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The men "reaped" in the book, narrated in reverse of the order in which they died:
"Men We Reaped" was enthusiastically received by critics, and was named one of the best books of 2013 by "The New York Times Book Review", "Publishers Weekly", "Time", and "Vogue".
"NPR"'s Richard Torres calls "Men We Reaped" a "superb memoir", that takes the reader behind the statistics of Black deaths, on an ambitious journey into the history of the small deep-south town, Ward's own community and family, and the individual stories, intertwining them capably and sensitively. He writes, "Ward's deceptively conversational prose masks her uncommon skill at imagery. She makes you feel the anguish of each lost life, as well as her survivor's guilt, with its ever-present haunt of memory," and lauds how Ward is "candid enough to paint the flaws in the deceased as well as their good qualities. (In other words, Ward humanizes instead of canonizes.) She's also talented enough to turn such prose into poetry."
"Kirkus Reviews" summarizes that "Men We Reaped" is "a modern rejoinder to "Black Like Me", "Beloved" and other stories of struggle and redemption—beautifully written, if sometimes too sad to bear", while "Publishers Weekly" calls it "riveting", and declares that "Ward has a soft touch, making these stories heartbreakingly real through vivid portrayal and dialogue."
After Tupac And D Foster (2008) is a novel written by Jacqueline Woodson. Set within a community affected by the life of Tupac Shakur, the novel follows three young girls as they group up in that community. The novel received a Newbery Medal Honor in 2009 and won the American Library Association Award and the 2009 Josette Frank Award.
"After Tupac And D Foster" is based on three girls: two black eleven year old girls, Neeka and the anonymous narrator, and D Foster, who was of mixed race and had just moved into Neeka and the narrator's neighborhood in Queens, New York. Their experiences are set within a world impacted by Tupac Shakur, describing events and experiences in his life during the mid 1990s, such as run-ins with the cops and events that foreshadowed his death.
Growing up together on the same block of their safe neighborhood, Neeka and the narrator have been friends since birth. When D. Foster first moved into a house on their block, her initial impression as unconventional and different had left the two girls in a bit of shock, as well as their mothers hesitant to let them interact with her. However, they then discovered that they both were greatly influenced by Tupac Shakur's music which caused the three girls to gradually develop a lasting friendship.
Later in their teens, Foster opens up to her two close friends about her alcoholic mother who had abandoned her as a child, leaving her in the care of constantly changing foster homes. She also shares with them the news of her biological Mother now wanting her back. However, relating her relationship with her Mother to that of Tupac's and his Mother, Foster realizes that even through the conflicting relationship, there is still love.
The Road to Paris is a 2006 children's fiction chapter book by American writer Nikki Grimes, originally published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Paris is a nine-year old, biracial girl who is placed in the foster system. Her white father left the family while she was young, and her mother has problems with alcohol. She and her older brother Malcolm are placed in different homes after running away from an abusive foster family. She is finally placed with the Lincolns, where she faces racism and loneliness, yet also learns what it is like to have a loving family.
The Road to Paris received the Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor in 2007. Kirkus Reviews wrote that Paris's growth was "perfectly paced," even if supporting characters were "not all perfectly realized." Deborah Stevenson at "The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books", disagreed, writing that "the book tells rather than shows and does so episodically, so Paris jerks along from stage to stage without any clear indication of how she gets there."
Becoming Billie Holiday is a 2008 book of poetry for young readers by American poet and author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, originally published by Wordsong. It won an honorary Coretta Scott King Award in 2009.
Floyd Cooper created the illustrations in the book using an eraser to make subtractive shapes in paint. He also used other mediums on top that were oil based, all put on with a drybrush technique.
The book was awarded the honorary Coretta Scott King Award in 2009.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is a book by Michelle Alexander, a civil rights litigator and legal scholar. The book discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration in the United States, but Alexander noted that the discrimination faced by African-American males is prevalent among other minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Alexander's central premise, from which the book derives its title, is that "mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow".
