All results / Stories / Terri Schlichenmeyer
"Southwest Sunrise" by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Wendell Minor
You don't wanna. Your favorite toys are in a box and you don't wanna leave them there. All your games, your stuffies, your outside toys, packed away. You said goodbye to your friends and teachers because your family is moving and you don't wanna. But as in the new book "Southwest Sunrise" by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Wendell Minor, just wait. When you get there, you might see things in a different color.
“I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness” by Austin Channing Brown
Oh, the things you’ve heard! You’ve been told statements that aren’t true, and that made you sad. Myths kept you from your full potential. Tall tales were told to provoke you. And with the new book “I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness” by Austin Channing Brown, well, sit down. You’re about to get an eyeful.
“Butterflies on the First Day of School” by Annie Silvestro, illustrated by Dream Chen
Your new backpack can’t hold another thing. There are tissues in there, in case you sneeze. Pencils, maybe some crayons for drawing. You have room for a notebook, too, and everything you’ll need to carry for your big day. And in “Butterflies on the First Day of School” by Annie Silvestro, illustrated by Dream Chen, you might be toting something else, too.
“In West Mills” by De’Shawn Charles Winslow
The burden on your shoulders is heavy. Your whole body sags with the weight of things you know but can’t tell, and each new whisper adds to the pack. Secrets you carry are more than you can bear sometimes, which is why you need to share them – but in the new book “In West Mills” by De’Shawn Charles Winslow, there’s virtue in hushing up.
“Blended” by Sharon M. Draper
One plus one is two. It’s simple: all you have to do is add or count, easy-peasy, a trick you probably learned shortly after you could talk. One plus one is two but as you grow up, you’ll notice that math can get funny and, in the case of the new book “Blended” by Sharon M. Draper, one plus one might suddenly become more.
Review of "Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong" by Georgina Lawton and "Surviving the White Gaze: A Memoir" by Rebecca Carroll
Who are you? That's a question some people never ask themselves: seemingly intuitively, they know the answer at birth and they don't think about it again. Then there are those who struggle with knowing until their last breath. Still others have stories to tell about their search to learn who they are. Read on...
"To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Emancipation of Priscilla Joyner" by Carole Emberton
You are not confined to your chair. If you want to get up and move around, in fact, you can. Stand up, stretch, wiggle your toes, shake out the knots. Step out and drop in on the space next door or down the street and it's okay. You're not stuck in your chair or this room or even this building, and in "To Walk About in Freedom" by Carole Emberton, you'll get a new appreciation for that ability.
“Truth Doesn’t Have a Side” by Dr. Bennet Omalu (with Mark Tabb)
Everyone you meet has an effect on your life. Somehow, in some way, others change you: a stranger’s smile lifts your mood. Kindness makes you happy. An injustice spurs you to action, making you someone else’s change. Clearly, as in the new memoir “Truth Doesn’t Have a Side” by Dr. Bennet Omalu (with Mark Tabb), a chance meeting could alter your path.
Book Review: "Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home" by Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen
At least the commute is better. That's what you tell yourself every morning: 15 steps from bed to office is better than 15 miles. You've been working from home now for nearly two years and you're waffling: will it be like this forever and if so, is that good? Read "Out of Office" by Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen, and it could be...
“Superfandom: How Our Obsessions Are Changing What We Buy and Who We"
Collect them all. Those three words put a smile on every marketer’s face and fear in every parent’s heart. “Collect them all,” as you may remember, was kid-code for “bug your parents until they buy stuff,” making you the envy of everyone in third grade. Your goal now: to capture that buyer’s obsession at the level you’ll see in “Superfandom” by Zoe Fraade-Blanar & Aaron M. Glazer. Star Wars is just a movie.
“Surrounded by Idiots” by Thomas Erikson
Every day of the week, you want to pound your head against your desk.
“Lightning Men” by Thomas Mullen
It struck in a second. If you’d have blinked, you would have missed the flash but you’d’ve known it was there by the rumble that followed. There’s nothing like the power and beauty of a summer thunderstorm to put respect into you – except, as in the new novel “Lightning Men” by Thomas Mullen, maybe the crack of a gun.
“White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue… And Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation” by Lauren Michele Jackson
It’s all yours. You own it, got it, paid for it, you even have the receipt. That thing: you fought hard for it and nobody can take it away. But – as in the new book “White Negroes” by Lauren Michele Jackson, folks can surely borrow it.
Books about Black Women's Body Image by various authors
The last two apps you downloaded were for diets. Ugh. Friends say that you're perfect but you'd like to lose your flabby arms, your thick thighs, and a few inches from your belly. You imagine what you'd be like if you were a size 6. You wonder if you could wear skinny boots again. But before you download another app, read these books about Black women's health and body image...
“Time for Kids: Heroes of Black History” by Editors at Time for Kids Magazine
Who is the person you most want to be like when you grow up? The one you go to when you need advice, a kind word, or new direction? Is it a parent who puts your head on straight? Or a teacher that always knows what to say? Do you look up to someone close to you now or, as in “Time for Kids: Heroes of Black History,” is it someone much bigger than that?
“Grandad Mandela” by Zazi, Ziwelene & Zindzi Mandela with Sean Qualls
Please tell me a family story. You never get tired of hearing about your Mom and Dad, and how much fun they had on their first date; or that one tale about your uncle (so funny!); or the story about your cousin’s very first car. Please tell me a story, you ask, and in “Grandad Mandela” by Zazi, Ziwelene & Zindzi Mandela and Sean Qualls, two children hear of their great-grandfather’s heroism.
“Queen Bey: A Celebration of the Power and Creativity of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter,” edited by Veronica Chambers
You were Crazy in Love. It happened the first time you heard Beyoncé Knowles, before she won a Grammy, before she added to her life with a man and motherhood. It happened the first time you saw her, a skinny child with a
“What Truth Sounds Like” by Michael Eric Dyson
“We have to talk.” It’s never good when someone tells you that. Even if it’s said with a smile and a pat on the back, you can feel doom in those words. “We have to talk” never helps anyone except when, as in “What Truth Sounds Like” by Michael Eric Dyson, it does.
“The Tubman Command” by Elizabeth Cobbs
You are the Big Kahuna. The Boss, the One in Charge, maker of decisions and teller of things to do. You’re the Big Cheese with all the responsibility and you ain’t bad at it. So how would you do if, as in the novel, “The Tubman Command” by Elizabeth Cobbs, the very lives of soldiers, women, and children were in your hands?
“Soon: An Overdue History of Procrastinaton, from Leonardo and Darwin to You and Me” by Andrew Santella
Just do it. That’s a demand that comes from everywhere. Sneakers say it, your spouse says it, the law demands it, your diet may say it; your boss does, for sure. Just do it. Buckle down and get it done because, as in the new book “Soon” by Andrew Santella, delaying and dawdling are not so delightful.
