Between Darkness And Daylight, Gracie C. McKeever, Siren Publishing, ISBN # 1-933563-35-4, $6.99.
Nova Foxx, an over-achieving and skeptical securities and commodities sales agent, is dragged kicking and screaming into believing the supernatural, when an almost-fatal mountain climbing accident results in a near-death experience that kick starts her inherent psychic abilities into overdrive. Nova soon discovers with her newfound “gifts” comes great responsibility and is forced to relocate to another city in search of the subject of her clairvoyance, with the hopes of ending her visions and saving a stranger’s life. But first, she must convince him that his life is in jeopardy without revealing who she is and how she knows.
Creativity For Life, Eric Maisel, PhD, New World Library, ISBN # 1-57731-558-8, $17.95.
Eric Maisel, America’s foremost creativity coach, has worked with thousands of creative people over the years, including writers, musicians, artists, dancers and actors. He knows firsthand the struggles they go through, whether they’re amateur or professional, and through his many books and professional practice he’s helped them find balance in their lives while pursuing their artistic endeavors. Creativity For Life explores the multitude of challenges that comes with living an artistic life, and speaks to working artists in the real world as well as would-be and free-time artists. This book, firmly grounded in psychology, contains nuts-and-bolts ideas, exercises and inspiration to nurture growth as an artist and a person.
I Know I’ve Been Changed, ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Pocket Star Books, ISBN # 1-4165-1198-9, $7.99.
Raedella Rollins left the dusty town of Sweet Poke, Ark., on a Texas-bound bus with four mismatched suitcases, a newsroom job offer and a promise to herself: never look back. Less than a decade later, she’s a top-rated talk show host, a celebrity news anchor and fiancé to Houston’s star councilman. But now that she’s reached the top, her ragtag family comes knocking. Mama Tee, the grandmother who raised her, calls her with unwelcome family updates; and Shondella, her jealous older sister, guilts her into sending money. To Rae, nothing could be worse than an unexpected reunion with her over-the-top relatives. But when her picture-perfect life falls apart, can Rae forgive the past and open her heart to the healing that only faith and family can provide?
In Plain Sight, Gracie C. McKeever, Siren Publishing, ISBN # 1-9335-6342-7, $14.99.
When Samantha Taylor dropped out of her senior year in college to marry gorgeous and almost 10 years her senior Dawson Foster, she never know what she was getting into. But Sam is a quick study, and a year into her marriage she prepares to remove her unborn baby and herself from a bad situation before it’s too late. A headlong tumble down the stairs, however, violently nips her plans in the bud. But someone upstairs has other plans for Sam in the form of rough-and-ready, newly-expired bounty hunter, Dara Kelly.
One Night Stand, Roland S. Jefferson, Atria, ISBN # 0-7432-6889-X, $14.
Acclaimed author of the cult classic The School on 103rd Street, Roland S. Jefferson weaves an explosive literary mix of contemporary urban authenticity and classic old-school crime into a mesmerizing, pulse-pounding thriller. Meet Myra Cross, a 31-year-old redheaded beauty with a take-no-prisoners reputation as a public defender. She confounds her colleagues and clients alike as she not only wins acquittal after acquittal, but poses for Playboy in her spare time. She has the face of an angel, the body of a goddess and a mind like a steel trap. But with secrets and demons, she neither pretends to be a Girl Scout nor to have all the answers. This time, when she’s once again assigned the defense of Napoleon T. Booker – aka Little Dog Nine – who’s charged with another homicide, she gets much more than she bargained for.
The Other Side Of Through, Marsha D. Jenkins-Sanders, Strebor Books, ISBN # 1-59309-115-X, $14.
Katlyn has never forgotten what he husband said to her on the night they first met: “If given a chance, you’ll fall in love with me.” Katlyn was determined to settle for nothing but a perfect fairy tale of true love, and Justin Kincaid – as ambitious, aspiring recording artist – set out to give it to her. But two years into their marriage, cracks are beginning to show. With a number one song on the charts and beautiful, willing women all around, Justin is being drawn back into his single life. Justin knows he owes Katlyn big time for her support, but gratitude isn’t enough to keep him from straying, and it’s becoming clear that the only thing keeping them together is a commitment Justin can no longer honor.
