jemisin’s Great Cities Duology, which began with The City We Became and concludes with The World We Make, is a masterpiece of speculative fiction from one of the most important writers of her generation.

The Great Cities Duology

The City We Became
The World We Make


Click for more detail about The 5 Principles: A Revolutionary Path to Health, Inner Wealth, and Knowledge of Self by Khnum “Stic” Ibomu The 5 Principles: A Revolutionary Path to Health, Inner Wealth, and Knowledge of Self

by Khnum “Stic” Ibomu
Balance (Oct 18, 2022)
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Award-winning rapper, producer, and champion of healthy living — Khnum Ibomu, widely known as ‘Stic’ from the revolutionary but gangsta hip hop duo, dead prez, has inspired millions with his music and lifestyle. But he wasn’t always the people’s champ of healthy living in hip hop.

As a young aspiring rapper on the rise in the late nineties, Stic was no stranger to the typical self-destructive lifestyle habits of excessive drinking, abusing weed, poor dietary choices, and enduring many stressful days and sleepless nights. And ultimately his health paid the price, resulting in a dangerous diagnosis: gout.

Confronted with the choice to continue the cycle of suffering or make revolutionary changes, Stic set out to profoundly transform his lifestyle. In the three decades since, stic’s consistent dedication to mental, physical and spiritual fitness and continuous personal growth has led him to found the inspirational healthy lifestyle brand and cultural movement, RBG FIT CLUB, and pioneer his own ground-breaking genre of music called “Fit Hop.”

In The 5 Principles, he now brings the lessons he’s learned to a wider audience. Stic’s relatable, non-preachy, proactive and integrative approach to wellness is centered around 5 principles:

  • Knowledge
  • Nutrition
  • Exercise
  • Rest
  • Consistency

The 5 Principles empowers readers to experience the wealth of wellbeing via numerous tools, processes, practices, principles, and disciplines that Stic has lived and learned.


Click for more detail about Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

by Tricia Hersey
Little, Brown Spark (Oct 11, 2022)
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Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy. In this book, Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice.

What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace –– feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit.

In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us.

In Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.


Click for more detail about The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander The Door of No Return

by Kwame Alexander
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 27, 2022)
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Dreams are today’s answers for tomorrow’s questions.

11-year-old Kofi Offin dreams of water. Its mysterious, immersive quality. The rich, earthy scent of the current. The clearness, its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets…

Kofi has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, in the village where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father’s father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. Some say he moves like a minnow, not just an ordinary boy so he’s hoping to finally prove himself in front of Ama and his friends in a swimming contest against his older, stronger cousin.

But before this can take place, a festival comes to the villages of Upper and Lower Kwanta and Kofi’s brother is chosen to represent Upper Kwanta in the wrestling contest. Encircled by cheering spectators and sounding drums, the two wrestlers from different villages kneel, ready to fight.

You are only fine, until you are not.

The match is over before it has barely begun, when the unthinkable–a sudden death–occurs…

The river does not care how grown you are.

As his world turns upside down, Kofi soon ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves.


Click for more detail about No Justice, No Peace: From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter by Devin Allen No Justice, No Peace: From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter

by Devin Allen
Legacy Lit (Sep 14, 2022)
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Award-winning photographer Devin Allen has devoted the last six years to documenting the protests of the Black Lives Matter movement, from its early days in Baltimore, Maryland up to the present day. The riveting images in No Justice, No Peace provide a lens on the resistance that has empowered Black lives generation after generation. Allen’s signature black & white photos bear witness to the profound history of African Americans and allies in the fight for social justice and portrays the collective action over decades in stunning, timeless portraits.

Allen’s remarkable photos of today’s Black Lives Matter protests, which have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and twice on the cover of Time Magazine, were inspired by Gordon Parks of the Civil Rights Movement—and create a vision of the past and future of Black activism and leadership in America. With contributions from 15 bestselling and influential writers and activists of today such as Clint Smith, DeRay McKesson, D. Watkins, Jacqueline Woodson, Emmanuel Acho, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and more alongside the words of past writers and activists such as Martin Luther King Jr, Frederick Douglas, Malcom X, Maya Angelou, John Lewis, No Justice No Peace is a reminder of the moral responsibility of Americans to break unjust laws and take direct action.

In words and pictures, No Justice, No Peace honors the connection between activism today and that of the past. If indeed hindsight is 20/20, this artistic look back is a lens on history that enlarges our understanding of the lasting predicament of racism in the United States of America. At once deeply intimate and profoundly uplifting, No Justice, No Peace is a visual tribute to Black resistance, and a stern missive on the tough, but necessary, road that lies ahead.


Click for more detail about A Door Made for Me by Tyler Merritt A Door Made for Me

by Tyler Merritt
Worthy Kids (Sep 13, 2022)
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This emotional and honest picture book explores a racist encounter from the perspective of a young Black boy, while offering a message of unconditional love and acceptance to soothe the pain of blind prejudice.

In this story based on the author’s childhood, a young Black boy confronts his first experience of overt racism. In recounting the events to his grandfather, the young narrator asks: “How can she hate me when she doesn’t know me?” Grandpa offers wisdom and encouragement to the child, reminding him that another person’s hate does not change the fact that he is loved and that he matters. While offering an unflinching look at the emotional impact of the encounter, Tyler Merritt presents a message of love and acceptance that will resonate with young readers and offer a starting point for conversations about racial equality between parent or caregiver and child.


Click for more detail about Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta

by James Hannaham
Little, Brown and Company (Aug 30, 2022)
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Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
A Lambda Literary Award Finalist

In this “razor-sharp” and “dangerously hilarious” novel that "hooks readers from the beginning" (Los Angeles Times), a trans woman reenters life on the outside after more than twenty years in a men’s prison, over one consequential Fourth of July weekend—from the author of the PEN/Faulkner Award winner Delicious Foods.

Carlotta Mercedes has been misunderstood her entire life. When she was pulled into a robbery gone wrong, she still went by the name she’d grown up with in Fort Greene, Brooklyn—before it gentrified. But not long after her conviction, she took the name Carlotta and began to live as a woman, an embrace of selfhood that prison authorities rejected, keeping Carlotta trapped in an all-male cell block, abused by both inmates and guards, and often placed in solitary.

In her fifth appearance before the parole board, Carlotta is at last granted conditional freedom and returns to a much-changed New York City. Over a whirlwind Fourth of July weekend, she struggles to reconcile with the son she left behind, to reunite with a family reluctant to accept her true identity, and to avoid any minor parole infraction that might get her consigned back to lockup.

Written with the same astonishing verve of Delicious Foods, which dazzled critics and readers alike, Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta sweeps the reader through seemingly every street of Brooklyn, much as Joyce’s Ulysses does through Dublin. The novel sings with brio and ambition, delivering a fantastically entertaining read and a cast of unforgettable characters even as it challenges us to confront the glaring injustices of a prison system that continues to punish people long after their time has been served.


Click for more detail about Skin Again (Board Book) by bell hooks Skin Again (Board Book)

by bell hooks
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Aug 23, 2022)
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From legendary author and critic bell hooks and multi-Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka comes a way to talk about race and identity that will appeal to parents of the youngest readers—in board book edition.

The skin I’m in is just a covering. It cannot tell my story. If you want to know who I am, you have got to come inside and open your heart way wide. Race matters, but what’s most important is who we are on the inside. Looking beyond skin, going straight to the heart, we find in each other the treasures stored down deep. Learning to cherish those treasures, to be all we imagine ourselves to be, makes us free.

This award-winning book celebrates all that makes us unique and different and offers a strong, timely and timeless message of loving yourself and others.


Click for more detail about Sister Friends Forever by Kimberla Lawson Roby Sister Friends Forever

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 09, 2022)
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New York Times bestselling author, Kimberla Lawson Roby returns with the perfect story of friendship.

Diane, Michelle, Kenya, and Lynette have known each other since they were small children. They grew up in different neighborhoods, but they also grew up in the same church (which is how they first met), and while they each attended different colleges, they never lost touch with each other. So much so, they regularly planned trips to come home on the same weekends, and outside of time spent with their family and dating, they enjoyed all their summers together as well. Now many years later, at age forty, they are still best friends forever and they meet for lunch on the first Saturday of every month, but their lives couldn’t be more different.


Click for more detail about The Monsters We Defy by L. Penelope The Monsters We Defy

by L. Penelope
Redhook (Aug 09, 2022)
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NPR Best Book of 2022! Paste Best Fantasy Book of 2022!

“Never make a deal with shadows at night, especially ones that know your name.”

Washington D. C., 1925: Clara Johnson can talk to spirits—a gift that saved her during her darkest moments, now a curse that’s left her indebted to the cunning spirit world. So when a powerful spirit offers her an opportunity to gain her freedom, Clara seizes the chance, no questions asked. The task: steal a magical ring from the wealthiest woman in the District.

Clara can’t pull off this daring heist alone. She’ll need the help of an unlikely team, from a handsome jazz musician able to hypnotize with a melody to an aging actor who can change his face, to pull off the impossible. But as they race along DC’s legendary Black Broadway, conflict in the spirit world begins to leak into the human one—an insidious mystery is unfolding, one that could cost Clara her life and change the fate of an entire city.

The Monsters We Defy is a timely and dazzling historical fantasy that weaves together African American folk magic, history, and romance.


Click for more detail about All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle All the Lonely People

by Mike Gayle
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 02, 2022)
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In this “warm, funny” novel (Good Housekeeping), Jamaican immigrant Hubert Bird rediscovers the world he’d once turned his back on as he learns to find happiness after staying in isolation for so long.

In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship, and fulfillment. But it’s a lie. In reality, Hubert’s days are all the same, dragging on without him seeing a single soul.

Until he receives some good news—good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on. The news that his daughter is coming for a visit.

Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out.

Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship, and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all …

Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows, will he ever get to live the life he’s pretended to have for so long?


Click for more detail about H Is For Harlem by Dinah Johnson H Is For Harlem

by Dinah Johnson
Christy Ottaviano Books (Jul 19, 2022)
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This richly informative and gorgeously illustrated book celebrates Harlem’s vibrant traditions, past and present.

A is for Apollo Theatre
L is for Liberation Bookstore
U is for Uptown

Discover the Harlem icons that have defined generations of American culture. Harlem is full of remarkable treasures, including museums, performance spaces, community centers, and more—all of which come to life in this lavish celebration of Harlem as an epicenter of African American history and a vibrant neighborhood that continues to shape our world. At once a love letter and a rich alphabetical archive, H Is for Harlem highlights communities and traditions that connect our past and present.


Click for more detail about Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy

by Damien Lewis
PublicAffairs (Jul 12, 2022)
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The New Yorker, Best Books of 2022
Booklist, Best Books of 2022

Singer. Actress. Beauty. Spy. During WWII, Josephine Baker, the world’s richest and most glamorous entertainer, was an Allied spy in Occupied France.

Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was a music-hall diva renowned for her singing and dancing, her beauty and sexuality; she was the highest-paid female performer in Europe. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she was banned from the stage, along with all “negroes and Jews.” Yet instead of returning to America, she vowed to stay and to fight the Nazi evil. Overnight, she went from performer to Resistance spy.

In Agent Josephine, bestselling author Damien Lewis uncovers this little-known history of the famous singer’s life. During the war years, as a member of the French Nurse paratroopers—a cover for her spying work—Baker participated in numerous clandestine activities and emerged as a formidable spy. In turn, she was a hero of the three countries in whose name she served—the US, France, and Britain.

Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, including previously undisclosed letters and journals, Lewis upends the conventional story of Josephine Baker, explaining why she fully deserves her unique place in the French Panthéon.


Click for more detail about The Kaya Girl by Mamle Wolo The Kaya Girl

by Mamle Wolo
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jun 28, 2022)
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This rags-to-riches story by an award-winning Ghanaian author has page-turning appeal with luminous literary resonance.
Writing with effortlessly engaging prose, Wolo showcases the interweaving layers of Ghanaian culture to create a prismatic, multifaceted world in which two young girls, against all odds, are able to find each other.

When Faiza, a Muslim migrant girl from northern Ghana, and Abena, a wealthy doctor’s daughter from the south, meet by chance in Accra’s largest market, where Faiza works as a porter or kaya girl, they strike up an unlikely and powerful friendship that transcends their social inequities and opens up new worlds to them both.

Set against a backdrop of class disparity in Ghana, The Kaya Girl has shades of The Kite Runner in its unlikely friendship, and of Slumdog Millionaire as Faiza’s life takes unlikely turns that propel her thrillingly forward.

As, over the course of the novel, Abena awakens to the world outside her sheltered, privileged life, the novel explores a multitude of awakenings and the opportunities that lie beyond the breaking down of barriers. This is a gorgeously transporting work, offering vivid insight into two strikingly diverse young lives in Ghana.


Click for more detail about Half-Blown Rose: A Novel by Leesa Cross-Smith Half-Blown Rose: A Novel

by Leesa Cross-Smith
Grand Central Publishing (May 31, 2022)
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From the award-winning author of This Close to Okay comes the irresistible story of a woman remaking her life after her husband’s betrayal leads to a year of travel, art, and passion in Paris.

Vincent, having grown up the privileged daughter of artists, has a life that is lovely in many ways. At forty-four, she enjoys strolling the streets of Paris and teaching at the modern art museum; she has a vibrant group of friends; and she’s even caught the eye of a young, charismatic man named Loup. But Vincent is also in Paris to escape a painful betrayal: her husband, Cillian, has published a bestselling book divulging secrets about his past and their marriage, including the fact that when he was a teenager, he may have had a child with a young woman back in Dublin—before his family moved to California and never returned.

Now estranged, Vincent has agreed to see Cillian again at their son’s wedding the following summer, but Loup introduces new complications. Soon they begin an intense affair, and somewhere between dinners made together, hazy evenings in nightclubs where Loup’s band plays, and long, starry walks along the Seine, Vincent feels herself blossoming. Filled with playlists, travel journal entries, and excerpts from Cillian’s novel, Half-Blown Rose traverses Paris, liminal spaces, and the messy complexities of relationships. As Cillian does all he can to win her back, Vincent must decide what she wants … and who she will be.


Click for more detail about Cookies & Milk by Shawn Amos Cookies & Milk

by Shawn Amos
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 24, 2022)
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It’s a summer of family, friendship, and fun fiascos in this acclaimed novel that’s as irresistible as a fresh-baked cookie.

Ellis Bailey Johnson has the summertime blues. Instead of hanging out with friends, listening to music, and playing his harmonica, Ellis has to help bring his dad’s latest farfetched, sure-to-fail idea to life: open the world’s first chocolate chip cookie store.

They have six weeks to perfect their recipe, get a run-down A-frame storefront on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard into tip-top shape, and bring in customers. But nothing goes according to plan, especially when family secrets start to surface. Can Ellis bake up a happy ending?

Partially based on Shawn Amos’s own experiences growing up the son of Wally “Famous” Amos, and packed with humor, heart, and fun illustrations, this debut novel sings with the joy of self-discovery, unconditional love, and community.

“Shawn Amos has written a beautiful story of family and music, of growing up and having adventures, of business building and character building, that is at once very specific and universal. I love Cookies and Milk as much as I love cookies and milk.” –Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author


Click for more detail about Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments by D. Watkins Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments

by D. Watkins
Legacy Lit (May 17, 2022)
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“This is, no doubt, an origin story for the ages.” —Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist

At nine years old, D. Watkins has three concerns in life: picking his dad’s Lotto numbers, keeping his Nikes free of creases, and being a man. Directly in his periphery is east Baltimore, a poverty-stricken city battling the height of the crack epidemic just hours from the nation’s capital. Watkins, like many boys around him, is thrust out of childhood and into a world where manhood means surviving by slinging crack on street corners and finding oneself on the right side of pistols. For thirty years, Watkins is forced to safeguard every moment of joy he experiences or risk losing himself entirely. Now, for the first time, Watkins harnesses these moments to tell the story of how he matured into the D. Watkins we know today—beloved author, college professor, editor-at-large of Salon.com, and devoted husband and father.

Black Boy Smile lays bare Watkins’s relationship with his father and his brotherhood with the boys around him. He shares candid recollections of early assaults on his body and mind and reveals how he coped using stoic silence disguised as manhood. His harrowing pursuit of redemption, written in his signature street style, pinpoints how generational hardship, left raw and unnurtured, breeds toxic masculinity. Watkins discovers a love for books, is admitted to two graduate programs, meets with his future wife, an attorney—and finds true freedom in fatherhood.

Equally moving and liberating, Black Boy Smile is D. Watkins’s love letter to Black boys in concrete cities, a daring testimony that brings to life the contradictions, fears, and hopes of boys hurdling headfirst into adulthood. Black Boy Smile is a story proving that when we acknowledge the fallacies of our past, we can uncover the path toward self-discovery. Black Boy Smile is the story of a Black boy who healed.


Click for more detail about Unequal: A Story of America by Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau Unequal: A Story of America

by Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 03, 2022)
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New York Times bestselling author Michael Eric Dyson and critically acclaimed author Marc Favreau show how racial inequality permeates every facet of American society, through the lens of those pushing for meaningful change,

The true story of racial inequality—and resistance to it—is the prologue to our present. You can see it in where we live, where we go to school, where we work, in our laws, and in our leadership. Unequal presents a gripping account of the struggles that shaped America and the insidiousness of racism, and demonstrates how inequality persists. As readers meet some of the many African American people who dared to fight for a more equal future, they will also discover a framework for addressing racial injustice in their own lives.


Click for more detail about The Story of Juneteenth by Dorena Williamson The Story of Juneteenth

by Dorena Williamson
Worthy Kids (May 03, 2022)
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Introduce little learners to the Juneteenth holiday with this 250-word board book about its origins and traditions.

What are the origins of America’s newest national holiday? With simple, age-appropriate language and colorful illustrations, this little board book introduces children to the events of June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform the people of Texas that all enslaved people were declared free and the Civil War had ended. The book also connects those events to today’s celebrations. Thoroughly researched and historically accurate, The Story of Juneteenth distills a pivotal moment in U.S. history and creates an opportunity for further conversation between parent or caregiver and child.


Click for more detail about The Trayvon Generation by Elizabeth Alexander The Trayvon Generation

by Elizabeth Alexander
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 05, 2022)
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From a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author and poet comes a galvanizing meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America’s unresolved problem with race.

*Named a Most Anticipated Title of 2022 by TIME magazine, New York Times, Bustle, and more*

In the midst of civil unrest in the summer of 2020 and following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, Elizabeth Alexander—one of the great literary voices of our time—turned a mother’s eye to her sons’ and students’ generation and wrote a celebrated and moving reflection on the challenges facing young Black America. Originally published in the New Yorker, the essay incisively and lovingly observed the experiences, attitudes, and cultural expressions of what she referred to as the Trayvon Generation, who even as children could not be shielded from the brutality that has affected the lives of so many Black people.

The Trayvon Generation expands the viral essay that spoke so resonantly to the persistence of race as an ongoing issue at the center of the American experience. Alexander looks both to our past and our future with profound insight, brilliant analysis, and mighty heart, interweaving her voice with groundbreaking works of art by some of our most extraordinary artists. At this crucial time in American history when we reckon with who we are as a nation and how we move forward, Alexander’s lyrical prose gives us perspective informed by historical understanding, her lifelong devotion to education, and an intimate grasp of the visioning power of art. This breathtaking book is essential reading and an expression of both the tragedies and hopes for the young people of this era that is sure to be embraced by those who are leading the movement for change and anyone rising to meet the moment.


Click for more detail about Post-Traumatic by Chantal V. Johnson Post-Traumatic

by Chantal V. Johnson
Little, Brown and Company (Apr 05, 2022)
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Harpers’S Bazzar, Best Books of the Year
MS. Magazine, Best Books of April
Oprah Daily, Best Books of Spring

“brilliant and unforgettable” —Deesha Philyaw

To the outside observer, Vivian is a success story—a dedicated lawyer who advocates for mentally ill patients at a New York City psychiatric hospital. Privately, Vivian contends with the memories and aftereffects of her bad childhood—compounded by the everyday stresses of being a Black Latinx woman in America. She lives in a constant state of hypervigilant awareness that makes even a simple subway ride into a heart-pounding drama.

For years, Vivian has self-medicated with a mix of dating, dieting, dark humor and smoking weed with her BFF, Jane. But after a family reunion prompts Vivian to take a bold step, she finds herself alone in new and terrifying ways, without even Jane to confide in, and she starts to unravel. Will she find a way to repair what matters most to her?

A debut from a stunning talent, Post-traumatic is a new kind of survivor narrative, featuring a complex heroine who is blazingly, indelibly alive. With razor-sharp prose and mordant wit, Chantal V. Johnson performs an extraordinary feat, delivering a psychologically astute story about the aftermath of trauma that somehow manages to brim with warmth, laughter, and hope.

Book Review

Click for more detail about How We Love Matters by Albert Tate How We Love Matters

by Albert Tate
FaithWords (Mar 08, 2022)
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This powerful book reimagines discipleship by begging us to acknowledge that racism exists in the Church—and offers the hopeful message that we can disciple it out. It is not an accident that racism is alive and well in the American church. Racism has, in fact, been taught within the church for so long most of us don’t even recognize it anymore. Pastor Albert Tate guides all of us in acknowledging the racism that keeps us from loving each other the way God intends and encourages siblings in Christ to sit together in racial discomfort, examining the role we may play in someone’s else’s struggle.

How We Love Matters is a series of nine moving letters that educate, enlighten, and reimagine discipleship in a way that flips the church on its head. In these letters that include “Dear Whiteness,” “Dear America,” and “Dear Church,” Tate calls out racism in the world, the church, within himself and us. These letters present an anti-racist mission and vision for believers to follow that helps us to speak up at the family table and call out this evil so it will not persist in future generations. Tate believes that the only way to make change is by telling the truth about where we are—relationally, internally, and spiritually.

How We Love Matters is an exposition of relevant Biblical truth, a clarion call for all believers to examine how they see and understand each other, and it is a way forward toward justice, reconciliation, and healing. Because, yes, it is important that we love each other, but it is even more important how we love each other. 


Click for more detail about Nobody’s Magic by Destiny O. Birdsong Nobody’s Magic

by Destiny O. Birdsong
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 08, 2022)
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A Best Book of February by Washington Post · Nylon · BookRiot

In this glittering triptych novel, Suzette, Maple and Agnes, three Black women with albinism, call Shreveport, Louisiana home. At the bustling crossroads of the American South and Southwest, these three women find themselves at the crossroads of their own lives.

Suzette, a pampered twenty-year‑old, has been sheltered from the outside world since a dangerous childhood encounter. Now, a budding romance with a sweet mechanic allows Suzette to seek independence, which unleashes dark reactions in those closest to her. In discovering her autonomy, Suzette is forced to decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order to make her own way in the world.

Maple is reeling from the unsolved murder of her free‑spirited mother. She flees the media circus and her judgmental grandmother by shutting herself off from the world in a spare room of the motel where she works. One night, at a party, Maple connects with Chad, someone who may understand her pain more than she realizes, and she discovers that the key to her mother’s death may be within her reach.

Agnes is far from home, working yet another mind‑numbing job. She attracts the interest of a lonely security guard and army veteran who’s looking for a traditional life for himself and his young son. He’s convinced that she wields a certain “magic,” but Agnes soon unleashes a power within herself that will shock them both and send her on a trip to confront not only her family and her past, but also herself. This novel, told in three parts, is a searing meditation on grief, female strength, and self‑discovery set against a backdrop of complicated social and racial histories. Nobody’s Magic is a testament to the power of family—the ones you’re born in and the ones you choose. And in these three narratives, among the yearning and loss, each of these women may find a seed of hope for the future.


Click for more detail about Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams Mirror Girls

by Kelly McWilliams
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Feb 08, 2022)
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Praise for Mirror Girls

  • A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection
  • Katie Couric Media pick for “Must-Read New Books Coming Out in 2022”
  • ESSENCE pick for “Books We Can’t Wait to Read In 2022”
  • One of BuzzFeed’s “Highly Anticipated YA Books”
  • One of Book Riot’s “Ultimate Guide to New Winter YA Books”

A thrilling gothic horror novel about biracial twin sisters separated at birth, perfect for fans of Lovecraft Country and The Vanishing Half

As infants, twin sisters Charlie Yates and Magnolia Heathwood were secretly separated after the brutal lynching of their parents, who died for loving across the color line. Now, at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, Charlie is a young Black organizer in Harlem, while white-passing Magnolia is the heiress to a cotton plantation in rural Georgia.

Magnolia knows nothing of her racial heritage, but secrets are hard to keep in a town haunted by the ghosts of its slave-holding past. When Magnolia finally learns the truth, her reflection mysteriously disappears from mirrors—the sign of a terrible curse. Meanwhile, in Harlem, Charlie’s beloved grandmother falls ill. Her final wish is to be buried back home in Georgia—and, unbeknownst to Charlie, to see her long-lost granddaughter, Magnolia Heathwood, one last time. So Charlie travels into the Deep South, confronting the land of her worst nightmares—and Jim Crow segregation.

The sisters reunite as teenagers in the deeply haunted town of Eureka, Georgia, where ghosts linger centuries after their time and dangers lurk behind every mirror. They couldn’t be more different, but they will need each other to put the hauntings of the past to rest, to break the mirrors’ deadly curse—and to discover the meaning of sisterhood in a racially divided land.


Click for more detail about Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson Freewater

by Amina Luqman-Dawson
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Feb 01, 2022)
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Debut author Amina Luqman-Dawson pens a lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children’s escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom.

Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp.

In this society created by formerly enslaved people and some freeborn children, Homer finds new friends, almost forgetting where he came from. But when he learns of a threat that could destroy Freewater, he crafts a plan to find his mother and help his new home.

Deeply inspiring and loosely based on the history of maroon communities in the South, this is a striking tale of survival, adventure, friendship, and courage.


Click for more detail about Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life by Marilyn Nelson Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor’s Life

by Marilyn Nelson
Christy Ottaviano Books (Jan 25, 2022)
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A powerful biography in poems​ about a trailblazing artist and a pillar of the Harlem Renaissance—with an afterword by the curator of the Art & Artifacts Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Augusta Savage was arguably the most influential American artist of the 1930s. A gifted sculptor, Savage was commissioned to create a portrait bust of W.E.B. Du Bois for the New York Public Library. She flourished during the Harlem Renaissance, and became a teacher to an entire generation of African American artists, including Jacob Lawrence, and would go on to be nationally recognized as one of the featured artists at the 1939 World’s Fair. She was the first-ever recorded Black gallerist. After being denied an artists’ fellowship abroad on the basis of race, Augusta Savage worked to advance equal rights in the arts. And yet popular history has forgotten her name. Deftly written and brimming with photographs of Savage’s stunning sculpture, this is an important portrait of an exceptional artist who, despite the limitations she faced, was compelled to forge a life through art and creativity.


Click for more detail about Imago (Lilith’s Brood #3) by Octavia Butler Imago (Lilith’s Brood #3)

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Dec 28, 2021)
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From the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower: After the near-extinction of humanity, a new kind of alien-human hybrid must come to terms with their identity — before their powers destroy what is left of humankind.

Since a nuclear war decimated the human population, the remaining humans began to rebuild their future by interbreeding with an alien race — the Oankali — who saved them from near-certain extinction. The Oankalis’ greatest skill lies in the species’ ability to constantly adapt and evolve, a process that is guided by their third sex, the ooloi, who are able to read and mutate genetic code.

Now, for the first time in the humans’ relationship with the Oankali, a human mother has given birth to an ooloi child: Jodahs. Throughout his childhood, Jodahs seemed to be a male human-alien hybrid. But when he reaches adolescence, Jodahs develops the ooloi abilities to shapeshift, manipulate DNA, cure and create disease, and more. Frightened and isolated, Jodahs must either come to terms with this new identity, learn to control new powers, and unite what’s left of humankind — or become the biggest threat to their survival.


Click for more detail about The Pursuit of Porsha: How My Journey to Happiness Can Help You Find Yours by Porsha Williams The Pursuit of Porsha: How My Journey to Happiness Can Help You Find Yours

by Porsha Williams
Worthy Books (Nov 16, 2021)
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In The Pursuit of Porsha, media personality and entrepreneur Porsha Williams opens up about family, faith, fame, and becoming an agent for change.

Porsha Williams is one of today’s most recognizable faces in pop culture and a remarkable voice in the television and podcast communities. In The Pursuit of Porsha, she takes readers on a deeply personal journey filled with tragedy, triumphs, humor, and tears as she shares her search for happiness and self-acceptance, giving fans a first-hand look into the defining moments that have never been captured on-screen or in the press.

Charged with candor, vulnerability, and the sharp wit Porsha is known and loved for, The Pursuit of Porsha brings readers back to the beginning and along her path of self-reflection and discovery. From her upbringing as the granddaughter of civil rights activist Hosea Williams to painful recollections of childhood bullying to her roles as a pop culture personality, mother, and entrepreneur, Porsha shares every moment that has tried - and restored - her faith, over and over again.

Through it all, Porsha has proven she is more than a soundbite, headline, or rumor. She is an empowering role model to black women and an icon for women everywhere. In The Pursuit of Porsha, Porsha’s fans will connect with her like they never have before.

Book Review

Click for more detail about How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America by Priya Fielding-Singh How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America

by Priya Fielding-Singh
Little, Brown Spark (Nov 16, 2021)
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A “deeply empathetic” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) “must-read” (Marion Nestle) that “weaves lyrical storytelling and fascinating research into a compelling narrative” (San Francisco Chronicle) to look at dietary differences along class lines and nutritional disparities in America, illuminating exactly how inequality starts on the dinner plate.

Inequality in America manifests in many ways, but perhaps nowhere more than in how we eat. From her years of field research, sociologist and ethnographer Priya Fielding-Singh brings us into the kitchens of dozens of families from varied educational, economic, and ethnoracial backgrounds to explore how—and why—we eat the way we do. We get to know four families intimately: the Bakers, a Black family living below the federal poverty line; the Williamses, a working-class white family just above it; the Ortegas, a middle-class Latinx family; and the Cains, an affluent white family.

Whether it’s worrying about how far pantry provisions can stretch or whether there’s enough time to get dinner on the table before soccer practice, all families have unique experiences that reveal their particular dietary constraints and challenges. By diving into the nuances of these families’ lives, Fielding-Singh lays bare the limits of efforts narrowly focused on improving families’ food access. Instead, she reveals how being rich or poor in America impacts something even more fundamental than the food families can afford: these experiences impact the very meaning of food itself.

Packed with lyrical storytelling and groundbreaking research, as well as Fielding-Singh’s personal experiences with food as a biracial, South Asian American woman, How the Other Half Eats illuminates exactly how inequality starts on the dinner plate. Once you’ve taken a seat at tables across America, you’ll never think about class, food, and public health the same way again.


Click for more detail about ACT Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me by Jamie Foxx ACT Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me

by Jamie Foxx
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 19, 2021)
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In this hilarious and heartfelt memoir, award-winning, multi-talented entertainer Jamie Foxx shares the story of being raised by his no-nonsense grandmother, the glamour and pitfalls of life in Hollywood, and the lessons he took from both worlds to raise his two daughters.

Jamie Foxx has won an Academy Award and a Grammy Award, laughed with sitting presidents, and partied with the biggest names in hip-hop. But he is most proud of his role as father to two very independent young women, Corinne and Anelise. Jamie might not always know what he’s doing when it comes to raising girls—especially when they talk to him about TikTok (PlikPlok?) and don’t share his enthusiasm for flashy Rolls Royces—but he does his best to show up for them every single day.

Luckily, he has a strong example to follow: his beloved late grandmother, Estelle Marie Talley. Jamie learned everything he knows about parenting from the fierce woman who raised him: As he puts it, she’s “Madea before Tyler Perry put on the pumps and the gray wig.” In Act Like You Got Some Sense—a title inspired by Estelle—Jamie shares up close and personal stories about the tough love and old-school values he learned growing up in the small town of Terrell, Texas; his early days trying to make it in Hollywood; the joys and challenges of achieving stardom; and how each phase of his life shaped his parenting journey. Hilarious, poignant, and always brutally honest, this is Jamie Foxx like we’ve never seen him before.


Click for more detail about The Me I Choose to Be by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley The Me I Choose to Be

by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 12, 2021)
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The bestselling author of I Love My Hair! joins forces with a dynamic photography duo in this stunning celebration of the many things you can be!

What will you choose to be?

A free spirit?
A weaver of words?
A star dancing across the night sky?
A limitless galaxy?

The possibilities are endless in this uplifting ode to the power of potential. With lyrical text by bestselling author Natasha Anastasia Tarpley and images by Regis and Kahran Bethencourt—the team behind CreativeSoul Photography—each page of The Me I Choose To Be is an immersive call for self-love and highlights the inherent beauty of all Black and brown children.


Click for more detail about Say Their Names: How Black Lives Came to Matter in America by Curtis Bunn, Michael H. Cottman, Patrice Gaines, Nick Charles, and Keith Harriston Say Their Names: How Black Lives Came to Matter in America

by Curtis Bunn, Michael H. Cottman, Patrice Gaines, Nick Charles, and Keith Harriston
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 05, 2021)
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Have your cake—and true love too…

Nightmare bridesmaids’ dresses, tasteless fondant icing, budget-busting wedding expenses—some women just aren’t about it. They’ll laugh off tradition, make their own rules—and find the most outrageous ways possible to flip wedding day lockstep into true love.

She’s done, finished, had it. Between her family’s expectations and being always-a-bridesmaid, Lily Perry is fed up with being nagged to find a husband. She’s happy with her life—and tired of being burned by "nice guys" who demand she fit their dreams. So she’s going to settle the issue once and for all: by marrying herself. And celebrated chef Vincent Caro’s fabulous restaurant is the perfect place for a big-time, blow-out,
not-hearing-it-any-more wedding. Lily doesn’t care if everyone—including Vincent—thinks she’s crazy. Especially when his mouth-watering talent and no-commitments style ignites one sizzling, no-strings fling, or two…or more.

But no matter how hard they try to keep things light, their relationship keeps getting hotter. The more Vincent helps Lily tackle unexpected trouble, the more he finds she might be everything he’s ever wanted. Can she afford to forget caution and finally let go? And can they both take a risk to discover if what they have is meant to last long after the dessert course?


Click for more detail about The Forgotten First: Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley, Bill Willis, and the Breaking of the NFL Color Barrier by Keyshawn Johnson The Forgotten First: Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley, Bill Willis, and the Breaking of the NFL Color Barrier

by Keyshawn Johnson
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 21, 2021)
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The unknown story of the Black pioneers who collectively changed the face of the NFL in 1946.

The Forgotten First chronicles the lives of four incredible men, the racism they experienced as Black players entering a segregated sport, the burden of expectation they carried, and their many achievements, which would go on to affect football for generations to come.

More than a year before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, there was another seismic moment in pro sports history. On March 21,1946, former UCLA star running back Kenny Washington—a teammate of Robinson’s in college—signed a contract with the Los Angeles Rams. This ended one of the most shameful periods in NFL history, when African-American players were banned from league play.

Washington would not be alone in serving as a pioneer for NFL integration. Just months after he joined the Rams, thanks to a concerted effort by influential Los Angeles political and civic leaders, the team signed Woody Strode, who played with both Washington and Robinson at UCLA in one of the most celebrated backfields in college sports history. And that same year, a little-known coach named Paul Brown of the fledgling Cleveland Browns signed running back Marion Motley and defensive lineman Bill Willis, thereby integrating a startup league that would eventually merge with the NFL.

The Forgotten First tells the story of one of the most significant cultural shifts in pro football history, as four men opened the door to opportunity and changed the sport forever.


Click for more detail about Paradise on Fire (hardcover) by Jewell Parker Rhodes Paradise on Fire (hardcover)

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 14, 2021)
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From award-winning and bestselling author Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change.

Addy is haunted by the tragic fire that killed her parents, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother. Now, years later, Addy’s grandmother has enrolled her in a summer wilderness program. There, Addy joins five other Black city kids—each with their own troubles—to spend a summer out west.

Deep in the forest the kids learn new (and to them) strange skills: camping, hiking, rock climbing, and how to start and safely put out campfires. Most important, they learn to depend upon each other for companionship and survival.

But then comes a devastating forest fire…

Addy is face-to-face with her destiny and haunting past. Developing her courage and resiliency against the raging fire, it’s up to Addy to lead her friends to safety. Not all are saved. But remembering her origins and grandmother’s teachings, she’s able to use street smarts, wilderness skills, and her spiritual intuition to survive.


Click for more detail about Race Against Time by Keith Boykin Race Against Time

by Keith Boykin
Bold Type Books (Sep 14, 2021)
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A Cold Civil War has engulfed the nation.After a deadly pandemic, shocking incidents of police brutality, a racial justice crisis, and the fall of a dangerous demagogue, America remains more divided than at any time in decades. At the heart of this national crisis is the fear of a darkening America—a country in which there is no longer a predominant white majority.As the Republican Party has lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections, its leaders have incited white Americans in a last-ditch race against time to stop the advance of a new, multiracial emerging majority. Keith Boykin, long time political commentator, has watched this white resentment consume the GOP over the course of a life in politics, activism, and journalism. He has also observed the divisions among Democrats, as white progressives have postponed demands for full racial equity, while Black voters have often been too forgiving of party leaders who have failed to deliver. America can no longer avoid its long overdue reckoning with the past, Boykin argues. With the familiarity of personal experience and the acuity of historical insight, Boykin urges us to fight racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia, and save the union, not just by making Black lives matter, but by making Black lives equal.


Click for more detail about I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America by Tyler Merritt I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America

by Tyler Merritt
Worthy Books (Sep 14, 2021)
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“A sad, happy, moving, troubling, inspirational, humorous and brutal account of the people and experiences that formed this exceptionally well-formed man… (Tyler Merritt) … subtly and kindly reminds us of how much we have in common and that assumptions are made by fools.” — Jimmy Kimmel

As a 6’2" dreadlocked black man, Tyler Merritt knows that getting too close to the wrong person can get him killed. But he also believes that proximity can be a cure for racism.

Tyler Merritt’s video “Before You Call the Cops” has been viewed more than 59 million times. He’s appeared on Jimmy Kimmel and Sports Illustrated and has been profiled in the New York Times. The viral video’s main point—the more you know someone, the more empathy, understanding, and compassion you have for that person—is the springboard for this book. By sharing his highs and exposing his lows, Tyler welcomes us into his world in order to help bridge the divides that seem to grow wider every day.

In I Take My Coffee Black, Tyler tells hilarious stories from his own life as a black man in America. He talks about growing up in a multi-cultural community and realizing that he wasn’t always welcome, how he quit sports for musical theater (that’s where the girls were) to how Jesus barged in uninvited and changed his life forever (it all started with a Triple F.A.T. Goose jacket) to how he ended up at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz because he thought they had a great theater program (they didn’t). Throughout his stories, he also seamlessly weaves in lessons about privilege, the legacy of lynching and sharecropping and why you don’t cross black mamas. He teaches readers about the history of encoded racism that still undergirds our society today

By turns witty, insightful, touching, and laugh-out-loud funny, I Take My Coffee Black paints a portrait of black manhood in America and enlightens, illuminates, and entertains— ultimately building the kind of empathy that might just be the antidote against the racial injustice in our society.

Yes This is the number: "1325," But all three prizes have been awarded. Look out for more contests and more free books!

Book Review

Click for more detail about We Are Not Broken by George M. Johnson We Are Not Broken

by George M. Johnson
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 07, 2021)
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George M. Johnson, activist and bestselling author ofAll Boys Aren’t Blue, returns with a striking memoir that celebrates Black boyhood and brotherhood in all its glory.

This is the vibrant story of George, Garrett, Rall, and Rasul — four children raised by Nanny, their fiercely devoted grandmother. The boys hold one another close through early brushes with racism, memorable experiences at the family barbershop, and first loves and losses. And with Nanny at their center, they are never broken.

George M. Johnson capture the unique experience of growing up as a Black boy in America, and their rich family stories — exploring themes of vulnerability, sacrifice, and culture — are interspersed with touching letters from the grandchildren to their beloved matriarch. By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, this personal account is destined to become a modern classic of emerging adulthood.


Click for more detail about Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler Adulthood Rites

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 24, 2021)
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From the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower: After the near-extinction of the human race, one young man with extraordinary gifts will reveal whether the human race can learn from its past and rebuild their future … or is doomed to self-destruction.

In the future, nuclear war has destroyed nearly all humankind. An alien race intervenes, saving the small group of survivors from certain death. But their salvation comes at a cost.

The Oankali are able to read and mutate genetic code, and they use these skills for their own survival, interbreeding with new species to constantly adapt and evolve. They value the intelligence they see in humankind but also know that the species—rigidly bound to destructive social hierarchies—is destined for failure. They are determined that the only way forward is for the two races to produce a new hybrid species—and they will not tolerate rebellion.

Akin looks like an ordinary human child. But as the first true human-alien hybrid, he is born understanding language, then starts to form sentences at two months old. He can see at a molecular level and kill with a touch. More powerful than any human or Oankali, he will be the architect of both races’ future. But before he can carry this new species into the stars, Akin must reconcile with his own heritage in a world already torn in two.


Click for more detail about Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be

by Nichole Perkins
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 17, 2021)
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A passionate, magnetic memoir that explores writer and podcast host Nichole Perkins’s obsession with pop culture and the challenges of navigating relationships as a Black woman through feminism and Southern mores.

A Roxane Gay Audacious Bookclub November Pick
Named "Most Anticipated Books of 2021" by Buzzfeed and Lithub


Pop culture is the Pandora’s Box of our lives. Racism, wealth, poverty, beauty, inclusion, exclusion, and hope — all of these intractable and unavoidable features course through the media we consume. Examining pop culture’s impact on her life, Nichole Perkins takes readers on a rollicking trip through the last twenty years of music, media and the internet from the perspective of one southern Black woman. She explores her experience with mental illness and how the TV series Frasier served as a crutch, how her role as mistress led her to certain internet message boards that prepared her for current day social media, and what it means to figure out desire and sexuality and Prince in a world where marriage is the only acceptable goal for women.

Combining her sharp wit, stellar pop culture sensibility, and trademark spirited storytelling, Nichole boldly tackles the damage done to women, especially Black women, by society’s failure to confront the myths and misogyny at its heart, and her efforts to stop the various cycles that limit confidence within herself. By using her own life and loves as a unique vantage point, Nichole humorously and powerfully illuminates how to take the best pop culture has to offer and discard the harmful bits, offering a mirror into our own lives.


Click for more detail about Dawn (Lilith’s Brood #1) by Octavia Butler Dawn (Lilith’s Brood #1)

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 27, 2021)
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Dawn (previously Xenogenesis, Bk. 1)

One woman is called upon to rebuild the future of humankind after a nuclear war, in this revelatory post-apocalyptic tale from the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower.

When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali—a seemingly benevolent alien race—intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth—but salvation comes at a price.

Hopeful and thought-provoking, this post-apocalyptic narrative deftly explores gender and race through the eyes of characters struggling to adapt during a pivotal time of crisis and change.


Click for more detail about The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin The City We Became

by N. K. Jemisin
Orbit Books (Jul 27, 2021)
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A gripping historical novel about a spirited girl who joins a sisterhood working to undermine the Confederates—from the award-winning author of We Cast a Shadow

“I knew from page one that this wasn’t going to be a typical journey through a familiar history… . A splendid work.”—Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets

Ady, a curious, sharp-witted girl, and her fierce mother, Sanite, are inseparable. Enslaved to a businessman in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the pair spend their days dreaming of a loving future and reminiscing about their family’s rebellious and storied history. When mother and daughter are separated, Ady is left hopeless and directionless until she stumbles into the Mockingbird Inn and meets Lenore, a free Black woman with whom she becomes fast friends. Lenore invites Ady to join a clandestine society of spies called the Daughters. With the courage instilled in her by Sanite—and with help from these strong women—Ady learns how to put herself first. So begins her journey toward liberation and imagining a new future.

The American Daughters is a novel of hope and triumph that reminds us what is possible when a community bands together to fight for their freedom.


Click for more detail about Carry on: Reflections for a New Generation by John Lewis Carry on: Reflections for a New Generation

by John Lewis
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 13, 2021)
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A brilliant and empowering collection of final reflections and words of wisdom from venerable civil rights champion, the late Congressman John Lewis at the end of his remarkable life.

Congressman John Lewis was a paragon of the Civil Rights Movement and political leadership for decades. A hero we won’t soon forget, Lewis was a beacon of hope and a model of humility whose invocation to "good trouble" continues to inspire millions across our nation. In his last months on earth, even while battling cancer, he dedicated time to share his memories, beliefs, and advice—exclusively immortalized in these pages—as a message to the generations to come.

Organized by topic ranging from justice, courage, faith, mentorship, and forgiveness to the protests and the pandemic, and many more besides, Carry On collects the late Congressman’s thoughts for readers to draw on whenever they are in need of guidance. John Lewis had great confidence in our future, even as he died in the midst of one of our country’s most challenging years to date. With this book, he performs that crucial passing of the baton, empowering us to live up to the legacy he has left us with his perseverance, dedication, profound insight, and unwavering ability to see the good in life.


Click for more detail about The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris The Sweetness of Water

by Nathan Harris
Little, Brown and Company (Jun 15, 2021)
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AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER / AN OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SUMMER 2021 READING LIST

In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, “a miraculous debut” —Washington Post

In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry—freed by the Emancipation Proclamation—seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm, hoping through an unexpected friendship to stanch their grief. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys.

Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. The young men, recently returned from the war to the town of Old Ox, hold their trysts in the woods. But when their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos, including a murder, unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community. In the aftermath of so much turmoil, it is Isabelle who emerges as an unlikely leader, proffering a healing vision for the land and for the newly free citizens of Old Ox.

With candor and sympathy, debut novelist Nathan Harris creates an unforgettable cast of characters, depicting Georgia in the violent crucible of Reconstruction. Equal parts beauty and terror, as gripping as it is moving, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances.

Harris’ debut novel, The Sweetness of Water, won the 2021 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Harris’ novel tells a story set in the waning days of the Civil War. The tale is about an unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever.


Click for more detail about Seven Days in June by Tia Williams Seven Days in June

by Tia Williams
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 08, 2021)
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Seven days to fall in love, fifteen years to forget and seven days to get it all back again… From the author of The Perfect Find, this is a witty, romantic, and sexy-as-hell new novel of two writers and their second chance at love.
Brooklynite Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer, who is feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning literary author who, to everyone’s surprise, shows up in New York.

When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their past buried traumas, but the eyebrows of New York’s Black literati. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can’t deny their chemistry-or the fact that they’ve been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.

Over the next seven days in the middle of a steamy Brooklyn summer, Eva and Shane reconnect, but Eva’s not sure how she can trust the man who broke her heart, and she needs to get him out of New York so that her life can return to normal. But before Shane disappears again, there are a few questions she needs answered…

With its keen observations of Black life and the condition of modern motherhood, as well as the consequences of motherless-ness, Seven Days in June is by turns humorous, warm and deeply sensual.


Click for more detail about Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams Agnes at the End of the World

by Kelly McWilliams
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jun 08, 2021)
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The Handmaid’s Tale meets Wilder Girls in this genre-defying novel about a girl who escapes a terrifying cult only to discover that the world Outside has succumbed to a viral apocalypse.

Agnes loves her home of Red Creek—its quiet, sunny mornings, its dusty roads, and its God. There, she cares tirelessly for her younger siblings and follows the town’s strict laws. What she doesn’t know is that Red Creek is a cult, controlled by a madman who calls himself a prophet.
Then Agnes meets Danny, an Outsider boy, and begins to question what is and isn’t a sin. Her younger brother, Ezekiel, will die without the insulin she barters for once a month, even though medicine is considered outlawed. Is she a sinner for saving him? Is her sister, Beth, a sinner for dreaming of the world beyond Red Creek?

As the Prophet grows more dangerous, Agnes realizes she must escape with Ezekiel and leave everyone else, including Beth, behind. But it isn’t safe Outside, either: A viral pandemic is burning through the population at a terrifying rate. As Agnes ventures forth, a mysterious connection grows between her and the Virus. But in a world where faith, miracles, and cruelty have long been indistinguishable, will Agnes be able to choose between saving her family and saving the world?


Click for more detail about How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

by Clint Smith
Little, Brown and Company (Jun 01, 2021)
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"We need this book." Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to be an Anti-Racist

The Atlantic staff writer and poet Clint Smith’s revealing, contemporary portrait of America as a slave owning nation

Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves.

It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola, a former plantation-turned-maximum-security prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the 18,000-acre land for virtually no pay. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers.

A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country’s most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods like downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women, and children has been deeply imprinted.

Informed by scholarship and brought to life by the story of people living today, Smith’s debut work of nonfiction is a landmark of reflection and insight that offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country and how it has come to be.


Click for more detail about Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked Me Into the Life of My Dreams by Yvonne Orji Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked Me Into the Life of My Dreams

by Yvonne Orji
Worthy Books (May 25, 2021)
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Thriving stand-up comic and actress Yvonne Orji—best known as Issa Rae’s BFF on the HBO series, Insecure—shares the secrets to living the life of your dreams.

Yvonne Orji has never shied away from being unapologetically herself, and that includes being outspoken about her faith. Known for interpreting Biblical stories and metaphors to fit current times, her humorous and accessible approach to faith leaves even non-believers inspired and wanting more.

The way Yvonne sees it, God is a Sovereign Prankster, punking folks long before Ashton Kutcher made it cool. When she meditates on her own life—complete with unforeseen blessings and unanticipated roadblocks—she realizes it’s one big testimony to how God tricked her into living out her wildest dreams. And she wants us to join in on getting bamboozled. This is not a Self-Help book—it’s a Get Yours book!

In Bamboozled by Jesus, a frank and fresh advice book, Orji takes readers on a journey through twenty-five life lessons, gleaned from her own experiences and her favorite source of inspiration: the Bible. But this ain’t your mama’s Bible study. Yvonne infuses wit and heart in sharing pointers like why the way up is sometimes down, and how fear is synonymous to food poisoning. Her joyful, confident approach to God will inspire everyone to catapult themselves out of the mundane and into the magnificent.

With bold authenticity and practical relatability, Orji is exactly the kind of cultural leader we need in these chaotic times. And her journey through being Bamboozled by Jesus paints a powerful picture of what it means to say "yes" to a life you never could’ve imagined—if it wasn’t your own.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Better, Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice by Yusef Salaam Better, Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice

by Yusef Salaam
Grand Central Publishing (May 18, 2021)
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This inspirational memoir serves as a call to action from prison reform activist Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five, that will inspire us all to turn our stories into tools for change in the pursuit of racial justice.

They didn’t know who they had.

So begins Yusef Salaam telling his story. No one’s life is the sum of the worst things that happened to them, and during Yusef Salaam’s seven years of wrongful incarceration as one of the Central Park Five, he grew from child to man, and gained a spiritual perspective on life. Yusef learned that we’re all "born on purpose, with a purpose." Despite having confronted the racist heart of America while being "run over by the spiked wheels of injustice," Yusef channeled his energy and pain into something positive, not just for himself but for other marginalized people and communities.

Better Not Bitter is the first time that one of the now Exonerated Five is telling his individual story, in his own words. Yusef writes his narrative: growing up Black in central Harlem in the ’80s, being raised by a strong, fierce mother and grandmother, his years of incarceration, his reentry, and exoneration. Yusef connects these stories to lessons and principles he learned that gave him the power to survive through the worst of life’s experiences. He inspires readers to accept their own path, to understand their own sense of purpose. With his intimate personal insights, Yusef unpacks the systems built and designed for profit and the oppression of Black and Brown people. He inspires readers to channel their fury into action, and through the spiritual, to turn that anger and trauma into a constructive force that lives alongside accountability and mobilizes change.

This memoir is an inspiring story that grew out of one of the gravest miscarriages of justice, one that not only speaks to a moment in time or the rage-filled present, but reflects a 400-year history of a nation’s inability to be held accountable for its sins. Yusef Salaam’s message is vital for our times, a motivating resource for enacting change. Better, Not Bitter has the power to soothe, inspire and transform. It is a galvanizing call to action.


Click for more detail about The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War

by Malcolm Gladwell
Little, Brown and Company (Apr 27, 2021)
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An exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

In The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.

Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists, the "Bomber Mafia," asked: What if precision bombing could cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal?

In contrast, the bombing of Tokyo on the deadliest night of the war was the brainchild of General Curtis LeMay, whose brutal pragmatism and scorched-earth tactics in Japan cost thousands of civilian lives, but may have spared even more by averting a planned US invasion. In The Bomber Mafia, Gladwell asks, "Was it worth it?"

Things might have gone differently had LeMay’s predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. Hansell believed in precision bombing, but when he and Curtis LeMay squared off for a leadership handover in the jungles of Guam, LeMay emerged victorious, leading to the darkest night of World War II. The Bomber Mafia is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war.


