The African American Book Review

Kadir Nelson paints 'the heart and soul' of America

2011-10-20T11:58:00.001-05:00

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NEW YORK – Author/illustrator Kadir Nelson, 37, went to college on an architectural scholarship, but quickly fell in love with painting, which led to his first job.

Image on the cover of 'Heart and Soul;' author Kadir Nelson.

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Image on the cover of 'Heart and Soul;' author Kadir Nelson.

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"A dream job," he calls it, with a new film studio named DreamWorks.

In 1996, Nelson worked as a "visual development artist," creating artwork that, as he puts it, "would fuel the director's vision."

PHOTOS: See paintings from 'Heart and Soul'

The director was Steven Spielberg. The film wasAmistad, based on an 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship that led to a case at the U.S. Supreme Court.

That job stirred Nelson's interest in history, especially African-American history, which he remembers as being treated as a "sidebar" in school. He now sees it as "essential to understanding the great story of America."

And that's the theme of Nelson's latest illustrated book,Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (Balzer & Bray, $19.99, for ages 9 and up).

In 108 pages, including 44 full-page color paintings, it goes from Revolutionary-era slavery to President Obama's election, told in the voice of a woman who's seen it all.

Book News: Oprah Winfrey to produce ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ for HBO

2010-05-12T14:05:00.000-05:00

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” the nonfiction best-seller by Rebecca Skloot, will become an HBO film.

And it has some big names behind it. The executive producers include Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball(”True Blood”). Other executive producers are Kate Forte and Peter Macdissi.
In its synopsis, HBO says the book “tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black mother in Baltimore, whose cancerous cells — taken without her knowledge – enabled some of the most significant advances in 20th century medicine, but with devastating, and later liberating, effects on her family.”
In announcing the movie, HBO had no news on casting or production. But because of HBO’s recent efforts in long-form programming — “The Pacific,” “Temple Grandin,” “You Don’t Know Jack” — “Henrietta Lacks” has found the best possible home. MORE

The Trials of Phillis Wheatley by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

2010-05-08T03:31:00.004-05:00

THE TRIALS OF PHILLIS WHEATLEY: AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK POET AND HER ENCOUNTERS WITH THE FOUNDING FATHERS
By Henry Louis Gates Jr.

While telling the astonishing and ultimately tragic story of Phillis Wheatley, he includes an equally compelling meditation on how the questions of race and equality that haunted our Founders 250 years ago are considerably changed from how we think about race today.
With a good flair for storytelling, Mr. Gates jump-starts us ahead to a day in October 1772 when 18-year-old Phillis is brought before a panel of the most powerful government and cultural officials of the Bay Colony to decide a momentous issue that had become an international cause celebre: Was it possible that an African slave - and a female slave at that - had the intellectual capacity to write classical poetry in English?
This was not an idle question of literary quibbling, as Mr. Gates emphasizes. The issue at root was whether Africans were, according to many of the leading thinkers of the day - such as Francis Bacon, David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - descendants of another "species of men," related more to apes than Europeans. The fundamental question of the basic humanity of African slaves underpinned the moral juggling that most found necessary to justify the forcible enslavement of fellow creatures.
That underpinning was already starting to crack. That same year, the British high courts ruled in the famed Somerset case that a slave brought into Britain could not be taken against his will out of the country and back to slavery. It was a long time before Britain outlawed slavery inside its borders, but the fact that anti-slavery advocates could bring such a legal action and win it was truly earthshaking.
As Mr. Gates tells it, the questioning of Phillis about her literary gifts was another such tremor that shook the moralistic justification for slavery. The incident also marked the seminal moment in the development of black American literature and, with irony, another of the trials she would undergo. As it turns out, the panel of Boston's great and good - most of them slave owners - came away convinced that the poems they examined had in fact been written by her.
It seems Phillis had been something of a prodigy from the start. John Wheatley testified that within 16 months of her arrival from Africa, Phillis had learned to speak and read English. Her first poem was written by the time she was 11, and at 13, she had her first poem published in a local newspaper. By 1772, Phillis was in correspondence with well-known literary figures in England and her owners were busy arranging for a London printer to publish a collection of her poetry, which became the first book ever to be published in English by a person of African descent. Its release in 1773 on both sides of the Atlantic made her a true international celebrity. MORE

Pam Grier''s New Book, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts

2010-05-05T16:01:00.001-05:00

In her new memoir, “Foxy: My Life in Three Acts” (Hachette Book Group), Ms. Grier, 60, revisits a career that took off in the early 1970s when she became blaxploitation cinema’s first female action hero. She sprang to prominence again in Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 film, “Jackie Brown,” and she popped up in the 21st century in the groundbreaking Showtime television series “The L Word,” about the lives of lesbians.
“Foxy,” however, reveals a darker personal life, including, for the first time, the details of her sexual assault at 6. It also recounts the diagnosis of cervical cancer Ms. Grier received in her late 30s and the untimely deaths and suicides of family members and friends. There is space, too, for her romances with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who wanted her to convert to Islam), Freddie Prinze (who battled drugs and wanted her to have his baby) and Richard Pryor (who thought she could help save him from drugs).MORE

Book Notes: Guyette explores African-American history in state

2010-05-04T04:19:00.000-05:00

Historian Elise A. Guyette is the author of "Discovering Black Vermont: African-American Farmers in Hinesburgh, 1790-1890" (University of Vermont Press/University Press of New England).

The book explores three generations of a black family in Chittenden County, starting in the years after Vermont's statehood.
In news material about the book, James Brewer Stewart, professor emeritus of history at Macalester College, writes:
"By so vividly illuminating the history of a truly forgotten people -- African-Americans who lived in a small, rural Vermont community -- 'Discovering Black Vermont' is a revelation."MORE

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards

2010-04-28T11:26:00.002-05:00

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards

Tuesday April 27, 2010

Since today is the anniversary of the birth of Coretta Scott King, it seems like a good time to highlight the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. According to the American Library Association, the purpose of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards is "encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and the graphic arts, including biographical, historical and social history treatments by African American authors and illustrators." I was pleased to learn that Charles R. Smith Jr. is the recipient of the 2010 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for his sepia-toned photographs that illustrate My People by Langston Hughes. See my review of My People. The 2010 Coretta Scott King Author Award winner is Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, author of Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal. The 2010 Coretta Scott King Book Awards also include two Honor Books and the John Steptoe New Talent Award. See my article about the Coretta Scott King Book Awards for more about the awards and previous winners.

Shaq Supports Mom as she Promotes Her Book

2010-04-02T13:28:00.001-05:00

CLEVELAND — Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal is known for his scoring, rebounding and interior defense, but he came up with a big assist before Wednesday night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The 7-foot-1 O’Neal sat next to his mother, Lucille, in the concourse at Quicken Loans Arena, greeting fans and signing her new book, “Walk Like You Have Somewhere to Go: From Mental Welfare to Mental Wealth.”
The book details Lucille’s journey through life, which includes being an unwed teenage mother living on welfare, issues with alcoholism and ending her 30-year marriage.
“I’m very proud of her,” said Shaquille, who sat with son Shareef at the table. “I think for her it’s more about helping young, single women. We’re living in dire, tough times and I’m sure there are a lot of single women out there that just want to give up. MORE

Authors Announced For the Arkansas Literary Festival April 8-11

2010-02-19T10:19:00.000-06:00

Arkansas Literary Festival announces authorsLike last year — and maybe even more so — there aren't really any big names headed to the seventh annual Arkansas Literary Festival, which'll is happening April 8-11 throughout the River Market area.

Still, some good looking authors and programs. After just a quick scan through, here are some that stood out to me:

*Nolan Richardson biographer Rus Bradburd

*Marjorie Rosen, author of “Boom Town: How Wal-Mart Transformed an All-American Town into an International Community,” who had readings cancelled in Bentonville and Rogers libraries last year. David Koon wrote about it then.

*The Oxford American Southern Food Issue panel, which includes New Orleans Times Picayune columnist Lolis Eric Elie and restaurant writer Brett Anderson along with Sam Eifling, who's writing about the nature of Arkansas food for the issue.

*Martha Hall Foose, author of the FANTASTIC cookbook "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea," and Katherine Whitworth, talking about food. More

Annual ZORA! Festival draws thousands to Eatonville

2010-02-05T07:35:00.000-06:00

EATONVILLE – Zora Neale Hurston died 50 years ago, but her spirit and writings continue to be paramount for this small African-American community north of downtown Orlando.

As she had done decades earlier, fans of the dominant Harlem Renaissance author strolled down Eatonville's main street on Saturday to absorb the rich culture of the country's first incorporated all-black town, which Hurston often described in her novels. Cultural and art enthusiasts visited the town to honor the author and other black artists and scholars during the annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities – ZORA! Festival.

The event makes history real, said Sharahn Slack of Orlando. She played the abolitionist Harriett Tubman in a skit outside the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church to encourage people, particularly youth, to pursue their dreams and celebrate their community – messages she says Hurston spread through her work.

