Black Page Turners

Cutting Along the Color by:Quincy T. Mills
Today, black-owned barber shops play a central role in African American public life. The intimacy of commercial grooming encourages both confidentiality and camaraderie, which make the barber shop an important gathering place for African American men to talk freely. But for many years preceding and even after the Civil War, black barbers endured a measure of social stigma for perpetuating inequality: though the profession offered economic mobility to black entrepreneurs, black barbers were obliged by custom to serve an exclusively white clientele. Quincy T. Mills traces the lineage from these nineteenth-century barbers to the bustling enterprises of today, demonstrating that the livelihood offered by the service economy was crucial to the development of a black commercial sphere and the barber shop as a democratic social space.

Cutting Along the Color Line chronicles the cultural history of black barber shops as businesses and civic institutions. Through several generations of barbers, Mills examines the transition from slavery to freedom in the nineteenth century, the early twentieth-century expansion of black consumerism, and the challenges of professionalization, licensing laws, and competition from white barbers. He finds that the profession played a significant though complicated role in twentieth-century racial politics: while the services of shaving and grooming were instrumental in the creation of socially acceptable black masculinity, barbering permitted the financial independence to maintain public spaces that fostered civil rights politics. This sweeping, engaging history of an iconic cultural establishment shows that black entrepreneurship was intimately linked to the struggle for equality.
P.B. Release: 10/10/16
Click to purchase: (Paperback) or (Kindle)

Africa’s First Democrats by:Abdi Ismail Samatar
Abdi Ismail Samatar provides a clear and foundational history of Somalia at the dawn of the country’s independence when Africa’s first democrats appeared. While many African countries were dominated by authoritarian rulers when they entered the postcolonial era―and scholars have assumed this as a standard feature of political leadership on the continent―Somalia had an authentic democratic leadership. Samatar’s political biography of Aden A. Osman and Abdirazak H. Hussen breaks the stereotype of brutal African tyranny. Samatar discusses the framing of democracy in Somalia following the years of control by fascist Italy, the formation of democratic organizations during the political struggle, and the establishment of democratic foundations in the new nation. Even though this early state of affairs did not last, these leaders left behind a strong democratic legacy that may provide a model of good governance for the rest of the continent.
Release: 10/10/16
Click to purchase: (Paperback) or (Hardcover)

The Mothers by:Brit Bennett
A dazzling debut novel from an exciting new voice, The Mothers is a surprising story about young love, a big secret in a small community—and the things that ultimately haunt us most.

Set within a contemporary black community in Southern California, Brit Bennett’s mesmerizing first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about community, love, and ambition. It begins with a secret.

“All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we’d taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.”

It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother’s recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor’s son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it’s not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.

In entrancing, lyrical prose, The Mothers asks whether a “what if” can be more powerful than an experience itself. If, as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the decisions we make that shape our lives forever.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle), (Hardcover), (Paperback), (Audio CD)

Fashion Disaster by:Jill Santopolo
The Sparkle Spa crew kick it into high gear to help Brooke out of a hairy situation in the ninth sparkly story in this shimmering series about two sisters who open their own mini-nail salon.

Talk about a bad hair day! When Brooke gets a disastrous haircut—compliments of thorn-in-everyone’s-side Suzy Davis—she vows never to show her face in public again! Will the Sparkle Spa crew convince her otherwise?
Release: 10/11/16
Ages: 7 to 10, Grades: 2 to 5
Click to purchase: (Kindle), (Hardcover), (Paperback)

Around The Way Girl by:Taraji P. Henson
From Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner, Taraji P. Henson, comes an inspiring and funny book about family, friends, the hustle required to make it from DC to Hollywood, and the joy of living in your own truth.

With a sensibility that recalls her beloved screen characters, including Yvette, Queenie, Shug, and the iconic Cookie from Empire, yet is all Taraji, the screen actress writes of her family, the one she was born into and the one she created. She shares stories of her father, a Vietnam vet who was bowed but never broken by life’s challenges, and of her mother who survived violence both in the home and on DC’s volatile streets. Here too she opens up about her experiences as a single mother, a journey some saw as a burden but which she saw as a gift.

