Leesa Cross-Smith

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

New York

A Novel

From the award-winning Southern writer who Roxane Gay calls "a consummate storyteller" comes a cathartic novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers: a therapist and the man she prevents from ending his life. On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing on the side 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 shares his name: Emmett. Over the course of the emotionally charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe space for Emmett, though she hesitates to confess that this is also her day job. But what she doesn't realize is that he's not the only one who needs healing -- and she's not the only one with secrets. Alternating between Tallie and Emmett's perspectives as they inch closer to the truth of what brought Emmett to the bridge's edge -- as well as the hard truths Tallie has been grappling with in her own life -- This Close to Okay is a vibrant, powerful story of two strangers brought together by wild chance at the moment they needed each other most.

This Close to Okay

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Mary Hoffman

Some wear on corners. Old library marks. Significant signs of use on pages. Please see images.

Texas

Although a classmate says that she cannot play Peter Pan in the school play because she is black, Grace discovers that she can do anything she sets her mind to do.

Amazing Grace

32d22db7-027a-407f-b577-84074332f377-1

Ntozake Shange

Old library stamp on inner cover. Otherwise, mint book.

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Multiple starred reviews greeted this amazing collaboration between Ntozake Shange and Kadir Nelson. As Booklist put it: "Poet and painter have joined forces to offer an indelible, emotional expression of the strength, beauty, and joy of one woman's character."

Celebrated poet and playwright Ntozake Shange captures the spirit of Civil Rights pioneer Coretta Scott King in this picture book biography gorgeously illustrated by Caldecott Medal artist Kadir Nelson. 

Walking many miles to school in the dusty road, young Coretta Scott knew the unfairness of life in the segregated south. A yearning for equality began to grow. 

Together with Martin Luther King, Jr., she helped lead change through nonviolent protest. It was the beginning of a journey--with dreams of freedom for all.

Coretta Scott

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New Jersey

The Life of a Confederate General's Black Daughter

When Carrie Allen McCray was a child, she was afraid to ask about the framed photograph of a white man on her mother's dresser. Years later she learned that he was her grandfather, a Confederate general, and that her grandmother was a former slave. In her late seventies, Carrie McCray went searching for her history and found the remarkable story of her mother, Mary, the illegitimate daughter of General J. R. Jones, of Lynchburg, Virginia. Jones would later be cast out of Lynchburg society for publicly recognizing his daughter. FREEDOM'S CHILD is a loving remembrance of how Mary spent her life beating down the kind of thinking that ostracized her father. She was a leader in the founding of the NAACP and hosted the likes of Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois as they plotted the war against discrimination at her kitchen table. Carrie McCray's memories reward us with an extraordinarily vivid and intimate portrait of a remarkable woman. "Highly recommended for all readers."--Library Journal, hot pick; "I defy anyone to finish FREEDOM'S CHILD without a tear in their eye, a sense of meeting a great spirit, and an inspiration to act with generosity and justice."--Gloria Steinem; A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB and QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB SELECTION.

Freedom's Child

23d932ec-48af-4376-bb3a-d49bb1c51e47-1

Vera B. Williams

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

A collection of children's books on the subject of mothers.

A Chair for My Mother

17bb3e6c-54e0-4595-8ce5-da0a441a414a-1

Ayana Mathis

Michigan

Traces the story of Great Migration-era mother Hattie Shepherd, who in spite of poverty and a dysfunctional husband uses love and Southern remedies to raise nine children and prepare them for the realities of a harsh world. A first novel.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

31e77304-e08a-47fb-bef3-8a5c2d6472b2-1

Breena Clarke

Maryland

Five-year-old Clara Bynum is dead, drowned in the Potomac River in the shadow of a seemingly haunted rock outcropping known locally as the Three Sisters. River, Cross My Heart, which marks the debut of a wonderfully gifted new storyteller, weighs the effect of Clara's absence on the people she has left behind: her parents, Alice and Willie Bynum, torn between the old world of their rural North Carolina home and the new world of the city, to which they have moved in search of a better life for themselves and their children; the friends and relatives of the Bynum family in the Georgetown neighborhood they now call home; and, most especially, Clara's sister, ten-year-old Johnnie Mae, who must come to terms with the powerful and confused emotions stirred by her sister's death as she struggles to decide what kind of woman she will become. This highly accomplished first novel resonates with ideas, impassioned lyricism, and poignant historical detail as it captures an essential part of the African-American experience in our century.