"History is something to be celebrated rather than learned. When you celebrate history, it becomes personal," Slack, 16, said.

The three-day Outdoor Festival of the Arts, which wraps up today, is the conclusion of ZORA! Festival. It draws thousands of visitors from all over the U.S. and overseas each year. Event organizers estimate 250,000 people will attend this year's event. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-zora-street-festival-20100130,0,248500.story

Say You're One Of Them

2009-09-17T11:47:00.000-05:00

Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately. The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds, his dream can't be granted. Food comes first. His family lives in a street shanty in Nairobi, Kenya, but their way of both loving and taking advantage of each other strikes a universal chord.
In the second of his stories published in a New Yorker special fiction issue, Akpan takes us far beyond what we thought we knew about the tribal conflict in Rwanda. The story is told by a young girl, who, with her little brother, witnesses the worst possible scenario between parents. They are asked to do the previously unimaginable in order to protect their children. This singular collection will also take the reader inside Nigeria, Benin, and

Ethiopia

, revealing in beautiful prose the harsh consequences for children of life in Africa.
Akpan's voice is a literary miracle, rendering lives of almost unimaginable deprivation and terror into stories that are nothing short of transcendent. MORE

Queen of the Court: An Autobiography by Serena Williams

2009-09-14T07:01:00.001-05:00

From gang violence to an inspiring trip to Ghana, the life of the younger Williams sister has been about much more than tennis, says Tim Adams
"You know I was always really very, very good," Venus said at the time, grinning. "Serena, on the other hand, wasn't very good at all. She was small, really slim and the racket was way too big for her. Hopeless. She started playing especially good tennis at around 15, which was soon enough – I mean, she won the US Open two years later – but still it was quite late compared to me." She then summed up the distinction in shorthand: "You know," she said, "I was always Venus …"

Serena, though, as this memoir makes clear, wasn't always Serena. Her book allows us to see how the younger half of the greatest sister act sport has known came out of the shadow of "V" through a process of intense self-invention. Serena recalls at one point how she was once asked how many grand slam titles she thought she would have won had Venus, her greatest rival, not stood in her way. She answered that she did not think she would have won any at all; Venus was her spur – her great advantage in life was that she knew from a very early age that if she could just beat her sister then she could beat anybody in the world.

She learnt through this to be at her best when everything was against her. Throughout her career, Serena has been in the habit of writing down inspirational words on Post-it notes and sticking them to her racket bag. Sometimes they read like text messages from Martin Luther King: "Show no emotion," she will write, "UR black and U can endure anything. Endure. Persevere. Stand tall." Or: "Be strong. Be black. Now's your time 2 shine. Be confident. They want to see you angry. Be angry, but don't let them see it."More

We Are In Transition

2009-08-23T07:38:00.002-05:00

We ask that you bear with us as we continue to make the necessary changes to The African American Book Review.
Thank You.

Steve Harvey's Book Is Headed To The Big Screen

2009-08-15T13:04:00.004-05:00

Cover via Amazon

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FcQ4SRWUL._SL75_.jpgScreen Gems has acquired rights to turn comedian Steve Harvey's book "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" into a feature.

Harvey wrote the humorous book of advice for women seeking to better understand their male counterparts, an exercise inspired by a segment on Harvey's syndicated morning radio show.

Will Packer will produce, and Harvey will be exec producer. Screen Gems prexy Clint Culpepper will begin canvassing writers to hear different pitches for an ensemble comedy about romantic relationships. Culpepper first worked with Harvey when the latter acted in "You Got Served.""Steve has always provided an easily relatable perspective on men, the way they view women and their seemingly complex but surprisingly simple emotional needs," Culpepper said. Culpepper and Packer flew to Dallas on Sunday to close the deal with Harvey.

Packer recently produced "Obsessed," is shooting "Takers" and prepping a remake of "The Big Chill" for Screen Gems. MORE

To Tell The Truth Freely: The Life of Ida B.Wells

2009-07-31T02:35:00.002-05:00

Born to slaves in 1862, Ida B. Wells became a fearless antilynching crusader, women’s rights advocate, and journalist. Wells’s refusal to accept any compromise on racial inequality caused her to be labeled a “dangerous radical” in her day but made her a model for later civil rights activists as well as a powerful witness to the troubled racial politics of her era. In the richly illustratedTo Tell the Truth Freely, the historian Mia Bay vividly captures Wells’s legacy and life, from her childhood in Mississippi to her early career in late nineteenth-century Memphis and her later life in Progressive-era Chicago.

Wells’s fight for racial and gender justice began in 1883, when she was a young schoolteacher who traveled to her rural schoolhouse by rail. Forcibly ejected from her seat on a train one day on account of her race, Wells immediately sued the railroad. Though she ultimately lost her case on appeal in the Supreme Court of Tennessee, the published account of her legal challenge to Jim Crow changed her life, propelling her into a career as an outspoken journalist and social activist. Also a fierce critic of the racial violence that marked her era, Wells went on to launch a crusade against lynching that took her across the United States and eventually to Britain. Though she helped found the NAACP in 1910 after resettling in Chicago, she would not remain a member for long. Always militant in her quest for racial justice, Wells rejected not only Booker T. Washington’s accommodationism but also the moderating influence of white reformers within the early NAACP. The life of Ida B. Wells and her enduring achievements are dramatically recovered in Mia Bay’s To Tell the Truth Freely.

NeNe Leakes New Book: Never Make The Same Mistake Twice

2009-07-30T10:28:00.003-05:00

Outrageous, captivating, and unafraid to tell it like it is, Nene Leakes shares her wild journey from a scandalous past to the pinnacle of reality television stardom. Lauded by her fans for her refreshing honesty, infectiously genuine style, and clever sense of humor, Nene is an empowered, self-made woman who has not forgotten where she came from and knows exactly where she wants to go.

In this straight-talking and provocative memoir Nene charts her journey from family black sheep to single mother to making good and realizing her dreams. With her charm and bold, self-possessed voice, Nene tackles her painful childhood; the abuse she suffered at the hands of a violent boyfriend; her struggle to support her firstborn son; and her path to true love, self-acceptance, and pride.

In Never Make the Same Mistake Twice, Nene dishes on her cast mates; takes on the rumors about her past; and shares hard-earned and inspiring life lessons in her fierce, no-nonsense, and irreverent style.

Product Details
Touchstone, August 2009
Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4391-6730-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-6730-4

E. Lynn Harris New Novel To be Published This Fall

2009-07-30T10:01:00.006-05:00

E. Lynn Harris' book tour will go forward in honor of the author.

Harris honor: E. Lynn Harris wanted to do a "thank you" tour this fall, meeting with fans in small cities to get back to promoting his novels on a "grass-roots level," says Karen Hunter, whose Pocket Books imprint will publish his novel Mama Dearest in September. MORE

Author E. Lynn Harris Dies at Age 54

2009-07-24T18:57:00.001-05:00

Long before the secret world of closeted black gay men came to light in America, bestselling author E. Lynn Harris introduced a generation of black women to the phenomenon known as the "down low."

Harris endeared such characters to readers who were otherwise unfamiliar with them, using themes and backdrops familiar to urban professionals, conditioned by their upbringings, their church leaders or their friends to condemn and criticize homosexuality in the African-American community. A proud Razorback cheerleader at the University of Arkansas who struggled with his own sexuality before becoming a pioneer of gay black fiction, Harris died Thursday at age 54 while promoting his latest book in Los Angeles.

Publicist Laura Gilmore said Harris died Thursday night after being stricken at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, and a cause of death had not been determined. She said Harris, who lived in Atlanta, fell ill on a train to Los Angeles a few days ago and blacked out for a few minutes, but seemed fine after that.

An improbable and inspirational success story, Harris worked for a decade as an IBM executive before taking up writing, selling the novel "Invisible Life" from his car as he visited salons and beauty parlors around Atlanta. He had unprecedented success for an openly gay black author and his strength as a romance writer led some to call him the "male Terry McMillan."

In 15 years, Harris became the genre's most successful author, penning 11 titles, ten of them New York Times bestsellers. More than four million of his books are in print.

McMillan had just spoken to Harris about a week ago, to tell him she would pay tribute to him in her upcoming book by having a character read one of his titles, "And This Too Shall Pass."

"He was thrilled," McMillan said. "I loved his spirit and generosity. I loved that he found his own niche in the world of fiction, and I'm grateful to have known him. This just breaks my heart."

He went on to mainstream success with works such as the novel "Love of My Own" and the memoir "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted." MORE

Stephen L. Carter Loves to Keep His Readers Guessing

2009-07-23T09:16:00.002-05:00

Yale Law School professor Stephen L. Carter leads a double life — his best-selling novels include The Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White. His latest, Jericho's Fall (Knopf, $25.95), revolves around Jericho Ainsley, a disgraced and dying former CIA director, and his onetime lover. Carter, 54, spoke with USA TODAY from his office in New Haven.More

Author Details Story of Incarcerated Vocal Group

2009-07-22T04:03:00.001-05:00

It sounds like a film script: five African-American men incarcerated at the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville during the '40s and '50s form a vocal group and release a hit record. But the story is true.