According to the author, what has been altered since the collapse of Jim Crow is not so much the basic structure of US society, as the language used to justify its affairs. She argues that when people of color are disproportionately labeled as “criminals”, this allows the unleashing of a whole range of legal discrimination measures in employment, housing, education, public benefits, voting rights, jury duty, and so on.
Alexander explains that it took her years to become fully aware and convinced of the phenomena she describes, despite her professional civil rights background. She expects similar reluctance and disbelief on the part of many of her readers. She believes that the problems besetting African American communities are not merely a passive, collateral side effect of poverty, limited educational opportunity or other factors, but a consequence of purposeful government policies. Alexander has concluded that mass incarceration policies, which were swiftly developed and implemented, are a “comprehensive and well-disguised system of racialized control that functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow”.
Alexander contends that in 1982 the Reagan administration began an escalation of the War on Drugs, purportedly as a response to a crack cocaine crisis in black ghettos, which was (she claims) announced well before crack cocaine arrived in most inner city neighborhoods. During the mid-1980s, as the use of crack cocaine increased to epidemic levels in these neighborhoods, federal drug authorities publicized the problem, using scare tactics to generate support for their already-declared escalation. The government's successful media campaign made possible an unprecedented expansion of law enforcement activities in America's urban neighborhoods, and this aggressive approach fueled widespread belief in conspiracy theories that posited government plans to destroy the black population. (Black genocide)
Alexander maintains that this "undercaste" is hidden from view, invisible within a maze of rationalizations, with mass incarceration its most serious manifestation. Alexander borrows from the term “racial caste”, as it is commonly used in scientific literature, to create “undercaste”, denoting a “stigmatized racial group locked into inferior position by law and custom”. By "mass incarceration" she refers to the web of laws, rules, policies and customs that make up the criminal justice system and which serve as a gateway to permanent marginalization in the undercaste. Once released from prison, new members of this undercaste face a “hidden underworld of legalized discrimination and permanent social exclusion”.
Alexander writes that Americans are ashamed of their racial history, and therefore avoid talking about race, or even class, so the terms used in her book may seem unfamiliar to many. Americans want to believe that everybody is capable of upward mobility, given enough effort on his or her part; this assumption forms a part of the national collective self-image. Alexander points out that a large percentage of African Americans are hindered by the discriminatory practices of an ostensibly colorblind criminal justice system, which end up creating an undercaste where upward mobility is severely constrained.
Alexander states in the book: "I was careful to define "mass incarceration" to include those who were subject to state control outside of prison walls, as well as those who were locked in literal cages." The scope of Alexander's definition of "incarceration" includes people who have been arrested (but not tried), people on parole and people who have been released but labelled as "criminals". Alexander's definition is intentionally much broader than the subset of individuals currently in physical detention.
Darryl Pinckney, writing in the "New York Review of Books", called the book one that would "touch the public and educate social commentators, policymakers, and politicians about a glaring wrong that we have been living with that we also somehow don't know how to face... [Alexander] is not the first to offer this bitter analysis, but NJC is striking in the intelligence of her ideas, her powers of summary, and the force of her writing".
Forbes wrote that Alexander "looks in detail at what economists usually miss", and "does a fine job of truth-telling, pointing the finger where it rightly should be pointed: at all of us, liberal and conservative, white and black".
The book received a starred review in "Publishers Weekly", saying that Alexander "offers an acute analysis of the effect of mass incarceration upon former inmates" who will be legally discriminated against for the rest of their lives, and described the book as "carefully researched, deeply engaging, and thoroughly readable".
James Forman, Jr argues that though the book has value in focusing scholars (and society as a whole) on the failures of the criminal justice system, it obscures African-American support for tougher crime laws and downplays the role of violent crime in the story of incarceration.
The 10th Anniversary Edition (2020) was discussed with Ellen DeGeneres on The Ellen Show on network TV, and reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review section on January 19, 2020.
"The New Jim Crow" was listed in "The Chronicle of Higher Education" as one of the 11 best scholarly books of the 2010s, chosen by Stefan M. Bradley.
