Synopsis: 'I Love Black People! I Just Can't Help It.' 'A Love Letter to Black People: Audaciously Hopeful Thoughts on Race and Success' by Brian McClellan is a book sure to challenge and inspire those who have this type of deep affection for the Black community but also deep concerns for its future. Inspired in part by the historic political success of Senator Barack Obama, 'Love Letter' explores the unique way high achieving African Americans view race and success and why, for the love of the Black community, all Black people must apply these lessons. The insightfulness of McClellan's discussion in 'Love Letter' is bolstered by a supporting survey about race and success completed by more than 100 young, Black business and community leaders. Their opinions regarding provocative racially charged topics such as 'acting white' are inspirational, thought-provoking and sometimes more provocative than the questions themselves. 'Love Letter' is a must read for those who love Black people and just can't help it!

Synopsis: Alexandre Dumas was already a best-selling novelist when he wrote this historical romance, combining (as he claimed) the two essentials of life--"l'action et l'amour." The Man in the Iron Mask concludes the epic adventures of the three Muskateers, as Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and their friend D'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Synopsis: Frankie Uccello seems like just another fourteen-year-old boy -- Ace of Average, King of Common, Master of Middle. Everything he does has a tendency to turn out average. Even when Frankie dreams recurrently of flying, his father tells him that at least one in three people does this. He's perfectly normal, normal, normal. Or is he? When Frankie discovers something ominous about his dreams -- that he can dream the future, especially when something bad is about to happen -- he realizes that he might be talented, after all. But seeing the future was only cool in movies and TV. In real life, you're just a whacko. Besides, the future doesn't look good. One night Frankie dreams his best friend, Tim, falls from a horse. Is Tim going to be killed? Can Frankie save him? Something about the dream doesn't fit, and that something is Weird Maura-Lee, one of three people Frankie avoids like the plague. Maura-Lee can read minds, and she seems to be reading his.

Synopsis: Book of the Year, Fiction--Books and Authors Winner, Novella, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner, Fiction and Literature, Young Adult Fiction--National Best Books Awards Winner, Teen-Young Adult Fiction, Reader Views Literary Awards Silver Medalist, Men's Fiction, Living Now book Awards Silver Medalist, Audio and Spoken Word, Nautilus Book Awards Silver Medalist, Mid-Atlantic Best Regional Fiction, Independent Publisher Book Awards Finalist, Audio Book of the Year, ForeWord Magazine Finalist, Best New Fiction--National Indie Excellence Awards Steve O'Brien has crafted a new work of fiction that successfully negotiates the tricky balance between entertainment and instruction. Overtly didactic in some ways, Elijah's Coin is also a highly suspenseful story that introduces us to characters we come to care about. The content is edifying and thought-provoking, but the story never becomes dry. Elijah's Coin is the story of Tom, a young man who has suffered a tragic loss and is spiraling out of control. He's angry, anti-social, and rapidly descending into a life of crime. Then, during a night of folly, as he brazenly commits burglary, Tom encounters the night watchman Elijah King, a mysterious figure with a shrouded past. Elijah, unexpectedly, doesn't turn Tom in but instead becomes a stern and rather cryptic mentor to him. Rather than laying his lessons out in a straightforward manner, Elijah gives Tom an enigmatic coin and sends him on a mission of self-discovery. The remainder of Part One of the story chronicles Tom's quest to find three powerful, respected men - an entrepreneur, a courtroom lawyer, and a philanthropist whose lives were forever changed through their own encounters with Elijah. Each step of the journey enriches Tom's sense of the world and of the contributions an individual can make to it, so that through searching for others he ironically comes to know himself. Each meeting also provides a piece of the puzzle that is Elijah and his give-to-get philosophy. Nonetheless, Tom becomes increasingly desperate to find Elijah himself again. The few clues he pieces together ultimately disclose a shocking truth. In Part Two, Tom lives the message, learns to trust his own instincts and uniqueness, and becomes himself a mentor to other individuals on the verge of being lost. Each new, unexpected arrival, directed Tom's way by Elijah, presents its own difficulties. In dealing with these challenges, Tom is forced to discover resources within himself he had never suspected. A serious conflict between his new values and a thirst for vengeance arises, however, when Tom finds himself face-to-face with the darkest figure from his own past.... Author Steve O'Brien is an experienced litigator and international businessman who serves as General Counsel for a global consulting company. With Elijah's Coin, he turns his hand to fiction and draws upon his business and legal experience to create convincing scenes with corporate and courtroom settings. Engaging, thoughtful, and ultimately profound, Elijah's Coin is a rare example of a work of fiction that aspires to transform its readers. As the great German poet Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote: Du musst dein leben andern ( You must change your life ). Elijah's Coin poses the same challenge through a story about inner growth that will inspire readers everywhere.

Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Happenstance awakens in a cave with no memory of who he is or how he came to be there. Soon a mysterious trio arrives to take him away: the explorer Umber, the shy archer Sophie, and Oates, whose strength and honesty are both brutal. Hap and his new acquaintances narrowly escape the cavernous underworld and make their way to Lord Umber's bustling jewel of a harbor city, Kurahaven.

Once there, Hap learns that Lord Umber is an extraordinary man -- he's a merchant, adventurer, inventor, royal adviser, and chronicler of all things monstrous and magical. But Umber's accomplishments can't answer the question closest to the boy's heart: Who is Happenstance?

Desperate to uncover clues in his new, baffling surroundings, Hap accompanies Umber on dangerous and unusual missions. But Hap soon learns that there are powerful enemies inside the kingdom, and a ruthless assassin is hot on his trail. Faced with many unknowns, Hap knows one thing is certain: There's a reason Umber has chosen him...if only he could determine it.

P. W. Catanese's richly spun fantasy chronicles one boy's quest for answers and hope in a world riddled by knowledge and power corrupted.

Synopsis: Read Sherri L. Smith's posts on the Penguin Blog

Ida Mae Jones dreams of flight. Her daddy was a pilot and being black didn’t stop him from fulfilling his dreams. But her daddy’s gone now, and being a woman, and being black, are two strikes against her.

When America enters the war with Germany and Japan, the Army creates the WASP, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots—and Ida suddenly sees a way to fly as well as do something significant to help her brother stationed in the Pacific. But even the WASP won’t accept her as a black woman, forcing Ida Mae to make a difficult choice of “passing,” of pretending to be white to be accepted into the program. Hiding one’s racial heritage, denying one’s family, denying one’s self is a heavy burden. And while Ida Mae chases her dream, she must also decide who it is she really wants to be.