Spells Cast In Shadows, Gracie C. McKeever, Siren Publishing, ISBN # 1-933563-34-6, $14.99.
Driven by recurrent dreams to take an ill-advised predawn ride around her ranch, Montana Freeborn stumbles across something in the road from those wildest dreams: a real live centaur. At least she thinks so; by the time she gets to it, there is no centaur, but a magnificent, unconscious and very naked man. Cast out from his tribe as a punishment for causing the death of a fellow Sapphiran, Seth Pheonix is an arrogant young centaur of royal heritage infatuated with the human race. Now, after a twist of fate, he is now forced to count on one of their ranks for his survival. His one chance at redemption, brokered with the Black Elf by his desperate mother, could be the key to his mother’s freedom or his own downfall.
There’s Always A Reason, William Fredrick Cooper, Zane Presents, ISBN # 1-59309-111-7, $14.
As There’s Always a Reason opens, William has experienced an emotional heartbreak at the hands of a woman. When he loses his job, too, William finds himself battling just to survive. When he’s convinced he’s at his nadir, William meets another woman, Linda Woodson, who begins to restore his faith in all areas of life, illustrating through example that a woman of enormous strength can teach a man the true meaning of love. There’s Always a Reason delves into the complex workings of the human heart and its ability to triumph over despair, providing an uplifting message and emotional core that will resonate with every reader.
Thong On Fire: An Urban Erotic Tale, Noire, Atria Books, ISBN # 1-4165-3302-8, $14.
Widely hailed as the “Queen of Urban Erotica,” fan favorite Noire is back with a wildly seductive new novel, Thong On Fire, capturing the sizzling intersection of the ‘hood and the high life as she tells Saucy Sarita Robinson’s incredible story. It’s a hard-knock life for Saucy and the rules of the game are clear: get yours or get had. When her father gets popped in an armed robbery and her mother turns to drugs, Saucy is left to scratch out a life for herself on the streets of Harlem, and this city-slick vixen refuses to become a victim. Noire dishes the lowdown on the sordid underbelly of the glamorous music scene, scorching the pages with so much sex, scandal and drama that this ripped-from-the-headlines read is combustible.
When You Fall Down – Get Up!: A Millionaire’s Memoir, Ella M. Coney, AuthorHouse, ISBN # 1-4259-8777-1, $18.95.
A young girl sits on a bus stop. She is alone and distraught as she is facing eviction from the housing projects for being three months behind on her rent. Having to come up with nine dollars seems like having to come up with a million dollars. She has two beautiful babies and is looking at jail time for welfare fraud. Hopeless, depressed, and at the end of her rope, she devises a plan that will take her to riches beyond her wildest dreams.
Ella M. Coney was born in Lubbock, Texas but was raised, from her high school years, in Denver. She joined the Air Force in l974 and was one if its first female aircraft radar mechanics. She was given and honorable medical discharge in October l980. She is a successful 53-year-old real estate investor.
Coney will host a book signing April 17 at the Blair-Caldwell African-American Research Library, 2401 Welton St. in Denver, with readings at 5 and 6 p.m. Books will be available for $18.95.
For more information, call 303-388-1208 or e-mail msella1208@msn.com.
The Wicked , L.A. Banks, St. Martin ’s Press, ISBN # 0-312-35236-0, $14.95.
Damali and Carlos have finally tied the knot, but there is no happily ever after on the horizon. Cain, the son of Eve and the new Chairman of the Vampire Council, is amassing an army of creatures no one has ever seen. A band of human scientists conducting secret experiments opens the dimension that holds Cain, and he is released into the human world, bigger and badder than ever. Her family slaughtered, Damali heads for Hell to serve justice and faces off with a nemesis the likes of which she has never encountered. The
Vampire Huntress series gets even hotter as new deadly enemies join forces with the old in the battle that will lead to Armageddon.
Kam's Picks - Book Reviews By Kam Williams
Broken Utterances: A Selected Anthology of 19th Century Black Women’s Social Thought, Edited and Illustrated by Michelle Diane Wright, Three Sistahs Press, Paperback, $24.95, 328 pages, ISBN: 0-9769-3651-8.