Around the Way Girl is also a classic actor’s memoir in which Taraji reflects on the world-class instruction she received at Howard University and the pitfalls that come with being a black actress. With laugh-out-loud humor and candor, she shares the challenges and disappointments of the actor’s journey and shows us that behind the red carpet moments, she is ever authentic. She is at heart just a girl in pursuit of her dreams.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle) or (Hardcover)

The Eldest Daughter Effect by:Lisette Schuitemaker
“What do Angela Merkel, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Christine Lagarde, Oprah Winfrey, Sheryl Sandberg, JK Rowling and Beyoncé have in common?” was the headline in the English newspaper The Observer in 2014. “Other than riding high in Forbes list of the world’s most powerful women,” journalist Tracy McVeigh wrote in answer to her own question, “they are also all firstborn children in their families. Firstborn children really do excel.”

So what does it mean to be an eldest daughter?

Firstborns Lisette Schuitemaker and Wies Enthoven set out to discover the big five qualities that characterize all eldest daughters to some degree. Eldest daughters are responsible, dutiful, thoughtful, expeditious and caring. Firstborns are more intelligent than their siblings, more proficient verbally and more motivated to perform. Yet at the same time they seriously doubt that they are good enough.

Being an eldest daughter can have certain advantages, but the overbearing sense of responsibility often gets in the way. Parents may worry about their ‘difficult’ eldest girl who wants to be perfect in everything she does whilst her siblings may not always understand her.

The Eldest Daughter Effect shows how firstborn girls become who they are and offers insights that can give them more freedom to move. Parents with a firstborn daughter will gather invaluable tips on how to raise their eldest daughter and her siblings.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle) or (Paperback)

The Practice Wife by:Marissa Monteilh
A Practice Wife is defined as; a woman who a man dates right before he settles down with someone else, and Misha London has had three exes, who within months of breaking up with her, got married. Misha, the only daughter of religious parents, cleaned up Carson Rivers for two years, improving him from head to toe, forgiving his bad sides and focusing on his good sides. And just like two of her former boyfriends, Carson is getting married. But instead of getting married within a year or even a month of breaking up, Carson is getting married the very next day, and Misha finds out on Facebook. At 44 years old, Misha is devastated. She yearns to be married with children, and has even gone through the process of freezing her eggs. Will she no longer be the bridesmaid, not wife material, destined to be what her best friend calls, happily single? Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad after all. But then, in walks handsome, single father, Dr. Devonta Hill.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle) or (Paperback)

Precious and Grace by:Alexander McCall Smith
The delightful seventeenth installment of the ever-popular, perennially best-selling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s premier lady detective, is a little short on help. The co-director of the agency, Grace Makutsi, is busy with her own case, her client none other than their erstwhile assistant, Mr. Polopetsi, who has unwittingly involved himself in a pyramid scheme. The agency’s other assistant, Charlie, may also need more help than he can offer, as he is newly embroiled in a romance with a glamorous woman about whom the others have their doubts. So when a young Canadian woman approaches Mma Ramotswe with a complex case, it’s up to her alone to solve it—with her signature intuition and insight, of course. The young woman spent part of her childhood in Botswana and needs help finding a long-lost acquaintance. But much time has passed, and her memory yields few clues. The difficult search—and the unexpected results—will remind them all that sometimes it’s those we think we know best who most surprise us.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle) or (Hardcover)

The Story of Moana: A Tale of Courage and Adventure
Inspired by Disney Animation Studios’ latest film, Moana, this middle grade novel features characters and adventures based on the rich culture of Oceania. It includes original content in the form of mini folktales interspersed throughout the story of the film. Bonus temporary tattoos included!
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle) or (Hardcover)

