Black Page Turners

Fiction

Taming Madam M by:Allison Hobbs
The adventures that Madam Midnight began in Scandalicious continue as the secret dominatrix satisfies the erotic desires of her community…and herself.

To the public, Quintouria Stevens is viewed as a socialite and successful businesswoman, but behind closed doors, she assumes the identity of Madam Midnight, a dominatrix and founding member of a secret society that caters to its members’ darkest desires. Madam M’s unlikely marriage to her butler has not enhanced the poor man’s social standing as he’d hoped. He is still relegated to maintaining the household affairs, managing the staff, and overseeing the rotation of his wife’s numerous lovers. For Madam M and her butler, life is an endless stream of decadent parties where hedonism and debauchery abound.

When the exotic chef, Nico Branford, takes over Madam M’s kitchen, he stirs the pot in more ways than one. His culinary skills, along with his rugged good looks and undeniable sex appeal, cause quite a commotion among the household staff as well as the dinner guests. But when he’s summoned to Madam M’s bedroom, the chef refuses to become merely another conquest, and he won’t be satisfied until the dominatrix has released control and surrendered to him.
Release: 10/6/15
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The Coming by:Daniel Black
Daniel Black is at the top of his literary game with The Coming, a novel that National Book Award-winning author Charles Johnson (Middle Passage) calls “powerful and beautiful” and “a work to be proud of.”

Lyrical, poetic, and hypnotizing, The Coming tells the story of a people’s capture and sojourn from their homeland across the Middle Passage, a traumatic trip that exposed the strength and resolve of the African spirit. Extreme conditions produce extraordinary insight, and only after being stripped of everything do they discover the unspeakable beauty they once took for granted. This powerful, haunting novel will shake readers to their very souls.
Release: 10/6/15
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Non-Fiction

Real Sister: Stereotypes, Respectability, and Black Women in Reality TV by:Jervette R. Ward
From The Real Housewives of Atlanta to Flavor of Love, reality shows with predominantly black casts have often been criticized for their negative representation of African American women as loud, angry, and violent. Real Sister brings together ten black female scholars from a variety of disciplines, in part to address legitimate concerns about how reality TV reinforces stereotypes, but also to inspire a more nuanced conversation about the genre’s representations and their effects on the black community.

From The Real Housewives of Atlanta to Flavor of Love, reality shows with predominantly black casts have often been criticized for their negative representation of African American women as loud, angry, and violent. Yet even as these programs appear to be rehashing old stereotypes of black women, the critiques of them are arguably problematic in their own way, as the notion of “respectability” has historically been used to police black women’s behaviors.

The first book of scholarship devoted to the issue of how black women are depicted on reality television, Real Sister offers an even-handed consideration of the genre. The book’s ten contributors—black female scholars from a variety of disciplines—provide a wide range of perspectives, while considering everything from Basketball Wives to Say Yes to the Dress. As regular viewers of reality television, these scholars are able to note ways in which the genre presents positive images of black womanhood, even as they catalog a litany of stereotypes about race, class, and gender that it tends to reinforce.

Rather than simply dismissing reality television as “trash,” this collection takes the genre seriously, as an important touchstone in ongoing cultural debates about what constitutes “trashiness” and “respectability.” Written in an accessible style that will appeal to reality TV fans both inside and outside of academia, Real Sister thus seeks to inspire a more nuanced, thoughtful conversation about the genre’s representations and their effects on the black community.
Release: 10/5/15
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A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties by:Ben Carson M.D., Candy Carson
An inspiring new guide to understanding, appreciating, and defending our Constitution, by the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller One Nation.

Dr. Ben Carson, the acclaimed, bestselling author of One Nation, America the Beautiful, and Gifted Hands, returns with his unique blend of insight, clarity, and common sense in A More Perfect Union. Dr. Carson proves that you don’t have to be a legal scholar to understand, appreciate, and defend the United States Constitution.