River, Cross My Heart

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#hardcover #botm #historicalfiction #africanamericans #theprophets #fiction #historical #lgbt 

Iowa

Finalist for the National Book Award Instant New York Times Bestseller "May this book cast its spell on all of us, restore to us some memory of our most warrior and softest selves." —The New York Times Book Review “A new kind of epic...A grand achievement...While The Prophets' dreamy realism recalls the work of Toni Morrison...its penetrating focus on social dynamics stands out more singularly.” —Entertainment Weekly A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.

The Prophets

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Cover sleeve shows wear and has some fold and rough edges. Book has some small stains on outside. 

Mississippi

Marcus Major

Louisiana

Passionate feelings for a special woman make Myles Moore come out of his shell of solitude to find happiness in a relationship, but old habits die hard, and he must find a way to keep his male ego in check or risk losing the lady he loves. A first novel. 20,000 first printing.

Good Peoples

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Wade Hudson

I have other scholastic readers on my shelf 

Five Bold Freedom Fighters (level 4)

Offers brief profiles of five African American activists who made important contributions to the civil rights movement--Richard Allen, Harriet Tubman, Marry Church Terrell, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Medgar Evers.

Scholastic Reader: Great Black Heroes: Five Bold Freedom Fighters

201fb559-8773-4b08-be6b-28268bc70793-0

#nonfiction #africanamericans #paperback 

Florida

The Negro Leagues - Birmingham, Alabama, 1948

A fictionalized account of a young Afro-American lad who joined a baseball league in 1940's Alabama.

The Journal of Biddy Owens

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Library discard #diddy #drdre #jayz #hiphop #moguls #musicians #entrepreneurs #africanamericans #rapmusic 

Diddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, and Hip-Hop's Multibillion-Dollar Rise

Tracing the careers of hip-hop's three most dynamic stars, this deeply reported history brilliantly examines the entrepreneurial genius of the first musician tycoons: Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Jay-Z.

Being successful musicians was simply never enough for the three kings of hip-hop. Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Jay-Z lifted themselves from childhood adversity into tycoon territory, amassing levels of fame and wealth that not only outshone all other contemporary hip-hop artists, but with a combined net worth of well over $2 billion made them the three richest American musicians, period.

Yet their fortunes have little to do with selling their own albums: between Diddy's Ciroc vodka, Dre's $3 billion sale of his Beats headphones to Apple, and Jay-Z's Tidal streaming service and other assets, these artists have transcended pop music fame to become lifestyle icons and moguls.

Hip-hop is no longer just a musical genre; it's become a way of life that encompasses fashion, film, food, drink, sports, electronics and more -- one that has opened new paths to profit and to critical and commercial acclaim. Thanks in large part to the Three Kings -- who all started their own record labels and released classic albums before moving on to become multifaceted businessmen -- hip-hop has been transformed from a genre spawned in poverty into a truly global multibillion-dollar industry.

These men are the modern embodiment of the American Dream, but their stories as great thinkers and entrepreneurs have yet to be told in full. Based on a decade of reporting, and interviews with more than 100 sources including hip-hop pioneers Russell Simmons and Fab 5 Freddy; new-breed executives like former Def Jam chief Kevin Liles and venture capitalist Troy Carter; and stars from Swizz Beatz to Shaquille O'Neal, 3 Kings tells the fascinating story of the rise and rise of the three most influential musicians in America.

3 Kings

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Louis Sachar

Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is home in Austin, Texas, trying to turn his life around. But it’s hard when you have a record, and everyone expects the worst from you. The only person who believes in him is Ginny, his 10-year old disabled neighbor. Together, they are learning to take small steps. And he seems to be on the right path, until X-Ray, a buddy from Camp Green Lake, comes up with a get-rich-quick scheme. This leads to a chance encounter with teen pop sensation, Kaira DeLeon, and suddenly his life spins out of control, with only one thing for certain. He’ll never be the same again. In his first major novel since Holes, critically acclaimed novelist Louis Sachar uses his signature wit combined with a unique blend of adventure and deeply felt characters to explore issues of race, the nature of celebrity, the invisible connections that determine a person’s life, and what it takes to stay on course. Doing the right thing is never a wrong choice–but a small step in the right direction. From the Hardcover edition.

