The powerful coming-of-age story of an ultra-Orthodox child who was born to become a rabbinic leader and instead became a woman Abby Stein was raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life. Stein was born as the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews. But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. She suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers wherever she could find them, from forbidden religious texts to smuggled secular examinations of faith. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity-a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life. Powerful in the truths it reveals about biology, culture, faith, and identity, Becoming Eve poses the enduring question: How far will you go to become the person you were meant to be?
This paperback poetry book creatively highlights the traumas that have shaped Deziana Torres today. Through the use of poetry, pictures, & personal journal entries, she captures the attention of unspoken adversities faced in home, institutions, and in our hoods.In this book, Deziana also challenges her readers to utilize the writing activities to reflect on the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that arise from her poems. Followed by this activity, are breathing exercises to assist readers with emotion regulation skills.This book is authentic in style, real in experience, and vulnerable in truth.
International supermodel Cindy Crawford chronicles her life and career, sharing stories and lessons learned, and featuring her most memorable images in this New York Times bestseller. Cindy Crawford was the cornerstone of the golden age of the supermodel in the 1990s. She blazed a trail during that decade, seamlessly moving between the runway to unconventional outlets, such as cutting-edge MTV, Super Bowl commercials, and even Playboy magazine. On the eve of her fiftieth birthday, Crawford looks back, photo shoot by photo shoot, on a remarkable career and various life lessons she absorbed. She discusses her earliest modeling years and learning how to become less self-conscious in front of a camera; trusting her own instincts about creating positive messages about a healthy and strong body image that she knew would reach women of all ages; her feelings about becoming a wife and a mother; and her thoughts about turning fifty and what she would tell her younger self if she had the chance. The photographs span her entire career, beginning from the mid 1980s, and feature unpublished images from Crawford’s personal archive in addition to images by every top name in fashion photography, including Annie Leibovitz, Arthur Elgort, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Irving Penn, Patrick Demarchelier, and Richard Avedon, among others. A beautifully illustrated series of stories, Becoming is a smart and engaging book that sheds light into the life and work of an extraordinary woman.
Becoming Her is a seven-day affirmation book for girls around the world. In this book, readers are introduced to Monica Lashell and her mother. Monica Lashell, a relatively fearless girl with everyday struggles - like most girls her age - has those struggles supported by her mother. As the story is told, readers have the opportunity to recite daily affirmations along with Monica Lashell and apply them to their lives. Becoming Her is a guide that will help build healthy self-esteem, boost confidence, and create healthy verbiage for growing girls.
One stupid party. One stupid boy. One stupid kiss. And my life was virtually over. Tessa McCaide has a unique talent for getting into trouble. Then again, it isn’t easy for a girl with psychic visions to ignore what she sees. Luckily Tessa and her family are leaving California and moving halfway across the country, giving her the perfect opportunity to leave her reputation as “Freaky Tessa” behind. But Tessa doesn’t realize that kissing the wrong guy in her new Texas town could land her in far more trouble than she ever imagined. Like being forced to attend St. Ailbe’s Academy, a secret boarding school for werewolves. Even if the wrong guy did accidentally turn her into a shapeshifter and doom her to attending the weirdest high school ever, Tessa can’t help her growing attraction to the mysterious Dastien Laurent. When vampires attack St. Ailbe’s and her visions pinpoint an enemy in their midst, Tessa realizes that boy drama and her newfound canine tendencies might just be the least of her problems. “This is absolutely one of the most amazing books of 2013! Paranormal YA at its best. It doesn’t matter if you’re an adult or Young Adult. You will love this one.” — Paranormal Cravings Blog “Becoming Alpha is a great addition to the werewolf ranks – Erin’s world-building is excellent and her characters are big and bold, making for a wonderful read." - Escape Into Worlds hr Binge the complete Alpha Girls series now! Book 1: Becoming Alpha Book 2: Avoiding Alpha Book 3: Alpha Divided Book 4: Bruja Book 5: Alpha Unleashed Book 6: Shattered Pack Book 7: Being Alpha Book 8: Lunar Court Book 9: Alpha Erased hr Get ready for Off Planet, the biggest and boldest adventure yet from the mind of Aileen Erin. It's perfect for fans of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, Claudia Gray's Defy the Stars, and Maura Milan's Ignite the Stars!
