Books Brothers

Describes the life, dancing, and choreography of Alvin Ailey, who created his own modern dance company to explore the black experience.

In a story of the Ila people, the colorful birds of Africa ask Blackbird, whom they think is the most beautiful of birds, to decorate them with some of his "blackening brew."

A story celebrating a young African-American boy's first trip to the barbershop.

"When 14-year-old William Kamkwamba's Malawi village was hit by a drought in 2001, everyone's crops began to fail. His family didn't have enough money for food, let alone school, so William spent his days in the library. He came across a book on windmills and figured out how to build a windmill that could bring electricity to his village. Everyone thought he was crazy but William persevered and managed to create a functioning windmill out of junkyard...

Celebrates the magnificent feeling that comes from walking out of a barber shop with newly-cut hair.

As a school project, George and Blaise become pen pals, writing rhyming letters about their favorite things to do, unaware that one is human and the other a dragon.

"Mo is the youngest kid on the Robins football team. The kids on the rival team tease him for being a 'butterfingers' who's too tiny to catch the ball. But Mo's coach has a plan up his sleeve to turn Mo's little size into a big win for the Robins"--

When Ms. Albert teaches a lesson on kindness, Chloe realizes that she and her friends have been wrong in making fun of new student Maya's shabby clothes and refusing to play with her.

"Mo Jackson is excited for his baseball game, but Coach Marie tells him he is batting last and playing right field, again. Will Mo ever get a hit?"--Provided by publisher.

The author describes Christmas at his grandmother's apartment in Spanish Harlem the year she introduced him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Diego Velazquez's portrait of Juan de Pareja, which has had a profound and lasting effect on him.