Once upon a time, fairy tales were full of dragons and ogres and sprites. There were magic mice and talking frogs. There were wondrous spells. And there were kings and queens, princes, princesses, lords and ladies, all of them white. But in “Crowned” by Kahran and Regis Bethencourt, it’s time for a new kind of magic. Ask any kid about their favorite storybook character, and they’ll have a quick answer. They want to be like this princesss or that king. They want to dress the part, too. The thing is that “the images that surround us on a daily basis”…
Author: Terri Schlichenmeyer
You are never alone in this world. Reach out, and you can always get help. Look around, and you’ll find company. Pick up one of these great books, and you’ll read about someone whose life was fascinating, and who you can admire and aspire to be like… For anyone who likes to watch the ponies, or who thrills to the Triple Crown each year, “Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey” by Katherine C. Mooney (Yale University Press, $25) is a book filled with action and history. Isaac Murphy was born a slave in 1861 and became…
If only you could wave a magic wand. All your troubles would disappear, poof! One wave, and you’d have the money you need, the job you want, the family you’ve dreamed about, the life you deserve. Wave a magic wand and go on vacation or – as in the new book “Life and Other Love Songs” by Anissa Gray – you could wave it and just disappear. Between the time she met him, and 1989, Deborah held two funerals for her husband, Daniel Ozro Armstead Junior. He wasn’t at either one of them. The first was held not long after…
The role is yours, if you want it. You can play the part on a stage or in a film, but there are a few requirements: you have to be able to sing and dance and speak with an accent. Can you convince an audience that you’re someone you’re not? As in the new book, “House of Cotton” by Monica Brashears, can you play dead? Mama Brown wouldn’t have liked all the praying and singing, not at all. Nineteen-year-old Magnolia knew that for sure. Also for sure, Mama’s funeral was the last time Magnolia would go to church. Wasn’t anything…
Who’s in charge around here? That would be you, the person at the top of the chain, the head honcho, the Fearless Leader. Your desk is where the buck stops in your organization. Everything is in your hands and you’re in charge – but, as in the new book “A Fever in the Heartland” by Timothy Egan, don’t get too comfortable on that throne. When the Ku Klux Klan first appeared, they came in the night and people thought they were ghosts – which was the point. None of the six original founders, nor any of their subsequent followers wanted…
A good building starts with a substantial foundation. No matter where you go from there, that base is an opening action, an announcement, a public sign of things to come. Whether it’s a new home for human, hoopty, or heirlooms, or the future site of industry or ideas, the foundation is the start of something exciting. In a new business and as in the new book “Black Founder” by Stacy Spikes, it needs to be solid. With high school graduation on the horizon, Stacy Spikes was itching to move. His hometown of Houston, Texas, had become “too small” to hold…
The gas tank is full of fuel. The tires are new, you checked the oil twice, the speedometer’s calibrated, your headlights are intact, all good. The vehicle’s not flashy, so there’s absolutely no reason to attract attention. And yet, as in “Driving the Green Book” by Alvin Hall and as your ancestors did, you sweat that all-day roadtrip. In 2015, while doing research for a podcast, Alvin Hall discovered something that intrigued and surprised him: one of his sources mentioned The Negro Motorist Green Book. Granted, when he was small, his family didn’t travel much from their home on Florida’s…
You turned the TV on and look…. Nine hundred forty-eight channels and there’s still nothing you want to watch. Seen that, seen that, watched that twice, but it wasn’t always the case. Once, your Monday nights were spent with a show you never missed, featuring a young guy who made you laugh. And in the new book “The Fresh Prince Project” by Chris Palmer, he made America laugh, too. Born to solidly middle-class parents in West Philadelphia, young Will Smith gained a reputation early for being something of a class clown. Though he tried, he was not athletic; instead, his…
Your parents and your teachers try to tell you about the past. You like the stories they share, the things your grandparents did and the important celebrities that lived long ago. It’s history and it’s fun to know, so why not reach for these Black History Month books for kids ages 5 to 8…? Who doesn’t love ice cream? If you do, then you’ll love reading “Ice Cream Man” by Glenda Armand and Kim Freeman, illustrated by Keith Mallet (Random House Kids, $18.99). It’s the story of Augustus Jackson, who was born a slave in Philadelphia and worked for a…
Every day, you fly just under the radar. Nobody bothers you because they don’t know who you are and that’s just fine. As long as you can keep your head down and get stuff done, you’ll survive and thrive to work another day. You don’t need fame or fortune to have a good life. As in “The New Yorkers” by Sam Roberts, they might come someday anyhow, though. Through the years, as a writer of “quirky accounts” of New York City, Sam Roberts has come to know many people whose names have been mostly forgotten – people who, in merely…