Finding Langston

Finding Langston
Author: Lesa Cline-Ransome
Publisher: Holiday House
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2018-08-14
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0823439607

A Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction When eleven-year-old Langston's father moves them from their home in Alabama to Chicago's Bronzeville district, it feels like he's giving up everything he loves. It's 1946. Langston's mother has just died, and now they're leaving the rest of his family and friends. He misses everything-- Grandma's Sunday suppers, the red dirt roads, and the magnolia trees his mother loved. In the city, they live in a small apartment surrounded by noise and chaos. It doesn't feel like a new start, or a better life. At home he's lonely, his father always busy at work; at school he's bullied for being a country boy. But Langston's new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the Chicago Public Library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another Langston--a poet whom he learns inspired his mother enough to name her only son after him. Lesa Cline-Ransome, author of the Coretta Scott King Honor picture book Before She Was Harriet, has crafted a lyrical debut novel about one boy's experiences during the Great Migration. Includes an author's note about the historical context and her research. Don't miss the companion novel, Leaving Lymon, which centers on one of Langston's classmates and explores grief, resilience, and the circumstances that can drive a boy to become a bully-- and offer a chance at redemption. A Junior Library Guild selection! A CLA Notable Children's Book in Language Arts A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, with 5 Starred Reviews A School Library Journal Best Book of 2018

Being Clem

Being Clem
Author: Lesa Cline-Ransome
Publisher: Holiday House
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2021-08-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0823446042

The final novel in the award-winning Finding Langston trilogy from Coretta Scott King Author Honoree and Scott O'Dell Award medalist Lesa Cline-Ransome. Clem can make anybody, even his grumpy older sisters, smile with his jokes. But when his family receives news that his father has died in the infamous Port Chicago disaster, everything begins to fall apart. Clem's mother is forced to work long, tough hours as a maid for a wealthy white family. Soon Clem can barely recognize his home--and himself. Can he live up to his father's legacy? In her award-winning trilogy, Lesa Cline-Ransome masterfully recreates mid-twentieth century America through the eyes of three boys: Langston, Lymon, and, now, Clem. Exploring the impact of the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, Jim Crow laws, and much more, Lesa's work manages at once to be both an intimate portrait of each boy and his family as well as a landscape of American history. A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of the Year A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year A CCBC Choice A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Book! A CSMCL Best Multicultural Children's Book of the Year A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection --- Praise for Finding Langston, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book and winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction "There aren't any explosions in this spare story. Nor is there a happy ending. Instead, Langston discovers something more enduring: solace."--The New York Times * "This crisply paced book is full of historical details of the Great Migration and the role a historic branch library played in preserving African American literary culture."--The Horn Book, Starred Review * "This is a story that will stay with readers long after they've finished it."--School Library Journal, Starred Review * "The impact on the reader could not be more powerful. A memorable debut novel."--Booklist, Starred Review * "A fascinating work of historical fiction . . . Cline-Ransome at her best."--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review * "Finding Langston is about cultural heritage and personal growth and, at its heart, about finding home wherever you land."--Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

Before She Was Harriet

Before She Was Harriet
Author: Lesa Cline-Ransome
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2019-08-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1430144122

A biography of Harriet Tubman written in verse, in which poem and watercolor come together to honor a woman of humble origins whose courage and compassion make her larger than life.

Until the Day Arrives

Until the Day Arrives
Author: Ana Maria Machado
Publisher: Groundwood Books Ltd
Total Pages: 109
Release: 2014-11-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1554984572

A fast-moving middle-grade novel set in the seventeenth century about two Portuguese orphans who are sent to Brazil where they encounter slaves from Africa. Together with their new friend, an aboriginal boy, they work towards reuniting the slaves with their families and helping them escape to freedom. The novel opens when Bento is wrongly thrown into Lisbon’s prison by the king’s guards, leaving his younger sibling, Manu, to fend for himself. Fortunately, a nobleman’s family helps to reunite the siblings — although they will have to lead a life of exile in Brazil. They keep secret the fact that Manu is a girl in disguise so that she will be able to accompany her brother aboard ship. The story shifts to the African savannah, where a young boy, Odjigi, is hunting gazelle with his father and other men. But the hunters soon become the hunted — they are kidnapped by slave traders, as are the women and children of the village, marched to the sea, shut up in dark, airless huts to prepare for the voyage across the Atlantic, and then undergo the horrifying trip itself. In Brazil, the siblings quickly adapt to their new lives, but they are shocked by the existence and treatment of African slaves. Manu befriends an aboriginal boy, Caiubi, and a slave, Didi, who has been separated from his father. Meanwhile Bento falls in love with Rosa, a beautiful young slave who is also searching for her family. When Manu learns from Caiubi that escaped slaves have formed quilombos — villages hidden deep in the forest where they live in freedom — she is determined that they must help Didi and Rosa escape.

Not Without Laughter

Not Without Laughter
Author: Langston Hughes
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2012-03-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0486113906

Poet Langston Hughes' only novel, a coming-of-age tale that unfolds amid an African American family in rural Kansas, explores the dilemmas of life in a racially divided society.

Pretend She's Here

Pretend She's Here
Author: Luanne Rice
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2019-02-26
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1338298518

Mega-bestselling author Luanne Rice returns with a ripped-from-the-headlines story of a girl who is kidnapped by her friend's family. Emily Lonergan's best friend died last year.And Emily hasn't stopped grieving. Lizzie Porter was lively, loud, and fun -- Emily's better half. Emily can't accept that she's gone.When Lizzie's parents and her sister come back to town to visit, Emily's heartened to see them. The Porters understand her pain. They miss Lizzie desperately, too.Desperately enough to do something crazy.Something unthinkable.Suddenly, Emily's life is hurtling toward a very dark place -- and she's not sure she'll ever be able to return to what she once knew was real.From New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a breathless, unputdownable story of suspense, secrets -- and the strength that love gives us to survive even the most shocking of circumstances.