"a."The persistently lingering result of the lack of land reform, of the fact that the former slaves were not granted any of the property on which they had long labored (unlike many European serfs, emancipated and economically empowered to various degrees by that time, their American counterparts ended up with nothing), is the present extremely inequitable distribution of wealth in the United States along racial lines. 150 years after the Civil War, the median wealth of a black family is a small fraction of the median wealth of a white family.
"b."According to Ruth W. Grant of Duke University, the author of the book "Strings Attached: Untangling the Ethics of Incentives" (Princeton University Press 2011, ), the expediency-based plea bargain process, in which 90 to 95% of felony prosecutions never go to trial, but are settled by the defendant pleading guilty, undermines the purpose and challenges the legitimacy of the justice system. Justice won't take place, because "either the defendant is guilty, but gets off easy by copping a plea, or the defendant is innocent but pleads guilty to avoid the risk of greater punishment". The question of guilt is decided without adjudicating the evidence-the fundamental process of determining the truth and assigning proportionate punishment does not take place.
"c."Michelle Alexander suggested in a March 2012 "New York Times" article a possible strategy (she attributed the idea to Susan Burton) for coping with the unjust criminal justice system. If large numbers of the accused could be persuaded to opt out of plea bargaining and demand a full trial by jury, to which they are constitutionally entitled, the criminal justice system in its present form would be unable to continue because of lack of resources (it would "crash"). This last resort strategy is controversial, as some would end up with extremely harsh sentences, but, it is argued, progress often cannot be made without sacrifice.
I, Tina: My Life Story is a 1986 autobiography by Tina Turner, co-written by MTV news correspondent and music critic Kurt Loder. The book was reissued by Dey Street Books in 2010.
The book details Tina Turner's story from her childhood in Nutbush, Tennessee to her initial rise to fame in St. Louis under the leadership of blues musician Ike Turner which became an abusive marriage, leading up to her resurgence in the 1980s.
The book contains passages from many of Turner's family, friends and associates, among those are:
The book became a worldwide best-seller when it was released and led to the film adaptation, "What's Love Got to Do with It", in 1993 starring Angela Bassett as Turner.
In 1999, Ike Turner released his own autobiography, "Takin' Back My Name", which in part is a rebuttal of the image presented of him in Tina's book and the film.
The Other Side is a children's picture book written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis, published in 2001 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. In 2012, the book was adapted into a film by Weston Woods Studios, Inc., narrated by the author's daughter, Toshi Widoff-Woodson.
The narrator and protagonist of the story is Clover, a young African-American girl. She lives beside a fence which segregates her town. Her mother instructs her never to climb over to the other side. Then one summer, she notices a white girl on the other side of the fence. The girl seems to be very lonely and is even outside when it is raining.
Clover decides to talk to the girl on the other side of the fence. Both girls are not allowed to cross the fence, so they simply decide to sit "on" the fence together. First, Clover's friends will not let Annie, the girl from the other side, play with them but then all of the girls realize that the fence (a symbol separating the whites and blacks) should not be there.
Drylongso is a 1992 children's book by Virginia Hamilton and illustrator Jerry Pinkney. It is about a farming family who is experiencing a drought and takes in a stranger.
"School Library Journal", in a review of "Drylongso", wrote "As in many of her other works of fiction, Hamilton combines myth and realism to create a poignant, powerful tale. .. Pinkney's illustrations are exquisite, expressive, and perfectly in tune with the tone and spirit of the text." and concluded "Despite the occasional seams, this is a fine book." "Booklist" wrote "In an understated story of drought and hard times and longing for rain, a great writer and a great artist have pared down their rich, exuberant styles to something quieter but no less intense." and "Publishers Weekly" called it a "thoroughly captivating story firmly rooted in the folktale tradition."
"Drylongso" has also been reviewed by "Kirkus Reviews", "The Horn Book Magazine", and the "Smithsonian".
The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton is a children's mystery novel, with sinister goings-on in a reputedly haunted house. It was published by Macmillan in 1968 with illustrations by Eros Keith. The novel received the 1969 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery. "The House of Dies Drear" is the first book in the Dies Drear Chronicles; the second is "The Mystery of Drear House" (1987).
The story is set in Ohio, in 1968.