Click for more detail about Don’t Drop the MIC: The Power of Your Words Can Change the World by T. D. Jakes Don’t Drop the MIC: The Power of Your Words Can Change the World

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (Apr 20, 2021)
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Communicate boldly and effectively like never before with the help and guidance of a #1 New York Times bestselling author and trusted Bishop.

In Don’t Drop the Mic, Bishop Jakes speaks to readers about communication and how the ways we speak and interact with others can be part of our everyday ministries. He helps readers understand:

  • Why the way we speak and the words we use matter
  • How speaking well, no matter your topic or audience, improves your chances of getting the result you want
  • How to craft your message, whether it’s a simple email or a speech under the spotlights, to connect with listeners
  • Why good communication is important for building connection and community
  • How sharing God’s Word produces abundant fruit

Drawing lessons from Scripture and his own life, Jakes gives career advice for those who have or want to grow into a speaking career, but he also provides clear direction and insight for everyone who gives presentations, writes emails, or talks to other people in their job or home life.

There will be practical advice about how to craft insightful and meaningful communications, but the heart of this book is really about how we can communicate more clearly to build community and share the hope of Christ in our everyday lives.

The more adept we become at using all available resources to convey our message, the greater our impact. From lovers to litigators, entrepreneurs to entertainers, and bloggers to board members, we all want to communicate more effectively, intimately, and efficiently. Whether you’re interviewing for a new position, proposing a new business plan, auditioning for a performance, delivering a report for your committee, teaching Sunday school, or sharing your heart with a loved one, this book will help.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist’s Freedom Song by Marlon Peterson Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist’s Freedom Song

by Marlon Peterson
Bold Type Books (Apr 13, 2021)
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From a leading prison abolitionist, a moving memoir about coming of age in Brooklyn and surviving incarceration—and a call to break free from all the cages that confine us.

Marlon Peterson grew up in 1980s Crown Heights, raised by Trinidadian immigrants. Amid the routine violence that shaped his neighborhood, Marlon became a high-achieving and devout child, the specter of the American dream opening up before him. But in the aftermath of immense trauma, he participated in a robbery that resulted in two murders. At nineteen, Peterson was charged and later convicted. He served ten long years in prison. While incarcerated, Peterson immersed himself in anti-violence activism, education, and prison abolition work.

In Bird Uncaged, Peterson challenges the typical "redemption" narrative and our assumptions about justice. With vulnerability and insight, he uncovers the many cages—from the daily violence and trauma of poverty, to policing, to enforced masculinity, and the brutality of incarceration—created and maintained by American society.

Bird Uncaged is a twenty-first-century abolitionist memoir, and a powerful debut that demands a shift from punishment to healing, an end to prisons, and a new vision of justice.


Click for more detail about What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster What’s Mine and Yours

by Naima Coster
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 02, 2021)
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From the author of Halsey Street, a sweeping novel of legacy, identity, the American family-and the ways that race affects even our most intimate relationships.

A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the span of the next twenty years.

On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee’s steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he’ll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle’s headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn’t protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.

When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers-each determined to see her child inherit a better life-will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.

As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What’s Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.


Click for more detail about Michelle’s Garden: How the First Lady Planted Seeds of Change by Sharee Miller Michelle’s Garden: How the First Lady Planted Seeds of Change

by Sharee Miller
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Mar 02, 2021)
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From an acclaimed author and illustrator: Enjoy this tribute to Former First Lady Michelle Obama and her contributions to building the healthy future that America’s children deserve.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama had an idea. A big, inspiring, and exciting idea! She would grow the largest kitchen garden ever at the White House. This wouldn’t be easy, since she’d never gardened before: Where should she start? What tools did she need? What would she plant?

Everyone needs help when they’re learning something for the first time, even the first lady of the United States. So she gathered the help of local students, the White House staff, and even President Barack Obama. Together, they wouldn’t just grow a garden—they would inspire a nation!


Click for more detail about The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World by Kehinde Andrews The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World

by Kehinde Andrews
Bold Type Books (Mar 02, 2021)
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A damning exploration of the many ways in which the effects and logic of anti-black colonialism continue to inform our modern world.

Colonialism and imperialism are often thought to be distant memories, whether they’re glorified in Britain’s collective nostalgia or taught as a sin of the past in history classes. This idea is bolstered by the emergence of India, China, Argentina and other non-western nations as leading world powers. Multiculturalism, immigration and globalization have led traditionalists to fear that the west is in decline and that white people are rapidly being left behind; progressives and reactionaries alike espouse the belief that we live in a post-racial society.

But imperialism, as Kehinde Andrews argues, is alive and well. It’s just taken a new form: one in which the U.S. and not Europe is at the center of Western dominion, and imperial power looks more like racial capitalism than the expansion of colonial holdings. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization and even the United Nations are only some of these modern mechanisms of Western imperialism. Yet these imperialist logics and tactics are not limited to just the west or to white people, as in the neocolonial relationship between China and Africa. Diving deep into the concepts of racial capitalism and racial patriarchy, Andrews adds nuance and context to these often over-simplified narratives, challenging the right and the left in equal measure.

Andrews takes the reader from genocide to slavery to colonialism, deftly explaining the histories of these phenomena, how their justifications are linked, and how they continue to shape our world to this day. The New Age of Empire is a damning indictment of white-centered ideologies from Marxism to neoliberalism, and a reminder that our histories are never really over.

Book Review

Click for more detail about This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith This Close to Okay

by Leesa Cross-Smith
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 02, 2021)
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From the award-winning writer Roxane Gay calls “a consummate storyteller” comes a cathartic novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers.

On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home when she spots a man precariously standing on the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally, reluctantly, shares his first name: Emmett.

Over the course of the emotionally-charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe and comfortable space for Emmett, although she doesn’t confess that she works as a therapist. However, Emmett is not the only one who needs help — and he has secrets of his own.

Alternating between Tallie and Emmett’s perspectives as they inch closer to the truth of what brought Emmett to the bridge, This Close to Okay is an uplifting, powerful story of two strangers brought together by wild chance at the moment they need it the most.


Click for more detail about How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House

by Cherie Jones
Little, Brown and Company (Feb 02, 2021)
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A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

"Searing … In affluent Baxter’s Beach, the gentry of Barbados maneuver around their servants with velvet gloves and steel nerves, exposing fault lines of resentment, love as ephemeral as a tropical breeze." (O Magazine)

In Baxter’s Beach, Barbados, Lala’s grandmother Wilma tells the story of the one-armed sister. It’s a cautionary tale, about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers and go into the Baxter’s Tunnels. When she’s grown, Lala lives on the beach with her husband, Adan, a petty criminal with endless charisma whose thwarted burglary of one of the beach mansions sets off a chain of events with terrible consequences. A gunshot no one was meant to witness. A new mother whose baby is found lifeless on the beach. A woman torn between two worlds and incapacitated by grief. And two men driven into the Tunnels by desperation and greed who attempt a crime that will risk their freedom - and their lives.

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is an intimate and visceral portrayal of interconnected lives, across race and class, in a rapidly changing resort town, told by an astonishing new author of literary fiction.

One of 2021’s Most Anticipated New Fiction
The Millions * Lit Hub * O Magazine * Elle.com * Entertainment Weekly * Minneapolis Star-Tribune * Bustle


Click for more detail about Blood Grove by Walter Mosley Blood Grove

by Walter Mosley
Mulholland Books (Feb 02, 2021)
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"Master of craft and narrative" Walter Mosley returns with this crowning achievement in the Easy Rawlins saga, in which the iconic detective’s loyalties are tested on the sun-soaked streets of Southern California (National Book Foundation)

It is 1969, and flames can be seen on the horizon, protest wafts like smoke though the thick air, and Easy Rawlins, the Black private detective whose small agency finally has its own office, gets a visit from a white Vietnam veteran. The young man comes to Easy with a story that makes little sense. He and his lover, a beautiful young woman, were attacked in a citrus grove at the city’s outskirts. He may have killed a man, and the woman and his dog are now missing. Inclined to turn down what sounds like nothing but trouble, Easy takes the case when he realizes how damaged the young vet is from his war experiences—the bond between veterans superseding all other considerations.

The veteran is not Easy’s only unlooked-for trouble. Easy’s adopted daughter Feather’s white uncle shows up uninvited, raising questions and unsettling the life Easy has long forged for the now young woman. Where Feather sees a family reunion, Easy suspects something else, something that will break his heart.

Blood Grove is a crackling, moody, and thrilling race through a California of hippies and tycoons, radicals and sociopaths, cops and grifters, both men and women. Easy will need the help of his friends—from the genius Jackson Blue to the dangerous Mouse Alexander, Fearless Jones, and Christmas Black—to make sense of a case that reveals the darkest impulses humans harbor.

Blood Grove is a novel of vast scope and intimate insight, and a soulful call for justice by any means necessary.


Click for more detail about Ambitious Girl by Meena Harris Ambitious Girl

by Meena Harris
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jan 19, 2021)
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Anyone who’s ever been underestimated or overshadowed will find inspiration in this empowering new picture book from Meena Harris, New York Times-bestselling author of Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, which is based on a true story about her aunt, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and her mother, Maya Harris. When a young girl sees a strong woman on TV labeled as "too assertive" and "too ambitious," it sends her on a journey of discovery through past, present, and future about the challenges faced by women and girls and the ways in which they can reframe, redefine, and reclaim words meant to knock them down. As Ambitious Girl says: No "too that" or "too this"will stop what’s inside us from flowering.


Click for more detail about You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism

by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 12, 2021)
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

INDIE NEXT PICK

A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Amber Ruffin, writes with her sister Lacey Lamar with humor and heart to share absurd anecdotes about everyday experiences of racism.

Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one’s First Black Friend and everyone is, as she puts it, “stark raving normal.” But Amber’s sister Lacey? She’s still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you’ll never believe what happened to Lacey.

From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet all-too-real anecdotes. She’s the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think “I can say whatever I want to this woman.” And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter. Painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening (depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores), this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.


Click for more detail about The Story of Rosa Parks by Patricia A. Pingry The Story of Rosa Parks

by Patricia A. Pingry
Worthy Kids (Jan 12, 2021)
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Teach little learners about Rosa Parks’ brave stand for civil rights with this 200-word board book.

This little book introduces Rosa Parks, the ""mother of the civil rights movement."" Simple, toddler-friendly text tells the story of her courageous decision to remain on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama — an action that resulted in Parks’ arrest, and ultimately, a victory for civil rights. Illustrated with rich oil paintings, The Story of Rosa Parks will help even the smallest children understand who Rosa Parks is, and why she is so important.


Click for more detail about The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Johnny Ray Moore The Story of Martin Luther King Jr.

by Johnny Ray Moore
Worthy Kids (Jan 05, 2021)
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Teach little learners about beloved civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with this 200-word board book.

This little book introduces Martin Luther King Jr., an iconic leader of the civil rights movement. Simple, toddler-friendly text tells how King grew up, how he became a minister, and how he worked to end segregation in America. Accessible for even the youngest of children, The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. helps readers understand who King is, what he did, and why his story still matters today.


Click for more detail about Patternmaster (Patternist #4) by Octavia Butler Patternmaster (Patternist #4)

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Dec 29, 2020)
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An all-powerful ruler’s son vies for control over the human race in this brilliant conclusion to the Patternist saga, from the critically acclaimed author of Parable of the Sower.
In the far future, the human race is divided into two groups striving for power. The Patternmaster rules over all, the leader of the telepathic Patternist race whose thoughts can destroy or heal at his whim. The only threat to his power are the Clayarks, mutant humans created by an alien pandemic, who now live either enslaved by the Patternists or in the wild.
Coransee, son of the ruling Patternmaster, wants the throne and will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means venturing into the wild mutant-infested hills to destroy a young apprentice — his equal and his brother.


Click for more detail about I Love My Haircut! by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley I Love My Haircut!

by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
LB Kids (Dec 29, 2020)
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Now with a refreshed cover, this heartfelt companion to the top-selling I Love My Hair! is a must-have addition for every bookshelf.

A young boy named Miles makes his first trip to the barbershop with his father—but he’s afraid that the haircut will hurt! With the support of his dad, the barber, and the other men in the barbershop, Miles bravely sits through his first haircut. In the end, Miles’s father even decides to receive the same haircut as Miles! Now in board book format, here is a much-needed story about a milestone moment for toddlers, featuring African American characters and a loving father-son relationship that is perfect for Father’s Day and all year round.

First published in hardcover as Bippity Bop Barbershop in February 2002.


Click for more detail about Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight by Karyn Parsons Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight

by Karyn Parsons
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Dec 01, 2020)
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Based on Karyn Parson’s critically acclaimed Sweet Blackberry video series comes the story of Bessie Coleman, the first African American female to earn her pilot’s license.
Before Bessie Coleman blazed a high trail with her plane … Before she performed in death-defying flying shows that would earn her fame as "Queen Bess" … Before she traveled the country speaking out against discrimination, Bessie was a little girl with a big imagination that took her to the sky, through the clouds, and past the birds.
Knocking down barriers one by one, Bessie endured racism and grueling training to become the first black female pilot and an inspiration to Mae Jemison, Josephine Baker, and many more influential people of color for years to come.


Click for more detail about True Names: Four Generations of My Afro Appalachian Family by Malaika Adero True Names: Four Generations of My Afro Appalachian Family

by Malaika Adero
Center Street (Dec 01, 2020)
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African Americans in Southern Appalachia faced a particularly rural kind of oppression, no matter what names they were called-black, Melungeon or mulatto. True Names: Four Generations of My Afro Appalachian Family tells the story of four generations of Black people, burdened by the absurdities of race, who created a rich, triumphant family culture in Knoxville, Tennessee.
African Americans are particularly challenged when they attempt to know the history of their families. Facts of their ancestors’ lives are often lost in time and rarely recorded. True Names brings together the evidence of the African American presence in Appalachia from the time Africans and Europeans first arrived in the region centuries ago.
This well-researched narrative of two families coming together in their process of emancipation from the end of Slavery to the Black Power movement is based on oral histories, government records and family documents. Set in East Tennessee, it reaches far beyond, to other places—South, North and Midwest. In personal and political terms, it reveals the impact of the Great Migration on individuals who chose to remain in the South. Their story is that they survived and thrived by maintaining family culture and values across distance and time.
True Names reveals this sustaining family culture, an untold part of the history of rural America, recently popularized in such books as Hillbilly Elegy and The Glass Castle.
Sgt. Grundy Crump, who served in the Civil War, begins the story; it continues with the author’s mother, who successfully battled for a place for herself and her five children to thrive in the turbulent 1960s; and it concludes with the author’s affirmation of her own identity and the right to her own true name.


Click for more detail about King of the Rising by Kacen Callender King of the Rising

by Kacen Callender
Orbit Books (Dec 01, 2020)
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Book Two, and conclusion, of the Islands of Blood and Storm Series

King of the Rising is the searing conclusion to an unflinching and powerful Caribbean-inspired fantasy series about colonialism, resilience and defiance.

A revolution has swept through the islands of Hans Lollik and former slave Loren Jannik has been chosen to lead the survivors in a bid to free the islands forever. But the rebels are running out of food, weapons and options. And as the Fjern inch closer to reclaiming Hans Lollik with every battle, Loren is faced with a choice that could shift the course of the revolution in their favor — or doom it to failure.

Queen of the Conquered is book one in the series, which is also recommended for young adults.


Click for more detail about Swish!: The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters by Suzanne Slade Swish!: The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters

by Suzanne Slade
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 10, 2020)
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The true story of the high-flying Harlem Globetrotters — the team that changed basketball forever.

In this book you will find one-finger ball-spinning, rapid-fire mini-dribbling, and a ricochet head shot!
You will find skilled athletes, expert players, and electrifying performers — all rolled into one!
You will find nonstop, give-it-all-you’ve-got, out-to-win-it, sky’s-the-limit BASKETBALL!
You will find The Harlem Globetrotters, who played the most groundbreaking, breathtaking ball the world had ever seen. With rhythmic writing and dynamic illustrations, Swish! is a celebration of the greatness, goodness, and grit of this remarkable team.


Click for more detail about The Plot to Betray America: How Team Trump Embraced Our Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It by Malcolm Nance The Plot to Betray America: How Team Trump Embraced Our Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It

by Malcolm Nance
Legacy Lit (Nov 10, 2020)
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In The Plot to Betray America, New York Times bestselling author and renowned intelligence expert Malcolm Nance reveals exactly how President Trump and his inner circle conspired, coordinated, communicated, and eventually strategized to commit the greatest acts of treachery in the history of the United States: compromising the presidential oath of office in exchange for power and personal enrichment. Seduced by the promises of riches dangled in front of them by Vladimir Putin, the Trump administration eagerly decided to reap the rewards of the plan to put a Kremlin-friendly crony in the Oval Office. Even after his impeachment, Trump continues to defend Putin and jeopardize American intelligence. And instead of interfering, Trump’s powerful Republican allies have done everything they can to facilitate Trump’s irreparable damage to national security.

Through in-depth research and interviews with intelligence experts and insiders, Nance charts Trump’s deep financial ties to Russia through his family’s investments-including those of Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner-and exposes the corrupt behavior of Trump’s other double-crossing pro-Moscow associates. In doing so, Nance also draws a portrait of a venal and selfish president, one who willingly sells American national security to dictators, strongmen, and the ultra-rich at the expense, and sometimes the lives, of American citizens.

In this newly revised and updated edition, The Plot to Betray America ultimately sketches the blueprint of the Trump administration’s conspiracy against our country—and shows us how we can still fight to defend democracy, protect our national security, and save the Constitution.


Click for more detail about The Little Mermaid by Jerry Pinkney The Little Mermaid

by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 03, 2020)
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In this captivating reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic, Caldecott medalist and bestselling artist Jerry Pinkney conjures a poignant friendship story and an epic tale of redemption — the definitive new version for our time.
Melody, the littlest sea princess, is not content just to sing in the choir of mermaids like her sisters. She is an explorer who wonders about what lies above the water’s surface…especially the young girl she has spied from a distance. To meet her requires a terrible sacrifice: she trades her beautiful voice for a potion that gives her legs, so that she may live on land instead. It seems like a dream come true at first. But when trouble stirs beneath the ocean, Melody faces another impossible choice — stay with her friend, or reclaim her true identity and save her family.
Legendary artist Jerry Pinkney’s singular reinvention of this tale about love and sacrifice empowers young, twenty-first century girls with the strong message that "you should never give up your voice…for anyone."


Click for more detail about The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food by Marcus Samuelsson The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food

by Marcus Samuelsson
Voracious (Oct 27, 2020)
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This groundbreaking new cookbook from chef, bestselling author, and TV star Marcus Samuelsson celebrates contemporary Black cooking.

It is long past time to recognize Black excellence in the culinary world the same way it has been celebrated in the worlds of music, sports, literature, film, and the arts. Black cooks and creators have led American culture forward with indelible contributions of artistry and ingenuity from the start, but Black authorship has been consistently erased from the story of American food.

Now, in The Rise, chef, author, and television star Marcus Samuelsson gathers together an unforgettable feast of food, culture, and history to highlight the diverse deliciousness of Black cooking today. Driven by a desire to fight against bias, reclaim Black culinary traditions, and energize a new generation of cooks, Marcus shares his own journey alongside 150 recipes in honor of dozens of top chefs, writers, and activists—with stories exploring their creativity and influence.

Black cooking has always been more than "soul food," with flavors tracing to the African continent, to the Caribbean, all over the United States, and beyond. Featuring a mix of everyday food and celebration cooking, this book also includes an introduction to the pantry of the African diaspora.

Recipes include a chilled corn and tomato soup in honor of chef Mashama Bailey, and grilled short ribs with a piri-piri marinade and saffron tapioca pudding in homage to authors Michael Twitty and Jessica Harris. Marcus serves up a crab curry with yams and mustard greens for Nyesha Arrington, and chef Edouardo Jordan is celebrated with a spiced catfish with pumpkin leche de tigre.

A stunning work of breadth and beauty, The Rise is more than a cookbook. It’s the celebration of a movement.


Click for more detail about These Hands by Hope Lynne Price These Hands

by Hope Lynne Price
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 20, 2020)
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An inspiring book by Hope Lynne Price and illustrated by four-time Caldecott Honoree Bryan Collier. These hands create. These hands can build. These hands can reach. Can stretch. Can teach. Begging to be read aloud, this engaging, poetic board book is a wonderful tribute to the grace and power of hands, and is the perfect fit for our littlest readers.


Click for more detail about Becoming Muhammad Ali by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander Becoming Muhammad Ali

by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander
JIMMY Patterson Books (Oct 05, 2020)
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From two heavy-hitters in children’s literature comes a biographical novel of cultural icon Muhammad Ali, jointly published by Jimmy Patterson Books and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books or Young Readers. Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing. Readers will learn about Cassius’ family and neighbors in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age 12. Before long, he won his first Golden Gloves bout and began his transformation into the unrivaled Muhammad Ali. Fully authorized by and written in cooperation with the Muhammad Ali estate, Becoming Muhammad Ali dynamically captures the budding charisma and youthful personality of one of the greatest sports heroes of all time.


Click for more detail about Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It by Andrea Davis Pinkney Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 29, 2020)
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From bestselling and award-winning husband and wife team Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, comes an innovative, beautifully illustrated novel that delivers a front-row seat to the dramatic events that led to African Americans earning the right to vote.

"Right here, I’m sharing the honest-to-goodness." -Loretta

"I’m gon’ reach back, and tell how it all went. I’m gon’ speak on it. My way." -Roly

"I got more nerve than a bad tooth. But there’s nothing bad about being bold." -Aggie B.

Loretta, Roly, and Aggie B., members of the Little family, each present the vivid story of their young lives, spanning three generations. Their separate stories - beginning in a cotton field in 1927 and ending at the presidential election of 1968 — come together to create one unforgettable journey.

Through an evocative mix of fictional first-person narratives, spoken-word poems, folk myths, gospel rhythms and blues influences, Loretta Little Looks Back weaves an immersive tapestry that illuminates the dignity of sharecroppers in the rural South. Inspired by storytelling’s oral tradition, stirring vignettes are presented in a series of theatrical monologues that paint a gripping, multidimensional portrait of America’s struggle for civil rights as seen through the eyes of the children who lived it. The novel’s unique format invites us to walk in their shoes. Each encounters an unexpected mystical gift, passed down from one family member to the next, that ignites their experience what it means to reach for freedom.


Click for more detail about To Build a Better World: Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Commonwealth by Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice To Build a Better World: Choices to End the Cold War and Create a Global Commonwealth

by Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice
Twelve (Sep 08, 2020)
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A deeply researched international history and exemplary study (New York Times Book Review) of how a divided world ended and our present world was fashioned, as the world drifts toward another great time of choosing.

Two of America’s leading scholar-diplomats, Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice, have combed sources in several languages, interviewed leading figures, and drawn on their own firsthand experience to bring to life the choices that molded the contemporary world. Zeroing in on the key moments of decision, the might-have-beens, and the human beings working through them, they explore both what happened and what could have happened, to show how one world ended and another took form. Beginning in the late 1970s and carrying into the present, they focus on the momentous period between 1988 and 1992, when an entire world system changed, states broke apart, and societies were transformed. Such periods have always been accompanied by terrible wars — but not this time.

This is also a story of individuals coping with uncertainty. They voice their hopes and fears. They try out desperate improvisations and careful designs. These were leaders who grew up in a postwar world, who tried to fashion something better, more peaceful, more prosperous, than the damaged, divided world in which they had come of age. New problems are putting their choices, and the world they made, back on the operating table. It is time to recall not only why they made their choices, but also just how great nations can step up to great challenges.

Timed for the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, To Build a Better World is an authoritative depiction of contemporary statecraft. It lets readers in on the strategies and negotiations, nerve-racking risks, last-minute decisions, and deep deliberations behind the dramas that changed the face of Europe — and the world — forever.


Click for more detail about Clay’s Ark (Patternist #3) by Octavia Butler Clay’s Ark (Patternist #3)

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 01, 2020)
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In a violent near-future, Asa Elias Doyle and her companions encounter an alien life form so heinous and destructive, they exile themselves in the desert so as not to contaminate other humans. To resist the compulsion to infect others is mental agony, but to succumb is to relinquish humanity and free will. Desperate, they kidnap a doctor and his two daughters as they cross the wasteland—and endanger the world.


Click for more detail about Follow Your Dreams, Little One by Vashti Harrison Follow Your Dreams, Little One

by Vashti Harrison
LB Kids (Sep 01, 2020)
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New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Vashti Harrison shines a bold, joyous light on black men through history in this board book edition of Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History.
This beautifully illustrated board book highlights true stories of black men in history. The exceptional men featured include artist Aaron Douglas, civil rights leader John Lewis, dancer Alvin Ailey, lawman Bass Reeves, tennis champion Arthur Ashe, and writer James Baldwin.
The legends in this book span centuries and continents, but what they have in common is that each one has blazed a trail for generations to come.


Click for more detail about Mind of My Mind (Patternist #2) by Octavia Butler Mind of My Mind (Patternist #2)

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 04, 2020)
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A young woman harnesses her newfound power to challenge the ruthless man who controls her, in this brilliant and provocative novel from the award-winning author of Parable of the Sower.

Mary is a treacherous experiment. Her creator, an immortal named Doro, has molded the human race for generations, seeking out those with unusual talents like telepathy and breeding them into a new subrace of humans who obey his every command. The result is Mary: a young black woman living on the rough outskirts of Los Angeles in the 1970s, who has no idea how much power she will soon wield.

Doro knows he must handle Mary carefully or risk her ending like his previous experiments: dead, either by her own hand or Doro's. What he doesn't suspect is that Mary's maturing telepathic abilities may soon rival his own power. By linking telepaths with a viral pattern, she will create the potential to break free of his control once and for all-and shift the course of humanity.


Click for more detail about A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind

by Harriet A. Washington
Little, Brown Spark (Aug 04, 2020)
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A "powerful and indispensable" look at the devastating consequences of environmental racism (Gerald Markowitz) and what we can do to remedy its toxic effects on marginalized communities — featuring a new preface on COVID-19 risk factors. Did you know…

  • Middle-class African American households with incomes between $50,000 and $60,000 live in neighborhoods that are more polluted than those of very poor white households with incomes below $10,000.
  • When swallowed, a lead-paint chip no larger than a fingernail can send a toddler into a coma — one-tenth of that amount will lower his IQ.
  • Nearly two of every five African American homes in Baltimore are plagued by lead-based paint. Almost all of the 37,500 Baltimore children who suffered lead poisoning between 2003 and 2015 were African American.
From injuries caused by lead poisoning to the devastating effects of atmospheric pollution, infectious disease, and industrial waste, Americans of color are harmed by environmental hazards in staggeringly disproportionate numbers. This systemic onslaught of toxic exposure and institutional negligence causes irreparable physical harm to millions of people across the country-cutting lives tragically short and needlessly burdening our health care system. But these deadly environments create another insidious and often overlooked consequence: robbing communities of color, and America as a whole, of intellectual power. The 1994 publication of The Bell Curve and its controversial thesis catapulted the topic of genetic racial differences in IQ to the forefront of a renewed and heated debate. Now, in A Terrible Thing to Waste, award-winning science writer Harriet A. Washington adds her incisive analysis to the fray, arguing that IQ is a biased and flawed metric, but that it is useful for tracking cognitive damage. She takes apart the spurious notion of intelligence as an inherited trait, using copious data that instead point to a different cause of the reported African American-white IQ gap: environmental racism - a confluence of racism and other institutional factors that relegate marginalized communities to living and working near sites of toxic waste, pollution, and insufficient sanitation services. She investigates heavy metals, neurotoxins, deficient prenatal care, bad nutrition, and even pathogens as chief agents influencing intelligence to explain why communities of color are disproportionately affected — and what can be done to remedy this devastating problem. Featuring extensive scientific research and Washington’s sharp, lively reporting, A Terrible Thing to Waste is sure to outrage, transform the conversation, and inspire debate.


Click for more detail about World of Reading Por Amor Al Fútbol: Level 2 by Pelé World of Reading Por Amor Al Fútbol: Level 2

by Pelé
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jun 23, 2020)
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This Book is in Spanish

What does the world’s greatest soccer player love about the game? The same things that you and I do! Speed, teamwork, dribbling, passing, taking your best shot—and making a G-O-O-A-A-A-L! Join Pelé, world champion soccer star, as he celebrates the kick and thrill of his favorite sport. Artist Frank Morrison sets up the play with two dynamic visual stories: Pelé’s inspiring rise to fame, and a young fan’s efforts to follow in his hero’s speedy footsteps. Together, words and pictures deliver all the fun and excitement of a closely matched game.

Edición en inglés, World of Reading For the Love of Soccer!, también disponible.


Click for more detail about How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community by Mia Birdsong How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community

by Mia Birdsong
Hachette Go (Jun 02, 2020)
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An Invitation to Community and Models for Connection

After almost every presentation activist and writer Mia Birdsong gives to executives, think tanks, and policy makers, one of those leaders quietly confesses how much they long for the profound community she describes. They have family, friends, and colleagues, yet they still feel like they’re standing alone. They’re "winning" at the American Dream, but they’re lonely, disconnected, and unsatisfied.
It seems counterintuitive that living the "good life"—the well-paying job, the nuclear family, the upward mobility—can make us feel isolated and unhappy. But in a divided America, where only a quarter of us know our neighbors and everyone is either a winner or a loser, we’ve forgotten the key element that helped us make progress in the first place: community. In this provocative, groundbreaking work, Mia Birdsong shows that what separates us isn’t only the ever-present injustices built around race, class, gender, values, and beliefs, but also our denial of our interdependence and need for belonging. In response to the fear and discomfort we feel, we’ve built walls, and instead of leaning on each other, we find ourselves leaning on concrete.
Through research, interviews, and stories of lived experience, How We Show Up returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength, safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for help, and in being accountable. Showing up—literally and figuratively—points us toward the promise of our collective vitality and leads us to the liberated well-being we all want.


Click for more detail about The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin The City We Became

by N. K. Jemisin
Orbit Books (Mar 24, 2020)
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Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city from an ancient evil in the first book of a stunning new novel by Hugo Award-winning and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.
Every great city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She’s got six.
But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs in the halls of power, threatening to destroy the city and her six newborn avatars unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.
For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:
The Inheritance TrilogyThe Hundred Thousand KingdomsThe Broken KingdomsThe Kingdom of Gods
The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition)Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction)The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella)
Dreamblood DuologyThe Killing MoonThe Shadowed Sun
The Dreamblood Duology (omnibus)
The Broken EarthThe Fifth SeasonThe Obelisk GateThe Stone Sky
How Long ’til Black Future Month? (short story collection)


Click for more detail about Wild Seed (Patternist #1) by Octavia Butler Wild Seed (Patternist #1)

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 17, 2020)
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In an “epic, game-changing, moving and brilliant” story of love and hate, two immortals chase each other across continents and centuries, binding their fates together — and changing the destiny of the human race (Viola Davis).

Doro knows no higher authority than himself. An ancient spirit with boundless powers, he possesses humans, killing without remorse as he jumps from body to body to sustain his own life. With a lonely eternity ahead of him, Doro breeds supernaturally gifted humans into empires that obey his every desire. He fears no one -- until he meets Anyanwu.

Anyanwu is an entity like Doro and yet different. She can heal with a bite and transform her own body, mending injuries and reversing aging. She uses her powers to cure her neighbors and birth entire tribes, surrounding herself with kindred who both fear and respect her. No one poses a true threat to Anyanwu -- until she meets Doro.

The moment Doro meets Anyanwu, he covets her; and from the villages of 17th-century Nigeria to 19th-century United States, their courtship becomes a power struggle that echoes through generations, irrevocably changing what it means to be human.


Click for more detail about So We Can Glow: Stories by Leesa Cross-Smith So We Can Glow: Stories

by Leesa Cross-Smith
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 10, 2020)
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A lush, glittering short story collection exploring female obsession and desire by an award-winning writer Roxane Gay calls "a consummate storyteller."

From Kentucky to the California desert, these forty-two short stories expose the glossy and matte hearts of girls and women in moments of obsessive desire and fantasy, wildness and bad behavior, brokenness and fearlessness, and more.

Teenage girls sneak out on a summer night to meet their boyfriends by the train tracks. A woman escapes suffocating grief through a vivid fantasy life. Members of a cult form an unsettling chorus as they extol their passion for the same man. A love story begins over cabbages in a grocery store. A laundress’ life is consumed by obsession for a famous baseball player. Two high school friends kiss all night and binge-watch Winona Ryder movies after the death of a sister.

Leesa Cross-Smith’s sensuous stories will drench readers in nostalgia for summer nights and sultry days, the intense friendships of teenage girls, and the innate bonds felt between women. She evokes the pangs of loss and motherhood, the headiness and destructive potential of desire, and the pure exhilaration of being female. The stories in So We Can Glow—some long, some gone in a flash, some told over text and emails—take the wild hearts of girls and women and hold them up so they can catch the light.


Click for more detail about Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning Stamped from the Beginning

by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Mar 10, 2020)
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The #1 New York Times bestseller and a USAToday bestseller!
A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism—and antiracism—in America

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas—and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.
Download the free educator guide here: https: //www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Stamped-Educator-Guide.pdf



Click for more detail about The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert The Only Black Girls in Town

by Brandy Colbert
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Mar 10, 2020)
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Selected the “Best Books of the Month” by Amazon, (March 2020)

Award-winning YA author Brandy Colbert’s debut middle-grade novel about the only two black girls in town who discover a collection of hidden journals revealing shocking secrets of the past.

Beach-loving surfer Alberta has been the only black girl in town for years. Alberta’s best friend, Laramie, is the closest thing she has to a sister, but there are some things even Laramie can’t understand. When the bed and breakfast across the street finds new owners, Alberta is ecstatic to learn the family is black-and they have a 12-year-old daughter just like her.

Alberta is positive she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends. But while Alberta loves being a California girl, Edie misses her native Brooklyn and finds it hard to adapt to small-town living.

When the girls discover a box of old journals in Edie’s attic, they team up to figure out exactly who’s behind them and why they got left behind. Soon they discover shocking and painful secrets of the past and learn that nothing is quite what it seems.


Click for more detail about How High the Moon by Karyn Parsons How High the Moon

by Karyn Parsons
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Mar 03, 2020)
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To Kill a Mockingbird meets One Crazy Summer in this powerful, bittersweet debut about one girl’s journey to reconnect with her mother and learn the truth about her father in the tumultuous times of the Jim Crow South.
"Timely, captivating, and lovely. So glad this book is in the world." —Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming

In the small town of Alcolu, South Carolina, in 1944, 12-year-old Ella spends her days fishing and running around with her best friend Henry and cousin Myrna. But life is not always so sunny for Ella, who gets bullied for her light skin tone and whose mother is away pursuing a jazz singer dream in Boston.

So Ella is ecstatic when her mother invites her to visit for Christmas. Little does she expect the truths she will discover about her mother, the father she never knew and her family’s most unlikely history.

And after a life-changing month, she returns South and is shocked by the news that her schoolmate George has been arrested for the murder of two local white girls.

Bittersweet and eye-opening, How High the Moon is a timeless novel about a girl finding herself in a world all but determined to hold her down.


Click for more detail about Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes Black Brother, Black Brother

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Mar 03, 2020)
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Stephen Curry to Produce Adaptation of Black Brother, Black Brother for Netflix

Selected the “Best Books of the Month” by Amazon, (March 2020)

From award-winning and bestselling author, Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age story about two brothers, one who presents as white, the other as black, and the complex ways in which they are forced to navigate the world, all while training for a fencing competition.

Framed. Bullied. Disliked. But I know I can still be the best.

Sometimes, 12-year-old Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few black boys at Middlefield Prep, most of the students don’t look like him. They don’t like him either. Dubbing him “Black Brother,” Donte’s teachers and classmates make it clear they wish he were more like his lighter-skinned brother, Trey.

When he’s bullied and framed by the captain of the fencing team, "King" Alan, he’s suspended from school and arrested for something he didn’t do.

Terrified, searching for a place where he belongs, Donte joins a local youth center and meets former Olympic fencer Arden Jones. With Arden’s help, he begins training as a competitive fencer, setting his sights on taking down the fencing team captain, no matter what.

As Donte hones his fencing skills and grows closer to achieving his goal, he learns the fight for justice is far from over. Now Donte must confront his bullies, racism, and the corrupt systems of power that led to his arrest.

Powerful and emotionally gripping, Black Brother, Black Brother is a careful examination of the school-to-prison pipeline and follows one boy’s fight against racism and his empowering path to finding his voice.

Booklist Starred Review

“A profound treatise about institutional racism for the middle-grade set, Rhodes’ (Ghost Boys, 2018) latest elevates beyond simple moralizing into a penetrating look into the soul of a young person struggling to learn how to become a Black man of character in a world that expects him to be less. Dropping the reader directly into a tony prep-school office where Donte anxiously awaits judgement for an offense he did not commit, Rhodes dials readers immediately into the boy’s acute dread as he cycles through feelings of shame, anger, and confusion, ultimately leading to a nonconfrontation that causes him to be arrested.

As we learn more about Donte and his biracial family, including his lighter-skinned brother, we come to root for him and his pursuit of redemption as he seeks to prove his self-worth to his bullies and his school community through fencing. His coach, one of the first Black Olympic fencers, helps him refine his talent and his ability to deal with the inequities he experiences on a regular basis. An entertaining story and happy ending does not take away from this powerful examination of how the educational and justice systems punitively treat children of color—and how this bias impacts their self-perception and esteem. A powerful work and must-have for children’s collections.”
—Booklist: March 1, 2020

Book Review

Click for more detail about Trouble Is What I Do by Walter Mosley Trouble Is What I Do

by Walter Mosley
Mulholland Books (Feb 25, 2020)
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From innovative bestselling novelist Walter Mosley comes the return of the beloved Leonid McGill detective series featuring a morally ambiguous P.I. who solves crimes and whose victims are society’s most downtrodden.Leonid McGill’s spent a lifetime building up his reputation in the New York investigative scene. His seemingly infallible instinct and inside knowledge of the crime world make him the ideal man to help when Phillip Worry comes knocking.

Phillip "Catfish" Worry is a 92-year-old Mississippi bluesman who needs Leonid’s help with a simple task: deliver a letter revealing the black lineage of a wealthy heiress and her corrupt father. Unsurprisingly, the opportunity to do a simple favor while shocking the prevailing elite is too much for Leonid to resist.

But when a famed and feared assassin puts a hit on Catfish, Leonid has no choice but to confront the ghost of his own felonious past. Working to protect his client, and his own family, Leonid must reach the heiress on the eve of her wedding before her powerful father kills those who hold their family’s secret.

Joined by a team of young and tough aspiring investigators, Leonid must gain the trust of wary socialites, outsmart vengeful thugs, and, above all, serve the truth— no matter the cost.


Click for more detail about Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton Remembered

by Yvonne Battle-Felton
Little, Brown and Company (Feb 04, 2020)
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Compares with Toni Morrison’s Beloved

It is 1910 and Philadelphia is burning.

The last place Spring wants to be is in the rundown, coloured section of a hospital surrounded by the groans of sick people and the ghost of her dead sister. But as her son Edward lays dying, she has no other choice.

There’re whispers that Edward drove a streetcar into a shop window. Some people think it was an accident, others claim that it was his fault, the police are certain that he was part of a darker agenda. Is he guilty? Can they find the truth?

All Spring knows is that time is running out. She has to tell him the story of how he came to be. With the help of her dead sister, newspaper clippings and reconstructed memories, she must find a way to get through to him. To shatter the silences that governed her life, she will do everything she can to lead him home.


Click for more detail about Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream by Mychal Denzel Smith Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream

by Mychal Denzel Smith
Bold Type Books (Jan 21, 2020)
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A New York Times bestselling writer’s bold vision for how to move past crisis mode and build a country that lives up to its promise of liberty, justice, and equality.
"We are better than this" has been the rallying cry since Donald Trump was elected. But as New York Times-bestselling author Mychal Denzel Smith shows, Americans are too comfortable imagining our greatness. We like to believe in the rightness of our path and the inevitability of choosing our better angels. But historically, we’ve only come close to living up to the ideals we profess after we’ve been dragged, kicking and screaming, toward justice. Growth only happens when we confront our deceptions and our own complicity in them.

In Stakes Is High, Smith exposes the contradictions at the heart of American life - between patriotism and justice, between freedom and inequality, incarceration, police violence. In a series of incisive essays, Smith holds us to account individually and as a nation. He examines his own shortcomings, grapples with the anxiety of feeling stuck, and looks in new directions for the tools to build a just America. He questions whether Martin Luther King, Jr. can ever really be the hero we need in our time, untangles the persistent cultural power of Bill Cosby, and weighs the value of police and prison abolition.

Stakes Is High establishes Mychal Denzel Smith as a voice to be heeded as we prepare for the fight ahead.


Click for more detail about Conversations in Black: On Power, Politics, and Leadership by Ed Gordon Conversations in Black: On Power, Politics, and Leadership

by Ed Gordon
Hachette (Jan 14, 2020)
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Hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and inspiring, Conversations in Black offers sage wisdom for navigating race in a radically divisive America, and, with help from his mighty team of black intelligentsia, veteran journalist Ed Gordon creates hope and a timeless new narrative on what the future of black leadership should look like and how we can get there.

In Conversations in Black, Gordon brings together some of the most prominent voices in Black America today, including Stacey Abrams, Harry Belafonte, Charlamagne tha God, Michael Eric Dyson, Alicia Garza, Jemele Hill, Iyanla VanZant, Eric Holder, Killer Mike, Angela Rye, Al Sharpton, TI and Maxine Waters, and so many more to answer questions about vital topics affecting our nation today, such as:

- Will the black vote control the 2020 election?

- Do black lives really matter?

- After the Obama’s presidency, are black people better off?

- Are stereotypical images of people of color changing in Hollywood?

- How is "Black Girl Magic" changing the face of black America?

Bombarded with media, music, and social media messages that enforce stereotypes of people of color, Gordon set out to dispel what black power and black excellence really looks like today and offers a way forward for all in a new age of black prosperity and pride.


Click for more detail about Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins Hey Black Child

by Useni Eugene Perkins
LB Kids (Dec 17, 2019)
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Six-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and four-time Caldecott Honor recipient Bryan Collier brings this classic, inspirational poem to life, written by poet Useni Eugene Perkins.

Hey black child,
Do you know who you are?
Who really are?Do you know you can be
What you want to be
If you try to be
What you can be?

This lyrical, empowering poem celebrates black children and seeks to inspire all young people to dream big and achieve their goals.


Click for more detail about Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History

by Vashti Harrison
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 12, 2019)
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New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Vashti Harrison shines a bold, joyous light on black men through history.
An important book for readers of all ages, this beautifully illustrated and engagingly written volume brings to life true stories of black men in history.
Among these biographies, readers will find aviators and artists, politicians and pop stars, athletes and activists. The exceptional men featured include artist Aaron Douglas, civil rights leader John Lewis, dancer Alvin Ailey, filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, musician Prince, photographer Gordon Parks, tennis champion Arthur Ashe, and writer James Baldwin.
The legends in this book span centuries and continents, but what they have in common is that each one has blazed a trail for generations to come.


Click for more detail about Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender Queen of the Conquered

by Kacen Callender
Orbit Books (Nov 12, 2019)
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Book One of the Islands of Blood and Storm Series

An ambitious young woman with the power to control minds seeks vengeance against the royals who murdered her family, in a Caribbean-inspired fantasy world embattled by colonial oppression.
Sigourney Rose is the only surviving daughter of a noble lineage on the islands of Hans Lollik. When she was a child, her family was murdered by the islands’ colonizers, who have massacred and enslaved generations of her people — and now, Sigourney is ready to exact her revenge.
When the childless king of the islands declares that he will choose his successor from amongst eligible noble families, Sigourney uses her ability to read and control minds to manipulate her way onto the royal island and into the ranks of the ruling colonizers. But when she arrives, prepared to fight for control of all the islands, Sigourney finds herself the target of a dangerous, unknown magic.
Someone is killing off the ruling families to clear a path to the throne. As the bodies pile up and all eyes regard her with suspicion, Sigourney must find allies among her prey and the murderer among her peers… lest she become the next victim.
Queen of the Conquered reckons with the many layers of power and privilege in a lush fantasy world — perfect for readers of S. A. Chakraborty, Ken Liu, and Tasha Suri.

King of the Rising is the conclusion of this series, which is also recommended for young adults.


Click for more detail about Don’t Touch My Hair! by Sharee Miller Don’t Touch My Hair!

by Sharee Miller
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 05, 2019)
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An ALA Children’s Notable Book

An entertaining picture book that teaches the importance of asking for permission first as a young girl attempts to escape the curious hands that want to touch her hair.

It seems that wherever Aria goes, someone wants to touch her hair. In the street, strangers reach for her fluffy curls; and even under the sea, in the jungle, and in space, she’s chased by a mermaid, monkeys, and poked by aliens … until, finally, Aria has had enough!

Author-illustrator Sharee Miller takes the tradition of appreciation of black hair to a new, fresh, level as she doesn’t seek to convince or remind young readers that their curls are beautiful — she simply acknowledges black beauty while telling a fun, imaginative story.


Click for more detail about Saturday by Oge Mora Saturday

by Oge Mora
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 22, 2019)
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In this warm and tender story by the Caldecott Honor-winning creator of Thank You, Omu!, join a mother and daughter on an up-and-down journey that reminds them of what’s best about Saturdays: precious time together.

Today would be special. Today would be splendid. It was Saturday! But sometimes, the best plans don’t work out exactly the way you expect….

In this heartfelt and universal story, a mother and daughter look forward to their special Saturday routine together every single week. But this Saturday, one thing after another goes wrong—ruining storytime, salon time, picnic time, and the puppet show they’d been looking forward to going to all week. Mom is nearing a meltdown…until her loving daughter reminds her that being together is the most important thing of all.

Author-artist Oge Mora’s highly anticipated follow up to Caldecott Honor Thank You, Omu! features the same magnificently radiant artwork and celebration of sharing so beloved in her debut picture book.


Click for more detail about Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business by Pamela Newkirk Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business

by Pamela Newkirk
Bold Type Books (Oct 22, 2019)
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An award-winning journalist shows how workplace diversity initiatives have turned into a profoundly misguided industry—and have done little to bring equality to America’s major industries and institutions.

Diversity has become the new buzzword, championed by elite institutions from academia to Hollywood to corporate America. In an effort to ensure their organizations represent the racial and ethnic makeup of the country, industry and foundation leaders have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to commission studies, launch training sessions, and hire consultants and diversity czars. But is it working?

In Diversity, Inc., award-winning journalist Pamela Newkirk shines a bright light on the diversity industry, asking the tough questions about what has worked-and why progress has been so slow. As she argues, despite decades of hand wringing, costly initiatives, and uncomfortable conversations, organizations have, apart from a few exceptions, fallen far short of their goals. Newkirk highlights the rare success stories, sharing valuable lessons about how other industries can match those gains.

Diversity, Inc. incisively shows the vast gap between our rhetoric of inclusivity and our achievements. If we are to deliver on the promise of true equality, we need to abandon ineffective, costly measures and do what it takes to challenge enduring racial attitudes.


Click for more detail about Princess Hair by Sharee Miller Princess Hair

by Sharee Miller
LB Kids (Oct 15, 2019)
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Princesses with curls wear pearls. Princesses with head wraps take long naps. And princesses with teeny-weeny Afros wear teeny-weeny bows.

Celebrate different hair shapes, textures, and styles in this self-affirming picture book! From dreadlocks to blowouts to braids, Princess Hair shines a spotlight on the beauty and diversity of black hair, showing young readers that every kind of hair is princess hair.

Debut author-illustrator Sharee Miller encourages confidence and pride in this playful, colorful picture book that teaches readers to love every bit of themselves.


Click for more detail about The ABCs of AOC: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from A to Z by Jamia Wilson The ABCs of AOC: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from A to Z

by Jamia Wilson
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 01, 2019)
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The ABCs of AOC is an inspiring, educational, and giftable book about the representative taking Congress—and the media—by storm.
This empowering and informative book is the perfect conversation starter for young people interested in government and activism, and the ultimate gift for anyone who wants to learn more about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

From Advocate to Feminist, Grassroots to Queens, and Revolutionary to Zeal, The ABCs of AOC introduces readers to values, places, and issues that relate to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s life and platform. A clear and engaging explanation of each term is paired with a stunning, contemporary illustration that will delight readers. This is an alphabet book like no other!

The book closes with a wealth of information expanding on the A-Z of concepts introduced, for readers ready to learn more about the revolutionary congresswoman and the US government. Packed with vibrant art and fascinating facts, this tome is perfect for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez admirers, and readers of Notorious RBG, I Dissent!, and Rad American Women A-Z!


Click for more detail about Think Big, Little One by Vashti Harrison Think Big, Little One

by Vashti Harrison
LB Kids (Oct 01, 2019)
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This board book edition of Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World by New York Times bestselling author Vashti Harrison is a beautiful first book to teach your little dreamers to follow all their biggest ideas.
Featuring eighteen women creators, ranging from writers to inventors, artists to scientists, this board book adaptation of Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World introduces trailblazing women like Mary Blair, an American modernist painter who had a major influence on how color was used in early animated films, environmental activist Wangari Maathai, and architect Zaha Hadid.

The irresistible full-color illustrations show the Dreamers as both accessible and aspirational so reader knows they, too, can grow up to do something amazing.


Click for more detail about Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke Heaven, My Home

by Attica Locke
Mulholland Books (Sep 17, 2019)
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One of Entertainment Weekly’s Biggest Books of Fall 2019 Texas Ranger Darren Mathews is on the hunt for a missing boy — but it’s the boy’s family of white supremacists who are his real target in this "instantly gripping crime novel" (Booklist) by the award-winning author of Bluebird, Bluebird
9-year-old Levi King knew he should have left for home sooner; now he’s alone in the darkness of vast Caddo Lake, in a boat whose motor just died. A sudden noise distracts him - and all goes dark.

Darren Mathews is trying to emerge from another kind of darkness; after the events of his previous investigation, his marriage is in a precarious state of re-building, and his career and reputation lie in the hands of his mother, who’s never exactly had his best interests at heart. Now she holds the key to his freedom, and she’s not above a little maternal blackmail to press her advantage.

An unlikely possibility of rescue arrives in the form of a case down Highway 59, in a small lakeside town where the local economy thrives on nostalgia for ante-bellum Texas - and some of the era’s racial attitudes still thrive as well. Levi’s disappearance has links to Darren’s last case, and to a wealthy businesswoman, the boy’s grandmother, who seems more concerned about the fate of her business than that of her grandson.

Darren has to battle centuries-old suspicions and prejudices, as well as threats that have been reignited in the current political climate, as he races to find the boy, and to save himself.

Attica Locke proves that the acclaim and awards for Bluebird, Bluebird were justly deserved, in this thrilling new novel about crimes old and new.


Click for more detail about Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know

by Malcolm Gladwell
Little, Brown and Company (Sep 10, 2019)
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Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers—and why they often go wrong

How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to each other that isn’t true?
Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging and controversial excursion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news. He revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State University, and the death of Sandra Bland—-throwing our understanding of these and other stories into doubt. Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don’t know. And because we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. In his first book since his #1 bestseller, David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell has written a gripping guidebook for troubled times.


Click for more detail about The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family

by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 10, 2019)
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The instant New York Times bestseller! A powerful, vibrantly illustrated story about the first day of school--and two sisters on one’s first day of hijab—by Olympic medalist and social justice activist Ibtihaj Muhammad.

And don’t miss The Kindest Red, a story of hijab and friendship, available for preorder now! With her new backpack and light-up shoes, Faizah knows the first day of school is going to be special. It's the start of a brand new year and, best of all, it's her older sister Asiya's first day of hijab--a hijab of beautiful blue fabric, like the ocean waving to the sky. But not everyone sees hijab as beautiful, and in the face of hurtful, confusing words, Faizah will find new ways to be strong.

Paired with Hatem Aly’s beautiful, whimsical art, Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad and Morris Award finalist S.K. Ali bring readers an uplifting, universal story of new experiences, the unbreakable bond between siblings, and of being proud of who you are.


Click for more detail about Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler Parable of the Talents

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 20, 2019)
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The African American Book Club will be moderating a discussion of Bulter’s Parable of the Talents on April 25, May 9, and May 30, 2023 (Click this link to learn more and to join the conversation.)

Originally published in 1998, this shockingly prescient novel’s timely message of hope and resistance in the face of fanaticism is more relevant than ever.

In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction of her home and family, and realized her vision of a peaceful community in northern California based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. The fledgling community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to “make America great again.” In an increasingly divided and dangerous nation, Lauren’s subversive colony—a minority religious faction led by a young black woman—becomes a target for President Jarret’s reign of terror and oppression.

Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew, Lauren Olamina. As she searches for answers about her own past, she also struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.