Shaky Bones

Shaky Bones
Author: Pamela Dell
Publisher: Child's World
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2003-08
Genre: African Americans
ISBN: 9781591870401

In 1926, a twelve-year-old aspiring poet nicknamed Shaky Bones enters the first annual Harlem All-School Young Poets Competition.

Journey Thru the Unknown... (the Unknown Comic)

Journey Thru the Unknown... (the Unknown Comic)
Author: Murray Langston
Publisher:
Total Pages: 474
Release: 2013-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781593937522

The memoirs of Murray Langston, aka "The Unknown Comic," is a detailed account of the Highlights and Lowlights of each year of my life, from June 27, 1944 until my 69th birthday coming up on June 27, 2013. It's my story of how a poor kid from Montreal, being influenced by Jerry Lewis, longed to follow in his funny steps and somehow leave Canada and make it to Hollywood. Spiced with humor, drama, and celebrities which made me consider calling the book, "Name-Droppers," the reader will be surprised at many of the revelations which include being threatened by Frank Sinatra, partying all night with Elvis Presley, spending Christmas Eve with Lucille Ball, watching Bob Hope's Christmas show when I was in the military and working with him 20 years later, attending the Academy Awards, double dating with Robin Williams, appearing with Patrick Swayze in his first film, hanging out at Steve Martin's house, playing practical jokes on Carol Burnett, friending David Letterman on his first arrival to L.A., holding Kate Hudson when she was only weeks old, hanging out at the Playboy Mansion, co-starring with Jim Carrey in his very first television appearance. Read about my appearing for 4 years with Sonny & Cher, working alongside Ronald Reagan, O.J. Simpson, Bobby Darin, the Jackson 5 and my hero at the time, Jerry Lewis, among so many others. Read about how I also worked on several other TV series starring Roger Miller, Wolfman Jack, Bobby Vinton, the Hudson Brothers, and more. Read about my appearing on practically every talk show of that era from The Tonight Show to Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, John Davidson, Dinah Shore, even Howard Stern... and more. Read about my appearing at almost every Hotel in Las Vegas, from the Sahara, the Riviera, The Sands, The Tropicana, The Landmark, The Dunes and more. Read about how I produced, wrote, directed and starred in a couple of feature films, besides appearing in over 20 movies along with over 800 television appearances while starring in and directing several plays along the way with fellow actors Linda Blair, Pat Paulsen, Johnny Whitaker, Eddie Mekka, and more. Read about the Ladies who I appeared on stage with including, Charo, Helen Reddy, Melissa Manchester, Gladys Knight, Crystal Gayle, the Supremes and more... Read about the many comics who were my opening act like Drew Carey, David Spade, Kevin Nealon, Ryan Stiles and more. Read about the many comics who I worked with in their early years who later became famous like Jay Leno, Cheech and Chong, Freddie Prinze, Gabe Kaplan, Michael Keaton, Howie Mandel and more... Read about the many celebrities I worked with who I later became close friends with like Ruth Buzzi, Frankie Avalon, Dom DeLuise, Jerry Van Dyke, Ted Knight, Harvey Korman, especially my mentor Redd Foxx, and more... Read about celebrities who I worked and hung out with who were arrogant and not very nice people like Mickey Rooney, Sonny Bono, Billy Crystal, Chris Rock, Vickie Lawrence and more... Read about some of the ladies I dated like Miss U.S.A., Playboy centerfolds, Debra Winger, Deidre Hall, Teri Garr, and Lucie Arnaz to mention a few. Read about how I am currently single but was married twice with two daughters, one 24, who is Britney Spears' background singer and is about to make a huge splash on her own. The other a 14 year old with "Down" syndrome who is the light of my life, and pure liquid love.

Giles and Metacom

Giles and Metacom
Author: Pamela Dell
Publisher: Child's World
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2002-08
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781591870128

In 1621, eleven-year-old Giles becomes suspicious of a Wampanoag who keeps slipping in and out of Plimoth Colony's storehouse and determines to follow him to discover why.

Avis Dolphin

Avis Dolphin
Author: Frieda Wishinsky
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781554988136

Inspired by the story of actual passengers on the ill-fated Lusitania, this is a novel of great adventure and suspense, including graphic novel-style illustrations. Avis Dolphin doesn't want to leave New York and sail to England on the Lusitania. War is raging in Europe, and the Germans threaten to sink the ship. Avis is lonely and afraid until she meets a kindly professor whose stories of a magical island help her face an uncertain future. When the Lusitania is attacked, Avis must draw on all her newfound strength to cope with the confusion, terror and despair. How can she survive the sudden devastation of the ship? Will the people she cares about, especially the professor, live through the horror and danger? The immediacy of Frieda Wishinsky's voice will engage readers in this thrilling story based on real events. They will identify with Avis and Professor Holbourn as they grapple with a stubborn captain, encounter German stowaways and contend with the feud between Avis's two cabin mates. In an atmosphere of growing anxiety, readers will be glued to the dramatic events as they unfold and the surprising fate of the people they have come to know. Willow Dawson's art depicts the stories the professor tells Avis in enchanting graphic-novel form. They provide a riveting magical element to the story, creating a story-within-a-story. Like Avis, readers will fall in love with Foula and will dream of the island long after they have reached the last page of this exciting story. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).