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By the groundbreaking author of the award-winning Monster–a visionary who influenced and inspired a generation–this story take us back to the world of 145th Street: Short Stories to show how love can be found, and thrive, in the most unlikely places.
Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive in a war he doesn't want to fight, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. There is the "good daughter" who realizes that there's only one way to help her brother and her family. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion.
AWARDS FOR WALTER DEAN MYERS: New York Times Bestselling Author 3-Time National Book Award Finalist Michael L. Printz Award 5 Coretta Scott King Awards 2 Newbery Honors National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (2012-2013) Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement Children’s Literature Legacy Award
By the groundbreaking author of the award-winning Monster–a visionary who influenced and inspired a generation–this story take us back to the world of 145th Street: Short Stories to show how love can be found, and thrive, in the most unlikely places.
Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive in a war he doesn't want to fight, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. There is the "good daughter" who realizes that there's only one way to help her brother and her family. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion.
AWARDS FOR WALTER DEAN MYERS: New York Times Bestselling Author 3-Time National Book Award Finalist Michael L. Printz Award 5 Coretta Scott King Awards 2 Newbery Honors National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (2012-2013) Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement Children’s Literature Legacy Award
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
From the book
When Daddy first came up with the idea we just all sat there crying our eyes out. We said we would do it, but I don’t think anybody believed it at the time. He knew we were too upset even to talk about it, especially Mama. So the day I brought him tea and he asked me to sit down to talk about it, he got right to the point.
“Abeni, you and me have always been tight,” Daddy said, sitting up on the propped pillows. “We’ve always had something special going on.”
“I think so,” I said.
“Look, the other day when I told your mama what I wanted, I tried to make it a little light because I knew she was going to be upset,” Daddy said.
“It’s hard to talk about,” I said, feeling the tears welling up in my eyes.
“I know, baby, and I know your mama wants to do the right thing.” Daddy’s hand was shaking slightly as he brought the cup slowly to his lips. He sipped the tea, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
“How you feeling?”
“I can hold things down a little better now that I’m finished with that chemotherapy,” he said. “You know, what I wanted to do was to go over the things I said the other day and maybe tell you why I said them.”
“About Big Joe’s funeral?”
“Yeah, well, that was something,” Daddy said. He smiled, but his face was drawn. “Big Joe giving himself a funeral while he was still alive gave me the idea. People still talk about that funeral and that little Puerto Rican gal singing. She’s in college now, ain’t she?”
“Out in St. Louis, studying journalism,” I said.
“When I came to the realization that this cancer had won the last round, I started thinking it over—you know, adding up the pluses and minuses—that kind of thing.”
“Daddy, you’re going to get me crying again.”
“Baby, I don’t care if you cry, but I know I can count on you more than I can on your mama and Noee,” Daddy said. “Your mama wants to see me off proper, and that’s good. We’re a churchgoing family and a homecoming ceremony is what everybody expects. But like I said before, I’m a black man who loves the three ladies he’s enjoyed his life with. Noee ain’t nothing but a child—lovely as she wants to be, she ain’t got your spunk, Abeni. I guess you being the firstborn I wasn’t sure what I was doing and halfway tried to make you into a boy.”
“I’m all right as a girl, too, Daddy,” I said.
“Well, can you see what I’m talking about?” he asked. “Can you see that this is a kind of gift I can give to my ladies?”
I tried to say yes but the tears were on their way and I was putting my head on his chest.
“I’ll get it done, Daddy,” I said. “I’ll get it done.”
A year ago my family had big plans. Mama had been working for twelve years in LaRose Beauty Salon and now the owner was retiring and my parents had put the money together to buy the business. “And we’re changing the name to the Curl-E-Que!” Mama said. “And my girls will work alongside me.”
We were all excited about opening up the shop, counting on Daddy’s job with the bus company to keep us going while we built it up.
Then Daddy got ill and all the joy just drained from the family. We were close. Mama and Daddy had been married forever, and people on the block said that me and my sister were the...
About the Author-
Walter Dean Myers has written over fifty books, which have received numerous awards, including two Newbery Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, and four Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors. He lives in New Jersey.
Reviews-
Starred review from August 1, 2007 Gr 9 Up-On 145th Street, the Curl-E-Que Beauty Shop serves as a loose nexus for both the community members and their stories. Cheryl tries to seduce her best friend's boyfriend to help her determine if he is a good catch; Calvin reconsiders his attempts to buy a gun after visiting a prison; Abeni learns that she achieved short film fame by breaking up with her boyfriend on camera. In a series of vignettes, Myers spins tales of promising athletes, desperate mothers, and misguided adolescents. Readers will find the authentic dialogue appealing, and the sometimes-humorous chapter titles offset the occasionally bleak content. The final story takes Corporal Curtis Mason from the neighborhood to Afghanistan. Though sporadic references to Myers's "145th Street: Short Stories" (Delacorte, 2000) appear in this new work, these selections stand alone. Rich in both character and setting, these urban tales combine heartbreak and hope into a vivid tableau of a community. A priority purchase for all libraries, especially those in urban settings."Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library"
Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2007 Aneighborhood beauty salon is the setting for lots of the fast, funny talk in these stirring contemporary stories, which nonetheless give a grim view of being poor and black, whether on the streets of Harlem, in prison, or on the war frontin Afghanistan. Rooted in the harsh realism of widespread unemployment, drug use, and trouble (more brothers going to jail than going to college), the teens tender connections are heartbreaking. A single teenage mother loves her baby, and so does the young dad, who wishes he could support them. Some teens are college-bound, but a boy with a high-school diploma cant find work: will he get a gun? Tough gangster Burn is gentle with handicapped kids, but he cannot connect with the girl he loves. In Mama, a kid who cares for her mom, a recovering addict, and tries to get her brother to preschool turns out to be only eight years old. There are lighter moments, too; in Poets and Plumbers, Noee feels uncomfortable in Kyles apartment until she shows him how to unplug his kitchen drain. Each story stands alone, but some are connected, and readers familiar with Myers 145th Street (2000) will welcome back some characters. Hope lies in what the book title says, finding love and community.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)
Hazel RochmanStarred Review, Booklist, June 1 & 15, 2007: "Hope lies in what the book title says, finding love and community."
Chris Shoemaker, New York Public LibraryStarred Review, School Library Journal, August 2007: "Rich in both character and setting, these urban tales combine heartbreak and hope into a vivid tableau of a community. A priority purchase for all libraries, especially those in urban settings."
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