Showing results by narrator "Amber Patrick" in All Categories

Growing up black in 1960s Chicago, Jean "Stevie" Stevenson came of age amid the tumult of the Civil Rights Movement, learning to value not just her race and gender but her sexuality as well. Now, nearly a decade later, Stevie is a college graduate enjoying a week of vacation in San Francisco. After getting a taste of the bohemian life, she can't bring herself to return home to her family and journalism career in Chicago.

Anxiety, fear of failure, self-consciousness: these are not the qualities you imagine when you hear the word "heiress". But in this powerful account, Christina Lewis Halpern applies a journalist's eye to her own struggles following the death of her father, the late entrepreneur Reginald F. Lewis, when she was 12. At the time of his death in 1993, Halpern's father was the richest black man in America.

Jean "Stevie" Stevenson lives in Chicago's South Side, a neighborhood that acutely feels the social changes of the 1960s. Curious and witty, bold but naïve, Stevie ponders questions such as what makes good hair and which skin shade is better in light of "black is beautiful". Amid the War on Poverty; the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.; race riots; and the Black Power movement, Stevie grows into a socially aware young adult with a burgeoning sexuality and pride in her identity.

The night her parents disappear, 12-year-old Robyn Loxley must learn to fend for herself. Her home, Nott City, has been taken over by a harsh governor, Ignomus Crown. After fleeing for her life, Robyn has no choice but to join a band of strangers - misfit kids, each with their own special talent for mischief. Setting out to right the wrongs of Crown's merciless government, they take their outlaw status in stride. But Robyn can't rest until she finds her parents.

It's been nine months since the virus hit, killing almost everyone it touched. Seventeen-year-old Cora and her little brother, Coby, haven't left home since. Not after the power cut out; not even after sirens faded in the distance and the world outside their backyard fence fell silent.

But when a blistering drought forces Cora to go in search of water, she discovers that the postapocalyptic world isn't as deserted as she thought when she meets Brooks, a drop-dead sexy army deserter.