Winner of the 2018 National Council on Crime & Delinquency’s Media for a Just Society Awards Winner of the 2017 Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice “Valuable . . . [like Michelle] Alexander's The New Jim Crow.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “Susan Burton is a national treasure . . . her life story is testimony to the human capacity for resilience and recovery . . . [Becoming Ms. Burton is] a stunning memoir.” —Nicholas Kristof, in The New York Times Winner of the prestigious NAACP Image Award, a uniquely American story of trauma, incarceration, and "the breathtaking resilience of the human spirit" (Michelle Alexander) Widely hailed as a stunning memoir, Becoming Ms. Burton is the remarkable life story of the renowned activist Susan Burton. In this "stirring and moving tour-de-force" (John Legend), Susan Burton movingly recounts her own journey through the criminal justice system and her transformation into a life of advocacy. After a childhood of immense pain, poverty, and abuse in Los Angeles, the tragic loss of her son led her into addiction, which in turn led to arrests and incarceration. During the War on Drugs, Burton was arrested and would cycle in and out of prison for more than fifteen years. When, by chance, she finally received treatment, her political awakening began and she became a powerful advocate for "a more humane justice system guided by compassion and dignity" (Booklist, starred review). Her award-winning organization, A New Way of Life, has transformed the lives of more than one thousand formerly incarcerated women and is an international model for a less punitive and more effective approach to rehabilitation and reentry. Winner of an NAACP Image Award and named a "Best Book of 2017" by the Chicago Public Library, here is an unforgettable book about "the breathtaking resilience of the human spirit" (Michelle Alexander).
Now in paperback—the intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States, featuring a new introduction by Michelle Obama, a letter from the author to her younger self, and a book club guide with 20 discussion questions and a 5-question Q&A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WATCH THE EMMY-NOMINATED NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
"A compelling read about the quest for fame!" —Debbie Allen, star of Fame "Redemption is a heartbeat away." —Guadalupe Garcia McCall, author of the Pura Belpre Award winner Under the Mesquite Beatriz dreams of a life spent dancing--until tragedy on the day of her quinceañera changes everything. Up until her fifteenth birthday, the most important thing in the world to Beatriz Mendez was her dream of becoming a professional dancer and getting herself and her family far from the gang life that defined their days--that and meeting her dance idol Debbie Allen on the set of her favorite TV show, Fame. But after the latest battle in a constant turf war leaves her brother, Junito, dead and her mother grieving, Beatriz has a new set of priorities. How is she supposed to feel the rhythm when her brother's gang needs running, when her mami can't brush her own teeth, and when the last thing she can remember of her old self is dancing with her brother, followed by running and gunshots? When the class brainiac reminds Beatriz of her love of the dance floor, her banished dreams sneak back in. Now the only question is: will the gang let her go? Set in New Jersey in 1984, Beatriz's story is a timeless one of a teenager's navigation of romance, her brother's choices, and her own family's difficult past. A companion novel to the much-lauded Like Vanessa.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Michelle Obama’s worldwide bestselling memoir, Becoming, is now adapted for young readers. Michelle Robinson was born on the South Side of Chicago. From her modest beginnings, she would become Michelle Obama, the inspiring and powerful First Lady of the United States, when her husband, Barack Obama, was elected the forty-fourth president. They would be the first Black First Family in the White House and serve the country for two terms. Growing up, Michelle and her older brother, Craig, shared a bedroom in their family’s upstairs apartment in her great-aunt’s house. Her parents, Fraser and Marian, poured their love and energy into their children. Michelle’s beloved dad taught his kids to work hard, keep their word, and remember to laugh. Her mom showed them how to think for themselves, use their voice, and be unafraid. But life soon took her far from home. With determination, carefully made plans, and the desire to achieve, Michelle was eager to expand the sphere of her life from her schooling in Chicago. She went to Princeton University, where she learned what it felt like to be the only Black woman in the room. She then went to Harvard Law School, and after graduating returned to Chicago and became a high-powered lawyer. Her plans changed, however, when she met and fell in love with Barack Obama. From her early years of marriage, and the struggle to balance being a working woman, a wife, and the mom of two daughters, Michelle Obama details the shift she made to political life and what her family endured as a result of her husband’s fast-moving political career and campaign for the presidency. She shares the glamour of ball gowns and world travel, and the difficulties of comforting families after tragedies. She managed to be there for her daughters’ swim competitions and attend plays at their schools without catching the spotlight, while defining and championing numerous initiatives, especially those geared toward kids, during her time as First Lady. Most important, this volume for young people is an honest and fascinating account of Michelle Obama’s life led by example. She shares her views on how all young people can help themselves as well as help others, no matter their status in life. She asks readers to realize that no one is perfect, and that the process of becoming is what matters, as finding yourself is ever evolving. In telling her story with boldness, she asks young readers: Who are you, and what do you want to become?