Gone ‘Til November by:Lil Wayne
From rap superstar Lil Wayne comes the long-awaited GONE ’TIL NOVEMBER, a deeply personal and revealing account of his time spent incarcerated on Rikers Island for eight months in 2010. For readers of Jay-Z’s DECODED.
In 2010, recording artist Lil Wayne was at the height of his career. A fixture in the rap game for over a decade, Lil Wayne (aka Weezy) had established himself as both a prolific musician and a savvy businessman, smashing long-held industry records, winning multiple Grammy awards, and signing up-and-coming talent like Drake and Nicki Minaj to his Young Money label. All of this momentum came to a halt when he was convicted of possession of a firearm and sentenced to a year-long stay at Rikers Island. Suddenly, the artist at the top of his game was now an inmate at the mercy of the American penal system. At long last, GONE ’TIL NOVEMBER reveals the true story of what really happened while Wayne was behind bars, exploring everything from his daily rituals to his interactions with other inmates to how he was able to keep himself motivated and grateful. Taken directly from Wayne’s own journal, this intimate, personal account of his incarceration is an utterly humane look at the man behind the artist.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle) or (Hardcover)

Riding Chance by:Christine Kendall
Troy is a kid with a passion. And dreams. And wanting to do the right thing. But after taking a wrong turn, he’s forced to endure something that’s worse than any juvenile detention he can imagine-he’s “sentenced” to the local city stables where he’s made to take care of horses. The greatest punishment has been trying to make sense of things since his mom died but, through his work with the horses, he discovers a sport totally unknown to him — polo. Troy has to figure out which friends have his back, which kids to cut loose, and whether he and Alisha have a true connection. Laced with humor and beating with heartache, this novel will grip readers, pull them in quickly, and take them on an unforgettable ride. Set in present day Christine Kendall’s stunning debut lets us come face-to-face with the challenges of a loving family that turn hardships into triumphs.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle) or (Hardcover)

Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella (Tyme #2) by:Megan Morrison
Ella Coach has one wish: revolution. Her mother died working in a sweatshop, and Ella wants every laborer in the Blue Kingdom to receive fairer treatment. But to make that happen, she’ll need some high-level support…

Prince Dash Charming has one wish: evolution. The Charming Curse forced generations of Charming men to lie, cheat, and break hearts — but with the witch Envearia’s death, the curse has ended. Now Dash wants to be a better person, but he doesn’t know where to start…

Serge can grant any wish — and has: As an executive fairy godfather, he’s catered to the wildest whims of spoiled teenagers from the richest, most entitled families in Blue. But now a new name has come up on his list, someone nobody’s ever heard of… Ella Coach.

This is a story about three people who want something better and who together find the faith to change their worlds. It’s “Cinderella,” brilliantly reimagined, and a delightful expansion of the wonderful world of Tyme.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle), (Hardcover), (Audible)

Liberty (Dogs of World War 2) by:Kirby Larson
Fish has a knack for inventing. His annoying neighbor, Olympia, has a knack for messing things up. But when his latest invention leads Fish to Liberty, a beautiful stray dog who needs a home, he and Olympia work together to rescue her.

At the Higgins boatyard, where the boats that just might save the Allied forces during World War II are built, the wartime workforce is integrated and includes women and the disabled. However, a friendship that crosses racial lines is not the norm in 1940s New Orleans.

Fish, who suffered from polio and whose dad is away fighting in Europe, looks up to Mr. Higgins, and he’s thrilled when one of his inventions helps Mr. Higgins’s engineers unlock the mechanics of the landing crafts. Mr. Higgins inspires him to be bold and brave. As Fish enlists the help of unexpected friends and allies to save Liberty, he finds his perceptions of the world — of race and war, family and friendship — transformed.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle), (Hardcover), (Audible)

Growing Peace by:Richard Sobol
On the morning of September 11, 2001, J. J. Keki, a Ugandan musician and coffee farmer, was in New York, about to visit the World Trade Center. Instead, J.J. witnessed the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. He came away from this event with strong emotions about religious conflict. Why should people be enemies because of their religions?

Back home in his village, J.J. was determined to find a way for people who held different religious beliefs to work together. He saw that the neighborhood children, from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian families, played with one another without a care about religion. Why not enlist their parents, all coffee farmers like himself, in a cooperative venture around a shared goal? Together they would grow, harvest, and sell their coffee. At the same time, they would bridge religious differences to work and live together peacefully.