This book endeavors to piece together the broken utterances of 20 women into a seamless painting of understanding which is representative of Black women of the 19th Century… It is an examination of how the unique position of the African-American woman provides her with the ability to dissect the ills of society, and also offers her distinctive insight for positive transformation…
The broken utterances of each of these 20 women serve to make their personal journeys a universal expression of the tripartite and egalitarian nature of gender, race, and class concerns for all Black women in the past and present. They began the erasure of the blue-lined boundaries that society imposed upon them, and boldly opened an exhibition space in which their collective offspring would continue to create.
--Exerpt from the Forward
For too long, the unique perspective of the African-American female has languished in the shadows of intellectual thought. During the Civil Rights Era, sisters tended to be relegated to support rather than lead roles. Thus the Movement was marked by both machismo and an unchallenged patriarchy, as exhibited by revered icons like Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chairman Stokely Carmichael and Black Panther Spokesperson Eldridge Cleaver.
When Carmichael was confronted during a SNCC conference by Black women concerned about their roles and what they saw as sexism, he abruptly ended the discussion by stating, “The only position for women in the movement is prone.“ Cleaver, a convicted rapist, was worse, for he implemented a philosophy termed “Pussy Power” whereby the Panthers pimped out their women for the cause.
In her autobiography, ex-Panther Elaine Brown admits to selling her body to wealthy white men to help support the Party financially. And she has come to regret that a woman asserting herself in the organization was ostracized as a pariah.
Given that prevailing attitude of the previous generation, it should come as no surprise that African-American culture might have devolved into the miasma of misogyny reflected in the explosion of thugs and gangstas in evidence today. However, this sorry state of affairs doesn’t reflect the fact that there are now and have always been many intelligent African-American females inclined to weigh-in on the issues of the day without compromising their dignity.
I have digressed by way of introduction only in order to emphasize the significance of Broken Utterances: A Selected Anthology of 19th Century Black Women’s Social Thought. For this groundbreaking book, edited and illustrated by Michelle Diane Wright, lays the groundwork for an appreciation of a score of visionary sisters who were ready to lead their people over a hundred years ago.
Although a combination of racism, sexism and classism might have meant that most of these brilliant thinkers went unrecognized by mainstream history books, fortunately they left behind speeches, articles and journals which the author has unearthed and culled through to distill into an informative text of considerable significance.
For in discussions of prominent black women of the 19th Century, generally, only Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth come to mind. And while those two icons were certainly among the leading activists of the era, they were by no means the only ones speaking out eloquently and forcefully on the culture and politic climate.
There was also, for example, Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879), a contemporary of insurrectionist David Walker, earnestly advocating the abolition of slavery. She informs whites that “Our souls are fired with the same love of liberty and independence with which your souls are fired,” adding that she is not out for revenge because, “too much of your blood flows in our veins, and too much of your color is in our skins, for us not to possess your spirits.”
In another chapter, Sarah Mapps Douglass (1805-1882) complains about the use of the insulting term “Negro” in reference to African Americans. Though born free in Philadelphia , she relates how she came to care about the plight of fellow Blacks yet enslaved after someone tried to kidnap her in order to sell her as chattel.
Ann Plato (born 1824) emphasizes education in her essays, saying, “This appears to be the great source from which nations have become civilized, industrious, respectable and happy.” Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), observing the privileged position enjoyed by white women in society insists, “Look at me! Ain’t I a woman?”
Sara Parker Remond (1826-1894) focuses on the wholesale rape of Black women and the implicit simultaneous psychosis of the white male in an 1859 speech where she observes that, “there are 800,000 mulattoes… and these are constantly sold by their parents.” And we learn that the fiercely independent Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) left her Uncle Tom of a husband’s black ass behind, even though he threatened to inform massa of her plans to escape.
These and so many other searing narratives combine to make Broken Utterances not merely a fascinating read, but a seminal contribution to the field of Black feminist intellectual thinking. As such, all of African Americana owes a debt of gratitude to Michelle Diane Wright for her admirable, exhaustive, encyclopedic efforts to elevate these brave, sisters, even if belatedly, to their rightful place as very important voices in the Black struggle for freedom.
Out Of The Ballpark, Alex Rodriguez, Illustrated by Frank Morrison, HarperCollins Publishers, Hardcover, $16.99, 32 pages, ISBN: 0-06-115194-7.