Thomas Small is a 13-year old African American boy, who has moved with his family from North Carolina to Ohio. His father is a history professor who has leased the historic home of the abolitionist Dies Drear. The house has been mostly empty for years, and is riddled with hidden passageways that were used to hide escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad. An elderly caretaker, named Mr. Pluto, lives in a cave on the property, which he has converted into a home. There are rumors that the house is haunted by the ghosts of two escaped slaves who were captured and killed, and by the ghost of Dies Drear himself.
After the Darrows are driven off, Mr. Small helps Mr. Pluto catalog the artifacts in the cavern. They agree to keep the secret, at least until the cataloging is done and the collection is ready to show to the historical society. Thomas looks forward to starting school and making friends, possibly including young Mac Darrow.
Library of Congress Subject Headings for "The House of Dies Drear" are: African Americans, Mystery and detective stories, Underground Railroad, and Ohio-History.
The film was adapted into the 1984 television film "The House of Dies Drear" directed by Allan A. Goldstein.
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color is a feminist anthology edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa. First published in 1981 by Persephone Press. The second edition was published in 1983 by . The book's third edition was published by Third Woman Press until 2008, when it went out of print. In 2015, the fourth edition was published by State University of New York Press, Albany.
The book centers on the experiences of women of color and emphasizes the points of what is now called intersectionality within their multiple identities, challenging white feminists who made claims to solidarity based on sisterhood. Writings in the anthology, along with works by other prominent feminists of color, call for a greater prominence within feminism for race-related subjectivities, and ultimately laid the foundation for third wave feminism. It has become "one of "the most" cited books in feminist theorizing" (emphasis in original).
Though other published writings by women of color existed at the time of "This Bridge"'s printing, many scholars and contributors to "This Bridge" agree that the bringing together of writing by women of color from diverse backgrounds in one anthology made "This Bridge" unique and influential. Barbara Smith, a contributor, wrote that Black, Native American, Asian American, and Latina women "were involved in autonomous organization at the same time that we [were] beginning to find each other. Certainly "This Bridge Called My Back" […] has been a document of and a catalyst for these coalitions."
However, even with these aforementioned impacts, many individuals contend that women of color feminisms still remain marginal within women's studies in the United States. Chela Sandoval, in her essay on third-world feminism, writes: "The publication of "This Bridge Called My Back" in 1981 made the presence of U.S. third world feminism impossible to ignore on the same terms as it had been throughout the 1970s. But soon the writings and theoretical challenges of U.S. third world feminists were marginalized into the category of what Allison Jaggar characterized in 1983 as mere 'description.'"
"This Bridge" "offered a rich and diverse account of the experience and analyses of women of color; with its collective ethos, its politics of rage and regeneration, and its mix of poetry, critique, fiction and testimony, it challenged the boundaries of feminist and academic discourse."
Anthologists Moraga and Anzaldúa stated in the preface that they expected the book to act as a catalyst, "not as a definitive statement on Third World Feminism" in the United States. They also expressed a desire to "express to all women, especially white, middle class women, the experiences which divide us as feminists ...we want to create a definition that expands what 'feminist' means."
Teresa de Lauretis noted that "This Bridge" and "All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies" (1982) created a "shift in feminist consciousness" by making "available to all feminists the feelings, the analyses, and the political positions of feminists of color, and their critiques of white or mainstream feminism."
Cherríe Moraga, Ana Castillo, and Norma Alarcón adapted this anthology into the Spanish-language "Esta puente, mi espalda: Voces de mujeres tercermundistas en los Estados Unidos". Moraga and Castillo served as editors, and Castillo and Alarcón translated the text. In 2002, AnaLouise Keating and Gloria Anzaldúa edited an anthology ("this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation") that examined the impact of "This Bridge" twenty years later while trying to continue the discussion started by Anzaldúa and Moraga in 1981.
No Disrespect is a 1994 American memoir written by Sister Souljah.
I Put a Spell on You (book)
I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone is the 1992 autobiography by Nina Simone (1933–2003), written with Stephen Cleary.
