J. Brian Pinkney

During his busy day, Kenny gets dressed, fights his fear of the vacuum cleaner, gets a soccer lesson from his sister, and prepares for bed, with his loving family always near.

"Good friends Otter and Beaver use water and sticks for very different purposes as they spend time together"--

It was a day when Max didn't feel like talking to anyone. He just sat on his front steps and watched the clouds gather in the sky. A strong breeze shook the tree in front of his house, and Max saw two heavy twigs fall to the ground. So begins this story of a young boy's introduction to the joys of making music. Max picks up the sticks and begins tapping out the rhythms of everything he sees and hears around him-the sound of pigeons startled into flight,...

Benjamin Banneker was born free when most blacks were still enslaved. A self-taught mathematician and astronomer, he was the author of the first published almanac written by a black man. Throughout his life Bannecker was troubled that all blacks were not free. So, in 1791, he sent a letter to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Here is the extraordinary correspondence between the two men.

In a rich embroidery of visions, musical cadence, and deep emotion, Andrea and Brian Pinkney convey the final months of Martin Luther King's life -- and of his assassination -- through metaphor, spirituality, and multilayers of meaning.

Describes the origins and practices of Kwanzaa, the seven-day festival during which people of African descent rejoice in their ancestral values.

A brief recounting of the career of this jazz musician in the voice of "Scat Cat Monroe."

Mentu, an American-born slave boy, watches his beloved grandmother, Twi, lead the insurrection at Teakettle Creek of Ibo people arriving from Africa on a slave ship.

When Pap goes away to build the New York City subway in 1915, his family sends him Mother's special jam which works magic in returning him home to celebrate Christmas.

Describes the life and accomplishments of the son of a former slave whose unusual bulldogging style made him a rodeo star.