Showing results by narrator "Barrie Buckner" in All Categories

Sometimes, 12-year-old Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few black boys at Middlefield Prep, most of the students don't look like him. They don't like him either. Dubbing him "Black Brother", Donte's teachers and classmates make it clear they wish he were more like his lighter-skinned brother, Trey. When he's bullied and framed by the captain of the fencing team, "King" Alan, he's suspended from school and arrested for something he didn't do.

Tyrell is a young African-American teen who can't get a break. He's living (for now) with his spaced-out mother and little brother in a homeless shelter. His father's in jail. His girlfriend supports him, but he doesn't feel good enough for her - and seems to be always on the verge of doing the wrong thing around her. There's another girl at the homeless shelter who is also after him, although the desires there are complicated. Tyrell feels he needs to score some money to make things better. Will he end up following in his father's footsteps?

When Logan Langly backed out of getting the Mark and went on the run, no one thought he could survive on his own. Without the Mark, you can't buy food, go to the doctor, or use a tablet - you aren't even a citizen. But when he discovers that his sister is being held in a mysterious hidden prison named Acheron, Logan risks everything to travel through an underground network of the Markless to rescue her.

Logan Langly is just months away from his 13th birthday and the biggest day of his life - the day he will finally be marked. The mark lets people get jobs, use public transportation, or even buy concert tickets. Becoming marked means becoming free - or so he is told. Five years ago when Logan's sister went to get her mark, she never came back. Now Logan can't shake the feeling he's being watched.... And then he finds the wire.

When they're stuck under one roof, the house may not be big enough for their hate...or their love. Despite having been shot, Tyson Trice has survived the mean streets of Lindenwood, so nothing can faze him - not even being tossed into the affluent coastal community of Pacific Hills. Nandy Smith, the golden girl of Pacific Hills, is not pleased when she hears her parents are taking in a troubled teen boy. Nandy suddenly fears her summer plans, as well as her reputation, will go up in flames.

In the wake of the Tour de France’s fallen heroes, the story of one of history’s most legendary cyclists provides a much-needed antidote. In 1907 the world’s most popular athlete was not Cy Young or Ty Cobb. Rather, he was a black bicycle racer named "Major” Taylor. In his day, Taylor became a spiritual and athletic idol. He was the fastest man in America and a champion who prevailed over unspeakable cruelty. The men who aided him were among the most colorful to emerge from the era.

"Listen closely, 'til your attention is undivided, because the story I’m 'bout to tell will twist you up if you ain't sharp." - Dutch

Dutch pens another mystery classic like only he can. Take a journey back in time with him - he promises to deliver this urban tale like no other.

Damien's birthday is in four days! His parents have asked him what he wants for his birthday and he wants a new bike. But when his parents try to sell his old bike at a garage sale Damien refuses to allow them to sell it, until his Dad reminds him about being a blessing to others.

Tyrell's father is just out of jail, and Tyrell doesn't know how to deal with that. It's bad enough that his brother Troy is in foster care and that his mother is no help whatsoever. Now there's another thing up in his face, just when he's trying to settle down. Tyrell's father has plans of his own, and doesn't seem to care whether or not Tyrell wants to go along with them. Tyrell can see the crash that's coming - with his dad, with the rest of his family, with the girls he's seeing - but he's not sure he can stop it. Or if he even wants to.

Light is coming to the Dark Lands. But will it be too late to make a difference? In the future, the world is united under the power of one charismatic ruler, and everyone gets "The Mark" at age thirteen. The Mark lets citizens of the Global Union shop, go to school, and even get medical care - without it, you have no rights. Few refuse to get The Mark. But for the first time, some are fighting back. Logan Langly is the unlikely teenage leader of the Markless revolution.

Two days before Super Bowl XLI in 2007, the game's two opposing head coaches posed with the trophy one of them would hoist after the contest. It was a fairly unremarkable event, except that both coaches were African American - a fact that was as much of a story as the game itself. As Jeremi Duru reveals in Advancing the Ball, this unique milestone resulted from the work of a determined group of people whose struggles to expand head coaching opportunities for African Americans ultimately changed the National Football League.

Peter Leavell’s award-winning debut novel is a touching and inspiring tale of surprising heroism amid the horrors of the Civil War. Tad, a slave boy of exceptional hidden gifts, comes of age just as the Civil War erupts in coastal South Carolina. An unlikely deliverer, the young man's hopes remain buried under a crushing weight of abuse and degradation until an extraordinary event thrusts him and 10,000 fellow slaves into an uncharted wilderness of freedom and danger.

In the future, the world is united under the power of a charismatic leader, and everyone gets "The Mark" at age thirteen. The Mark lets citizens shop, go to school, and even get medical care - without it, you're on your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. But those who have refused are fighting back. Logan Langly is the unlikely leader of the Markless revolution. He started out to find his sister Lily, who disappeared during her Marking pledge, but now he's fighting for much more.

Shooting the breeze with his boys. Tightening his D on the court. Doing a color check - making sure nobody's wearing blue or red, which some Crip or Piru carrying a cut-down golf club would see as disrespect. Then back to Auntie's, hoping she isn't passed out from whiskey at the end of the day. Now that Shawn is headed for high school, he wonders if he'd be better off at the school in Mama's neighborhood, where he'd be free of Compton's hassles. But then he wouldn't be with his fellas - cracking jokes, covering each other's backs - or the fine Marisol, who's been making star appearances in his dreams.