The 192-page book was published February 1, 1992 by Pantheon. It was re-released in a 2003 Da Capo Press reprint edition following Simone's death on April 21, 2003; this edition included an introduction, "I Know How it Feels To Be Free: Nina Simone 1933–2003", written by Dave Marsh.
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race is a 2018 picture book by Margot Lee Shetterly with Winifred Conkling, illustrated by Laura Freeman. The picture book is adapted from Shetterly's 2016 non-fiction book "Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race".
"Hidden Figures" tells the story of four African-American women mathematicians and the work they did at NASA from the 1940s to the 1960s.
"Kirkus Reviews" called the "Hidden Figures" "an important story to tell about four heroines." Writing for "School Library Journal," Megan Kilgallen said "Freeman’s full-color illustrations are stunning and chock-full of details, incorporating diagrams, mathematical formulas, and space motifs throughout . . . enhancing the whole book."
"Hidden Figures" was named a Coretta Scott King Award honor book for illustration.
Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me is a 2017 memoir by Janet Mock.
Published June 13, 2017 by the Atria imprint of Simon & Schuster, "Surpassing Certainty" is Mock's second memoir, following her 2014 "New York Times" bestseller "Redefining Realness". The book's title is an allusion to Audre Lorde, who wrote, "And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking."
Following on the discussion of her childhood and adolescence in "Redefining Realness", in "Surpassing Certainty", Mock describes life in her twenties.
Writing in "The New York Times", Jennifer Finney Boylan described "Surpassing Certainty" as "position[ing] its story within a larger history of a struggle for human rights. But Mock’s book is also a work of the heart, much of it focusing on the dissolution of her first marriage, and her journey from a Honolulu strip club to an editor at "People" magazine." "Cosmopolitan" said the book "should be required reading for your 20s." "Elle" named to a list of three "must-read" books for June 2017.
Coal is a collection of poetry by Audre Lorde, published in 1976. It was Lorde's first collection to be released by a major publisher. Lorde's poetry in "Coal" explored themes related to the several layers of her identity as a "Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet."
"Coal" consists of five sections. While Audre Lorde presents poems that express each part of her identity, race undoubtedly plays a significant role in "Coal". A major theme within the volume is Lorde's angry reaction towards racism. For Lorde, expressing anger was not destructive. Instead, Lorde transforms "rage at racism into triumphant self-assertion." She specifically dedicates the book "To the People of Sun, That We May All Better Understand." In addition, another significant part of the volume explores her existence as a lesbian, friend, and a former lover, specifically in the fourth section that consists of one long poem titled "Martha" that outlines the recovery of Lorde's former lover after a car accident.
The volume's namesake comes from a poem in the first section titled "Coal". It is written in free-verse and first-person. The idea of an identity consisting of several layers is exemplified in this poem. One's true identity is often hidden behind several muddled layers. Lorde alludes toward this concept by her recurrent use of the dual imagery of a piece of coal and a diamond. As the speaker of the poem, Lorde begins by equating herself with a piece of coal.
Part three of the anthology consists of eleven poems. The poems in this section predominantly discuss Lorde's experiences as both a wife and a mother. In the poem "A Child Shall Lead" Lorde uses sensory imagery to express her concerns about her son and what will become of him in the future. Another poem "Paperweight" describes her frustrations with her heterosexual marriage. Throughout the poem, Lorde likens paper to something that can console her, because she uses it to write her poetry. The poem takes a dramatic turn in tone in the last stanza stating "or fold them [paper] all into a paper fan / with which to cool my husband's dinner."
"Coal" received generally positive reviews from critics, especially among her peers and other female poets.
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race is an essay and poetry collection edited by American author Jesmyn Ward and published by Scribner in 2016. The title, "The Fire This Time" alludes to James Baldwin's seminal 1963 text, "The Fire Next Time".
The book was published by Scribner on August 2, 2016.
Writing for the "San Francisco Chronicle", Imani Perry described Ward's collection as, "a composition made by someone who is as careful a reader as she is a writer. Ward is attuned to the spirit of this moment and she is its conductor, gifting insight to us all." Dwight Garner particularly praised contributions by Ward, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Carol Anderson, Kevin Young, and Garnette Cadogan, saying their works are "[e]ach...so alive with purpose, conviction and intellect that, upon finishing their contributions, you feel you must put this volume down and go walk around for a while."