Small Steps

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Some wear, signs of use, and coffee stains on inner cover and first coup,e of pages. Please see images. A

One Crazy Summer

#paperback #fiction #africanamericans #historicalfiction 

Oregon

A New York Times Bestseller; a Goodreads Choice finalist; named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, Slate, Publishers Weekly, Hudson Bookseller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kirkus Reviews, AudioFile Magazine, and Amazon It is the present-day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: the Civil War never occurred. A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four." On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right--with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself. A mystery to himself, Victor suppresses his memories of his childhood on a plantation, and works to infiltrate the local cell of a abolitionist movement called the Underground Airlines. Tracking Jackdaw through the back rooms of churches, empty parking garages, hotels, and medical offices, Victor believes he's hot on the trail. But his strange, increasingly uncanny pursuit is complicated by a boss who won't reveal the extraordinary stakes of Jackdaw's case, as well as by a heartbreaking young woman and her child who may be Victor's salvation. Victor himself may be the biggest obstacle of all--though his true self remains buried, it threatens to surface. Victor believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw, Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country's arrangement with the Hard Four, secrets the government will preserve at any cost. Underground Airlines is a ground-breaking novel, a wickedly imaginative thriller, and a story of an America that is more like our own than we'd like to believe.

Underground Airlines

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Robert Jones, Jr.

North Carolina

Barbara Wright

HC with dust jacket. DJ shows wear with small rips. Tight binding. Pages in very good condition.

California

In 1898, Moses Thomas's summer vacation does not go exactly as planned as he contends with family problems and the ever-changing alliances among his friends at the same time as he is exposed to the escalating tension between the African-American and white communities of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Crow

463a7ad3-07c4-4558-9e97-8d6dd900beb7-1

slight creased inner part of front dust jacket 

Pennsylvania

Uwem Akpan

Alabama

A collection of tales about modern African children in crisis includes "An Ex-Mas Feast," in which an eight-year-old child shares in his family's sacrifices to obtain enough food and enable his education.

Say You're One of Them

5fe05c70-7414-4973-aed0-ab829ff5821e-1

Solomon Northup

BookCaps

Full Book and Comprehensive Reading Companion

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Twelve Years a Slave

2c0a0f46-1063-4b08-bf9b-9fad985f6e58-1

Shayla Lawson

Uncorrected Proof; big sticker residue and scratches on front cover 

Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope

A National Book Critics Circle Finalist in Autobiography * Finalist for a Lambda Literary Award * Named one of the most anticipated books of the year by USA Today, Bitch Magazine, Parade, Salon and Ms. Magazine

From a fierce and humorous new voice comes a relevant, insightful, and riveting collection of personal essays on the richness and resilience of black girl culture--for readers of Samantha Irby, Roxane Gay, Morgan Jerkins, and Lindy West. 

Shayla Lawson is major. You don't know who she is. Yet. But that's okay. She is on a mission to move black girls like herself from best supporting actress to a starring role in the major narrative. Whether she's taking on workplace microaggressions or upending racist stereotypes about her home state of Kentucky, she looks for the side of the story that isn't always told, the places where the voices of black girls haven't been heard.



The essays in This is Major ask questions like: Why are black women invisible to AI? What is "black girl magic"? Or: Am I one viral tweet away from becoming Twitter famous? And: How much magic does it take to land a Tinder date?

With a unique mix of personal stories, pop culture observations, and insights into politics and history, Lawson sheds light on these questions, as well as the many ways black women and girls have influenced mainstream culture--from their style, to their language, and even their art--and how "major" they really are.

Timely, enlightening, and wickedly sharp, This Is Major places black women at the center--no longer silenced, no longer the minority. 

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Leesa Cross-Smith

This Close to Okay

Mary Hoffman

Amazing Grace

Ntozake Shange

Coretta Scott

Carrie Allen McCray

Freedom's Child

Vera B. Williams

A Chair for My Mother

Ayana Mathis

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Vera B. Williams

A Chair for My Mother

Breena Clarke

River, Cross My Heart

Robert Jones, Jr.

The Prophets

Vera B. Williams

A Chair for My Mother

Ayana Mathis

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Marcus Major

Good Peoples

Wade Hudson

Scholastic Reader: Great Black Heroes: Five Bold Freedom Fighters

Walter Dean Myers

The Journal of Biddy Owens

Zack O'Malley Greenburg

3 Kings

Louis Sachar

Small Steps

Rita Williams-Garcia

One Crazy Summer

Ben H. Winters

Underground Airlines

Robert Jones, Jr.

The Prophets

Barbara Wright

Crow

Ayana Mathis

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Uwem Akpan

Say You're One of Them

Solomon Northup; BookCaps

Twelve Years a Slave

Shayla Lawson

This Is Major