@aalbccom Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents #booktok #dystopianbooks #maga ? original sound - aalbc


Click for more detail about The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert The Revolution of Birdie Randolph

by Brandy Colbert
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Aug 20, 2019)
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Perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and Nicola Yoon comes a novel about first love and secrets from Stonewall Book Award winner Brandy Colbert.

Dove "Birdie" Randolph works hard to be the perfect daughter and follow the path her parents have laid out for her: She quit playing her beloved soccer, she keeps her nose buried in textbooks, and she’s on track to finish high school at the top of her class. But then Birdie falls hard for Booker, a sweet boy with a troubled past…whom she knows her parents will never approve of.

When her estranged aunt Carlene returns to Chicago and moves into the family’s apartment above their hair salon, Birdie notices the tension building at home. Carlene is sweet, friendly, and open-minded—she’s also spent decades in and out of treatment facilities for addiction. As Birdie becomes closer to both Booker and Carlene, she yearns to spread her wings. But when long-buried secrets rise to the surface, everything she’s known to be true is turned upside down.


Click for more detail about How Long ’Til Black Future Month?: Stories by N. K. Jemisin How Long ’Til Black Future Month?: Stories

by N. K. Jemisin
Orbit Books (Aug 13, 2019)
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Three-time Hugo Award winner and African American Literature Book Club bestselling author N. K. Jemisin challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption that sharply examine modern society in her first collection of short fiction, which includes never-before-seen stories.

Spirits haunt the flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mother in the Jim Crow South must save her daughter from a fey offering impossible promises. And in the Hugo award-nominated short story "The City Born Great," a young street kid fights to give birth to an old metropolis’s soul.


Click for more detail about After Life: My Journey from Incarceration to Freedom by Alice Marie Johnson After Life: My Journey from Incarceration to Freedom

by Alice Marie Johnson
FaithWords (May 21, 2019)
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The true-life story of the woman whose life sentence for non-violent drug trafficking was commuted by President Donald Trump thanks to the efforts of Kim Kardashian West—an inspiring memoir of faith, hope, mercy, and gratitude.

How do you hold on to hope after more than twenty years of imprisonment? For Alice Marie Johnson the answer lies with God.

For years, Alice lived a normal life without a criminal record—she was a manager at FedEx, a wife, and a mother. But after an emotionally and financially tumultuous period in her life left her with few options, she turned to crime as a way to pay off her mounting debts. Convicted in 1996 for her nonviolent involvement in a Memphis cocaine trafficking organization, Alice received a life sentence under the mandatory sentencing laws of the time. Locked behind bars, Alice looked to God. Eventually becoming an ordained minister, she relied on her faith to sustain hope over more than two decades—until 2018, when the president commuted her sentence at the behest of Kim Kardashian West, who had taken up Alice’s cause.

In this honest, faith-driven memoir, Alice explains how she held on to hope and gave it to others, from becoming a playwright to mentoring her fellow prisoners. She reveals how Christianity and her unshakeable belief in God helped her persevere and inspired her to share her faith in a video that would go viral—and come to the attention of celebrities who were moved to action.

Today, Alice is an icon for the prison reform movement and a humble servant who embraces gratitude and God for her freedom. In this powerful book, she recalls all of the firsts she has experienced through her activism and provides an authentic portrait of the crisis that is mass incarceration. Linking social justice to spiritual faith, she makes a persuasive and poignant argument for justice that transcends tribal politics. Her story is a beacon in the darkness of despair, reminding us of the power of redemption and the importance of making second chances count.

After Life features 16 pages of color photographs.


Click for more detail about Jada Sly, Artist & Spy by Sherri Winston Jada Sly, Artist & Spy

by Sherri Winston
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 14, 2019)
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Jada Sly, a hilarious and spunky artist and spy, is on a mission to find her mom in this illustrated novel from acclaimed author Sherri Winston.

Ten-year-old Jada Sly is an artist and a spy-in-training. When she isn’t studying the art from her idols like Jackie Ormes, the first-known African American cartoonist, she’s chronicling her spy training and other observations in her art journal.

Back home in New York City, after living in France for five years, Jada is ready to embark on her first and greatest spy adventure yet. She plans to scour New York City in search of her missing mother, even though everyone thinks her mom died in a plane crash. Except Jada, who is certain her mom was a spy too.

With the stakes high and danger lurking around every corner, Jada will use one spy technique after another to unlock the mystery of her mother’s disappearance—some with hilarious results. After all, she’s still learning.


Click for more detail about Stories for Kids Who Dare to Be Different: True Tales of Amazing People Who Stood Up and Stood Out by Ben Brooks Stories for Kids Who Dare to Be Different: True Tales of Amazing People Who Stood Up and Stood Out

by Ben Brooks
Running Press Kids (May 07, 2019)
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Ben Brooks is the author of several books, including Grow Up, Lolito, Hurra, and Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different.

Quinton Winter is a British illustrator, artist, and colorist. He has worked for many clients including the Guardian newspaper, Walker Books, Vertigo Comics, and the BBC.


Click for more detail about Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler Parable of the Sower

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 16, 2019)
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From the "grand dame" of science fiction, a dystopian classic of terror and hope about an African American teenage girl trying to survive in an all-too-real future.

When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe. In a night of fire and death, Lauren Olamina, an empath and the daughter of a minister, loses her family and home and ventures out into the unprotected American landscape. But what begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny…and the birth of a new faith, as Lauren becomes a prophet carrying the hope of a new world and a revoltionary idea christened "Earthseed".

Chilling and thought-provoking for adult and young adult readers alike, "…there isn’t a page in this vivid and frightening story that fails to grip the reader" (San Jose Mercury News).

Book Review

Click for more detail about Crushing: God Turns Pressure Into Power by T. D. Jakes Crushing: God Turns Pressure Into Power

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (Apr 16, 2019)
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Follow God’s process for growth and learn how you can benefit from life’s challenging experiences with this book by bestselling inspirational author T.D. Jakes.
In this insightful book, #1 New York Times bestselling author T.D. Jakes wrestles with the age-old questions: Why do the righteous suffer? Where is God in all the injustice?

In his most personal offering yet, Bishop Jakes tells crushing stories from his own journey-the painful experience of learning his young teenage daughter was pregnant, the agony of watching his mother succumb to Alzheimer’s, and the shock and helplessness he felt when his son had a heart attack.

Bishop Jakes wants to encourage you that God uses difficult, crushing experiences to prepare you for unexpected blessings. If you are faithful through suffering, you will be surprised by God’s joy, comforted by His peace, and fulfilled with His purpose.

Crushing will inspire you to have hope, even in your most difficult moments. If you trust in God and lean on Him during setbacks, He will lead you through.


Click for more detail about We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood by Dani McClain We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood

by Dani McClain
Bold Type Books (Apr 02, 2019)
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A warm, wise, and urgent guide to parenting in uncertain times, from a longtime reporter on race, reproductive health, and politics

In We Live for the We, first-time mother Dani McClain sets out to understand how to raise her daughter in what she, as a black woman, knows to be an unjust — even hostile — society. Black women are more likely to die during pregnancy or birth than any other race; black mothers must stand before television cameras telling the world that their slain children were human beings. What, then, is the best way to keep fear at bay and raise a child so she lives with dignity and joy?

McClain spoke with mothers on the frontlines of movements for social, political, and cultural change who are grappling with the same questions. Following a child’s development from infancy to the teenage years, We Live for the We touches on everything from the importance of creativity to building a mutually supportive community to navigating one’s relationship with power and authority. It is an essential handbook to help us imagine the society we build for the next generation.


Click for more detail about The Crazy Bunch by Willie Perdomo The Crazy Bunch

by Willie Perdomo
PublicAffairs (Apr 02, 2019)
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From a prize-winning poet, a new collection that chronicles a weekend in the life of a group of friends coming of age in East Harlem at the dawn of the hip-hop era

Willie Perdomo, a native of East Harlem, has won praise as a hip, playful, historically engaged poet whose restlessly lyrical language mixes “city life with a sense of the transcendent” (NPR.org). In his fourth collection, The Crazy Bunch, Perdomo returns to his beloved neighborhood to create a vivid, kaleidoscopic portrait of a “crew” coming of age in East Harlem at the beginning of the 1990s. In poems written in couplets, vignettes, sketches, riffs, and dialogue, Perdomo recreates a weekend where surviving members of the crew recall a series of tragic events: “That was the summer we all tried to fly. All but one of us succeeded."”


Click for more detail about How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance by Akiba Solomon How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance

by Akiba Solomon
Bold Type Books (Mar 26, 2019)
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This celebration of Black resistance, from protests to art to sermons to joy, offers a blueprint for the fight for freedom and justice — and ideas for how each of us can contribute

Many of us are facing unprecedented attacks on our democracy, our privacy, and our hard-won civil rights. If you’re Black in the US, this is not new. As Colorlines editors Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin show, Black Americans subvert and resist life-threatening forces as a matter of course. In these pages, leading organizers, artists, journalists, comedians, and filmmakers offer wisdom on how they fight White supremacy. It’s a must-read for anyone new to resistance work, and for the next generation of leaders building a better future.

Featuring contributions from:

  • Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Tarana Burke
  • Harry Belafonte
  • adrienne maree brown
  • Alicia Garza
  • Patrisse Khan-Cullors
  • Reverend Dr. Valerie Bridgeman
  • Kiese Laymon
  • Jamilah Lemieux
  • Robin DG Kelley
  • Damon Young
  • Michael Arceneaux
  • Hanif Abdurraqib
  • Dr. Yaba Blay
  • Diamond Stingily
  • Amanda Seales
  • Imani Perry
  • Denene Millner
  • Kierna Mayo
  • John Jennings
  • Dr. Joy Harden Bradford
  • Tongo Eisen-Martin


Click for more detail about A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon by Suzanne Slade A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon

by Suzanne Slade
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Mar 12, 2019)
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The inspiring true story of mathematician Katherine Johnson—made famous by the award-winning film Hidden Figures—who counted and computed her way to NASA and helped put a man on the moon!
Katherine knew it was wrong that African Americans didn’t have the same rights as others—as wrong as 5+5=12. She knew it was wrong that people thought women could only be teachers or nurses—as wrong as 10-5=3. And she proved everyone wrong by zooming ahead of her classmates, starting college at fifteen, and eventually joining NASA, where her calculations helped pioneer America’s first manned flight into space, its first manned orbit of Earth, and the world’s first trip to the moon!
Award-winning author Suzanne Slade and debut artist Veronica Miller Jamison tell the story of a NASA "computer" in this smartly written, charmingly illustrated biography.


Click for more detail about Whose Knees Are These?  by Jabari Asim Whose Knees Are These?

by Jabari Asim
LB Kids (Mar 05, 2019)
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New Version

Whose Knees Are These and its companion book, Whose Toes Are Those are classics that should lay on the nightstand of every parent charged with tucking a toddler in at night. My son and I have precious memories of the snuggling, laughing and tickling of toes inspired by this book that literally reinforced the loving bond between us. The images, I know, fed my son’s self-esteem, though it would do the same for any child—black, cocoa brown, beige or any hue. One day I hope to read these to my son’s children.”—Charisse Carney-Nunes

Takes a loving look at knees from the vantage point of a mother’s lap.


Click for more detail about Whose Toes are Those?  by Jabari Asim Whose Toes are Those?

by Jabari Asim
LB Kids (Mar 05, 2019)
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Children are invited to explore their toes by playing “This Little Piggy.” Also check out Whose Knees Are These


Click for more detail about No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America by Darnell L. Moore No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America

by Darnell L. Moore
Bold Type Books (Feb 19, 2019)
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From a leading journalist and activist comes a brave, beautifully wrought memoir.
When Darnell Moore was fourteen years old, three boys from his neighborhood tried to set him on fire. They cornered him while he was walking home from school, harassed him because they assumed he was gay, and poured a jug of gasoline on him. He escaped, but just barely. It wasn’t the last time he would face death.

Three decades later, Moore is an award-winning writer and activist, a leader in the Movement for Black Lives, and a tireless advocate for justice and liberation. In No Ashes in the Fire, he sets out to understand how that scared, bullied teenager not only survived, but found his calling. Moore traces his life from his childhood in Camden, New Jersey, a city scarred by uprisings and repression; to his search for intimacy in the gay neighborhoods of Philadelphia; and, finally, to the movements in Newark, Brooklyn, and Ferguson where he could fight for those who, like him, survive on society’s edges.

No Ashes in the Fire is a story of beauty and hope - and an honest reckoning with family, with place, and with what it means to be free.


Click for more detail about The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers by Bridgett M. Davis The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers

by Bridgett M. Davis
Little, Brown and Company (Jan 29, 2019)
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"This outstanding book is a tribute to one woman but will surely speak to the experiences of many" (Kirkus) A singular memoir that tells the story of one unforgettable mother, her devoted daughter, and the life they lead in the Detroit numbers of the 1960s and 1970s

In 1958, the very same year that an unknown songwriter named Berry Gordy borrowed $800 to found Motown Records, a pretty young mother from Nashville, Tennessee borrowed $100 from her brother to run a Numbers racket out of her tattered apartment on Delaware Street, in one of Detroit’s worst sections. That woman was Fannie Davis, Bridgett M. Davis’ mother. Part bookie, part banker, mother, wife, granddaughter of slaves, Fannie became more than a numbers runner: she was a kind of Ulysses, guiding both her husbands, five children and a grandson through the decimation of a once-proud city using her wit, style, guts, and even gun. She ran her numbers business for 34 years, doing what it took to survive in a legitimate business that just happened to be illegal. She created a loving, joyful home, sent her children to the best schools, bought them the best clothes, mothered them to the highest standard, and when the tragedy of urban life struck, soldiered on with her stated belief: "Dying is easy. Living takes guts."

A daughter’s moving homage to an extraordinary parent, The World According to Fannie Davis is also the suspenseful, unforgettable story about the lengths to which a mother will go to "make a way out of no way" to provide a prosperous life for her family — and how those sacrifices resonate over time. This original, timely, and deeply relatable portrait of one American family is essential reading.

Book Review

Click for more detail about An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma An Orchestra of Minorities

by Chigozie Obioma
Little, Brown and Company (Jan 08, 2019)
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A heart-breaking story about a Nigerian poultry farmer who sacrifices everything to win the woman he loves, by Man Booker Finalist and author of The Fishermen, Chigozie Obioma.

Set on the outskirts of Umuahia, Nigeria and narrated by a chi, or guardian spirit, AN ORCHESTRA OF MINORITIES tells the story of Chinonso, a young poultry farmer whose soul is ignited when he sees a woman attempting to jump from a highway bridge. Horrified by her recklessness, Chinonso joins her on the roadside and hurls two of his prized chickens into the water below to express the severity of such a fall. The woman, Ndali, is stopped her in her tracks.

Bonded by this night on the bridge, Chinonso and Ndali fall in love. But Ndali is from a wealthy family and struggles to imagine a future near a chicken coop. When her family objects to the union because he is uneducated, Chinonso sells most of his possessions to attend a college in Cyprus. But when he arrives he discovers there is no place at the school for him, and that he has been utterly duped by the young Nigerian who has made the arrangements.. Penniless, homeless, and furious at a world which continues to relegate him to the sidelines, Chinonso gets further away from his dream, from Ndali and the farm he called home.

Spanning continents, traversing the earth and cosmic spaces, and told by a narrator who has lived for hundreds of years, the novel is a contemporary twist of Homer’s Odyssey. Written in the mythic style of the Igbo literary tradition, Chigozie Obioma weaves a heart-wrenching epic about destiny and determination.


Click for more detail about Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America by Dorothy Butler Gilliam Trailblazer: A Pioneering Journalist’s Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America

by Dorothy Butler Gilliam
Center Street (Jan 08, 2019)
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Dorothy Butler Gilliam, whose 50-year-career as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers a comprehensive view of racial relations and the media in the U.S.

Most civil rights victories are achieved behind the scenes, and this riveting, beautifully written memoir by a “black first” looks back with searing insight on the decades of struggle, friendship, courage, humor and savvy that secured what seems commonplace today-people of color working in mainstream media.

Told with a pioneering newspaper writer’s charm and skill, Gilliam’s full, fascinating life weaves her personal and professional experiences and media history into an engrossing tapestry. When we read about the death of her father and other formative events of her life, we glimpse the crippling impact of the segregated South before the civil rights movement when slavery’s legacy still felt astonishingly close. We root for her as a wife, mother, and ambitious professional as she seizes once-in-a-lifetime opportunities never meant for a "dark-skinned woman" and builds a distinguished career. We gain a comprehensive view of how the media, especially newspapers, affected the movement for equal rights in this country. And in this humble, moving memoir, we see how an innovative and respected journalist and working mother helped provide opportunities for others.

With the distinct voice of one who has worked for and witnessed immense progress and overcome heart-wrenching setbacks, this book covers a wide swath of media history — from the era of game-changing Negro newspapers like the Chicago Defender to the civil rights movement, feminism, and our current imperfect diversity. This timely memoir, which reflects the tradition of boot-strapping African American storytelling from the South, is a smart, contemporary consideration of the media.


Click for more detail about It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promise to Black America by Reniqua Allen It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promise to Black America

by Reniqua Allen
Bold Type Books (Jan 08, 2019)
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Young Black Americans have been trying to realize the promise of the American Dream for centuries and coping with the reality of its limitations for just as long. Now, a new generation is pursuing success, happiness, and freedom — on their own terms.

In It Was All a Dream, Reniqua Allen tells the stories of Black millennials searching for a better future in spite of racist policies that have closed off traditional versions of success. Many watched their parents and grandparents play by the rules, only to sink deeper and deeper into debt. They witnessed their elders fight to escape cycles of oppression for more promising prospects, largely to no avail. Today, in this post-Obama era, they face a critical turning point.

Interweaving her own experience with those of young Black Americans in cities and towns from New York to Los Angeles and Bluefield, West Virginia to Chicago, Allen shares surprising stories of hope and ingenuity. Instead of accepting downward mobility, Black millennials are flipping the script and rejecting White America’s standards. Whether it means moving away from cities and heading South, hustling in the entertainment industry, challenging ideas about gender and sexuality, or building activist networks, they are determined to forge their own path.

Compassionate and deeply reported, It Was All a Dream is a celebration of a generation’s doggedness against all odds, as they fight for a country in which their dreams can become a reality.


Click for more detail about Victory City: A History of New York and New Yorkers during World War II by John Strausbaugh Victory City: A History of New York and New Yorkers during World War II

by John Strausbaugh
Twelve (Dec 04, 2018)
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From John Strausbaugh, author of City of Sedition and The Village, comes the definitive history of Gotham during the World War II era.
New York City during World War II wasn’t just a place of servicemen, politicians, heroes, G.I. Joes and Rosie the Riveters, but also of quislings and saboteurs; of Nazi, Fascist, and Communist sympathizers; of war protesters and conscientious objectors; of gangsters and hookers and profiteers; of latchkey kids and bobby-soxers, poets and painters, atomic scientists and atomic spies.

While the war launched and leveled nations, spurred economic growth, and saw the rise and fall of global Fascism, New York City would eventually emerge as the new capital of the world. From the Gilded Age to VJ-Day, an array of fascinating New Yorkers rose to fame, from Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Langston Hughes to Joe Louis, to Robert Moses and Joe DiMaggio.

In VICTORY CITY, John Strausbaugh returns to tell the story of New York City’s war years with the same richness, depth, and nuance he brought to his previous books, City of Sedition and The Village, providing readers with a groundbreaking new look into the greatest city on earth during the most transformative — and costliest — war in human history.


Click for more detail about How Long ’til Black Future Month?: Stories by N. K. Jemisin How Long ’til Black Future Month?: Stories

by N. K. Jemisin
Orbit Books (Nov 27, 2018)
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Hugo award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin sharply examines modern society in her first short story collection.

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption. In these stories, Jemisin sharply examines modern society, infusing magic into the mundane, and drawing deft parallels in the fantasy realms of her imagination. Dragons and hateful spirits haunt the flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mother in the Jim Crow South must save her daughter from a fey offering impossible promises. And in the Hugo award-nominated short story "The City Born Great," a young street kid fights to give birth to an old metropolis’s soul.


Click for more detail about Hollywood Black by Donald Bogle Hollywood Black

by Donald Bogle
Running Press (Oct 24, 2018)
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The films, the stars, the filmmakers — the struggles, the triumphs: all get their due in Hollywood Black, a sweeping overview of African Americans in film, covering more than a century of cinema with striking photos and an engrossing history by award-winning author Donald Bogle.

Hollywood Black opens in the silent film era, when white actors in blackface often played black characters and D. W. Griffith premiered his shocking, controversial The Birth of a Nation. Sound motion pictures were ushered in by Al Jolson in blackface in The Jazz Singer, but in this new era of filmmaking, black performers like Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Louise Beavers, Paul Robeson, and Butterfly McQueen began finding a place in Hollywood. More often than not, they were saddled with rigidly stereotyped roles, but still, some gifted performers were able to turn in significant performances. Hollywood Black will spotlight such talents, notably Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win an Academy Award, for her work in Gone With the Wind (1939).

In the coming decades, more black talents would light up the screen. Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American actress to earn a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Carmen Jones in 1954, and Sidney Poitier would be the first black actor to win a Best Actor Oscar in 1963’s Lilies of the Field. Hollywood Black reveals the changes in images that came about with the evolving social and political atmosphere of the country, from the Civil Rights era to the Black Power movement.

Hollywood Black will follow through the Blaxploitation era with movies like Shaft and Super Fly and the arrival of such directors as Gordon Parks and Melvin Van Peebles; to the emergence in the late 1970s and ’80s of such stars as Diana Ross, Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Pryor, and Eddie Murphy; and of directors Spike Lee, John Singleton, and the Hughes brothers. The book comes up to the present with filmmakers such as Steve McQueen (Twelve Years A Slave), Gina Prince Bythewood (The Secret Life of Bees), Lee Daniels (Precious), F. Gary Grant (Straight Outta Compton), Nate Parker (who directed his own version of The Birth of a Nation) — and such megastars as Denzel Washington; Will Smith; Halle Berry; Viola Davis, Angela Bassett, and a glorious gallery of others. With photographs and stories of stars and filmmakers on set and off, Hollywood Black tells an enthralling, underappreciated history.


Click for more detail about America Border Culture Dreamer: The Young Immigrant Experience from A to Z by Wendy Ewald America Border Culture Dreamer: The Young Immigrant Experience from A to Z

by Wendy Ewald
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 16, 2018)
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First- and second-generation immigrants to the US from all around the world collaborate with renowned photographer Wendy Ewald to create a stunning, surprising catalog of their experiences from A to Z.
In a unique collaboration with photographer and educator Wendy Ewald, eighteen immigrant teenagers create an alphabet defining their experiences in pictures and words. Wendy helped the teenagers pose for and design the photographs, interviewing them along the way about their own journeys and perspectives.

America Border Culture Dreamer presents Wendy and the students’ poignant and powerful images and definitions along with their personal stories of change, hardship, and hope. Created in a collaboration with Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, this book casts a new light on the crucial, under-heard voices of teenage immigrants themselves, making a vital contribution to the timely national conversation about immigration in America.


Click for more detail about Dream Big, Little Leader by Vashti Harrison Dream Big, Little Leader

by Vashti Harrison
LB Kids (Oct 16, 2018)
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This beautifully illustrated book showcases women who changed the world.
Featuring 18 trailblazing black women in American history, Dream Big, Little Leader is the irresistible board book adaptation of Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History.
Among these women, you’ll find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things - bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come. Whether they were putting pen to paper, soaring through the air or speaking up for the rights of others, the women profiled in these pages were all taking a stand against a world that didn’t always accept them.

The leaders in this book may be little, but they all did something bigand amazing, inspiring generations to come.


Click for more detail about Author: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan by Beowulf Sheehan Author: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan

by Beowulf Sheehan
Black Dog & Leventhal (Oct 09, 2018)
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A beautiful and moving collection of photographs by Beowulf Sheehan, whose work captures the essence of 200 of our most prominent writers, historians, journalists, playwrights, and poets.

Poet Gregory Pardlo photo by Beowulf SheehanBeowulf Sheehan is considered to be his generation’s foremost literary portrait photographer, having made portraits of the literary luminaries of our time across the globe, from Roxane Gay to Masha Gessen, Patti Smith to Zadie Smith, Karl Ove Knausgaard to J.K. Rowling, and Jonathan Franzen to Toni Morrison.

Writers of African descent in Author: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan include:

In Author Sheehan presents the most insightful, intimate, and revealing portraits of these artists made in his studio, in their homes, in shopping malls and concert halls, on rooftops and in parking lots, on the beach and among trees, surrounded by flowers and in clock towers. Following an enlightening foreword by Salman Rushdie, Beowulf Sheehan shares an essay offering insights in the poignant and memorable moments he experienced while making these portraits.

From among the some 700 writers I had photographed at the time Author went into production, it only made sense that my portrait of Donna Tartt be the cover. Much of Donna and her work spoke to an oftentimes makeup of the writer: Lauded for the artist’s words, a glimpse of the artist a rare joy. The cover image was the back cover of her masterpiece The Goldfinch, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, a global bestseller, coming as a major motion picture for the 2019 holiday season. Published in some countries as a billboard and in many also as the book’s back cover, the photograph has been regarded as the icon most associated with Donna Tartt’s public image. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Donna Tartt, her work, and her publishers for all the photograph has in turn done for me.

A treasure gift for readers and lovers of portrait photography, Author is the only book of its kind to appear in more than a decade.


Click for more detail about Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora Thank You, Omu!

by Oge Mora
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 02, 2018)
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In this remarkable author-illustrator debut that’s perfect for fans of Last Stop on Market Street and Extra Yarn as well as for the Thanksgiving season, a generous woman is rewarded by her community.

Everyone in the neighborhood dreams of a taste of Omu’s delicious stew! One by one, they follow their noses toward the scrumptious scent. And one by one, Omu offers a portion of her meal. Soon the pot is empty. Has she been so generous that she has nothing left for herself?

Debut author-illustrator Oge Mora brings to life a heartwarming story of sharing and community in colorful cut-paper designs as luscious as Omu’s stew, with an extra serving of love. An author’s note explains that “Omu” (pronounced AH-moo) means “queen” in the Igbo language of her parents, but growing up, she used it to mean “Grandma.” This book was inspired by the strong female role models in Oge Mora’s life.

Book Review

Click for more detail about What the Hell Do You Have to Lose?: Trump’s War on Civil Rights by Juan Williams What the Hell Do You Have to Lose?: Trump’s War on Civil Rights

by Juan Williams
PublicAffairs (Sep 25, 2018)
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The bestselling author, political analyst, and civil rights expert delivers a forceful critique of the Trump administration’s ignorant and unprecedented rollback of the civil rights movement.
Unsympathetic, ambiguous, and openly racist remarks are a hallmark of Donald Trump’s public life. They may have reached their nadir after he failed to condemn white supremacy in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, but perhaps no remark of his is more telling than his campaign pitch to African Americans: "What the hell do you have to lose?"
Quite a lot, as it turns out. In this vigorously argued and timely book, civil rights historian and political analyst Juan Williams issues the truth about just what African Americans have to lose, and how Trump is threatening to take it away. In Williams’s lifetime, civil rights have improved, vastly and against great resistance — including from Trump and his family. In chapters devoted to each of the major areas of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Williams tells the less known and forgotten stories of heroes like Bob Moses, A. Philip Randolph, and Everett Dirksen, who fought for voting rights, integration of public schools and spaces, and more.
This book is not merely a much-needed and highly visible history lesson. It signals the alarm about the Trump administration’s policies and intentions, which pose a threat to civil rights without precedent in modern America.
In a polarized era, it’s especially telling when moderates like Williams are prepared to stand up and shout. This book is clear-sighted, inspiring, and necessary, from an author with the experience and standing to make it heard.


Click for more detail about Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different: True Tales of Amazing Boys Who Changed the World Without Killing Dragons by Ben Brooks Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different: True Tales of Amazing Boys Who Changed the World Without Killing Dragons

by Ben Brooks
Running Press Kids (Sep 25, 2018)
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New York Times bestseller

Boys can be anything they want to be! This timely book joins and expands the gender-role conversation and gives middle-grade boys a welcome alternative message: that masculinity can mean many things.
You won’t find any stories of slaying dragons or saving princesses here. In Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different, author Ben Brooks-with the help of Quinton Wintor’s striking full-color illustrations-offers a welcome alternative narrative: one that celebrates introverts and innovators, sensitivity and resilience, individuality and expression.

It’s an accessible compilation of 75 famous and not-so-famous men from the past to the present day, every single one of them a rule-breaker and stereotype-smasher in his own way. Entries include Frank Ocean, Salvador Dali, Beethoven, Barack Obama, Ai Weiwei, Jesse Owens, and so many more-heroes from all walks of life and from all over the world.


Click for more detail about The Power of Presence by Joy Thomas Moore The Power of Presence

by Joy Thomas Moore
Grand Central Life & Style (Sep 18, 2018)
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A Black Women’s Health Imperative Inaugural Book Club Selection!

For single parents, working parents, and caregivers who worry about the time they spend away from their children, the mother of The Other Wes Moore shares strategies to raise happy, well adjusted kids.

As the mother of Wes Moore, whose memoir about overcoming the obstacles that face a fatherless young black man was a huge bestseller, Joy is constantly asked: How did you do it? How can you be a good parent, have a career and stay healthy when you don’t have a partner to pick up the slack? How do you connect with a child when you can’t always be there? Joy’s answer is "presence." Specifically, seven different ways of being a force in a child’s life, ensuring that they feel your influence. We can’t always be physically there for our children, but the power of presence can help us to be a voice in the back of their minds that guides them through difficult times.

In The Power of Presence, Moore explores seven pillars of presence — heart, faith, mind, courage, financial freedom, values, and connectedness — that all parents can use to positively influence their children. Using compelling stories from women who have been there and practical advice on everything from savings accounts to mindfulness, this book is a compassionate look at what it takes to raise great kids even in less than ideal circumstances.

Book Review

Click for more detail about How Are You Going to Save Yourself by J.M. Holmes How Are You Going to Save Yourself

by J.M. Holmes
Little, Brown and Company (Aug 21, 2018)
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Excerpted in the Killens Review of Arts & Letters journal.

Four young men struggle to liberate themselves from the burden of being black and male in America in an assured debut "as up-to the-minute as a Kendrick Lamar track and as ruefully steeped in eternal truths as a Gogol tale" (Kirkus, starred review).

Bound together by shared experience but pulled apart by their changing fortunes, four young friends coming of age in the postindustrial enclave of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, struggle to liberate themselves from the legacies left to them as black men in America. With potent immediacy and bracing candor, this provocative debut follows a decade in the lives of Dub, Rolls, Rye, and Gio as they each grapple with the complexity of their family histories, the newfound power of sex and drugs, and the ferocity of their desires.

Gio proves himself an unforgettable narrator, beautifully flawed and unstintingly honest, as he recounts both the friends’ conflicts and their triumphs. Whether it’s a fraught family cookout, a charged altercation on the block, a raucous night in high-society Manhattan gone wrong, or the troubled efforts of a drug hustler to go clean, JM Holmes brings the thump and the heat of his scenes to life with the kind of ease that makes us not just eavesdroppers but participants.

How Are You Going to Save Yourself illuminates in breathtaking detail an entire world-one that has been underrepresented in American fiction. At times funny, often uncomfortable, occasionally disturbing, these stories fearlessly engage with issues of race, sex, drugs, class, and family. Holmes’s blistering and timely new voice, richly infused with the unmistakable rhythms of hip-hop that form the sound track to his characters’ lives, delivers an indelible fiction that has never been more vital and necessary.


Click for more detail about Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert Finding Yvonne

by Brandy Colbert
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Aug 07, 2018)
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For fans of Nicola Yoon and Nina LaCour comes a striking novel about difficult choices from acclaimed author Brandy Colbert.
Since she was seven years old, Yvonne has had her trusted violin to keep her company, especially in those lonely days after her mother walked out on their family. But with graduation just around the corner, she is forced to face the hard truth that she just might not be good enough to attend a conservatory after high school.
Full of doubt about her future, and increasingly frustrated by her strained relationship with her successful but emotionally closed-off father, Yvonne meets a street musician and fellow violinist who understands her struggle. He’s mysterious, charming, and different from Warren, the familiar and reliable boy who has her heart. But when Yvonne becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she has to make the most difficult decision yet about her future.
From the author of Pointe and Little & Lion, comes another heartfelt novel about the twists and turns that can show up on a path meant only for you.


Click for more detail about The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement

by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris
Hachette (Aug 07, 2018)
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CNN contributor offers a searing indictment of America’s law enforcement.

"This is a must-read…. Telling this story demonstrates nothing but raw courage for a black police officer who wants the truth to prevail." —John Lewis


"[T]his [is a] hard-hitting, convincing indictment of the biases in today’s law enforcement…. A must-read for anyone interested in understanding and solving these problems." —Booklist (starred review)

Matthew Horace was an officer at the federal, state, and local level for 28 years working in every state in the country. Yet it was after seven years of service when Horace found himself face-down on the ground with a gun pointed at his head by a white fellow officer, that he fully understood the racism seething within America’s police departments.

Using gut-wrenching reportage, on-the-ground research, and personal accounts garnered by interviews with police and government officials around the country, Horace presents an insider’s examination of police tactics, which he concludes is an "archaic system" built on "toxic brotherhood." Horace dissects some of the nation’s most highly publicized police shootings and communities highlighted in the Black Lives Matter movement and beyond to explain how these systems and tactics have had detrimental outcomes to the people they serve. Horace provides fresh analysis on communities experiencing the high killing and imprisonment rates due to racist policing such as Ferguson, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Chicago from a law enforcement point of view and uncovers what has sown the seeds of violence.

Timely and provocative, The Black and The Blue sheds light on what truly goes on behind the blue line.


Click for more detail about Better Late Than Never (Final Book in Reverend Curtis Black Series #15) by Kimberla Lawson Roby Better Late Than Never (Final Book in Reverend Curtis Black Series #15)

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 31, 2018)
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Read Kimberla’s Thoughts on Ending Her Reverend Curtis Black Series after 15 Books


THE STUNNING CONCLUSION TO THE BESTSELLING CURTIS BLACK SERIES

The past never stays where it belongs…

Curtis Black is no stranger to scandal. Throughout the decades, he has done much in the public eye, both good and evil. But what most people don’t realize is that Curtis has been hiding a horrific childhood that has affected him in countless, unspeakable ways.

His buried past returns in an unwelcome visit when his estranged sister becomes alarmingly ill and his youngest child, twelve-year-old Curtina, becomes the kind of problem daughter that he never imagined she could be. This is only the beginning. The horror of Curtis’s childhood secrets, as well as Curtina’s wild and rebellious behavior, takes a critical toll on Curtis and the entire Black family. All the public scandals they’ve experienced over the years now seem like child’s play compared to the turmoil they are facing in private. Who could have known that the deepest wounds would come from within?


Click for more detail about Proud (Young Readers): Living My American Dream by Ibtihaj Muhammad Proud (Young Readers): Living My American Dream

by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jul 24, 2018)
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The inspiring and critically acclaimed all-American story of faith, family, hard work, and perseverance by Olympic fencer, activist, New York Times bestselling author, and Time “100 Most Influential People” honoree Ibtihaj Muhammad

At the 2016 Olympic Games, Ibtihaj Muhammad smashed barriers as the first American to compete wearing hijab, and she made history as the first Muslim American woman to win a medal. But before she was an Olympian, activist, and entrepreneur, Ibtihaj was a young outsider trying to find her place.

Growing up in suburban New Jersey, Ibtihaj was often the only African American Muslim student in her class. When she discovered and fell in love with fencing, a sport most popular with affluent young white people, she stood out even more. Rivals and teammates often pointed out Ibtihaj’s differences, telling her she would never succeed. Yet she powered on, rising above bigotry and other obstacles on the path to pursue her dream.

Ibtihaj’s inspiring journey from humble beginnings to the international stage is told in her own words and enhanced with helpful advice and never-before-published photographs. Proud is an all-American tale of faith, family, hard work, and self-reliance.


Click for more detail about Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream by Ibtihaj Muhammad Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream

by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Legacy Lit (Jul 24, 2018)
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Growing up in New Jersey as the only African American Muslim at school, Ibtihaj Muhammad always had to find her own way. When she discovered fencing, a sport traditionally reserved for the wealthy, she had to defy expectations and make a place for herself in a sport she grew to love.

From winning state championships to three-time All-America selections at Duke University, Ibtihaj was poised for success, but the fencing community wasn’t ready to welcome her with open arms just yet. As the only woman of color and the only religious minority on Team USA’s saber fencing squad, Ibtihaj had to chart her own path to success and Olympic glory.

Proud is a moving coming-of-age story from one of the nation’s most influential athletes and illustrates how she rose above it all.


Click for more detail about Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist by Franchesca Ramsey Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist

by Franchesca Ramsey
Grand Central Publishing (May 22, 2018)
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In this sharp, funny, and timely collection of personal essays, veteran video blogger and star of MTV’s Decoded Franchesca Ramsey explores race, identity, online activism, and the downfall of real communication in the age of social media rants, trolls, and call-out wars.

Franchesca Ramsey didn’t set out to be an activist. Or a comedian. Or a commentator on identity, race, and culture, really. But then her YouTube video "What White Girls Say … to Black Girls" went viral. Twelve million views viral. Faced with an avalanche of media requests, fan letters, and hate mail, she had two choices: Jump in and make her voice heard or step back and let others frame the conversation. After a crash course in social justice and more than a few foot-in-mouth moments, she realized she had a unique talent and passion for breaking down injustice in America in ways that could make people listen and engage.

In her first book, Ramsey uses her own experiences as an accidental activist to explore the many ways we communicate with each other—from the highs of bridging gaps and making connections to the many pitfalls that accompany talking about race, power, sexuality, and gender in an unpredictable public space…the internet.

WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY includes Ramsey’s advice on dealing with internet trolls and low-key racists, confessions about being a former online hater herself, and her personal hits and misses in activist debates with everyone from bigoted Facebook friends and misguided relatives to mainstream celebrities and YouTube influencers. With sharp humor and her trademark candor, Ramsey shows readers we can have tough conversations that move the dialogue forward, rather than backward, if we just approach them in the right way.


Click for more detail about Political Risk: How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity by Condoleezza Rice Political Risk: How Businesses and Organizations Can Anticipate Global Insecurity

by Condoleezza Rice
Twelve (May 01, 2018)
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From New York Times bestselling author and former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Stanford University professor Amy B. Zegart comes an examination of the rapidly evolving state of political risk, and how to navigate it.

The world is changing fast. Political risk-the probability that a political action could significantly impact a company’s business-is affecting more businesses in more ways than ever before. A generation ago, political risk mostly involved a handful of industries dealing with governments in a few frontier markets. Today, political risk stems from a widening array of actors, including Twitter users, local officials, activists, terrorists, hackers, and more. The very institutions and laws that were supposed to reduce business uncertainty and risk are often having the opposite effect. In today’s globalized world, there are no "safe" bets.

POLITICAL RISK investigates and analyzes this evolving landscape, what businesses can do to navigate it, and what all of us can learn about how to better understand and grapple with these rapidly changing global political dynamics. Drawing on lessons from the successes and failures of companies across multiple industries as well as examples from aircraft carrier operations, NASA missions, and other unusual places, POLITICAL RISK offers a first-of-its-kind framework that can be deployed in any organization, from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Organizations that take a serious, systematic approach to political risk management are likely to be surprised less often and recover better. Companies that don’t get these basics right are more likely to get blindsided.


Click for more detail about Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes Ghost Boys

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Apr 17, 2018)
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A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a police officer, drawing connections through history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes.

Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better.

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that’s been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing.

Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father’s actions.

Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today’s world, and how one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his own death.


Click for more detail about Love Is an Inside Job: Getting Vulnerable with God by Romal J. Tune Love Is an Inside Job: Getting Vulnerable with God

by Romal J. Tune
FaithWords (Apr 03, 2018)
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Faith in God plus therapy are the combination that leads to wholeness. Tune’s story of his faith/therapy path to authenticity with God will empower you for your own life journey.

Tune is the son of a drug-addicted single parent mother, who herself, inherited deeply ingrained obstacles to self-love. He found his way out of poverty via the military. He graduated from Howard University and Duke School of Divinity. He was a minister, a sought-after speaker, and social entrepreneur.

Outwardly, he was successful, an overcomer. Yet, his past, hidden childhood trauma would sometimes revolt, causing self-sabotage that threatened to destroy the life he was creating. He worked hard to keep the emotional brokenness caused by the challenges of his upbringing carefully hidden — especially from the church.

His mother, with whom he successfully reconciled after she was finally free from addiction, died of lung cancer. Then he divorced — a second time. Feeling like a failure, questioning his faith and will to live, he made a choice not to give up but to examine his life and seek counseling.

Dubbed “Brother Brown” (a Black man’s Brene Brown), his book shares his process of applying therapy and faith to anger, shame, self-doubt and plaguing memories. Romal learned that the pursuit of success was not the key to healing the inner turmoil but it was in learning to accept the love of God and learning to love the wounded child within. His past pain was redeemed as self-worth and he finally found inner peace. No longer carrying the weight of secrets, guilt and shame, he emerged emotionally free and more powerful than ever. His book will empower others to stop living a past driven present by healing their stories, embracing the love of God, and learning to truly love themselves.


Click for more detail about The Escape Artist by Brad Meltzer The Escape Artist

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 06, 2018)
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Nola Brown, the U.S. Army’s artist-in-residence—a painter and trained soldier—sees something nobody was supposed to see and earns a dangerous enemy in this novel as powerful as "a launched torpedo slashing through 400 pages of deep water before reaching impact…one of the best thrill rides ever" (David Baldacci).

Who is Nola Brown?

Nola is a mystery

Nola is trouble.

And Nola is supposed to be dead.

Her body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding officer verifies she’s dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim "Zig" Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And on the run.

Zig works at Dover Air Force Base, helping put to rest the bodies of those who die on top-secret missions. Nola was a childhood friend of Zig’s daughter and someone who once saved his daughter’s life. So when Zig realizes Nola is still alive, he’s determined to find her. Yet as Zig digs into Nola’s past, he learns that trouble follows Nola everywhere she goes.

Together, Nola and Zig will either reveal a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels of power or die trying to uncover the US Army’s most mysterious secret—a centuries-old conspiracy that traces back through history to the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini.

"Meltzer is a master and this is his best. Not since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo have you seen a character like this. Get ready to meet Nola. If you’ve never tried Meltzer, this is the one." — Harlan Coben


Click for more detail about The House of Broken Angels by Luís Alberto Urrea The House of Broken Angels

by Luís Alberto Urrea
Little, Brown and Company (Mar 06, 2018)
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The quintessential story of what it means to be the first generation to live two lives across one border, The House of Broken Angels is Pulitzer Prize finalist Luis Alberto Urrea’s unforgettable portrait of the De La Cruz family as they celebrate the lives of two of their most beloved members over the course of one raucous and bittersweet weekend.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death."
In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. Among the guests is Big Angel’s half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life.
Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighborhood, the revelers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home.
Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank.

"Epic … Rambunctious … Highly entertaining." —New York Times Book Review
"A raucous, moving, and necessary book … Intimate and touching … the stuff of legend." —San Francisco Chronicle
"Brilliant … Exceptional … The House of Broken Angels hums with joy." —NPR
"An immensely charming and moving tale." —Boston Globe
"A book about celebration that it, itself, a celebration." —Washington Post


Click for more detail about President of the Whole Sixth Grade: Girl Code (President Series) by Sherri Winston President of the Whole Sixth Grade: Girl Code (President Series)

by Sherri Winston
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Mar 06, 2018)
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Go-getter Brianna Justice is back and on assignment with her local newspaper in this third book in the popular President series!
When budding middle school journalist Brianna Justice learns that Yavonka Steele, rising star of the nightly news broadcast, is looking to mentor a student as part of a program at her school, she’s thrilled! That is until she’s paired instead with a "boring" reporter from the community news desk.
But when she’s asked to interview students from a girls’ coding program at Price Academy, an inner-city middle school, this suburban girl has no idea what to expect. Will Brianna learn to ignore stereotypes and embrace the world around her?
Sherri Winston crafts another winning story in the President series, full of humor, heart, and a deeper examination of stereotypes and how they can throw a wrench in middle school life.


Click for more detail about Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham Dreamland Burning

by Jennifer Latham
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Feb 20, 2018)
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A compelling dual-narrated tale from Jennifer Latham that questions how far we’ve come with race relations.

Some bodies won’t stay buried.

Some stories need to be told.

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family’s property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the present and the past.

Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what’s right the night Tulsa burns.

Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham’s lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important questions about the complex state of US race relations—both yesterday and today.


Click for more detail about Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley Down the River unto the Sea

by Walter Mosley
Mulholland Books (Feb 20, 2018)
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From trailblazing novelist Walter Mosley: a former NYPD cop once imprisoned for a crime he did not commit must solve two cases: that of a man wrongly condemned to die, and his own.

Joe King Oliver was one of the NYPD’s finest investigators, until, dispatched to arrest a well-heeled car thief, he is framed for assault by his enemies within the NYPD, a charge which lands him in solitary at Rikers Island.

A decade later, King is a private detective, running his agency with the help of his teenage daughter, Aja-Denise. Broken by the brutality he suffered and committed in equal measure while behind bars, his work and his daughter are the only light in his solitary life. When he receives a card in the mail from the woman who admits she was paid to frame him those years ago, King realizes that he has no choice but to take his own case: figuring out who on the force wanted him disposed of—and why.

Running in parallel with King’s own quest for justice is the case of a Black radical journalist accused of killing two on-duty police officers who had been abusing their badges to traffic in drugs and women within the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

Joined by Melquarth Frost, a brilliant sociopath, our hero must beat dirty cops and dirtier bankers, craven lawyers, and above all keep his daughter far from the underworld in which he works. All the while, two lives hang in the balance: King’s client’s, and King’s own.


Click for more detail about MARVEL’s Black Panther: The Junior Novel by Jim McCann MARVEL’s Black Panther: The Junior Novel

by Jim McCann
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jan 16, 2018)
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T’Challa, as the Black Panther and warrior King of Wakanda, must team up with elite members of the Dora Milaje—Wakanda’s special forces—and C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross to defend his kingdom in this epic junior novel based on the upcoming film Marvel’s Black Panther.
Features an 8-page color insert!
©2018 MARVEL.


Click for more detail about MARVEL’s Black Panther: Meet Black Panther by R. R. Busse MARVEL’s Black Panther: Meet Black Panther

by R. R. Busse
LB Kids (Jan 16, 2018)
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T’Challa, as the Black Panther and warrior King of Wakanda, must team up with elite members of the Dora Milaje—Wakanda’s special forces—and C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross to defend his kingdom in this epic leveled reader based on the upcoming film Marvel’s Black Panther.
Passport to Reading Level 2
©2018 MARVEL.


Click for more detail about MARVEL’s Black Panther: On the Prowl! by R. R. Busse MARVEL’s Black Panther: On the Prowl!

by R. R. Busse
LB Kids (Jan 16, 2018)
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T’Challa, as the Black Panther and warrior King of Wakanda, must team up with elite members of the Dora Milaje—Wakanda’s special forces—and C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross to defend his kingdom in this epic storybook based on the upcoming film Marvel’s Black Panther.
©2018 MARVEL.


Click for more detail about The Spice Diet: Use Powerhouse Flavor to Fight Cravings and Win the Weight-Loss Battle by Judson Todd Allen The Spice Diet: Use Powerhouse Flavor to Fight Cravings and Win the Weight-Loss Battle

by Judson Todd Allen
Grand Central Life & Style (Jan 16, 2018)
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Celebrity chef Judson Todd Allen presents the diet that helped him lose 160 pounds, featuring 60 guilt-free recipes packed with powerhouse flavor created especially for THE SPICE DIET.

When Steve Harvey wanted to get camera-ready before his hit television show launched, he turned to Chef Judson Todd Allen to help him. While enjoying the flavorful food Chef Judson prepared, Steve Harvey lost 30 pounds and has kept them off. Chef Judson’s diet plan is heaven for food lovers. Using the principles of food science, he offers a way to eat that feels indulgent as it satisfies food cravings and reduces appetite. His program will not only help readers break their addiction to unhealthy foods without feeling deprived but will also inspire them to get into the kitchen to prepare irresistable, healthy meals. THE SPICE DIET provides a full weight-loss program that includes meal plans, creative spice blends, easy-to-prepare recipes, and a heaping helping of motivation.


Click for more detail about A Child’s Introduction to African American History: The Experiences, People, and Events That Shaped Our Country by Jabari Asim A Child’s Introduction to African American History: The Experiences, People, and Events That Shaped Our Country

by Jabari Asim
Black Dog & Leventhal (Jan 02, 2018)
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Jabari Asim goes beyond what’s taught in the classroom and tells a fact-filled history of African Americans through politics, activism, sports, entertainment, music, and much more. You’ll follow the road to freedom beginning with the slave trade and the middle passage through the abolitionist movement and the Civil War where many African Americans fought as soldiers. You’ll learn how slave songs often contained hidden messages and how a 15-year-old Jamaican-born young man named Clive Campbell helped to create hip-hop in the early 1970’s.
You’ll experience the passionate speeches, marches, and movements of the Civil Rights era along with and the sacrifices of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and many others.
Along the way there are dozens of profiles of political trailblazers like Shirley Chisholm, the first black women elected to Congress in 1968; dominants athletes like Tiger Woods who, in 1995, was only the second African American to play in a Master’s Golf Tournament which he went on to win in 1997; popular musicians like Miles Davis, one the most influential artists of the twentieth century; and inspiring writers like Toni Morrison, the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in literature.
Filled with beautiful illustrations that bring these figures and events to life, plus a removable historical timeline, A Child’s Introduction to African American History is a fascinating and comprehensive guide to this often overlooked yet immensely important part of American history.


Click for more detail about Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History

by Vashti Harrison
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Dec 05, 2017)
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This beautifully illustrated book introduces reader of all ages to 40 women who changed the world.
Featuring forty trailblazing black women in American history, Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of breaking boundaries and achieving beyond expectations. Illuminating text paired with irresistible illustrations bring to life both iconic and lesser-known female figures of Black history such as abolitionist Sojourner Truth, pilot Bessie Coleman, chemist Alice Ball, politician Shirley Chisholm, mathematician Katherine Johnson, poet Maya Angelou, and filmmaker Julie Dash.



Among these biographies, readers will find heroes, role models, and everyday women who did extraordinary things - bold women whose actions and beliefs contributed to making the world better for generations of girls and women to come. Whether they were putting pen to paper, soaring through the air or speaking up for the rights of others, the women profiled in these pages were all taking a stand against a world that didn’t always accept them.



The leaders in this book may be little, but they all did something big and amazing, inspiring generations to come.


Click for more detail about Soar! Study Guide: Build Your Vision from the Ground Up by T. D. Jakes Soar! Study Guide: Build Your Vision from the Ground Up

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (Nov 28, 2017)
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A personal growth tool comprised of reflections, journaling exercises, and other interactive applications that expand on SOAR! drawing from its core themes and principles.

In this interactive study guide, New York Times bestselling author and beloved pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes helps aspiring entrepreneurs to transform their latent dreams into reality. Here are the practical, step by step tools, needed to ignite imagination into action—the perfect flight plan for launching the entrepreneurial drive inside each of us.

Each of the chapters correspond with the chapters of Jakes’ SOAR! expanding on its core themes and offering new strategies to encourage and equip readers in their entrepreneurial pursuits.


Click for more detail about Blessed Life: My Surprising Journey of Joy, Tears, and Tales from Harlem to Hollywood by Kim Fields Blessed Life: My Surprising Journey of Joy, Tears, and Tales from Harlem to Hollywood

by Kim Fields
FaithWords (Nov 14, 2017)
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From "Facts of Life" to "Living Single" to "Dancing with the Stars" to wife and mom, here’s the BLESSED LIFE of Kim Fields, veteran actress, TV personality, and star.

Kim Fields has lived most of her life with people thinking they know her, which is understandable. From her first job on a Mrs. Butterworth syrup commercial at age 7, she has spent 40 years in the public eye. There were 9 years as Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey on the classic sitcom The Facts of Life, 5 more in her 20s starring as Regine Hunter on the seminal coming-of-age show Living Single, and most recently appearing as herself on Real Housewives of Atlanta and Dancing with the Stars.

Behind the camera, she has directed episodes of Kenan & Kel, Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns and House of Payne, and BET’s Let’s Stay Together. Between gigs, the pop culture icon’s life has included theater, spoken word, music, speaking engagements, and simply being present to the point that she cannot go a day without someone stopping her to say, "When I was a kid, I wanted to be Tootie" or "You were my role model."