The Meaning of Mariah Carey is a memoir by Mariah Carey, released on September 29, 2020. It was written with Michaela Angela Davis and shared previously untold experiences. The book was published by Andy Cohen Books, an imprint of Henry Holt, and is also available in an audiobook format on Audible read by Carey herself. The memoir became a number one "New York Times" Best Seller after its first week of release.
Mariah Carey had considered writing a memoir since 2010 when she was pregnant with her twins Moroccan and Monroe. In the two years prior to "The Meaning of Mariah Carey"s release, she told stories to co-writer Michaela Angela Davis. The book was first rumored in April 2018, and Carey acknowledged she was working on it during promotional appearances for her fifteenth studio album "Caution" (2018). On July 9, 2020, she announced the memoir was complete.
The book includes a preface and epilogue and is divided into four parts: "Wayward Child", "Sing. Sing.", "All That Glitters", and "Emancipation". It focuses on Carey's childhood, career, and personal and professional relationships, with less of a focus on events after 2001. Alongside the plot, the inspirations and meanings of many of Carey's songs are explained and are often accompanied by excerpts from them. Chapters occasionally begin or end with lyrics from Carey's songs as epigraphs, and Bible verses are incorporated.
Media outlets noted that men associated with her such as Eminem and former fiancé James Packer are absent. Her role as a judge on "American Idol" and feud with Nicki Minaj is unrecognized. She explained: "If somebody or something didn't pertain to the actual meaning of Mariah Carey, as is the title, then they aren't in the book."
In December 2020, Carey said she was exploring how to adapt the memoir into a limited series or film. "The Guardian" reported in February 2021 that Lee Daniels is working on a miniseries based on the book.
The book received positive reception from critics, general audiences, and Carey's fans alike. Based on 11 reviews, aggregation website Book Marks reported a "rave" response to the memoir. Numerous publications listed "The Meaning of Mariah Carey" in their rankings of the best music books or celebrity memoirs of 2020, including "The Atlantic", the "Financial Times", "The Globe and Mail", "The Guardian", the "Irish Independent", "NME", "Pitchfork", "Rolling Stone"/"Kirkus Reviews", "The San Diego Union-Tribune", "The Times", and "Variety".
Alison filed a lawsuit against Carey with the New York Supreme Court in February 2021 seeking $1.25 million for emotional distress caused by the memoir. She disputes her depiction and says it was used to generate book sales. In the same court the following month, Morgan filed a lawsuit against Carey, Davis, and the publishers for emotional distress and defamation for his portrayal.
Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl
Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl is a 2003 picture book by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by James Ransome. It is a retelling by Hamilton, in the Gullah dialect, of the classic story of Bruh Rabbit outwitting Bruh Wolf.
"Booklist", in a review of "Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl", wrote "In this version of the beloved Tar Baby trickster story, she drew on Gullah folklore from the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Her rhythmic, immediate version is well matched by Ransome's paintings, both cozy and exciting, which extend the fun with beautiful farmland scenes at dayclean (dawn) and daylean (evening) picturing the wily rabbit thief in human clothes repeatedly outwitting the wolf." and the "School Library Journal" described it as "meticulously paced, lyrical, hilarious, and a joy to read aloud." with "lush watercolors [that] suit the story perfectly".
"Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl" has also been reviewed by "The Horn Book Magazine", "Kirkus Reviews", and "Publishers Weekly", and the "Florida Media Quarterly".
It is a 2004 ALA Notable Book for children, and a 2004 CCBC Choices book.
Happiness Becomes You is a memoir published by singer Tina Turner in 2020. Described by the author as "a very personal book that focuses on the core themes of my life: hope, happiness, and faith," it explores details of Turner's life including how she overcame obstacles to achieve happiness and success, and offers Turner's advice on how readers can realize their own dreams. Turner co-authoerd the book with American writer Taro Gold.