The blues quintet, dubbed The Prisonaires, was led by Johnny Bragg, who was serving 594 years for multiple counts of rape, and included William Stewart, serving 99 years for witnessing the murder of a man; Marcel Sanders, facing one to five years for involuntary manslaughter; Ed Thurman, serving 99 years for murdering a man who killed his dog; and John Drue Jr., serving three years for larceny.

They made history with their song, "Just Walkin' in the Rain," which was released on Sun Records in 1953.

Jay Warner, a six-time Grammy-winning music publisher and the founder of National League Music recounts The Prisonaires story in "Just Walkin' in the Rain: The True Story of the Prisonaires: the Convict Pioneers of R&B and Rock & Roll" (Renaissance Books, $25).

The tale is complex and inspiring as it deals with the issues of civil rights and prison reform, but its main focus is on the relationship between Bragg and the governor of the time, Frank Clement.

"It's really two men from opposite ends of the social and political spectrum who find a need in each other.

Bestselling Authors To Attend 2009 National Book Festival

2009-07-13T07:21:00.002-05:00

Washington, D.C. (CNS) - A bevy of bestselling authors will be on hand to make presentations at the ninth annual 2009 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. The popular event will be held on Saturday, September 26 at the National Mall.

Bestselling authors David Baldacci, John Grisham, John Irving, Julia Alvarez, Judy Blume, Ken Burns, Gwen Ifill and Jodi Picoult will all be attending the festival. Celebrity chef Paula Deen will also be there to present.

The event is organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, with President Barack Obama and first Lady Michelle Obama acting as Honorary Chairs. Last year, the festival had over 120,000 people attend and is free and open to the public.More

Book News:Touré Writing Book About 'Post-Blackness' For Free Press

2009-07-09T20:05:00.003-05:00

Touré Writing Book About 'Post-Blackness' For Free Press
Rolling Stone contributing editor, TV personality and compulsive Twitter-er Touré has signed a deal with Free Press to write a book about “post-blackness.” The book, titled Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness, was described in a deal memo posted on Publishers Lunch as a “treatise” on black identity in the age of Obama, based on interviews with dozens of “black American artists, writers and thinkers.” >MORE

Book News: Jay-Z Close to Book Deal With Spiegel & Grau

2009-07-09T19:41:00.003-05:00

Jay-Z Close to Book Deal With Spiegel & Grau

Jay-Z is close to finalizing a book deal with the Spiegel & Grau imprint of Random House. The literary agent repping the rapper, Matthew Guma, had no comment, but sources say the book will consist of Jay-Z commenting on and telling the stories behind his lyrics.

Sources said that when Mr. Guma originally approached editors and publishers earlier this summer, he was talking about doing a bundle of three books: One was going to be a traditional memoir, one was going to be a business book, and the third was the one that Spiegel & Grau ended up acquiring.

This will be the first book by Jay-Z, who famously claims never to write down his lyrics on paper. When it will be published is unknown. The multiplatinum-selling rapper's next album, The Blueprint III, is scheduled for release on Sept. 11, 2009. More

Stormy Weather

2009-07-08T10:39:00.003-05:00

The Life of Lena Horne
By James Gavin (Atria Books; 598 pages, $27)

For most of her life, Lena Horne has been a very angry woman. She may have given as good as she got for many of her 92 years, but as related in James Gavin's definitive new biography, she had reason enough.

"Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne" takes its title from her signature song, but in the beginning, it wasn't even her song: It was Ethel Waters', and the older star's resentment of Horne during the making of the groundbreaking film "Cabin in the Sky" would presage Horne's own iciness years later toward younger singer-actresses like Diahann Carroll.

Although Horne was born and raised in a middle-class family, her early life was no walk in the park. Her mother was an actress who frequently left Lena to be raised by her grandparents. At school, she was taunted by other black kids for the lightness of her skin. "In her first memoir," Gavin writes, "Horne recalled their abuse. 'Yaller! Yaller!' they chanted. 'Got a white daddy! Shame! Shame!' " Gavin tells us she tried to darken her skin by spending time in the sun, but she also felt self-conscious about the way she talked: "At her grandmother's home, to use anything but textbook English was grounds for punishments. But [other African Americans] talked in thick southern accents, using Negro dialect. A confusion overtook her that she never quite lost." MORE

Book Festival Hosts Pulitzer Prize Winner

2009-06-28T05:24:00.002-05:00

The Third Annual African-American Book Festival features author Annette Gordon-Reed, among others.
Prominent writer Annette Gordon-Reed, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family," was one of several authors who spoke Saturday during the well-attended African American Book Festival in East Austin.

The third annual festival was held at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center and the Carver Branch of the Austin Public Library. Carla Harris, an executive at Morgan Stanley, and fiction writer Bernice McFadden were among speakers at the six-hour festival. MORE

Books Written By Micheal Jackson

2009-06-27T06:53:00.002-05:00

There may be thousands of books written about Michael Jackson, but only three have ever been written by Micheal Jackson. Below are the three books that Michael Jackson wrote and are featured here as a tribute to his legacy.

Please note that the information given regarding the publisher, year of publication, ISBN number, and number of pages refers to the U.S. version and there may be differences in other versions.
Moonwalk
'Moonwalk', by Michael Jackson, will always be a classic must-read for any MJ fan. Published in 1988, this autobiography was written by Michael after being encouraged to do so by his friend, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It is an account of his life up until 1988 when he still lived at Hayvenhurst, his Encino, California home. This wonderful book, written in an upbeat tone, has 6 chapters and includes beautiful color and black and white photos. Michael dedicated it to Fred Astaire.

Publisher: DoubleDay (division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, USA)
Year of publication: 1988
ISBN number: 0-7493-1338-2
Number of pages: 283
Languages the book is available in: English, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish (publisher: Plaza & Janés)

Dancing The Dream
'Dancing The Dream', by Michael Jackson, published in 1992 and dedicated to Michael's mother is an extraordinary book and very dear to Michael's heart. It is filled with inspirational essays and poems written by Michael himself. The writing is lovely and every time you read a passage or poem you can see new dimensions and find more to think about. The poetry and prose are complex and thought provoking and every bit as moving as any song or melody we love by Michael. The book has lovely color and black and white photos with an amazing introduction by Elizabeth Taylor. Many people have reported reading some of the poems aloud to others and winning great acclaim and new Michael Jackson fans each time.

Publisher: DoubleDay (division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, USA)
Year of publication: July 1992
ISBN number: 0-385-42277-6
Number of pages: 149
Languages the book is available in: English, Chinese, German

Moonwalker - The Storybook
'Moonwalker Storybook', a 74-page book illustrated with scenes from the screenplay by David Newman. Michael, Katy, Sean and Zeke are four good friends enjoying a game of soccer when their lives are suddenly endangered by the diabolical Mr. Big, an evil mastermind who kidnaps Katy and is determined to destroy anything or anyone standing in the way of his evil dreams - even Michael. Speeding cars, hot dancing and amazing chases are all part of the fun and excitement of 'Moonwalker'. A movie to remember and a story you'll want to read again and again. Actually a great find for all the "Moonwalker-lovers" since the book has been out of print for many years now.

Publisher: Doubleday (division of The Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, USA)
Year of publication: 1988
ISBN number: 0-385-26154-3
Number of pages: 74
Languages the book is available in: English, Japanese

Satchel :The Life and Times of an American Legend

2009-06-16T09:47:00.000-05:00

This Baseball Patriarch Could Really Pitch Himself

How fast could Satchel Paige throw a baseball? It’s hard to know because there were no radar guns to measure ball velocity when Leroy Paige, better known as Satchel, became a pitching star of the Negro Leagues in the 1930s. In his discerning, empathetic and hype-free new Paige biography, Larry Tye cites the eyewitness account of one of the white reporters who finally began paying attention to Paige in 1934: “All you can see is something like a thin line of pipe smoke.”
When asked if he threw that fast consistently, Paige, who would become famed for choice aphorisms, replied: “No, sir. I do it all the time.”
How many teams did he play for? In another of the authoritative assessments that enliven “Satchel” Mr. Tye weighs the amount of barnstorming done by Paige and notes that this tireless, Bunyanesque athlete found places to play no matter what the season. MORE

The Secret Olivia Told Me Is Worthy of a Second Look

2009-06-16T09:20:00.000-05:00

The Secret Olivia Told Me, a picture book about a friend who spills a secret and watches it spin out of control, published by Just Us Books, illustrated by Nancy Devard and written by N. Joy, won a 2008 Coretta Scott King Honor Book award for illustration.
This is the first Coretta Scott King Honor Book award for Just Us Books, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, as well as the first for Nancy Devard.
“Nancy is a talented artist who brings a distinct and fresh approach to the books she illustrates,” says Wade Hudson, president and CEO, Just Us Books. “We’re excited for her and proud of this distinct accomplishment that she earned so early in her publishing career.”
A native of West Philadelphia, Nancy Devard began drawing at age three. She earned a BA in Electrical Engineering Technology and minored in art at Temple University. After a brief career in engineering, she turned her talents to her true passion: art. She worked for Hallmark as a staff illustrator in its Mahogany division, and has illustrated two books for the educational market. The Secret Olivia Told Me is her first trade picture book. Devard created the silhouetted illustrations featured in The Secret Olivia Told Me using Adobe Illustrator. A versatile artist, she also paints and does graphic design. MORE

Michael Thomas Wins Literary's Largest Fiction Award For Man Gone Down

2009-06-13T04:27:00.003-05:00

Debut Novelist Michael Thomas Wins EU100,000 Irish Book Award

U.S. author Michael Thomas won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel, collecting 100,000 euros ($140,880) in what is billed as the world’s richest prize for a single work of fiction.

