Introduce your littlest rocker to early concepts through the empowering words and look of Aretha Franklin in this fun and entertaining book that is perfect for the next generation of music lovers. Every Girl Deserves Respect! Strength. Love. Hope. Smarts. Celebrate the iconic Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, with little ones in this colorful, playful, and inspiring new board book in the Baby Rocker series. The theme of girl empowerment runs throughout this delightful and aspirational board book for rock and soul fans big and small.

When Regina Burns married Blue Hamilton, she knew he was no ordinary man. A charismatic R&B singer who gave up his career to assume responsibility for the safety of Atlanta’s West End community, Blue had created an African American urban oasis where crime and violence were virtually nonexistent. In the beginning, Regina enjoyed a circle of engaging friends and her own work as a freelance communications consultant. Most of all, she relished the company of her husband, who never ceased to be a source of passion and delight. Then everything changed. More and more frightened women were showing up in West End, seeking Blue’s protection from lovers who had suddenly become violent. When the worst offenders begin to disappear without a trace, the signs–all of them grim–seem to point toward Blue and his longtime associate, Joseph “General” Richardson. Now that Regina is pregnant, her fear for Blue’s safety has become an obsession that threatens the very heart of their relationship. At the same time, Regina’s friend Aretha Hargrove is desperately trying to redefine her own marriage. Aretha’s husband, Kwame, is lobbying for them to leave West End and move to midtown. Aretha resists at first, but finally agrees in an effort to rekindle the flame that first brought them together. Regina and Aretha have no way of knowing that what they regard as their private struggles will soon become very public. When Baby Brother, a charming con man, insinuates himself into the community, it becomes clear that there is more to his handsome façade than meets the eye. He carries the seeds of change that will affect both women in profound and startling ways. Returning to the vividly rendered Atlanta district of her last two novels, New York Times bestselling author Pearl Cleage brilliantly weaves the threads of her characters’ intersecting lives into a story of family, friendship and, of course, love. Baby Brother’s Blues is full of wit and warmth, illumination the core of every woman’s hopes and dreams.

From acclaimed author and illustrator pairing comes a beautiful picture book biography about the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin and how she fought for respect throughout her life. Aretha Franklin is the Queen of Soul, a legend. But before she became a star, she was a shy little girl with a voice so powerful it made people jump up, sway, and hum along. Raised in a house full of talking and singing, Aretha learned the values that would carry her through life--from her church choir in Detroit to stages across the world. When she moved to New York City to start her career, it took years of hard work before she had a hit song. In the turbulent 1960s, she sang about "Respect" and refused to perform before segregated audiences. The first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Aretha always remembered who she was and where she came from. In this stirring biography of a true artistic and social icon, award-winning creators Katheryn Russell-Brown and Laura Freeman show young readers how Aretha's talent, intelligence, and perseverance made her a star who will shine on for generations to come. Acclaim for Little Melba and Her Big Trombone 2015 NAACP Image Award Nominee Outstanding Literary Work--Children 2015 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honor 2015 ALA Notable Children's Book 2015 Amelia Bloomer Project - Feminist Task Force 2015 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction, Recommended Title

An insightful music writer brilliantly reinterprets the lives of three pop geniuses and the soul revolution they launched. Soul music is one of America's greatest cultural achievements, and Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Curtis Mayfield are three of its most inspired practitioners. In midcentury America it was soul music—particularly the dazzling stream of recordings made by these three stars—that helped bring the gospel vision of the black church into the mainstream, energizing the era’s social movements and defining a new American gospel where the sacred and the secular met. What made this gospel all the more amazing was that its most influential articulators were the sons and daughters of sharecroppers, storefront preachers, and single parents in the projects, whose genius gave voice to a new vision of American possibility. Higher Ground seamlessly weaves the specific and intensely personal narratives of Stevie, Aretha, and Curtis’s lives into the historical fabric of their times. The three shared many similarities: They were all children of the great migration and of the black church. But Werner goes further and ties them together with a provocative thesis about American history and culture that compels us to reconsider both the music and the times. And aside from the personalities and the history, he writes beautifully about music itself, the nuts and bolts of its creation and performance, in a way that brings a new awareness and understanding to the most familiar music, forcing you to listen to songs you've heard a thousand times with fresh ears. In Higher Ground, Werner illuminates the lives of three unparalleled American artists, reminding us why their music mattered then and still resonates with us today.

