Watch Us Rise

Watch Us Rise
Author: Renée Watson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2019-02-12
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1547600098

"This stunning book is the story I've been waiting for my whole life; where girls rise up to claim their space with joy and power.” --Laurie Halse Anderson, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Speak "An extraordinary story of two indomitable spirits." --Brendan Kiely, New York Times bestselling co-author of All American Boys and Tradition "Timely, thought-provoking, and powerful." --Julie Murphy, New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin' Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Renée Watson teams up with poet Ellen Hagan in this YA feminist anthem about raising your voice. Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission--they're sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women's Rights Club. They post their work online--poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine's response to the racial microaggressions she experiences--and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by trolls. When things escalate in real life, the principal shuts the club down. Not willing to be silenced, Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices--and those of other young women--to be heard. These two dynamic, creative young women stand up and speak out in a novel that features their compelling art and poetry along with powerful personal journeys that will inspire readers and budding poets, feminists, and activists. Acclaim for Piecing Me Together 2018 Newbery Honor Book 2018 Coretta Scott King Author Award 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Young Adult Finalist "Timely and timeless." --Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming "Watson, with rhythm and style, somehow gets at . . . the life-changing power of voice and opportunity." --Jason Reynolds, NYT-bestselling author of Long Way Down "Brilliant." --John Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars * “Teeming with compassion and insight." --Publishers Weekly, starred review * "A timely, nuanced, and unforgettable story about the power of art, community, and friendship." --Kirkus , starred review * "A nuanced meditation on race, privilege, and intersectionality." --SLJ, starred review

What Momma Left Me

What Momma Left Me
Author: Ren�e Watson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2010-07-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1599904462

After the death of their mother, thirteen-year-old Serenity Evans and her younger brother go to live with their grandparents, who try to keep them safe from bad influences and help them come to terms with what has happened to their family. Includes recipe for red velvet cake.

Eyes In The Sky

Eyes In The Sky
Author: Arthur Holland Michel
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2019-06-18
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0544971663

The fascinating history and unnerving future of high-tech aerial surveillance, from its secret military origins to its growing use on American citizens Eyes in the Sky is the authoritative account of how the Pentagon secretly developed a godlike surveillance system for monitoring America's enemies overseas, and how it is now being used to watch us in our own backyards. Whereas a regular aerial camera can only capture a small patch of ground at any given time, this system—and its most powerful iteration, Gorgon Stare—allow operators to track thousands of moving targets at once, both forwards and backwards in time, across whole city-sized areas. When fused with big-data analysis techniques, this network can be used to watch everything simultaneously, and perhaps even predict attacks before they happen. In battle, Gorgon Stare and other systems like it have saved countless lives, but when this technology is deployed over American cities—as it already has been, extensively and largely in secret—it has the potential to become the most nightmarishly powerful visual surveillance system ever built. While it may well solve serious crimes and even help ease the traffic along your morning commute, it could also enable far more sinister and dangerous intrusions into our lives. This is closed-circuit television on steroids. Facebook in the heavens. Drawing on extensive access within the Pentagon and in the companies and government labs that developed these devices, Eyes in the Sky reveals how a top-secret team of mad scientists brought Gorgon Stare into existence, how it has come to pose an unprecedented threat to our privacy and freedom, and how we might still capitalize on its great promise while avoiding its many perils.

This Side of Home

This Side of Home
Author: Renée Watson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2015-02-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1599906686

A captivating and poignant coming-of-age urban YA debut about sisters, friends, and what it means to embrace change.

Goodbye, Perfect

Goodbye, Perfect
Author: Sara Barnard
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2019-01-29
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1534402462