Thomas was honored at a reception at Dublin’s Mansion House today for “Man Gone Down,” about a once-promising Harvard student who is now broke and trying to raise money to keep his family together.

The unnamed African-American first-person narrator “will stay with readers for a long time,” the judges said in a statement. “He lingers because this extraordinary novel comes to us from a writer of enthralling voice and startling insight.”

Boston-born Thomas, who now lives in New York with his wife and three children, overcame competition from seven other finalists, including Junot Diaz for “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” which has already won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle award, and David Leavitt for “The Indian Clerk.”

In all, there were four Americans on the shortlist, as well as authors born in France, India, Norway and Pakistan. The only other U.S. writer to win the award was Edward P. Jones in 2005 for “The Known World.” MORE

Attica Locke's Black Water Rising

2009-06-11T17:49:00.002-05:00

New Voices: Author Attica Locke
The author is out with a mystery about a young black lawyer who gets entangled in a murder case.
The book: Black Water Rising, Harper, 427 pp., $25.99.

What it's about: In 1981, a young black attorney gets entangled in a murder case after he rescues a white woman from the waters of a Houston bayou.

Why it's notable: The opening scenes are inspired by an actual event: When she was 10, Locke's family was on a boat trip on the bayou when they heard a woman scream, and then shots were fired. MORE

Mildred Riley, 91 and Still Writing

2009-06-11T08:24:00.006-05:00

Author Mildred Riley Believes in Keeping Fantasies Alive
Twenty years ago, a publisher rejected Mildred Riley’s romance novel about African-Americans because “black people don’t read.”
Riley, a retired psychiatric nurse, knew otherwise and proved the publisher wrong. Now 91, she just published her 13th romance novel featuring African-American characters.

Like the happy endings of her stories, Riley inspires a sense of optimism and possibility.“When I retired, I said, ‘I’m going to write a book and I’m going to take flying lessons.’ Everyone cracked up when they heard,” she said, laughing. “I didn’t follow through on the flying lessons, and at 91, I don’t think I’d pass the physical. But I’ll keep writing as long as I’m able.”

Looking 20 years younger than her age, Riley is likely to be penning many more stories. With the publication last month of the paperback “All I’ll Ever Need” and the e-book “Fit to Be Tied,” she’s now editing “The Doctor’s Wife,” her 14th book, which, like the others, reflects her curiosity about the human heart and experience.
MORE

Book News: Red and Me by Bill Russell

2009-06-07T08:38:00.002-05:00

RED AND ME
My Coach, My Lifelong Friend

Bill Russell knew his personal power and how to use it. In that sense, he was his father’s son, inspired by the independence, self-confidence and strength he had observed growing up. Russell would say that his father always had “a plan,” meaning he was always a step or two ahead of everyone else. In basketball, Russell demonstrated the same gift and thus reconceptualized the game. Defense had once been an afterthought; Russell saw it as the key to offense and a builder of team morale. Players were told never to leave their feet on defense; with Russell’s advent, jumping to block a shot became an accepted part of the game. Big men were thought to lack mobility; for Russell, finesse and footwork became more important than strength. At his core, Russell knew that he was different from other players — that he was an innovator and that his very identity depended on dominating the game.MORE

Book News: Quest For Justice

2009-05-29T07:53:00.002-05:00

Book Showcases the Rise of American Attorney
Quest for Justice: Louis A. Bedford Jr. and the Struggle for Equal Rights in Texas by Darwin Payne, a communications professor at Southern Methodist University who has previously written biographies of writers Owen Wister and Frederick Lewis Allen and U.S. District Judge Sarah Hughes. In this book, he tells the story of Louis Bedford, a well-known African-American lawyer in Dallas who broke a racial barrier by becoming a municipal judge in 1966. Through the prism of Bedford’s experience, Payne offers a window into the experiences of African-Americans in North Texas in the mid-20th century.More

Book News: Before I Forget

2009-05-27T06:27:00.003-05:00

Before I Forget
Leonard Pitts Jr.
In this masterful first novel, Leonard Pitts, Jr.—already long acclaimed for his Pulitzer Prize winning work as a columnist—steps forward as a major new voice in fiction.
Before I Forget is the story of these three generations of black men bound by blood, and by histories of mutual love, fear, and frustration—gives Pitts the opportunity to explore the painful truths of black men's lives, especially as they play out in the fraught relations of fathers and sons. As Mo tries to reach out to the increasingly tuned-out Trey (who himself has become an unwed teenaged father), he realizes that the burden of grief and anger he carries over his own father has everything to do with the struggles he encounters with his son.

Before I Forget is the work not only of a masterful new voice in American fiction, but of a man who knows inside and out the difficulties facing black men as they grapple with their roles as fathers—and more than anything, the crucial importance of fulfilling that role in all of their lives. This is one of the most important debut novels of 2009, by a writer certain to win a much acclaim for his fiction as for his highly regarded journalism. MORE

Book News: In The Black: Live Faithfully, Prosper Financially

2009-05-26T12:56:00.003-05:00

'In The Black': A Financial How-to With African Americans in Mind

usatoday.com

To be able to fund your dreams is firmly within your control. That's the empowering message of AaronW. Smith, a financial planner and author of In The Black: Live Faithfully, Prosper Financially.
It's a matter of identifying your personal values, setting goals, discipline and ramping up your financial literacy. Add a spoonful of religious faith, too. Smith, a 15-year-plus veteran in the financial services field, has carefully assembled this straightforward financial-planning guide to lend a hand. The how-to advice shouts out to anyone who is trying to get traction in his or her financial world, regardless of income or debt level.
His core audience, however, is the African-American community. Smith is forthright about his modus operandi. He kicks off the book by stating, "This work was written to address African Americans in a Christian context, but one need not be of a particular religion or race to benefit from it."MORE

Book News: Vegan Soul Kitchen

2009-05-24T10:11:00.003-05:00

Book Offers Soul Food Recipes Without Meat

indystar.com

No bacon or bacon grease. No butter or cheese. No ham, for heaven's sakes.
How was I going to cook up some down-home soul food without my favorite Southern seasonings?

When I told the family I was trying recipes from "Vegan Soul Kitchen" (Da Capo, $18.95), by West Coast eco-chef Bryant Terry, they were skeptical that I could come up with satisfying Southern dishes without using animal products.
Or, as my daughter put it, "without any of the stuff that tastes good."
But the recipes in Terry's new book, subtitled "Fresh, Healthy and Creative African-American Cuisine," did in fact sound good, and goodness knows we could all stand to cut down on fat and calories. MORE

Awards & Honors

2009-05-24T09:58:00.005-05:00

Sketching Success

philly.com

As a boy in 1951, he worked part time in a newsstand outside Rowell's department store at Germantown and Chelten, where, from behind the counter, he'd sketch the displays in the shop window.
Now, that 12-year-old sketch artist is an internationally acclaimed illustrator with more than 100 children's books to his credit. You've likely seen his work on the cover of Nightjohn, by Gary Paulsen, or JD, by Mari Evans.
Jerry Pinkney, 70 and living in Westchester County, N.Y., will return to his roots to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th annual Celebration of Black Writing Festival, which begins tomorrow evening. MORE

Books In The News

2009-05-24T07:43:00.004-05:00

African-American Romance Writers Come Into Their Own

Another beach-read season is upon us, but this summer's book list reflects changes in the publishing industry. Over the past year, new efforts have been made to identify and promote the most popular - and steamiest - page-turners by African-American authors.
Until recently, mass-market books with romantic or sexual content by black writers have been lumped together under the label "African-American romance." A look at the titles under that heading on Amazon.com reveals everything from suspense to erotica to family drama.
But as works under the "black romance" umbrella gain popularity, the book world has become more interested in collecting accurate sales data by subgenre, and promoting the works and writers that can bring in the bucks.
For the most popular authors of traditional romance, such as Brenda Jackson and Rochelle Alers, this means lucrative new book deals. For others, such as Mary B. Morrison and Carl Weber, it's about taking their tales to Hollywood. More

