Books

Patterson Heights

Felicia Pride

PATTERSON HEIGHTS is a 2010 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers!Avery Washington has spent his entire life in Patterson Heights, a Baltimore neighborhood with a mean rep. It's a good place to grow up--it has heart and soul as well...

The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop's Greatest Songs

Felicia Pride

Who would have thought that you could get deep life lessons from hip-hop? Learn to deal with regrets by jamming to Jay-Z? Foster self-esteem listening to Mos Def? Exert your self-worth based on cues from a Queen Latifah song? Get career advice from an Ice-T rhyme? Reflect on spirituality through a Kanye West tune?

It's All Love: Black Writers on Soul Mates, Family and Friends

Edited by Marita Golden

In IT'S ALL LOVE Black writers celebrate the complexity, power, danger, and glory of love in all its many forms: romantic, familial, communal, and sacred. Editor Marita Golden recounts the morning she woke up certain that she would meet her soul mate in "My Own Happy Ending"; memoirist Reginald Dwayne Betts, in a piece he calls "Learning the Name Dad," writes stirringly about serving time in prison and how that transformed his life for the better; New York Times bestselling author Pearl Cleage is at her best in the delicate, touching "Missing You"; award-winning author David Anthony Durham enraptures readers with his "An Act of Faith"; New York Times bestselling author L. A. Banks is both funny and wise in her beautiful essay on discovering love as a child, "Two Cents and a Question."

Hallway Diaries

Felicia Pride, Debbie Rigaud, Karen Valentin

"How to Be Down" by Felicia Pride
When Nina Parker is forced to move from her small hometown in New Jersey to the urban streets of Baltimore, Maryland, she's instantly told by her new "keeping it real" neighbor Vivica that she's not black enough for her new school. In order to fit in, Nina keeps a cheat sheet called "How to Be Down" which contains advice she's learned: talk cooler, know the hottest rappers, and hide being smart. As Nina desperately tries to become someone she's not, she threatens to lose herself in the process...

Everybody Hates First Girlfriends

Felicia Pride

Chris has a girlfriend! "You're my Prince Charming," she says. And normally he would love all the attention, but this so-called girlfriend is Teresa Johnson, and she annoys Chris more than Tonya does. Teresa simply forced him to be her boyfriend -- and he just didn't know how to say no. After all, their mothers are good friends. But after enduring a visit to the beauty salon with Teresa, hearing her discuss their future with his mom, and not having any time to hang out with Greg, Chris has had enough...

Everybody Hates School Politics

Felicia Pride

In this 6th original story based on the TV show, Everybody Hates Chris, Chris is forced to endure the ultimate embarrassment--his mom, Rochelle, decides to run for PTA president! The kids at school are notorious for picking on the kids of PTA presidents, and to make matters even worse, Joey Caruso's mom is running as her opponent. Neither wants their own mother to be elected president, but Caruso promises to make Chris' life miserable unless Chris helps Rochelle win.