Flattered and blessed, after four decades in the business, Kim finally understands the role she has played onscreen and off as a successful, outspoken African-American woman. However, for as much as she’s been in the public eye, people have really never known her the way they think they have, and that’s because she, herself, spent most of her life figuring herself out. Now, at age 48, she is ready to set the record straight. She says, "It’s not that I’ve been misunderstood. It’s that I finally feel like I understand me enough to tell the life story that I’ve been asked to write for years." It will be a chronicle of living, learning, and keen moments of self-discovery as she’s journeyed through the many facets and chapters of life. Fields found faith at age 14 and has found God to be right there every step of the way since then.


Click for more detail about Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court

by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 07, 2017)
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In his first memoir written especially for young readers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will focus on his relationships with several important coaches in his life - including his father, his high-school coach and Coach Wooden - as he tells the story of his life and career.

Like many kids in elementary school, Kareem (then Lew Alcindor) struggled with fitting in, pleasing a strict father, and severe shyness that made him socially awkward. Unlike most kids, he also had to grapple with a sudden growth spurt that shot him up taller than pretty much everyone around him, including students, teachers, and even his own father. His increasing fame as a basketball player throughout high school brought new challenges as this shy boy was shoved into the national spotlight. At the same time, social unrest in the country, particularly involving the growing civil rights movement, tugged at his conscience as he tried to find his place in it. After all, he was just a kid. What could he do?

Recruited to UCLA, his fame as an unstoppable center made him a college superstar. But as his fame rose, so did the social turmoil in the country: Vietnam War protests, Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., large-scale riots, the Women’s Movement. He could have hidden from all the turmoil as a sports celebrity, but he chose to join in the social evolution. The result was converting to Islam and changing his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The public backlash was blistering, but he didn’t waver.


Click for more detail about Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House by Donna L. Brazile Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House

by Donna L. Brazile
Hachette (Nov 07, 2017)
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"This book is a triumph."—Walter Isaacson

From Donna Brazile, former DNC chair and legendary political operative, an explosive and revealing new look at the 2016 election: the first insider account of the Russian hacking of the DNC and the missteps by the Clinton campaign and Obama administration that enabled a Trump victory.

In the fallout of the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee—and as chaos threatened to consume the party’s convention—Democrats turned to a familiar figure to right the ship: Donna Brazile. Known to millions from her frequent TV appearances, she was no stranger to high stakes and dirty opponents, and the longtime Democratic strategist had a reputation in Washington as a one-stop shop for fixing sticky problems.

What Brazile found at the DNC was unlike anything she had experienced before—and much worse than is commonly known. The party was beset by infighting, scandal, and hubris, while reeling from a brazen and wholly unprecedented attempt by a foreign power to influence the presidential election. Plus, its candidate, Hillary Clinton, faced an opponent who broke every rule in the political playbook.

Packed with never-before-reported revelations about what went down in 2016, Hacks is equal parts campaign thriller, memoir, and roadmap for the future. With Democrats now in the wilderness after this historic defeat, Hacks argues that staying silent about what went wrong helps no one. Only by laying bare the missteps, miscalculations, and crimes of 2016, Brazile contends, will Americans be able to salvage their democracy.


Click for more detail about Faces of Praise!: Photos and Gospel Inspirations to Encourage and Uplift by Carol Mackey Faces of Praise!: Photos and Gospel Inspirations to Encourage and Uplift

by Carol Mackey
FaithWords (Oct 17, 2017)
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Photography by B. Jeffrey Grant-Clark

This full-color photo gift book that turns chart-topping contemporary gospel music into Bible-based devotions is a three-way blessing for readers: a perfect companion to favorite gospel recordings, an encouraging daily devotional and a unique photo collection.

Here are never-before-seen four-color images of the top 60 contemporary gospel artists taken on stage, as they led worship concerts. B. Jeffrey Grant-Clark met with, worked alongside, and photographed all these gospel icons— Donnie McClurkin, CeCe Winans, Kirk Franklin, the award winning duo Mary Mary and many more—during his decades-long music career. He joins author Carol M. Mackey to create FACES OF PRAISE! which pairs these gospel artists and their most popular, uplifting songs with applicable scripture, inspirational text and prayers. Each image shows the artists as they worship, revealing their passion for God and inspiring hope, joy, and endurance in readers Beautifully designed, FACES OF PRAISE! is a perfect companion to gospel recordings, an encouraging devotional and a unique photo collection.


Artists included:

Yolanda Adams Shari Addison Crystal Aikin Rance Allen Vanessa Bell Armstrong Amber Bullock Kim Burrell Jonathan Butler Myron Butler Shirley Caesar Byron Cage Erica Campbell Kurt Carr Jacky Clark-ChisolmDorinda Clark-Cole Karen Clark-Sheard Tasha Cobbs Y’Anna Crawley Andrae Crouch Kirk Franklin Travis Greene Deitrick Haddon JJ Hairston Fred Hammond Tramaine Hawkins Israel Houghton Keith "Wonder Boy" Johnson Le’Andria Johnson Canton Jones John P. KeeDeon Kipping Mary Mary Donnie McClurkin William McDowell Vashawn Mitchell J. Moss William Murphy Jason Nelson Charisse Nelson-McIntosh Smokie Norful Kelly Price Hart RamseyJoann Rosario Marvin Sapp Kierra Sheard Richard Smallwood Micah StampleyKathy Taylor Ton’ex Tye Tribbett Trin-i-tee 5:7 Uncle Reece Hezekiah Walker The Walls Group Melvin Williams Michelle Williams BeBe Winans Cece Winans Marvin Winans Vickie Winans


Click for more detail about Unseen: Unpublished Black History from the New York Times Photo Archives by Dana Canedy, Darcy Eveleigh, Damien Cave, and Rachel L. Swarns Unseen: Unpublished Black History from the New York Times Photo Archives

by Dana Canedy, Darcy Eveleigh, Damien Cave, and Rachel L. Swarns
Black Dog & Leventhal (Oct 17, 2017)
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Hundreds of stunning images from black history have long been buried in The New York Times archives. None of them were published by The Times—until now. UNSEEN uncovers these never-before published photographs and tells the stories behind them.

It all started with Times photo editor Darcy Eveleigh discovering dozens of these photographs. She and three colleagues, Dana Canedy, Damien Cave and Rachel L. Swarns, began exploring the history behind them, and subsequently chronicling them in a series entitled Unpublished Black History, that ran in print and online editions of The Times in February 2016. It garnered 1.7 million views on The Times website and thousands of comments from readers. This book includes those photographs and many more, among them: a 27-year-old Jesse Jackson leading an anti-discrimination rally of in Chicago, Rosa Parks arriving at a Montgomery Courthouse in Alabama a candid behind-the-scenes shot of Aretha Franklin backstage at the Apollo Theater, Ralph Ellison on the streets of his Manhattan neighborhood, the firebombed home of Malcolm X, Myrlie Evans and her children at the funeral of her slain husband , Medgar, a wheelchair-bound Roy Campanella at the razing of Ebbets Field.

Were the photos—or the people in them—not deemed newsworthy enough? Did the images not arrive in time for publication? Were they pushed aside by words at an institution long known as the Gray Lady? Eveleigh, Canedy, Cave, and Swarms explore all these questions and more in this one-of-a-kind book.

UNSEEN dives deep into The Times photo archives—known as the Morgue—to showcase this extraordinary collection of photographs and the stories behind them.


Click for more detail about A Second Wind: Time to Own Your Future by T. D. Jakes A Second Wind: Time to Own Your Future

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (Oct 10, 2017)
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#1 New York Times bestselling author T.D. Jakes challenges the faithful to be more effective in earning their livelihoods by providing a diverse range of strategies that will turn their work life into an abundant life.

While focusing on his core mission to preach the gospel worldwide, T.D. Jakes has seen many good people not spend enough quality time with family, friends, and God. They have gotten so swept up in the daily grind that they have failed to live the rich life that God desires for each of His people.

In his new book, Jakes provides readers with strategies that will help them rejuvenate their life and turn their "busyness" into a "business." All readers-not just entrepreneurs-will benefit from Jakes’ insightful advice so that they can use the days God has blessed them with wisely and finish each day strong!


Click for more detail about Chuck D Presents This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History by Chuck D Chuck D Presents This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History

by Chuck D
Black Dog & Leventhal (Oct 10, 2017)
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A one-of-a-kind survey of rap and hip hop history from 1973 to today by Chuck D, arguably the most influential rapper in the world.

In the more than 40 years since the days of DJ Kool Herc and “Rapper’s Delight,” hip hop and rap have become a billion-dollar worldwide phenomenon. Yet there is no definitive history of the genre—until now.

Based on Chuck’s long-running show on Rapstation.com, this massive compendium details the most iconic moments and influential songs in the genre’s recorded history, from Kurtis Blow’s “Christmas Rappin’” to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill to Kendrick Lamar’s ground-breaking verse on “Control.” Also included are key events in hip hop history, from Grandmaster Flash’s first scratch through Tupac’s holographic appearance at Coachella.

Throughout, Chuck offers his insider’s perspective on the chart toppers and show stoppers as he lived it. Illustrating the pages are more than 100 portraits from the talented artists specializing in hip hop.


Click for more detail about The Crooked Christmas Tree: The Beautiful Meaning of Jesus’ Birth by Damian Chandler The Crooked Christmas Tree: The Beautiful Meaning of Jesus’ Birth

by Damian Chandler
FaithWords (Oct 03, 2017)
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In this real-life Christmas fable, when a Dad decides to let his kids select the family Christmas tree, he gets an unexpected lesson about God’s love.
In this thoroughly contemporary holiday story, a father lets his children choose the family Christmas tree. To his surprise, the kids pick one that is crooked. As he tries one thing after another to make the tree look right, he rediscovers the power of God’s love. He begins to understand Christmas in a new way, particularly when his family decorates their tree and crown it with a star, never even noticing the crookedness he spent hours in the garage struggling to hide. The tender and laugh-out-loud narrative of real-life relationships propels the reader through the most un-generic Christmas story. This upbeat and comedic treasure refreshes the Christmas message of love and faith.


Click for more detail about Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke Bluebird, Bluebird

by Attica Locke
Mulholland Books (Sep 12, 2017)
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A powerful thriller about the explosive intersection of love, race, and justice from a writer and producer of the Emmy winning Fox TV show Empire.

When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules—a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home.

When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders—a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman—have stirred up a hornet’s nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes—and save himself in the process—before Lark’s long-simmering racial fault lines erupt. A rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas, Bluebird, Bluebird is an exhilarating, timely novel about the collision of race and justice in America.


Click for more detail about The Family Lawyer by James Patterson, Robert Rotstein, Christopher Charles, and Rachel Howzell Hall The Family Lawyer

by James Patterson, Robert Rotstein, Christopher Charles, and Rachel Howzell Hall
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 05, 2017)
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Experience the stories of a criminal defense attorney investigating a bullying accusation, the NYPD’s most brilliant detective facing her darkest fears to prevent a string of crimes, and a woman investigating a murder-all in one collection!
The Family Lawyer with Robert Rotstein: Matthew Hovanes is living a parent’s worst nightmare: his young daughter is accused of bullying another girl into suicide. But this loving father is also a skilled criminal defense attorney. And something here doesn’t add up …
Night Sniper with Christopher Charles: Cheryl Mabern is the NYPD’s most brilliant and troubled detective. Now she must confront her darkest fears to stop a calculating killer committing random murders.
The Good Sister with Rachel Howzell Hall: Her beloved sister’s cheating husband has been found dead. Now, Dani Lawrence must decide if she will help the investigation that could put her sister away … or obstruct it by any means necessary.


Click for more detail about Across That Bridge by John Lewis Across That Bridge

by John Lewis
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 15, 2017)
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"The most important lesson I have learned in the fifty years I have spent working toward the building of a better world is that the true work of social transformation starts within. It begins inside your own heart and mind, because the battleground of human transformation is really, more than any other thing, the struggle within the human consciousness to believe and accept what is true. Thus to truly revolutionize our society, we must first revolutionize ourselves. We must be the change we seek if we are to effectively demand transformation from others." - John Lewis

Although it has been decades since the historic social upheavals of the 1960s, Americans continue to look to the Civil Rights Movement as the apotheosis of political expression. With an engaged electorate once again confronting questions of social inequality, there’s no better time to revisit the lessons of the ’60s and no better leader to learn from than Congressman John Lewis. In Across That Bridge, Congressman Lewis draws from his experience as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement to offer timeless guidance to anyone seeking to live virtuously and transform the world. His wisdom, poignant recollections, and powerful ideas will inspire a new generation to usher in a freer, more peaceful society. The Civil Rights Movement gave rise to the protest culture we know today, and the experiences of leaders like Congressman Lewis have never been more relevant. Now, more than ever, this nation needs a strong and moral voice to guide an engaged population through visionary change.


Click for more detail about Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert Little & Lion

by Brandy Colbert
Little, Brown and Company (Aug 08, 2017)
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A Stonewall Book Award Winner!

"Little and Lion is beautifully insightful, honest, and compassionate. Brandy’s ability to find larger meaning in small moments is nothing short of dazzling."-Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything

A stunning novel on love, identity, loss, and redemption.

When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she’s isn’t sure if she’ll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (as well as her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.

But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new…the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel’s disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself—or worse.


Click for more detail about Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop (Revised) by Adam Bradley Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop (Revised)

by Adam Bradley
Civitas Book Publisher (Jun 27, 2017)
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So many books have been written about hip hop’s history—that time and that magic—but if you don’t get it from reading Book of Rhymes, then you’re just not going to get it."—Schoolly D

If asked to list the greatest innovators of modern American poetry, few of us would think to include Jay-Z or Eminem in their number. And yet hip hop is the source of some of the most exciting developments in verse today. The media uproar in response to its controversial lyrical content has obscured hip hop’s revolution of poetic craft and experience: Only in rap music can the beat of a song render poetic meter audible, allowing an MC’s wordplay to move a club-full of eager listeners.

Examining rap history’s most memorable lyricists and their inimitable techniques, literary scholar Adam Bradley argues that we must understand rap as poetry or miss the vanguard of poetry today. Book of Rhymes explores America’s least understood poets, unpacking their surprisingly complex craft, and according rap poetry the respect it deserves.


Click for more detail about Sin of a Woman (Reverend Curtis Black #14) by Kimberla Lawson Roby Sin of a Woman (Reverend Curtis Black #14)

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 20, 2017)
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Kimberla Lawson Roby’s Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books

Roby’s 26th novel and the 14th book in the AALBC.com bestselling Curtis Black series

Raven Black is bouncing back after her very public divorce from Dillon. He’s done everything he can to discredit her, but she’s learned from her mistakes and him. In fact, she’s become her ex-husband in more ways than one and is slowly but surely leading those connected to her down a terrible path of destruction. Playing with the lives of innocent people has dire consequences, the kind that Raven won’t see coming.


Click for more detail about Remember the Ladies: Celebrating Those Who Fought for Freedom at the Ballot Box by Angela P. Dodson Remember the Ladies: Celebrating Those Who Fought for Freedom at the Ballot Box

by Angela P. Dodson
Center Street (May 23, 2017)
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While Hillary Rodham Clinton’s defeat in her run for the presidency may be a setback in the march toward breaking the ultimate glass ceiling, her candidacy—and her victory in the popular vote—can be celebrated as an historic milestone coming less than one hundred years after American women first got that vote. Indeed, 2017 marks the centenary of the turning point in the long struggle that led to the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment granting U.S. women suffrage. In her comprehensive survey of the cause, REMEMBER THE LADIES: Celebrating Those Who Fought for Freedom at the Ballot Box (Center Street; May 23, 2017; $26.00), journalist Angela P. Dodson documents one of the longest, most hard-won struggles for civil rights in our country’s history.

“As a woman who went to school from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, grade school to grad school, I knew little of the suffrage movement and the women behind it,” Dodson writes. “Women received almost no mention in our history books, and women’s studies courses were not in our college catalogs. Even as a feminist, voracious reader, and often reviewer of books in general and history in particular, I had rarely stumbled upon books about women’s roles and contributions. When I embarked on the project to write this book, I was inspired by the upcoming centennial anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment—known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment—which gave all women the right to vote. I had no idea how little I knew about Anthony and the other women of the movement, and I suspect that I am not alone.”

Dodson’s rich narrative spans our country’s history, from even before Abigail Adams urged her husband John to “remember the ladies” as the Founding Fathers declared independence and shaped the new nation. The centerpiece of the story is the seventy-year struggle that began before the Civil War and culminated in the Nineteenth Amendment. Dodson traces how the women’s suffrage movement grew out of the mounting efforts to abolish slavery. With a core belief in equality and human rights, inspired by Quaker teachings, women such as Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony led the struggle and spread the message through a series of conventions before the Civil War. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Anthony emerged as the primary leaders of the woman suffrage movement after the war. The book offers textured portraits of these and dozens of other women who were on the front lines of the fight for women’s rights.

REMEMBER THE LADIES explores the many obstacles encountered on the rough road to suffrage, and also places the movement in the context of the other social and political upheavals unfolding during the decades. Dodson recounts how women hoped in vain that their considerable contributions to the war efforts during the Civil War and World War I would gain them the support they needed to win the vote. She looks at schisms within the movement that sometimes set back the cause, including the ideological conflict that arose between abolitionist and women’s rights faction when black men who had been slaves gained the right to vote but women, both white and black, did not. Resentment only grew when a wave of uneducated immigrant men had the right to vote as naturalized citizens while educated native-born women did not. A new approach, shifting the efforts to gain the vote to a federal rather than merely at the state level would be a key development.

With women securing the vote almost a hundred years ago, Dodson notes that women now exercise their rights at the polling place in larger numbers than men, making them a dominant force in American politics. But, she also points out that the once-held belief that women would form a united voting bloc has proven false (a majority of white women, for instance, voted for Donald Trump, while black women and Latinas overwhelming supported Clinton). “It turns out they have divergent interests and ideologies just like men.” Dodson writes. “Women have proved, however, that they wanted the vote and were willing to use it, and women have had many victories in politics.”

An invaluable resource, REMEMBER THE LADIES is lavishly illustrated with photos, line art, posters, ads, political buttons, and press clippings that capture the history of the suffrage movement. A series of appendices document women’s ongoing political engagement and achievements in the United States.


Click for more detail about Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court

by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Grand Central Publishing (May 16, 2017)
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explores his 50-year friendship with Coach John Wooden, one of the most enduring and meaningful relationships in sports history.
In 1965, 18-year old Lew Alcindor played basketball for Coach John Wooden at UCLA. It was the beginning of what was to become a 50-year long relationship. On the court, they broke basketball records. Off the court, they transcended their athletic achievements to gain even wider recognition and tremendous national respect.
Part memoir, and part inspirational, Abdul-Jabbar reveals the lessons Coach Wooden taught him through the "Pyramid of Success" and discusses how they in turn shaped his life. Through beautiful storytelling, COACH WOODEN AND ME takes you back to the basics of what a coach should be.


Click for more detail about The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God by Vashti McKenzie The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God

by Vashti McKenzie
FaithWords (May 16, 2017)
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THE BIG DEAL… shows how to develop a stronger relationship with God and more effective spiritual lifestyle by taking small steps that lead to big changes.
Been running for Jesus a long time
(I’m not tired yet)

Been singing for Jesus a long time
(I’m not tired yet)

Been running by day and praying by night
(I’m not tired yet)

I’ve gotta get going, it’s a mighty hard fight
(No…I’m not tired yet)

I’ve been serving God a long time
(I’m not tired yet)

I’ve been living for God a long time
(I’m not tired yet)

I’ve been praying to the Lord a long time
(I’m not tired yet)
It’s an uphill journey but all I’ve got to say is
(I’m not tired yet)

The old spiritual song lifts you, but you are tired. Or maybe you’re bored. You’re still going to church. You’re still praying. You’re still serving. You’re still giving. Deep within you, faith remains. But you feel a longing.

You’re not seeking fireworks. You’re not a pew-sitter, safe in some spiritual comfort zone, looking for a thrill from the Lord. Your trust in God is secure. But you feel a longing for something more, deeper, fresher.

If you’ve ignored these innermost feelings thinking they’re no big deal, this basic yet dynamic program that Bishop Vashti McKenzie has implemented in more than two hundred churches with astounding results is for you. Individuals who have had many years of Christian life discovered a renewed sense of calling and purpose. Even new believers were invigorated in their faith-building process.

Bishop McKenzie prescribes very small changes-such as adding a mere thirty seconds of prayer daily-that lead to radical closeness to God. And building an enjoyable, meaningful relationship with the Almighty doesn’t mean striving for perfection. Small steps-but meaningful steps-collectively evolve into intimacy with God. And the big deal result is greater ability to biblically address life challenges. The big deal is that you’re even more available to serve family, church, and community: truly in "no ways tired." Increasing spirituality is incremental, not monumental. Mustard-seed-like increases in positive actions (and corresponding decreases in negative ones) yield mountain-moving growth!


Click for more detail about The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Jerry Pinkney The Three Billy Goats Gruff

by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 09, 2017)
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A classic read-aloud favorite addressing bullying retold by acclaimed artist Jerry Pinkney.

Jerry Pinkney puts his indelible stamp on another beloved folktale in the same vein as the Caldecott Medal-winning The Lion & the Mouse and the highly acclaimed The Tortoise & the Hare and The Grasshopper & the Ants.

When the three billy goats Gruff are hungry, they see bountiful grass to eat across an old bridge. But the bridge is home to a terrible troll, who is peckish himself, and looking for a tasty morsel to gobble up. In his interpretation of the timeless tale, Jerry Pinkney shows there’s little good to come from greed—but in the end, redemption for even the most trollish bully is possible. A dramatic gatefold heightens the climax of this brilliant rendition.


Click for more detail about Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom by Condoleezza Rice Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom

by Condoleezza Rice
Twelve (May 09, 2017)
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From the former secretary of state and bestselling author — a sweeping look at the global struggle for democracy and why America must continue to support the cause of human freedom.

"This heartfelt and at times very moving book shows why democracy proponents are so committed to their work…Both supporters and skeptics of democracy promotion will come away from this book wiser and better informed." —The New York Times
From the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union to the ongoing struggle for human rights in the Middle East, Condoleezza Rice has served on the front lines of history. As a child, she was an eyewitness to a third awakening of freedom, when her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, became the epicenter of the civil rights movement for black Americans.

In this book, Rice explains what these epochal events teach us about democracy. At a time when people around the world are wondering whether democracy is in decline, Rice shares insights from her experiences as a policymaker, scholar, and citizen, in order to put democracy’s challenges into perspective.

When the United States was founded, it was the only attempt at self-government in the world. Today more than half of all countries qualify as democracies, and in the long run that number will continue to grow. Yet nothing worthwhile ever comes easily. Using America’s long struggle as a template, Rice draws lessons for democracy around the world — from Russia, Poland, and Ukraine, to Kenya, Colombia, and the Middle East. She finds that no transitions to democracy are the same because every country starts in a different place. Pathways diverge and sometimes circle backward. Time frames for success vary dramatically, and countries often suffer false starts before getting it right. But, Rice argues, that does not mean they should not try. While the ideal conditions for democracy are well known in academia, they never exist in the real world. The question is not how to create perfect circumstances but how to move forward under difficult ones.

These same insights apply in overcoming the challenges faced by governments today. The pursuit of democracy is a continuing struggle shared by people around the world, whether they are opposing authoritarian regimes, establishing new democratic institutions, or reforming mature democracies to better live up to their ideals. The work of securing it is never finished.


Click for more detail about Desserts LaBelle: Soulful Sweets to Sing About by Patti Labelle Desserts LaBelle: Soulful Sweets to Sing About

by Patti Labelle
Grand Central Life & Style (Apr 25, 2017)
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Superstar singer, bestselling cookbook author, and cooking show host Patti LaBelle shares her favorite dessert recipes and kitchen memories.

Her New York Times bestseller LaBelle Cuisine: Recipes to Sing About, which sold more than 300,000 copies, established her as a cooking star. Today, Patti’s baking skills have the country buzzing. In Fall 2015, a fan’s YouTube review of her sweet potato pie became a viral sensation, with over 20 million views. In just one weekend, her pies were completely sold out at Wal-Mart stores across the country.

Now, for the first time, fans of Patti’s pie can make their own, as well as other amazing sweets! Filled with her favorite recipes for pies, cakes, cookies, and puddings, as well as a chapter on diabetic-friendly recipes, moving personal stories from her career and life, this is the most personal cookbook LaBelle has written. Every fan of soul and sweets will want to own it.


Click for more detail about I Am Number 8: Overlooked and Undervalued, but Not Forgotten by God by John Gray I Am Number 8: Overlooked and Undervalued, but Not Forgotten by God

by John Gray
FaithWords (Apr 18, 2017)
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If God can take David—the invisible eighth son of a forgotten family—and turn him into a king, just imagine what magnificent plans He has for redeeming your life.David was born a number 8—a hidden gem, often overlooked and undervalued by everyone except for God. For David, being a number 8 seemed like a curse until the day God transformed him from the unknown eighth son of Jesse into the much-honored king of Israel. When God sends out an invitation to greatness, His directions don’t always make sense to us. You may feel like the most invisible, broken number 8 out there, but God sees your hidden value and is growing you for better things. David didn’t know it, but his time as a simple shepherd with a dull future did not go unnoticed by God. In David’s darkest moments, he was cultivating the kind of gifts, wisdom, and leadership he would need to become a king. Even when you’re an underdog in the eyes of the world, God is working behind the scenes to develop you into a king or queen.


Click for more detail about All Day: A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island by Liza Jessie Peterson All Day: A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island

by Liza Jessie Peterson
Center Street (Apr 18, 2017)
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ALL DAY is a behind-the-bars, personal glimpse into the issue of mass incarceration via an unpredictable, insightful and ultimately hopeful reflection on teaching teens while they await sentencing.

Told with equal parts raw honesty and unbridled compassion, ALL DAY recounts a year in Liza Jessie Peterson’s classroom at Island Academy, the high school for inmates detained at New York City’s Rikers Island. A poet and actress who had done occasional workshops at the correctional facility, Peterson was ill-prepared for a full-time stint teaching in the GED program for the incarcerated youths. For the first time faced with full days teaching the rambunctious, hyper, and fragile adolescent inmates, "Ms. P" comes to understand the essence of her predominantly Black and Latino students as she attempts not only to educate them, but to instill them with a sense of self-worth long stripped from their lives.
"I have quite a spirited group of drama kings, court jesters, flyboy gangsters, tricksters, and wannabe pimps all in my charge, all up in my face, to educate," Peterson discovers. "Corralling this motley crew of bad-news bears to do any lesson is like running boot camp for hyperactive gremlins. I have to be consistent, alert, firm, witty, fearless, and demanding, and most important, I have to have strong command of the subject I’m teaching." Discipline is always a challenge, with the students spouting street-infused backtalk and often bouncing off the walls with pent-up testosterone. Peterson learns quickly that she must keep the upper hand-set the rules and enforce them with rigor, even when her sympathetic heart starts to waver.
Despite their relentless bravura and antics-and in part because of it-Peterson becomes a fierce advocate for her students. She works to instill the young men, mostly black, with a sense of pride about their history and culture: from their African roots to Langston Hughes and Malcolm X. She encourages them to explore and express their true feelings by writing their own poems and essays. When the boys push her buttons (on an almost daily basis) she pushes back, demanding that they meet not only her expectations or the standards of the curriculum, but set expectations for themselves-something most of them have never before been asked to do. She witnesses some amazing successes as some of the boys come into their own under her tutelage.
Peterson vividly captures the prison milieu and the exuberance of the kids who have been handed a raw deal by society and have become lost within the system. Her time in the classroom teaches her something, too-that these boys want to be rescued. They want normalcy and love and opportunity.


Click for more detail about The Engagement Game: Why I Said “I Don’t” to Marriage and “I Do” to Me by Joi-Marie McKenzie The Engagement Game: Why I Said “I Don’t” to Marriage and “I Do” to Me

by Joi-Marie McKenzie
Center Street (Mar 21, 2017)
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Joi-Marie almost has it all; a thriving career, a supportive family, great friends, and an apartment in Manhattan. What she doesn’t have is a husband.

Ambitious, confident, and successful, Joi-Marie believes she has it all figured out. At 28 years old, she has an enviable job as a producer, covering entertainment in New York City. Her close-knit family is loving and encouraging, and her boyfriend, Adam, is as close to perfect as you can get — except for the fact that he won’t propose.

Like most women, Joi-Marie has a checklist of what the perfect life looks like. She has the career, the friends, the apartment, and the lifestyle she has always wanted. But, when the husband she wants doesn’t fall into place, she decides to play the game—the engagement game—in order to get Adam to drop down on one knee.

After receiving a laundry list of advice on how to secure a proposal—even researching how to cook “engagement chicken”— Joi-Marie realizes that, in the process of trying to attain her perfect life, she has slowly become a person she doesn’t recognize. With this discovery, she must make a decision: pretend to be someone she’s not in order to have the life she envisioned…or have the courage to be herself and find her happily ever after in a way she never expected.


Click for more detail about Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You by Misty Copeland Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You

by Misty Copeland
Grand Central Life & Style (Mar 21, 2017)
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The celebrated ballerina and role model, Misty Copeland, shares the secrets of how to reshape your body and achieve a lean, strong physique and glowing health.

Misty Copeland believes:

“There has been a shift in recent years in which women no longer desire the bare bones of a runway model. Standards have changed: what women do want is a long, toned, powerful body with excellent posture.”

In other words, the body of a ballerina. In her first health and fitness book, Misty will show women how to find the motivation to get healthier and stronger, and how to reshape their bodies to be lean and flexible, with step-by-step advice, meal plans, workout routines, and words of inspiration. Celebrating the importance of healthy fats and a fitness regimen based on ballet exercises, Misty shares her own time-tested exercises and an eating plan focusing on healthy fats, both of which keep her in top shape. Tips for motivation and words of encouragement as well as tips on how to keep going even when you may want to give up. An inspiring section on the importance of finding mentors, and eventually being one, plus excerpts from Misty’s personal journal, round out this important book on grace and strength.


Click for more detail about Micro-Resilience: Minor Shifts for Major Boosts in Focus, Drive, and Energy by Bonnie St. John Micro-Resilience: Minor Shifts for Major Boosts in Focus, Drive, and Energy

by Bonnie St. John
Center Street (Feb 07, 2017)
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Learn powerful, science-based techniques to boost focus, drive and energy hour-by-hour throughout the dayevery day.

As leadership consultants and executive trainers, Bonnie St. John and Allen P. Haines have heard the same complaints from clients for years; periodic burnout, lack of focus and low energy. So they dug into the latest research on neuroscience, psychology and physiology looking for big answers. Instead they found small answers; proof that small adjustments in daily routines, including thought patterns, food and drink, rest and movement can fight the forces that sap our energy and store focus and drive. They call these amazing efficient restorative techniques "micro-resilience." Thousands of men and women from all walks of life have already found effortless ways to incorporate these little changes into the busiest of schedules. Dozens of entertaining anecdotes from real people using micro-resilience demonstrate that when our brains fire faster, our energy increases and we can cope with almost any surprise, pressure or crisis.


Click for more detail about Copycat by Kimberla Lawson Roby Copycat

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 31, 2017)
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From the AALBC.com and New York Times bestselling author who “writes with high-octane levels of emotion”

Befriending Traci Calloway Cole is the best thing Simone Phillips has ever done. Traci is the kind of woman Simone wants to be-in every way possible. She begins copying her role model. Not because she wants to be Traci. She just wants to be exactly like Traci.

Traci doesn’t worry, though. She knows Simone doesn’t mean any harm and that her mimicry is only sincere admiration. Until she discovers how far Simone’s obsession has gone.

It is then that Simone’s entire world begins unraveling, and dreadful secrets from her past are exposed with no warning. Secrets that she’ll do almost anything to protect.


Click for more detail about Man on the Run by Carl Weber Man on the Run

by Carl Weber
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 17, 2017)
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New York Times bestselling author Carl Weber delivers a riveting, action-packed drama full of the twists and turns for which he’s become known.

It was the night before his wedding, fifteen years ago, that the nightmare began for Jay Crawford—locked up for a crime he never committed. Now, he’s escaped prison and wants nothing more than to clear his name and protect his family. To get justice, he’ll need the help of the three best friends who have always had his back—Wil, Kyle and Allan. But a man on the run requires absolute trust…and Jay may just be setting himself up for the ultimate betrayal.


Click for more detail about The Birth of a Movement: How Birth of a Nation Ignited the Battle for Civil Rights by Dick Lehr The Birth of a Movement: How Birth of a Nation Ignited the Battle for Civil Rights

by Dick Lehr
PublicAffairs (Jan 10, 2017)
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In 1915, two men-one a journalist agitator, the other a technically brilliant filmmaker-incited a public confrontation that roiled America, pitting black against white, Hollywood against Boston, and free speech against civil rights.

Monroe Trotter and D. W. Griffith were fighting over a film that dramatized the Civil War and Reconstruction in a post-Confederate South. Griffith’s film, The Birth of a Nation, included actors in blackface, heroic portraits of Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and a depiction of Lincoln’s assassination. Freed slaves were portrayed as villainous, vengeful, slovenly, and dangerous to the sanctity of American values. It was tremendously successful, eventually seen by 25 million Americans. But violent protests against the film flared up across the country.

Almost fifty years earlier, Monroe’s father, James, was a sergeant in an all-black Union regiment that marched into Charleston, South Carolina, just as the Kentucky cavalry-including Roaring Jack Griffith, D. W.’s father-fled for their lives. Monroe Trotter’s titanic crusade to have the film censored became a blueprint for dissent during the 1950s and 1960s. This is the fiery story of a revolutionary moment for mass media and the nascent civil rights movement, and the men clashing over the cultural and political soul of a still-young America standing at the cusp of its greatest days.


Click for more detail about The Sweetest Sound by Sherri Winston The Sweetest Sound

by Sherri Winston
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jan 03, 2017)
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A story of family, faith, and following your heart For ten-year-old Cadence Jolly, birthdays are a constant reminder of all that has changed since her mother skipped town with dreams of becoming a star. Cadence inherited that musical soul, she can’t deny it, but otherwise she couldn’t be more different - she’s as shy as can be.

She did make a promise last year that she would try to break out of her shell, just a little. And she prayed that she’d get the courage to do it. As her eleventh birthday draws near, she realizes time is running out. And when a secret recording of her singing leaks and catches the attention of her whole church, she needs to decide what’s better: deceiving everyone by pretending it belongs to someone else, or finally stepping into the spotlight. In a story filled with whimsy and hope, Sherri Winston inspires readers to embrace the voice within.


Click for more detail about They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement

by Wesley Lowery
Little, Brown and Company (Nov 15, 2016)
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"Electric…so well reported, so plainly told and so evidently the work of a man who has not grown a callus on his heart."Dwight Garner, New York Times

"I’d recommend everyone to read this book because it’s not just statistics, it’s not just the information, but it’s the connective tissue that shows the human story behind it." Trevor Noah, The Daily Show

New York Times Editors’ Choice
One of the Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2016 Publishers Weekly
One of the Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2016 Elle
11 Fall Books We Can’t Wait to Read Seattle Times
A best book of fall 2016 Boston Globe
One of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s 20 Books to Watch, fall 2016
One of Vulture’s "7 Books You Need to Read this November"

A deeply reported book that brings alive the quest for justice in the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray, offering both unparalleled insight into the reality of police violence in America and an intimate, moving portrait of those working to end it

Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland; and then back to Ferguson to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today.

In an effort to grasp the magnitude of the repose to Michael Brown’s death and understand the scale of the problem police violence represents, Lowery speaks to Brown’s family and the families of other victims other victims’ families as well as local activists. By posing the question, "What does the loss of any one life mean to the rest of the nation?" Lowery examines the cumulative effect of decades of racially biased policing in segregated neighborhoods with failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and too few jobs.

Studded with moments of joy, and tragedy, They Can’t Kill Us All offers a historically informed look at the standoff between the police and those they are sworn to protect, showing that civil unrest is just one tool of resistance in the broader struggle for justice. As Lowery brings vividly to life, the protests against police killings are also about the black community’s long history on the receiving end of perceived and actual acts of injustice and discrimination. They Can’t Kill Us All grapples with a persistent if also largely unexamined aspect of the otherwise transformative presidency of Barack Obama: the failure to deliver tangible security and opportunity to those Americans most in need of both.


Click for more detail about Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat

by Javaka Steptoe
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 25, 2016)
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A visually stunning picture book biography about modern art phenomenon Jean-Michel Basquiat, written and illustrated by Coretta Scott King Award winner Javaka Steptoe.

Sample Image from Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe From Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, written and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe (2016, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Jean-Michael Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocked to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art work had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe’s vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat’s own introduce young readers to the powerful message and art doesn’t always have to be neat or clean—and definitely not inside the lines—to be beautiful.


Click for more detail about Answering the Cry for Freedom: Stories of African Americans and the American Revolution by Gretchen Woelfle Answering the Cry for Freedom: Stories of African Americans and the American Revolution

by Gretchen Woelfle
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 04, 2016)
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The lives of thirteen African-Americans who fought during the Revolutionary War are highlighted in this nonfiction book for young readers by Gretchen Woelfle, illustrated by Caldecott-Honor winning artist R. Gregory Christie.  

Even as American Patriots fought for independence from British rule during the Revolutionary War, oppressive conditions remained in place for the thousands of enslaved and free African Americans living in this country. But African Americans took up their own fight for freedom by joining the British and American armies; preaching, speaking out, and writing about the evils of slavery; and establishing settlements in Nova Scotia and Africa. The thirteen stories featured in this collection spotlight charismatic individuals who answered the cry for freedom, focusing on the choices they made and how they changed America both then and now. These individuals include: Boston King, Agrippa Hull, James Armistead Lafayette, Phillis Wheatley, Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, Prince Hall, Mary Perth, Ona Judge, Sally Hemings, Paul Cuffe, John Kizell, Richard Allen, and Jarena Lee. Includes individual bibliographies and timelines, author note, and source notes.


Click for more detail about The Orphan Mother: A Novel by Robert Hicks The Orphan Mother: A Novel

by Robert Hicks
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 13, 2016)
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An epic account of one remarkable woman’s quest for justice from the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country.

In the years following the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave to Carrie McGavock—the "Widow of the South"—has quietly built a new life for herself as a midwife to the women of Franklin, Tennessee. But when her ambitious, politically minded grown son, Theopolis, is murdered, Mariah—no stranger to loss—finds her world once more breaking apart. How could this happen? Who wanted him dead?
Mariah’s journey to uncover the truth leads her to unexpected people—including George Tole, a recent arrival to town, fleeing a difficult past of his own—and forces her to confront the truths of her own past. Brimming with the vivid prose and historical research that has won Robert Hicks recognition as a "master storyteller" (San Francisco Chronicle).


Click for more detail about Obama’s Legacy: What He Accomplished as President by Michael I. Days Obama’s Legacy: What He Accomplished as President

by Michael I. Days
Center Street (Sep 13, 2016)
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As President Obama’s time in the White House draws to a close, this celebratory book documents his transformative accomplishments.

Evidence indicates President Barack Obama has been tremendously successful and effective by objective measures. On economic indicators alone, he is credited with the longest streak of job growth in U.S. history, a two-thirds reduction in the federal budget deficit, and the rebounding of the stock market to record highs following the record lows of the recession under his predecessor. His victories have come against a backdrop of criticism and sometimes open defiance from conservatives, lack of cooperation in Congress, and racially tinged commentary in traditional and social media. Through it all, the President who campaigned on a slogan of ’Yes, We Can!’ has persevered in his determination to make a difference and left an indelible mark on American politics and the world. LEGACY is a commemoration of his eight years in the White House.


Click for more detail about The Black Panthers: Portraits from an Unfinished Revolution by Bryan Shih and Yohuru Williams The Black Panthers: Portraits from an Unfinished Revolution

by Bryan Shih and Yohuru Williams
Bold Type Books (Sep 13, 2016)
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?Brilliant, painful, enlightening, tearful, tragic, sad, and funny, this photo-essay book is at its core about healing, and about the social justice work that still needs to be done in the era of hip-hop, Black Lives Matter, and the historic presidency of Barack Obama.” ?Kevin Powell, author of The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey into Manhood

?A brilliantly conceived volume. Bryan Shih and Yohuru Williams demonstrate why the Panthers’ story?its lessons and failures?even fifty years after its founding remains key to understanding national and international struggles for freedom and justice today.” ?Cheryl Finley, professor and director of visual studies, Cornell University

Even fifty years after it was founded, the Black Panther Party remains one of the most misunderstood political organizations of the twentieth century. But beyond the labels of ?extremist” and ?violent” that have marked the party, and beyond charismatic leaders like Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver, were the ordinary men and women who made up the Panther rank and file.

In The Black Panthers, photojournalist Bryan Shih and historian Yohuru Williams offer a reappraisal of the party’s history and legacy. Through stunning portraits and interviews with surviving Panthers, as well as illuminating essays by leading scholars, The Black Panthers reveals party members’ grit and battle scars?and the undying love for the people that kept them going.


Click for more detail about City of S The History of New York City during the Civil War by John Strausbaugh City of S The History of New York City during the Civil War

by John Strausbaugh
Twelve (Aug 02, 2016)
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WINNER OF THE FLETCHER PRATT AWARD FOR BEST NON-FICTION BOOK OF 2016

In a single definitive narrative, CITY OF SEDITION tells the spellbinding story of the huge-and hugely conflicted-role New York City played in the Civil War.

No city was more of a help to Abraham Lincoln and the Union war effort, or more of a hindrance. No city raised more men, money, and materiel for the war, and no city raised more hell against it. It was a city of patriots, war heroes, and abolitionists, but simultaneously a city of antiwar protest, draft resistance, and sedition.

Without his New York supporters, it’s highly unlikely Lincoln would have made it to the White House. Yet, because of the city’s vital and intimate business ties to the Cotton South, the majority of New Yorkers never voted for him and were openly hostile to him and his politics. Throughout the war New York City was a nest of antiwar "Copperheads" and a haven for deserters and draft dodgers. New Yorkers would react to Lincoln’s wartime policies with the deadliest rioting in American history. The city’s political leaders would create a bureaucracy solely devoted to helping New Yorkers evade service in Lincoln’s army. Rampant war profiteering would create an entirely new class of New York millionaires, the "shoddy aristocracy." New York newspapers would be among the most vilely racist and vehemently antiwar in the country. Some editors would call on their readers to revolt and commit treason; a few New Yorkers would answer that call. They would assist Confederate terrorists in an attempt to burn their own city down, and collude with Lincoln’s assassin.

Here in CITY OF SEDITION, a gallery of fascinating New Yorkers comes to life, the likes of Horace Greeley, Walt Whitman, Julia Ward Howe, Boss Tweed, Thomas Nast, Matthew Brady, and Herman Melville. This book follows the fortunes of these figures and chronicles how many New Yorkers seized the opportunities the conflict presented to amass capital, create new industries, and expand their markets, laying the foundation for the city’s-and the nation’s-growth.


Click for more detail about Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes Towers Falling

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jul 12, 2016)
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From award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes, a powerful novel set fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks.

When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window, Deja can’t help but feel confused. She sets off on a journey of discovery, with new friends Ben and Sabeen by her side. But just as she gets closer to answering big questions about who she is, what America means, and how communities can grow (and heal), she uncovers new questions, too. Like, why does Pop get so angry when she brings up anything about the towers?

A powerful story about young people who weren’t alive to witness this defining moment in history, but begin to realize how much it colors their every day.


Click for more detail about A Sinful Calling (Reverend Curtis Black #13) by Kimberla Lawson Roby A Sinful Calling (Reverend Curtis Black #13)

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 21, 2016)
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Kimberla Lawson Roby’s Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books


Two years ago, to everyone’s surprise, Dillon Whitfield Black, the secret son of Reverend Curtis Black, boldly moved back home, married a woman named Raven, decided he was going to become a minister and then founded a church right in the center of his living room. Today he’s pastor of an 1000-plus-member congregation, and new members are joining weekly. Sadly, behind closed doors, Dillon is far from being a saint. Dillon has become more like the man his father was thirty years ago—consumed with money, power and lots of women. His family may have forgiven him, but they continue to keep their distance.

Not Alicia, though. This daughter of Curtis Black joins Dillon’s congregation, leaving her father’s church behind. The family has forgiven Alicia for marrying Levi Cunningham, the former drug dealer she had an affair with, but once Alicia realizes they will never fully accept Levi, she decides to see her family less and less.

But when Raven decides she wants a higher position in the church and Alicia hides a devastating secret, the entire family is affected in ways they don’t see coming. In the end, no one will be able to trust anyone…and for very good reason.


Click for more detail about Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and Tragedy of Michael Jackson’s Last Days by Tavis Smiley Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and Tragedy of Michael Jackson’s Last Days

by Tavis Smiley
Little, Brown and Company (Jun 21, 2016)
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A powerful chronicle of the sixteen weeks leading up to King of Pop Michael Jackson’s death
Michael Jackson’s final months were like the rest of his short and legendary life: filled with deep lows and soaring highs, a constant hunt for privacy, and the pressure and fame that made him socially fragile and almost—ultimately—unable to live.
With the insight and compassion that he brought to his bestselling telling of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final year, Tavis Smiley provides a glimpse into the superstar’s life in this emotional, honest, yet celebratory book. Readers will witness Jackson’s campaign to recharge his career—hiring and firing managers and advisors, turning to and away from family members, fighting depression and drug dependency—while his one goal remained: to mount the most spectacular series of shows the world had ever seen. BEFORE YOU JUDGE ME is a humanizing look at Jackson’s last days.


Click for more detail about City Shapes by Diana Murray City Shapes

by Diana Murray
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jun 21, 2016)
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Hunt for shapes of all kinds on this journey through a bustling city, illustrated by four-time Caldecott Honoree Bryan Collier!

From shimmering skyscrapers to fluttering kites to twinkling stars high in the sky, everyday scenes become extraordinary as a young girl walks through her neighborhood noticing exciting new shapes at every turn. Far more than a simple concept book, City Shapes is an explosion of life. Diana Murray’s richly crafted yet playful verse encourages readers to discover shapes in the most surprising places, and Bryan Collier’s dynamic collages add even more layers to each scene in this ode to city living.


Click for more detail about Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education

by Mychal Denzel Smith
Bold Type Books (Jun 14, 2016)
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A New York Times Bestseller and New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice

How do you learn to be a black man in America? For young black men today, it means coming of age during the presidency of Barack Obama. It means witnessing the deaths of Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, and too many more. It means celebrating powerful moments of black self-determination for LeBron James, Dave Chappelle, and Frank Ocean.

In Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education, Mychal Denzel Smith chronicles his own personal and political education during these tumultuous years, describing his efforts to come into his own in a world that denied his humanity. Smith unapologetically upends reigning assumptions about black masculinity, rewriting the script for black manhood so that depression and anxiety aren’t considered taboo, and feminism and LGBTQ rights become part of the fight. The questions Smith asks in this book are urgent—for him, for the martyrs and the tokens, and for the Trayvons that could have been and are still waiting.


Click for more detail about The House of Secrets by Brad Meltzer The House of Secrets

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 07, 2016)
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A secret worth killing for, a woman with no past, and an act of treason that changed America: #1 bestselling author Brad Meltzer returns with The House of Secrets.
"When Hazel Nash was six years old, her father taught her: mysteries need to be solved. He should know. Hazel’s father is Jack Nash, the host of America’s favorite conspiracy TV show, The House of Secrets.
Even as a child, she loved hearing her dad’s tall tales, especially the one about a leather book belonging to Benedict Arnold that was hidden in a corpse.
Now, years later, Hazel wakes up in the hospital and remembers nothing, not even her own name. She’s told she’s been in a car accident that killed her father and injured her brother. But she can’t remember any of it, because of her own traumatic brain injury. Then a man from the FBI shows up, asking questions about her dad — and about his connection to the corpse of a man found with an object stuffed into his chest: a priceless book that belonged to Benedict Arnold.
Back at her house, Hazel finds guns that she doesn’t remember owning. On her forehead, she sees scars from fights she can’t recall. Most important, the more Hazel digs, the less she likes the person she seems to have been.
Trying to put together the puzzle pieces of her past and present, Hazel Nash needs to figure out who killed this man — and how the book wound up in his chest. The answer will tell her the truth about her father, what he was really doing for the government — and who Hazel really is. Mysteries need to be solved. Especially the ones about yourself."


Click for more detail about The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir by D. Watkins The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir

by D. Watkins
Grand Central Publishing (May 03, 2016)
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Reminiscent of the classic Random Family and The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, but told by the man who lived it, THE COOK UP is a riveting look inside the Baltimore drug trade portrayed in The Wire and an incredible story of redemption.

The smartest kid on his block in East Baltimore, D. was certain he would escape the life of drugs, decadence, and violence that had surrounded him since birth. But when his brother Devin is shot-only days after D. receives notice that he’s been accepted into Georgetown University-the plans for his life are exploded, and he takes up the mantel of his brother’s crack empire. D. succeeds in cultivating the family business, but when he meets a woman unlike any he’s known before, his priorities are once more put into question. Equally terrifying and hilarious, inspiring and heartbreaking, D.’s story offers a rare glimpse into the mentality of a person who has escaped many hells.


Click for more detail about Bayou Magic (Paperback) by Jewell Parker Rhodes Bayou Magic (Paperback)

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 03, 2016)
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Also Available in Hardcover

A magical coming-of-age story from Coretta Scott King Honor author Jewell Parker Rhodes, rich with Southern folklore, friendship, family, fireflies and mermaids, plus an environmental twist.

It’s city-girl Maddy’s first summer in the bayou, and she just falls in love with her new surroundings - the glimmering fireflies, the glorious landscape, and something else, deep within the water, that only she can see. Could it be a mermaid? As her grandmother shares wisdom about sayings and signs, Maddy realizes she may be the only sibling to carry on her family’s magical legacy. And when a disastrous oil leak threatens the bayou, she knows she may also be the only one who can help. Does she have what it takes to be a hero? Jewell Parker Rhodes weaves a rich tale celebrating the magic within.

Bayou Magic is brought to life in the Emmy-award winning series Ghostwriter. Read the book that inspired the show! Ghostwriter TV series Banner

Praise for Bayou Magic:

“Bayou Magic revels in friendship, and love while reflecting life in the Deep South. Looking to add diversity to your shelves? Look no farther than the characters that populate Bon Temps and experience the community in which they live.”—Booklist

“Maddy is a brave and hopeful heroine, and the descriptions of the bayou are almost as magical as her legacy.”—School Library Journal

“Readers will be easily drawn into Rhodes’s (Sugar) heady descriptions, and as environmental disaster threatens the landscape Maddy has come to love, her heroism shines as she protects the community and recognizes her own strength.” —Publishers Weekly


Click for more detail about Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda Hamilton: The Revolution

by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 12, 2016)
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Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musical Hamilton is as revolutionary as its subject, the poor kid from the Caribbean who fought the British, defended the Constitution, and helped to found the United States. Fusing hip-hop, pop, R&B, and the best traditions of theater, this once-in-a-generation show broadens the sound of Broadway, reveals the storytelling power of rap, and claims our country’s origins for a diverse new generation.

HAMILTON: THE REVOLUTION gives readers an unprecedented view of both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda, along with Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages—"since before this was even a show," according to Miranda—traces its development from an improbable perfor­mance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. In addition, Miranda has written more than 200 funny, revealing footnotes for his award-winning libretto, the full text of which is published here.

Their account features photos by the renowned Frank Ockenfels and veteran Broadway photographer, Joan Marcus; exclusive looks at notebooks and emails; interviews with Questlove, Stephen Sond­heim, leading political commentators, and more than 50 people involved with the production; and multiple appearances by Presi­dent Obama himself. The book does more than tell the surprising story of how a Broadway musical became a national phenomenon: It demonstrates that America has always been renewed by the brash upstarts and brilliant outsiders, the men and women who don’t throw away their shot.


Click for more detail about Until I’m Yours by Kennedy Ryan Until I’m Yours

by Kennedy Ryan
Forever Yours (Jan 20, 2016)
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A RITA Award Winner and bestselling author, Kennedy Ryan writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect, cherish and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts.

She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son. She has always leveraged her journalism background to write for charity and non-profit organizations, but enjoys writing to raise Autism awareness most. A contributor for Modern Mom Magazine, Kennedy’s writings have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today and many others. The founder and executive director of a foundation serving Atlanta families living with Autism, she has appeared on Headline News, Montel Williams, NPR and other media outlets as an advocate for families living with autism.

To learn more, sign up for Kennedy’s mailing list at bit.ly/KennedyMailingList, or visit her at:
KennedyRyanWrites.com
Twitter @KennedyRWrites
Facebook.com/KennedyRyanAuthor
Instagram @KennedyRyan1


Click for more detail about Best Friends Forever by Kimberla Lawson Roby Best Friends Forever

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 05, 2016)
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Things are falling apart in the Richardson household. Angry arguments between Celine and her husband, Keith, have become routine. She resents that he’s working long hours and staying out all night, and he accuses her of not giving him the attention he deserves. Their marriage is at a cross-roads and Celine worries how her 10-year-old daughter, Kassie, will be affected.

