Exquisite

Exquisite
Author: Suzanne Slade
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1683354729

A picture-book biography of celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize A 2021 Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor Book A 2021 Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Book A 2021 Association of Library Service to Children Notable Children's Book Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) is known for her poems about “real life.” She wrote about love, loneliness, family, and poverty—showing readers how just about anything could become a beautiful poem. Exquisite follows Gwendolyn from early girlhood into her adult life, showcasing her desire to write poetry from a very young age. This picture-book biography explores the intersections of race, gender, and the ubiquitous poverty of the Great Depression—all with a lyrical touch worthy of the subject. Gwendolyn Brooks was the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize, receiving the award for poetry in 1950. And in 1958, she was named the poet laureate of Illinois. A bold artist who from a very young age dared to dream, Brooks will inspire young readers to create poetry from their own lives.

A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks

A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks
Author: Alice Faye Duncan
Publisher: People Who Shaped Our World
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781454930884

A collection of poems profiles the Chicago author who gave voice to the urban African American experience in the twentieth century.

Papa's Mark

Papa's Mark
Author: Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert
Publisher: Holiday House
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2023-01-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0823453707

In this timely reissue, a father and son help their community claim the right to vote in the post Civil-War South. A son teaches his father how to write his name so he can vote for the first time in this historical tale filled with warmth and strength by Coretta Scott King Honor winner Colin Bootman's expressive oil paintings. In a new author’s note, veteran teacher and author Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert expands upon the obstacles facing African American voters in the aftermath of the Civil War and the fight to end voter suppression that goes on even today. Simms knows election day will be a big day for his papa, and for all of Lamar County. For the very first time, Papa will get to vote. But Simms wishes his papa could write his own name, so he could go to the courthouse with head held high. And Simms is determined to teach Papa, because, like his father, he knows that freedom doesn’t come easy.

I Can Write the World

I Can Write the World
Author: Joshunda Sanders
Publisher: Six Foot Press
Total Pages: 39
Release: 2020-06-15
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 164442035X

"Lovely and timely. So glad Joshunda is telling our stories." - Jacqueline Woodson Eight-year-old Ava Murray wants to know why there’s a difference between the warm, friendly Bronx neighborhood filled with music and art in which she lives and the Bronx she sees in news stories on TV and on the Internet. When her mother explains that the power of stories lies in the hands of those who write them, Ava decides to become a journalist. I Can Write the World follows Ava as she explores her vibrant South Bronx neighborhood - buildings whose walls boast gorgeous murals of historical figures as well as intricate, colorful street art, the dozens of different languages and dialects coming from the mouths of passersby, the many types of music coming out of neighbors’ windows and passing cars. In reporting how the music and art and culture of her neighborhood reflect the diversity of the people of New York City, Ava shows the world as she sees it, revealing to children the power of their own voice.

I Become a Delight to My Enemies

I Become a Delight to My Enemies
Author: Sara Peters
Publisher: Strange Light
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2019-05-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0771073577

Dark, cutting, and coursed through with bright flashes of humour, crystalline imagery, and razor-sharp detail, I Become a Delight to My Enemies is a gut-wrenchingly powerful, breathtakingly beautiful meditation on the violence and shame inflicted on the female body and psyche. An experimental fiction, I Become a Delight to My Enemies uses many different voices and forms to tell the stories of the women who live in an uncanny Town, uncovering their experiences of shame, fear, cruelty, and transcendence. Sara Peters combines poetry and short prose vignettes to create a singular, unflinching portrait of a Town in which the lives of girls and women are shaped by the brutality meted upon them and by their acts of defiance and yearning towards places of safety and belonging. Through lucid detail, sparkling imagery and illumination, Peters' individual characters and the collective of The Town leap vividly, fully formed off the page. A hybrid in form, I Become a Delight to My Enemies is an awe-inspiring example of the exquisite force of words to shock and to move, from a writer of exceptional talent and potential.

Dangerous Jane

Dangerous Jane
Author: Suzanne Slade
Publisher: Holiday House
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1682632601

An inspiring picture book biography of Jane Addams, the groundbreaking social activist who went from the FBI's "Most Dangerous Woman in America" to Nobel Peace Prize winner. From the time she was a child, Jane Addams's heart ached for others—for those who were sad, hungry, and hopeless. When she grew up, Jane created Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago where she worked eighteen hours a day, providing whatever her immigrant neighbors needed: English lessons, childcare, steady work—as well as friendship, dignity, and hope. Then World War I broke out. Jane had helped people from different countries live in peace at Hull House, but what could she do to stop a war? Suzanne Slade's powerful free verse and Alice Ratterree's stunning, period-perfect illustrations bring a remarkable woman to life.

Report from Part One

Report from Part One
Author: Gwendolyn Brooks
Publisher:
Total Pages: 224
Release: 1972
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

The author relates the events of her life to her ongoing struggle to freely express the ideas and emotions of an African-American poet

Ebony

Ebony
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 160
Release: 1968-07
Genre:
ISBN:

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.

When You Were Everything

When You Were Everything
Author: Ashley Woodfolk
Publisher: Ember
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2021-03-09
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1524715948

For fans of Nina LaCour's We Are Okay and Adam Silvera's History Is All You Left Me, this heartfelt and ultimately uplifting novel follows one sixteen-year-old girl's friend breakup through two concurrent timelines--ultimately proving that even endings can lead to new beginnings. "Stunning." --Nic Stone, bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out You can't rewrite the past, but you can always choose to start again. It's been twenty-seven days since Cleo and Layla's friendship imploded. Nearly a month since Cleo realized they'll never be besties again. Now Cleo wants to erase every memory, good or bad, that tethers her to her ex-best friend. But pretending Layla doesn't exist isn't as easy as Cleo hoped, especially after she's assigned to be Layla's tutor. Despite budding friendships with other classmates--and a raging crush on a gorgeous boy named Dom--Cleo's turbulent past with Layla comes back to haunt them both. Alternating between time lines of Then and Now, When You Were Everything blends past and present into an emotional story about the beauty of self-forgiveness, the promise of new beginnings, and the courage it takes to remain open to love. "Breathtakingly beautiful....Woodfolk has a way of making words sing and burst with light." --Tiffany D. Jackson, award-winning author of Monday's Not Coming and Let Me Hear A Rhyme

Report from Part Two

Report from Part Two
Author: Gwendolyn Brooks
Publisher:
Total Pages: 184
Release: 1996
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Musings and notes about the life, the family, and travels of Gwendolyn Brooks that is a reprise of a prior book, "Report from Part One," published by Broadside Press in 1972. Brooks was the Consultant in Poetry for the Library of Congress from 1985 to 1986. This volume includes her introductions of visiting writers during that period.