Eleven-year-old Nellie Lee Love records in her diary the events of 1919, when her family moves from Tennessee to Chicago, hoping to leave the racism and hatred of the South behind.
Kara Hendricks and Jordan Ferguson have been best friends since kindergarten. That is until Jordan started hanging out with a new “cool” crowd and decided Kara was a popularity liability. Devastated, Kara feels betrayed and abandoned by everyone—even God. Yet for all the hurt and insecurity, these dark blue days contain a life-changing secret. Kara has the chance to discover something about herself that she never knew before. This first book in the teen fiction series TrueColors deals with self-worth, identity, and loneliness. Includes discussion questions.
Fifteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz is torn between two worlds, passing for white while living in Harlem, being called Jewish while attending her mother's Baptist church, and experiencing first love while watching her parents' marriage crumble.
Inspired by a true story, Color Me Butterfly follows four generations of mothers and daughters—haunted by a common specter of domestic abuse—as they discover the strength, hope, and courage to survive. The last thing Eloise Bingham wanted was to leave the comforts of her South Carolina home and family. But at the end of World War II, the young wife follows her husband, Isaac, to Philadelphia—only to experience his sinister and violent temper. Eloise’s children—and their children and grandchildren—will face their own trials over the next sixty years: Mattie, who has lived in her mother Eloise’s shadow, finds it takes a life-changing tragedy to help her break free; Lydia, Mattie’s strong-willed daughter, summons the resolve to rise above the cycle of abuse; and finally, Treasure, Lydia’s lively daughter, has the chance to be the first to escape her family’s destructive legacy. It will take unconditional love, old-fashioned family values, faith, and fearless determination—already embedded in each woman’s DNA—to triumph over a life plagued with unspeakable pain.
When jock Justin Clark asks Zoe out, she wonders if he could finally be The One. Nate, a diehard Christian and real friend, encourages Zoe to consider exactly what it all means before she makes a life-defining decision. But will Zoe learn before it’s too late? This third book in the TrueColors teen fiction series deals with sex, relationships, and identity.
Ruth Wallace knows she can only hide the scars on her arms for so long. Cutting herself doesn’t make her problems disappear, but at least it helps her cope. Ruth needs to find some way, any way, to heal her scars—the ones she hides and the ones she can’t—before something terrible happens. The seventh book in the TrueColors teen fiction series, Blade Silver deals with cutting, guilt, psychology, and healing. Includes discussion questions.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction: The modern classic that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation and that launched James McBride's literary career. More than two years on The New York Times bestseller list. As a boy in Brooklyn's Red Hook projects, James McBride knew his mother was different. But when he asked her about it, she'd simply say 'I'm light-skinned.' Later he wondered if he was different too, and asked his mother if he was black or white. 'You're a human being! Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!' she snapped back. And when James asked about God, she told him 'God is the color of water.' This is the remarkable story of an eccentric and determined woman: a rabbi's daughter, born in Poland and raised in the Deep South who fled to Harlem, married a black preacher, founded a Baptist church and put twelve children through college. A celebration of resilience, faith and forgiveness, The Color of Water is an eloquent exploration of what family really means.
With nonstop action from page one, Color Me Grey is the incredible story of a woman who gives birth to twins, from two different fathers. Color Me Grey dares to ask two startling questions: What would you do if you had everything you ever wanted and found out the person you trusted most was trying to steal it all from you? And what if two sexual encounters left you with two separate babies—twins—from two different father, one obviously black and one obviously white? While it is a fictional account, it also provides a rare opportunity to peek inside of a rare but true medical occurrence—two percent of fraternal twins that are born each year are born to one mother and two different fathers. Beautiful mahogany-skinned Bridget Grey finds herself locked in a vicious nightmare when she becomes pregnant. Despite the fact that her husband is black, she gives birth to twins—a girl named Jasmine, dark-skinned with dark hair and eyes, and blond-haired, blue-eyed Jacob. In an attempt to piece together the remnants of her life, Bridget discovers a trail of betrayal that started when she was a young child living at a group home—a trail that starts and ends with Jade Smith, a manipulative so-called friend. With Jade holding secrets from Bridget’s past over her head, Bridget’s back is against the wall, leaving her feeling utterly hopeless.