Discovering Kwanzaa and Beyond with Friends is the 2nd book in the Malo's Amazing Adventures! series. It is dedicated to Malo's 4th Grade Class of 2012 at Wicklund Elementary School and to Kylie Johnson and the students of Woodside Parents Nursery School Class of 2013. Both classes were gracious enough to invite me to their respective class to speak about Kwanzaa. The book is also dedicated to all the other inquisitive little souls who are not afraid to ask the questions: How? What? When? Who? Where? and the all-important Why? While preparing to speak to the two classes, Malo's father discovers that Kwanzaa is more than a cultural celebration. It embodies principles or "nguzo" that are universal, enhance personal growth and development and promote good citizenship. In the process, he discovers and shares the richness of Kwanzaa and its appeal beyond the traditional and mainly African-American audience. Maybe you don't speak or understand a foreign language such as Kiswahili. Maybe you have difficulties pronouncing foreign words such as "eng-oo-zoo saba" or "vitu saba" i.e. the seven principles and symbols of Kwanzaa - all Swahili words. Don't let that prevent you from learning about the richness and beauty of celebrations such as Kwanzaa and their relevance to everyday life. Read on to discover the joy of learning a different language or experiencing a different culture.

Zeus was named after a Greek god, which he is not; he is a dog. Zeus is a Newfoundland dog, a breed that looks like a black bear, can swim like a polar bear, is as strong as a grizzly bear, and as loyal aswell, as loyal as a dog, actually. But despite these remarkable characteristics, he has one major problem: Hes afraid of heights. After being adopted by a gruff but friendly fisherman named Capt. Apache Bluegills, Zeus finds a welcome home in a small fishing town called Flatrock Cove in Newfoundland, Canada. Zeus is quick to admire the Sea Sentinels, the towns elite team of Newfie dogs who keep the shoreline safe by patrolling the seaside cliffs and diving into the ocean at the first sign of trouble. He wishes to join the team but is disappointed when his fear of heights prevents him. When Capt. Bluegills goes on a fishing trip for a few weeks, Zeus decides instead to follow his passion and embark on a journey of his own. Follow the wild adventures of Zeus, the fishermans Newf, as he travels overseas, learns many new things, samples strange and wonderful food, and makes lifelong friends. Of course, keeping out of trouble during his adventures is much harder than he thinks, especially for such a curious fellow as he. Zeus ventures from his home in Newfoundland (which most humans call the Rock) and sails across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to France. There he meets a sophisticated French poodle named Poutine, and together they explore Paris. However, Zeus soon discovers that the people of France believe he is something else entirely: a wild beast, who wants to eat all the fat French babies he can google up! Will Zeus learn to overcome his greatest fear in Paris? Will he escape the French military police, the Gendarmerie nationale, who are determined to capture and cage him? Will he make it back home before Capt. Bluegills returns from his fishing trip? And will the most beautiful of all the Newfie dogs, Electra, be there waiting for him even if he is not a Sea Sentinel?

Contemporary fiction has never been less contemporary. Midcentury writers tended to set their works in their own moment, but for the last several decades critical acclaim and attention have fixated on historical fiction. This shift is particularly dramatic for writers of color. Even as the literary canon has become more diverse, cultural institutions have celebrated Black, Asian American, Latinx, and Indigenous novelists almost exclusively for their historical fiction. Writing Backwards explores what the dominance of historical fiction in the contemporary canon reveals about American literary culture. Alexander Manshel investigates the most celebrated historical genres—contemporary narratives of slavery, the World War II novel, the multigenerational family saga, immigrant fiction, and the novel of recent history—alongside the literary and academic institutions that have elevated them. He examines novels by writers including Toni Morrison, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Colson Whitehead, Julia Alvarez, Leslie Marmon Silko, Michael Chabon, Julie Otsuka, Yaa Gyasi, Ben Lerner, and Tommy Orange in the context of MFA programs, literary prizes, university syllabi, book clubs, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Manshel studies how historical fiction has evolved over the last half century, documenting the formation of the newly inclusive literary canon as well as who and what it still excludes. Offering new insight into how institutions shape literature and the limits of historical memory, Writing Backwards also considers recent challenges to the historical turn in American fiction.