Showing results by narrator "Channie Waites" in All Categories

In this semiautobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin's real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey, is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with an incarcerated mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction, and her own battle with self-confidence. But when a new teacher at school coordinates a beauty pageant and convinces Vanessa to enter, Vanessa's view of her own world begins to change.

In the fall of 1955, twelve-year-old Dawn Rae Johnson learns she will be the only one of her friends attending a previously all-white school. However, not everyone supports integration and Dawnie must endure the realities of racism firsthand. In time, Dawnie learns that the true meaning of justice comes from remaining faithful to the integrity within oneself.

This modern, groundbreaking YA anthology explores the complexity and beauty of interracial and LGBTQ+ relationships where differences are front and center. When people ask me what this anthology is about, I'm often tempted to give them the complicated answer: It's about race and about how being different from the person you love can matter but how it can also not matter, and it's about Chinese pirate ghosts, black girl vigilantes, colonial India, a flower festival, a garden of poisons, and so, so much else.

G-baby and her younger sister, Peaches, are still getting used to their "blended-up" family. They live with Mama and Frank out in the suburbs, and they haven't seen their real daddy much since he married Millicent. G-baby misses her best friend back in Atlanta, and is crushed that her glamorous new stepsister, Tangie, wants nothing to do with her. G-baby is so preoccupied with earning Tangie's approval that she isn't there for her own little sister when she needs her most. Peaches gets sick - really sick. Suddenly, Mama and Daddy are arguing like they did before the divorce....

Magdalys and the squad are flying south on pteroback. South to rescue her older brother. South to war. The squad links up with the dino-mounted troops of the Louisiana Native Guard, an all-black regiment in the Union Army fighting to free their people. They're led by General Sheridan, surrounded by enemy forces in Tennessee and desperate for any edge to sway the tide of battle.

It's 1863, and dinosaurs roam the streets of New York as the Civil War rages between raptor-mounted armies down South. Magdalys Roca and her friends from the Colored Orphan Asylum are on a field trip when the Draft Riots break out, and a number of their fellow orphans are kidnapped by an evil magistrate, Richard Riker. Magdalys and her friends flee to Brooklyn and settle in the Dactyl Hill neighborhood. Together with the Vigilance Committee, they train to fly on dactylback, discover new friends and amazing dinosaurs, and plot to take down Riker.

When Zora Neale Hurston and her best friend, Carrie Brown, discover that the town mute can speak after all, they think they’ve uncovered a big secret. But Mr. Polk’s silence is just one piece of a larger puzzle that stretches back half a century to the tragic story of an enslaved girl named Lucia. As Zora’s curiosity leads a reluctant Carrie deeper into the mystery, the story unfolds through alternating narratives.

In this rollicking, rhyming book, a pair of siblings who are supposed to be in bed discover a jazz band playing in their basement.

In the past year, Hasani has learned she’s a witch, been accepted by Les Belles Demoiselles, and formed her own coven—and her YouTube followers for her makeup channel are growing every day. Now that she’s in eighth grade, she’s ready to rule the school with all her witch powers and best friends by her side. But frenemy LaToya is still at Riverbend Middle causing trouble, both magically and socially. LaToya’s determined to befriend every single possible witch at school (and turn them against Hasani), and Hasani can’t help but wonder if she’s got another scheme going

Rather than focusing on going to bed—and what kid wants to think about going to bed?—this book explores all of the dreamy, wonderful, strange things the next day might bring. Whimsical, witty, and hopeful, Tomorrow Most Likely is a revolutionary rewriting of a classic goodnight book from bestselling author Dave Eggers and award-winning illustrator Lane Smith.

When eighth grader and aspiring journalist Indigo breaks an important story, exposing an unfair school policy, she's suddenly popular for the first time. The friends who've recently drifted away from her want to hang out again. Then Indigo notices that the school's disciplinary policies seem to be enforced especially harshly with students of color, like her. She wants to keep investigating, but her friends insist she's imagining things.

Inspired by the legendary music of the Motown era, award-winning author Carole Boston Weatherford shares a heartwarming lullaby celebrating the powerful love families have for one another. Slip into this soulful dreamland filled with heart and a little musical history.

Polly and her magic book, Spell, have all kinds of adventures together because whatever Polly writes in Spell comes true! But when Polly and Spell join forces to make the school fair super spectacular, they quickly discover that what you write and what you mean are not always the same thing!

Polly and her magic book, Spell, have all kinds of adventures together because whatever Polly writes in Spell comes true! But when they join forces to help get the best class pet ever, they get more than they bargained for. Can Polly come up with the right words to save the day?

Polly loves words. And she loves writing stories. So when a magic book that can make everything she writes happen in real life appears on her doorstep, Polly is certain all of her dreams are about to come true. But she soon learns that what you write and what you mean are not always the same thing!

Side by side with Daddy and Grandma, a young girl is determined to take part in her family’s tradition of baking the perfect peach cobbler—just like Mama used to. From picking peaches to stirring and mixing and kneading the dough, it’s a little bit messy. But with sure hands to guide her, and her mother’s memory hanging sweet in the air, she has the recipe to make Mama proud.

Nia loves Alfie, her pet turtle. But he’s not very soft, he doesn’t do tricks, and he’s pretty quiet. Sometimes she forgets he’s even there—that is, until the night before her seventh birthday, when . . . Alfie disappears! Where did he go? And why? Nia can’t say . . . but Alfie can. This is his story, and the narrative switches to Alfie’s perspective, as the brave turtle goes on the hunt for the perfect gift for Nia’s birthday.

Harriet Adu knows that her brother’s death is her fault. I mean, it’s not actually her fault, but it still kinda is, isn’t it? She would do anything to live in a world where she could take back what she said that morning. Then a strange girl shows up at Harriet’s high school—a girl who loves the same weird books Harriet does, who doesn’t vibe with anyone at school the same way Harriet does—and that different world suddenly seems possible. The girl speaks of a place underneath the subways of New York, where people like them can go and find a home.