Showing results by narrator "Bahni Turpin" in All Categories

Billed as the Little Girl with the Big Voice, blues singer Lucille Arnetta Love always dreamed of life under the lights. From traveling family gospel band to lead singer in a riotous vaudeville troupe, Lucille is on the rise. But a devastating family secret, one that’s poised to shatter every dream she’s ever had, casts an inescapable shadow over Lucille’s career. Decades ago, a botched robbery ended in a suspicious death—and all signs point to Lucille’s own father as the culprit. It’s a secret that Lucille’s family is determined to keep buried—even from Lucille herself.

Stoneybrook has gone star-crazy! Derek Masters, an eight-year-old regular on a hit TV sitcom, has moved to town. Everyone's wondering what a real-live TV star will be like - will he drive to school in a limo? Jessi can't believe it, but even stars need baby-sitters, and she's the lucky club member to watch Derek Masters. Even though a lot of kids at school call Derek a spoiled brat, Jessi likes him immediately. He rides bikes and eats junk food like a normal kid, but he has exciting stories about Hollywood, too! Maybe Jessi would like to be a star, too!

Ten-year-old orphan Libète has been hardened by the daily struggle to survive in Cité Soleil, Haiti's most infamous slum. But when she and her best friend, Jak, discover a young mother and her baby brutally murdered in a nearby marsh, it's unlike anything she's encountered before. Though initially shocked, the adults of Cité Soleil move on quickly from the event; after all, death is commonplace in this community.

Receiving a desperate call from the Mancusi family, Jessi takes on an unusual sitting job caring for three dogs, five cats, two birds, a cage of hamsters, guinea pigs, fish, a snake, rabbits, and turtles.

Women warriors planned and led slave revolts on slave ships during the Middle Passage. They fought their enslavers throughout the Americas, and then they were erased from history. Wake tells the story of Dr. Rebecca Hall, a historian, granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery. The accepted history of slave revolts has always said that enslaved women were not involved, but Rebecca decides to look deeper.

As a conductor for the Underground Railroad - the covert resistance network created to aid and protect slaves seeking freedom - William Still helped as many as 800 people escape enslavement. He also meticulously collected the letters, biographical sketches, arrival memos, and ransom notes of the escapees. The Underground Railroad Records is an archive of primary documents that trace the narrative arc of the greatest, most successful campaign of civil disobedience in American history.

Birdie Jennings dreams of a big life beyond her small town of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky—beyond her mundane job tying tobacco leaves at Wrights Factory, beyond her position as the baby of the family. Her life changes when she meets smooth-talking Jimmy Walker. Jimmy makes big promises for an exciting life together, and Birdie is quickly swept off her feet. But some short years after they marry, Jimmy disappears without a trace, leaving Birdie hurt and alone with their two toddlers. Out of money and out of options, Birdie moves back home with her overbearing mother.

“Make a way out of no way” is just the way of life for Rue. But when her mother is shot dead on her doorstep, life for her and her younger sister changes forever. Rue’s taken from her neighborhood by the father she never knew, forced to leave her little sister behind, and whisked away to Ghizon - a hidden island of magic wielders.

The machines collapsed society with blinding speed, hunting mankind to the edge of extinction. Yet Junior, a young robotics expert, has managed to survive on his island in the Pacific Northwest. He's leveraged his extensive combat experience to learn even more about the tireless enemies that stalk him. He's ready to escalate the battle - and now he and the hardened soldier Brick have allies.

Drawing from the magical world of her iconic Sundance award-winning film, Julie Dash’s stand-alone novel tells another rich, historical tale of the Gullah-Geechee people: a multigenerational story about a Brooklyn College anthropology student who finds an unexpected homecoming when she heads to the South Carolina Sea Islands to study her ancestors.