Before he hit 400 home runs… Before he was named American League MVP… Before he was A-Rod to millions of fans… He was Alex. Just a kid who wanted to play baseball more than anything else in the world.
–Excerpted from the Inside Book Jacket
Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, aka A-Rod, was born in Manhattan on July 27, 1975, although his family would move back to the Dominican Republic four years later, before returning to the states and settling in Miami three years after that. But his father soon abandoned the family, which forced Alex’s mom to take two jobs to support their three kids all alone.
It was in Florida that A-Rod’s love of baseball which would lead to his major league career was forged, and he draws on those experiences in writing Out of the Ballpark, a picture book ideal for children between the ages of 4 and 8.
The admittedly semi-autobiographical adventure recounts the efforts of a kid named Alex and his best friend, J.D., who play for a Little League team called the Caribes. The tale opens during the post-season playoffs, and Alex is so nervous that he makes an error that almost cost them a chance to play for the championship.
Still, it’s easy to guess how it all will end, but perhaps more important than winning is Alex’s postscript where he says that the fictional story is “based on things I actually did- like actually getting up at 5 A.M. to practice my baseball fundamentals.” An admirable role model, he adds, “I also studied hard, stayed away from drugs, and showed respect for my friends and elders. That’s my recipe for success, but you can use it, too.”
Baseball memorabilia collectors might want to note that the first edition of Out of the Ballpark includes a special-issue Topps baseball card featuring a photo of an adolescent A-Rod on the front, and a brief description of his childhood on the back. Available in English and Spanish, the book is elegantly illustrated by Frank Morrison, a gifted artist who paints young Alex as the sort of doe-eyed hero certain to appeal to the imaginations of drowsy future major leaguers about to drift off to sleep.
The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America, Joseph L. Graves Jr., Plume, $16, Paperback, ISBN: 0-452-28658-1.
The traditional concept of race as a biological fact is a myth. I am going to show you that nearly everything you think you know about race is a social construct. You don’t have to be a racist to be wrong about what race is. That doesn’t make the effects of a belief in race any less damaging, or the situation any less perilous. Most Americans still believe in the concept of race the way they believe in the law of gravity - they believe in it without even knowing what it is they believe in...
America’s racist thinkers have relied on three unchallenged assumptions: that races exist; that each race has its genetically-determined characteristics; and crucially, that social hierarchy results from these differences. We must recognize that the underlying biological diversity of the human species cannot be artificially apportioned into races, because races are simply not biologically justified.
I hope that this book will be the definitive statement of the difference between the biologically and socially defined concepts of race. If we can understand that all allegiance to racism is ideological, not scientific, then we may be able to silence the bigots once and for all.
—Excerpted from the Introduction
Do you still think of people of different skin colors as being from different races? You probably won’t any longer after reading The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America. Written by evolutionary biologist Joseph L. Graves Jr., this persuasive polemic succinctly states that there’s no scientific explanation for these so-called “racial” classifications, and that these distinctions have their basis not in biology but in bigotry.
If “race” per se doesn’t exist, then how do you explain the groupings of people one can readily observe? “What we think of as race today is really a surrogate for membership in cultural groups,” Graves argues, adding that “cultures actually evolve much faster than genes do.” Seen in this light, one can readily recognize race as an arbitrary caste system constructed to benefit the privileged at the expense of those designated as lower class. Such a pseudo-scientific rationale, he continues, enabled whites to establish a social hierarchy where they controlled access not only to material wealth but to physical, sexual and emotional well-being as well.
Because racist attitudes are seemingly second nature, Graves indicates that removing deep-seated prejudices calls for an overhaul of the prevailing mindset. And he is not all that optimistic, for, as he puts it, “The relations between America’s socially constructed races are getting worse, not better.” As roof, he points to Black and white reaction to the O.J. verdict, to the disenfranchisement of African-American voters after the 2000 Presidential Election, and to the increasing gap between Black and white SAT scores.
Nonetheless, the author suggests that because “every human being needs to feel respected” hope for eradicating this enduring divide rests with everyone working together to dismantle the myths which have promulgated white domination in favor of a color-blind altruism where one is judged by the content of his or her character. For as Graves concludes, “If we can live up to our creed of equality for all, then maybe we will finally have a chance to actualize the true spirit of democracy and the American Dream.”
