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John Henry |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
 Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0140566228 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From Publishers Weekly
A great American hero comes fully to life in this epic retelling filled with glorious, detailed watercolors. From his momentous birth, when all the animals come to see him and the sun won't go to bed, John Henry works wonders. As a child he helps his father by adding "a wing onto the house with an indoor swimming pool and one of them jacutzis"-and that's just before lunch. Other episodes trace the growth of his generous spirit. His greatest feat is, of course, in his battle against the steam drill, as he races the machine to cut through "a mountain as big as hurt feelings." He dies ("he had hammered so hard and so fast and so long that his big heart had burst"), but the onlookers understand that "dying ain't important.... What matters is how well you do your living." This carefully crafted updating begs to be... |
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To Be A Slave |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Mass Market Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0590424602 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Description
To be a slave. To be owned by another person, as a car, house, or a table is owned. To live as a piece of property that could be sold...
This book is about how it felt. The words of black men and women who had themselves been slaves are here, accompanied by Julius Lester's historical commentary and Tom Feelings's powerful and muted paintings, To Be a Slave has been a touchstone in children's literature for over thirty years.
"It is rare to find a book that enables children to identify as compellingly with slaves as this one does." -Publishers Weekly
"From history-and for our time-there's nothing better than To Be a Slave." -The New York Times Book Review
Awards:
A 1969 Newbery Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
A School Library Journal Best Book... |
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Tales of Uncle Remus |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0141303476 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From Publishers Weekly
Lester juxtaposes a contemporary voice and settings (like shopping malls) with some dialect in these "wonderfully funny folktales," said PW. "For many purists, though, it will not replace the original stories." Ages 8-up. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 2 Up Recent retellings of Joel Chandler Harris' African-American folktales from former slaves have pruned the dialect and leave out Uncle Remus all together. Most notable of these is Jump!: the Adventures of Brer Rabbit (HBJ, 1986). This newest attempt brings together two distinguished children's book creators in a most unusual recreation. Lester has retold 48 of the folktales in standard English but with a strong feel for the dialect of the original stories. His retellings... |
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When Dad Killed Mom |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0152046984 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From Publishers Weekly
Though his subject matter may be sensational, Lester (Pharaoh's Daughter) penetrates the minds of two children left motherless by their father's murder of her, to spin a taut psychological mystery. "My mother is dead. Dad killed her," opens the novel. Through the alternating viewpoints of Jeremy and his older sister, eighth-grader Jenna, readers glean clues to the psychologist father's motive for killing his wife, Rachel. Information that Jeremy uncovers in his mother's diary also sheds light on possible scenarios: inappropriate behavior both professionally and personally on their father's part comes to the fore. The author smoothly balances the children's individual struggles to deal with the aftermath of Rachel's death (their challenges at school, their inability to communicate with each other, their divergent... |
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Day of Tears |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0786804904 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 6-9–This powerful and engaging historical novel is told in dialogue and through monologues. It also moves around in time, from the period when the story takes place to "interludes," in which the various characters look back on these events years later. It begins with a factual event–the largest slave auction in United States history that took place in 1859 on Pierce Butler's plantation in Georgia. The book introduces Butler, his abolitionist ex-wife Fanny Kemble, their two daughters, the auctioneer, and a number of slaves sold to pay off Butler's gambling debts. Emma, a fictional house slave, is the centerpiece of the novel. She cares for the master's daughters and has been promised that she will never be sold. On the last day of the auction, Butler impulsively sells her to... |
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Lovesong: Becoming a Jew |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
1559703164 |
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| Availability: |
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From Publishers Weekly
Lester, son of a black southern Methodist minister, writes of the eventful odyssey that culminated in his conversion to Judaism. The private journey was often at odds with his public life. As writer, radio commentator in New York and college professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lester's outspoken and unconventional views often angered blacks as well as whites, and placed him in a political and philosophical fray between blacks and Jews. His spiritual quest, begun here with a lovingly detailed sketch of his southern heritage, took many turns, involving visits to sites of faith (Gethsemani Abbey, Wounded Knee, Shakertown) and intensive exploration of religious cultures, until he acknowledged the pull of the Jewish faith. He discusses his interracial marriage and fatherhood, and pays moving tribute to the... |
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Uncle Remus |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0803724519 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 24 hours. |
Book Description
The four award-winning Uncle Remus books--now in one volume with a new introduction by Julius Lester
Brer Rabbit is causing trouble again for his fellow creatures Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, and the rest--this time in an omnibus edition that brings together all the stories from Tales of Uncle Remus, More Tales of Uncle Remus, Further Tales of Uncle Remus, and Last Tales of Uncle Remus.