A Must Have for DJs & Oldies Music Lovers Everywhere! "FUN with Oldies" is a Book of Lists of 50's, 60's, 70's Plus Oldies & Classic Rock & Roll Songs categorized by idea, genre or theme. It started as a feature on My Radio Show when "Gearhead Ed" asked for some CARtoons for "Classic Car Week" like Little Deuce Coupe-Beach Boys, GTO-Ronnie & The Daytonas, or Mustang Sally-Wilson Pickett. You get the idea. Then I started doing three song sets on a variety of different themes calling it "Fun with Oldies". The popularity grew until my loyal listeners requested my music sets! COOL! "Fun with Oldies" The Book was born. Over 180 categories including CARtoons, Susie Songs, Slow Jams, Candy Songs, One Hit Wonders, Girl Groups, Teen Idols, Angels & Devils, Happy Songs, Crying Tunes, Jungle Fever, Jailbird, Wild Wild West, & A Day The Music Died Feature. A Special Addition to Any Oldies Library!!! Buy it, & you'll soon be having your own "FUN with Oldies"! Share the Lunacy! You'll Love it!

In 'Families' Jane Howard informally visits many dozens of families and tries to discover what makes the best ones work so well. Families are not dying, she finds, although they are evolving in various ways. From the tightest-knit nuclear family or extended clan to the most fragile new commune, the family in one guise or another remains everybody's most basic hold on reality. We may run away from our families as many do, but no sooner do we escape than we find another one, often very much like it. Sympathetically, with immense thrust, she crosses the continent to discover families' myths, jokes, and rituals. She leafs through their scrapbooks, sits on their porches, and takes part, when she can, in their feasts and celebrations. She talks to a father of eighteen, several double first cousins, stepchildren, multiple godmothers, an honorary relative of an Indian tribe, and a nine-year-old boy who has no family but his mother. She sits with a matriarch on the front stoop of a ghetto house, goes camping with a family in Mexico, has Thanksgiving with another in Iowa, and orders pizza with a Greek clan in Massachusetts. Howard reports on visits to conventional Southern and Jewish households and to innovative ones whose members, lacking a common history, plan on building common futures as if water were after all as thick as blood. She examines the notion that "there are ways and ways of achieving kinship, of which birth and marriage are only the most obvious." Millions of clans and families all over the United States continue to celebrate, quarrel, disband, reunite, and endure. Jane Howard makes us realize how our lives are interwoven both with the families we are born into and with those we invent as we go through life. 'Families' is compassionate, provocative, and profound. The paperback edition of this important work will be essential reading for all those with an interest in the study of familial bonds, particularly sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists.

** 'A powerful, thoughtful novel about memory and how the past shapes the future' - Red Magazine (Best Books of October) ** An emotionally wrenching novel, set in today’s London and 90s Ghana, exploring generational trauma and what it means to be Black British, surviving between the gaps of knowledge around familial migrant journeys. On the cusp of thirty, Ghanaian Londoner Whitney Appiah was born with a special gift. The massage therapist can physically sense where her clients' trauma lies and heal them. But Whitney has no idea that she too is suffering. Tragic events from her youth have left a terrible, unseen mark. When a dangerous encounter with the man she's dating triggers a wave of fragmented recollections, Whitney embarks on a journey to reclaim her memories and the truth that is buried deep in her early years growing up in Kumasi. Spanning three decades, told through the viewpoints of Whitney, her aunts, Gloria and Aretha, and their house help, Maame Serwaa, The Rest of You explores what happens when we try to resolve the mysteries of our past. Perfect for fans of Candace Carty Williams’ Queenie, Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Anna Hope's Expectation. 'A novel that doesn't shy away from the modern issues of being Black and female. At times heartbreaking, this portrait of a family coming to terms with a tragic past is vivid and tender' - Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City 'A beautiful, compelling exploration of familial bonds, trauma and the secrets of the past. Maame Blue's tender, emotionally rich portrait of diasporic Black lives is a novel to return to. Highly recommended' - Irenosen Okojie, author of Hag 'Maame Blue places vulnerability and emotional truth at the heart of this novel, interwoven between place, time and character... The Rest is You is surprising and tender, precise and free-ranging. A novel of layers, heartfelt meaning, and revelation' - Courttia Newland, author of A River Called Time 'A story of friendship, loss, trauma and hope, that explores multi-generational pain and the secrets and silences that families can fall into in a bid to move forward. The Rest of You is a quintessential immigrant story with a particular Black British twist' - Nii Ayikwei Parkes, author of Azúcar 'The Rest of You is sharply written and is a compelling read. In this book, Maame Blue is incisive in her exploration of friendship and family' - Peace A. Medie, author of Nightbloom 'Maame Blue's skill at crafting characters that take bits of your heart with them as you read the final pages is a true gift... A wonderful book!' - Kelechi Okafor, author of Edge of Here 'Gripping - you wonder what isn't being said, but you feel it anyway' - Gabriel Gbadamosi 'Evocative prose and keen insights make for a compelling read, inviting reflection on the nature of trauma and the quest for identity. This powerful story affirms Blue's place as a significant voice in contemporary literature' - Booklist This novel contains depictions of violence and sexual assault.