Relates the story of Tasha, an unwed fourteen-year-old who raises her daughter Imani and survives the increasingly violent ghettos of Buffalo, New York, with determination and faith.

Part memoir, part lies, this imaginative tale is a story about loving a woman made of paper, about the wounds made by first love and sharp objects.

"This stunning book is the story I've been waiting for my whole life; where girls rise up to claim their space with joy and power.” --Laurie Halse Anderson, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Speak "An extraordinary story of two indomitable spirits." --Brendan Kiely, New York Times bestselling co-author of All American Boys and Tradition "Timely, thought-provoking, and powerful." --Julie Murphy, New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin' Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Renée Watson teams up with poet Ellen Hagan in this YA feminist anthem about raising your voice. Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission--they're sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women's Rights Club. They post their work online--poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine's response to the racial microaggressions she experiences--and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by trolls. When things escalate in real life, the principal shuts the club down. Not willing to be silenced, Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices--and those of other young women--to be heard. These two dynamic, creative young women stand up and speak out in a novel that features their compelling art and poetry along with powerful personal journeys that will inspire readers and budding poets, feminists, and activists. Acclaim for Piecing Me Together 2018 Newbery Honor Book 2018 Coretta Scott King Author Award 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Young Adult Finalist "Timely and timeless." --Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming "Watson, with rhythm and style, somehow gets at . . . the life-changing power of voice and opportunity." --Jason Reynolds, NYT-bestselling author of Long Way Down "Brilliant." --John Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars * “Teeming with compassion and insight." --Publishers Weekly, starred review * "A timely, nuanced, and unforgettable story about the power of art, community, and friendship." --Kirkus , starred review * "A nuanced meditation on race, privilege, and intersectionality." --SLJ, starred review

Originally published in 1954, this is the tragic story of an honest Rastafarian healer caught up in a web of intrigue and betrayal in Jamaica's tough West Kingston slums. It is a portrait of a ghetto saint - an ordinary man selected by the universe to bring enlightenment to poor belittled people.

A novel that traces twenty years in the lives of the inhabitants of All-Bright Court, a black housing project in the shadow of a northern steel mill.

A New York Times Notable Book: A novel spanning two decades in the lives of an African American family as their upstate New York steel town slowly decays. Set just outside Buffalo, New York, during the 1960s and ’70s, All-Bright Court paints a portrait of the Taylor family—starting with hopeful dreams as Samuel Taylor and his wife, Mary Kate, migrate from the South looking for better opportunities and a place to raise a family, and continuing through the decline of the steel industry as they, their five children, and their neighbors on All-Bright Court struggle with both new challenges and old prejudices. “In a clear, quiet but powerful prose reminiscent of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, the author draws the gaudily painted, rundown bungalows of All-Bright Court and peoples it convincingly. . . . The working conditions in the steel mills and the politics of the union hall are well rendered, but it is in the details of family life that the novel comes alive.” —Kirkus Reviews “Porter has mapped a rich fictional world. . . . This is a powerful and affecting debut.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “An honest portrayal of folks who learned that the dream of economic freedom wasn’t waiting for them ‘up north.’” —Terry McMillan, New York Times–bestselling author of I Almost Forgot About You

Thinking Themselves Free presents humane, tender portraits of a small group of teen mothers trying to finish high school, and describes the ways in which reading, writing, and schooling shaped these young women's lives. The book suggests ways in which deeply held ideas about class, appropriate gender roles, and the expression of emotion in school affect educators' relationships with students who are different from the middle-class norm. Teachers of teen mothers describe with poignancy the young women's struggles to balance motherhood, work, and school, and suggest how schools could change to become more open to the diversity of life choice these women express. Because this book addresses the problems of struggling readers, working class students, and the teachers who serve them, its greatest audience will be among pre-service and in-service teachers and teacher educators interested in literacy education, qualitative research, education reform, gender equity, social justice, and the teaching of young adult literature.