The Secret, Rhonda Byrne, Beyond Words Publishing, Hardcover, $23.95, 216 pages, ISBN: 1-58270-170-9.
What is the Secret?
The Secret is the law of attraction!
Everything that’s coming into your life you are attracting into your life. And it’s attracted to you by virtue of the images you’re holding in your mind. It’s what you’re thinking. Whatever is going on in your mind, you are attracting to you.
-–Excerpted from Chapter One, “The Secret Revealed”
Like no other individual in America, Oprah Winfrey has the power to kick start the latest craze. Such was the case a few years ago when she praised a dietary supplement called Airborne as a means of warding off colds and flu-like symptoms. Well, sales of the over-the-counter medication took off, and everywhere you turned, there was another person popping the chewable tablets like candy.
Oprah is also capable of catapulting an author to the top of the Best Seller list, and this is precisely the phenomenon we are witnessing today with The Secret, a how-to primer which purports to unlock “the great mystery of the universe.” The book shot to the top of the charts right after being featured on her show in February.
So, exactly what is this “key to everything you have ever wanted,” including unlimited joy, heath, money, relationships and love? A surprisingly-simple, supposedly recently-unearthed revelation called the Law of Attraction.
In essence, the Law states that you create your own reality with your thoughts. This concept is not at all new, but the potentially-dangerous psychobabble long served up as the fundamental tenet of tautological philosophies spouted by an assortment of New Age gurus ever since the 60s. Here, that basic idea has been cleverly re-packaged for mass consumption as a multi-level marketing campaign hawking not only a text for 24 bucks, but a DVD and CDs as well.
Since The Secret is one of the fast-selling self-help books in the history of publishing, nothing in the power of my words will affect its popularity one iota. However, please permit me to suggest that those looking for easy answers to all their woes take a look at the background of its author Rhonda Byrne for clues as to what’s happening here. Prior to experiencing the “visions” which would inspire her to discover the life-transforming revelation that is the basis of her runaway best-seller, the piercing-eyed platinum-blonde was the creator and executive producer in her native Australia of hit TV specials on such subjects as UFOs and The World’s Greatest Commercials. So, her resume’ reads more like that of P.T. Barnum than that of a great thinker.
Furthermore, upon close inspection, it becomes clear that The Secret repeatedly employs a subtly deceptive persuasion device referred to in tabloid journalism as “confirmed nonsense.” This trick, routinely utilized by the likes of The National Enquirer and The Weekly Word News, involves relying heavily on the statements of experts in order to have their credentials legitimate what would otherwise sound like utter foolishness.
In conclusion, while The Secret’s mind-numbing pabulum can be considered a harmless escape for anyone inclined to pretend for a little while that mind over matter might work, it is just as likely to lead to bitter disappointment for those who take its teachings to heart and thereby expect to eradicate disease, acquire massive wealth and overcome all manner of obstacles by virtue of positive thinking alone.
Sucka Free Love!: How to Avid Dating The Dumb, The Deceitful, The Dastardly, The Dysfunctional, and The Deranged, Deborrah Cooper, A-Magination, Paperback, $16.99, 242 pages, ISBN: 1-4196-5385-7.
The goal of this book is to demonstrate with real life examples the many ways we shoot ourselves in the foot in our quest for love… We alone are responsible for our choices. Love does not just happen to us, we choose to let it in or not. Barriers to love certainly exist in the form of unresolved hurts and anger, addictions, insecurities, and fear of intimacy or commitment. But still, love is our choice.
We choose who we will allow to love us as well as who to give our love to. Who you decide to let in to love and to love is a combination of your culture, family values, personality, spiritual beliefs, experiences and maturity, and the way you feel about yourself…
Regardless of your history and how many of the letters within these pages reflect [your] personal experiences, [the] relationship you want is out there. Don’t give up! Reading this book is your first step towards a better you and improved relationships with men.
–Excerpted from Sucka Free Love!
Are you sick of dating suckas? If so, then have I got a great how-to tome for you. Sucka Free Love! is the brainchild of Deborrah Cooper, a San Francisco-based relationship expert who has counseled folks in the Bay Area for 15 years on HeartBeat, her own cable TV talkshow. She also answers an array of Dear Abby-style questions from the lovelorn over the Internet at her Web site called www.AskHeartBeat.com.
