Recently Published Books
Memories: The True Story of An African American Family
by Gwendolyn Scotton Bethea, Ph.D.
Date of publishing (December 20, 2022).
For more information, contact scottoncommunications@gmail.
Kisses at the espresso bar—poems, Kelsay Books, 2022 by Anita Nahal, Ph.D.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1639801812/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_W3VW8V8Y4PTA7BWRH7VY
What’s wrong with us Kali women?–poems Kelsay Books, 2021
by Anita Nahal, Ph.D.
BLACK POWER, BLACK LAWYER
MY AUDACIOUS QUEST FOR JUSTICE
by Nkechi Taifa RELEASE DATE: N/A
Book Review:
For more information contact gsbethea@yahoo.com; and scottoncommunicationsnetwork.
Will You Still Love Me?
by Zenobia Bailey RELEASE DATE: N/A
Book Review:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/will-you-still-love-me-zenobia-bailey/1127280277?ean=2940158653322
This picture book is intended to encourage all who are or will be dealing with the many forms of Dementia, including Alzheimers.
BY THE RUBRIC OF RHYTHM, THEY’LL READ
by Cherie A. Ward, PhD, M.A.T., B.A.
By the Rubric of Rhythm, They’ll Read
offers alternative keys for children
reading below basic to succeed.
Opening doors and new horizons
for students placed at risk,
tapping into their multiple intelligences
that systemic approaches and standardized tests have missed.
It discusses the history of public schooling
and the reading literacy paradigm,
stating the problem while presenting solutions
that stimulate and liberate students’ minds–
Into real-world social
and interactional contexts,
using poetry to renegotiate narrative texts
to promote individual agency through
oral, audio, visual, written language,
fusing technology and arts at its best!
The book is for parents, teachers,
educational stakeholders and laypeople alike.
It’s for anyone who wants to step outside of the box
and in our children ignite–
The spark that will make students
want to learn as they dance and sing,
taking into account their prior knowledge
and the cultural capital they bring.
An educator’s creation through imagination
and willingness to take the lead,
creating multimodal communicative texts using poetry
so that by the rubric of rhythm, they’ll read.
Drenched thoughts
by Anita Nahal, Ph.D.
Vandana Kumar
5.0 out of 5 stars The Story of Priya Lingers
Reviewed in India on November 4, 2023
Verified Purchase
It has quite some years since I started writing poetry and as my poetry circle of friends expanded, more often than not, I would be reading friend’s poetry books and reviewing them or writing a foreword for a poetry book. Since my vision impairments put limits on my reading time, I was off late craving to read a good novel. I take breaks from my poetry by watching good films, but the soul was craving a compelling novel to read.
Anita Nahal’s book ‘Drenched thoughts’ was that answer. It is a literal translation for me of the reader’s experience – drenching one not just in thoughts but a lot of self-seeking and one way journeys.
Diasporic novels often tend to get clichéd in the usual conflict points. There are moments when they get caught in cultural conflicts and the tradition vs. modernity and adaptation themes loom large.
‘Drenched thoughts’ scores for me while dealing with characters. Here the contradictions and issues run deeper.
Priya the central character goes through all the twists and turns in a classic narrative plot, making this one of those stories that has to be finished, whatever the individual speed. For me, with a novel like this, I can’t do multiple readings. This had to be only Drenched thoughts’, albeit at my own pace – to go through Priya’s journey. Even if the story is nothing like my personal life – the beauty is in somehow feeling that I am living it. There lies the success of the author.
Going into a shower or for a bath can usually be relaxing at the end of a day. There are bathroom singers who find a voice that they are too scared to bring to an audience. Then there is Priya – bathroom for her brings back ghosts – memories torment her. Being a single mother in her adopted country is different culturally from India. These little things all add to the nuanced understanding of the character.
There various points at which we can relate with the protagonist and relate them with our own responses to our own struggles.
Take the lines from Page 95 for example –
“You know Priya, you come for your appointment every time dressed so well. I am so impressed. No one can tell there’s such disappointment in your life. But I truly want you to feel better. Be well”.
“I try, I try, but why show the world my misery? For coffee table mold
I will become a topic.
Their views about me would be myopic.”
How many times we feel low due to personal losses, unfair treatment at the work place or simply relationship issues and yet that is something we show only to those we are intimate with.
As we say “apna tamasha nahin banana hai”( We don’t want to make a spectacle of ourselves).
So there goes on the bright lipstick (perhaps brighter than one would normally use) simply to drive home the point that my issues are not for public consumption.
The beauty of the novel is the deceptively light tone and how it is laced with humor. This is about a woman operating at multiple levels – trying to fit into a milieu that is alien – languages are different and the English spoken by her is different from the American English. The cultural references are many and that could merit a separate review in my opinion. Knowing a language superficially doesn’t really make you American or English in the country you migrate to.
Nothing is obviously stated but this and many other cultural difference form a part of the sub-text.
Nothing is overly sentimental or mushy as is a tendency with books on the diaspora where the homeland is a rosy place and nostalgia clouds the judgment.
The book is a must read for the pain that Priya goes through. The crossroads of various cultures and the multiple identities that she juggles with all add to the layering of a very rich book by a poetess and novelist par excellence.
