Best Selling Books by Walter Dean Myers

"We cannot let this history die, nor can we let it fade away. As it has filled me with pride and given me understanding of one group of outstanding soldiers, so it should be passed on to all Americans to appreciate and honor" (from the introduction by coauthor and unit historian Bill Miles) The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage is a portrait of bravery and honor. With compelling narrative and never-before-published photographs, this 160-page highly illustrated narrative nonfiction book introduces the unsung American heroes of the 369th Infantry Regiment, the Harlem Hellfighters. A good choice for book reports and other research by middle grade students—as well as for parents and teachers to share with young people interested in World War II and African American history. At a time of widespread bigotry and racism, the African American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment put their lives on the line in the name of democracy. Bill Miles wrote: "The 369th was not only an outstanding military unit; it also represented a part of the history of my Harlem community and, as such, part of my history as well. As I learned the story of the regiment—how it was first formed, its glorious record in World War I—I knew I was discovering a hidden history of African American accomplishments." He continued: "As unit historian I recognize that the documentation of the 369th is as vital to understanding the African American experience as any story about slavery or the civil rights movement. For in the story of the 369th—in the trenches of France, in the battles of Meuse-Argonne, and at the bloody siege of Sechault—we have African Americans defining their own characters with courage and determination, writing their own history in sweat and blood."

Follows a family's two hundred forty-one year history, from the capture of an African boy in the 1750s through the lives of his descendants, as their dreams and circumstances lead them away from and back to the small plot of land in South Carolina that they call the Glory Field.

Acclaimed writer Walter Dean Myers celebrates the people of Harlem with these powerful and soulful first-person poems in the voices of the residents who make up the legendary neighborhood: basketball players, teachers, mail carriers, jazz artists, maids, veterans, nannies, students, and more. Exhilarating and electric, these poems capture the energy and resilience of a neighborhood and a people.

Cindy's friend, Karin, needs a break, so Cindy agrees to babysit one evening. However, when Karin decides she needs more time to figure out her life, Cindy and her friends must manage to take care of the baby.

History has made me an African American. It is an Africa that I have come from, and an America that I have helped to create. Since they were first brought as captives to Virginia, the people who would become African Americans have struggled for freedom. Thousands fought for the rights of all Americans during the Revolutionary War, and for their own rights during the Civil War. On the battlefield, through education, and through their creative genius, they have worked toward one goal: that the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness be denied no one. Fired by the legacy of men and women like Abd al Rahman Ibrahima, Ida B. Wells, and George Latimer, the struggle continues today. Here is African-American history, told through the stories of the people whose experiences have shaped and continue to shape the America in which we live.

Relates events in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, childhood, which sowed the seeds for his activism for equal rights for people, regardless of their color.

Set in Harlem, this book bears witness to the difference a caring adult can make in the life of a young person.

Friends Zander, Kambui, LaShonda, and Bobbi, caught in the middle of a mock Civil War at DaVinci Academy, learn the true cost of freedom of speech when they use their alternative newspaper, The Cruiser, to try to make peace.

A collection of poems and antique photographs depicting children of many different nationalities.

Sixteen-year-old Crystal knows she's blessed. She is drop-dead gorgeous and in the beginning stages of a glamorous career as a model in New York City. At first, modeling is exciting. But soon, her life becomes less and less about her, and more and more about her body. Crystal wonders if her new life is worth giving up everything -- her friends, her beliefs, and her self-respect.

Simple text and photographs present different types and colors of leaves found in the Northern Hemisphere during autumn.

Each book in this series begins with a two-color, eight-page foreword containing history and photographs, followed by more than 300 pages of the best titles from the Warner Bros. Publications catalog. Ultimate Jazz Showstoppers contains more than 100 standards that every jazz musician must have in their repertoire, including: Azure * Days of Wine and Roses * Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me * Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile) * A Foggy Day * The Girl from Ipanema * I Got Rhythm * It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) * Makin' Whoopee * Moonlight in Vermont * 'Round Midnight * Stairway to the Stars * Star Dust * Take Five * Watch What Happens and many more.

Monster is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon. Is he really a monster, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Text and pictures describe the life and ideas of the Black Muslim leader Malcolm X.

Jimmy and Kevin could really use a guide to life. According to Duke, who has given them after-school jobs at his Harlem barbershop, there are rules for everything: how to stay out of trouble, how to succeed in life, what it takes to make it. But is it good advice or just more aggravation?

Teenager Biddy Owens' 1948 journal about working for the Birmingham Black Barons includes the games and the players, racism the team faces from New Orleans to Chicago, and his family's resistance to his becoming a professional baseball player. Includes a historical note about the evolution of the Negro Leagues.

Pictures and easy-to-read text introduce the life of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.