The book is basically comprised of a couple hundred Ms. Cooper’s responses to inquiries about everything from cross-dressing to cyber sex to Jungle Fever. The author invariably has some sage advice to share, and does so in an interesting fashion likely to entertain readers even in entries not addressing one’s own particular issues. On erectile dysfunction remedied: “Stop bragging, you Viagra-overdosing old goat.” On sleeping with one’s cousin: “I suggest that you get out more and meet people you aren’t related to.”
And Deborrah is not above unleashing a well-placed expletive ("He’s full of bleep!") about a playa when it’s called for, or using tough love ("I suggest you reevaluate this 'man of my dreams'") to bring the delusional back to reality. She also has an uncanny sense of when it’s okay to make light of a situation, like when responding to a Black man who admits to having a thing for overweight white women (“I wonder if the Michelin Man has a sister?”)
Never one to mince her words, Cooper exhibits a reliably quick wit and a willingness to cut right to the chase repeatedly. When a 21-year-old guy asks about a bizarre gay practice involving gerbils, she responds, “Idiots put animals up their butts… You’re on your own, homie!” And when a 20-year-old girl weighs in about being bulimic to look prettier, Deborrah deals with her in just three words: “You are stupid.”
Besides a cornucopia of such priceless bon mots, the book has 10 Rules for Sucka-Free Dating and a quiz to determine whether your partner is a keeper.
A humorous, yet no-nonsense primer on dating definitely designed with the concerns of the MySpace Generation in mind.
Turn The Page And You Don't Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth, edited by Patrick M. Oliver, Say It Loud! Books, Paperback, $12, 156 pages, ISBN: 0-9779499-0-7.
Why read?
Reading isn’t just for sissies, or nerds or geeks. Research shows that young people involved in after-school programs, especially reading programs, are far more likely to become productive citizens.
It is because of my first-hand experience with children and youth, watching them change before my eyes as they learned to read and grasp what they had read; it is because of the many parents and educators who articulated their desperation to find ways to help their children read, that Turn the Page and You Don't Stop was born.
It is my hope that this anthology will give children and youth a reason to pick up that next book, or that pen and pencil. I hope that parents and teachers will use this treasure of stories and essays to instill in children and youth a love of words, stories, and books.
–Excerpted from the Introduction
There is an old Jesuit saying which goes, “Give me the child until he is seven, and I will show you the man.” If you believe the words of that wise maxim, then you know that early intervention is the answer to the woeful literacy and high school graduation rates which come to permeate the African-American community.
For some reason, reading isn’t generally considered cool among most Black teens, especially males, in inner-city schools, a self-destructive attitude which only lessens their prospects for success later in life. Fortunately, Patrick Oliver has staked his career on reversing this suicidal trend. Oliver, co-founder of the Black Male Development Symposium, has been making significant inroads as the director of the Open Book Program, a city-wide reading project in Chicago.
And now he has decided to share his strategy with the rest of the country as editor of Turn the Page and You Don't Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth, a valuable how-to book designed to inspire youngsters with an interest in reading. He makes his case first by pointing out that even entertainment icons must master the language, citing Grammy-winner Erykah Badu, who studied theater at Grambling State University, and the late gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur, who attended the Baltimore School of the Performing Arts.
Then, the author allows each of his 26 contributors (including Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Haki Madhubuti and Patrice Gaines) to write a chapter aimed at whetting a thirst for knowledge in impressionable adolescents. Though the collaborators’ styles range from the lyrical poetry of Parneshia Jones, E. Ethelbert Miller and D.H. Melhem to the revealing memoirs of Gaines, Madhubuti, Latoya Wolfe and Sandra Govan to the imaginative fiction of Ivory Achebe Toldson to the no-nonsense advice of David Miler, all the pieces share the book’s prevailing theme, namely, that developing a passion for reading at an early age is critical to expanding a child’s horizon and thereby maximizing his or her potential.
A useful guide to encourage at-risk kids, or ones who just might not yet think of themselves as bookworms, to become voracious readers and thereby adopt a path aimed at academic achievement.