Turner described "Happiness Becomes You" as a parallel behind-the-scenes story to the HBO documentary film "Tina" (2021). The book is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats. It was published in North America by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, by Droemer Knaur in Germany, and in the UK and Commonwealth nations by HarperCollins.
"Happiness Becomes You" contains eight chapters, plus an introduction and afterword, that span the entirety of Turner's life, beginning with stories about her hometown before her birth, then continues through the adversities she faced in her life and career as she worked her way up to eventually become a world-class performer, and concluding with stories about the author's daily life at the time of the book's completion when she was eighty years of age in 2020. The book's eight chapters roughly coincide with the eight decades of Turner's life.
Throughout the book, Turner provides inspirational advice and spiritual tools for the reader's self-empowerment and fulfillment, and she shares how her favorite Buddhist principles helped her overcome poverty, prejudice, illness, loss, and other personal and professional challenges. A glossy photo insert is also contained in the book, with sixteen rare and/or never-before-published images of Turner dating from the late 1970s through 2020.
"Happiness Becomes You" was selected as one of the best nonfiction books of the year by Amazon's editors, and chosen as a recommended gift book by the Amazon Book Review during the holiday season after its release on December 1, 2020.
The book became a global best seller upon its publication, including eight weeks on the Top 20 of the Spiegel best seller list for Germany, Austria, Holland, and Switzerland. It also reached the No. 1 best selling spot in the spiritual-themed book category.
The book received positive reviews from "Publishers Weekly", "USA Today", "Variety", "People", "Library Journal", "Vanity Fair", the "San Francisco Chronicle", and received a starred review from the American Library Association's "Booklist".
Turner curated a twenty-two-song playlist soundtrack for the launch of the book called "Come Up Smiling", that was published by Graydon Carter's "Air Mail" digital magazine and on Spotify. In the accompanying "Air Mail" article, she offered her thoughts on the power of music to lift one's spirits. The playlist consists of tracks from eighteen artists, including Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Andra Day, Jill Scott, Olivia Newton-John, Herbie Hancock, Taro Gold, Marvin Gaye, Janelle Monae and two songs by Turner herself.
Brown Girl Dreaming is a 2014 adolescent novel told in verse by author Jacqueline Woodson. It discusses the author's childhood as an African American growing up in the 1960s in South Carolina and New York. It was awarded the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Coretta Scott King Book Award, and an NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary work.
Jacqueline is born on February 12, 1963, in the city of Columbus, Ohio, and named after her father, Jack. While Jackie’s first year is spent in the North, several trips are made to the South for Mary Ann (her mother) to visit her parents, Grandpa Gunnar and Grandma Georgiana, who live in the Nicholtown area of Greenville, South Carolina. The region is segregated and Jackie doesn't understand why she always goes. Her parents' very different feelings about the South cause arguments between them. Eventually, Jack and Mary Ann split up, and Mary Ann and her three children, Hope, Odella, and Jackie, move south to live with Grandpa Gunnar and Grandma Georgiana.
Jackie comes to love Greenville. While racism and segregation exist there, the place is still home to her and her grandparents. They believe in peaceful marches for civil rights. They know that God will bless them for doing the right thing.
Despite the widespread animosity, there are white people in Greenville who are respectful and treat Jackie and her family like actual human beings, rather than dirt. One such woman is the owner of the local laundromat store, who has known Grandma Georgiana for years. Mary Ann, however, wants to move back North. So, she travels to New York City to get settled. Jackie and her siblings stay on with their grandparents, relishing the time they have with them until Mary Ann comes to retrieve her children, with a brand new baby boy named Roman in tow. They move in with Mary Ann's sister Caroline Irby (Aunt Kay), but Aunt Kay dies and the family of five is left alone.
Blanche on the Lam is a mystery novel by author Barbara Neely. "Blanche on the Lam" is the first in a series by Barbara Neely. This novel brings to light the intelligence and power of an African-American domestic female worker in the midst of a racist and sexist society. The book won the Agatha Award and the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery. The series continues with "Blanche among the Talented Tenth" (1994), "Blanche Cleans Up" (1998), and "Blanche Passes Go" (2000).

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