“This gripping novel examines anxiety, identity, pressure, and power with Barnard’s characteristic lightness of touch.” —The Guardian “Nuanced, compelling, honest, and important.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Winner of The Bookseller’s YA Book Prize Friendship bonds are tested and the very nature of loyalty is questioned in this lyrical novel about a teen whose best friend runs away with her teacher after suffering the effects of too much academic pressure. Perfect for fans of Morgan Matson and Jennifer Niven. Eden McKinley knows she can’t count on much in this world, but she can depend on Bonnie, her solid, steady, straight-A best friend. So it’s a bit of a surprise when Bonnie runs away with the boyfriend Eden knows nothing about five days before the start of their final exams. Especially when the police arrive on her doorstep and Eden finds out that Bonnie’s boyfriend is actually their music teacher, Mr. Cohn. Sworn to secrecy and bound by loyalty, only Eden knows Bonnie’s location, and that’s the way it has to stay. There’s no way she’s betraying her best friend. Not even when she’s faced with police questioning, suspicious parents, and her own growing doubts. As the days pass and things begin to unravel, Eden is forced to question everything she thought she knew about the world, her best friend, and herself. In this touching and insightful novel, bestselling author Sara Barnard explores just what can happen when the pressure one faces to be “perfect” leads to drastic fallout.

The Latte Rebellion

The Latte Rebellion
Author: Sarah Jamila Stevenson
Publisher: North Star Editions, Inc.
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2011-01-08
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0738729876

Getting called a “towel head” inspires high school senior Asha Jamison with a great money-making idea: selling T-shirts promoting the Latte Rebellion, a club that raises awareness of mixed-race students. When their “cause” goes viral, Asha’s life spirals out of control.

The Black Church

The Black Church
Author: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2021-02-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1984880330

The instant New York Times bestseller and companion book to the PBS series. “Absolutely brilliant . . . A necessary and moving work.” —Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of Begin Again “Engaging. . . . In Gates’s telling, the Black church shines bright even as the nation itself moves uncertainly through the gloaming, seeking justice on earth—as it is in heaven.” —Jon Meacham, New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road and The Black Box, and one of our most important voices on the African American experience, comes a powerful new history of the Black church as a foundation of Black life and a driving force in the larger freedom struggle in America. For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, residentially segregated West Virginia town, the church was a center of gravity—an intimate place where voices rose up in song and neighbors gathered to celebrate life's blessings and offer comfort amid its trials and tribulations. In this tender and expansive reckoning with the meaning of the Black Church in America, Gates takes us on a journey spanning more than five centuries, from the intersection of Christianity and the transatlantic slave trade to today’s political landscape. At road’s end, and after Gates’s distinctive meditation on the churches of his childhood, we emerge with a new understanding of the importance of African American religion to the larger national narrative—as a center of resistance to slavery and white supremacy, as a magnet for political mobilization, as an incubator of musical and oratorical talent that would transform the culture, and as a crucible for working through the Black community’s most critical personal and social issues. In a country that has historically afforded its citizens from the African diaspora tragically few safe spaces, the Black Church has always been more than a sanctuary. This fact was never lost on white supremacists: from the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meetinghouses were subject to surveillance and destruction. Long after slavery’s formal eradication, church burnings and bombings by anti-Black racists continued, a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the African American struggle for equality. The past often isn’t even past—Dylann Roof committed his slaughter in the Mother Emanuel AME Church 193 years after it was first burned down by white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, following a thwarted slave rebellion. But as Gates brilliantly shows, the Black church has never been only one thing. Its story lies at the heart of the Black political struggle, and it has produced many of the Black community’s most notable leaders. At the same time, some churches and denominations have eschewed political engagement and exemplified practices of exclusion and intolerance that have caused polarization and pain. Those tensions remain today, as a rising generation demands freedom and dignity for all within and beyond their communities, regardless of race, sex, or gender. Still, as a source of faith and refuge, spiritual sustenance and struggle against society’s darkest forces, the Black Church has been central, as this enthralling history makes vividly clear.

How Women Rise

How Women Rise
Author: Sally Helgesen
Publisher: Hachette Books
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2018-04-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0316440108

Overcome the twelve habits holding you back and take your career to new heights with this wise and approachable guide from two business leadership experts. Ready to take the next step in your career . . . but not sure what's holding you back? Read on. Leadership expert Sally Helgesen and bestselling leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith have trained thousands of high achievers -- men and women -- to reach even greater heights. Again and again, they see that women face specific and different roadblocks from men as they advance in the workplace. In fact, the very habits that helped women early in their careers can hinder them as they move up. Simply put, what got you here won't get you there . . . and you might not even realize your blind spots until it's too late. Are you great with the details? To rise, you need to do less and delegate more. Are you a team player? To advance, you need to take credit as easily as you share it. Are you a star networker? Leaders know a network is no good unless you know how to use it. Sally and Marshall identify the twelve habits that hold women back as they seek to advance, showing them why what worked for them in the past might actually be sabotaging their future success. Building on Marshall's classic bestseller What Got You Here Won't Get You There, How Women Rise is essential reading for any woman who is ready to advance to the next level.