But the situation turns devastating when Celine is diagnosed with breast cancer. As her relationship with Keith deteriorates, Celine worries that she’ll be left to navigate the difficult process of cancer treatment alone. But comfort and support come in the form of Celine’s best friend, Lauren. They’ve been attached at the hip since they were children and it is Lauren who’s there for Celine in her darkest moments.

Now, Celine will be forced to make tough decisions-about her marriage and otherwise-and for the first time in her life, she wants to give up. Lauren vows to help by any means necessary and makes the kind of sacrifice only a best friend can. But will it be too late?


Click for more detail about The Crossing (Bosch) by Michael Connelly The Crossing (Bosch)

by Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company (Nov 03, 2015)
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Harry Bosch crosses the line to team up with Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller in the new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly.
Detective Harry Bosch has retired from the LAPD, but his half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, needs his help. A woman has been brutally murdered in her bed and all evidence points to Haller’s client, a former gang member turned family man. Though the murder rap seems ironclad, Mickey is sure it’s a setup.
Bosch doesn’t want anything to do with crossing the aisle to work for the defense. He feels it will undo all the good he’s done in his thirty years as a homicide cop. But Mickey promises to let the chips fall where they may. If Harry proves that his client did it, under the rules of discovery, they are obliged to turn over the evidence to the prosecution.
Though it goes against all his instincts, Bosch reluctantly takes the case. The prosecution’s file just has too many holes and he has to find out for himself: if Haller’s client didn’t do it, then who did? With the secret help of his former LAPD partner Lucy Soto, Harry starts digging. Soon his investigation leads him inside the police department, where he realizes that the killer he’s been tracking has also been tracking him.
Thrilling, fast-paced, and impossible to put down, The Crossing shows without a shadow of doubt that Connelly is "a master of building suspense" (Wall Street Journal).


Click for more detail about Frederick’s Journey: The Life of Frederick Douglass by Doreen Rappaport Frederick’s Journey: The Life of Frederick Douglass

by Doreen Rappaport
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 03, 2015)
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A thought-provoking portrait of celebrated human-rights activist Frederick Douglass by the acclaimed author of To Dare Mighty Things and Martin’s Big Words.

Frederick Douglass was born a slave. He was taken from his mother as a baby, and separated from his grandparents when he was six. He suffered hunger and abuse, but miraculously, he learned how to read. Frederick read newspapers left in the street, and secretly collected spellings from neighborhood children. Words, he knew, would set him free. When Frederick was twenty, he escaped to the North, where he spread his abolitionist beliefs through newspaper articles, autobiographies, and speeches. He believed that all people-regardless of color or gender-were entitled to equal rights. It is Douglass’s words, as well as his life, that still provide hope and inspiration across generations.

In this installment of the critically acclaimed Big Words series, Doreen Rappaport captures Frederick’s journey from boy to man, from slavery to freedom, by weaving Frederick’s powerful words with her own. London Ladd’s strong and evocative illustrations combine with the text to create a moving portrait of an extraordinary life.


Click for more detail about If Someone Says If Someone Says "You Complete Me," RUN!: Whoopi’s Big Book of Relationships

by Whoopi Goldberg
Hachette (Oct 13, 2015)
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From the provocative and hilarious EGOT winner, bestselling author, and host of The View, Whoopi Goldberg, comes the perfect antidote to all those outdated relationship advice books in the world, weighing in on why marriage isn’t for everybody, and how the life you want shouldn’t be the life everyone else expects you to have.

Whoopi Goldberg has been an electrifying, envelope-pushing public figure of many stripes: acclaimed actor, comedienne, singer, songwriter, author, political activist and talk show host. Now, Whoopi will speak openly about why marriage isn’t for everyone, how being alone can be satisfying, and how what’s most important is understanding who you are and what makes you happy. Wise, funny, and conversation-starting, Whoopi’s message is sure to resonate with the millions of people who struggle with relationships every day.

Goldberg says: "I get to hear from a lot of different people about relationships and this got me trying to figure out why the divorce rate is SO high. It occurred to me that as one who has done it badly often, I might have some insight. It’s hard to really know the other person’s agenda, but if someone says ’you complete me’…RUN!!!"


Click for more detail about Stamped from the Beginning (Revised): The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi Stamped from the Beginning (Revised): The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

by Ibram X. Kendi
Bold Type Books (Aug 15, 2015)
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Some Americans cling desperately to the myth that we are living in a post-racial society, that the election of the first Black president spelled the doom of racism. In fact, racist thought is alive and well in America - more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues in Stamped from the Beginning, if we have any hope of grappling with this stark reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society.

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. Stamped from the Beginning uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to offer a window into the contentious debates between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists. From Puritan minister Cotton Mather to Thomas Jefferson, from fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to brilliant scholar W.E.B. Du Bois to legendary anti-prison activist Angela Davis, Kendi shows how and why some of our leading proslavery and pro-civil rights thinkers have challenged or helped cement racist ideas in America.

Contrary to popular conceptions, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. Instead, they were devised and honed by some of the most brilliant minds of each era. These intellectuals used their brilliance to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation’s racial disparities in everything from wealth to health. And while racist ideas are easily produced and easily consumed, they can also be discredited. In shedding much-needed light on the murky history of racist ideas, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose them—and in the process, gives us reason to hope.


Click for more detail about The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, the Obelisk Gate, the Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, the Obelisk Gate, the Stone Sky

by N. K. Jemisin
Orbit Books (Aug 04, 2015)
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This collectable boxed set edition includes all three books in N. K. Jemisin’s incredible NYT bestselling and three-time Hugo award-winning Broken Earth Trilogy.

This complete collection would be a great gift for any occasion and includes The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, and The Stone Sky.

This is the way the world ends for the last time…

A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world’s sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.

This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.


Click for more detail about The President’s Shadow by Brad Meltzer The President’s Shadow

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 16, 2015)
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Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle, The Book of Fate, and seven other bestselling thrillers. In addition to his fiction, Brad is one of the only authors to ever have books on the bestseller list for nonfiction (History Decoded), advice (Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter), children’s books (I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln) and even graphic books (Justice League of America).

He is also the host of Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on the History Channel, and Brad Meltzer’s Lost History on H2. He currently lives in Florida. You can find much more about him at BradMeltzer.com. You can also see what he’s doing right now at Facebook.com/BradMeltzer and on Twitter @bradmeltzer.


Click for more detail about The Ultimate Betrayal (Reverend Curtis Black #12) by Kimberla Lawson Roby The Ultimate Betrayal (Reverend Curtis Black #12)

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 01, 2015)
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It’s been four years since twenty-eight-year old Alicia Black, daughter of Reverend Curtis Black, divorced her second husband, the most womanizing and corrupt man she has ever known. Since then, Alicia has been dating her first husband, Phillip Sullivan, a wonderfully kind and true man of God whom she’d hurt terribly by cheating on him. Alicia has worked hard to prove herself worthy of his trust once more, and when he asks her to marry him again, she couldn’t be happier.

But Levi Cunningham, the drug dealer Alicia had an extramarital affair with, has just been released from prison, and he has completely turned his life around for the better. Still head-over-heels in love with Alicia, he will do whatever is necessary to win her back. Remarrying Phillip is the one thing Alicia has wanted for years, but she can’t get Levi out of her mind.

Alicia and Phillip aren’t the only ones in the middle of a crisis. Their best friends, husband and wife Brad and Melanie Richardson, are struggling to keep their marriage together. Workaholic Brad is never home and has begun losing thousands on bad investments. Or so he says. Melanie, who is certain there’s more to the story, is determined to get at the truth. At the same time, her frustration and stress cause her to eat a lot less, and she behaves in an extreme fashion. Alicia worries that she could be suffering from anorexia, but Melanie steadfastly denies it. Their friendship begins to suffer, and it isn’t long before they’re talking to each other like enemies.

Fresh betrayal leads to consequences no one saw coming, and Alicia’s relationship with Phillip might not be the only thing that needs saving. But is it already too late?


Click for more detail about Wages of Rebellion by Chris Hedges Wages of Rebellion

by Chris Hedges
Bold Type Books (May 12, 2015)
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Revolutions come in waves and cycles. We are again riding the crest of a revolutionary epic, much like 1848 or 1917, from the Arab Spring to movements against austerity in Greece to the Occupy movement. In Wages of Rebellion, Chris Hedges—who has chronicled the malaise and sickness of a society in terminal moral decline in his books Empire of Illusion and Death of the Liberal Class—investigates what social and psychological factors cause revolution, rebellion, and resistance. Drawing on an ambitious overview of prominent philosophers, historians, and literary figures he shows not only the harbingers of a coming crisis but also the nascent seeds of rebellion. Hedges’ message is clear: popular uprisings in the United States and around the world are inevitable in the face of environmental destruction and wealth polarization.

Focusing on the stories of rebels from around the world and throughout history, Hedges investigates what it takes to be a rebel in modern times. Utilizing the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, Hedges describes the motivation that guides the actions of rebels as ?sublime madness” ? the state of passion that causes the rebel to engage in an unavailing fight against overwhelmingly powerful and oppressive forces. For Hedges, resistance is carried out not for its success, but as a moral imperative that affirms life. Those who rise up against the odds will be those endowed with this ?sublime madness.”

From South African activists who dedicated their lives to ending apartheid, to contemporary anti-fracking protests in Alberta, Canada, to whistleblowers in pursuit of transparency, Wages of Rebellion shows the cost of a life committed to speaking the truth and demanding justice. Hedges has penned an indispensable guide to rebellion.


Click for more detail about Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes Bayou Magic

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 01, 2015)
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Also Available in Paperback

It’s Maddy’s turn to have a bayou summer. At first she misses life back home in the city, but soon she grows to love everything about her new surroundings — the glimmering fireflies, the glorious landscape, and something else, deep within the water, that only Maddy sees. Could it be a mermaid? As her grandmother shares wisdom about sayings and signs, Maddy realizes she may be only the sibling to carry on her family’s magical legacy. And when a disastrous oil leak threatens the bayou, she knows she may also be the only one who can help. Does she have what it takes to be a hero?

A coming-of-age tale rich with folk magic, set in the wake of the Gulf oil spill, Bayou Magic celebrates hope, friendship, and family, and captures the wonder of life in the Deep South.

Bayou Magic is brought to life in the Emmy-award winning series Ghostwriter. Read the book that inspired the show! Ghostwriter series banner


Click for more detail about Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive by T. D. Jakes Instinct: The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (Apr 28, 2015)
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An instant #1 New York Times bestseller for six weeks, Bishop T.D. Jakes’s smash-hit Instinct shows readers how to tap into their God-given intuition to achieve ultimate success. Whether you call it following your heart, a gut feeling, a hunch or intuition, instinct-the inner knowledge bubbling up from a wellspring of wisdom within-can lead to a bigger, elephant-sized life. Combining social, business and personal examples with biblical insights, in Instinct Bishop Jakes shows readers how to rediscover their natural aptitudes and reclaim the wisdom of their past experiences. Knowing when to close a deal, when to take a risk, and when to listen to their hearts will become possible when they’re in touch with the instincts that God gave them. If readers are ready to unlock the confines of where they are, and discover where they were meant to be, then INSTINCT is their key!


Click for more detail about The Light Of The World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander The Light Of The World: A Memoir

by Elizabeth Alexander
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 21, 2015)
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New York Times BestsellerNew York Times Book Review Editor’s ChoiceAmazon’s Best Books of the Month, April 2015IndieBound Indie Next #1 Pick, May 2015Washington Post’s "21 Books We’ve Loved So Far This Year" PickBuzzfeed’s "53 Books You Won’t Be Able To Put Down" PickGOOP’s "The Best Summer ’15 Reading" Pick
A deeply resonant memoir for anyone who has loved and lost, from acclaimed poet and Pulitzer Prize finalist Elizabeth Alexander.
In THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, Elizabeth Alexander finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband. Channeling her poetic sensibilities into a rich, lucid price, Alexander tells a love story that is, itself, a story of loss. As she reflects on the beauty of her married life, the trauma resulting from her husband’s death, and the solace found in caring for her two teenage sons, Alexander universalizes a very personal quest for meaning and acceptance in the wake of loss.
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD is at once an endlessly compelling memoir and a deeply felt meditation on the blessings of love, family, art, and community. It is also a lyrical celebration of a life well-lived and a paean to the priceless gift of human companionship. For those who have loved and lost, or for anyone who cares what matters most, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD is required reading.


Click for more detail about The Fishermen: A Novel by Chigozie Obioma The Fishermen: A Novel

by Chigozie Obioma
Little, Brown and Company (Apr 14, 2015)
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In a Nigerian town in the mid 1990’s, four brothers encounter a madman whose mystic prophecy of violence threatens the core of their close-knit family. Told from the point of view of nine year old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, THE FISHERMEN is the Cain and Abel-esque story of an unforgettable childhood in 1990’s Nigeria, in the small town of Akure. When their strict father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his extended absence to skip school and go fishing. At the ominous, forbidden nearby river, they meet a dangerous local madman who persuades the oldest of the boys that he is destined to be killed by one of his siblings. What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact-both tragic and redemptive-will transcend the lives and imaginations of its characters and its readers. Dazzling and viscerally powerful, The Fishermen never leaves Akure but the story it tells has enormous universal appeal. Seen through the prism of one family’s destiny, this is an essential novel about Africa with all of its contradictions-economic, political, and religious-and the epic beauty of its own culture. With this bold debut, Chigozie Obioma emerges as one of the most original new voices of modern African literature, echoing its older generation’s masterful storytelling with a contemporary fearlessness and purpose.


Click for more detail about David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

by Malcolm Gladwell
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 07, 2015)
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Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David’s victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn’t have won. Or should he have? In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks. Gladwell begins with the real story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago. From there, David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland’s Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms—all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity. In the tradition of Gladwell’s previous bestsellers—The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw—David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world around us.

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Grasshopper & the Ants by Jerry Pinkney The Grasshopper & the Ants

by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Apr 07, 2015)
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In this stunning companion to the Caldecott Medal-winning The Lion & the Mouse and the highly acclaimed The Tortoise & the Hare, a playful grasshopper wonders why the busy ants around him won’t join in his merrymaking as the seasons pass by. But when winter arrives, he soon sees the value of his friends’ hard work—just as the ants learn the value of sharing what they’ve worked for. Featuring a striking, surprise gatefold page, this third book in Jerry Pinkney’s gorgeous trilogy of picture book fables subtly suggests a resonant moral: Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today.


Click for more detail about Delicious Foods: A Novel by James Hannaham Delicious Foods: A Novel

by James Hannaham
Little, Brown and Company (Mar 17, 2015)
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WINNER OF THE 2016 PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION

WINNER OF THE HURSTON/WRIGHT LEGACY FICTION AWARD

FINALIST FOR THE 2016 DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE

FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES PRIZE FOR FICTION

NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times, Washington Post

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Kirkus, BuzzFeed, National Post, Kansas City Star

TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Publishers Weekly
TOP 15 BOOKS OF THE YEAR: BookPage

Held captive by her employers—and by her own demons—on a mysterious farm, a widow struggles to reunite with her young son in this uniquely American story of freedom, perseverance, and survival.

Darlene, once an exemplary wife and a loving mother to her young son, Eddie, finds herself devastated by the unforeseen death of her husband. Unable to cope with her grief, she turns to drugs, and quickly forms an addiction. One day she disappears without a trace.

Unbeknownst to eleven-year-old Eddie, now left behind in a panic-stricken search for her, Darlene has been lured away with false promises of a good job and a rosy life. A shady company named Delicious Foods shuttles her to a remote farm, where she is held captive, performing hard labor in the fields to pay off the supposed debt for her food, lodging, and the constant stream of drugs the farm provides to her and the other unfortunates imprisoned there.

In Delicious Foods, James Hannaham tells the gripping story of three unforgettable characters: a mother, her son, and the drug that threatens to destroy them. Through Darlene’s haunted struggle to reunite with Eddie, through the efforts of both to triumph over those who would enslave them, and through the irreverent and mischievous voice of the drug that narrates Darlene’s travails, Hannaham’s daring and shape-shifting prose infuses this harrowing experience with grace and humor.

The desperate circumstances that test the unshakeable bond between this mother and son unfold into myth, and Hannaham’s treatment of their ordeal spills over with compassion. Along the way we experience a tale at once contemporary and historical that wrestles with timeless questions of love and freedom, forgiveness and redemption, tenacity and the will to survive.


Click for more detail about Keep Calm… It’s Just Real Estate: Your No-Stress Guide to Buying a Home by Egypt Sherrod Keep Calm… It’s Just Real Estate: Your No-Stress Guide to Buying a Home

by Egypt Sherrod
Running Press (Mar 10, 2015)
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Egypt Sherrod knows how to take nervous prospective home-buyers by the hand and lead them through the process. She does it every week as host of HGTV’s highly-rated show, Property Virgins. Now she translates her reassuring personality onto the page, with this ""No-Stress"" guide to buying a home. Egypt takes readers through, simplifying all the many steps of the process, and giving them invaluable information, including: -Top ten things to consider before buying a home -How sticking with one agent works in your favor -Eight ways to be an attractive homebuyer on paper, and ease the mortgage-approval process. -What to do in a bidding war -Why you should NEVER overlook the home inspection -And much more! Egypt blends her professional know-how and her personable touch with this down-to-earth guide, providing plenty of anecdotes, handy lists, and even a glossary to ensure that readers keep calm…and experience the thrill of home ownership.


Click for more detail about Be Mine Forever by Kennedy Ryan Be Mine Forever

by Kennedy Ryan
Forever Yours (Feb 03, 2015)
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Find out if a secret crush become the love of a lifetime in this emotional read from the bestselling and RITA Award-winning author of The Kingmaker.

Jo Walsh has loved Cameron Mitchell for as long as she can remember. Whether front and center in her life or on the periphery, the tall, brooding artist has made his presence seductively and irresistibly known. But whenever they start to get close, Cam pulls away. Jo’s tired of keeping her feelings in a box Cam is afraid to open. If he wants her, he’ll have to prove it. And if he doesn’t, Jo will need to know the real reason why &helip;

How do you walk away from your soul mate? Cam wishes he knew. No matter how far he runs from Jo, he can’t resist looking back at the silver eyes that seem to see right through him. But as well as Jo thinks she understands Cam, the dark truth about his past is something she shouldn’t have to handle. Cam’s sure that setting Jo free is the right thing to do. Too bad his heart has other ideas &helip;

(85,000 words)

Don’t miss the other titles in the Bennett Series:
When You Are Mine, Book 1
Loving You Always, Book 2


Click for more detail about The Awakened Kingdom  (Book 2 The Inheritance Trilogy) by N. K. Jemisin The Awakened Kingdom (Book 2 The Inheritance Trilogy)

by N. K. Jemisin
Orbit Books (Dec 09, 2014)
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The long awaited sequel to the Inheritance trilogy a novella by award winning author N. K. Jemisin where a godling must struggle to grow in the shadow of her parents.


SOME TRUTHS MUST BE LEARNED THE HARD WAY…

As the first new godling born in thousands of years and the heir presumptive to Sieh the Trickster Shill’s got big shoes to fill. She’s well on her way when she defies her parents and sneaks off to the mortal realm, which is no place for an impressionable young god. In short order she steals a demon’s grandchild, gets herself embroiled in a secret underground magical dance competition, and offends her oldest and most powerful sibling.

But for Eino, the young Darren man whom Shill has befriended, the god-child’s silly games are serious business. Trapped in an arranged marriage and prohibited from pursuing his dreams, he has had enough. He will choose his own fate, even if he must betray a friend in the process and Shill might just have to grow up faster than she thinks.
This novella, THE AWAKENED KINGDOM takes place after the events of The Kingdom of Gods and will also be included in both the print and ebook ominbus of THE INHERITANCE TRILOGY in 12/14.


The Inheritance Trilogy The Hundred Thousand KingdomsThe Broken KingdomsThe Kingdom of Gods
The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition) Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction) The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella)
For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:
Dreamblood DuologyThe Killing MoonThe Shadowed Sun
The Broken Earth series The Fifth SeasonThe Obelisk Gate


Click for more detail about A Christmas Prayer by Kimberla Lawson Roby A Christmas Prayer

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 28, 2014)
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Alexis Fletcher hasn’t had a merry Christmas in five years-not since her mother passed away. Every December she remembers the joy her mother brought to everyone during the holiday season and feels the pain of her absence, even more so now that she and her sister are barely speaking. More than anything, Alexis wishes her family could be whole again.

However, with her wedding fast approaching, Alexis might just be ready to make some holiday memories with a new family of her own. Alexis’s fiancé, Chase Dupont, is everything she ever dreamed of. He’s kind, handsome, fully supportive of Alexis’s career, and the CEO of a large company. But outside forces threaten to derail this happy couple from ever reaching the altar.

As tensions rise, a dramatic event causes Alexis to question everything. Will fate give her what she needs to finally embrace the season that has brought her so much pain? Will Alexis get her wish for a happy holiday? Or will her Christmas prayer go unanswered?


Click for more detail about Instinct Daily Readings: 100 Insights That Will Uncover, Sharpen And Activate Your Instincts by T. D. Jakes Instinct Daily Readings: 100 Insights That Will Uncover, Sharpen And Activate Your Instincts

by T. D. Jakes
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 07, 2014)
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Bishop T. D. Jakes’s Instinct was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller and is already transforming lives. Now, INSTINCT DAILY READINGS will help you unleash your God-given intuition day by day.

In this volume of affirmations, meditations and scriptures, T. D. Jakes shares 100 readings that will help you rediscover and reclaim your instincts, intuition, and inner drives one day at a time when you:

Listen to and hear your own deep instinctive rhythm Recognize your God-given inner wisdom Embrace your instinct to define your own destiny These short, powerful messages will inspire you to use your instincts to become the person you were created to be, every day.


Click for more detail about Loving You Always by Kennedy Ryan Loving You Always

by Kennedy Ryan
Forever Yours (Oct 07, 2014)
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From the bestselling and RITA Award-winning author of The Kingmaker comes an epic story of forbidden love about a man who has everything could he want-except the one woman who truly understands him.

Kerris Moreton should be the happiest woman in the world: She has a successful business and is about to start the family she’s always wanted. But the man of her dreams-the one whose green eyes see straight into her soul and whose gentle hands make her body hum with pleasure-is not hers.

Each secret moment with Walsh Bennett serves to remind Kerris of what she’s missing. And every stolen hour makes it harder to see her future without him. But being with Walsh would betray a sacred promise and upend her perfect life. When tragedy strikes, the razor’s edge between love and loyalty grows sharper than ever. And Kerris must decide where her heart will fall &helip;

Don’t miss the first installment in The Bennett Series&helip;When You Are Mine. Available now!


Click for more detail about The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney The Red Pencil

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 16, 2014)
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""Amira, look at me,"" Muma insists.She collects both my hands in hers.""The Janjaweed attack without warning.If ever they come— run."" Finally, Amira is twelve. Old enough to wear a toob, old enough for new responsibilities. And maybe old enough to go to school in Nyala— Amira’s one true dream. But life in her peaceful Sudanese village is shattered when the Janjaweed arrive. The terrifying attackers ravage the town and unleash unspeakable horrors. After she loses nearly everything, Amira needs to dig deep within herself to find the strength to make the long journey— on foot— to safety at a refugee camp. Her days are tough at the camp, until the gift of a simple red pencil opens her mind— and all kinds of possibilities. New York Times bestselling and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Andrea Davis Pinkney’s powerful verse and Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist Shane W. Evans’s breathtaking illustrations combine to tell an inspiring tale of one girl’s triumph against all odds.


Click for more detail about Death Of A King: The Real Story Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year by Tavis Smiley Death Of A King: The Real Story Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year

by Tavis Smiley
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 09, 2014)
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A revealing and dramatic chronicle of the twelve months leading up to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination

Martin Luther King, Jr. died in one of the most shocking assassinations the world has known, but little is remembered about the life he led in his final year. New York Times bestselling author and award-winning broadcaster Tavis Smiley recounts the final 365 days of King’s life, revealing the minister’s trials and tribulations — denunciations by the press, rejection from the president, dismissal by the country’s black middle class and militants, assaults on his character, ideology, and political tactics, to name a few — all of which he had to rise above in order to lead and address the racism, poverty, and militarism that threatened to destroy our democracy.

Smiley’s DEATH OF A KING paints a portrait of a leader and visionary in a narrative different from all that have come before. Here is an exceptional glimpse into King’s life — one that adds both nuance and gravitas to his legacy as an American hero.


Click for more detail about The Choir Director 2: Runaway Bride by Carl Weber The Choir Director 2: Runaway Bride

by Carl Weber
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 19, 2014)
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It’s been three years since Aaron Mackie succeeded in helping his friend and mentor, Bishop T.K. Wilson, dig his ministry out of financial ruin. Aaron is also responsible for re-energizing the almost defunct choir into something special. His success has drawn national attention, and he’s on the verge of signing a huge recording contract. With his life in order, Aaron decides the time is right to propose to Tia Gregory, the church secretary who caught his eye and inspired him to shed his Tiger Woods-like tendencies to become a one-woman man. The stage is set for what might be the wedding of the year, but quickly becomes the disaster of the year when Aaron is left at the altar without explanation.

Now, during his own hour of need, Aaron turns to the bishop for help. Unfortunately, the line he asks T. K. to cross will force the bishop to choose between faith and friendship, or as he puts it, "between heaven and hell." As the investigation into Tia’s disappearance continues, the two men are challenged in ways they never imagined.


Click for more detail about The Golden Hustla by Wahida Clark The Golden Hustla

by Wahida Clark
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 29, 2014)
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Only New York Times bestselling author Wahida Clark could take street lit to the next level in this incendiary tale of a hustler facing a game more lethal than any ’hood …

THE GOLDEN HUSTLA

She’s the star sales associate of a profitable Atlanta "advertising" firm, WMM. She lives for top-of-the-line everything … and making enough money to finally reunite with her children. But Nina Coles is an ex-hood-rat in hiding. And no amount of paper can keep her safe from a ruthless FBI agent who’s determined to take down the shady company she works for. Now Nina’s vicious, greedy boss Rinaldo is defying the feds and endangering everyone to rack up several last scores. Her conniving ex-partner Akil is playing Nina against WMM and the mob to get his hands on the company’s multimillion-dollar stash. And sexy undercover cop Rick is proving to be one danger Nina can’t figure out-or get enough of. Between betrayal, lies, and murder, Nina must risk everything on one last deadly hustle that almost guarantees winner lose all …


Click for more detail about Angels Make Their Hope Here by Breena Clarke Angels Make Their Hope Here

by Breena Clarke
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 08, 2014)
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Russell’s Knob is not paradise. But already in 1849 this New Jersey highlands settlement is home to a diverse population of blacks, whites, and reds who have intermarried and lived in relative harmony for generations. It is a haven for Dossie Bird, who has escaped north along the Underground Railroad and now feels the embrace of the Smoot family.

Duncan Smoot presides as accidental patriarch, protector of his enterprising sister, Hattie, and his two rambunctious nephews. As Dossie busies herself with cleaning, cooking, and tending the chickens at Duncan’s homestead, she wonders: Could this man, her rescuer—so godlike in her eyes, so much older than she—expect her to become his helpmeet?. Tentatively, Dossie begins to put down roots—until a shocking act of violence propels her away from Russell’s Knob and eventually into the mayhem of New York City’s mean streets.

With the same storytelling brio that distinguished the acclaimed novels River, Cross My Heart and Stand the Storm, Breena Clarke weaves a richly dramatic story of interracial harmony in the Civil War era—and of one woman’s triumph in the crucible of history.


Click for more detail about What a Sista Should Do by Tiffany Warren What a Sista Should Do

by Tiffany Warren
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 24, 2014)
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Pam Lyons has a husband who places more trust in money and marijuana than in God. Yvonne Hastings is a minister’s wife whose husband’s infidelity and physical abuse brings their marriage to a crossroads. Taylor Johnson is a single mother who is looking for a good Christian man to help raise her son, but is unable to rid herself of the guilt left over from her promiscuous past. The secret of Taylor’s child’s paternity is the catalyst for the tumultuous relationship between the three women. Together, they will learn unforgettable lessons about love, forgiveness, prayer, and sisterhood.


Click for more detail about When You Are Mine by Kennedy Ryan When You Are Mine

by Kennedy Ryan
Forever Yours (Jun 17, 2014)
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A RITA Award Winner and bestselling author, Kennedy Ryan writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect, cherish and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts.

She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son. She has always leveraged her journalism background to write for charity and non-profit organizations, but enjoys writing to raise Autism awareness most. A contributor for Modern Mom Magazine, Kennedy’s writings have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today and many others. The founder and executive director of a foundation serving Atlanta families living with Autism, she has appeared on Headline News, Montel Williams, NPR and other media outlets as an advocate for families living with autism.

To learn more, sign up for Kennedy’s mailing list at bit.ly/KennedyMailingList, or visit her at:
KennedyRyanWrites.com
Twitter @KennedyRWrites
Facebook.com/KennedyRyanAuthor
Instagram @KennedyRyan1


Click for more detail about The Prodigal Son (Reverend Curtis Black #11) by Kimberla Lawson Roby The Prodigal Son (Reverend Curtis Black #11)

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (May 13, 2014)
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Kimberla Lawson Roby’s Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books


The new book in the bestselling Reverend Curtis Black series! The Reverend Curtis Black hasn’t spoken to his son, Matthew, in over a year-not since Matthew dropped out of Harvard to marry his girlfriend, Racquel, and be a full-time father to their infant son. Curtis knows that it was he and his wife, Charlotte, who drove Matthew away, but he prays that one day his son will forgive them and come home. Matthew, however, can’t seem to forget the pain his parents caused him and Racquel. Still, he wonders if maybe they’d been right, as fatherhood is not what he expected, and Racquel’s behavior has become increasingly erratic. Matthew genuinely wants to be a good husband, though, and swears he’ll never repeat his parents’ mistakes. But when an old friend expresses her desire for Matthew, the temptation may be too great to resist… Then, there’s Dillon Whitfield-Curtis’s long-lost-son-who has settled in as a member of the Black family. Yet the transition has been anything but easy. Charlotte, convinced he’s only after Curtis’s money, wishes he would move back to where he came from. Dillon, however, has no intention of going anywhere. After a lifetime in the shadows, he’s determined to take his rightful place as Curtis’s first-born son and heir, and he’ll do whatever it takes to win his father’s affection-even if it means playing dirty… As jealousy builds and secrets pile up, both of Curtis’s sons will be pushed over the edge and forced to take drastic action. Can these two troubled young men find their way back into the Black family fold, or will their family ties be undone once and for all?


Click for more detail about The Closer by Mariano Rivera and Wayne Coffey The Closer

by Mariano Rivera and Wayne Coffey
Grand Central Publishing (May 06, 2014)
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Mariano Rivera, the man who intimidated thousands of batters merely by opening a bullpen door, began his incredible journey as the son of a poor Panamanian fisherman. When first scouted by the Yankees, he didn’t even own his own glove. He thought he might make a good mechanic. When discovered, he had never flown in an airplane, had never heard of Babe Ruth, spoke no English, and couldn’t imagine Tampa, the city where he was headed to begin a career that would become one of baseball’s most iconic. What he did know: that he loved his family and his then girlfriend, Clara, that he could trust in the Lord to guide him, and that he could throw a baseball exactly where he wanted to, every time.

With astonishing candor, Rivera tells the story of the championships, the bosses (including The Boss), the rivalries, and the struggles of being a Latino baseball player in the United States and of maintaining Christian values in professional athletics. The thirteen-time All-Star discusses his drive to win; the secrets behind his legendary composure; the story of how he discovered his cut fastball; the untold, pitch-by-pitch account of the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 2001 World Series; and why the lowest moment of his career became one of his greatest blessings.

In The Closer, Rivera takes readers into the Yankee clubhouse, where his teammates are his brothers. But he also takes us on that jog from the bullpen to the mound, where the game — or the season — rests squarely on his shoulders. We come to understand the laser-like focus that is his hallmark, and how his faith and his family kept his feet firmly on the pitching rubber. Many of the tools he used so consistently and gracefully came from what was inside him for a very long time — his deep passion for life; his enduring commitment to Clara, whom he met in kindergarten; and his innate sense for getting out of a jam.

When Rivera retired, the whole world watched — and cheered. In The Closer, we come to an even greater appreciation of a legend built from the ground up.


Click for more detail about Everybody’s Got Something by Robin Roberts and Veronica Chambers Everybody’s Got Something

by Robin Roberts and Veronica Chambers
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 22, 2014)
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"Regardless of how much money you have, your race, where you live, what religion you follow, you are going through something. Or you already have or you will. As momma always said, "Everybody’s got something."

So begins beloved Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts’s new memoir in which she recounts the incredible journey that’s been her life so far, and the lessons she’s learned along the way. With grace, heart, and humor, she writes about overcoming breast cancer only to learn five years later that she will need a bone marrow transplant to combat a rare blood disorder, the grief and heartbreak she suffered when her mother passed away, her triumphant return to GMA after her medical leave, and the tremendous support and love of her family and friends that saw her through her difficult times.

Following her mother’s advice to "make your mess your message," Robin taught a nation of viewers that while it is true that we’ve all got something — a medical crisis to face, aging parents to care for, heartbreak in all its many forms —- we’ve also all got something to give: hope, encouragement, a life-saving transplant or a spirit-saving embrace. As Robin has learned, and what readers of her remarkable story will come to believe as well, it’s all about faith, family and friends. And finding out that you are stronger, much stronger, than you think.


Click for more detail about Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream For Me by Daniel Beaty Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream For Me

by Daniel Beaty
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Dec 17, 2013)
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Every morning, I play a game with my father. He goes knock knock on my door and I pretend to be asleep till he gets right next to the bed. And my papa, he tells me, "I love you."

But what happens when, one day, that "knock knock" doesn’t come? This powerful and inspiring book shows the love that an absent parent can leave behind, and the strength that children find in themselves as they grow up and follow their dreams.


Click for more detail about Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations by Retha Powers Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations

by Retha Powers
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 19, 2013)
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A comprehensive, all-new collection bringing together the most thoughtful, inspiring, and wisest voices from the Black diaspora across history.

Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations paints a rich canvas of Black history through time. Five thousand quotes are culled from the time of Ancient Egypt through American slavery, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Era, Apartheid, to the present day. With a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and passages from authors, artists, scientists, philosophers, theologians, activists, politicians, and many others, Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations will appeal not only to quote aficionados and researchers, but also to history buffs. Aesop’s Fables and the Holy Bible are in the same company as Nelson Mandela and President Obama; Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison; Bob Marley and Jay-Z. A wonderful reference tool and gift, Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations is sure to follow in the footsteps of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, becoming a beloved authority.


Click for more detail about The Tortoise & the Hare by Jerry Pinkney The Tortoise & the Hare

by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 01, 2013)
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This companion to the Caldecott Medal-winning The Lion & the Mouse is Jerry Pinkney’s most stunning masterpiece yet. Even the slowest tortoise can defeat the quickest hare, and even the proudest hare can learn a timeless lesson from the most humble tortoise: Slow and steady wins the race! Here is a superbly rendered journey from starting line to finish that embodies the bravery, perseverance, and humility we can all find inside ourselves.


Click for more detail about The Perfect Marriage by Kimberla Lawson Roby The Perfect Marriage

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 10, 2013)
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Denise and Derrek Shaw are the perfect American couple. Happily married for fifteen years, they have a wonderful daughter, Mackenzie, successful careers, and a beautiful home in a posh Chicago suburb. They are attractive, respected … and hiding a shocking secret: a dangerous addiction to drugs.

It started innocently enough. Denise occasionally used prescription drugs to help her deal with the long hours and demanding nature of her job. Derrek, also under pressure at work, began using cocaine socially with some of his colleagues.

They can quit whenever they want to. At least, that’s what Denise would like to believe…

As her job becomes more stressful, Denise can no longer get through the day without a fix. Derrek realizes his harmless habit has become anything but, and desperately wants to get clean. However, his attempts are derailed when there is a sudden family tragedy. Once soul mates, now this husband and wife are quickly losing the immense love that had been the cornerstone of their marriage. With her parents spiraling out of control, Mackenzie makes an unexpected move to take matters into her own hands. Is her sacrifice too late-or is there still hope? Is there a final chance to save the Shaw family?


Click for more detail about Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song

by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jul 30, 2013)
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They were each born with the gift of gospel.

Martin’s voice kept people in their seats, but also sent their praises soaring.
Mahalia’s voice was brass-and-butter - strong and smooth at the same time.

With Martin’s sermons and Mahalia’s songs, folks were free to shout, to sing their joy.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and his strong voice and powerful message were joined and lifted in song by world-renowned gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. It was a moment that changed the course of history and is imprinted in minds forever. Told through Andrea Davis Pinkney’s poetic prose and Brian Pinkney’s evocative illustration, the stories of these two powerful voices and lives are told side-by-side — as they would one day walk — following the journey from their youth to a culmination at this historical event when they united as one and inspiring kids to find their own voices and speak up for what is right.


Click for more detail about Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove by Questlove and Ben Greenman Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove

by Questlove and Ben Greenman
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 18, 2013)
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Mo’ Meta Blues is a punch-drunk memoir in which Everyone’s Favorite Questlove tells his own story while tackling some of the lates, the greats, the fakes, the philosophers, the heavyweights, and the true originals of the music world. He digs deep into the album cuts of his life and unearths some pivotal moments in black art, hip hop, and pop culture.

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is many things: virtuoso drummer, producer, arranger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon bandleader, DJ, composer, and tireless Tweeter. He is one of our most ubiquitous cultural tastemakers, and in this, his first book, he reveals his own formative experiences—from growing up in 1970s West Philly as the son of a 1950s doo-wop singer, to finding his own way through the music world and ultimately co-founding and rising up with the Roots, a.k.a., the last hip hop band on Earth. Mo’ Meta Blues also has some (many) random (or not) musings about the state of hip hop, the state of music criticism, the state of statements, as well as a plethora of run-ins with celebrities, idols, and fellow artists, from Stevie Wonder to KISS to D’Angelo to Jay-Z to Dave Chappelle to…you ever seen Prince roller-skate?!?

But Mo’ Meta Blues isn’t just a memoir. It’s a dialogue about the nature of memory and the idea of a post-modern black man saddled with some post-modern blues. It’s a book that questions what a book like Mo’ Meta Blues really is. It’s the side wind of a one-of-a-kind mind.

It’s a rare gift that gives as well as takes.

It’s a record that keeps going around and around.


Click for more detail about Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy by Maggie Anderson Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy

by Maggie Anderson
PublicAffairs (May 14, 2013)
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Maggie and John Anderson were successful African American professionals raising two daughters in a tony suburb of Chicago. But they felt uneasy over their good fortune. Most African Americans live in economically starved neighborhoods. Black wealth is about one tenth of white wealth, and black businesses lag behind businesses of all other racial groups in every measure of success. One problem is that black consumers—unlike consumers of other ethnicities— choose not to support black-owned businesses. At the same time, most of the businesses in their communities are owned by outsiders.On January 1, 2009 the Andersons embarked on a year-long public pledge to "buy black." They thought that by taking a stand, the black community would be mobilized to exert its economic might. They thought that by exposing the issues, Americans of all races would see that economically empowering black neighborhoods benefits society as a whole. Instead, blacks refused to support their own, and others condemned their experiment. Drawing on economic research and social history as well as her personal story, Maggie Anderson shows why the black economy continues to suffer and issues a call to action to all of us to do our part to reverse this trend.


Click for more detail about A House Divided (Reverend Curtis Black #10) by Kimberla Lawson Roby A House Divided (Reverend Curtis Black #10)

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (May 07, 2013)
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Kimberla Lawson Roby’s Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books

Life is close to perfect for the Reverend Curtis Black and his wife, Charlotte—except their son Matthew and his girlfriend, Racquel, are about to become parents at the tender age of eighteen. Even though Curtis and Charlotte wish Matthew could focus on Harvard instead of fatherhood, they are determined to welcome their new grandson with open arms. But for Charlotte, welcoming her future in-laws is another story. Try as she might, Charlotte can’t stand Racquel’s mother, Vanessa—and the feeling appears to be mutual.

When the tension between Charlotte and Vanessa finally erupts, the stress sends an already-fragile Racquel into early labor. Everyone is quick to blame Charlotte, including Matthew and Curtis. That her own husband would side with someone else infuriates Charlotte and strains the relationship they’ve only recently been able to repair. Her one ally is Racquel’s father, but that brings problems of its own.

While Charlotte schemes against Vanessa, Curtis is consumed with his own concerns about Deliverance Outreach. A mysterious figure from his past has been sending Curtis cryptic messages threatening to take away Curtis’s coveted position as senior pastor and destroy everything he has worked so hard for. But who could hate Curtis that much? And how can he fight an enemy he can’t even name?

Times of trouble are descending upon the Black family in more ways than one. Will they be able to overcome their challenges and stand together against someone who could take it all away? Or is the Black family finally out of miracles?


Click for more detail about Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes Sugar

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 07, 2013)
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Sugar recieved the 2014 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award

Ten-year-old Sugar lives on the River Road sugar plantation along the banks of the Mississippi. Slavery is over, but laboring in the fields all day doesn’t make her feel very free. Thankfully, Sugar has a knack for finding her own fun, especially when she joins forces with forbidden friend Billy, the white plantation owner’s son.

Sugar has always yearned to learn more about the world, and she sees her chance when Chinese workers are brought in to help harvest the cane. The older River Road folks feel threatened, but Sugar is fascinated. As she befriends young Beau and elder Master Liu, they introduce her to the traditions of their culture, and she, in turn, shares the ways of plantation life. Sugar soon realizes that she must be the one to bridge the cultural gap and bring the community together. Here is a story of unlikely friendships and how they can change our lives forever.

From Jewell Parker Rhodes, the author of Ninth Ward (a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and a Today show Al’s Book Club for Kids pick), here’s another tale of a strong, spirited young girl who rises beyond her circumstances and inspires others to work toward a brighter future.


Click for more detail about The Woman He Loved Before by Dorothy Koomson The Woman He Loved Before

by Dorothy Koomson
Grand Central Publishing (May 01, 2013)
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Libby has a nice life with a great job, a gorgeous husband and a big home by the sea. But she’s becoming more unsure of Jack’s feelings for her - and if he is over the mysterious death of Eve, his first wife.

When fate intervenes in their relationship, Libby decides to find out all she can about the man she hastily married and the seemingly perfect Eve.

Eventually Libby stumbles across some startling truths about Eve. As she begins to unearth more and more devastating secrets, Libby becomes frightened that she too will end up like the first woman Jack loved…


Click for more detail about Mystery Writers of America Presents the Mystery Box by Brad Meltzer Mystery Writers of America Presents the Mystery Box

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 30, 2013)
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There’s nothing more mysterious than a locked box. Whether it’s a literal strongbox, an empty coffin, the inner workings of a scientist’s mind, or an underground prison cell, there are those who will use any means necessary to unlock the secrets of…The Mystery Box.

With this anthology, bestselling author Brad Meltzer introduces twenty-one original stories from today’s most prominent mystery writers. In Laura Lippman’s "Waco 1982," a young reporter stuck with a seemingly mundane assignment on lost-and-found boxes unwittingly discovers a dark crime. In Joseph Finder’s "Heirloom," a scheming neighbor frightens the new couple on the block with an unnerving tale of buried treasure. In R.L. Stine’s "High Stakes," a man on his honeymoon gets drawn into a bizarre bet involving a coffin—a bet he may pay for with his life.

From the foothills of Mount Fuji to Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp, from a physics laboratory in wartime Leipzig to an unusual fitness club in Boca Raton, these sometimes terrifying, sometimes funny, and always suspenseful tales will keep you riveted to the page.


Click for more detail about Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson Sister Mine

by Nalo Hopkinson
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 12, 2013)
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WINNER OF THE 2013 ANDRE NORTON NEBULA AWARD

Nalo Hopkinson—winner of the John W. Campbell Award, the Sunburst Award, and the World Fantasy award (among others), and lauded as one of our "most inventive and brilliant writers" (New York Post)—returns with a new work. With her singular voice and characteristic sharp insight, she explores the relationship between two sisters in this richly textured and deeply moving novel …

SISTER MINE

We’d had to be cut free of our mother’s womb. She’d never have been able to push the two-headed sport that was me and Abby out the usual way. Abby and I were fused, you see. Conjoined twins. Abby’s head, torso, and left arm protruded from my chest. But here’s the real kicker; Abby had the magic, I didn’t. Far as the Family was concerned, Abby was one of them, though cursed, as I was, with the tragic flaw of mortality.

Now adults, Makeda and Abby still share their childhood home. The surgery to separate the two girls gave Abby a permanent limp, but left Makeda with what feels like an even worse deformity: no mojo. The daughters of a celestial demigod and a human woman, Makeda and Abby were raised by their magical father, the god of growing things—a highly unusual childhood that made them extremely close. Ever since Abby’s magical talent began to develop, though, in the form of an unearthly singing voice, the sisters have become increasingly distant.

Today, Makeda has decided it’s high time to move out and make her own life among the other nonmagical, claypicken humans—after all, she’s one of them. In Cheerful Rest, a run-down warehouse space, Makeda finds exactly what she’s been looking for: an opportunity to live apart from Abby and begin building her own independent life. There’s even a resident band, led by the charismatic (and attractive) building superintendent.

But when her father goes missing, Makeda will have to discover her own talent—and reconcile with Abby—if she’s to have a hope of saving him …


Click for more detail about The Ex-Wife by Candice Dow The Ex-Wife

by Candice Dow
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 29, 2013)
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Click for more detail about The Man In 3B by Carl Weber The Man In 3B

by Carl Weber
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 29, 2013)
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Daryl Graham has just moved into a Jamaica, Queens, apartment building and his neighbors, both male and female alike, can’t stop talking about him. From his extreme attractiveness to his undeniable swag, Daryl is the man every woman wants and every man wants to be.

Connie, an unhappy wife, turns to Daryl for help losing weight, hoping to fix her marriage. But when Daryl starts making Connie feel beautiful again, she questions whether her marriage is worth saving. Benny, a spoiled teenager raised by a single father, looks up to Daryl. When an unexpected event occurs, Benny is left questioning everything he’s ever known to be true. Krystal, Daryl’s first love, wants to make things work with her current boyfriend. Yet having Daryl back in her life sends her happy home spiraling out of control. And Avery, Connie’s husband, doesn’t care about anything or anyone when a financial opportunity comes his way-that is, until he notices how much time his wife is spending with their new neighbor.

Everything seems to be going well, until someone is murdered, and everyone becomes a prime suspect.


Click for more detail about Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer Fifth Assassin

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 15, 2013)
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From John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, there have been more than two dozen assassination attempts on the President of the United States.
Four have been successful.
But now, Beecher White—the hero of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Inner Circle—discovers a killer in Washington, D.C., who’s meticulously re-creating the crimes of these four men. Historians have branded them as four lone wolves. But what if they were wrong?
Beecher is about to discover the truth: that during the course of a hundred years, all four assassins were secretly working together. What was their purpose? For whom do they really work? And why are they planning to kill the current President?
Beecher’s about to find out. And most terrifyingly, he’s about to come face-to-face with the fifth assassin.


Click for more detail about Fifty Cents And A Dream: Young Booker T. Washington by Jabari Asim Fifty Cents And A Dream: Young Booker T. Washington

by Jabari Asim
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Dec 04, 2012)
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Booker dreamed
of making friends with words,
setting free the secrets
that lived in books.

Born into slavery, young Booker T. Washington could only dream of learning to read and write. After emancipation, Booker began a five-hundred-mile journey, mostly on foot, to Hampton Institute, taking his first of many steps towards a college degree. When he arrived, he had just fifty cents in his pocket and a dream about to come true. The young slave who once waited outside of the schoolhouse would one day become a legendary educator of freedmen.

Award-winning artist Bryan Collier captures the hardship and the spirit of one of the most inspiring figures in American history, bringing to life Booker T. Washington’s journey to learn, to read, and to realize a dream.


Click for more detail about Alibi Ii: Nard’s Revenge by Teri Woods Alibi Ii: Nard’s Revenge

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 13, 2012)
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ALIBI II picks up where ALIBI left off. The year is 2006 and Diane Praeliou is happily married and living on a horse ranch in Arizona when she receives a letter that threatens her entire world. Someone knows her true identity.

In 1986, Daisy was given a second chance at life when she received a new identity and a fresh start as a college student in Arizona courtesy of the witness protection program.

Nard wasn’t so lucky. He was sentenced to twenty years to life in a western Pennsylvania facility and has endured things that no man should ever have to endure. All Nard can think about is Daisy’s testimony and how much he wants revenge.

Diane goes on living life, finding love, and getting married until things slowly begin to spiral out of control. What makes matters worse is now Nard is out on parole and Diane is afraid for herself and her family. Feigning innocence, Diane can only turn to one person for help. But if she doesn’t come clean about her past secrets, her entire world can come crashing down and there will be no one to protect her.


Click for more detail about Shattered by Kia DuPree Shattered

by Kia DuPree
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 23, 2012)
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Kiki’s world is turned upside down when her partially deaf mother loses custody of her children, sending Kiki and her siblings into foster care. After running away with a friend, the two run straight into the arms of a pedophile in disguise, who lures the two girls into a life far too mature for their twelve-year-old minds. Held in captivity for months, the girls are finally set free when a neighbor exposes them. But what should have been a happy moment for Kiki actually sends her on a life path that quickly spirals out of control.


Click for more detail about Feminist Ryan Gosling: Feminist Theory (as Imagined) from Your Favorite Sensitive Movie Dude by Danielle Henderson Feminist Ryan Gosling: Feminist Theory (as Imagined) from Your Favorite Sensitive Movie Dude

by Danielle Henderson
Running Press Adults (Aug 14, 2012)
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Based on the popular blog of the same name, Feminist Ryan Gosling pairs swoon-worthy photos of the sensitive, steamy actor with feminist theories to the delight of women (and more than a few of their mothers) everywhere.

What started as a silly way for blogger Danielle Henderson and her classmates to keep track of the feminist theorists they were studying in class quickly turned into an overnight sensation. Packed with 100+ photos and captions throughout — including the best "Hey girl" lines from the blog and 80 percent brand-new material — this book is a must-have for feminists and fans of the actor alike. What more could a girl want? You know, besides gender equality and all that.


Click for more detail about Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt

by Chris Hedges
Bold Type Books (Jun 12, 2012)
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Two years ago, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges and award-winning cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco set out to take a look at the sacrifice zones, those areas in America that have been offered up for exploitation in the name of profit, progress, and technological advancement. They wanted to show in words and drawings what life looks like in places where the marketplace rules without constraints, where human beings and the natural world are used and then discarded to maximize profit. Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt is the searing account of their travels.
The book starts in the western plains, where Native Americans were sacrificed in the giddy race for land and empire. It moves to the old manufacturing centers and coal fields that fueled the industrial revolution, but now lie depleted and in decay. It follows the steady downward spiral of American labor into the nation’s produce fields and ends in Zuccotti Park where a new generation revolts against a corporate state that has handed to the young an economic, political, cultural and environmental catastrophe.


Click for more detail about To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal To Be Sung Underwater

by Tom McNeal
Little, Brown and Company (Jun 05, 2012)
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Judith Whitman always believed in the kind of love that "picks you up in Akron and sets you down in Rio." Long ago, she once experienced that love. Willy Blunt was a carpenter with a dry wit and a steadfast sense of honor. Marrying him seemed like a natural thing to promise. But Willy Blunt was not a person you could pick up in Nebraska and transport to Stanford. When Judith left home, she didn’t look back.

Twenty years later, Judith’s marriage is hazy with secrets. In her hand is what may be the phone number for the man who believed she meant it when she said she loved him. If she called, what would he say?

TO BE SUNG UNDERWATER is the epic love story of a woman trying to remember, and the man who could not even begin to forget.


Click for more detail about The Reverend’ss Wife (Reverend Curtis Black #9) by Kimberla Lawson Roby The Reverend’ss Wife (Reverend Curtis Black #9)

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (May 01, 2012)
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Kimberla Lawson Roby’s Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books

From New York Times best-selling author Kimberla Lawson Roby comes the ninth installment in her award-winning Reverend Curtis Black series. It’s been months since Reverend Curtis learned that his wife Charlotte had affairs with two different men, and for now, heKimberla Lawson Roby continues to be cordial and respectful to her. But he’s also made it clear that once their son Matthew graduates high school, he will be filing for divorce.

Charlotte, on the other hand, continues to do everything possible to make amends in hopes of saving their marriage. Unfortunately, Curtis is ready to move on and is being propositioned by a woman who desperately wants to become the next Mrs. Curtis Black. When the situation heads down a path that is frighteningly shocking, could it be the final blow to this once blessed union?