Robert and Mkiwa Livingston are happily ensconced in their tranquil life in Geneva, Switzerland, when Robert's best friend drops dead from a brain aneurysm, sparking a mid-life crisis. Nostalgic for the New England of his youth, Robert begs his wife for a chance to go back to his native America. As the Livingstons settle into their new home in Marblehead, Massachusetts, they - along with the rest of the country - become engrossed in a popular TV show called Quiet Time, about a family who decide to give up all electronic devices and smartphones for one year.

Karina lost everything after a violent coup left her without her kingdom or her throne. Now the most wanted person in Sonande, her only hope of reclaiming what is rightfully hers lies in a divine power hidden in the long-lost city of her ancestors. Meanwhile, the resurrection of Karina’s sister has spiraled the world into chaos, with disaster after disaster threatening the hard-won peace Malik has found as Farid’s apprentice.

When Jessi's mom goes back to work, Aunt Cecilia moves in with the Ramseys to help out. Jessi is mortified that she has a baby-sitter and can't stand her aunt's bossy ways.

Venus McGee, Draya Carter, and Jackie Benson are coworkers with a lot in common. They’re smart, independent, driven, and deserving of recognition - certainly more than they’ve been handed by a demoralizing boss. He’s the topic of conversation at their impromptu get-together after the company holiday party, where the threesome fantasizes about a life without him. There has to be an alternative to taking a deep breath and sucking it up. There is. It’s just not the one they expected. When morning comes, Venus, Draya, and Jackie are blindsided by murder....

When headstrong West Indian heiress Patience Jordan questioned her English husband's mysterious suicide, she lost everything: her newborn son, Lionel, her fortune - and her freedom. Falsely imprisoned, she risks her life to be near her child - until The Widow's Grace gets her hired as her own son's nanny. But working for his unsuspecting new guardian, Busick Strathmore, duke of Repington, has perils of its own. Especially when Patience discovers his military strictness belies an ex-rake of unswerving honor - and unexpected passion....

Hundreds of years ago, MAGIC disappeared from Earth. At least...UNTIL NOW. Because suddenly, giant magical beings are appearing and only GINA can see them. Not to mention, Gina can somehow do magic herself. Magic is powerful. But it can also be DANGEROUS. With DJ and HILO's help, can Gina figure out how to protect the magical beings from the creatures who are after them? AND how to use her magic to become who she was always meant to be? And can she do it WITHOUT putting the entire PLANET in JEOPARDY?!

Rue has no memory of how she ended up locked in a basement prison without her magic or her allies. But she’s a girl from East Row. And girls from East Row don’t give up. Girls from East Row pick themselves back up when they fall. Girls from East Row break themselves out. But getting free and finding her friends is only half the battle. Rue vows that when she reunites with them, she will find a way to return the magic that the Chancellor has stolen from her father’s people. Yet even on Yiyo Peak, Rue is a misfit, and she’s not sure she’s the right person to lead the fight.

How does a cake bake? What’s the difference between baking soda and baking powder? And why is it so important to measure the different ingredients in a recipe? Ada Twist, Scientist: The Why Files is the perfect nonfiction resource for all these questions and more. Based on the bestselling series and the new Netflix show, this nonfiction series is perfect for the youngest scientists of tomorrow, as they learn along with Ada.

In this startling group memoir, four friends - Black and White, gay and straight, immigrant and American-born - use Toni Morrison’s novels as a springboard for intimate and revealing conversations about the problems of everyday racism and living whole in times of uncertainty. Tackling everything from first love and Soul Train to police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, the authors take up what it means to read challenging literature collaboratively and to learn in public as an act of individual reckoning and social resistance.

Set a year before Truthwitch, Sightwitch follows Ryber Fortiza, the last Sightwitch Sister as she treks deep underground to rescue her missing best friend. While there, she encounters a young Nubrevnan named Kullen Ikray, who has no memory of who he is or how he wound up inside the mountain. As the two journey every deeper in search of answers, and as they brave one close call after another, a tentative friendship forms between them - one that might one day grow into something more.