Book News

2009-05-20T08:00:00.003-05:00

Elsie B. Washington, a Novelist, Dies at 66

newyorktimes.com

Elsie B. Washington, whose 1980 book, “Entwined Destinies,” is widely considered the first black romance novel, died on May 5 in Manhattan. She was 66 and had lived in Yonkers in recent years.
The cause was multiple sclerosis and cancer, her brother, James E. Peterson, said.
The 575th title in Dell’s Candlelight Romance series, “Entwined Destinies” was published under the pen name Rosalind Welles. It tells the story of a beautiful young black woman, a magazine correspondent, who after many travails finds love with a tall, dashing black man, an oil company executive. MORE

Marvely Brown's The Naked Truth

2009-05-19T17:28:00.002-05:00

The Naked Truth by Marvelyn Brown
Young Beautiful, and HIV Positive
harpercollins.com
The surprisingly hopeful story of how a straight, nonpromiscuous, everyday girl contracted HIV and how she manages to stay upbeat, inspired, and more positive about life than ever before
At nineteen years of age, Marvelyn Brown was lying in a stark white hospital bed at Tennessee Christian Medical Center, feeling hopeless. A former top track and basketball athlete, she was in the best shape of her life, but she was battling a sudden illness in the intensive care unit. Doctors had no idea what was going on. It never occurred to Brown that she might be HIV positive.
Having unprotected sex with her Prince Charming had set into swift motion a set of circumstances that not only landed her in the fight of her life, but also alienated her from her community. Rather than give up, however, Brown found a reason to fight and a reason to live. MORE

Our Book Bag Is Open

2009-05-19T10:20:00.007-05:00

What's Inside Our Book Bag? It's The Kindle 2 Of Course!
Debra Jago Trice
It's Amazon.com's Electronic Book Reader, the Kindle 2 and it's perfect for Summer as it can hold up to 1500 books inside. If you want to know why we chose it as a must have for our Book Bag, then you'll need to read our indepth Review of the Kindle 2 coming later this week!
Our review will feature photos and an depth look at the Kindle2 that's taking the book world by storm.
We will answer the question that's on everyone's mind:
Why do I need a Kindle2?

Books In The News

2009-05-18T06:03:00.003-05:00

Washington Finds Writer For Brothers

Matthew Sand to write Denzel film

Empireonline.com

Denzel Washington has lined up a writer for Brothers In Arms, his long in-development directorial project about the only African-American tank unit to fight in Europe during World War II. Matthew Sand will write a new version of the script on what sounds like a an interesting true story.
The 761st Tank Battalion overcame prejudice and became a key part of the post-D-Day offensive move east through Europe, spearheading the Battle of the Bulge and proving themselves to their comrades and a more racist era. Their story was captured in a non-fiction book by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar yes, the NBA star MORE

Poetic Moment

2009-05-13T13:42:00.001-05:00

With White House Poetry Jam, a New Era Is Spoken For
washingtonpost.com
Perhaps for the first time ever, the White House jammed and slammed last night.
Poets and playwrights, actors and musicians packed the ornate East Room, delivering cool jazz and glorious spoken-word poetry, sprinkling a bit of hip-hop and a bit of the heroic couplet. And through it all, the president and the first lady watched -- and applauded.
"We're here to celebrate the power of words," President Obama said. Words "help us appreciate beauty and also understand pain. They inspire us to action." He introduced the first lady as his poet. MORE

Book News

2009-05-07T08:17:00.000-05:00

Connie Briscoe Brings Back Her Trailblazing 'Sisters'
USATODAY.COM

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — With a sea-green sleeveless shell showing off first-lady-worthy biceps, Connie Briscoe could be Michelle Obama's older sister-in-arms.The author of five best-selling novels about black women's lives and loves, Briscoe is a serene presence in the family room of her spacious home in semi-rural Howard County. Fifteen years ago, Briscoe struck publishing gold with her debut, Sisters & Lovers. Like Terry McMillan with her 1992 sensation Waiting to Exhale, Briscoe introduced America to an invisible woman — people like Briscoe. Instead of the abused, impoverished heroines of novels such as Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Briscoe's page-turner starred middle-class black overachievers who were hungry for love and the American dream. MORE

Book News

2009-04-29T08:49:00.000-05:00

Michelle Obama, First Lady of Fashion, Celebrated in New Book
nydailynews.com

As Michelle Obama nears her first 100 days as First Lady, a new book celebrates her fabulous fashion choices. “It’s her journey to the White House through the filter of her style,” says former fashion mag editor-in-chief Mandi Norwood, author of “Michelle Style: Celebrating the First Lady of Fashion” (William Morrow, $19.99) out May 5, which chronicles Mrs. O’s signature looks — from the belted purple sheath dress she wore on the night her husband got the nomination, to the $148 White House/Black Market black-and-white print dress she bought off the rack.

“Each outfit has a story around it,” says Norwood, who recalls the yellow J.Crew ensemble the First Lady wore on Jay Leno — which she purchased online for under $340. MORE

Book News

2009-04-26T17:08:00.002-05:00

Ualbany Criminal Justice Professor Brings Reality To Her Crime Fiction

Timesunion.com

Frankie Bailey knows a thing or two about crime writing. As a criminal justice professor at the University at Albany and an avid crime fiction author — she writes the Lizzie Stuart Mystery series — she knows both the realities and fantasies of the genre.

Her 2008 book, "African American Mystery Writers," is an overview produced after reading 139 books, surveying readers online and interviewing authors and scholars. The historical survey begins with the first crime African-Americans wrote about — slavery — and continues to contemporary writers such as Walter Mosley. MORE

The Author Speaks: Colson Whitehead on Sag Harbor

2009-04-26T16:53:00.000-05:00

Colson Whitehead Talks About His New Book " Sag Harbor"
When an Author speaks about their book, it's a voice full of reasoning as they explain how it was to write the book that they once lived. Join us as we enjoy the voice of Colson Whitehead as he takes on a leisurely stroll around the Long Island Town of Sag Harbor.

Book News

2009-04-23T14:57:00.003-05:00

Celebs Set to Visit the 2009 African American Pavillion at the BEA
blacknews.com
National (BlackNews.com) - Starring Wesley Snipes, "Blade" and the new film "Zulu Mech 1"; Zane, New York Times Bestselling Author; Omarosa, (The Apprentice), "The Bitch Switch: Knowing How to Turn It On and Off"; Sybil Wilkes, The Tom Joyner Show, Sybil's Book Club (Live Interviews) in The Pavilion, Saturday, May 30, 12:00 Noon -1:00PM; The Tom Joyner Foundation, Thomas Joyner, Jr.; Mary B. Morrison, New York Times Bestselling Author; Omar Tyree, New York Times Bestselling Author; Nikki Turner, New York Times Bestselling Author; Brenda L. Thomas, Essence Bestselling Author; Carol Mackey, Black Expressions Book Club; Terrie Williams, Essence Bestselling Author; Wade and Cheryl Hudson, Just Us Books; George Fraser; Max Rodriguez; Irene Smalls; Dante Lee, along with Brother G., The Shades of Memnon Book Series and Co-Creator of "Zulu Mech 1"; Mshindo Kuumba 1, Co-Creator of "Charles the Chef" and Co-Creator of "Zulu Mech 1."

Featuring Buffie The Body, Vixon Icon; Mildred Muhammad, Scared Silent-The DC Sniper; Dana Dane, Numbers; The Street Life Series By Kevin Weeks; Bruce George - West Coast Biz; Peggy Brooks - Bertram & Barbara Seals Nevergold; The Latin Temptress; The Divine Expressions Book Club; Helen L. Edwards; Freedom Speaks Diaspora; Kevin Weeks; Dawayne Williams; Raji Cooler; Sherri Glover; Shayla Price; Robin Ayele; Kamau & Aquila Butler. MORE

Book News

2009-04-23T14:46:00.003-05:00

New Book Gives Voice To Last Surviving Children Of Slaves

baystatebanner.com

Many books and films over the last 150 years have explored the social impact that slavery has had on race relations in America. In “Sugar of the Crop: My Journey to Find the Children of Slaves,” author Sana Butler makes an important contribution to the topic by looking at how the lives of the last surviving children born to slaves evolved after the abolition of slavery.
The recently released book chronicles Butler’s 10-year journey to conduct interviews with these survivors and record their stories. Most were in their 90s at the time of their interviews. All have since passed away. MORE

Book News

2009-04-23T14:36:00.004-05:00

74th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Winners Announced
Works Address Issues of Race and Culture, Opening and Challenging Minds
au.sys-con.com

The Cleveland Foundation today announced the winners of the 2009 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. They are:
-- Louise Erdrich, "The Plague of Doves" (Harper Collins)
-- Nam Le, "The Boat" (Knopf)
-- Annette Gordon-Reed, "The Hemingses of Monticello" (W.W. Norton)
-- Paule Marshall - Lifetime Achievement Award
"These 2009 Anisfield-Wolf winners are notable for the thoughtful way each author addresses the provocative and complex issues of race and cultural diversity. Each work is distinct, yet collectively they share an unyielding faith in the essential humanity of their subjects," said Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University, who serves as jury chair. "The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards continue to be internationally recognized for shining a light on the many layers of ethnicity and identity in an increasingly cosmopolitan world." MORE

Book News

2009-04-22T07:12:00.007-05:00

Africa’s First Female President Shares Life Story

msnbc.com

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the 23rd elected president of Liberia, is Africa's first female elected president. In her political and personal memoir, “This Child Will Be Great,” Sirleaf shows her determination and courage through stories about her happy childhood and unhappy marriage, and gives an inside look at a country that is working to rebuild itself. MORE

Book News

2009-04-21T17:35:00.000-05:00

At 38, Ford Jr. Pens Memoir
memphisdailynews.com

When Harold Ford Jr. delivered the keynote address at the 2000 Democratic Party convention, the young, charismatic African-American congressman from Memphis was seen as the party’s next rising star.