Click for more detail about The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson The Ice Cream Girls

by Dorothy Koomson
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 24, 2012)
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As teenagers Poppy Carlisle and Serena Gorringe were the only witnesses to a high-profile murder. Amid heated public debate, the two seemingly glamorous teens were dubbed "The Ice Cream Girls" by the press and were dealt with by the courts-Poppy headed to prison after being convicted for murder and Serena was set free.

Years later, after having led very different lives, Poppy is keen to set the record straight about what really happened. The only problem is she has no one to turn to and no clue where to begin her hunt for Serena.

Meanwhile, Serena is married with children and wants no one in her present to find out about her past. Constantly looking over her shoulder, Serena knows she should come clean to her husband, however, she can’t seem to find the words.

With Poppy determined to salvage what’s left of her reputation, Serena may not have a choice in reopening a can of worms that may threaten both their lives…again.


Click for more detail about How Great Women Lead: A Mother-Daughter Adventure into the Lives of Women Shaping the World by Carol Ross How Great Women Lead: A Mother-Daughter Adventure into the Lives of Women Shaping the World

by Carol Ross
Center Street (Apr 24, 2012)
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In boardrooms and lecture halls, on the field and at home, strong female leaders are making a statement around the globe. In HOW GREAT WOMEN LEAD Bonnie St. John and her teenage daughter, Darcy Deane, explore the qualities that motivate some of the world’s most powerful women. Through engaging, out-of-the-spotlight interchanges, the authors discover commonly held values, behaviors, and attitudes, as well as the subtle, special skills inherent in female leaders.

From the ethics of Dr. Condoleeza Rice to the fortitude of Hillary Rodham Clinton to the enthusiasm of Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp and the discipline of Geena Davis, each woman in this book shares the exciting story of her rise to the top and the unique qualities it took to get there.


Click for more detail about Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes Ninth Ward

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Apr 10, 2012)
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Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. She doesn’t have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like the other kids on her street. But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya’s visions show a powerful hurricane—Katrina—fast approaching, it’s up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm.

Ninth Ward is a celebration of resilience, love, family, and friendship, and a deeply emotional story of transformation.

Honors for Ninth Ward:

  • 2011 Coretta Scott King Honor Author Award
  • 2010 Parents Choice Foundation Gold Award
  • 2010 Al Roker "Today Show" Book Club Selection Best Fiction of 2010, School Library Journal
  • 2011 Jane Adams Honor Book Award for Older Children (Jane Adams Peace Association)
  • 2011 International Reading Association Notable Books for a Global Society
  • 2011-2012 The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award, Master List Finalist, Best Fiction for Middle Grade Readers, Goodreads.com

 

The Real Ninth Ward:
The Ninth Ward or 9th Ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana that is located in the easternmost downriver portion of the city. It is geographically the largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans. The 9th Ward neighborhood was thrust into the nation’s spotlight during Hurricane Katrina. Much of the 9th Ward on both sides of the Industrial Canal experienced catastrophic flooding in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The majority of the damage was caused by storm surge. There were multiple severe levee breaks along both the MRGO and the Industrial Canal.


Click for more detail about Rebuild The Dream by Van Jones Rebuild The Dream

by Van Jones
Bold Type Books (Apr 03, 2012)
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In Rebuild the Dream, green economy pioneer Van Jones reflects on his journey from grassroots outsider to White House insider. For the first time, he shares intimate details of his time in government – and reveals why he chose to resign his post as a special advisor to the Obama White House.Jones puts his hard-won lessons to good use, proposing a powerful game plan to restore hope, fix our democracy and renew the American Dream. The American Dream means different things to people, but the center of gravity is always the same: an ordinary person—who was not born with great wealth, but who is willing to work hard and play by the rules—should be able to find employment, live in a good community, make progress financially, retire with dignity, and give his or her children a better life. That dream is fading. On Main Street, too many people are working harder than ever – while falling further behind. They play by the rules, but cannot succeed. At the same time, other Americans, including the worst of Wall Street, break every rule, but cannot fail – because someone has already decided that they are “too big” to fail. The American Dream has been turned upside down and inside out. It is time to set things right. As the first Obama administration official to write a book about his experiences, Jones offers a unique perspective. In explaining why the 2008 “hope” bubble burst, he unveils the seven biggest mistakes made by the White House and its supporters. He explores the origin and fate of the movements that helped to elect President Obama, as well as those that have challenged and shaped his presidency. Along the way, Jones systematically reveals surprising parallels between Obama’s people-powered campaign, the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. At this pivotal moment, Jones argues that we must make our economy respect the 99% and work for the 100%, not just the 1%. He proposes serious solutions that fit the scale of our problems. Rebuild the Dream sets forth bold ideas inspired by the progressive values that made the twentieth century the “American Century.” It shows how key public policies and investments can create millions of good, American jobs. America is still the best idea in the world. The American middle class is still her greatest invention. Rebuild the Dream is dedicated to the proposition that – with the right strategy– both can be preserved and strengthened for generations to come.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Bird In A Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney Bird In A Box

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Feb 14, 2012)
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In a small upstate New York town during the Great Depression, three children—Hibernia, Willie, and Otis—are about to meet.
Hibernia dreams of becoming a famous singer and performing at Harlem’s swanky Savoy Ballroom.Willie is recovering from a tragedy that prevents him from becoming a junior boxing champ.Otis spends every night glued to the radio, listening to the voices that remind him of Daddy and Ma.
Each of them is looking for hope, and they all find it in the thrilling boxing matches of young Joe Louis. They know Joe has a good chance of becoming the country’s next heavyweight champion. What they don’t know is that during this unforgettable year, the three of them will become friends.


Click for more detail about Passing Love by Jacqueline E. Luckett Passing Love

by Jacqueline E. Luckett
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 25, 2012)
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Nicole-Marie Handy has loved all things French since she was a child. After the death of her best friend, determined to get out of her rut of ordinary living and experience something new, she goes to Paris, leaving behind work, ailing parents and a proposal from her married lover. While there, Nicole chances upon an old photo of her father—lovingly inscribed, in his hand, to a woman Nicole has never heard of.

What starts as a vacation for Nicole quickly becomes an investigation into her relationship to this mystery woman. Moving back and forth in time between the sparkling Paris of today and the jazz-fueled city filled with expatriates in the 1950s, PASSING LOVE is the story of two women dealing with love lost, secrets, and betrayal … and how the City of Lights may hold all of the answers.


Click for more detail about Brothers (and Me): A Memoir of Loving and Giving by Donna Britt Brothers (and Me): A Memoir of Loving and Giving

by Donna Britt
Little, Brown and Company (Dec 08, 2011)
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· Donna Britt has always been surrounded by men-her father, three brothers, two husbands, three sons, countless friends. She learned to give to them at an early age. But after her beloved brother Darrell’s senseless killing by police 30 years ago, she began giving more, unconsciously seeking to help other men the way she couldn’t help Darrell. BROTHERS (AND ME) navigates Britt’s life through her relationships with men-resulting in a tender, funny and heartbreaking exploration of universal issues of gender and race. It asks: Why, for so long, did Britt-like millions of seemingly self-aware women-rarely put herself first? With attuned storytelling and hard-wrought introspection, Britt finds that even the sharpest woman may need reminding that giving to others requires giving to oneself.


Click for more detail about I Didn’t Ask To Be Born: (But I’m Glad I Was) by Bill Cosby I Didn’t Ask To Be Born: (But I’m Glad I Was)

by Bill Cosby
Center Street (Nov 01, 2011)
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In this hilarious collection of observations, Cosby brings us more of his wonderful and wacky insights into the human condition that are sure to become classics. In the tradition of Fat Albert, I DIDN’T ASK TO BE BORN offers a host of new characters, including Peanut Armhouse and Old Mother Harold. Not since Mushmouth, Dumb Donald, Bucky and the Cosby Kids has there been such a memorable cast.

Over the past century few entertainers have achieved the legendary status of William H. Cosby Jr. His success spans five decades and virtually all media-remarkable accomplishments for a kid who emerged from humble beginnings in a Philly housing project.

In the tradition of his bestselling books, Fatherhood and Cosbyology, the doctor of comedy holds forth on everything from first love to the Bible. Bill Cosby may not have asked to be born, but we’re sure glad he was.


Click for more detail about Silenced by Kia DuPree Silenced

by Kia DuPree
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 18, 2011)
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One of the hottest new writers in urban fiction, award-winning author Kia DuPree has been hailed for her heart-wrenching storytelling and unforgettable characters. Now she takes you to Washington, D.C.’s most notorious neighborhood, where a young woman has one chance to escape-and too many ways to lose …

SILENCED

She gets lost in the fantasy of books and poetry. But in Tinka Hampton’s all-too-real world, her mother Nicola has lost her job and is struggling to stop her family’s fall into poverty. With her sons turning to drug dealing-and worse-Nicola wants better things for her daughter. Yet the more pressure she puts on Tinka to do everything right, the more she drives her away … straight into the arms of Nine, a man as irresistible as he is lethal. Now Nicola must make unimaginable choices that will put Tinka at a dangerous crossroads. Will standing up for her seemingly impossible dreams be her way out-or will they trap her on D.C.’s merciless streets forever?


Click for more detail about Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by Jerry Pinkney Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 03, 2011)
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One of the most acclaimed children’s book illustrators of our time now takes his legendary skill with watercolor to new heights in this lavish visual adventure. As a curious little chipmunk leaves his nest to greet the twilight, he gazes at the glittering sky above him. He can’t help but also notice the sparkling dewdrops on a spider’s web, the lights of the fireflies, and the shimmers of moonlight on the water. "How I wonder what you are!" marvels the tiny creature, launching a dreamlike quest to reach for the stars.

Inspired by one of our most popular children’s lullabies, Jerry Pinkney’s gentle world—where the loving arms of nature embrace us despite darkness or uncertainty—is perfect for easing little ones into dreamland.


Click for more detail about Secret Obsession by Kimberla Lawson Roby Secret Obsession

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 06, 2011)
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Paige Donahue has always lived in her sister Camille’s shadow. As children, Camille had the grades, the friends, and their parents’ love, while Paige was left with hand-me-downs and criticism. Now as adults, Camille lives an idyllic life with her husband, Pierce, and her two perfect children in a beautiful home, while Paige is stuck in a small condo with bills she can’t afford to pay. But no more. With seeds of doubt planted in both Camille’s and Pierce’s minds, Paige’s plan to steal her brother-in law starts to work. But when he reveals his decision to make his marriage work, a desperate Paige moves from envy to madness. What results from her dangerous scheme is something no one could have imagined.


Click for more detail about Love, Honor, and Betray  (Reverend Curtis Black #8) by Kimberla Lawson Roby Love, Honor, and Betray (Reverend Curtis Black #8)

by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 10, 2011)
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Kimberla Lawson Roby’s Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series, July 2018 After 15 Books


Tabitha, Curtis’s long-time mistress and mother of his illegitimate two-year-old child, Curtina, has died, and Curtina must now move in with them permanently. Charlotte is mortified. Curtis, on the other hand, couldn’t be happier to finally have his entire family together. Charlotte begins to resent Curtina more than ever before. Curtis quickly notices and when he finally confronts her about her cruel and selfish behavior, Charlotte makes it very clear that Curtina is his baby, not hers.

Charlotte begins spending more time away from home and after a chance meeting, begins hanging out with Michael Porter, an old boyfriend she’d dated briefly just before reconnecting with Curtis eight years ago. During this same period, Curtis is very focused on the new and much larger church they are building, but he is also having to fight his own battles with temptation: at least three of his female parishioners are trying with all their might to lure him into bed.

Curtis and Charlotte find themselves slipping into the worst scenario imaginable, and no amount of money, not even the seven figures Curtis earns annually, will be enough to prevent it from happening.


Click for more detail about Off the Chain by Candice Dow Off the Chain

by Candice Dow
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 30, 2011)
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London Reed’s dreams of becoming a veterinarian are spoiled when she isn’t accepted to veterinarian school. Instead, she decides to start a dog walking service, but her high-powered mother thinks the job is beneath her and gets London a job working for the sexy William Thorne, a senior investment banker with a multi-million dollar portfolio.

Several months later, budget cuts force Thorne to fire London but not before making her an offer she can’t refuse; have sex with him for money. One date turns into an ongoing affair and Thorne lets London in on a little secret—he’s been running a call-girl service for over fifteen years and claims it makes so much money he’s become addicted. London shortly finds herself enjoying the life of a high-priced call girl and when Thorne’s wife becomes terminally ill, she takes over the service.

Everything is going great until an unexpected magazine article surfaces forcing London to make a decision: expose her clients or go to jail.


Click for more detail about Money Can’t Buy Love by Connie Briscoe Money Can’t Buy Love

by Connie Briscoe
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 27, 2011)
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Lenora Stone used to say if she didn’t have bad luck, she wouldn’t have any luck at all. At age thirty-eight, instead of socializing with Baltimore’s A-list, she photographs them for Baltimore Scene, a glossy magazine filled with beautiful people who, unlike Lenora, never have to worry about car trouble and overdue bills. As much as she’d love to slam the door on her overbearing boss, quitting isn’t an option. She’s barely making her mortgage payments and, though her condo might not be a palace, it’s hers. Lately even things with her boyfriend Gerald haven’t been right. They’ve been together for three years but he can’t seem to ask the one question she’s been waiting for. But what Lenora doesn’t know is that her luck is about to change…

Just when she thinks things can’t get worse, Lenora wins the jackpot in the Maryland lottery. In a heartbeat, all her dreams become possible. She quits her job and indulges her every desire-starting with a shiny, silver BMW and a million-dollar mansion. Gerald is finally ready to put a ring on her finger and the city’s most exclusive women’s group is dying for her to join, officially moving Lenora from behind the lens, into the limelight. But in Lenora’s lavish new world, all that glitters definitely isn’t gold. Her old friend’s are concerned about her sudden changes, and Ray, a sexy, young landscaper Lenora covered for the magazine is looking for more than a purely professional relationship.

As her life starts to come together, the things Lenora holds dear begin to fall apart. Has her world really changed for the better, or does fortune come with a heavy price?


Click for more detail about Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell Outliers: The Story of Success

by Malcolm Gladwell
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 07, 2011)
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There is a story that is usually told about extremely successful people, a story that focuses on intelligence and ambition. Gladwell argues that the true story of success is very different, and that if we want to understand how some people thrive, we should spend more time looking around them, at such things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth date. And in revealing that hidden logic, Gladwell presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential. In The Tipping Point Gladwell changed the way we understand the world. In Blink he changed the way we think about thinking. In OUTLIERS he transforms the way we understand success.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Dutch III: International Gangster by Teri Woods Dutch III: International Gangster

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (May 25, 2011)
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It’s one month before Dutch’s trial for what the media has deemed "the Month of Murder," Roc and Angel are locked up, and Craze is now the commander in charge. After coming into contact with Joseph Odouwo, Kazami’s very rich and powerful relative, Craze is immediately on alert. However, Odouwo has other plans that may put all of their lives at risk. Craze can’t resist a stake in Odouwo’s very successful billion-dollar diamond trade, and reluctantly takes Odouwo up on his offer, hoping that he didn’t make a decision he will soon regret.


Click for more detail about When Bob Met Woody: The Story Of The Young Bob Dylan by Gary Golio When Bob Met Woody: The Story Of The Young Bob Dylan

by Gary Golio
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 03, 2011)
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"Hey hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song…"

When Bob finished, Woody’s face lit up like the sun.

Bob Dylan is a musical icon, an American legend, and, quite simply, a poet. But before he became Bob Dylan, he was Bob Zimmerman, a kid from rural Minnesota.

This lyrical and gorgeously illustrated picture book biography follows Bob as he renames himself after his favorite poet, Dylan Thomas, and leaves his mining town to pursue his love of music in New York City. There, he meets his folk music hero and future mentor, Woody Guthrie, changing his life forever.


Click for more detail about Twelve Steps Toward Political Revelation by Walter Mosley Twelve Steps Toward Political Revelation

by Walter Mosley
Bold Type Books (Apr 26, 2011)
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In his late teens and early twenties, Walter Mosley was addicted to alcohol and cigarettes. Drawing from this intimate knowledge of addiction and recovery, Mosley explores the deviances of contemporary America and describes a society in thrall to its own consumption. Although Americans live in the richest country on earth, many citizens exist on the brink of poverty, and from that profound economic inequality stems self-destructive behavior.In Twelve Steps to Political Revelation, Mosley outlines a guide to recovery from oppression. First we must identify the problems that surround us. Next we must actively work together to create a just, more holistic society. And finally, power must be returned to the embrace of the people.Challenging and original, Recovery confronts both self-understanding and how we define ourselves in relation to others.


Click for more detail about Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind by Joyce Meyer Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

by Joyce Meyer
FaithWords (Apr 13, 2011)
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In celebration of selling 3 million copies, FaithWords is publishing a special updated edition of BATTLEFIELD OF THE MIND.

Worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger and feelings of condemnation: all these are attacks on the mind. If readers suffer from negative thoughts, they can take heart! Joyce Meyer has helped millions win these all-important battles. In her most popular bestseller ever, the beloved author and minister shows readers how to change their lives by changing their minds.

She teaches how to deal with thousands of thoughts that people think every day and how to focus the mind the way God thinks. And she shares the trials, tragedies, and ultimate victories from her own marriage, family, and ministry that led her to wondrous, life-transforming truth—and reveals her thoughts and feelings every step of the way.

This special updated edition includes an additional introduction and updated content throughout the book.


Click for more detail about Sixty-Nine by Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk) Sixty-Nine

by Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk)
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 25, 2011)
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It’s New Year’s Eve 2008, and best friends Magnolia Butler, Rebe Richardson, and Darla Clark, all born in 1969, are about to turn the dreaded 4-0 in January 2009. Magnolia, a New Year’s Day baby, is childless, and always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Rebe, the mother of a college-aged daughter named Trinity, has just gone through a divorce from a man whose sexual appetite far exceeded her desires and abilities. Darla is also a New Year’s Day baby, still mourning her husband’s death after five years. After way too many glasses of champagne, Rebe, challenges them to open their minds in a way they’d never done before, daring them to try something new…sexually. SIXTY-NINE is a liberating story about sisterhood and friendship, and about how past experiences and beliefs can influence one’s views about life and sex.


Click for more detail about No Matter What!: 9 Steps to Living the Life You Love by Lisa Nichols No Matter What!: 9 Steps to Living the Life You Love

by Lisa Nichols
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 22, 2011)
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From bestselling author and motivational speaker Lisa Nichols comes a unique and powerful inspirational program that will both move you and empower you to realize your dreams. Millions are trying to live by The Secret’s Law of Attraction, but the truth is it won’t work unless you flex your all-important "bounce-back" muscles, which give you the ability to successfully navigate life’s speed bumps.

By developing and toning her own bounce-back muscles at critical points in her life, Lisa found the power to become her authentic self and achieve everything she dared to hope for. Now, in NO MATTER WHAT, she offers a groundbreaking program that outlines these 9 Steps or "muscles", which include among others your Confidence, Faith-in-Myself, Honesty Out Loud and Forgiveness muscles, and explains how anyone can use them to achieve happiness and off-the-charts success. In this powerful guide Lisa Nichols introduces her dynamic plan, shares her own remarkable story, and prescribes specific exercises and action steps to inspire readers to learn from their past and move toward a courageous future.


Click for more detail about Harlem Is Nowhere: A Journey To The Mecca Of Black America by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts Harlem Is Nowhere: A Journey To The Mecca Of Black America

by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 26, 2011)
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“Most everything I write here is true and happened on or around Lenox Avenue. This is where I live now; if you stand at its center, the crossing at 125th Street, and look north and then south, you’ll see it come to a dead stop at both ends. It begins at the top of the park, where you can see the Harlem Meer, where I saw fireflies in summer and where each winter, I am told, teenagers drown trying to walk across the half-frozen ice. When I first moved here, to 120th Street, I was happy to be close to this secret, manmade lake, with its Dutch name, Haarlem Meer, the Lake of Harlem. Lenox Avenue begins there at 110th Street and ends up at 149th Street or so; I have never been to the very end of it. At the end a bridge goes over the Harlem River and then suddenly it is the Bronx. The Harlem River is not a real river, just as the Harlem Meer is not a sea or even a real lake, and Lenox Avenue is technically Sixth Avenue. Downtown it is called Avenue of the Americas before it runs into the south end of the park, and up town it is called Malcolm X Boulevard, but only by the kind of person who insists on calling Bombay Mumbai or Calcutta Kolkata. They would also feel the need to call Eighth Avenue, Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Seventh Avenue, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Boulevard. One Hundred Twenty-Fifth Street is also called Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, but I’ve never heard anyone insist upon it. I don’t call any of these by their second names. The point is that Lenox Avenue doesn’t go anywhere, and yet it is thought to be the most important thoroughfare of the most important place for black people in America, if not the world.”Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts

"No geographic or racial qualification guarantees a writer her subject….Only interest, knowledge, and love will do that—all of which this book displays in abundance." (Zadie Smith, Harper’s)

A finalist for the 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

For a century Harlem has been celebrated as the capital of black America, a thriving center of cultural achievement and political action. At a crucial moment in Harlem’s history, as gentrification encroaches, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts untangles the myth and meaning of Harlem’s legacy. Examining the epic Harlem of official history and the personal Harlem that begins at her front door, Rhodes-Pitts introduces us to a wide variety of characters, past and present. At the heart of their stories, and her own, is the hope carried over many generations, hope that Harlem would be the ground from which blacks fully entered America’s democracy.

Rhodes-Pitts is a brilliant new voice who, like other significant chroniclers of places-Joan Didion on California, or Jamaica Kincaid on Antigua-captures the very essence of her subject.


Click for more detail about Searching For Tina Turner by Jacqueline E. Luckett Searching For Tina Turner

by Jacqueline E. Luckett
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 24, 2011)
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On the surface, Lena Spencer appears to have it all. She and her wealthy husband Randall have two wonderful children, and they live a life of luxury. In reality, however, Lena finds that happiness is elusive. Randall is emotionally distant, her son has developed a drug habit, and her daughter is disgusted by her mother’s "overbearing behavior." When Randall decides that he’s had enough of marriage counseling, he offers his wife an ultimatum: "Be grateful for all I’ve done for you or leave." Lena, realizing that money can’t solve her problems and that her husband is no longer the man she married, decides to choose the latter. Drawing strength from Tina Turner’s life story, SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER is Lena’s struggle to find herself after 25 years of being a wife and mother.


Click for more detail about The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer The Inner Circle

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 11, 2011)
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There are stories no one knows. Hidden stories. I love those stories. And since I work in the National Archives, I find those stories for a living.

Beecher White, a young archivist, spends his days working with the most important documents of the U.S. government. He has always been the keeper of other people’s stories, never a part of the story himself…

Until now.

When Clementine Kaye, Beecher’s first childhood crush, shows up at the National Archives asking for his help tracking down her long-lost father, Beecher tries to impress her by showing her the secret vault where the President of the United States privately reviews classified documents. After they accidentally happen upon a priceless artifact - a 200 hundred-year-old dictionary that once belonged to George Washington, hidden underneath a desk chair, Beecher and Clementine find themselves suddenly entangled in a web of deception, conspiracy, and murder.

Soon a man is dead, and Beecher is on the run as he races to learn the truth behind this mysterious national treasure. His search will lead him to discover a coded and ingenious puzzle that conceals a disturbing secret from the founding of our nation. It is a secret, Beecher soon discovers, that some believe is worth killing for.

Gripping, fast-paced, and filled with the fascinating historical detail for which he is famous, The Inner Circle is a thrilling novel that once again proves Brad Meltzer as a brilliant author writing at the height of his craft.


Click for more detail about True to the Game (True to the Game trilogy, Book 1) by Teri Woods True to the Game (True to the Game trilogy, Book 1)

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 01, 2010)
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True to the Game represents life on the streets, where it’s true that there’s no way out once you’re in, and everyone stays in forever.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, a young girl from the projects met Quadir, far from home, in the middle of Harlem. Now the story is told of how it all went down.

It’s the late 1980s, and Gena finds herself in true-blue love with Quadir, a millionaire associated with the cartel. Quadir is faced with combating the art of extortion and interception masterminded by the notorious Junior Mafia, which reigns from the inner-city streets of Philadelphia. Both Gena and Quadir find themselves caught up in the vicious yet seductive world of drugs and money, only to find that success in this game is no easy win. True to the Game represents life on the streets and is like no other story of its time. There’s no way out once you’re in, and everyone stays in forever… . True.


Click for more detail about The Golden Hustla by Wahida Clark The Golden Hustla

by Wahida Clark
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 19, 2010)
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Only New York Times bestselling author Wahida Clark could take street lit to the next level in this incendiary tale of a hustler facing a game more lethal than any ’hood …

THE GOLDEN HUSTLA

She’s the star sales associate of a profitable Atlanta "advertising" firm, WMM. She lives for top-of-the-line everything … and making enough money to finally reunite with her children. But Nina Coles is an ex-hood-rat in hiding. And no amount of paper can keep her safe from a ruthless FBI agent who’s determined to take down the shady company she works for. Now Nina’s vicious, greedy boss Rinaldo is defying the feds and endangering everyone to rack up several last scores. Her conniving ex-partner Akil is playing Nina against WMM and the mob to get his hands on the company’s multimillion-dollar stash. And sexy undercover cop Rick is proving to be one danger Nina can’t figure out-or get enough of. Between betrayal, lies, and murder, Nina must risk everything on one last deadly hustle that almost guarantees winner lose all …


Click for more detail about Death of the Liberal Class by Chris Hedges Death of the Liberal Class

by Chris Hedges
Bold Type Books (Oct 17, 2010)
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The liberal class plays a vital role in a democracy. It gives moral legitimacy to the state. It makes limited forms of dissent and incremental change possible. The liberal class posits itself as the conscience of the nation. It permits us, through its appeal to public virtues and the public good, to define ourselves as a good and noble people. Most importantly, on behalf of the power elite the liberal class serves as bulwarks against radical movements by offering a safety valve for popular frustrations and discontentment by discrediting those who talk of profound structural change. Once this class loses its social and political role then the delicate fabric of a democracy breaks down and the liberal class, along with the values it espouses, becomes an object of ridicule and hatred. The door that has been opened to proto-fascists has been opened by a bankrupt liberalism

The Death of the Liberal Class examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues there are five pillars of the liberal establishment – the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party— and that each of these institutions, more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress, sold out the constituents they represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.


Click for more detail about President of the Whole Fifth Grade by Sherri Winston President of the Whole Fifth Grade

by Sherri Winston
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 05, 2010)
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Start counting your votes … and your friends.
When Brianna Justice’s hero, the famous celebrity chef Miss Delicious, speaks at her school and traces her own success back to being president of her fifth grade class, Brianna determines she must do the same. She just knows that becoming president of her class is the first step toward her own cupcake-baking empire!

But when new student Jasmine Moon announces she is also running for president, Brianna learns that she may have more competition than she expected. Will Brianna be able to stick to her plan of working with her friends to win the election fairly? Or will she jump at the opportunity to steal votes from Jasmine by revealing an embarrassing secret?

This hilarious, heartfelt novel will appeal to any reader with big dreams, and the determination to achieve them.


Click for more detail about Is It Just Me?: Or Is It Nuts Out There? by Whoopi Goldberg Is It Just Me?: Or Is It Nuts Out There?

by Whoopi Goldberg
Hyperion (Oct 05, 2010)
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Have you noticed that things aren’t as civil as they once were Or that rudeness is no longer an exception but a lifestyle Sure you have. All you need to do is set foot outside your door to see that bad manners are taking over everywhere. People are yakking on cell phones in restaurants, even at church. Folks in carpools wear enough cologne to make our eyes bleed. Complete strangers think it’s OK to rub a pregnant lady’s belly. Passengers abuse flight attendants, family outings to the ball park are ruined by rowdy drunks … a congressman heckled the President of the United States.

Well, Whoopi Goldberg has noticed all this and more and asked herself, “Is it just me” Unleashing her trademark irreverence and humor, her new book of observations takes a funny and excruciatingly honest look at how a loss of civility is messing with the quality of life for all of us.

So if your pet peeve is folks who talk in movie theaters like it was their living room, or if you get bugged by people clipping their nails and performing other personal hygiene next to you on the bus, or if you cringe when “please” and “thank you” get replaced by “gimme” and “huh” … you have found a kindred spirit. Because Whoopi has witnessed the growing disrespect and rudeness in our lives and realized she is not alone. And, as you’ll discover in these pages, neither are you.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Dave The Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill Dave The Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

by Laban Carrick Hill
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 07, 2010)
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To us
it is just dirt,
the ground we walk on…
But to Dave
it was clay,
the plain and basic stuff
upon which he formed a life
as a slave nearly 200 years ago.

Dave was an extraordinary artist, poet, and potter living in South Carolina in the 1800s. He combined his superb artistry with deeply observant poetry, carved onto his pots, transcending the limitations he faced as a slave. In this inspiring and lyrical portrayal, National Book Award nominee Laban Carrick Hill’s elegantly simple text and award-winning artist Bryan Collier’s resplendent, earth-toned illustrations tell Dave’s story, a story rich in history, hope, and long-lasting beauty.

Dave was an extraordinary artist, poet, and potter living in South Carolina in the 1800s. He combined his superb artistry with deeply observant poetry, carved onto his pots, transcending the limitations he faced as a slave. In this inspiring and lyrical portrayal, National Book Award nominee Laban Carrick Hill’s elegantly simple text and award-winning artist Bryan Collier’s resplendent, earth-toned illustrations tell Dave’s story, a story rich in history, hope, and long-lasting beauty.


Click for more detail about The Vixen Manual: How to Find, Seduce & Keep the Man You Want by Karrine Steffans The Vixen Manual: How to Find, Seduce & Keep the Man You Want

by Karrine Steffans
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 26, 2010)
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Since she exploded on the scene with her two juicy and impossible-to-put-down tell-alls, readers have wanted to know even more about what makes Karrine Steffans tick. How was she able to meet all the high profile politicians, movie stars, and other celebrities that are her close acquaintances? What skills does she possess to keep men wanting more? Finally, Karrine lays it all out and explains exactly what a woman must do to win over the man of her dreams. With chapters like "Never Let Him See You Sweat," "Flirting," "Encouraging His Manhood," and "Give Him What He Wants," this hot and sexy manual is a must-have for every woman’s bookshelf.


Click for more detail about Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes Ninth Ward

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Aug 16, 2010)
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Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. She doesn’t have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like the other kids on her street. But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya’s visions show a powerful hurricane—Katrina—fast approaching, it’s up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm.

Ninth Ward is a deeply emotional story about transformation and a celebration of resilience, friendship, and family—as only love can define it.


Click for more detail about The Secrets Of Newberry by Victor McGlothin The Secrets Of Newberry

by Victor McGlothin
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 21, 2010)
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Two lifelong friends are about to discover the hard side of life in The Big Easy after a heinous crime is committed …

THE SECRETS OF NEWBERRY

1950s New Orleans couldn’t be sweeter for Ivory "Bones" Arcineaux and Hampton Bynote. Friends since meeting at an illegal gambling house outside Newberry, Louisiana, they indulge themselves with all the fine women, good food, and wild nights they can handle. All seems good in N’awlins-especially for Hampton, who plans to make a clean break from riotous living after falling for the woman of his dreams, classy Magnolia Holiday. But the love of a good woman may not be enough to pull Hampton from the brink of disaster when his pal Bones murders a white city councilman during a simple robbery gone wrong.

Now with the local police and FBI hot on their trails, Hampton and Bones must decide whether friendship is worth losing their freedom-and possibly their lives.



"McGlothin creates a sizzling slice of life in 1947 … He weaves convincing historical elements into a fast-moving caper."

-Publishers Weekly on Ms. Etta’s Fast House

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Knight Life: The Knight Life: "Chivalry Ain’t Dead"

by Keith Knight
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 09, 2010)
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The Knight Life is a hilariously twisted view of life through the eyes and pen of its creator, community-oriented urban hipster and award-winning cartoonist Keith Knight. The Knight Life deftly blends political insight and neurotic humor in a uniquely fluid and dynamic style, offering a comic strip that’s fresh, sharp, topical and funny. Designed for daily newspapers, The Knight Life follows Knight’s long-running, 2007 Harvey Award-winning weekly comic strip "The K Chronicles," which appears on salon.com.

An unabashedly provocative political and social satire, The Knight Life tackles contemporary issues like consumer culture, bacon, the media, race, family and everything else, gently mocking the minutiae of daily life with self-deprecating humor, honesty and goofiness-a combination that’s perfect for the comics. And The Knight Life’s energetic style reminds readers that comics can look funny as well as read funny. The result is accessible yet edgy, compassionate and political-and never preachy. Cartoonist and comic historian R.C. Harvey said, "The Knight Life is undeniably the best new laugh- and thought-provoker on the comics page. Not since Calvin and Hobbes has there been so novel an entertainment in the funnies."


Click for more detail about Alibi by Teri Woods Alibi

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 08, 2010)
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Two men think they’ve found the perfect opportunity—a chance to rob the stash house of Simon Shuller, one of Philadelphia’s biggest drug lords. But their plans are spoiled when one of Shuller’s men catches them as they break into the stash house. Temperatures flare as the men capture Shuller’s worker, Poncho, and force him to show them the goods. What they didn’t expect was for Poncho’s partner to be armed and very dangerous. An altercation breaks out and when the smoke clears, Nard, Poncho’s accomplice, is the only one left standing. Thinking quickly, Nard cleans shop and makes his escape, but not before being spotted by a few neighbors. Not wanting to kill anyone else, he makes a mad dash for the streets but wonders if the witnesses will give up his identity. What he needs now is a plausible alibi. If he doesn’t come up with one fast, it could mean life in prison, or death on the streets.


Click for more detail about What’s Really Hood!: A Collection Of Tales From The Streets by Wahida Clark What’s Really Hood!: A Collection Of Tales From The Streets

by Wahida Clark
Grand Central Publishing (May 24, 2010)
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Life in the streets take on a whole new meaning in this urban anthology of "hood" tales compiled by New York Times bestselling author Wahida Clark

WHAT’S REALLY HOOD!

Black Is Blue by Victor L. Martin delves into the life of a corporate woman who falls in love with a thug and finds out just how easy it is to stray from the straight and narrow.

Eighteen and hungry Wiz’s only addiction to drugs is the money it made. But Crystal changed all of that and shows him just how powerful a woman can be in The P is Free by LaShonda Teague.

In The Last Laugh by Bonta, Bobo, a member of the infamous Eight-Trey street gang, learns that gang life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be as "street wars" take on a whole new meaning.

Shawn "Jihad" Trump tells the story of loyalty, love and honor, when The Point Blank Mob is brought to its knees leaving the crew fighting for their lives and freedom in All for Nothing.

And New York Times bestselling author, Wahida Clark, introduces Nina, a woman tired of being disrespected by men who takes revenge to the ultimate level in Makin’ Endz Meet.


Click for more detail about Put On Your Crown: Life-Changing Moments On The Path To Queendom by Queen Latifah Put On Your Crown: Life-Changing Moments On The Path To Queendom

by Queen Latifah
Grand Central Publishing (May 06, 2010)
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Modeled after Maria Shriver’s Just Who Will You Be, Queen Latifah’s goal with Put On Your Crown is to help young women build a strong sense of self-esteem. A US Dept. of Justice survey found that females ages 16-24 are more vulnerable to partner violence than any other group, almost triple the national average. Cases like Chris Brown’s assault on pop star Rihanna showed an ugly side of adolescent life. However, Queen Latifah has always been a shining example of a woman happy with herself and unwilling to compromise to fit into the "hollywood ideal" of what a confident beautiful woman should look like. The result: She’s one of the biggest A-list celebrities in Hollywood.


Click for more detail about Foxy: My Life In Three Acts by Pam Grier Foxy: My Life In Three Acts

by Pam Grier
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 28, 2010)
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Some may know her as hot, gutsy, gun-totin’ Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, Coffy, and Jackie Brown. Others may know her from her role as Kit Porter on The L Word. But that only defines one part of the legend that is Pam Grier.

Foxy is Pam’s testimony of her life, past and present. In it, she reveals her relationships with Richard Pryor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Freddie Prinze Sr., among others. She unveils her experiences as a backup singer and a blaxploitation star. In particularly candid and shocking chapters, she shares-for the first time-her view of those films and the persecution that blacks, especially women, needed to endure to make a name for themselves … including how it felt to be labeled one of the most beautiful women alive, yet not be permitted to try on clothes in a department store because of the color of her skin. And in words sure to inspire many, she tells the story of her ongoing battle with cancer.

From her disappointments to her triumphs, nothing is held back. With FOXY, Pam wishes to impart life lessons to her readers-and hopes to touch their hearts.


Click for more detail about Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton Shark vs. Train

by Chris Barton
LB Kids (Apr 01, 2010)
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Shark VS. Train! WHO WILL WIN?!
If you think Superman vs. Batman would be an exciting matchup, wait until you see Shark vs. Train.

In this imaginative picture book, Shark and Train face off in one competition after another, including a burping contest, bowling, Ping Pong, piano playing, and more. Full color.

With #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Tom Lichtenheld’s hilarious and playful illustrations combined with Chris Barton’s zany text will have children.


Click for more detail about Boy of Mine by Jabari Asim Boy of Mine

by Jabari Asim
LB Kids (Apr 01, 2010)
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In this imaginative bedtime companion to Girl of Mine, an adorable little boy plays among the stars before his mommy tucks him in and wishes him sweet dreams. The beautiful starry sky in the illustrations is a tribute to Van Gogh’s "Starry Night", and the charming lullaby, inspired by "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," will take babies on a magical journey before bedtime.With Asim’s engaging and adorable rhymes and Pham’s vibrant illustrations, babies and parents alike are sure to fall for Boy of Mine.


Click for more detail about Girl of Mine by Jabari Asim Girl of Mine

by Jabari Asim
LB Kids (Apr 01, 2010)
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This companion book to Boy of Mine shows a dazzling little girl enjoying playtime in the moon’s soft glow. As daddy cradles his baby girl, she is suddenly whisked away on a fantastical adventure, swinging above lush floral gardens under the golden moonlight. The sweet text, inspired by "Rock-A-Bye Baby," will whisk little ones off to peaceful slumber. With Asim’s engaging and adorable rhymes and Pham’s vibrant illustrations, babies and parents alike are sure to fall for Girl of Mine.


Click for more detail about Sexaholics by Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk) Sexaholics

by Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk)
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 23, 2010)
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Miki, Valencia, Teela Raye, and Brandi share one thing…they are all addicted to sex. United through Sexaholics Anonymous, these women try to recover from their dependence on wild, spontaneous, and even sometimes, dangerous sex. From whips and chains, to sex in public, they have done it all! Led by Dr. Rachel Cummings, each woman takes the first step to recovery by sharing her biggest sexual act with the group. SEXAHOLICS takes readers through the outrageous experiences of four women on their long path to success.


Click for more detail about Up at the College by Michele Andrea Bowen Up at the College

by Michele Andrea Bowen
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 22, 2010)
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Yvonne Fountain Copeland is shattered when her husband of 15 years decides to leave her because their marriage was getting "boring." Disheartened and confused, Yvonne returns to her hometown of Durham, North Carolina, convinced that a change of scenery will help her draw closer to God and find inner peace. What she doesn’t know is that her journey to peace will lead her straight to sexy, single, and childless basketball coach Curtis Parker. But Yvonne and Curtis soon discover that you can’t find true peace and joy without God’s help. What begins as a series of "why me’s" soon evolves into an extraordinary journey of victory, faith, joy, and love.


Click for more detail about Dutch Ii: Angel’s Revenge (Dutch Trilogy) by Teri Woods Dutch Ii: Angel’s Revenge (Dutch Trilogy)

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 08, 2010)
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HE IS THE MASTER OF THE GAME. HE’S BUILT THE ULTIMATE EMPIRE. BUT HIS STORY IS ONLY BEGINNING. NOW NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR TERI WOODS BRINGS YOU THE SECOND IN THE SENSATIONAL DUTCH TRILOGY, WHERE ONE WOMAN WILL RULE DUTCH’S STREETS … OR DESTROY THEM.

DUTCH II: ANGEL’S REVENGE

She is the most merciless of his lieutenants, with style and skills that even the hardest hustlers fear … and none survive. And with Dutch gone, Angel is fueled by a shattering vendetta and methodically eliminating every successor, wannabe, and mobster trying to lead Dutch’s madly profitable organization. The only person between her and ultimate control: One-eyed Roc-aka Rahman-Dutch’s other trusted lieutenant and a man with his own zealous master plan. He and his crew are cleaning up the streets and righting his wrongs by any means necessary. And he’s checkmating Angel’s strengths and playing her every weakness. Neither can stop. Neither will give in. And they will never surrender Dutch’s lethal legacy, even though their last devastating power play could destroy it all …


Click for more detail about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Book 1 The Inheritance Trilogy) by N. K. Jemisin The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Book 1 The Inheritance Trilogy)

by N. K. Jemisin
Orbit Books (Feb 25, 2010)
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In this brilliantly original debut fantasy, a young woman becomes entangled in a power struggle of mythic proportions.
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother’s death and her family’s bloody history.

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate - and gods and mortals - are bound inseparably together.
The Inheritance Trilogy The Hundred Thousand KingdomsThe Broken KingdomsThe Kingdom of Gods
The Inheritance Trilogy (omnibus edition) Shades in Shadow: An Inheritance Triptych (e-only short fiction) The Awakened Kingdom (e-only novella)
For more from N. K. Jemisin, check out:
Dreamblood DuologyThe Killing MoonThe Shadowed Sun
The Broken Earth The Fifth SeasonThe Obelisk GateThe Stone Sky


Click for more detail about In The Midst Of It All by Tiffany Warren In The Midst Of It All

by Tiffany Warren
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 22, 2010)
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All her life, Zenovia has struggled with the burden of caring for her schizophrenic mother, Audrey, alone. Until one day, God seems to offer support in the form of two members of a church called the Brethren of the Sacrifice, who knock at the women’s door preaching an unconventional version of the Gospel. Despite having questions, Zenovia agrees to join the church along with her mother. Soon afterward, Audrey stops taking her medication when fellow churchgoers deem her illness a demonic possession. Unable to watch her mother’s mental deterioration, Zenovia flees town, only to receive a fateful phone call several years later telling her of her mother’s suicide. Heartbroken, Zenovia must now make a soul-altering choice: accept "God’s will," or return home to confront the demons she’s worked so hard to leave behind….


Click for more detail about Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Feb 03, 2010)
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It was February 1, 1960.
They didn’t need menus. Their order was simple.
A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.

This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.

Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the "whites only" Woolworth’s lunch counter. Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirror the hope, strength, and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men, but also countless others.


Click for more detail about Damaged by Kia DuPree Damaged

by Kia DuPree
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 26, 2010)
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Camille Logan feels trapped. After she is sexually and emotionally abused by her foster parents, she turns to the one person she knows she can trust—her boyfriend Chu, a mid-level drug dealer. But when life finally starts looking up for Camille, Chu is brutally murdered. Again feeling abandoned and helpless, and refusing to return to the system, Camille finds herself living with a stable of women in a tiny run-down apartment building in Washington, D.C., working for Nut, a deranged pimp. Fed up with her life, Camille is forced to right her wrongs, and slowly learns that her past does not necessarily determine her future.


Click for more detail about Points of Power: Discover a Spirit-Filled Life of Joy and Purpose by Yolanda Adams Points of Power: Discover a Spirit-Filled Life of Joy and Purpose

by Yolanda Adams
FaithWords (Jan 01, 2010)
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Over five million listeners tune in to hear Yolanda Adams’s Points of Power, a segment in her daily radio show that inspires people by applying biblical truths to present-day realities. In her first book, Yolanda Adams transfers that winning segment into a reader’s delight. In this highly accessible manual for daily living, she shares stories from her and others’s personal experiences, showing readers how to access God’s love and grace in their modern world and troubles. By revealing how Yolanda and other human beings have transcended the world’s difficulties, POINTS OF POWER empowers readers to face trouble with confidence in the God who never fails.


Click for more detail about Farther Than I Meant to Go, Longer Than I Meant to Stay by Tiffany Warren Farther Than I Meant to Go, Longer Than I Meant to Stay

by Tiffany Warren
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 01, 2009)
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As President of Grace Savings and Loans, Charmayne Ellis is an established, polished professional. Although she has reached great success, her ridiculing mother and wise cracking younger sister won’t let her forget that she is a 36-year-old, overweight, unmarried woman.

In an attempt to help, Charmayne’s best friend, Lynette, is obsessed with setting her up on a series of pity-driven blind dates. When a drop-dead gorgeous man, Travis Moon, shows interest, Charmayne’s caution light blinks like crazy. But out of loneliness and pressure from her family Charmayne ignores her gut feeling and gets married.

Yet instead of marital bliss, Charmayne begins to discover new things about her husband that force her to question her marriage and her faith in God.


Click for more detail about What The Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell What The Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

by Malcolm Gladwell
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 20, 2009)
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Click for more detail about Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America by Rich Benjamin Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America

by Rich Benjamin
Hachette (Oct 06, 2009)
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As America becomes more and more racially diverse, Rich Benjamin noticed a phenomenon: Some communities were actually getting less multicultural. So he got out a map, found the whitest towns in the USA—and moved in.

A journalist-adventurer, Benjamin packed his bags and embarked on a 26,909-mile journey throughout the heart of white America, to some of the fastest-growing and whitest locales in our nation. Benjamin calls these enclaves "Whitopias." In this groundbreaking book, he shares what he learned as a black man in Whitopia. Benjamin’s journey to unlock the mysteries of Whitopia took him from a three-day white separatist retreat with links to Aryan Nations in North Idaho to exurban mega-churches down South, and many points in between. A compelling raconteur, bon vivant, and scholar, Benjamin reveals what Whitopias are like and explores the urgent social and political implications of this startling phenomenon.

Benjamin’s groundbreaking study is one of few to have illuminated in advance the social and political forces propelling the rise of Donald Trump. After all, Trump carried 94 percent of America’s Whitopian counties. And he won a median 67 percent of the vote in Whitopia compared to 46 percent of the vote nationwide.

Leaving behind speculation or sensationalism, Benjamin explores the future of whiteness and race in an increasingly multicultural nation.


Click for more detail about Feelin’ the Vibe by Candice Dow Feelin’ the Vibe

by Candice Dow
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 24, 2009)
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A decade ago, Clark Winston nearly had a nervous breakdown after the man of her dreams, Devin Patterson, left her to marry another woman. Soon after, her best friend, the mother of her niece, died, leaving Clark sole custodian of the 10-year-old. Knowing she had to pull herself together, she sought help at a mental health clinic run by an old college friend, Dr. Kenneth Winston. The attraction was instant, and they proved to be a perfect match. Now 10 years later, the past is behind her and she has a perfect career and family at hand. But then, in the blink of an eye, Devin reappears and a tumultuous affair ensues. Clark will now have to make the most important decision of her life-choose the man who broke her heart or the one who fixed it.


Click for more detail about Dutch by Teri Woods Dutch

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 23, 2009)
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James Bernard Jr., a.k.a. Dutch, has become the most dangerous criminal in New Jersey. From his early skill as a car thief, Dutch recognized the opportunity to rule the streets and he seized it. Feared by all, and completely fearless, Dutch and his dangerous clique take over the lucrative heroin business of a local African drug lord. With both the protection and respect of the Mafia, Dutch becomes the most terrifying force on the streets. District Attorney Anthony Jacobs is determined to take down Dutch and his crew, and he’s confident that his witnesses will testify against them. But a sudden turn of events will soon make the DA’s job harder than he imagined.


Click for more detail about The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney The Lion & the Mouse

by Jerry Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 01, 2009)
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The Caldecott Award-winning and New York Times bestselling fable of compassion and kindness retold by acclaimed artist Jerry Pinkney.

In award-winning artist Jerry Pinkney’s wordless adaptation of one of Aesop’s most beloved fables, an unlikely pair learn that no act of kindness is ever wasted. After a ferocious lion spares a cowering mouse that he’d planned to eat, the mouse later comes to his rescue, freeing him from a poacher’s trap. With vivid depictions of the landscape of the African Serengeti and expressively-drawn characters, Pinkney makes this a truly special retelling, and his stunning pictures speak volumes.


Click for more detail about Thug Lovin’ by Wahida Clark Thug Lovin’

by Wahida Clark
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 10, 2009)
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Tasha and Trae, the hood’s favorite couple, are still together following the events of Thug Matrimony. Even with their relocation to sunny Los Angeles, the drama of New York cannot be escaped. From running a nightclub to dealing with models, shady lawyers, big money, new kinds of temptations, seductions, and drugs-not to mention new love interests-can this infamous couple weather all the storms and keep it together?


Click for more detail about Alibi by Teri Woods Alibi

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 06, 2009)
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Two men think they’ve found the perfect opportunity—a chance to rob the stash house of Simon Shuller, one of Philadelphia’s biggest drug lords. But their plans are spoiled when one of Shuller’s men catches them as they break into the stash house. Temperatures flare as the men capture Shuller’s worker, Poncho, and force him to show them the goods. What they didn’t expect was for Poncho’s partner to be armed and very dangerous. An altercation breaks out and when the smoke clears, Nard, Poncho’s accomplice, is the only one left standing. Thinking quickly, Nard cleans shop and makes his escape, but not before being spotted by a few neighbors. Not wanting to kill anyone else, he makes a mad dash for the streets but wonders if the witnesses will give up his identity. What he needs now is a plausible alibi. If he doesn’t come up with one fast, it could mean life in prison, or death on the streets.


Click for more detail about The Mighty 12: Superheroes of Greek Myth by Charles R. Smith Jr. The Mighty 12: Superheroes of Greek Myth

by Charles R. Smith Jr.
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jul 15, 2009)
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Meet the most impressive of the gods and goddesses of Olympus—and even a few monsters—and see them revealed for what they really were: ancient superheroes with the power to shift shape, move mountains, and change fate. In this innovative introduction to Greek mythology, energetic poems and dynamic, comics-style illustrations create a seamless blend of the ancient and contemporary that depicts the gods in all their glory.


Click for more detail about Empire Of Illusion: The End Of Literacy And The Triumph Of Spectacle by Chris Hedges Empire Of Illusion: The End Of Literacy And The Triumph Of Spectacle

by Chris Hedges
Bold Type Books (Jul 14, 2009)
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We now live in two Americas. One?now the minority?functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other?the majority?is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority?which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected?presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this ?other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture?attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies?to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion.


Click for more detail about The Vixen Manual: How To Find, Seduce & Keep The Man You Want by Karrine Steffans The Vixen Manual: How To Find, Seduce & Keep The Man You Want

by Karrine Steffans
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 13, 2009)
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Since she exploded on the scene with her two juicy and impossible-to-put-down tell-alls, readers have wanted to know even more about what makes Karrine Steffans tick. How was she able to meet all the high profile politicians, movie stars, and other celebrities that are her close acquaintances? What skills does she possess to keep men wanting more? Finally, Karrine lays it all out and explains exactly what a woman must do to win over the man of her dreams. With chapters like "Never Let Him See You Sweat," "Flirting," "Encouraging His Manhood," and "Give Him What He Wants," this hot and sexy manual is a must-have for every woman’s bookshelf.


Click for more detail about The Vixen Diaries by Karrine Steffans The Vixen Diaries

by Karrine Steffans
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 02, 2009)
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This titillating exposé chronicles the personal and professional adventures of this tabloid-laden socialite, dispelling some rumors, while confirming others. Diaries unveils the heavily shrouded Hollywood backrooms and its coveted secrets. Offering her ardent fans answers to burning questions and presenting lessons learned, this book will surely not disappoint. Karrine Steffans continues to dish out juicy gossip and the much sought after details of her star studded lifestyle and the celebrity men that helped her get where she needed to be.


Karrine draws you in to get an up-close and personal look at the Hollywood life of fast money and sex; all the things that make for a great movie. She discusses her interactions with people after the release of Confessions of a Video Vixen and how she copes with it all.


Click for more detail about Sisters & Husbands by Connie Briscoe Sisters & Husbands

by Connie Briscoe
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 02, 2009)
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Ten years have passed since Sisters and Lovers, and Beverly, now 39, is engaged to Julian, a man her family and friends agree is the epitome of a great catch: he’s gorgeous, loyal, trustworthy, successful, and very much in love with her. Since this is Beverly’s third engagement in the past five years, after breaking off the previous two at the last moment, everyone’s happy that she’s finally settling down. For Beverly and Julian, nothing could be better than being in love and planning their wedding. That is until Beverly’s oldest sister’s marriage falls apart and dampens the mood of what should have been the happiest time in Beverly’s life. Now, second-guessing her impending nuptials, Beverly is forced to wonder if marriage really works. Will she stick it out? Or will her fears cloud her judgment once again?