In plain English, Dr. Carson explains the basic principles of the Constitution and the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, and he shows how they relate to our everyday lives. He talks about the checks and balances that are critical to the effective functioning of our democracy and the challenges presented by recent Presidents, Congresses, and the Supreme Court. Dr. Carson then explains how we can get the government to stay true to the original intent of the Founders.
Release: 10/6/15
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Tuff Juice by:Caron Butler
A twelve-year NBA veteran, Caron Butler has some impressive basketball credentials. He was Big East Co-Player of the Year at UConn, 10th overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft, and a key player for the Dallas Mavericks in their championship winning season in 2011.

But it’s how he got there that makes Caron Butler’s story remarkable: a gang member and drug dealer in his hometown of Racine, Wisconsin, before he reached his teens, he saw friends gunned down in the bloody streets near his home, was arrested 13 times and wound up behind bars and in solitary confinement before his 15th birthday.

Tuff Juice shares Caron Butler’s extraordinary journey from the streets of Racine to his role as an accomplished pro basketball player, dedicated husband and father, active philanthropist and burgeoning businessman. Along the way, the book explores the huge impact his single mother’s unconditional love and his college coach’s support had on him, and what drives him to be so successful in basketball and in life. Like The Blind Side, it’s a gripping narrative filled with hubris, dangerous obstacles and heartwarming moments that transcend sports and speak to perseverance, hope and the triumph of the human spirit.

Caron Butler is a veteran NBA All-Star and a dedicated member of the community. He is extremely active with organizations that specialize in youth outreach, especially in his hometown of Racine, Wisconsin. In addition to his extensive philanthropy Butler is also a burgeoning businessman with plans to own an NBA team in the future. He lives in Beverly Hills, California.
Release: 10/7/15
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Got to Give the People What They Want by:Jalen Rose
Former NBA star and current ESPN commentator Jalen Rose dishes out his witty, biting observations and takes readers into the minds of basketball players on and off the court.

“I want to start conversations, and even better, arguments.”

Jalen Rose has never been quiet. Not as a kid growing up in Detroit in the 70’s and 80’s. Not as the brash, trash-talking leader of the legendary “Fab Five” at the University of Michigan. Not as the player under the stewardship of Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas and others throughout his NBA career. And certainly not as a commentator and analyst on ABC/ESPN.

In Got to Give the People What They Want, no topic is off limits.

For the first time, Rose tells the complete inside story of his long road to stardom. Beginning with his life in Detroit, he talks about discovering that he was the son of an NBA All-Star and going on to play alongside other future pros at famed Southwestern High School. Moving on to the explosion of the “Fab Five” at the University of Michigan, Jalen breaks down the team that took the basketball world by storm and went to two straight national title games, making baggy shorts, black shoes, and black socks fashionable in the process. Finally, he discuss his 13-year NBA career and transition to an ABC/ESPN analyst and the founder of a successful public charter high school in Detroit.

Rose speaks bluntly about the most pressing issues facing sports today: the flaws of amateur recruiting, the hypocrisy of the NCAA, the possibility of paying college players, the truth about performance-enhancing drugs, and more. He also pulls back the curtain on hidden corners of basketball of the world—how trades really get made, player/coach relations, how veterans really run the NBA, how teams really win titles, and, of course, how to trash talk.
Release: 10/6/15
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Florynce “Flo” Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical (Gender and American Culture) by:Sherie M. Randolph
Often photographed in a cowboy hat with her middle finger held defiantly in the air, Florynce “Flo” Kennedy (1916–2000) left a vibrant legacy as a leader of the Black Power and feminist movements. In the first biography of Kennedy, Sherie M. Randolph traces the life and political influence of this strikingly bold and controversial radical activist. Rather than simply reacting to the predominantly white feminist movement, Kennedy brought the lessons of Black Power to white feminism and built bridges in the struggles against racism and sexism. Randolph narrates Kennedy’s progressive upbringing, her pathbreaking graduation from Columbia Law School, and her long career as a media-savvy activist, showing how Kennedy rose to founding roles in organizations such as the National Black Feminist Organization and the National Organization for Women, allying herself with both white and black activists such as Adam Clayton Powell, H. Rap Brown, Betty Friedan, and Shirley Chisholm.