The Uncle Remus tales, originally written down by Joel Chandler Harris, were first published over a hundred years ago, and serve as the largest collection of African-American folklore. In this four-book series, Julius Lester masterfully retains the flavor of the tales, while dropping the heavy dialect of the Harris originals and adding contemporary language and references-- ensuring that the stories... |
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The Old African |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0803725647 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 3-6–As the story opens, the Old African is watching a boy being whipped on a plantation in Georgia. He is putting a picture into the minds of his comrades–a picture of water as soft and cool as a lullaby–and the picture stops the boy's pain. The Old African doesn't speak–he hasn't since he was brought over on a slave ship–why should he when there is no one who would understand? As he cares for the boy, who had been whipped for running away, a hope sprouts in his mind–a way to return home–and he uses his powers to take his people on an incredible journey home. Lester's story is based on a legend about Ybo Landing, GA, where a group of slaves walked into the water, saying they were walking to Africa. His resulting novella-length allegory... |
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Let's Talk about Race |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060285966 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 1-5 - This stunning picture book introduces race as just one of many chapters in a person's story. Beginning with the line, "I am a story," Lester tells his own story with details that kids will enjoy, like his favorite food, hobbies, and time of day. Then he states, "Oh. There's something else that is part of my story…I'm black." Throughout the narrative, he asks questions that young readers can answer, creating a dialogue about who they are and encouraging them to tell their own tales. He also discusses "stories" that are not always true, pointing out that we create prejudice by perceiving ourselves as better than others. He asks children to press their fingers against their faces, pointing out, "Beneath everyone's skin are the same hard bones." Remove our skin and we would all... |
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Julius Caesar (Arkangel Complete Shakespeare Series) |
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| Author: |
William Shakespeare |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Compact Disc |
| ISBN: |
1932219161 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Description
Julius Caesar is the most powerful man in Rome, but his power threatens the republic’s very existence. A conspiracy is hatched, one that will have fatal consequences not only for Caesar and the conspirators, but also for the future history of the Ancient World. At its heart is the noble Brutus, caught in the tragic conflict between private affection and public duty. This wonderful production is performed by Michael Feast, Adrian Lester, and the Arkangel cast.
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Let's Talk about Race |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060285982 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 1-5 - This stunning picture book introduces race as just one of many chapters in a person's story. Beginning with the line, "I am a story," Lester tells his own story with details that kids will enjoy, like his favorite food, hobbies, and time of day. Then he states, "Oh. There's something else that is part of my story…I'm black." Throughout the narrative, he asks questions that young readers can answer, creating a dialogue about who they are and encouraging them to tell their own tales. He also discusses "stories" that are not always true, pointing out that we create prejudice by perceiving ourselves as better than others. He asks children to press their fingers against their faces, pointing out, "Beneath everyone's skin are the same hard bones." Remove our skin and we would all... |
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Pharaoh's Daughter |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0064409694 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
Book Review
In his introduction to this engrossing novel of ancient Egypt, Julius Lester says, "It is difficult not to see Charlton Heston when one thinks of Moses." But not in this book. Lester's Moses is a bungling teenager, scared and confused as he tries to find the courage to decide who he is and what he believes in. Raised as the pampered grandson of Pharaoh, he enjoys the attentions of three mother figures: Yocheved, his birth mother, who constantly implores him to return to his own people; Almah, his older sister, who has left her traditions to dance naked as a priestess of the goddess Hathor; and Batya, Pharoah's daughter, who saved him from death when he was a baby. But now his anger at his unresolved split identity has goaded him into a terrible act of violence--an act that will have a vast impact on history. Julius... |
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The Autobiography of God |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0312348487 |
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| Availability: |
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From Publishers Weekly
Lester, author of the critically acclaimed novel Do Lord Remember Me and the memoir Lovesong, melds the classic college mystery with deeply theological ruminations on suffering and death. Rebecca Nachman is a former rabbi whose emotional failures in relating to the members of her synagogue cause her to seek refuge in a small college community in northern Vermont, where she works as a therapist. When one student who had come to her for counseling is found strangled in Boston, Rebecca chastises herself for failing to see signs of trouble and realizes she knows the identity of the killer. But the murder mystery is only a subplot in a larger, much more compelling story of theodicy. When Rebecca, the child of Holocaust survivors, comes to possess a Torah scroll that the Nazis stole from a shtetl in 1944, she becomes... |
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The Long Journey Home |
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| Author: |
Julius Lester |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0140389814 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
Book Description
Meet Rambler, a runaway slave roaming the countryside with a guitar, who knows the only way to stay free is to keep moving. Louis is another runaway, fleeing the plantation where he was raised, because he is about to be sold. And Jake and Mandy's marriage is damaged by slavery--and destroyed by freedom. Here is the African-American experience, brought alive by a master storyteller. Lester has an eye for capturing the essence of a human experience.[His work] boldly proclaims the heritage of African-Americans. --The New York Times Book Review
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