Clearance

"Riveting . . . An engrossing, street-level recounting and ambivalent ode to a great city."--Jamie Berger, San Francisco Chronicle

On July 13, 1977, there was a blackout in New York City. With the dark came excitement, adventure, and fright in subway tunnels, office towers, busy intersections, high-rise stairwells, hotel lobbies, elevators, and hospitals. There was revelry in bars and restaurants, music and dancing in the streets. On block after block, men and women proved themselves heroes by helping neighbors and strangers make it through the night.

Unfortunately, there was also widespread looting, vandalism, and arson. Even before police restored order, people began to ask and argue about why. Why did people do what they did when the lights went out? The argument raged for weeks but it was just like the night: lots of heat, little light-a shouting match between those who held fast to one explanation and those who held fast to another.

James Goodman cuts between accidents, encounters, conversations, exchanges, and arguments to re-create that night and its aftermath in a dizzying accumulation of detail. Rejecting simple dichotomies and one-dimensional explanations for why people act as they do in moments of conflict and crisis, Goodman illuminates attitudes, ideas, and experiences that have been lost in facile generalizations and analyses. Journalistic re-creation at its most exciting, Blackout provides a whirlwind tour of 1970s New York and a challenge to conventional thinking.

This book tells the story of a group of kindergartners and college students as they explore what it means to grow. Reading it, children will find out that growing includes learning about their bodies, where food comes from, and beautiful places in the world. The book is a culmination of "The Growing Project," a curriculum created by college students working in partnership with a kindergarten class. It is a celebration of children's voices and learners self-worth at every stage of development -- a narrative about and by young people who embark on a journey of discovery that connects their own health and future with that of the world. "I like it!" -AL, Thorne Kindergarten Student "It's awesome!" -JM, Thorne Kindergarten Student "How can we grow a better world? This questions turns a group of children into explorers - of their neighborhood and the neighborhoods of distant continents. They learn that sharing and caring for the world take root when they grow together. Delightful illustrations spark a story that will inspire kids and the grown-ups who care for them." -J.C Todd, grandmother and Lecturer in Creative Writing, Bryn Mawr College "Children will love this fanciful and informative book about what they do best: growing! All readers will find inspiration in how the book itself grew -- a vital collaboration among college students and kindergarten creating a curriculum, and a vision, to help the world." -Alice Lesnick, PH.D., Director/Bryn Mawr/Haverford Education Program To learn more about "The Growing Project," please visit: thejourneyofgrowing.wordpress.com All proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit Titagya Schools in Northern Ghana, a pre-school and kindergarten enterprise that shares the book's vision and values. To find out more, please visit: http: //titagyaschools.org/wordpress

Set in Brooklyn during the Depression and World War II, "Brown Girl, Brownstones" is the enduring story of a most extraordinary young woman. Selina Boyce, the daughter of Barbadian immigrants, is caught between the struggles of her hard-working, ambitious mother, who wants to "buy house" and educate her daughters, and her father, who longs to return to the land in Barbados. Selina seeks to define her own identity and values as she struggles to surmount the racism and poverty that surround her. Moving and powerful, "Brown Girl, Brownstones" is both a classic coming-of-age tale and a vivid portrait of one family's struggle to achieve the American Dream.