People began to mention him as a contender to become the country’s first black president.

Ford will describe the lessons he learned from that episode and everything that came next in his 320-page memoir, “More Davids Than Goliaths,” slated for publication in December. He’ll be 39 when his book is published by Crown, a division of Random House. Ford will describe the lessons he learned from that episode and everything that came next in his 320-page memoir, “More Davids Than Goliaths,” slated for publication in December. He’ll be 39 when his book is published by Crown, a division of Random House.More

Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced

2009-04-21T01:36:00.014-05:00

Drama of Congolese, Story of Hemingses Win Pulitzers
bloomberg.com
April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Lynn Nottage’s “Ruined,” a brutal drama about the plight of Congolese women, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama today, while two books of African-American history were awarded prizes.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 'Ruined' by Lynn Nottage wins Pulitzer; Chicago Play Again Snags Top Honor (ChicagoTribune.com)MORE

Brooklyn writer Lynn Nottage wins Pulitzer MORE nydailynews.com

Annette Gordon-Reed’s “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family” (Norton), a history of the family of Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson’s slave and the mother of several of his children, won the history prize, having already won the National Book Award for nonfiction. The award for general nonfiction went to “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans From the Civil War to World War II,” by Douglas A. Blackmon (Doubleday). More
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:Rutgers University, Newark, Professor Annette Gordon-Reed Receives 2009 Pulitizer Prize in History for The Hemingses Of Monticello: An American Family More

Book News

2009-03-31T08:03:00.006-05:00

MCLA Commencement to Feature Musician, Author McBride

iberkshires.com
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Author, composer and screenwriter James McBride will deliver the keynote address at this year's commencement exercises at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Graduation will be held Sunday, May 16, at 11 a.m. in the Amsler Campus Center gymnasium.

McBride will receive an honorary doctoral degree from the college along with local educator and 9/11 foundation founder Sarah "Sally" Goodrich and alumnus Brian K. Fitzgerald, executive director of the Business-Higher Education Forum. In recognition of their awards, the honorary degree recipients will have books placed in MCLA's Freel Library in their names.

McBride's landmark memoir "The Color of Water" is considered an American classic and is read in schools and universities across the United States. More than two million copies of the book have sold worldwide. In 2008, his debut novel, "Miracle at St. Anna," was translated into a major motion picture, which was directed by American film icon Spike Lee.His latest novel, "Song Yet Sung," was released in paperback in January 2009. MORE

A Word For Writers

2009-03-30T17:20:00.001-05:00

Plenary Publishing Seeks Emerging African-American Literary Talent
Prlog.org

Plenary Publishing is currently seeking manuscripts of African-American interest. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a sales and distribution office in Charleston, South Carolina, the company will publish fiction and non-fiction books of African-American interest.

Plenary’s mission is to develop and to publish stories that depict the depth and beauty of the African-American community. In doing so, the company seeks to enhance the depiction of African-Americans, inspire its target audience to actively improve their lifestyles and create new opportunities for authors of color.
Plenary will publish books in several fiction genres, including: contemporary fiction, children and juvenile literature, Christian/inspirational fiction, romance and mystery/thriller/suspense. Non-fiction areas of interest are business/career/finance, family and relationships, health and wellness, gender-specific issues, political and social issues, crime and justice and Christian/inspirational topics. More

Book News

2009-03-29T11:38:00.004-05:00

'Go, Tell Michelle': Wisdom For The Future First Lady
npr.com
In churches or beauty shops or anyplace where groups of women gather — especially black women — it is not uncommon for them to talk about the advice they would like to pass on to the incoming first lady.
A group of women in upstate New York went one step further and decided to publish their words of wisdom for Michelle Obama in a book called Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady.
The poems and letters were compiled by two education specialists, Barbara Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram, who are co-founders of the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education on Women at the University at Buffalo in New York. More

Book News

2009-03-29T10:41:00.003-05:00

Author Sheds Light On Little- Known History Of Maroon Communities
beaufortgazette.com

Similar to the critically acclaimed 1991 film "Daughters of the Dust," which was shot on St. Helena Island and shed light on the history and significance of Gullah culture, the 1993 movie "Sankofa" exposed viewers to the legacy of maroons -- runaway slaves who existed in large numbers in the mountains of Jamaica and the jungles and swamps of South America, often not far from plantations.
While enslaved Africans escaping to the North via the Underground Railroad has been well-documented in American history, documentation of maroon communities in North America has been harder to come by, but these communities existed extensively throughout Beaufort County and the Lowcountry. More

Book News

2009-03-29T10:22:00.004-05:00

The African American Woman Golfer: Her Legacy by M. Mikell Johnson

africanamericanwomangolfer.com

All of the good and positive scores, in golf, are in terms of birds -- Double Eagle, Eagle, and Birdie. The Double Eagle is the rarest score to obtain in golf. This is the term to express the presence of the rare African American Woman Golfer. As a rarity among the rare, she is the most unknown and silent athlete in the arena of this sport. The African American woman is really an omission in the annals of the history of golf in America. The African American Woman Golfer is HERSTORY. More

Book News: Black Wings

2009-03-28T10:22:00.005-05:00

Black Wings
Courageous Stories of African Americans in Aviation and Space History

Harpercollins.com

Colin Powell once observed that "a dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work." This sentiment is mirrored dramatically in the story of African Americans in aerospace history.
The invention of the airplane in the first decade of the twentieth century sparked a revolution in modern technology. Aviation in the popular mind became associated with adventure and heroism. For African Americans, however, this new realm of human flight remained off-limits, a consequence of racial discrimination. Many African Americans displayed a keen interest in the new air age, but found themselves routinely barred from gaining training as pilots or mechanics. Beginning in the 1920s, a small and widely scattered group of black air enthusiasts challenged this prevailing pattern of racial discrimination. With no small amount of effort—and against formidable odds—they gained their pilot licenses and acquired the technical skills to become aircraft mechanics.
Over the course of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, African Americans have expanded their participation in both military and civilian aviation and space flight, from the early pioneers and barnstormers through the Tuskegee airmen to Shuttle astronauts.
Featuring approximately two hundred historic and contemporary photographs and a lively narrative that spans eight decades of U.S. history, Black Wings offers a compelling overview of this extraordinary and inspiring saga. More

Book News

2009-03-28T09:23:00.006-05:00

Book by ex-MLB pitcher 'Mudcat' Grant chronicles careers of fellow African-American 20-game winners

Dnj.com

In 1965 while pitching for the Minnesota Twins, Jim "Mudcat" Grant became the first African-American pitcher to win 20 games in the American League. During a 14-year span that started in 1958, the Florida native became one of the game's best pitchers, helping the Twins win the 1965 American League Pennant and winning 145 games. He was twice named an American League All-Star and was The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year for the American League in 1965.After legendary Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947, the careers of those blacks who immediately followed in his footsteps have been sparsely documented. More

Book News: Family Properties by Beryl Satter

2009-03-27T06:00:00.013-05:00

'Family Properties’ Thoroughly Examines Racism In Real Estate
star-telegram.com

Rutgers University history professor Beryl Satter, has turned the story of her father and the Boltons into a penetrating window on the financial discrimination that African-Americans encountered in their northward migration to cities like Chicago.More

"Life Is Short But Wide" by J. California Cooper

Random House

Like the small towns J. California Cooper has so vividly portrayed in her previous novels and story collections, Wideland, Oklahoma, is home to ordinary Americans struggling to raise families, eke out a living, and fulfill their dreams. In the early twentieth century, Irene and Val fall in love in Wideland. While carving out a home for themselves, they also allow neighbors Bertha and Joseph to build a house and live on their land. The next generation brings two girls for Irene and Val, and a daughter for Bertha and Joseph. As the families cope with the hardships that come with changing times and fortunes, and people are born and pass away, the characters learn the importance of living one’s life boldly and squeezing out every possible moment of joy. More

Book News: Coretta Scott King Book Awards Co-Founder Dies

2009-03-26T07:56:00.000-05:00

Coretta Scott King Book Awards Co-founder Dies at 87
Mabel R. McKissick, cofounder of the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King Book Awards, died March 20 at the Bridebrook Rehabilitation Center in Niantic, CT. She was 87.
The idea for an award that recognizes African-American authors and illustrators of children’s books came about in 1969, when McKissick and Glyndon Greer, both school librarians, were attending a library association conference in New Jersey. They happened to talk about their disappointment that no such award existed with John Carroll, a publisher and conference exhibitor. He suggested that they do something about it—and they did. More

Book News: Great Historian, John Hope Franklin Dies

2009-03-26T07:51:00.000-05:00

Pioneer Black Historian Gave Meaning to Past
John Hope Franklin refused to yield to bias of his time
Chicago Sun Times

The "Africana" -- an encyclopedia of African and African-American culture -- credits John Hope Franklin with establishing African-American history as a "respected academic discipline."While others were marching and protesting, Franklin was involved in a different kind of agitation. He was compiling the scholarship needed to tell the African-American story.The renowned historian died Wednesday at the age 94.