Watch Me Rise

Watch Me Rise
Author: Douglas E. Luffborough III
Publisher: Rtc Publishing
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2014-07-31
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 9781939418586

Throughout Doug Luffborough's young life, he found himself torn between two masters: the selfish and the spiritual. As one of four hardworking children born to a loving and hardworking-albeit disadvantaged-mother, Doug faced learning challenges, hunger, and homelessness, giving in to the temptations of drinking and gang life in order to survive. At the peak of his struggles, Doug recognized that an education would help pull him out of this cycle-for good. Watch Me Rise is a memoir of hope, determination, and eventually a graduate degree from Harvard-and all from someone who was told he was not "college material." "In this book, Doug Luffborough invites readers to share a remarkable and ultimately heartening journey. Prepare to experience a range of emotions as you read this book, including rage, shame, and humiliation as a precursor to compassion, pride, and joy. It is an account of growth and development, the result of which is the emergence of a good man. It is a book worth reading not just because of how it makes you feel, but also because of how it makes you want to be." -George Reed, PhD, Associate Dean, School of Leadership and Education Sciences, University of San Diego "From the moment Doug walks into a room, you can feel his energy and the strength of spirit that he exudes-it is captivating. He is the real deal. Present and action oriented, Doug possesses the ability to remain conscious of his past while not allowing it to define who he is as a person. His openness and honesty invite you in from the moment you meet him. Doug not only survived but also thrived, despite the obstacles that he encountered. Doug's willingness to share his vulnerabilities on a visceral level is one of the qualities that allow him to break down barriers and relate to others in a compassionate and genuine manner. His enthusiastic, caring, charismatic approach was contagious, and it is readily apparent that Doug is a man who holds high standards for himself and, in doing so, motivates others to aspire to be better. Doug not only epitomizes effective leadership, but he also transcends it." -Maria Olson, Former Resident Director, Office of Residential Life, Northeastern University "A message of hope, hard work, dedication, and never-ending faith ... For our youth today, and for those of us who work to guide and support them, Doug Luffborough's story provides both inspiration and wisdom. Doug's powerful ability to engage an audience-whether on stage, in a boardroom, or in text-is fully displayed as he shows us that anything is possible, and dreams do come true if you work hard and keep the faith!" -Kevin E. Baird, Chairman, Global Center for College and Career Readiness "Doug is the quintessential leader. To have arrived at the level of personal and professional success that he has achieved, given the myriad of obstacles that he had to overcome, makes him a true role model. Others who aspire to create better lives for themselves and their families, as Doug did, can look to him for inspiration. Doug has had the resiliency to persevere, build skills, and then use his innate talents to create positive change both close to home, as well in the greater community. In my thirty-four years of helping countless individuals realize their personal promise, Doug's story is the one that continues to inspire me. His is the success story at which we all marvel." -Pamela Boisvert, CEO, Massachusetts Education & Career Opportunities, Inc. (MassEDCO)

How to Raise a Reader

How to Raise a Reader
Author: Pamela Paul
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2019-09-03
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1523505303

An indispensable guide to welcoming children—from babies to teens—to a lifelong love of reading, written by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo, editors of The New York Times Book Review. Do you remember your first visit to where the wild things are? How about curling up for hours on end to discover the secret of the Sorcerer’s Stone? Combining clear, practical advice with inspiration, wisdom, tips, and curated reading lists, How to Raise a Reader shows you how to instill the joy and time-stopping pleasure of reading. Divided into four sections, from baby through teen, and each illustrated by a different artist, this book offers something useful on every page, whether it’s how to develop rituals around reading or build a family library, or ways to engage a reluctant reader. A fifth section, “More Books to Love: By Theme and Reading Level,” is chockful of expert recommendations. Throughout, the authors debunk common myths, assuage parental fears, and deliver invaluable lessons in a positive and easy-to-act-on way.