Washoe County Library System

""Riot Baby bursts at the seams of story with so much fire, passion and power that in the end it turns what we call a narrative into something different altogether."-Marlon James Rooted in foundational loss and the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is both a global dystopian narrative and an intimate family story with quietly devastating things to say about love, fury, and the black American experience. Ella and Kev are brother and sister, both...

"In this collection of poetry, Nikki Grimes looks afresh at the poets of the Harlem Renaissance -- including voices like Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and many more writers of importance and resonance from this era -- by combining their work with her own original poetry. Using "The Golden Shovel" poetic method, Grimes has written a collection of poetry that is as gorgeous as it is thought-provoking. This special book also includes original...

"'How the Word is Passed' is Clint Smith's revealing, contemporary portrait of America as a slave owning nation. Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks— those that are honest about the past and those that are not— that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nations collective history, and ourselves." --

Focusing on the years 1971 to the present, the DJ, producer, and Sundance award-winning director chooses one essential track from each year, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity.

"I'd seen the Senator speak a few times before my life got caught up, however distantly, with his, but the first time I can remember paying real attention was when he delivered the speech announcing his run for the Presidency. When David first hears the Senator from Illinois speak, he feels deep ambivalence. Intrigued by the Senator's idealistic rhetoric, David also wonders how he'll balance the fervent belief and inevitable compromises it will take...

"Explores the extent to which historical definitions of race continue to shape contemporary racial identities and lived experiences of racial difference"--

Follows the life of Macon Dead, Jr., the son of the richest black family in a midwestern town, as he leaves home on a quest for personal freedom.

"When white silver screen icon Kitty Karr Tate dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the three Black St. John sisters, it prompts questions. A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty's affairs thandeal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty's journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could--and between a cheating fiancae and fallout from a controversial...

" In a story spanning 500,000 years, and moving through America, England, and Africa, men, women, and animals share a spiritual world and learn the intricacies of their connecting lives"--

In mid-twentieth-century rural North Carolina, Azalea "Knot" Centre is determined to live on her own terms in spite of community gossip and finds unexpected support from a neighbor who struggles with an inability to correct his own troubled past.