Showing results by narrator "Joniece Abbott-Pratt" in All Categories

Girls who are pretty have a way of looking down their perfect noses at anyone they feel isn't worthy of sharing the air with them. They have a way of making regular girls like me feel inferior for not winning the gene pool lottery. Tormenting them is my way of getting even.

Ryo is the golden boy, the playboy prince, until his uncle betrays him and everything falls apart. Minor nobles Dagney and Grigfen are suddenly forced to fight for their lives after their father is branded a traitor. McKenna, queen of the enemy realm, has been given a mission of conquest, though she isn’t sure she’s fit for the task. But things are not always what they seem...all of these teens are actually players in the newest, most immersive virtual reality game, competing against each other for a highly coveted internship.

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.

For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar's throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer. She must then descend into the Underworld, a sacrifice to end all future atrocities. Tarisai is determined to survive. Or at least, that's what she tells her increasingly distant circle of friends. Months into her shaky reign as empress, child spirits haunt her, demanding that she pay for past sins of the empire.

In this workshop, happiness expert Jennifer Moss shares science-based strategies for creating meaningful ties at work. By finding ways to proactively strengthen relationships with colleagues and pursue your interests, you’ll create satisfying connections - both professional and personal - while improving your overall well-being.

Entrepreneur and educator Piper Anderson identifies the factors that lead to imbalanced decision-making and provides the tools to make the process less exclusive. How do you ensure introverted employees can comfortably express their ideas? That marginalized voices aren’t overtaken by dominant ones? That structural inequities and unconscious biases are acknowledged? Anderson shares techniques to help guide inclusive conversations whether you’re a leader or an employee, so that the decision-making process is transparent and outcomes reflect the team’s goals.

The First Amendment grants kids and every other citizen five monster privileges: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition the government. If the First Amendment is everywhere in their lives, shouldn’t kids know more about it? Yes!

Barb Matheson doesn't fit in: not on the Standing Rock Reservation where her mother was born; not at the mission in rural Ethiopia where she grew up; and certainly not at the Pennsylvania church where her husband preaches. Expansive and lyrical, Unfollowers is a tale of religious angst, unrequited love, and the upheaval of racial and economic privilege.

Banneker Homes is a low-income high rise in Harlem where gentrification weighs on everyone's mind. There is Swan in apartment 6B, whose excitement about his friend's release from prison jeopardises the life he's been trying to lead. Mimi, in apartment 14D, who hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing at Roscoe's and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, a former gymnast with a good education who wishes she could leave Banneker for good, but can't seem to escape the building's gravitational pull.

From NYT best-selling author Tracey Baptiste comes a singular picture book, adapted for audio, that is both a biography about Claudette Colvin, the teen whose activism launched the Montgomery bus boycott, and a celebration of collective action.

Set against the backdrop of two warring towns, Oby Aligwekwe’s Young Adult debut—told from the viewpoint of her main character—is inspired by her West African heritage, fables, and spiritual beliefs. Ona’s journey reveals the power of choice, the true source of happiness, and, most importantly, the transformation one must go through to realize and eventually occupy their purpose.

On a cold Sunday evening in early 1957, Sarah Dewhurst waited with her father in the parking lot of the Chevron gas station for the dragon he’d hired to help on the farm. This dragon, Kazimir, has more to him than meets the eye. Sarah can’t help but be curious about him, an animal who supposedly doesn’t have a soul but is seemingly intent on keeping her safe from the brutal attentions of Deputy Sheriff Emmett Kelby.

Nic Blake is a Manifestor. All she wants is to learn the Gift, so she can be as powerful as her dad ... until she discovers a shocking secret. Now she must find a powerful magical weapon, or risk losing him for ever.

Kiara, traditionally a loner, doesn't hesitate to say exactly what's on her mind. But she's found good friends among the Spyglass Sisterhood members who appreciate her keen observations and incredible smarts. When a fellow classmate starts to get bullied online, Kiara is determined not only to find the perpetrator(s), but also to bring them to justice. To do that, she'll need help from her friends and from the Sisterhood's magical spyglass to gather evidence and put the pieces together.

Danielle Evans is widely acclaimed for her blisteringly smart voice and X-ray insights into complex human relationships. With The Office of Historical Corrections, Evans zooms in on particular moments and relationships in her characters’ lives in a way that allows them to speak to larger issues of race, culture and history. We meet Black and multi-racial characters who are experiencing the universal confusions of lust and love, and getting walloped by grief - all while exploring how history haunts us, personally and collectively.

When a heatwave plunges New York City into darkness, sparks fly for 13 teenagers caught up in the blackout. A first meeting. Long-time friends. Bitter exes. And maybe the beginning of something new. When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths, love blossoms, friendship transforms and new possibilities take flight.

Thirty years ago, a young woman was murdered, a family was lynched, and New Orleans saw the greatest magical massacre in its history. In the days that followed, a throne was stolen from a queen. On the anniversary of these brutal events, Clement and Cristina Trudeau - the sixteen-year-old twin heirs to the powerful, magical, dethroned family - are mourning their father and caring for their sick mother. Until, by chance, they discover their mother isn't sick - she's cursed. Cursed by someone on the very magic council their family used to rule. Someone who will come for them next.

As the city grinds to a halt, twelve teens band together to help a friend pull off the most epic apology of her life. But will they be able to make it happen, in spite of the storm? No one is prepared for this whiteout. But then, we can’t always prepare for the magical moments that change everything.

When Anais Granofsky’s parents meet in the early 1970s, they are foreign and fascinating to each other. Stanley is the son of a very wealthy Toronto Jewish family; Jean is one of fifteen children from a poor Black Methodist family, direct descendants of the freed Randolph slaves. When Jean becomes pregnant at nineteen, Stanley doesn’t anticipate being cut off by his parents. Nor does the couple anticipate that Stanley, soon to rename himself Fakeer, will find his calling in the spiritual teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh on an ashram in India.

Teenager Raven Baxter has a special talent: She frequently gets spotty visions of the future, seeing brief glimpses of what could or will come to pass. This collection includes the first three books in the That’s So Raven series.