Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson's...

"In the summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father's violence to the only place they have left: her mother's ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century ago, Joan's grandfather built this majestic house for her grandmother--only to be lynched, days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis, by his all-white police squad. This wasn't the first time violence altered the course of Joan's family's trajectory,...

"December 15, 1965, Alabama, the fateful night that triggers an avalanche of events that turn newly engaged couple Melvin and Bernadette into fugitives. A pitstop in the wrong part of town ends with blood on their hands. Suspecting that cops are already following them, Melvin realizes the only way they'll survive is if they flee the country. Bernadette, who's hiding a secret from her fiancé, reluctantly agrees. With a persistent FBI agent on their...

A selection of Adult Contemporary titles compiled by West Chicago Library staff.