Ti-Jean and his Brothers was Derek Walcott's first venture into musical plays and is still his most popular work. A lilting St Lucian folk-tale, it tells the story of a poor family who dwell on the edge of a magical forest haunted by the devil's spirits. The brilliance of Walcott's writing draws us into the realms of fantasy where the actual and the miraculous collide. Dennis Scott's An Echo in the Bone is set during a traditional Nine-Night Ceremony held to honour the spirit of the dead. Shattering sequential time in a series of dreamlike episodes the play takes us back to the time of plantations and slavery - and the savage murder of the white estate owner. Who killed Mr. Charles? The answers lie deep in the racial memory, they 'echo in the bone'. The giddy atmosphere of carnival is the setting for Errol Hill's Man Better Man, a rumbustious, colourful comedy musical about stickfighters. With dance and song the battling troubadours and the calypsonian weave a tale of braver, superstition and fraudulence. When first performed the Times described it as 'a blazing electrifying feast of rhythm and colour'.

Ogden Nash is in top form with this rollicking poem about an aardvark who boards a boat to escape the biblical flood. Arrogant and vain, Aardvark wins few friends among the other animals squeezed aboard the crowded vessel--until he uses his tongue to save the ark and all of its passengers. Nash's wit and whimsy shine through this re-imagining of Noah's Ark. The delightful illustrations by Wendy Wilson paired with Nash's quotable verse will put a twinkle in the eyes of the young and the young-at-heart alike.

A girl travels the path to her future in this powerful coming-of-age collection. Exploring relationships, deep feelings and the comfort of words, we follow her as she grows up - determined to find the freedom to be herself. This is an outstanding young teen collection by a poet at the height of her powers, with striking graphic illustrations by Milo Hartnoll.

The book shows the growth of a young lady named Paris that begins life around unhealthy influences and poverty. By the age of 19 Paris had been common law married twice with two boys, one from each relationship. Paris develops a mentality of getting money by street occupations like stripping, prostitution, and trafficking drugs, becoming a life that Paris endured to only want a better way for her boys than what she once had. In her growth as a women Paris decided to get into the family business of cosmetology. Facing financial hardship changing professions Paris decides it may be in the boy's best interest that they live with their father. With no support or encouragement Paris ventures off in life of her own and develops a new outlook. Paris embraces this new life full of prominent people, events, and opportunity only to be placed on child support and legally fight for her identity as her new self. The book shows a person men or women, how your past is envious of your future, and out of spite destroys your present. Join Paris in the most interesting, intriguing true story never, but finally told. Learn how child support drama can go both ways and how the custodial parent manipulates the system to punish non custodial parents not thinking about what type of affect their actions have on the children. Reading this you will gain a real connection to Paris's character, how she is overcomes her past, a believer of faith, and a woman of God.

With push, pull and slide mechanisms, Action Rhymes will help toddlers bring their favourite nursery rhymes to life! Join in and go round and round the garden, help Incy Wincy Spider climb up and down the spout and wind the bobbin up! Scan the QR code to sing along together too! With bright, bold illustrations from Joel and Ashley Selby, this is the perfect gift for little ones. Toddlers can enjoy more classic rhymes from the Sing and Play series with in Playtime Rhymes, Bedtime Rhymes and Animal Rhymes.

"A dreamer? Me? Err, You bet, The world's greatest space cadet!" Join poet James Carter on a journey through space and time: meet everyone from a Viking warrior to a crazed cat - and travel from planet Earth to the very edges of the universe... This wonderful collection is the perfect way to get children interested in poetry.

Pablo Picasso's relationships with both his children and his female companions were often tempestuous and destructive, but they provided the drama on which he fed as he created one groundbreaking work after another. From ceramics to print making to sculpture to photography to poetry, Picasso had a huge appetite for expressing himself through every kind of artistic medium, and he is now considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. With bold, powerful oil paintings, David Diaz captures the intensity of a man who once signed a drawing as "Yo el rey" or "I the King." Besides beautifully crafted free-verse poems on Picasso's life, there is a back section that includes a glossary, a chronology, sources, notes, and a biographical essay.

Written for youth and young adults "Extra Extra Read All About Me " can be easily used as a manual of encouragement for the spirit of every being. In this wonderful little book of thought provoking poetry and art Vee Campbell shares with her readers who she is and who they are and the strength that comes through all adversity just knowing your truth and changing your mindset to match it. You will laugh, cry and smile at every discovery of yourself, and in the end; you will stand in those truths because this book really is all about you.

Khafre K. Abif has been thriving with HIV for 24 years, and is a father of two college aged young men. He holds a master's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Africana Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Abif is the Founder/Executive Director of Cycle for Freedom, a national mobilizing campaign founded in 2010, to reduce the spread of HIV among African Americans and Latinos. During the 75-day campaign, Cycle for Freedom will engage fourteen (14) African American and Latino communities along the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route by developing strategies designed to increase HIV testing, and confront HIV-related stigma, homophobia, and lack or mis-education. www.cycleforfreedom.org Abif is one of five men in the inaugural class of The HEALTH (Health Executive Approaches to Leadership and Training in HIV) Seminar Program, a year long program designed to enhance knowledge, skills, and abilities for assuming leadership/management positions in the field of health with a particular focus on HIV for the next generation of African American MSM leaders and community based organizational practices. Abif also serves as Community Educator/Test Counselor for ONE Life of Pittsburgh, PA, as well as the Georgia HIV Prevention Community Planning Group. He formerly served on the Pennsylvania HIV Prevention Community Planning Group and was the Community Co-Chair for the New Jersey HIV Prevention Community Planning Group where he ensured PIR for the group. As a librarian, Abif managed Children's Services for Brooklyn Public Library and was the first recipient of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) Dr. John C. Tyson Emerging Leader Award. As former Director of the Langston Hughes Library for the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) at the former Alex Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee, Abif was responsible for meeting the library's mission to serve as the intellectual commons of the movement to Leave No Child Behind(r). Publications include co-editing with Teresa Y. Neely, In Our Own Voices: The Changing Face of Librarianship, and is contributing author in the anthologies Poor People and Library Services, and Handbook of Black Librarianship. Forthcoming work includes Raising Kazembe, and Fall to Grace. Visit Abif at TheBody.com http: //www.thebody.com/content/art60852.ht

"When de July sun hot like fire, ""Den I have jus' one desire, ""To run down to de shop an' buy a ""Kisko pop.

The World Is Sweet "and "Hot Like Fire "are collected together for the first time. Valerie Bloom's poetry is beautifully crafted yet full of energy and fun. Her mixed use of standard English and dialect is a delight to read and hear. Children love reading and listening to her work Valerie's subjects range from global pollution, problems with math homework, and the sad demise of pet frogs (he croaked of course), to taking sandwiches to school and being afraid of ghosts.