Kevin R. Free
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An original journalist for The Source, Dan Charnas built a celebrated career in the rap industry. In The Big Payback, he chronicles the rise of the hip-hop culture and shows how it became so powerful in a matter of decades. Charnas also profiles many of the movers and shakers in this burgeoning cultural movement, offering unprecedented access to an industry that continues to shake the globe.
62) Mama Ruby
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In this stirring prequel, New York Times best-selling author Mary Monroe returns to the "cold-blooded yet fascinating" (Publishers Weekly) character from her acclaimed novel The Upper Room. Ruby is a wild youth, with a thirst for boys and booze by the age of 15. When she discovers she's pregnant, the only person she can confide in is her best friend Othella. But Othella talks Ruby into giving up the child, leaving Ruby emotionally shattered and adamant...
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An enthralling and comprehensive look into the contemporary state of one of the wealthiest-and least understood-family dynasties in the world, perfect for fans of Succession, The House of Gucci, The Cartiers, and Fortune's Children.
Oil magnate J. Paul Getty, once the richest man in the world, is the patriarch of an extraordinary cast of sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. While some have been brought low by mental illness, drug addiction,...
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In the whole wide blue sea, there's not a fish as clever as Shrimpy. But poor Shrimpy is so small that no one wants to be his friend. Then, one-day Shrimpy becomes best friends with Big Al, the most popular fish of all. With Big Al beside him, Shrimpy always has plenty to eat, and he gets to swim to wonderful new places. But when Big Al swims too close to the edge of the Big Deep, it's up to clever Shrimpy to save the day.
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Soldier Boy begins with the story of Ricky Richard Anywar, abducted at age fourteen in 1989 to fight with Joseph Kony's rebel army in Uganda's decades-long civil war. Ricky is trained, armed, and forced to fight government soldiers alongside his brutal kidnappers, but never stops dreaming of escape. The story continues twenty years later, with a fictionalized character named Samuel, representative of the thousands of child soldiers Ricky eventually...
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Death reveals all truths...
Mystery author and sometimes amateur sleuth Christopher Holmes is now happily (all things being relative) engaged to be married and toying with starting a new career as a true-crime writer when he learns a body has been discovered in the backyard of his former home.
To complicate matters, Christopher's ex turns up out of the blue, suggesting the body may belong to Christopher's former personal assistant. It's life as...
67) The Golden Hour
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When their mother dies suddenly, 13-year-old Rowan and 11-year-old Nina move in with their aunts. Soon after, Rowan and Nina begin to suspect their aunts possess psychic powers. With friends in tow, the two siblings embark on an adventure through time to discover the origins of their aunts' strange powers. Kevin Free's playful narration perfectly suits this mysterious tale.
68) Pipe Dream
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Black, formerly known as Samuel Jackson, is a crack addict caught in the violent world of the drug trade on Philadelphia's mean streets. But that doesn't mean Black is guilty of murdering city councilman Johnny Podres. And his innocence doesn't mean that he won't be tried and convicted for his crime. He and three other of his friends are going down for the killing, and Black has only one chance to turn things around.
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An in-depth exploration of the pivotal Cassius Clay transformed into Muhammad Ali, exploring the events, relationship, and experiences that shaped him. Although Muhammad Ali's decision to assume a new name has often been portrayed as a sudden transformation, Cassius Clay's conversion to Islam was a process, not an event. For many months he received guidance from Malcolm X, who had traveled from Harlem to Miami to be his mentor as he studied for his...
70) Bling
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Author Erica Kennedy is a hot new voice in contemporary African-American fiction. A hip-hop twist on the Cinderella fable, Bling tells the story of a small town girl with a silky singing voice who's rocketed to superstardom overnight. When Lamont Jackson, the head of a major hiphop label, discovers 21-year-old Mimi, he signs her immediately. Within hours, Mimi's flirting with the A-list crowd, getting a makeover from a supermodel, and enjoying a million...
71) Dizzy
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An acclaimed biographer for children, Jonah Winter brings historical figures to life for young listeners. Here he turns his talents to jazz legend John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie. Born into poverty and the victim of vicious parental abuses, Dizzy received a trumpet one day and it changed his life forever. Dizzy follows Gillespie's journey from rural South Carolina to New York City-straight into the burgeoning jazz scene he soon immersed himself in.
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From beloved YA author Kimberly Reid comes an exciting new audiobook that will speak to young listeners.A CIA prodigy's cover is blown when he accidentally becomes an internet sensation in #Prettyboy Must Die, a fun, fast thriller inspired by the #Alexfromtarget story.When Peter Smith's classmate snaps a picture of him during a late night run at the track, Peter thinks he might be in trouble. When she posts that photo-along with the caption, "See...
73) A Family Sin
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Raised by a bootlegger in a bad section of town, Karim Spencer becomes a successful businessman. His sister is a stripper with a gangsta-wannabe son, and his brother is serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit. But how can Karim help without jeopardizing his future or destroying his family?
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In this acclaimed memoir, teen innovator and scientist Jack Andraka tells the story behind his revolutionary discovery.
When a dear family friend passed away from pancreatic cancer, Jack was inspired to create a better method of early detection. At the age of fifteen, he garnered international attention for his breakthrough: a four-cent strip of paper capable of detecting pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers four hundred times more effectively than...
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When an ambitious tyrant threatens genocide against the Jews, an inexperienced young queen must take a stand for her people. When Xerxes, king of Persia, issues a call for beautiful young women, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan living in Susa, is forcibly taken to the palace of the pagan ruler. After months of preparation, the girl known to the Persians as Esther wins the king's heart and a queen's crown. But because her situation is uncertain, she keeps...
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Jonathan Lewis-Adey was nine when his parents separated, and his mother, Sid, vanished entirely from his life. It is not until he is a grown man that Jonathan finally reconnects with his beloved lost parent, only to find, to his shock and dismay, that the woman he knew as "Sid" in Toronto has become an elegant man named Sydney living in his native Trinidad. For nine years, Jonathan has paid regular visits to Sydney on his island retreat, trying with...
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A dead man is brought back to life so he can support his family in "The Happy Man", occasionally he slips into a zombielike state while his soul is tortured in Hell. In "Vanilla Dunk," future basketball players are given the skills of old-time stars like Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. And in "Forever, Said the Duck," stored computer personalities scheme to break free of their owners. In these and other stories in this striking collection, Jonathan...
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In his latest historical novel, bestselling author Robert Morgan brings to full and vivid life the story of Jonah Williams, who, in 1850, on his eighteenth birthday, flees the South Carolina plantation on which he was born a slave. He takes with him only a few stolen coins, a knife, and the clothes on his back--no shoes, no map, no clear idea of where to head, except north, following a star that he prays will be his guide.
Hiding during the day...