Author Description

This book consists of creative nonfiction and fictionalizations of incidents in the lives of African Americans. For example, the stories are based on fact, but an occasional name is changed, or a picture is from a different generation. Both the stories and the art work feature African American youth as the focus. One goal is for the readers to identify with the characters in the stories and to be inspired by them. The stories also have appeal to other ethnic groups.The language style in the stories is clear and simple to make the stories both easy to understand and interesting. The stories should appeal to readers in grades 6 and up, but readers as young as 9 will often enjoy the stories. African American youth quickly outgrow fantasy-focused literature. These stories feature feet-firmly-on-the-ground reality with messages that are easy to interpret. The stories are sometimes inspirational but always just plain fun. The short story format makes it easy to digest the stories in small spurts. Hopefully, this approach will help instill a joy of reading in the youths.