Of his many books, it is From Slavery to Freedom: A History of American Negroes that I have returned to most often during my career. More

Book News: Pig Candy

2009-03-25T14:40:00.003-05:00

Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home -A Memoir
Simon & Schuster

Pig Candy is the poignant and often comical story of a grown daughter getting to know her dying father in his last months. During a series of visits with her father to the South he'd escaped as a young black man, Lise Funderburg, the mixed-race author of the acclaimed Black, White, Other, comes to understand his rich and difficult background and the conflicting choices he has had to make throughout his life.

Lise Funderburg is a child of the '60s, a white-looking mixed-race girl raised in an integrated Philadelphia neighborhood. As a child, she couldn't imagine what had made her father so strict, demanding, and elusive; about his past she knew only that he had grown up in the Jim Crow South and fled its brutal oppression as a young man. Then, just as she hits her forties, her father is diagnosed with advanced and terminal cancer -- an event that leads father and daughter together on a stream of pilgrimages to his hometown in rural Jasper County, Georgia. As her father's escort, proxy, and, finally, nurse, Funderburg encounters for the first time the fragrant landscape and fraught society -- and the extraordinary food -- of his childhood. More

Book News: Latest Sag Harbor

2009-03-25T13:22:00.007-05:00

Colson Whitehead's Book 'Latest Sag Harbor'

Esquire

His latest novel, Sag Harbor (Doubleday, $25), tracks the daily activities of a group of bored black teenagers on summer vacation in the Hamptons, on Long Island. They name-check the Smiths. They roller-skate. They even frequent the bar-mitzvah circuit. Sag Harbor seems like an important book because it contributes to the upending of our (white) notions of what it means to be African-American. Like Whitehead, these kids are cool and post-racial. They harbor a certain sense of detachment, a wariness of conflict, and a rational embrace of ambiguity. More

Book News: Three Good Reads

2009-03-24T06:47:00.005-05:00

Book Focuses On ‘Freedom By Any Means’
Tricities.com

“Freedom by Any Means” by Betty DeRamus, 2009, Atria, $25/$32.99 Canada, 305 pages: Did you ever want something so badly that you couldn’t think of anything else until you got it?
Maybe it was a vacation you’d been saving for and planning for and couldn’t quite believe you were going to get until you boarded the plane. Perhaps it was a bike or sneakers, a car, job or house.
No matter what your yearning, it consumed you. Your daydreams were filled with your desire as you imagined what life would be like someday.
But what if that “something” was the difference between life unshackled and life under ownership? In the new book “Freedom by Any Means” by Betty DeRamus, you’ll read about the unusual, unique and uncommon ways people got what they wanted: a one-way ticket aboard the Underground Railroad. More

Family Secrets: Broyard on Broyard

readthehook.com

Over 100 people gathered at the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library to hear author and former UVA MFA Bliss Broyard discuss her book, One Drop, which explores the decision of her father, literary critic Anatole Broyard, to conceal his African American ancestry. Philip Roth’s character, Coleman Silk, in his novel The Human Stain (played by Anthony Hopkins in the 2003 movie adaptation) is widely believed to have been modeled after Mr. Broyard. More

A Blue Blood Passes For Black

newsobserver.com

Telling an astounding true story, "Passing Strange," would beggar most novelists' imaginations. It exposes the bizarre secret life of a well-known historical figure, but that secret is its least sensational aspect. The secret was hidden in plain sight until Martha A. Sandweiss, the deductive historian who pieced together this narrative, happened to notice it. Her great accomplishment is to have explored not only how the 19th-century explorer and scientist Clarence King reinvented himself but also why that reinvention was so singularly American.

Clarence King has often been written about by historians, but mostly in academic books about the mapping and geological exploration of the American West. He also turns up in biographies and literary histories, because he moved in glittering circles and was once widely held in high regard. He was called "the best and the brightest man of his generation" by one close friend, Secretary of State John Hay. More

Book News

2009-03-23T17:15:00.009-05:00

Black Publishers Give and Receive Honors During White House Celebration of Black Press Week

Insightnews.com

A historic delegation of 50 Black publishers and their guests, who convened at the White House last week for a Black Press Week award to President Barack Obama and his family, received equal praise from the First Family for the work of the Black Press of America.It was a delegation of the more than 200-member National Newspaper Publishers Association, honoring America's first Black President for his NNPA Newsmaker of the Year selection by awarding him with a book of front pages of Black newspaper from his historic Nov. 4, 2008 election. More

GIL ROBERTSON EXAMINES BLACKS IN OBAMA AGE

eurweb.com

Best-selling author and renowned entertainment and lifestyle journalist, Gil Robertson, IV, has released his newest book, a collection of essays entitled "Family Affair: What it Means to be African-American Today" More

Book News

2009-03-22T11:13:00.015-05:00

Black Soliders Of New York State

pressconnects.com

Cayuga Community College professor Anthony F. Gero has written "Black Soldiers of New York State" (State University of New York Press, $14.95 paperback). A nonfiction book, "Black Soldiers" describes the two centuries of struggle African-American soldiers went through, from the French and Indian War to 1950s. The book also includes sketches and illustrations that give readers a visual look at the soldiers. More

Best African American Fiction from Gerald Early joins the parade of 'Best Of's

Thedailypage.com

While the phrase “post-racial society” is batted back and forth like a tennis ball on the cable news networks, this is the year that Bantam Books chose to launch a new annual series, “Best African American Fiction.”More

'The Breakthrough' focuses on rising African American politicians and their advocates

savannahnow.com

Inauguration Day and Black History Month have come and gone, leaving behind numerous new books about the "Age" of Barack Obama.
I like Gwen Ifill's book best of those I've read because, for one thing, she focuses on some new black politicians that you probably have never heard of but will in the years to come. She also rounds up some of those in the past who "spoke for" African Americans. More

Photos Explore African-American Culture Of Faith

wjz.com

If Leroy Evans doesn't go to church, he feels lost.
"It's a part of me," said the trustee of Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church in Annapolis, where he's been going for decades. "It's about everything. I came in young, I've really enjoyed being here, and I ain't going anywhere else."
Evans is far from the only one who feels this way, and Mount Olive is certainly not the only church that evokes this kind of devotion from its members. Evidence of this can be found not only during Sunday services, but at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. More

Book News

2009-03-21T07:12:00.005-05:00

Walter Mosley's Latest: The Long Fall

In his first novel set in contemporary New York City, Walter Mosley, author of "Blonde Faith" and "The Right Mistake," introduces readers to a new series character - the middle-aged, literally low-rent private detective Leonid McGill. McGill is an African American, like Easy Rawlins, the protagonist of Mosley's period Los Angeles mysteries, but he's a very different kind of investigator, and "The Long Fall" is a different kind of Mosley book.More

Book Review

2009-03-20T09:08:00.009-05:00

Change Has Come: An Artist Celebrates Our American Spirit

The Drawings of Kadir Nelson With the Words of Barack Obama

The African American Book Review Bestows Its Highest Rating of Superior Upon This Book.

It may have been a stroke of genius that led to the marrying of the eloquent words of Barack Obama to the masterwork of Kadir Nelson. The result is an exceptional piece of literary work, a children’s book titled, Change Has Come: An Artist Celebrates Our American Spirit. Readers are whisked into the political climate of the Nation as then Senatorial Candidate, Barack Obama delivers the keynote address at the 2004 National Democratic Convention in Boston Massachuttes. The book progresses from 2004 through 2008 as the positive quotes of Barack Obama pepper its pages and intermingle with the impeccable style of the black and white images of Kadir Nelson’s art.

The book contains the quotes from the speeches made at the Take Back America Conference in Washington, DC in 2006, on Super Tuesday in Chicago, Illinois in 2008, and from Barack Obama’s speech titled, “A More Perfect Union” delivered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In November 2008 after winning the election for President, Barack Obama’s historical words of change are placed inside the book along with one of the many memorable illustrations by Kadir Nelson. Although this book is categorized as a Children’s book, it is not without merit to say that it is worthy of being enjoyed by adults.