Making use of an extensive and previously uncollected archive, Randolph demonstrates profound connections within the histories of the new left, civil rights, Black Power, and feminism, showing that black feminism was pivotal in shaping postwar U.S. liberation movements.
Release: 10/6/15
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Silent Cry: The True Story of Abuse and Betrayal of an NFL Wife by:Dorothy J. Newton and Sheila Walsh
Raised near New Orleans as one of six children, Dorothy Newton was surrounded by abuse and poverty as she grew up. But she became the first in her family to graduate from college and moved out of poverty. When she married three time Super Bowl Champion and six time Pro-Bowler Nate Newton, she went from poverty to the pinnacle of success.

But all that glittered was not gold. Before long the relationship turned abusive. She found herself living in the world she thought she had escaped in her years growing up.

This book is not only Dorothy’s experiences of pain, loss, survival, hope, recovery, and victory. It will help readers recognize the signs of abuse in their own relationships while encouraging them that the physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds from living with abuse can be overcome.

A gripping story throughout, Silent Cry is a testament to Dorothy’s will to live and, through her courage and honesty, will help bring hope, healing, and wholeness to those suffering in silence.
Release: 10/6/15
Click Version to purchase:  (Kindle) or (Paperback)

Children/ Young Adult

Happy! by:Pharrell Williams
Grammy Award winner Pharrell Williams’s super-hit song “Happy” is now a picture book.

Nominated for an Academy Award in 2014, “Happy” hit number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 list, and has topped the charts in more than seventy-five countries worldwide. Now Pharrell Williams brings his beloved song to the youngest of readers in photographs of children across cultures celebrating what it means to be happy. All the exuberance of the song pulses from these vibrant photographs of excited, happy kids. This is a picture book full of memorable, precious childhood moments that will move readers in the same way they were moved by the song.

“Happy” has had the world dancing ever since it first hit the airwaves, and now the irresistibly cheerful tune will come to life on the page with Pharrell Williams’s very first picture book! A keepsake and true classic in the making.
Release: 10/6/15
Click Version to purchase: (Kindle) or (Hardcover)
Ages 3 to 7, Grades P to 2

Freedom’s Price by:Michaela MacCall
Eliza Scott isn’t quite a slave, but she’s not free either. She’s not a prisoner, but her family lives in a jail. Eliza, who attends a secret floating school on the Mississippi River because it’s illegal for her to read, says she understands how dangerous her situation isbut her parents know she’s not afraid enough. When a devastating cholera epidemic strikes the city, Eliza discovers she will have to be clever and resourceful to escape a slave catcher and the worst fire in St. Louis’ history. Will Eliza be willing to pay the price of freedom? Freedom’s Price is the second book in the Hidden Histories series, which examines little known moments in American history. Based on actual events and people, the book is extensively researched and includes an author’s note and bibliography.
Release: 10/6/15
Click Version to purchase: (Kindle) or (Hardcover)

Re-Release

I’d Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts by: Larry Wilmore
From the host of Comedy Central’s newest program, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, comes the first paperback reprint of his funny and provocative musings on race in America and other nightly topics–updated with new material for this edition.

Now boasting three new chapters and an introduction exclusive the trade paperback edition, I’d Rather We Got Casinos And Other Black Thoughts by Larry Wilmore gives Wilmore’s on-screen character of the same name a place to voice his opinions on controversial topics in a way that anyone can find amusing … and eye-opening. Exploring various literary forms such as op-ed pieces, epistolary entries, graduation speeches, and long-lost transcripts, the result is a collection that the expanded audience from his successful Comedy Central program will enjoy, including: why black weathermen make him feel happy (or sad); why brothas don’t see UFOs; letters to the NAACP; and more, including his frustration with Black History Month–after all, can twenty-eight days of trivia really make up for centuries of oppression?
Release: 10/6/15
Click Version to purchase: (Kindle) or (Paperback)