Book Review

Click for more detail about Live Your Joy by Bonnie St. John Live Your Joy

by Bonnie St. John
FaithWords (Apr 28, 2009)
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Joy is something that comes from the inside out. It feels like a flowing grace, a feeling of goodness all around, a sense of well-being through good and bad. It is love, gratitude, faith and empowerment all wrapped together. Joy deepens our experiences. It opens us to seeing a more beautiful sunset, appreciating rather than fault finding, to believing in oneself.

Here are some of the things Bonnie St. John has learned about finding joy…



Discover the power of your own dreams and personal vision.
Each day make the choice of joy over bitterness.
Strengthen you self-confidence…shape yourself, don’t let others shape you
Clarify what matters most to you
Allow spontaneous, surprising gifts of joy to redirect your schedule.
Partner with God…the entire power of the universe is on our side.
Become more helping, more healing and more accepting .None of this is easy and Bonnie admits that she’s not able to live her joy every minute of every day. But she does so now more often than she used to. And, more often than she used to, she feels love from others, feels compassion in painful situations, and lives more fully and joyfully.


Click for more detail about No Matter What!: 9 Steps To Living The Life You Love by Lisa Nichols No Matter What!: 9 Steps To Living The Life You Love

by Lisa Nichols
Grand Central Life & Style (Apr 13, 2009)
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LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE-NO MATTER WHAT!

From bestselling author and motivational speaker Lisa Nichols comes a unique and powerful inspirational program that will both move you and empower you to realize your dreams. Millions are trying to live by The Secret’s Law of Attraction, but the truth is it won’t work unless you flex your all-important "bounce-back" muscles, which give you the ability to successfully navigate life’s speed bumps.

By developing and toning her own bounce-back muscles at critical points in her life, Lisa found the power to become her authentic self and achieve everything she dared to hope for. Now, in NO MATTER WHAT, she offers a groundbreaking program that outlines these 9 Steps or "muscles", which include among others your Confidence, Faith-in-Myself, Honesty Out Loud and Forgiveness muscles, and explains how anyone can use them to achieve happiness and off-the-charts success. In this powerful guide Lisa Nichols introduces her dynamic plan, shares her own remarkable story, and prescribes specific exercises and action steps to inspire readers to learn from their past and move toward a courageous future.

"I’ve watched Lisa Nichols light up rooms and inspire thousands for years. As a featured teacher in The Secret, she explained the Law of Attraction, but now, for the first time, she reveals her own secret to happiness: the Law of No Matter What. Read this book, and learn to create the things in life you believed were out of reach." —Marci Shimoff, bestselling author of Happy for No Reason and featured teacher in The Secret


"Lisa is a living example of what it takes to overcome the inevitable obstacles in your path…with the help of this book, you’ll be able to soar to success—no matter what!" —Jack Canfield, Co-Author of the New York Times Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul Series

"Lisa Nichols is a rock star of personal growth! Gutsy and authentic, in NO MATTER WHAT, Lisa uses her charismatic and influential style to teach resilience. Whether you are a seasoned student of character and enlightenment or just starting, this book is a must read, advanced course for possibility." —Stephen M. R. Covey, author of The New York Times bestseller The Speed of Trust


Click for more detail about Single Husbands by Honeyb Single Husbands

by Honeyb
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 16, 2009)
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Herschel Henderson said, "I do," to gain access to his wife’s money, Lexington Lewis vowed for his better and her worse, and Brian Flaw meant until death do we part, yet none of them are dedicated to their wives.

Herschel has a mistress that he sexes more than his wife, Lexington is making love to as many women as he can, and Brian is sexing women of every ethnicity because he’s become bored with his wife. The one thing these men do share, is the fact that neither of them will give up the sexual freedom they enjoyed as single men.


Click for more detail about Sexcapades by Honeyb Sexcapades

by Honeyb
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 11, 2009)
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Nick and Natalie are two lovers whose sexual lives are more than above average. But their secret relationship is put to the test when they both end up competing for the same CEO position in the firm that they work for.


Justin Flint has the power to persuade the Board of Directors. He is bisexual and attracted to both Nick and Natalie, but he doesn’t know that they are lovers. He decides to give them the task of creating a business plan for the new branch of the company opening up in Paris. Whoever does the best job will get the promotion.


But as the deadline approaches, tension and their aggressive competitive personalities cause a rift in their relationship. Will their need for the promotion ruin their relationship forever?


Click for more detail about The Bishop’s Daughter by Tiffany Warren The Bishop’s Daughter

by Tiffany Warren
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 09, 2009)
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Darrin Bainbridge is your typical playboy in need of love, but not yet ready. He is a freelance journalist trying to break his big story. After a visit from his mother, Darrin gets an idea. He has heard all kinds of stories about "Hollywood" ministers who hold their church services on television, live in nice houses, drive nice cars, and have lots of money and women. Darrin is disgusted by it all especially when his mother Priscilla starts shouting praises for Atlanta Bishop Kumal Prentiss. Darrin decides to go to Atlanta, become a member of the bishop’s church, and expose him for the hustling fraud that he believes he is. He just never planned on falling in love with the Bishop’s daughter.

Darrin suddenly finds himself torn between his new found friend and his possible big break.


Click for more detail about This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley This Year You Write Your Novel

by Walter Mosley
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 08, 2009)
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No more excuses. “Let the lawn get shaggy and the paint peel from the walls,” bestselling novelist Walter Mosley advises. Anyone can write a novel now, and in this essential book of tips, practical advice, and wisdom, Walter Mosley promises that the writer-in-waiting can finish it in one year. Mosley tells how to: - Create a daily writing regimen to fit any writer’s needs—and how to stick to it. - Determine the narrative voice that’s right for every writer’s style. Get past those first challenging sentences and into the heart of a story.

Intended as both inspiration and instruction, This Year You Write Your Novel provides the tools to turn out a first draft painlessly and then revise it into something finer.

Also check out The Elements of Fiction, also by Walter Mosley


Click for more detail about We Take This Man by Candice Dow and Daaimah S. Poole We Take This Man

by Candice Dow and Daaimah S. Poole
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 07, 2009)
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Dwight and Tracey Wilson are living the ideal life with their two children in a brand new home in Florida. They are both excited when Dwight is offered a promotion at work, but the downside is that the job is located in Maryland. After much discussion, Tracey decides that she does not want to leave their new house. Dwight makes the decision to accept the position and return home on weekends.


Alicia Dixon has spent her life hating and not trusting men after her father mistreated her mother, but she can’t help but fall for the new guy in her company…Dwight. They both try to fight their attraction to one another, but it proves to be a losing battle-Alicia is everything that his southern wife is not.


When Alicia ends up pregnant, Dwight decides to end things with Tracey, but the process proves not to be as easy as Dwight had hoped.


Click for more detail about The Negro Speaks Of Rivers by Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks Of Rivers

by Langston Hughes
Hyperion Books (Jan 06, 2009)
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Langston Hughes has long been acknowledged as the voice, and his poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, the song, of the Harlem Renaissance. Although he was only seventeen when he composed it, Hughes already had the insight to capture in words the strength and courage of black people in America.

Artist E.B. Lewis acts as interpreter and visionary, using watercolor to pay tribute to Hughes’s timeless poem, a poem that every child deserves to know.


Click for more detail about Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance by Laban Carrick Hill Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance

by Laban Carrick Hill
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jan 01, 2009)
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First released in 2004, this meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated title brings the Harlem Renaissance to life for young adults. It is a veritable time capsule packed with poetry, prose, photographs, full-color paintings, and reproductions of historical documents. Full color.


Click for more detail about The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk about When We Talk about Hip Hop—And Why It Matters by Tricia Rose The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk about When We Talk about Hip Hop—And Why It Matters

by Tricia Rose
Civitas Book Publisher (Dec 02, 2008)
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How hip hop shapes our conversations about race — and how race influences our consideration of hip hop

Hip hop is a distinctive form of black art in America-from Tupac to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Kendrick Lamar, hip hop has long given voice to the African American experience. As scholar and cultural critic Tricia Rose argues, hip hop, in fact, has become one of the primary ways we talk about race in the United States.

But hip hop is in crisis. For years, the most commercially successful hip hop has become increasingly saturated with caricatures of black gangstas, thugs, pimps, and hos. This both represents and feeds a problem in black American culture. Or does it? In The Hip-Hop Wars, Rose explores the most crucial issues underlying the polarized claims on each side of the debate: Does hip hop cause violence, or merely reflect a violent ghetto culture? Is hip hop sexist, or are its detractors simply anti-sex? Does the portrayal of black culture in hip hop undermine black advancement?

A potent exploration of a divisive and important subject, The Hip Hop Wars concludes with a call for the regalvanization of the progressive and creative heart of hip hop. What Rose calls for is not a sanitized vision of the form, but one that more accurately reflects a much richer space of culture, politics, anger, and yes, sex, than the current ubiquitous images in sound and video currently provide.


Click for more detail about Erotic City by Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk) Erotic City

by Marissa Monteilh (aka Pynk)
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 14, 2008)
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Erotic City is sex-fest central-a hip, upscale swingers club for grown-folks only, located in the heart of Atlanta. It is a grand, three-story sexual mecca where the uninhibited freaks come out four nights a week to get their ultimate groove on without fear of reprisal or judgment, yet judgment from the outside world threatens all that the club’s owner, Milan Kennedy, has worked so hard to achieve.

Pynk brings us a fast-paced, sexy ride through a world of having sex in public, bribery, judgments, and suspense that sheds light on family, churchgoers, relationships, revenge, and the amazing sex-filled world of those who swing.


Click for more detail about Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance by Eleanora E. Tate Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance

by Eleanora E. Tate
Little, Brown and Company (Nov 12, 2008)
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It’s 1921, and when Celeste Lassiter Massey goes to stay with her Aunt Valentina in Harlem, she is not thrilled to trade her friends and comfortable North Carolina surroundings for scary big city life with a famous actress. While Celeste absorbs the excitement of the Harlem Renaissance in full swing, she sees as much grit as glamour. A passionate writer, talented violinist, and aspiring doctor, Celeste eventually faces a choice between ambition and loyalty, roots and horizons. The decision will change her forever.


Click for more detail about In Charge: Finding the Leader Within You by Myles Munroe In Charge: Finding the Leader Within You

by Myles Munroe
FaithWords (Nov 10, 2008)
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International motivational speaker and sought-after businesss consultant Reverend Myles Munroe proves that true leaders empower others to discover their own leadership gifts.


Click for more detail about The American Journey of Barack Obama by The Editors of Life Magazine The American Journey of Barack Obama

by The Editors of Life Magazine
Little, Brown and Company (Oct 07, 2008)
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For decades Americans have turned to LIFE to see, understand, and remember the most important events and people of our time. Just as LIFE once opened up the glittering Kennedy White House, LIFE now focuses its lens on Barack Obama. The American Journey of Barack Obama covers the candidate from his childhood and adolescence to his time as editor of The Harvard Law Review and his Chicago activist years, culminating with the excitement and fervor of the historic 2008 Democratic National Convention. The unfolding drama of Obama’s life and political career is cinematic in scope, and never has it been presented so compellingly. In addition to a powerful array of photographs that were taken by many of the country’s greatest photographers (and some that were snapped, in the quiet moments, by Obama family members themselves), this book also includes a Foreword by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, an incisive narrative biography and original essays by some of our finest writers, including Gay Talese, Charles Johnson, Melissa Fay Greene, Andrei Codrescu, Fay Weldon, Richard Norton Smith, Bob Greene and several others. Many readers will find a new understanding of Obama. All readers will feel that they are bearing witness to a singular, undeniably American story.


Click for more detail about Sweetsmoke by David Fuller Sweetsmoke

by David Fuller
Hachette (Sep 01, 2008)
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The year is 1862, and the Civil War rages through the South. On a Virginia tobacco plantation, another kind of battle soon begins. There, Cassius Howard, a skilled carpenter and slave, risks everything—punishment, sale to a cotton plantation, even his life—to learn the truth concerning the murder of Emoline, a freed black woman, a woman who secretly taught him to read and once saved his life. It is clear that no one cares about her death in the midst of a brutal and hellish war. No one but Cassius, who braves horrific dangers to escape the plantation and avenge her loss. As Cassius seeks answers about Emoline’s murder, he finds an unexpected friend and ally in Quashee, a new woman brought over from another plantation; and a formidable adversary in Hoke Howard, the master he has always obeyed. With subtlety and beauty, Sweetsmoke captures the daily indignities and harrowing losses suffered by slaves, the turmoil of a country waging countless wars within its own borders, and the lives of those people fighting for identity, for salvation, and for freedom.

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer The Book of Fate

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 18, 2008)
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"Six minutes from now, one of us would be dead. None of us knew it was coming." So says Wes Holloway, a young presidential aide, about the day he put Ron Boyle, the chief executive’s oldest friend, into the president’s limousine. By the trip’s end, a crazed assassin would permanently disfigure Wes and kill Boyle. Now, eight years later, Boyle has been spotted alive. Trying to figure out what really happened takes Wes back into disturbing secrets buried in Freemason history, a decade-old presidential crossword puzzle, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson that conceals secrets worth dying for.


Click for more detail about The First Counsel by Brad Meltzer The First Counsel

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 18, 2008)
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White House lawyer Michael Garrick has a relatively anonymous position at a very public address. That is, until he starts dating Nora Harston (secret service code name: Shadow), the sexy and dangerously irresistible daughter of the President. But the confident young attorney thinks he can handle the pressure. Until, out on a date, Nora and Michael see something they shouldn’t. To protect her, he admits to something he shouldn’t. And when a body is discovered and Michael is the suspected killer, he finds himself on the run. Now, in a world where power is an aphrodisiac and close friends carry guns and are under strict orders to risk their lives, Michael must find a way to prove his innocence.


Click for more detail about Blonde Faith: An Easy Rawlins Novel by Walter Mosley Blonde Faith: An Easy Rawlins Novel

by Walter Mosley
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 06, 2008)
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Easy Rawlins comes home from work, and finds more trouble on his doorstep in a day than most men encounter in a lifetime.

A friend has left his daughter at Easy’s house without so much as a note. Clearly this friend, Christmas Black, a veteran of Vietnam, fears for his life and his daughter’s.

Easy’s closest friend, the man known as Mouse, has disappeared too—and his wife tells Easy that he is wanted for murder. Mouse has been a thorn in the police’s side for so long that Easy is convinced that this time they will kill him as soon as they find him.

Worst of all, Easy’s longtime lover tells him that she plans to marry another man. In a world of hurt, Easy strikes out on his own to try to find one friend, save another, and save himself from the pain that is driving him out of his mind. On his path he meets drug dealers, corrupt officials, every manner of criminal and con—and a woman named Faith who may hold the key to more than one life.

In his tenth Easy Rawlins novel, Walter Mosley writes with a grace and insight that few writers ever achieve. It is the clearest proof yet that Walter Mosley is "one of this nation’s finest writers" (Boston Globe).


Click for more detail about Bad Boy Brawly Brown (Easy Rawlins Mystery) by Walter Mosley Bad Boy Brawly Brown (Easy Rawlins Mystery)

by Walter Mosley
Little, Brown and Company (Aug 06, 2008)
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Easy Rawlins is out of the investigation business and as far away from crime as a black man can be in 1960s Los Angeles.But living around desperate men means life gets complicated sometimes.When an old friend gets in enough trouble to ask for Easys help, he finds he cant refuse. Young Brawly Brown has traded in his family for The Clan of the First Men, a group rejecting white leadershipand laws. Browns mom asks Easy to make sure her babys okay, and Easy promises to find him. His first day on the case, Easy comes face-to-face with a corpse, and before he knows it he is a murder suspect and in the middle of a police raid. Brawly Brown is clearly the kind of trouble most folks try to avoid. It takes everything Easy has just to stay alive as he explores a world filled with betrayals and predators like he never imagined. Big Boy Brawly Brown is the masterful crime novel that Walter Mosleys legions of fans have been waiting for. This book marks the return of a master at the top of his form.


Click for more detail about Stand The Storm: A Novel by Breena Clarke Stand The Storm: A Novel

by Breena Clarke
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 28, 2008)
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Even though Sewing Annie Coats and her son, Gabriel, have managed to buy their freedom, their lives are still marked by constant struggle and sacrifice. Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood, where the Coatses operate a tailor’s shop and laundry, is supposed to be a "promised land" for former slaves but is effectively a frontier town, gritty and dangerous, with no laws protecting black people.
The remarkable emotional energy with which the Coatses wage their daily battles-as they negotiate with their former owner, as they assist escaped slaves en route to freedom, as they prepare for the encroaching war, and as they strive to love each other enough-is what propels STAND THE STORM and makes the novel’s tragic denouement so devastating.


Click for more detail about Method Man by Method Man and Sanford Greene Method Man

by Method Man and Sanford Greene
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 23, 2008)
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An ancient evil of unfathomable power plots the unspeakable—the destruction of the mortal realm and beyond. Man’s only hope lies in Peerless Poe, a hard-luck private eye with a taste for booze and a magnetic attraction to danger. A former member of the clandestine Order of the Sacred Method, Poe must forge an uneasy alliance with those who exploited him against enemy bent on global annihilation. This unholy threat wears a woman’s face and wields dark energies capable of destroying normal men. But Poe hasn’t been normal in years. The Order saw to that. Poe is scarred. Poe is transformed. Poe is…Method Man.


Click for more detail about The Agitator’s Daughter: A Memoir of Four Generations of One Extraordinary African-American Family by Sheryll Cashin The Agitator’s Daughter: A Memoir of Four Generations of One Extraordinary African-American Family

by Sheryll Cashin
PublicAffairs (Jul 08, 2008)
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During Reconstruction, Herschel V. Cashin was a radical republican legislator who championed black political enfranchisement throughout the South. His grandson, Dr. John L. Cashin, Jr., inherited that passion for social justice and formed an independent Democratic party to counter George Wallace’s Dixiecrats, electing more blacks to office than in any Southern state. His "uppity" ways attracted many enemies. Twice the private plane Cashin owned and piloted was sabotaged. His dental office and boyhood home were taken by eminent domain. The IRS pursued him, as did the FBI. Ultimately his passions would lead to ruin and leave his daughter, Sheryll, wondering why he would risk so much. In following generations of Cashins through the eras of slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, civil rights, and post-civil rights political struggles, Sheryll Cashin conveys how she came to embrace being an agitator’s daughter with humor, honesty, and love.


Click for more detail about True to the Game III by Teri Woods True to the Game III

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 02, 2008)
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The third and most explosive installment of the groundbreaking True to the Game trilogy will take you on a marathon race through the mean streets of Philly. Starting off where the second installment’s dramatic cliffhanger left us, True III will finally reveal Gena’s mysterious stalker and savior, as well as introduce a new killer so vicious, so cunning, so ruthless, he’ll have you looking over your shoulder with each turn of the page.


The crooked cops are searching for the money, Gena’s family members are now the target for Gena who’s hiding from everything and everyone, as the race is on for Gena’s survival. Will she manage to keep the money, can she get out of town and make a new life for herself, and will her family survive the maniacal killer that is hell bent on tracking her down? Will Gena stay, True to the Game?


Click for more detail about Holy Ghost Corner by Michele Andrea Bowen Holy Ghost Corner

by Michele Andrea Bowen
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 12, 2008)
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Theresa Elaine Hopson, 46, owner of Miss Thang’s Holy Ghost Corner and Church Women’s Boutique is puzzled. She can’t, for the life of her, figure out why even Baby Doll Henderson, despite her false teeth and her navy-blue-socks-with-yellow-jelly-sandals-wearing self, can find a man and she, Theresa, can’t.


Theresa’s been looking all of her life, and it seems like the only thing she finds are things that need to say lost. Like, for example, her on and off "friend" and sometime escort, the sneaky businessman, Reverend Parvell Sikes.


So, when church mother Queen-Esther Green reacquaints Theresa with the older woman’s backslidden player nephew, Lamont Green, it seems like the same old story.


But this time, Theresa decides to listen to God and what she hears soon brings a smile to her face with the realization that the Holy Ghost has been in her love corner all along.


Click for more detail about Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians by Chris Hedges Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians

by Chris Hedges
Bold Type Books (Jun 03, 2008)
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Best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges and journalist Laila Al-Arian spent the past year interviewing over fifty veterans to expose the patterns of the occupation in Iraq. The testimonies of these soldiers—many of who remain deeply traumatized by their experiences—uncover how the very conduct of the war and occupation have turned the American forces into agents of terror for most Iraqis.Collateral Damage is organized around key military operations—Convoys, Checkpoints, Detentions, Raids, Suppressive Fire, and “Hearts and Minds.” Military convoys traveling at tremendous speeds through towns have become trains of death. Civilians are routinely run over or shot to death. Soldiers fire upon Iraqi vehicles with impunity at checkpoints. Late-night detentions based on shoddy intelligence terrify women, traumatize children, and radicalize the young men caught in their dragnet.These soldiers have found the moral courage to speak out about the true nature of a war that has become one long, unchecked atrocity, and has given rise to the instability, sectarian violence and chaos that we witness today in Iraq.


Click for more detail about What Happened: Inside The Bush White House And Washington’s Culture Of Deception by Scott Mcclellan What Happened: Inside The Bush White House And Washington’s Culture Of Deception

by Scott Mcclellan
PublicAffairs (May 28, 2008)
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Scott McClellan was one of a few Bush loyalists from Texas who became part of his inner circle of trusted advisers, and remained so during one of the most challenging and contentious periods of recent history. Drawn to Bush by his commitment to compassionate conservatism and strong bipartisan leadership, McClellan served the president for more than seven years, and witnessed day-to-day exactly how the presidency veered off course. In this refreshingly clear-eyed book, written with no agenda other than to record his experiences and insights for the benefit of history, McClellan provides unique perspective on what happened and why it happened the way it did, including the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, Washington’s bitter partisanship, and two hotly contested presidential campaigns. He gives readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is and what he believes, and into the personalities, strengths, and liabilities of his top aides. Finally, McClellan looks to the future, exploring the lessons this presidency offers the American people as we prepare to elect a new leader.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Payback with Ya Life by Wahida Clark Payback with Ya Life

by Wahida Clark
Grand Central Publishing (May 15, 2008)
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In the sequel to one of Wahida’s most successful titles [Payback is a Mutha], old scores are settled and before long, new tensions arise.

Still recovering from the suicide of her best friend, Shan now pregnant by a married man is forced to make major decisions in her life. Ready to leave the fast life behind, Shan believes a move to Detroit will help her become a stronger woman-but someone wants revenge against Shan’s brother and is willing to destroy Shan in the process.

Torn over his love for his sister and his desire to get back on top of the drug game, Shan’s brother, Peanut knows the danger of the streets. Old beefs become new scores and before long, a turf war is raging. With the stakes as high as they’ve ever been, only a few people will be left standing-and Shan is determined to be one of them.


Click for more detail about The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means by George Soros The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means

by George Soros
PublicAffairs (May 05, 2008)
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In the midst of the most serious financial upheaval since the Great Depression, legendary financier George Soros explores the origins of the crisis and its implications for the future. Soros, whose breadth of experience in financial markets is unrivaled, places the current crisis in the context of decades of study of how individuals and institutions handle the boom and bust cycles that now dominate global economic activity. “This is the worst financial crisis since the 1930s,” writes Soros in characterizing the scale of financial distress spreading across Wall Street and other financial centers around the world. In a concise essay that combines practical insight with philosophical depth, Soros makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the great credit crisis and its implications for our nation and the world.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Don’t Blame It on Rio: The Real Deal Behind Why Men Go to Brazil for Sex by Karen Hunter Don’t Blame It on Rio: The Real Deal Behind Why Men Go to Brazil for Sex

by Karen Hunter
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 24, 2008)
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There is a not-so-new, not-so-secret destination where a growing number of American black men are traveling for the kind of sex and freedom they say they can’t find with black women. Thousands of unsuspecting women are kissing their men good-bye while they go on "business" trips to Rio where they meet up with some of their friends and have sex every way they can imagine-no strings, no hassles, and no conscience.

This social worker is a Ph.D. student at the Mandel School of Applied Social Science at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. He is the founder of The Renaissance Male Project Inc. and a New Voices Fellow 2005. He has made appearances on both national and regional television and radio shows, and print publications such as Essence magazine, The Toledo Blade, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within. (ROUGHCUT) by Maria Shriver Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question. Little Book. Answer Within. (ROUGHCUT)

by Maria Shriver
Hyperion Books (Apr 15, 2008)
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"I’ve learned that asking ourselves not just what we want to be, but who we want to be is important at every stage of our lives, not just when we’re starting out in the world. That’s because in a way, we’re starting out fresh in the world every single day." Just Who Will You Be is a candid, heartfelt, and inspirational book for seekers of all ages. Inspired by a speech she gave, Maria Shriver’s message is that what you do in your life isn’t what matters. It’s who you are. It’s an important lesson that will appeal to anyone of any age looking for a life of meaning. In her own life, Shriver always walked straight down her own distinctive path, achieving her childhood goal of becoming "award-winning network newswoman Maria Shriver". But when her husband was elected California’s Governor and she suddenly had to leave her job at NBC News, Maria was thrown for a loop. Right about then, her nephew asked her to speak at his high school graduation. She resisted, wondering how she could possibly give advice to kids, when she was feeling so lost herself. But in the end she relented and decided to dig down and dig deep, and the result is this little jewel. Just Who Will You Be reminds us that the answer to many of life’s question lie within — and that we’re all works in progress. That means it’s never too late to become the person you want to be. Now the question for you is this: Just who will you be?


Click for more detail about Mystery Writers Of America Presents The Blue Religion: New Stories About Cops, Criminals, And The Chase by Mystery Writers Of America Mystery Writers Of America Presents The Blue Religion: New Stories About Cops, Criminals, And The Chase

by Mystery Writers Of America
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 14, 2008)
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Taking us from smoggy Los Angeles to the woods of Idaho, from Hawaii at the turn of the twentieth century to the post-Civil War frontier, these riveting stories trace the perils and occasional triumphs of lawmen and -women who put themselves in harm’s way to face down the bad guys. Some of them even walk the edge of becoming bad guys themselves.

In T. Jefferson Parker’s "Skinhead Central," an ex-cop and his wife find unexpected menace in the idyllic setting they have chosen for their retirement. In Alafair Burke’s "Winning," a female officer who is attacked in the line of duty must protect her own husband from his worst impulses. In Michael Connelly’s "Father’s Day," Harry Bosch faces one of his most emotionally trying cases, investigating a young boy’s death.

These are hard-hitting, thrilling, and utterly unforgettable stories, from some of the best writers in the mystery world.


Click for more detail about The January Girl by Goldie Taylor The January Girl

by Goldie Taylor
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 07, 2008)
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Men couldn’t help but be drawn to her exquisite beauty and incomparable grace. But Thandy knew Dr. Jackson Gabrielle was different the minute they met. And indeed, Jack knew that this enchanting creature was meant for him, despite the fact that he was already married.

Thandy and Jack’s decade-long affair might have been continued indefinitely, the hard-working attorney and the high-profile surgeon scraping together moments for each other out of their crazed schedules, if Thandy hadn’t learned from Jack’s bitter wife that he had taken up with yet another woman. Thandy moves on, leaving Jack in Atlanta for a big job in Chicago. Jack, used to getting everything he has ever wanted with ease, is forced to figure out what it takes to hold on to something he loves. And Thandy, having fought her whole life for everything she has achieved, realizes the true measure of her strength. But fate intervenes and sets into motion a series of events leading to a shocking climax that forever changes everything.



Goldie Taylor is a former broadcast and print journalist. She is an alumna of Emory University. Goldie is now a managing director at a public relations agency.


Click for more detail about Sexcapades by Honeyb Sexcapades

by Honeyb
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 12, 2008)
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Nick and Natalie are two lovers whose sexual lives are more than above average, but they are both competing for the same CEO position in the firm that they work for.

Justin Flint has the power to persuade the Board of Directors. He is bisexual and attracted to both Nick and Natalie, but he doesn’t know that they are lovers. After secretly sleeping with both of them, Justin announces his decision. Natalie has gotten the position in Paris. Nick is furious because he has sacrificed his sexuality and his manhood for this position. Natalie is now torn between the love of her life and her dream job. She chooses to move to Paris. Although she is in Paris, she is miserable without Nick, so she creates a position for an assistant so that he will come to Paris also. Will Nick follow her? Will past skeletons come back to haunt her and Nick?


Click for more detail about Passin’ by Karen E. Quinones Miller Passin’

by Karen E. Quinones Miller
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 15, 2008)
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Shanika Ann Jenkins is the pride of her African-American family; smart, beautiful, and born with blue eyes and blonde hair. Though her grandmother and father are happy because she represents years of passing down light skin and marrying well, Shanika’s mother insists on her name reflecting her African-American heritage so that she will always be proud of who she is. When Shanika gets the opportunity to work for a PR firm in New York, she finds that everyone assumes she is white; she also notices that being white has it advantages, from getting respect at work to getting picked up by a cab when other African-Americans are passed by. When she starts dating a successful white colleague, she continues with the lie, despite the guilt she feels at disappointing her mother and her heritage. When she falls for a handsome African-American business man, she must finally face who she is and what she’s done, even if it means losing everything and everyone she loves.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Red River by Lalita Tademy Red River

by Lalita Tademy
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 03, 2008)
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From the author of the New York Times bestseller Cane River comes the paperback debut of an epic work of fiction that tells the dramatic, intertwining story of two families and their struggles to make a place for themselves in a country deeply divided in the aftermath of the Civil War.


Click for more detail about Sinful Too by Victor McGlothin Sinful Too

by Victor McGlothin
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 01, 2008)
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YOU CAN’T KEEP A “GOOD” WOMAN DOWN…

She can get any man burning up her satin sheets, paying her bills, and keeping her in Dolce G and Prada. And sexy, sizzling Dior definitely doesn’t “do” church or aspire to anything more than drama-free, cash-rich relationships. But charismatic Pastor Richard Allamay is one temptation she won’t resist-and Dior will do anything to become the new “First Lady” of his wildly successful megachurch. Soon she’s stripping away Richard’s Godly principles, putting him at odds with his congregation, and throwing the lives of his insecure wife and bewildered children into turmoil. It will take a chain of events no one could have imagined-and only God could have planned-for hearts to be healed, transgressions forgiven, and one outrageous, conniving diva allotted the reward she deserves.

McGlothin’s steamy sequel to Sinful reveals what happens when the wicked Dior Wicker determines to marry Dallas pastor Richard Allamay, star of Church TV’s High Praise and “shepherd of Methodist Episcopal Greater Apostolic Church” (M.E.G.A. Church, for short). Lust drives Richard to strange lengths in his attempts to impress Dior (he misuses church money, and lies to his family and cheats on his wife). McGlothin unravels at a relentless pace a sexy and twisted story of marital and spiritual unfaithfulness…
Eric Jerome Dickey, watch out.” —Publisher’s Weekly Magazine

Backsliders —the long-awaited debut short film from Victor McGlothin is based on the acclaimed novel Sinful Too. Backsliders is modern a day fable of M.E.G.A. Church Pastor Richard Allamay; who falls head over heels for an irresistible bad girl with a checkered past. Dior Wicker is in it for the games and gifts until something happens that tosses her world into a tragic tailspin. It’s all over but the crying when the wages of sin are paid in full!

 


Click for more detail about How Strong Women Pray by Bonnie St. John How Strong Women Pray

by Bonnie St. John
FaithWords (Nov 02, 2007)
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Bonnie St. John profiles some of today’s most prominent women and how prayer has impacted their lives.


Click for more detail about Grace After Midnight: A Memoir by Felicia Pearson Grace After Midnight: A Memoir

by Felicia Pearson
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 01, 2007)
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While Felicia is a brilliant actor in a truly chilling role, what’s most remarkable about "Snoop" is what she has overcome in her life. Snoop was born a three-pound cross-eyed crack baby in East Baltimore. Those streets are among the toughest in the world, but Snoop was tougher. The runt of the ghetto showed an early aptitude for drug slinging and violence and thrived as a baby gangsta until she landed in Jessup state penitentiary after killing a woman in self-defense. There she rebelled violently against the system, and it was only through the cosmic intervention of her mentor, Uncle Loney, that she turned her life around. A couple of years ago, Snoop was discovered in a nightclub by one of The Wire’s cast members and quickly recruited to be one of television’s most frightening and intriguing villians.

While the story of coming up from the hood has been told by Antwone Fisher and Chris Gardner, among others, Snoop’s tale goes far deeper into The Life than any previous books. And like Mary Karr’s story, Snoop’s is a woman’s story from a fresh point of view. She defied traditional conventions of gender and sexual preference on the hardest streets in America and she continues to do so in front of millions of viewers on TV.

Snoop’s memoir was written with David Ritz, whose credit include the bestseller Tavis Smiley’s What I Know For Sure. He has also collaborated with Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Laila Ali and B.B. King on their life stories. He has won a Grammy, a Deems Taylor ASCAP award, four Rolling Stone/Ralph J. Gleason book awards and is the co-composer of "Sexual Healing." He lives in Los Angeles.

Book Review

Click for more detail about True to the Game II by Teri Woods True to the Game II

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 01, 2007)
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TRUE TO THE GAME II will pick up where True to the Game left off— with one difference, Gena is now seeing a new guy named Jay. Little does Gena know that the man she has fallen in love with, so soon after Quadir’s death, is his archrival, Jerrell Jackson. Unfortunately, Jerrell is determined to get his revenge against Quadir’s crew and he’ll start with Gena.


Click for more detail about The Vixen Diaries by Karrine Steffans The Vixen Diaries

by Karrine Steffans
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 25, 2007)
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This titillating exposé chronicles the personal and professional adventures of this tabloid-laden socialite, dispelling some rumors, while confirming others. Diaries unveils the heavily shrouded Hollywood backrooms and its coveted secrets. Offering her ardent fans answers to burning questions and presenting lessons learned, this book will surely not disappoint.


Karrine Steffans continues to dish out juicy gossip and the much sought after details of her star studded lifestyle and the celebrity men that helped her get where she needed to be.


Karrine draws you in to get an up-close and personal look at the Hollywood life of fast money and sex; all the things that make for a great movie. She discusses her interactions with people after the release of Confessions of a Video Vixen and how she copes with it all.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Fear of the Dark: A Novel by Walter Mosley Fear of the Dark: A Novel

by Walter Mosley
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 01, 2007)
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When his cousin Ulysses S. Grant IV comes knocking, Paris Minton would rather keep the door shut, because “Useless” is a snake who brings bad luck wherever he goes. But trouble always finds an open window, and soon there’s a man murdered on his bookshop floor, evidence of blackmail is discovered, and Useless has vanished. To get out of this mess, Paris turns to his solid-hearted but quick-fisted friend Fearless Jones. Traversing the complex landscape of 1950s Los Angeles, where a wrong look can get a black man killed, Paris and Fearless find deperate women, secret lives—and more than one dead body.


Click for more detail about I Am Latino: The Beauty in Me by Sandra Pinkney I Am Latino: The Beauty in Me

by Sandra Pinkney
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Jul 01, 2007)
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Use your senses and you will see,
there is beauty in everything.

In this celebration of Latino children, Myles Pinkney’s joyous photographs and Sandra Pinkney’s buoyant text showcase traditional food, music, and more through each of the five senses. From dancing the salsa and the tango to smelling delicious empanadas and mouthwatering tamales, to treasuring time with family members and even learning Spanish words and phrases along the way, this is the perfect way to celebrate Latino culture.


Click for more detail about True to the Game by Teri Woods True to the Game

by Teri Woods
Grand Central Publishing (May 03, 2007)
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It’s the late 1980s, and Gena, a young girl from the projects, meets Quadir, a millionaire drug dealer, and falls madly in love. Quadir builds a massive empire while fighting his rivals and enemies. Gena faces the challenges of holding onto her man, her house, her car, and the cash. Both of them find themselves caught up in a vicious yet seductive world, and learn that success in this game is no easy win. Gena and Quadir also learn
that once you’re in, there’s no way out, ’cause everyone stays in forever….True.


Click for more detail about Jewels: 50 Phenomenal Black Women Over 50 by Connie Briscoe and Michael Cunningham Jewels: 50 Phenomenal Black Women Over 50

by Connie Briscoe and Michael Cunningham
Little, Brown and Company (Apr 11, 2007)
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Photographer Michael Cunningham (coauthor of Crowns) and author Connie Briscoe, a New York Times bestselling novelist, profile 50 women over the age of 50 who have been remarkably successful—whether in reaching the top of the corporate ladder, finding fame in politics or the arts, or raising a son to be proud of a single mother—and reveal the ways that they have prevailed despite daunting obstacles. Their stories are paired with Cunningham’s intimate portraits of the women.
JEWELS includes well-known and little-known women alike, from teachers and executives to artists, authors, and entertainers. Among the celebrities profiled in the book are Ruby Dee, Eleanor Holmes Norton, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Marion Wright Edelman. Coauthor Connie Briscoe also appears here as one of the featured Jewels, telling her inspiring personal story. World-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator Nikki Giovanni contributes an original poem to the book.


Click for more detail about Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance by Eleanora E. Tate Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance

by Eleanora E. Tate
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Apr 01, 2007)
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When Celeste Lassiter Massey is forced to live with her actress Aunt Valentina in Harlem, she is not thrilled to trade her friends and comfortable North Carolina for scary, big-city life. While Celeste experiences the Harlem Renaissance in full swing, she sees as much grit as glamour. A passionate writer, talented violinist, and aspiring doctor, she eventually faces a choice between ambition and loyalty, roots and horizons. The decision will change her forever.


Click for more detail about Queen of Miami by Meta Smith Queen of Miami

by Meta Smith
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 14, 2007)
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The hottest new author in street fiction, Méta Smith now delivers the tale of a female DJ who won’t settle for anything less than the most desired men, the heights of the mad-glamourous life, and dreams that people would die for.


Click for more detail about The New Moon’s Arms by Nalo Hopkinson The New Moon’s Arms

by Nalo Hopkinson
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 23, 2007)
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First it’s her mother’s missing gold brooch. Then, a blue and white dish she hasn’t seen in years. Followed by an entire grove of cashew trees.

When objects begin appearing out of nowhere, Calamity knows that the special gift she has not felt since childhood has returned-her ability to find lost things. Calamity, a woman as contrary as the tides around her Caribbean island home, is confronting two of life’s biggest dramas. First is the death of her father, who raised her alone until a pregnant Calamity rejected him when she was sixteen years old. The second drama: she’s starting menopause. Now when she has a hot flash and feels a tingling in her hands, she knows it’s a lost object calling to her.

Then she finds something unexpected: a four-year-old boy washes up on the shore, his dreadlocked hair matted with shells. Calamity decides to take the orphaned child into her care, which brings unexpected upheaval into her life and further strains her relationship with her adult daughter. Fostering this child will force her to confront all the memories of her own childhood-and the disappearance of her mother so many years before.


Click for more detail about The Black Woman’s Guide to Black Men’s Health by Andrea King Collier The Black Woman’s Guide to Black Men’s Health

by Andrea King Collier
Grand Central Life & Style (Feb 01, 2007)
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This is a comprehensive medical guide for black women to help them improve the health of the black men they love. It is packed with valuable information, advice and personal stories from celebrity and non-celebrity women about their men’s health issues.


Click for more detail about Seed to Harvest by Octavia Butler Seed to Harvest

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 05, 2007)
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The Patternist novels details a secret history continuing from the Ancient Egyptian period to the far future that involves telepathic mind control and an extraterrestrial plague.


Click for more detail about Farther Than I Meant To Go, Longer Than I Meant To Stay by Tiffany Warren Farther Than I Meant To Go, Longer Than I Meant To Stay

by Tiffany Warren
Warner Books (Oct 16, 2006)
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The author of "What a Sista Should Do" delivers a new novel about a woman struggling with the decisions she made that were based on fear and societal pressures instead of God’s plan for her.


Click for more detail about Not Easily Broken: A Novel by T. D. Jakes Not Easily Broken: A Novel

by T. D. Jakes
FaithWords (Oct 11, 2006)
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From New York Times bestselling author T.D. Jakes, comes the story of a couple whose marriage moves toward destruction, propelled by dramatic life changes.

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Confident Woman: Start Today Living Boldly and Without Fear by Joyce Meyer The Confident Woman: Start Today Living Boldly and Without Fear

by Joyce Meyer
FaithWords (Sep 05, 2006)
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What keeps women from being their best? Joyce has been helping women better themselves by helping identify emotional barriers and physical, mental, and spiritual obstacles in their lives for years. Now she provides another answer-confidence.

Our society has an insecurity epidemic, women in particular. Compensating by pretending to be secure-a common response-only leads to feelings of shame. Lack of self-confidence causes great difficulty in relationships of all kinds, and in marriage instances can even lead to divorce.

In THE CONFIDENT WOMAN, Joyce explores the seven characteristics of a woman with confidence, which include a woman who knows she is loved, who refuses to live in fear, and who does not live by comparisons. Joyce explains that confidence stems from being positive in your actions and living honestly, but most importantly from having faith, in God and in ourselves.


Click for more detail about Satin Nights by Karen E. Quinones Miller Satin Nights

by Karen E. Quinones Miller
Warner Books (Aug 07, 2006)
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Regina Harris has been through it all, orphaned at 13 and forced to use street wits to survive. Now living in Harlem with her four-year-old daughter, she thinks her life has finally stabilized—but where there’s Regina, there’s always drama. She runs into a former boyfriend and, against her better judgment and the advice of friends, she resumes their steamy affair. Sparks fly when her U.S. Congressman ex-hubby decides he wants her back and her boyfriend decides he won’t let her go. Life is no less dramatic for her three best friends—Yvonne can’t tear herself from a lawyer turned violent junkie, Tamika and her family are being targeted by street thugs bent on revenge, and Puddin’ still can’t resist using any man in her sights to support bad habits.


Click for more detail about The Rolexxx Club by Meta Smith The Rolexxx Club

by Meta Smith
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 11, 2006)
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After trying to make a name for herself as a singer and model, Dez catches the eye of a hot hip-hop star and producer who might just make her a star. Someone from her past doesn’t want her to succeed, and unless she learns who her enemies are, her life and dreams could burn out faster than a shooting star.


Click for more detail about My Pop Pop and Me by Irene Smalls My Pop Pop and Me

by Irene Smalls
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 10, 2006)
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A young boy who loves to sniff the lemon whiff and to clink the dishes in the sink helps his Pop Pop bake a cake.


Click for more detail about He Talk Like a White Boy by Joseph C. Phillips He Talk Like a White Boy

by Joseph C. Phillips
Running Press (Apr 25, 2006)
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As a young student, Joseph Phillips once overheard someone say of him, "He talk like a white boy!" The Denver native never thought that speaking correctly would cause others to question his authenticity as an African-American. Little did he know what lay in his future. His choices in music, politics, faith, and family have given rise to many accusations of his not being "black enough.” As an actor, Joseph has encountered even more pointing fingers, this time for not being liberal enough for Hollywood. With a frank voice and a loving heart, this brilliant, conservative and outspoken African-American man presents a series of funny and thought-provoking essays that speak to the simple fact that authenticity is far more complicated that one’s choice of words or music

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Untelling by Tayari Jones The Untelling

by Tayari Jones
Grand Central Publishing (Apr 12, 2006)
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Aria Jackson lived through the car crash that killed her father and brother when she was nine. At 25 she begins to unearth secrets about family, friends, her past, and her altered reality in this journey through truth and forgiveness.


Click for more detail about Fortunate Son: A Novel by Walter Mosley Fortunate Son: A Novel

by Walter Mosley
Little, Brown and Company (Apr 10, 2006)
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New York Times bestselling author Walter Mosley’s novel about two boys, one ensconced in a life of privilege and the other in a life of hardship, explores the true meaning of fortune.In spite of remarkable differences, Eric and Tommy are as close as brothers. Eric, a Nordic Adonis, is graced by a seemingly endless supply of good fortune. Tommy is a lame black boy, cursed with health problems, yet he remains optimistic and strong.After tragedy rips their makeshift family apart, the lives of these boys diverge astonishingly: Eric, the golden youth, is given everything but trusts nothing; Tommy, motherless and impoverished, has nothing, but feels lucky every day of his life. In a riveting story of modern-day resilience and redemption, the two confront separate challenges, and when circumstances reunite them years later, they draw on their extraordinary natures to confront a common enemy and, ultimately, save their lives.


Click for more detail about The Wave by Walter Mosley The Wave

by Walter Mosley
Aspect (Jan 03, 2006)
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Errol is awakened again by a strange prank caller asking for him by name and claiming to be his fatherwho has been dead for several years. It feels like a surreal call from the grave, until Erroll hears the unmistakable sound of a handset being put down on a table. Curious, and not a little unnerved, he sneaks into the graveyard where his father is buried. What he finds there will change his life forever. But once Errols been touched by the Wave, a presence infecting the planet, can anything be the same again? With the bold imagination that made Blue Light a bestseller, Walter Mosley returns to science fiction with a novel both eerie and transcendent.


Click for more detail about What Fire Cannot Burn by John Ridley What Fire Cannot Burn

by John Ridley
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 01, 2006)
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The bestselling author of "Those Who Walk in Darkness" delivers the second book of his action-packed series, featuring top LAPD mutant-hunter Soledad O’Roark, who teams up with rival Eddi Aoki when a vigilante starts killing metanormals without mercy. Original.


Click for more detail about Life Out of Context by Walter Mosley Life Out of Context

by Walter Mosley
Bold Type Books (Dec 21, 2005)
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Life Out of Context begins as a powerful, brooding and humorously honest examination of Mosley’s own sense of cultural dislocation as an African American writer. But due to a series of serendipitous events the screening of a documentary about Africa, an encounter with Harry Belafonte and Hugh Masakela Mosley, rather like the protagonist in one of his mystery novels, has a series of epiphanies on the role of a black intellectual in America. He asks: What can we do to fight injustice, poverty, exploitation, and racism? What is globalization doing to us? Through these late night meditations, Mosley attempts to transcend his earlier feelings of living a “life out of context” and seeks instead to find a political context. He ends with a call to arms, proposing that African Americans have to break their historic ties with the Democrat Party, and form a party of their own


Click for more detail about My Nana and Me by Irene Smalls My Nana and Me

by Irene Smalls
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Oct 05, 2005)
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A young girl and her grandmother enjoy a day filled with tea parties, hide-and-seek, stories, and plenty of love.


Click for more detail about Counting Raindrops Through a Stained Glass Window by Cherlyn Michaels Counting Raindrops Through a Stained Glass Window

by Cherlyn Michaels
Hachette (Sep 14, 2005)
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"The surest way to ruin a relationship is to marry the man you love."

At least that’s what Vanella Morris believes; she’s seen the crazy things that marriage makes people do. So when Alton, her longtime boyfriend and love of her life, proposes, Vanella is faced with a dilemma: Unable to convince Alton to skip the vows, does she walk away from happiness because of her fears?


Click for more detail about The Failures of Integration (Paperback): How Race and Class Are Undermining the American Dream_ by Sheryll Cashin The Failures of Integration (Paperback): How Race and Class Are Undermining the American Dream_

by Sheryll Cashin
PublicAffairs (Jul 06, 2005)
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On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that separate educational facilities for blacks and whites are inherently "unequal" and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment. The landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education, sounded the death knell for legal segregation, but fifty years later, de facto segregation in America thrives. And Sheryll Cashin believes that it is getting worse.

The Failures of Integration is a provocative look at how segregation by race and class is ruining American democracy. Only a small minority of the affluent are truly living the American Dream, complete with attractive, job-rich suburbs, reasonably low taxes, good public schools, and little violent crime. For the remaining majority of Americans, segregation comes with stratospheric costs. In a society that sets up "winner" and "loser" communities and schools defined by race and class, racial minorities in particular are locked out of the "winner" column. African-Americans bear the heaviest burden. But with the expensive price tag attached to "winner" communities, middle-income whites also struggle to afford homes in good neighborhoods with acceptable schools.

What’s worse is that we’ve come to accept our segregated society. Most whites have bought into the psychology of the bulwark: the idea that separating themselves from different races and classes is the only sure route to better opportunity. African-Americans, on the other hand, have become integration weary. Many escape to affluent all-black enclaves in hopes of thriving among their own, even as they attempt to insulate themselves from their less advantaged brothers and sisters. Sheryll Cashin shows why this separation is not working for most Americans.

In a rapidly diversifying America, Cashin argues, we need a radical transformation-a jettisoning of the now ingrained assumption that separation is acceptable-in order to solve the riddle of inequality. Our public policy choices must be premised on an integrationist vision if we are to achieve our highest aspiration and pursue the dream that America says it embraces: full and equal opportunity for all.


Click for more detail about What A Sista Should Do by Tiffany Warren What A Sista Should Do

by Tiffany Warren
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 03, 2005)
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A powerful and spiritually satisfying novel from a compelling new voice about three courageous women who must confront the harsh realities of their lives through faith and prayer. Pam Lyons has a husband who places more trust in money and marijuana than in God. Yvonne Hastings is a minister’s wife whose husband’s infidelity and physical abuse brings their marriage to a crossroads. Taylor Johnson is a single mother who is looking for a good Christian man to help raise her son, but is unable to rid herself of the guilt left over from her promiscuous past. The secret of Taylor’s child’s paternity is the catalyst for the tumultuous relationship between the three women. Together, they will learn unforgettable lessons about love, forgiveness, prayer, and sisterhood.


Click for more detail about 47 by Walter Mosley 47

by Walter Mosley
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 04, 2005)
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Walter Mosley is one of the best-known writers in America. In his first book for young adults, Mosley deftly weaves historical and speculative fiction into a powerful narrative about the nature of freedom. 47 is a young slave boy living under the watchful eye of a brutal slave master. His life seems doomed until he meets a mysterious runaway slave, Tall John. Then, 47 finds himself swept up in a struggle for his own liberation.


Click for more detail about Life Lessons For My Sisters: How to Make Wise Choices and Live a Life You Love! by Natasha Munson Life Lessons For My Sisters: How to Make Wise Choices and Live a Life You Love!

by Natasha Munson
Hachette (May 04, 2005)
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Warm encouragement and straightforward guidance to help women lead a life they love

Searching for a life blessed with peace and happiness? Longing to move past old expectations and learn to live in the moment? Life Lessons for My Sisters is an inspirational guidebook and valuable resource for women who want to live a more meaningful life. Based on Natasha Munson’s own personal experiences, the book was written to help young black women avoid many of the pitfalls she herself encountered on her road to adulthood. Written in pithy, inspirational chapters, each concluding with a wise observation about life, the book offers simple advice that women of all ages and backgrounds will appreciate and respond to.


Click for more detail about Those Who Walk In Darkness by John Ridley Those Who Walk In Darkness

by John Ridley
Aspect (May 01, 2005)
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Soledad "Bullet" O’Roark writes her own rules. Usually it gets her in trouble. On her first day with the L.A.P.D.’s elite Mtac squad, Soledad takes down an outlawed super-powered freak with a weapon she designed herself-a definite violation. Her love life is no less chaotic. It’s hard to find a decent guy with nothing to hide. But there’s not much room in Soledad’s life for romance when a cop-killer is on the loose. The "baddest" freak of all, this one can control people’s minds and make them commit anything he wants… including murder.


Click for more detail about Cane River by Lalita Tademy Cane River

by Lalita Tademy
Warner Books (Feb 01, 2005)
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The "New York Times" bestseller and Oprah’s Book Club Pick—the unique and deeply moving epic of four generations of African-American women based on one family’s ancestral past.

Lalita Tademy was a successful corporate vice president at a Fortune 500 company when she decided to embark upon what would become an obsessive odyssey to uncover her familys past. Through exhaustive research, interviews, and the help of professional genealogists, she would find herself transported back to the early 1800s, to an isolated, close-knit rural community on Louisianas Cane River. Here, Tademy takes historical fact and mingles it with fiction to weave a vivid and dramatic account of what life was like for the four remarkable women who came before her. Beginning with Tademys great-great-great-great grandmother Elisabeth, this is a family saga that sweeps from the early days of slavery through the Civil War into a pre-Civil Rights Southa unique and moving slice of Americas past that will resonate with readers for generations to come. Well-researched and powerfully written, Cane River is just the kind of family portrait that will appeal to the same diverse audience as Alex Haleys bestselling phenomenon Roots (Dell Books, reissue 1980) and the New York Times bestseller Sally Hemings (Buccaneer Books, 1992), which sold over one million hardcover copies and inspired the feature film Jefferson in Paris, starring Nick Nolte and Thandie Newton.


Click for more detail about Africana: Civil Rights: An A-to-Z Reference of the Movement that Changed America by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Africana: Civil Rights: An A-to-Z Reference of the Movement that Changed America

by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Running Press (Jan 03, 2005)
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American history saw a dramatic change with the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Now this landmark era is brought to life in a compelling new reference work that provides a complete background of the civil rights movement, with detailed entries on Martin Luther King, Andrew Young, the March on Washington, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and dozens of other notable figures and events from this tumultuous time. Culled directly from the original Africana (about which The New York Times noted, ?a very useful tool, and may even set new standards and change attitudes about the African American experience”), this compelling reference work is a unique testament to the remarkable legacy of the civil rights movement.