It is indeed rare that an artist comes along whose works are lauded in his time. Such an artist is Kadir Nelson, whose magnificent illustrations are worthy of the accolades bestowed upon him. Kadir Nelson began drawing at the tender age of 3 and studied art with his Uncle, Michael Morris who was an instructor and an Artist. Kadir is a graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. His illustrations have garnered him many awards including twice receiving the Caldecott Honor and the prestigious Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. Mr. Nelson’s honors include receiving the NAACP Image Award for two of his books, Ellington Was Not A Street and Please, Puppy Please.

Kadir Nelson has created art for Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The New Yorker, as well as the United States Postal Service. He was the conceptual artist for Steven Spielberg’s film Amistad and the animated feature Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron. His most recent book is The New York Times best seller and Coretta Scott King Image Award winner to which he makes his authorial debut, We Are The Ship: The Story of The Negro League Baseball. Kadir Nelson lives with his family in San Diego, California.

Kadir Nelson’s website is kardirnelson.com

Book Details
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Release Date: January 2009

ISBN:9781416989554 (HC)
Type: Hardcover

Pages: 64

A Few Of The 21 Books Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Change Has Come Drawings of Kadir Nelson With The Words of Barack Obama

All God’s Critters by Bill Staines, IllustratedBy Kadir Nelson

Go Long! By Ronde Barber and Tiki Barber, with Paul Mantell, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Kickoff! By Tiki Barber and Ronde Barber, with Paul Mantell, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Michael’s Golden Rules By Deloris Jordan and Roslyn M. Jordan, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Please, Puppy Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Child Magazine’s Top Book of the Year

Hewitt Anderson’s Great Big Life by Jerdine Nolen, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

A Bank Street College of education Best Children’s Book of the Year

A CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book

Society of Illustrators Gold Medal

Ellington Was Not A Street by Ntozake Shange, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

ALA Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration

An ALA Notable Children’s Book

A CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center) choice

A Chicago Public Library’s “Best of the Best” Selection

An NAACP Image Award Nominee

An NCTE Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts

A New York Public Library “100 Titles for Reading and Sharing” Selection

Once Upon a World Award (Simon Wiesenthal Center & Museum of Tolerance)

Parent’s Choice Award

Salt In His Shoes: Michael Jordan In Pursuit Of A Dream by Deloris Jordan and Roslyn M. Jordan, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Children’s Crown Award

Reviewed By D. Jago-Trice

Book News

2009-03-18T06:10:00.006-05:00

Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Toni Morrison’s Latest Book "A Mercy" Is Nominated For An Award

Nine of the 20 writers named yesterday on the Orange women's fiction prize longlist were American, including one of the US's literary titans: Toni Morrison. More

Book News

2009-03-13T06:02:00.009-05:00

New Book Examines Black Quilts From Slavery To The White House

From UC Davis

When her first son was shot to death, Ora Poston Knowell poured her grief into a quilt. Every April 15, she hangs it in his honor from the front porch of her Oakland, Calif., home. On May 5, she displays the quilt she stitched in memory of his brother, killed seven years later.

The grieving mother is among nine black quilters profiled in a new book, "Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African American Quilters," by Patricia Turner, professor of African American and African studies at the University of California, Davis. Published by the University Press of Mississippi, it is in bookstores now. MORE

2009-03-08T01:30:00.005-06:00

Maya Angelou's Latest Book

Maya Angelou tells freep.com the makings of her latest book titled, "Letter To My Daughter".

If there is one thing women should do for their daughters, it is praise them and tell them that they are somebody special, says the celebrated author, singer and poet Maya Angelou.

"You tell them they're pretty," Angelou says. "You tell them they're beautiful. You tell them that their hair is nice. Make over her because, know this, in the street there is somebody who's going to do that, and not to her benefit.
"Let her know that 'my mother thinks I'm the big cheese,' so that inside themselves they are secure that they are worthy to be treated well."
That's a lesson Angelou learned from her mother, and it's one described in her latest book, "Letter to My Daughter" (Random House, $25).
It will be among the topics Angelou discusses when she visits the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit on March 18 in an event presented by African American Family Magazine and Ford Motor Co. MORE

Created Out Of Necessity

2009-03-02T15:31:00.002-06:00

Having always had an affection for the marvelous works of African American Authors, it stands to reason that I would become the creator of The African American Book Review.
It's origin came not out of desire, but rather out of necessity.
While searching the Internet for information about African American Books, Authors, Writers, Readers, and Reviewers, I found myself becoming frustrated at the lack of information available. No one asked the questions that I wanted answered, nor wrote the Book Reviews with attention to detail that I craved.

And that's when it occurred to me:

The African American Book Review should be a Book Reviewing Website that offers in depth African American Book Reviews by the people who know the stories behind the books, because they live them, write them, read them and most of all they love them.
They are the African American Authors, Writers, Readers and Reviewers.
And the idea is only weeks away from becoming a website that has a dedication of being to the African American Author, Writer, Reader and Reviewer, as without them there would be no need for The African American Book Review.

If you would like to have your book placed into the hands of our qualified and eagerly waiting reviewing team for an in depth Book Review, contact us at admin@africanamericanbookreview.com

Welcome To The African American Book Review

2009-02-28T05:20:00.000-06:00

Welcome to The African American Book Review! We are looking forward to reviewing the best African American Books, Black Books, Urban Books, and Books written about African Americans.

Our mission is to promote the positive works of the African American Book community by showcasing the many African American Books that are written as well as giving Readers the opportunity to learn more about the African American Authors, Writers, Readers,and Reviewers of African American Books.

The African American Book Review has several avenues of promoting African American Books. To do so we have a Book Club, a Group on Yahoo which features over 270 Members. You may join our Book Club by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/africanamericanbookreview/

We offer Newsletters to announce new books, Book Reviews and feature African American Authors. In addition, we are in the early stages of developing our upcoming website, The African American Book Review and hope to soon announce it's launch where additional features will be added www.africanamericanbookreview.com

If you are an Author, Publisher, or Writer of African American Books and would like to have your book or work featured in our Newsletter, Blog, and upcoming Website, contact us at admin@africanamericanbookreview.com and we will give you the details.

The adorable Artwork was graciously donated by Mr. Lashun Beal of Lashun Beal Fine Arts and can be purchased at http://www.lashunbealfinearts.com/catalog/index.php

The African American Book Review

Kadir Nelson paints 'the heart and soul' of America

PHOTOS: See paintings from 'Heart and Soul'

Book News: Oprah Winfrey to produce ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ for HBO

The Trials of Phillis Wheatley by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Pam Grier''s New Book, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts

Book Notes: Guyette explores African-American history in state

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards

Shaq Supports Mom as she Promotes Her Book

Authors Announced For the Arkansas Literary Festival April 8-11

Annual ZORA! Festival draws thousands to Eatonville

Say You're One Of Them

Queen of the Court: An Autobiography by Serena Williams

We Are In Transition

Steve Harvey's Book Is Headed To The Big Screen

To Tell The Truth Freely: The Life of Ida B.Wells

NeNe Leakes New Book: Never Make The Same Mistake Twice

E. Lynn Harris New Novel To be Published This Fall

Author E. Lynn Harris Dies at Age 54

Stephen L. Carter Loves to Keep His Readers Guessing

Author Details Story of Incarcerated Vocal Group

Bestselling Authors To Attend 2009 National Book Festival

Book News:Touré Writing Book About 'Post-Blackness' For Free Press

Book News: Jay-Z Close to Book Deal With Spiegel & Grau

Stormy Weather

Book Festival Hosts Pulitzer Prize Winner

Books Written By Micheal Jackson

Satchel :The Life and Times of an American Legend

The Secret Olivia Told Me Is Worthy of a Second Look

Michael Thomas Wins Literary's Largest Fiction Award For Man Gone Down

Attica Locke's Black Water Rising

Mildred Riley, 91 and Still Writing

Book News: Red and Me by Bill Russell

Book News: Quest For Justice

Book News: Before I Forget

Book News: In The Black: Live Faithfully, Prosper Financially

Book News: Vegan Soul Kitchen

Awards & Honors

Books In The News

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Marvely Brown's The Naked Truth

Our Book Bag Is Open

Books In The News

Poetic Moment

Book News

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The Author Speaks: Colson Whitehead on Sag Harbor

Book News

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Book News

Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced

Book News

A Word For Writers

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Book News: Black Wings

Book News

Book News: Family Properties by Beryl Satter

Book News: Coretta Scott King Book Awards Co-Founder Dies

Book News: Great Historian, John Hope Franklin Dies

Book News: Pig Candy

Book News: Latest Sag Harbor

Book News: Three Good Reads

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Book Review

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Created Out Of Necessity

Welcome To The African American Book Review