Black Elder Speaks
by Dr. Frederick D. Harper
Black Elder Speaks is a collection of Dr. Frederick Douglas Harper’s previously published and unpublished poetry and prose on the topics of race, race relations, Black consciousness, Black pride, racial identity, and racism. In addition, Harper speaks from years of acquired wisdom in providing advice and insight on topics of holistic health and rightful living. The book is divided into seven major sections that include (a) Race, Racism, and Racial Struggle, (b) Honoring Black Women, (c) Honoring Black Men, (d) Honoring and Rearing Black Children, (e) Black Culture, Health, and Spirituality, (f) Black Consciousness and Black Pride, and (g) Black Elders Speaks on Life and from Wisdom (for example, on themes of love, peace, giving, forgiveness, purpose, freedom, truth, courage, pain vs. pleasure, and spirituality). The book concludes with a number of wise quotes and thoughts.
I Am I
by Dr. Frederick D. Harper
Through poetry and prose, I AM I challenges the reader to discover the light of God’s talent from within and to share that talent with others. The author writes about his own found light of purpose to “create and serve for good cause.” The author writes from messages that come to him from his soul within and from a spirit existence that he believes to be God, including God’s spirit guides and his hereditary ancestors.
Moments of Clarity:
Anthology of Stories from Faculty Who Teach For Success
by Zenobia D. Bailey
This delightful-to-read volume reveals the inside stories of 17 higher education instructors who have earned their success in the traditional classroom or with online instruction. These educators were not born teachers, they all worked through a series of challenges that grew their instructional clarity, competence, and confidence.
The primary purpose of this book is to help adjunct faculty and contract instructors understand how to become student-revered teachers. Seventeen educators tell their personal stories of their moment of clarity, a moment of insight that taught them something of significance about the true nature of teaching and how to teach for success.
The reader will learn why some instructors teach better than others. Their stories reveal how these successful educators think about teaching and learning. Their stories are heartfelt, real, and worth hearing, especially if you care about teaching and student success. Whether you are adjunct faculty, full-time faculty, faculty developer, or trainer, you will benefit from the lessons these authors have to teach.
Second Chance Living:
Out of the Darkness, Into the Light
by Zenobia D. Bailey
A powerful must-read within the PWN African American Series, Second Chance Living: Out of the Darkness Into the Light, provides support, encouragement, and spiritual enlightenment to bring you peace on your life journey. Co-authored by Naomi Jones RN, Dr. Cynthia White, Jacqueline Wilson, Zenobia Bailey, Dr.Karen L. Donald, Charmaine Smith, Charis Brown, Regina Banks-Hall, Sheba Harrington, Rev. Dr. Rita Coley, Jodi Brockington, Markheta Parker, Dr. Stacy L. Henderson, Wanda Harris Pemberton, Jeralyn Major, and Gloria Anderson.
Memories of a Counselor: From My Soul to Your Eyes and Heart
by M. P. Henson I
In June 2000, forty-three-year-old M. P. Henson I decided to shun his tumultuous past and begin a new chapter, ordained by the Holy Spirit. Now free of drugs, foolishness, and the despair that had taken over his life, in one form or the other, for over thirty years, Henson was finally ready to stop the madness. Henson begins by sharing personal essays that offer a candid glimpse into his loving yet challenging childhood experiences, his eventual plunge into addiction, and his journey to overcome his addictions and find freedom through his faith. After providing illuminating insight into his path through life and the reasons behind his choices, Henson lyrically invites others into his thought processes and feelings through over sixty original poems that reflect on the themes of addiction, current events in America, dance class, thoughts of retirement, pandemic lockdown, a war of hate, the definition of Black, and much more. Memories of a Counselor is a collection of personal essays and poetry that explore the past, present, and future of an African American man as he discovers the power of faith, hope, perseverance, and love to overcome all obstacles.
The Grandfather of Black Basketball
The Life and Times of Dr. E. B. Henderson
by Edwin Bancroft Henderson II
The first contemporary biography of the man credited with introducing basketball to African Americans on a wide-scale, organized basis.
Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson was the son of working-class parents born in slavery. A driven, intelligent, and charismatic young man, Henderson attended Harvard University’s Dudley Sargent School of Physical Training. There he met the leaders in the new field of physical education and recognized athletics—and basketball, especially—as a public health initiative and a way that young Blacks could gain college scholarships and debunk the idea of racial inferiority.
In The Grandfather of Black Basketball: The Life and Times of Dr. E. B. Henderson, Edwin Bancroft Henderson II—Dr. Henderson’s grandson—provides unprecedented detail and fascinating insight into this influential figure in Black history. Henderson organized the first athletic league for Blacks, introduced basketball to Black people on a wide-scale, organized basis, and founded associations to train and organize Black officials and referees. He also wrote and co-edited the first Spalding publication that highlighted the exploits of African American participation in sports and authored The Negro in Sports. Outside of athletics, Henderson was instrumental in founding the first rural branch of the NAACP, advocated for school desegregation, and held executive board positions with multiple NAACP branches.
Overlooked for decades, Henderson was finally enshrined in the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 as a contributor. The Grandfather of Black Basketball gives long-overdue recognition to a sports pioneer, civil rights activist, author, educator, and pragmatic humanitarian who fought his entire life to improve opportunities for youth through athletics.