Click for more detail about America Behind The Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. America Behind The Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans

by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 01, 2005)
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More than thirty-five years after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., Americans wonder just how much of his dream has come true. Now renowned scholar and New York Times bestselling author Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., examines the surprising social and economic journey African Americans have made since the civil rights era. Using the interviews he conducted for his groundbreaking PBS series, Professor Gates introduces us to forty-four individuals from every segment of the African-American community-from Maya Angelou and Morgan Freeman to convict "Eric Edwards" and a single mother on Chicago’s South Side. In their own candid, deeply felt words, each discusses what it means to be African American in the twenty-first century: the joys, the problems, the perils. Together, they reveal a community united by memory and culture yet divided by wealth and lack of opportunity…in an America still struggling to ensure true equality for all.


Click for more detail about How to Hear from God Study Guide: Learn to Know His Voice and Make Right Decisions

 by Joyce Meyer How to Hear from God Study Guide: Learn to Know His Voice and Make Right Decisions

by Joyce Meyer
FaithWords (Nov 01, 2004)
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God wants to speak to you on a One-to-one basis, every day. He wants to take you step by step to the good things He has in store for you. In the hustle and bustle of today’s busy world, sometimes it’s hard enough to hear yourself think, much less take a minute to stop and listen for the voice of God. But learning to recognize God’s voice and the many ways in which He speaks is vital toward following His plan. In How to Hear from God, bestselling author Joyce Meyer revealed the ways in which God delivers His word, and the benefits of asking Him for the sensitivity to hear His voice. In this companion study guide, she takes you a step further, leading you through an interactive process toward a greater understanding of how God is working in your life. With thoughtful question-and-answer sections and further Scripture reading, as well as a recap on each of the book’s chapters, Joyce Meyer has created an intimate and meaningful experience on the path to hearing God’s Word for you personally. The How to Hear From God Study Guide includes: * More Than 200 Questions Adapted From How to Hear From God and Relevant Scriptures * A Workbook-Styled Format so You Can Write Your Answers Directly into the Book * A Section of Answers to Help Guide You in Your Own Personal Reflections on the Questions.


Click for more detail about Gotham Diaries by Tonya Lewis Lee and Crystal Mccrary Anthony Gotham Diaries

by Tonya Lewis Lee and Crystal Mccrary Anthony
Hachette (Jul 07, 2004)
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A hilarious first novel that provides a peek into the world of the super-rich, super-connected African Americans in Manhattan.

Lauren is trying to be an independent woman, starting her own documentary film company, but it’s difficult when you’re married to Ed Thomas, one of the wealthiest African-American businessmen in the country—and particularly when he seems to have a roving eye. Manny is an up-and-coming gay real estate agent who arrived in Manhattan from Alabama with only the clothes on his back. He’s made his way to the top of his profession—yet he still wants more. Tandy is one of the "ladies who lunch"—but she’s desperate to reinvent herself and find a new source of cash flow.

As we follow these three and other characters in this compelling first novel, we see the fascinating world of New York City’s upper-crust African American society with all their scandals, foibles and skeletons in the closet revealed.


Click for more detail about Little Scarlet: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley Little Scarlet: An Easy Rawlins Mystery

by Walter Mosley
Little, Brown and Company (Jul 05, 2004)
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For the huge audience that has always thought they should read Walter Mosley, he delivers at last the novel they’ve been waiting for-one so unstoppably dramatic that it will rank among the classic mysteries of our time. At the height of the devastating 1965 Watts riots, a white man is pulled from his car by a mob and escapes into a nearby apartment building. Soon afterward, a red-headed woman known as Little Scarlet is found dead in that building-and the man who fled is the suspect. The police investigate, and what Easy finds is a killer whose rage, like that which burned in the city, is intrinsically woven around race and passion.Rawlins’s hunt for the killer will reveal a new city emerging from the ashes - and a new life for Easy and his friends. Mosley captures the heat and the rhythm of Los Angeles’s heart, where danger is the common currency of everyday life.LITTLE SCARLET is further proof that Mosley is a master of mystery (New York Times Book Review).


Click for more detail about Bling by Erica Kennedy Bling

by Erica Kennedy
Hyperion Books (Jun 16, 2004)
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Cinderella remixed: an uninhibited, unputdownable novel about a small-town girl and the music mogul determined to turn her into a megastar.

When twenty-year-old Mimi travels from a small town in Ohio to New York for an audition with Lamont Jackson, head of the hottest hip-hop label in the business, she has no idea that her life is about to change overnight. The moment Lamont hears the beautiful young singer's silky voice, he signs her up in a bid to find mainstream success beyond the hip-hop charts. Soon Mimi is rocking the chicest designer clothes, hanging with an A-list crowd, and being escorted through the velvet ropes into the city's most exclusive clubs.

But everything comes with a price. As Lamont's new female star, Mimi is given the full makeover treatment. Fading supermodel Vanessa de la Cruz restyles bohemian Mimi into a ghetto fab glamour girl with outrageous shopping sprees at Prada and Gucci; Lena Whitaker, the hip-hop obsessed daughter of a powerful attorney, is handpicked by Lamont to become her club-hopping sidekick; and Mimi can't quite tell if her spotlight-craving record producer, Daryl "Country D" McHenry, is friend or foe.

As Mimi is seduced by the clothes, money, and decadent lifestyle of her new crowd, she comes to see that Lamont's own future in the recording industry rests on her inexperienced shoulders. Cinderella never felt pressure like this.

Fast-paced, sexy, and wickedly hilarious, Bling is a page-turner that grabs the reader from the very first line. Taking us inside the glittering world of New York's hip-hop scene with an unforgettable cast of characters, smart dialogue, and a whole lot of attitude, Erica Kennedy grabs the microphone and makes it clear that she is a major new voice.


Click for more detail about The Failures Of Integration: How Race and Class Are Undermining the American Dream by Sheryll Cashin The Failures Of Integration: How Race and Class Are Undermining the American Dream

by Sheryll Cashin
PublicAffairs (Apr 13, 2004)
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Published for the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education: If "separate, but equal" has been illegal for fifty years, why is America more segregated than ever?. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that separate educational facilities for blacks and whites are inherently "unequal" and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment. The landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education , sounded the death knell for legal segregation, but fifty years later, de facto segregation in America thrives. And Sheryll Cashin believes that it is getting worse. The Failures of Integration is a provocative look at how segregation by race and class is ruining American democracy. Only a small minority of the affluent are truly living the American Dream, complete with attractive, job-rich suburbs, reasonably low taxes, good public schools, and little violent crime. For the remaining majority of Americans, segregation comes with stratospheric costs. In a society that sets up "winner" and "loser" communities and schools defined by race and class, racial minorities in particular are locked out of the "winner" column. African-Americans bear the heaviest burden. Cashin argues that we n


Click for more detail about Zulu Heart: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America by Steven Barnes Zulu Heart: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America

by Steven Barnes
Aspect (Feb 01, 2004)
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Barnes delivers the explosive follow-up to his groundbreaking alternate history novel "Lion’s Blood"—in which African nationals colonized the New World—in this tale of a reimagined America circa 1860.

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Click for more detail about The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer The Zero Game

by Brad Meltzer
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 20, 2004)
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The New York Times bestselling author of The Millionaires and The First Counsel returns to Washington, D.C., with the story of an insider’s game that turns deadly.

Matthew Mercer and Harris Sandler are best friends who have plum jobs as senior staffers to well-respected congressmen. But after a decade in Washington, idealism has faded to disillusionment, and they’re bored. Then one of them finds out about the clandestine Zero Game. It starts out as good fun-a simple wager between friends. But when someone close to them ends up dead, Harris and Matthew realize the game is far more sinister than they ever imagined-and that they’re about to be the game’s next victims. On the run, they turn to the only person they can trust: a 16-year-old Senate page who can move around the Capitol undetected. As a ruthless killer creeps closer, this idealistic page not only holds the key to saving their lives, but is also determined to redeem them in the process. Come play The Zero Game-you can bet your life on it.


Click for more detail about The Man in My Basement: A Novel by Walter Mosley The Man in My Basement: A Novel

by Walter Mosley
Little, Brown and Company (Jan 05, 2004)
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Charles Blakey is a young black man whose life is slowly crumbling.His parents are dead, he can’t find a job, he drinks too much, and his friends have begun to desert him. Worst of all, he’s fallen behind on the mortgage payments for the beautiful home that’s belonged to his family for generations. When a stranger offers him $50,000 in cash to rent out his basement for the summer, Charles needs the money too badly to say no. He knows that the stranger must want something more than a basement view. Sure enough, he has a very particular-and bizarre-set of requirements, and Charles tries to satisfy him without getting lured into the strangeness.But he sees an opportunity to understand secrets of the white world, and his summer with a man in his basement turns into a journey into inconceivable worlds of power and manipulation, and unimagined realms of humanity. Richly textured and compelling, THE MAN IN MY BASEMENT is a new literary pinnacle from an acknowledged American master.


Click for more detail about Dark Matter: Reading the Bones by Sheree Renee Thomas Dark Matter: Reading the Bones

by Sheree Renee Thomas
Aspect (Jan 02, 2004)
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Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora

The critically acclaimed, award-winning anthology Dark Matter was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a Washington Post Book World "Rave" Book of the Year. An innovative and landmark collection, it presented some of the most profound, moving, and entertaining speculative fiction from the African diaspora. Now editor Sheree R. Thomas delves further into this inspirational wellspring with a new volume of great stories that illuminate our world…
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones

Expanding the fields of fantastic fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, this exciting collection of stories, essays, and interviews combines classic tales from great authors with original pieces from emerging black writers. The interests of black writers are manifold; their voices, themes, and aesthetics are as diverse as the homeland of their ancestors. With vision and authenticity, Dark Matter: Reading the Bones divines greater insight into the stunning variety of the black literary tradition.
Photo from reading of "Dark Matter" at AALBC.com
This rich collection displays narratives of courage, from women in an African forest challenging deep-rooted cultural expectations to hard-eyed urban men in American housing projects resisting a hostile world. From oral folktales to futuristic speculative fiction, from the comedy of the trickster to haunting meditations on survival, these authors explore love and lore, identity and community.

Compelling, complex, and poignant, this new anthology of African-rooted literature will dazzle you with its multifaceted scope.

Contents

Fiction
ibo landing by ihsan bracy
The Quality of Sand by Cherene Sherrard
Yahimba’s Choice by Charles R. Saunders
The Glass Bottle Trick by Nalo Hopkinson
Desire by Kiini Ibura Salaam>
Recovery from a Fall by David Findlay
Anansi Meets Peter Parker at the Taco Bell on Lexington by Douglas Kearney
The Magical Negro by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Jesus Christ in Texas by W. E. B. Du Bois
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? by0 Henry Dumas
’Cause Harlem Needs Heroes by Kevin Brockenbrough
Whipping Boy by Pam Noles
Old Flesh Song by Ibi Aanu Zoboi
Whispers in the Dark by Walter Mosley
Aftermoon by Tananarive Due
Voodoo Vincent and the Astrostoriograms by Tyehimba Jess
The Binary by John Cooley
BLACKout by Jill Robinson
Sweet Dreams by Charles Johnson
Buying Primo Time by Wanda Coleman
Corona by Samuel R. Delany
Maggies by Nisi Shawl
Excerpt from Mindscape by Andrea Hairston
Trance by Kalamu ya Salaam

Essays
The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Transcription of a Panel at the 1997 Black Speculative Fiction Writers Conference Held at Clark Atlanta University
by Jewelle Gomez

Her Pen Could Fly: Remembering Virginia Hamilton
by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

Celebrating the Alien: The Politics of Race and Species in the Juveniles of Andre Norton
by Carol Cooper
 

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luís Alberto Urrea The Devil’s Highway: A True Story

by Luís Alberto Urrea
Little, Brown and Company (Jan 01, 2004)
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In a new 10th anniversary "The single most compelling, lucid, and lyrical contemporary account of the absurdity of U.S. border policy" (The Atlantic).

In May 2001, a group of men attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the deadliest region of the continent, the "Devil’s Highway." Three years later, Luis Alberto Urrea wrote about what happened to them. The result was a national bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a "book of the year" in multiple newspapers, and a work proclaimed as a modern American classic.


Click for more detail about Growing Up King: An Intimate Memoir by Dexter Scott King Growing Up King: An Intimate Memoir

by Dexter Scott King
Warner Books (Jan 01, 2004)
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Growing Up King: An Intimate Memoir by Dexter Scott King is a deeply personal account from the youngest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. Adding this memoir to your library would enrich it with the perspective of someone who experienced the Civil Rights Movement not just as a historical event but as a part of his family’s legacy.

The book provides insights into what it was like to grow up as a member of one of America’s most influential families and offers a unique look at the personal side of public figures. It goes into Dexter King’s personal journey, his relationship with his parents, his insights into their character, and how their legacy impacted his life and his own activism.

Growing Up King can serve as important educational tools, offering first-hand accounts that can give readers, especially younger ones, a more tangible connection to history. It can also inspire and inform current and future generations about the importance of social justice and the ongoing struggle for civil rights.

King reveals the struggle of growing up under the weight of his father’s legacy during this C-Span2 Book TV presentation.


Click for more detail about Like A Mighty Stream by Patrik Henry Bass Like A Mighty Stream

by Patrik Henry Bass
Running Press (Dec 24, 2003)
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The March on Washington, one of the most significant public events of the 20th century, is remembered in this amazing book that details the defining moment of the Civil Rights Movement. On August 28, 1963, people from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds, races and religions came together to support a national civil rights initiative. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s stirring delivery of his now historic "I Have a Dream" speech signaled a turning point in United States contemporary history for a generation, a nation, and the world. Acclaimed journalist and author Patrik Henry Bass weaves eyewitness accounts, photographs, reporting, and observations into a memorable mosaic of one of the most unforgettable events in American history.


Click for more detail about Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience - The Concise Desk Reference by Kwame Anthony Appiah Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience - The Concise Desk Reference

by Kwame Anthony Appiah
Running Press (Nov 27, 2003)
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Drawn from the acclaimed landmark in reference publishing, this incomparable one-volume encyclopedia of the black world is now within reach of every family, student, and educator. It brings the entire Pan-African experience into sharp focus, with entries ranging from "affirmative action" to "zydeco," from each of the most prominent ethnic groups in Africa to each member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Africana will provide hours of reading pleasure through its longer, interpretive essays on the religion, arts, and cultural life of Africans and of black people everywhere.


Click for more detail about The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson The Salt Roads

by Nalo Hopkinson
Warner Books (Nov 12, 2003)
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- Hopkinson made her debut with "Brown Girl in the Ring (Aspect, 1998), receiving the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Now, with a body of work that invokes comparison to such writers as Jamaica Kincaid and Edwidge Danticat, she is poised to claim her place in the mainstream spotlight.- "Skin Folk (Aspect 12/01), the author’s previous book, won the World Fantasy Award for Best Collection, was named Recommended Fiction for 21102 by "Black Issues Book Review, and was named a "New York Times Best Book of the Year.- "Midnight Robber (Aspect, 2000), a "New York Times Recommended Book of Summer 2000, received Honorable Mention for the Casa de las Americas Prize, and was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Hugo Award, and the Philip K Dick Award.- The author’s unique style of magical realism will attract the same audiences that catapulted Toni Morrison’s "Beloved and Edwidge Danticat’s "Breath, Eyes, Memory (Random House, 1998) to bestsellerdom.

Book Review

Click for more detail about A Plentiful Harvest: Creating Balance and Harmony Through the Seven Living Virtues by Terrie Williams A Plentiful Harvest: Creating Balance and Harmony Through the Seven Living Virtues

by Terrie Williams
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 01, 2003)
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Forewords by Iyanla Vanzant and Susan L. Taylor

She was president of one of the country’s top publicity agencies, with a Who’s Who-in-entertainment client list that included Eddie Murphy, Miles Davis, and Janet Jackson. The bestselling author of The Personal Touch, she was a popular speaker for Fortune 500 companies and academia alike. And socially she knew everyone’and was everywhere’that mattered. But Terrie Williams felt more stressed-out than successful, frantic instead of fulfilled. She felt there had to be something more than rushing to meet constant deadlines and be in endless places, and she found it somewhere she never expected…

A PLENTIFUL HARVEST

One sleepless night, Terrie found a Kwanzaa card under her bed. She had always revered the holiday for the special values it celebrated. But right then she realized that its cornerstone seven "Living Virtues" were a powerful way to rediscover joy, meaning, and balance. Now, she helps you find your personal "plenty"’how to reconnect basic, time-honored truths with your deepest needs to yield harmony and satisfaction in your life. Step by step, through meditations, weekly practices, and journal exercises, she shows you how to:

  • Learn your true calling and take small daily steps to live it to the fullest
  • Discover real wealth by taking control of your finances and learning the difference between what you desire, want’and actually need
  • Use your creativity for more fulfilling work, play-and even emotional healing
  • Find love’s true meaning-from valuing yourself for who you are to honestly opening up to others
  • Define what community means to you and discover the most rewarding ways to "give back.
  • Straightforward, practical, filled with invaluable mother-wit and warmth, A PLENTIFUL HARVEST shows you how to balance life’s many "seasons"’and to reap their most satisfying rewards.

REAP JOY, FULFILLMENT, AND BALANCE FROM SEVEN SIMPLE IDEAS:

  • Calling
  • Responsibility
  • Thrift
  • Love
  • Community
  • Spirituality
  • Creativity

They are known as the seven "Living Virtues," the cherished, time-tested spiritual values behind Kwanzaa. Let The Personal Touch’s Terrie Williams show you how to turn them into an empowering life plan’and ultimate fulfillment.


Click for more detail about I Love My Hair! by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley I Love My Hair!

by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Nov 01, 2003)
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I Love My Hair!

This whimsical, evocative story about a girl named Keyana encourages African-American children to feel good about their special hair and be proud of their heritage. A BlackBoard Children’s Book of the Year. Full-color illustrations.


Click for more detail about Irene and the Big, Fine Nickel by Irene Smalls Irene and the Big, Fine Nickel

by Irene Smalls
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Sep 20, 2003)
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This new edition with revised, shorter text relates the adventures of a young girl, living in Harlem in the 1950s, on the morning that she finds a nickel in the street. Full color.


Click for more detail about Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones Leaving Atlanta

by Tayari Jones
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 01, 2003)
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An award-winning author makes her fiction debut with this coming-of-age story of three young black children set against the backdrop of the Atlanta child murders of 1979.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Fear Itself: A Fearless Jones Novel by Walter Mosley Fear Itself: A Fearless Jones Novel

by Walter Mosley
Little, Brown and Company (Jul 01, 2003)
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Paris Minton doesn’t want any trouble. He minds his used bookstore and his own business. But in 1950s Los Angeles, sometimes trouble finds him, no matter how hard he tries to avoid it. When the nephew of the wealthiest woman in L.A. is missing and wanted for murder, she has to get involved-no matter if she can’t stand him. What will her church think? She hires Jefferson T. Hill, a former sheriff of Dawson, Texas, and a tough customer, to track him down and prove his innocence.When Hill goes missing too, she tricks his friend Fearless Jones and Paris Minton into picking up the case. Paris steps inside the world of the black bourgeoisie, and it turns out to be filled with deceit and corruption. It takes everything he has just to stay alive through a case filled with twists and turns and dead ends like he never imagined. Written with the voice and vision that have made Walter Mosley one of the most entertaining writers in America, Fear Itself marks the return of a master at the top of his form.


Click for more detail about A Conversation with the Mann by John Ridley A Conversation with the Mann

by John Ridley
Warner Books (Jun 01, 2003)
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An evocative novel of an aspiring black comics rise to near-fame and fortune during the Rat Pack era, by the author of Everybody Smokes in Hell and Stray Dogs.What do you want?I want the Ed Sullivan Show.At the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, like a lot of black Americans, comedian Jackie Mann wanted to be somebody. And for him there was only one way to achieve that: to make it big. Make it, no matter the cost: friends, family, ones own self-esteem and self-respect. This is the story of a young mans journey from Harlem to stardom, a story of Hollywood royalty, New York glitterati, Vegas Mafiosi, Northern bigotry, and Southern racism. This is a story of love, honor, betrayal, and redemption; of fame bought and paid for by any means necessary. It is the story of one mans desire and an entire races demands, and the incredible moment when the two came together as one. This is the story of Jackie Mann.

Book Review

Click for more detail about The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts The Bondwoman’s Narrative

by Hannah Crafts
Warner Books (Apr 28, 2003)
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Tells the story of Hannah Crafts, a young slave working on a wealthy North Carolina plantation, who runs away in a bid for freedom up North.

On April 2, 2002, Warner Books published The Bondwoman’s Narrative a work already being hailed as an historical literary landmark. Discovered by Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., it is the first known novel written by an African American woman who had been a slave. The buzz about this magnificent discovery began with The New York Times front page article on November 11, 2001 and intensified when an excerpt appeared in the February 18 & 25, 2002 issue of The New Yorker.

The novel first came to the attention of Gates in February of 2001 when he bid on an ’Unpublished Original Manuscript’ offered by Swann Galleries described as ’a fictionalized biography’purporting to be the story, of the early life and escape of one Hannah Crafts, a mulatto, born in Virginia.’

The novel is told in the voice of Hannah Crafts and reveals first-hand knowledge of the intimacies shared between ladies’ maids and their mistresses, the secrets they were entrusted with, and the cruel imposition of a master’s attention. Crafts relays the life of the slave as property without any rights, living in complete bondage and takes the reader back to a time when a black person’s worth was determined only by the monetary value they could be acquired for.

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Click for more detail about Mojo: Conjure Stories by Nalo Hopkinson Mojo: Conjure Stories

by Nalo Hopkinson
Aspect (Apr 01, 2003)
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When enslaved people were brought from the western part of Africa to the Americas, they were forbidden to speak their native languages or practice their religions in the New World.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Singsation by Jacquelin Thomas Singsation

by Jacquelin Thomas
Warner Books (Apr 01, 2003)
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Deborah Anne Peterson always knew she possessed a gift from God—her miraculous singing voice, but when rapper and movie star Triage Blue discovers her and sets her up with a tour, her beliefs and relationship the church become challenged.


Click for more detail about Zulu Heart: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America by Steven Barnes Zulu Heart: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America

by Steven Barnes
Aspect (Mar 19, 2003)
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Set in the late 1800’s in an alternate universe in which Africa colonized the America’s, ZULU HEART continues the stories of two men from very different backgrounds. Kai is a politically important Ethiporan nobleman; Aidan, a white Irishman who was until recently Kai’s slave. But just as the promise of freedom has separated these two men’s fates, racial discourse is about to reunite them. A rebellion is building toward civil war. Loyalties are being drawn along the lines of homelands, namely Egypt and Ethiopia, and causing the New World to be torn into a North and a South-with Kai and Aidan caught in the crossfire.


Click for more detail about Reconsidering The Souls Of Black Folk: Thoughts On The Groundbreaking Classic Work Of W.e.b. Dubois by Stanley Crouch and Playtehll Benjamin Reconsidering The Souls Of Black Folk: Thoughts On The Groundbreaking Classic Work Of W.e.b. Dubois

by Stanley Crouch and Playtehll Benjamin
Running Press (Jan 12, 2003)
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Stanley Crouch teams up with noted journalist Playthell Benjamin for this thought-provoking look back at The Souls of Black Folk, the epochal, prophetic work by the great African-American intellectual W. E. B. DuBois. Crouch — and internationally recognized jazz critic, syndicated columnist, and author — and Behnjamin appraise the contributions of DuBois’s work, noting its uncanny relevance to today’s society and its profound impact on the field of African-American studies. Reconsidering the Souls of Black Folk is a fitting tribute to a literary and sociological triumph.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production Of Hate by Neil Baldwin Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production Of Hate

by Neil Baldwin
PublicAffairs (Dec 01, 2002)
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How and why did this quintessential American folk-hero and pioneering industrialist become one of the most obsessive anti-Semites of our time-a man who devoted his immense financial resources to publishing a pernicious forgery, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion? Once Henry Ford’s virulent media campaign against the Jews took off during the "anxious decade" following World War I, how did America’s splintered Jewish community attempt to cope with the relentless tirade conducted for ninety-one consecutive weeks in the automobile manufacturer’s personal newspaper, The Dearborn Independent? What were the repercussions of Ford’s Jew-hatred extending deeply into the 1930s? Drawing upon previously-uncited oral history transcripts, archival correspondence, and family memoirs, Neil Baldwin answers these and other questions, examining the conservative biases of the men at the inner circle of the Ford Motor Company and disentangling painful ideological struggles among an elite Jewish leadership reluctantly pitted against the clout and popularity of "The Flivver King."


Click for more detail about War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning

by Chris Hedges
PublicAffairs (Sep 01, 2002)
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General George S. Patton famously said, "Compared to war all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God, I do love it so!" Though Patton was a notoriously single-minded general, it is nonetheless a sad fact that war gives meaning to many lives, a fact with which we have become familiar now that America is once again engaged in a military conflict. War is an enticing elixir. It gives us purpose, resolve, a cause. It allows us to be noble.

Chris Hedges of The New York Times has seen war up close—in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central America—and he has been troubled by what he has seen: friends, enemies, colleagues, and strangers intoxicated and even addicted to war’s heady brew. In War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, he tackles the ugly truths about humanity’s love affair with war, offering a sophisticated, nuanced, intelligent meditation on the subject that is also gritty, powerful, and unforgettable.


Click for more detail about Lion’s Blood: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America by Steven Barnes Lion’s Blood: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America

by Steven Barnes
Aspect (Feb 13, 2002)
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The novel takes place in approximately 1850 AD, and involves two main families: one of Islamic African aristocrats, the other of Druidic Irish slaves. It is a combination of Gone with the Wind and Roots, seen through a dark glass. Two young men, one of each genetic line, must deal with their world and each other.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Black Silk (A Collection Of African American Erotica) by Retha Powers Black Silk (A Collection Of African American Erotica)

by Retha Powers
Warner Books (Jan 01, 2002)
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African American erotica- collected stories

Book Review

Click for more detail about Futureland by Walter Mosley Futureland

by Walter Mosley
Aspect (Nov 12, 2001)
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The place is the United States. The time, the near-future, 2020-2040. Here, justice is blind and the ranks of the disenfranchised have swollen to a toxic level. High-tech rules the day while human nature, for better or worse, remains constant. In nine interwoven tales, Mosley paints a keen if fictional portrait of what the future could hold if our own political climate continues. A bestselling author in the mystery and literary genres, Walter Mosley has added science fiction to his list of successes. Blue Light (Little, Brown and Company, 1998) netted over 30,000 copies in hardcover and was a #1 Los Angeles Times bestseller, a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, and a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. Additionally, Blue Light won widespread acclaim in national publications and was a Selection of Book-of-the-Month Club. iPublish.com offered two short stories from Futureland as original eBooks in 12/00. Walkin the Dog (Little, Brown and Company, 10/99), the authors previous short-story collection, grossed nearly 68,000 hardcover copies. Mosley is the author of the New York Times bestselling Easy Rawlins novels.


Click for more detail about Cosbyology: Essays and Observations From the Doctor of Comedy by Bill Cosby Cosbyology: Essays and Observations From the Doctor of Comedy

by Bill Cosby
Hyperion (Nov 07, 2001)
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Description: Returning to his early days of comedy, the comic genius and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Congratulations! Now What guarantees us a look at the funny side of life. In his long and illustrious career, Bill Cosby has been many things: award-winning actor, bestselling author, doctor of education, media icon, and role model. But first and foremost, he is a comedian, and here he returns to that role in this wonderfully funny collection of stand-up material that touches on everything from childhood and marriage to school, sports, and work. Fusing his classic jazzy timing and edgy humor with the intelligence and perception that have made him a huge star, Bill Cosby draws from his own life to tell these laugh-out-loud stories. With a dry wit and uncanny insight, Cosby writes about his first experiences skiing, making love to his wife, lying to his mother, and fretting about ingrown hairs. Fans young and old will be eager to add this volume to their collection, while new fans everywhere will delight in this sampling of great comic genius.

Book Review

Click for more detail about In Our Own Image: Treasured African-American Traditions, Journeys And Icons by Patrik Henry Bass and Karen Pugh In Our Own Image: Treasured African-American Traditions, Journeys And Icons

by Patrik Henry Bass and Karen Pugh
Running Press (Nov 01, 2001)
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The first visual document of black social and cultural history in America from World War II to the present, In Our Own Image is also a fascinating scrapbook that recounts simple, eloquent stories about home life, family reunions, worship, weddings, funerals, barbeques, barbershops, beauty parlors, nightclubs, civic organizations, and celebrations. The unique recollections of African-Americans from a variety of backgrounds and age groups accompany more than 160 images from personal and archival collections, with such poignant ephemera as programs from cotillions and fashion shows, restaurant menus, movie posters, even ticket stubs. The authors have woven material from university and museum collections in Detroit, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Atlanta into a narrative photo book that forms a warm, loving record of African-American community, traditions, and family life in the latter half of the twentieth century.


Click for more detail about Patti’s Pearls: Lessons in Living Genuinely, Joyfully, Generously by Patti Labelle Patti’s Pearls: Lessons in Living Genuinely, Joyfully, Generously

by Patti Labelle
Warner Books (Oct 23, 2001)
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Using an assortment of her favourite maxims, adages, and sayings, Pattis inspiring collection gives practical guidance and instruction on how to live a fulfilling and rewarding life. Her humourous anecdotes and touching personal experiences transform what could have been abstract advice into unforgettable, real-life wisdom.


Click for more detail about Becoming American: Personal Essays By First Generation Immigrant Women by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah Becoming American: Personal Essays By First Generation Immigrant Women

by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
Hyperion (Aug 08, 2001)
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Now in paperback — "A compelling collection … providing insights into the variety of immigrant experiences." —Publishers WeeklyTake part in an extraordinary journey through the lives of 23 first-generation immigrant women as they uncover their own unique experiences in the new world. In this remarkable collection of original essays, these acclaimed writers speak to issues of identity, ethnicity, and race, as well as how the self begins to take on and absorb the label "American."Some of the contributors in Becoming American include: Nina Barragan — Argentina; Lilianet Brintrup — Chile; Veronica Chambers — Panama; Judith Ortiz Cofer — Puerto Rico; Edwidge Danticat — Haiti; Gabrielle Donnelly — England; Lynn Freed — South Africa; Akuyoe Graham — Ghana; Lucy Grealy — Ireland; Suheir Hammad — Jordan/Palestine; Ginu Kamani — India; Nola Kambanda — Burundi/Rwanda; Helen Kim — Korea; Kyoko Mori — Japan; Irina Reyn — Russia; Joyce Zonana — Egypt


Click for more detail about Church Folk by Michele Andrea Bowen Church Folk

by Michele Andrea Bowen
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 01, 2001)
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Despite the follies, foibles, and idiosyncracies of their parishioners, Theophilus Henry Simmons, a young pastor, and his wife, Essie Lee Lane, are determined to hold their congregation together and teach them the true meaning of faith and love. A first novel. 25,000 first printing.


Click for more detail about Fearless Jones by Walter Mosley Fearless Jones

by Walter Mosley
Little, Brown and Company (Jun 01, 2001)
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Mosley returns to mysteries at last with his most engaging hero since Easy Rawlins. When Paris Minton meets a beautiful new woman, before he knows it he has been beaten up, slept with, shot at, robbed, and his bookstore burned to the ground. He’s in so much trouble he has no choice but to get his friend, Fearless Jones, out of jail to help him.

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Click for more detail about A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King, Jr. A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 15, 2001)
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Read and listen to Dr. King’s last sermon.

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Civil Rights movement, inspiring generations and transforming the future of the United States. This collection includes the text of Dr. Kings best-known oration, I Have a Dream, his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, and Beyond Vietnam, a compelling argument for ending the conflict.

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Click for more detail about The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King, Jr. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Warner Books (Jan 01, 2001)
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Using Stanford University’s voluminous collection of archival material, including previously unpublished writings, interviews, recordings, and correspondence, King scholar Clayborne Carson has constructed a remarkable first-person account of Dr. King’s extraordinary life.


Click for more detail about Angel on My Shoulder: An Autobiography by Natalie Cole and Digby Diehl Angel on My Shoulder: An Autobiography

by Natalie Cole and Digby Diehl
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 14, 2000)
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Born to legendary Nat King Cole in the halcyon days of the 1950s, Natalie Cole grew up to become a versatile singer with Grammy Award status. But that success came with a price, where she was dragged down by depression and drugs. This is her story.

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Click for more detail about The Brothers Neville by Art Neville, Aaron Neville, Charles Neville, Cyril Neville, and David Ritz The Brothers Neville

by Art Neville, Aaron Neville, Charles Neville, Cyril Neville, and David Ritz
Little, Brown and Company (Sep 19, 2000)
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In their own words, the Neville Brothers - the first family of New Orleans music -tell their amazing story, from hard times to their phenomenal Grammy-winning success today. In The Brothers, each Neville alternates telling his story, from their childhood in segregated New Orleans to a growing involvement in crime and drugs to the eventual decision, in the mid-seventies, to start performing and recording together. The Brothers is an inspiring tale of soulful sounds, the importance of heritage, and the powerful bonds of family.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora by Sheree Renee Thomas Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora

by Sheree Renee Thomas
Aspect (Jul 18, 2000)
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This volume introduces black science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction writers to the generations of readers who have not had the chance to explore the scope and diversity among African-American writers.

Speculative fiction, fantasy, and science fiction are assumed to be the genres of alternative thought; however, too often these realms of imagination reflect only the Occidental vision and culture. Now an important new anthology, the first of its kind, explodes such preconceptions with more than a century of fantastic fiction by preeminent and emerging authors of the African diaspora, including recipients of literature’s most prestigious awards.

This richly vibrant collection of stories and essays displays the brilliance of writers ranging from the early pioneers, such as Charles W. Chesnutt, W. E. B. Du Bois, and George S. Schuyler, to Samuel R. Delany and Octavia E. Butler — whose classic sf became the springboards for their fame — to such renowned figures of the African American literary tradition as playwright-critic Amiri Baraka and satirist Ishmael Reed. Dark Matter also highlights a wide spectrum of talents who have garnered both genre and mainstream acclaim, including Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, Jewelle Gomez, Nalo Hopkinson, Walter Mosley, and Kalamu ya Salaam.

Astonishing, compelling, erotic, and profound stories of worlds within and beyond abound in Dark Matter. This comprehensive, landmark collection is a vital contribution to an exciting universe of fresh metaphor and myth.
 

A few of the Dark Matter Contributors

A few of the Dark Matter Contributors
(l to r) Kalamu ya Salaam, Sheree R. Thomas, Kiini Ibura Salaam, Ama Patterson and Tony Medina


Click for more detail about Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler Lilith’s Brood

by Octavia Butler
Grand Central Publishing (Jun 01, 2000)
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The acclaimed trilogy that comprises LILITH’S BROOD is multiple Hugo and Nebula award-winner Octavia E. Butler at her best. Presented for the first time in one volume, with an introduction by Joan Slonczewski, Ph.D., LILITH’S BROOD is a profoundly evocative, sensual — and disturbing — epic of human transformation.

Lilith Iyapo is in the Andes, mourning the death of her family, when war destroys Earth. Centuries later, she is resurrected — by miraculously powerful unearthly beings, the Oankali. Driven by an irresistible need to heal others, the Oankali are rescuing our dying planet by merging genetically with mankind. But Lilith and all humanity must now share the world with uncanny, unimaginably alien creatures: their own children. This is their story…


Click for more detail about Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, And An Early Cry For Civil Rights by David Margolick Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, And An Early Cry For Civil Rights

by David Margolick
Running Press (Apr 06, 2000)
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From four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee David Margolick, STRANGE FRUIT explores the story of the memorable civil rights ballad made famous by Billie Holiday in the late 1930s. The song’s powerful, evocative lyrics-written by a Jewish communist schoolteacher who, late in life, adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg-portray the lynching of a black man in the South. Holiday’s performances sparked conflict and controversy wherever she went, and the song has since been covered by Lena Horne, Tori Amos, Sting, and countless others. Margolick’s careful reconstruction of the story behind the song, portions of which have appeared in Vanity Fair, includes a discography of "Strange Fruit" recordings as well as newly uncovered photographs that capture Holiday in performance at Greenwich Village’s Café Society. A must for jazz aficionados.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson Midnight Robber

by Nalo Hopkinson
Grand Central Publishing (Mar 01, 2000)
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It’s Carnival time and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance, and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. To young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favorite costume to wear at the festival-until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgiveable crime.

Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree. Here monstrous creatures from folklore are real, and the humans are violent outcasts in the wilds. Tan-Tan must reach into the heart of myth and become the Robber Queen herself. For only the Robber Queen’s legendary powers can save her life … and set her free.


Click for more detail about A Love Supreme: Real Life Stories Of Black (African-American) Love by TaRessa Stovall A Love Supreme: Real Life Stories Of Black (African-American) Love

by TaRessa Stovall
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 01, 2000)
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From celebrities to everyday people of varying ages, professions, and backgrounds, this inspirational portrait of African American love offers deep and personal insight into the life-enhancing bond of marriage. This celebration of Black love spotlights couples whose passion and devotion have inspired those around them and offers examples of how sweet, satisfying, challenging, and enduring committed love can be.


Click for more detail about Getting to the Good Part by Lolita Files Getting to the Good Part

by Lolita Files
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 15, 2000)
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Reesy Snowden & Misty Fine have been friends since childhood. Misty’s work life is thriving & she has found Mr. Right at last. Although Reesy’s trying to be happy for her friend, she is troubled by this intrusion into the one friendship that has always come first for both women. Nonetheless, Reesy’s dreams of a dance career have become reality & she is also seeing a man who might be a keeper. Unfortunately, her self-destructive tendencies threaten to destroy her, until true love & friendship save the day.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Walkin’ the Dog by Walter Mosley Walkin’ the Dog

by Walter Mosley
Little, Brown and Company (Oct 01, 1999)
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In this sequel to Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, Socrates Fortlow is back in Watts, trying to leave prison in his past, and confronting the most dangerous emotion of all: hope.

Socrates Fortlow, an ex-convict forced to define his own morality in a lawless world, confronts wrongs that most people would rather ignore and comes face-to-face with the most dangerous emotion: hope. It has been nine years since his release from prison, and he still makes his home in a two-room shack in a Watts alley. But he has a girlfriend now, a steady job, and he is even caring for a pet, the two-legged dog he calls Killer. These responsibilities make finding the right path even harder - especially when the police make Socrates their first suspect in every crime within six blocks

In each chapter of Walkin’ the Dog, Socrates challenges a different conundrum of modern life. In “Blue Lightning,” he is offered a better-paying job but has to consider whether the extra pay is worth the freedom he would have to give up. In “Promise,” he keeps a vow made long ago to a dying friend, and learns that a promise to one person can mean damage to another. In “Mookie Kid,” he gets a telephone and, learns that the price of being able to reach others is that others can contact him - whether he wants to be reached or not.

Walkin’ the Dog builds to a stunning climax as Socrates takes on a rogue cop who has terrorized his neighborhood.


Click for more detail about Taming It Down by Kim McLarin Taming It Down

by Kim McLarin
Grand Central Publishing (Aug 01, 1999)
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The daughter of an ambitious mother and the product of an exclusive New England prep school, African-American journalist Hope Robinson is sick of proving herself over and over to white professionals…tired of the automatic distrust she gets from the black community…and has had it up to here with black — and white — men who don’t think she’s good enough. It will take both a crisis and a journey back into the worlds Hope grew up in before she can confront the roots of her rage — and finally free herself to be who she wants to be….


Click for more detail about The Go On Girl!: Book Club Guide for Reading Groups by Monique Greenwood, Lynda Johnson, and Tracy Mitchell-Brown The Go On Girl!: Book Club Guide for Reading Groups

by Monique Greenwood, Lynda Johnson, and Tracy Mitchell-Brown
Hyperion (Apr 28, 1999)
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Works Worth Reading, Tips For Starting and Sustaining a Literary Circle, Chats With Our Favorite Authors, Questions and Topics to Get You Talking … and More!

A manual for creating and developing an African-American reading group from the innovators of the Go On Girl! Book Club discusses the practicalities and delights of the process, giving tips and advice on keeping it going once it begins.


Click for more detail about The Men of Brewster Place: A Novel by Gloria Naylor The Men of Brewster Place: A Novel

by Gloria Naylor
Hyperion (Apr 21, 1999)
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Naylor returns to the fictional neighborhood, this time focusing on the men behind the women who inhabited that desolate block of row houses, telling their tragic, sad, funny, and heroic stories.


Click for more detail about Kevin And His Dad by Irene Smalls Kevin And His Dad

by Irene Smalls
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Apr 01, 1999)
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A simple, graceful text and illustrations infused with warmth and love make this story of a day a boy and his dad spend together a special reading experience. Young boys and their fathers will relish this book that celebrates the ordinary things dads and kids can do together. Full color.

Book Review

Click for more detail about Natural Health for African Americans: The Physicians’ Guide (Physicians’ Guide to Healing) by Marcellus A. Walker Natural Health for African Americans: The Physicians’ Guide (Physicians’ Guide to Healing)

by Marcellus A. Walker
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 01, 1999)
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Natural approaches to maintaining or restoring overall well being. Chapters are devoted to the health concerns of particular importance to African-Americans such as heart disease & diabetes.


Click for more detail about Blue Light by Walter Mosley Blue Light

by Walter Mosley
Grand Central Publishing (Nov 02, 1998)
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The human race has just begun. In the Bay Area in the mid-1960s, several people are struck by a cosmic blue light that "quickens" their DNA, causing them instantaneously to evolve far beyond the present state of the human race. They become the full actualization of humankind, with strengths, understandings & communication abilities that exceed our imagining. Blue Light is the story of this quickening, & the conflict between these precursors of a new race of humans & the old breed they seem destined to supplant. Unfolding from the point of view of Chance, a half-black, half-white lost soul who becomes a follower of the "blues," the novel traces battles among those struck by the light (including one who becomes the living embodiment of Death) & their quest to bring their message of evolution & higher purpose to the rest of the world. Blue Light explores some of the questions about race, identity, & humanity that are the hallmark of the author’s other best-selling fiction, but his mind-stretching new approach will take his readers to a fascinating place they’ve never traveled.


Click for more detail about Journey to Beloved by Oprah Winfrey Journey to Beloved

by Oprah Winfrey
Hyperion (Oct 16, 1998)
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Of all the events in Oprah Winfrey’s life, none has affected her powerfully as playing the part of Sethe, the former slave who must come to terms with a haunting past, in Jonathan Demme’s film of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel - coming from Touchstone Pictures in Fall 1998. Oprah fell in love with the book when it was first published in 1988, and instantly became determined to deliver this powerful story to film herself. But making the movie was something even more profound than she might have imagined, and JOURNEY TO THE BELOVED is her own emotional account of that experience.With Oprah’s heartfelt words and the evocative images of Ken Regan, JOURNEY TO THE BELOVED is an elegant book that will interest fans of Oprah, of Toni Morrison, and of fine filmmaking. Accompanying Oprah’s personal journals and thoughts about the Beloved experience is a foreword by Jonathan Demme and a chorus of voices, from Danny Glover, Than die Newton, Kimberly Elise, and Beah Richards. The result is a tribute to a courageous work of art, expressed as only Oprah can express it.


Click for more detail about Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story by Gladys Knight Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story

by Gladys Knight
Hyperion (Oct 07, 1998)
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Her voice has been heard, now hear her words.This is the inspirational autobiography of one of the music world’s greatest performers—named one of the best celebrity books of 1997 by the "San Francisco Chronicle". B&W photos.


Click for more detail about Sacred Bond: Black Men and Their Mothers by Keith Michael Brown Sacred Bond: Black Men and Their Mothers

by Keith Michael Brown
Little, Brown and Company (Oct 01, 1998)
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The coming together of two bestsellers—"Mothers and Daughters" and "The Color of Water"—"Sacred Bond" offers a powerful book that reveals the most influential force in the lives of African-American men: their relationship with their mothers. 35 photos.


Click for more detail about One Better by Rosalyn McMillan One Better

by Rosalyn McMillan
Grand Central Publishing (Oct 01, 1998)
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The hardships encountered by a Detroit restaurateur in her determination to see her children succeed.


Click for more detail about Blue Collar Blues by Rosalyn McMillan Blue Collar Blues

by Rosalyn McMillan
Grand Central Publishing (Sep 01, 1998)
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A brutal struggle for power in the manipulative automobile industry pits white collar against blue collar. Life altering secrets, pride, ambition, & lust drive them to grab what they can from life, before the upheaval promises to change their relationships forever.


Click for more detail about I’m Free, but It’ll Cost You: The Single Life According to Kim Coles by Kim Coles I’m Free, but It’ll Cost You: The Single Life According to Kim Coles

by Kim Coles
Hyperion (Jul 08, 1998)
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In her hilarious book, I’M FREE, BUT IT’LL COST YOU, Kim Coles explores everything from the potentially treacherous first date to tired pickup lines and finally the answer to the question, "Where are all the good men" From finding Mr. Right On, to just settling for Mr. Right Now, Kim has been through it all and is here to give us sistah friends some advice we can really use. Whether you’re hoping to find the man of your dreams or, more important, avoid the man of your nightmare, I’M FREE, BUT IT’LL COST YOU is just what you need to make some sense out of the single strife.


Click for more detail about Scenes from a Sistah by Lolita Files Scenes from a Sistah

by Lolita Files
Grand Central Publishing (Jul 01, 1998)
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Misty Fine and Reesy Snowden, best friends since second grade, share at least two common goals - having fun and finding Prince Charming. As their careers rise and fall and men come and go, they embark on a series of adventures across America.


Click for more detail about Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson Brown Girl in the Ring

by Nalo Hopkinson
Warner Books (Jul 01, 1998)
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The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways-farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother.

She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.

Book Review

Click for more detail about He Say, She Say by Yolanda Joe He Say, She Say

by Yolanda Joe
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 01, 1998)
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Sandy is a twentysomething executive on the fast track at work and looking for love in her personal life. T.J. is the object of her affection, a jazz pianist who prefers to keep his romances casual—but who may be facing the real deal in Sandy. Bebe is Sandy’s confidante, a bank supervisor who is struggling through her self-imposed "sex sabbatical". Speed is T.J.’s father and best friend, a man who isn’t too old to learn a few things from his son. Together these four weave a funny, touching, and vivid tale of coping with the ups and downs of everyday life in Chicago that readers won’t soon forget.


Click for more detail about Are We Having Fun Yet?: The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Sex by Marcia  Douglas Are We Having Fun Yet?: The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Sex

by Marcia Douglas
Hyperion (Jul 17, 1997)
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Offers female readers advice on enhancing their sex lives, addressing such subjects as how to enjoy the physical pleasures of sex and how women’s bodies respond best to sexual stimulation.


Click for more detail about Just Give Me the Damn Ball!: The Fast Times and Hard Knocks of an NFL Rookie by Keyshawn Johnson Just Give Me the Damn Ball!: The Fast Times and Hard Knocks of an NFL Rookie

by Keyshawn Johnson
Time Warner Trade Publishing (May 01, 1997)
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“Well, son, I guess we have to go the to bank.” That’s what Leon Hess told me the day the Jets drafted me as the number-one player in the NFL draft. But that first day, the day of the draft, was one of the happiest days in my life, because I knew I was ready to make things happen in the league and help turn things around for the sorry-ass Jets.

But what a nightmare! Week after week, loss after loss. The Jets went in with a loser reputation, and they were earning it all over again. We had no emotion, no energy, no hunger. The media tried to cover it all. Rich Kotite tried to explain the disasters away. But nobody outside the team knew the real truth of what really went on. This book is going to change all that.


Click for more detail about Because You’re Lucky by Irene Smalls Because You’re Lucky

by Irene Smalls
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Apr 01, 1997)
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When Kevin comes to live at his cousin Jonathan’s house, both boys must make some big adjustments.


Click for more detail about Imago (Xenogenesis Series) by Octavia Butler Imago (Xenogenesis Series)

by Octavia Butler
Aspect (Apr 01, 1997)
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The futures of both humans and Oankali rest in one young being’s successful metamorphosis into adulthood.


Click for more detail about Adulthood Rites (Xenogenesis, Book Two) by Octavia Butler Adulthood Rites (Xenogenesis, Book Two)

by Octavia Butler
Aspect (Apr 01, 1997)
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Newer Version Available



Told in the haunting voice of Lilith, the heroine of "Dawn", this book is thestory of Lilith’s only son, Akin. Though he resembles a normal human, Akin isthe first "construct"—part man/part alien.


Click for more detail about Change the Game: One Athlete’s Thoughts on Sports, Dreams, and Growing Up by Grant Hill Change the Game: One Athlete’s Thoughts on Sports, Dreams, and Growing Up

by Grant Hill
Grand Central Publishing (Feb 01, 1997)
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In this charmingly honest book, Detroit Piston Grant Hill shares the wisdom and values imparted to him by his parents and speaks his mind on a variety of topics, showing how anyone—especially young people—can "change the game", on and off the court. Photos.


Click for more detail about Knowing by Rosalyn McMillan Knowing

by Rosalyn McMillan
Grand Central Publishing (Jan 22, 1996)
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After years of working in a factory, Ginger decides to go back to school and join the 9-to-5 white-collar world. The higher she climbs, however, the more her jealous, controlling husband tries to pull her back down. Desperate to hold onto the things she loves, yet driven to achieve more, Ginger must make choices that are both extraordinary difficult—and ultimately freeing.


Click for more detail about Edison: Inventing the Century by Neil Baldwin Edison: Inventing the Century

by Neil Baldwin
Hyperion (Feb 09, 1995)
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Using unprecedented access to Edison family papers and years of research at the Edison corporate archives, Neil Baldwin offers a revealing portrait of one of America’s seminal inventors: a man whose imagination, dynamism, entrepreneurial brilliance epitomized the American dream as he became a victim of its darker side."Baldwin has demythologized the man and left the genius bigger than life." —Newsweek


Click for more detail about Dinner At Aunt Connie’s House by Faith Ringgold Dinner At Aunt Connie’s House

by Faith Ringgold
Hyperion (Oct 30, 1993)
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During a dinner at the home of her Aunt Connie, an artist, and Uncle Bates, Melody discovers twelve portraits of inspirational and influential African-American women, whose stories inspire Melody with pride in her own heritage. By the author of Tar Beach.


Click for more detail about Kareem by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem

by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Warner Books (Nov 01, 1990)
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Hardback,New,Signed by Kareem


Click for more detail about W.E.B. Dubois (Impact Biographies Series) by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack W.E.B. Dubois (Impact Biographies Series)

by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack
Franklin Watts (Oct 01, 1990)
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Examines the upbringing, education, writings, and political activities of one of the founders of the NAACP.


Click for more detail about Paul Robeson: Hero Before His Time (Biographies) by Rebecca Larsen Paul Robeson: Hero Before His Time (Biographies)

by Rebecca Larsen
Franklin Watts (Sep 01, 1989)
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Surveys the personal life and career of the singer, actor, and political activist.


Hispanic Voters: A Voice in American Politics

by Judith Harlan
Franklin Watts (Oct 01, 1988)
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Examines the increasingly important impact the nation’s fastest growing minority is making on American politics. Discusses the positions and concerns of Cubans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans and profiles prominent Hispanic leaders.


American Indians Today: Issues and Conflicts (Impact Books Series)

by Judith Harlan
Franklin Watts (Apr 01, 1987)
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Discusses the economic, legal, health, and civil rights problems presently facing Native Americans and presents a brief history of legal and territorial conflicts between Native Americans and the United States government.


Click for more detail about The Africans: A Triple Heritage by Ali Mazrui The Africans: A Triple Heritage

by Ali Mazrui
Little, Brown and Company (Sep 01, 1986)
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Looks at the history, geography, and culture of Africa, assesses native, Arab, and Western influences, and discusses sports, religion, government, and social issues in Africa

Originally issued in connection with a PBS series, this volume by the Kenyan political scientist offers a stimulating introduction to Africa’s peoples and problems. “Throughout, Mazrui provocatively suggests remedies for Africa’s malaise…” —Publisher Weekly

The Africans: A Triple Heritage is the companion book to Muzuri’ documentary of the same name:


Click for more detail about Racial Prejudice (Issues in American History) by Elaine Pascoe Racial Prejudice (Issues in American History)

by Elaine Pascoe
Franklin Watts (Oct 01, 1985)
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Discusses the causes and history of prejudice against minority groups in the United States, reviewing the damaging effects of prejudice and suggesting ways to eliminate it.


The Hardest Lesson: Personal Accounts of a School Desegregation Crisis

by Judith Stoia and Pamela Bullard
Little, Brown and Company (Mar 01, 1980)
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Describes how the desegregation of the Boston schools in the 1970’s affected the lives of selected individual students and several adults, chosen to represent a cross section of the community.