Here is a rare and timely story of hope, economic cooperation, and religious harmony from an often struggling part of the world. From J.J.’s vision, his community has achieved what many people strive for: a growing peace.
Release: 10/15/16
Click to purchase: (Hardcover)

Step Right Up by:Donna Janell Bowman
William “Doc” Key had a special way with animals. Growing up enslaved in Tennessee, Doc was sent to plantations around the state to care for sick and wounded animals. When the Civil War ended and Doc was freed, he began to dream of breeding a winning racehorse. But those dreams were dashed when his colt was born weak and sickly. Although many people would have euthanized the colt, Doc nursed him back to health and named him Jim.

Noticing a level of curiosity and eagerness in the horse, Doc began teaching Beautiful Jim Key first to recognize letters, then to read, write, add, subtract, and more. Doc soon took his talented horse on the road, spreading a message of patience and kindness, over cruelty, to all animals.

With striking illustrations by Daniel Minter, Step Right Up is the inspiring story of one man and one horse who showed the world the power of kindness.
Release: 10/15/16
Click to purchase: (Hardcover)

Commissary Kitchen by:Albert ‘Prodigy’ Johnson
Meals are perhaps the most important aspect of prison life. They keep inmates alive, both physically and emotionally, as mess halls and common areas provide a level of social interaction in an otherwise lonely situation. Albert “Prodigy” Johnson served three and a half years in prison, and during that time his focus was on his health—an almost impossible feat behind bars, where many inmates often enter the prison system healthy, but leave with diabetes and hypertension. Commissary Kitchen provides a deeper perspective of what it’s like to consume meals in prison. While recipes are provided, Prodigy and co-writer Kathy Iandoli also tell various anecdotes about situations in prison involving food. Meal prep in prison is very limited, so while this work appeals to anyone who has served time or is curious about prison life, it also speaks to those who prepare food with limited access to various cooking luxuries (such as college students in dorms). While the work is informational, above all it humanizes the prison experience in a way that has never been done before.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle), (Paperback), (Audible), (Audio CD)

Never Look an American in the Eye: A Memoir of Flying Turtles, Colonial Ghosts, and the Making of a Nigerian American by:Okey Ndibe
The author of Foreign Gods, Inc. and Arrows of Rain tells his own immigrant’s tale, where what is lost in translation is often as hilarious as it is harrowing.

Okey Ndibe’s funny, charming, and penetrating memoir tells of his move from Nigeria to America, where he came to edit the influential—but forever teetering on the verge of insolvency—African Commentary magazine. It recounts stories of Ndibe’s relationships with Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and other literary figures; examines the differences between Nigerian and American etiquette and politics; recalls an incident of racial profiling just thirteen days after he arrived in the US, in which he was mistaken for a bank robber; considers American stereotypes about Africa (and vice-versa); and juxtaposes African folk tales with Wall Street trickery. All these stories and more come together in a generous, encompassing book about the making of a writer and a new American.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle), (Hardcover), (Audible)

Songs of the Unsung: The Musical and Social Journey of Horace Tapscott by: Horace Tapscott
Despite his importance and influence, jazz musician, educator, and community leader Horace Tapscott remains relatively unknown to most Americans. In Songs of the Unsung Tapscott shares his life story, recalling his childhood in Houston, moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1943, learning music, and his early professional career. He describes forming the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1961 and later the Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension to preserve African American music and serve the community. Tapscott also recounts his interactions with the Black Panthers and law enforcement, the Watts riots, his work in Hollywood movie studios, and stories about his famous musician-activist friends. Songs of the Unsung is the captivating story of one of America’s most unassuming heroes as well as the story of L.A.’s cultural and political evolution over the last half of the twentieth century.
Release: 10/14/16
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Level the Playing Field: The Past, Present, and Future of Women’s Pro Sports by: Kristina Rutherford
The experience of being a professional athlete is very different for men and women. While men’s pro sports command throngs of fans, media attention, and money, many of the world’s top professional female athletes aren’t valued or recognized equally for their talent—even though female athletes prove time and time again that they have all the skill, drama, and rivalries of their male counterparts.

Level the Playing Field examines the root of these issues by taking readers through the history of women’s pro sports, exploring how far we have come in a relatively short time and exposing what ground is left to gain. The book provides first-person insight through exciting interviews with professional female athletes, including Canadian hockey player Cassie Campbell, American MMA fighter Miesha Tate, and WNBA star Elena Delle Donne. Along the way, author and sports journalist Kristina Rutherford covers important topics like opportunity, female role models, and stereotypes.

Drawing on examples from a wide range of sports, and complete with sidebars, photographs, sources, and an index, this is an informative and authoritative book that makes an important contribution to the movement for women’s acceptance in professional sport.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Hardcover)

Diamonds and Pearl by:K’wan
They say that good girls like bad boys, and this was especially true for Pearl Stone. A child born of privilege to a drug baron and reputed killer known in the streets as Big Stone. Although the flashy, fast-paced nature of the streets calls to Pearl, she’s been brought up to look but not touch. But when a young hustler named Diamonds crawls up from the swamps of Louisiana and sets up shop in New York City, everything Pearl was taught flies out the window.

Raised in the wild and schooled on the mean streets of New Orleans, Diamonds is no stranger to hard times and is willing to do whatever it takes to stay above the poverty line, including kill. When a robbery turned mass murder goes wrong, Diamonds is forced to flee New Orleans and lands in New York where he meets Pearl, and for the first time finds something he craves more than wealth and power…love.

As the stakes get higher, Diamonds has to push away his past if he’s to grab hold of his future—but by doing so, will he show Pearl that all that glitters isn’t gold?
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle), (Paperback), (Audio CD)

The Peppermint Princess: Super Special (Candy Fairies) by:Helen Perelman
Dash the Mint Fairy digs into her pepperminty past to find out more about her family in this sweet-tacular super special Candy Fairies adventure.

Dash the Mint Fairy discovers an ancient mint castle’s candy at the far side of Frosted Mountains and learns about a royal mint princess who left her throne for love. King Crunch will help Dash find out more about her minty past. Could she be part princess?
Release: 10/11/16
Age: 7 – 10; Grade Level: 2 – 5
Click to purchase: (Kindle), (Hardcover), (Paperback)

Max Speed by:Stephen Shaskan
Max, a tiny speed racer, is off on the adventure of a lifetime in this adorable new picture book that proves all you need for a big adventure is a little imagination.

As soon as Max has finished cleaning his room, he’s off racing his super-secret car at incredible speeds, soaring over rivers of lava, sky diving, and swimming with sharks. This picture book is perfect for every young speed racer, careening from one adventure to the next.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle) or (Hardcover)

African Arts by:Robert Neuburger
Offering a fascinating multi-disciplinary approach to African art, this stunning volume presents 65 works from West and Central Africa, South Africa, and Madagascar, all from one private collection. Organized around four main themes—governance and communication, protection and caring, coming together (celebrating, judging, and awarding prizes) and serving and beautifying—this book offers a general introduction to African art as well as a deeper understanding of the artworks’ source cultures. New photographs of the 65 works are followed by a selection of early 20th-century avant-garde photographs and contemporary works—by Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray, Erwin Blumenfeld, Robert Doisneau, Karl Blossfeldt, as well as Nicolas Bruant, Fr.d.ric Vidal, and Louis Tirilly—showing the close relationship between modern and contemporary Western art and six fascinating African pieces from the collection.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Hardcover)

Double Down and Dirty by:L.A. Lewis
Jade Bordeaux escaped her Southern Baptist family and moved to New York because they would never respect the choices she made or the secret she kept. The Big Apple and her new modeling career proved to be more adventurous than her life in Baton Rouge. Excitement flowed through everything from the towering landscapes, wonderful opportunities, and especially in the form of handsome CEO Sean Wright. Dating him takes an unfortunate turn when his sister’s dance to the rhythm of revenge becomes a tune she’s hell-bent on sharing with her family and the people they love.

In a matter of weeks, Jade’s life takes an uncertain and dangerous turn. Nothing prepared her for the call which stirs emotions Jade thought she’d buried. The former Governor of Louisiana has denied her existence since birth and now makes a life-altering request that fills Jade with resentment. Jade built her success and happiness by making hard choices, even ones that cause heartbreak. Unfortunately, she never imagined that any of those choices could lead to the death of someone she loves.

Jade soon learns in the game of life, sometimes playing Double Down and Dirty is the only way to win.
Release: 10/11/16
Click to purchase: (Kindle)

What books are you buying this week? Let us Know: