Standing Outside on the Inside


Book Description

At a time when increased emphasis is placed on pre-college preparation of disadvantaged students, the number of African American students entering colleges and universities continues to decline and the achievement gaps between these students and their White peers persist. While many enrichment programs report impressive gains, little research on these programs contains the perspective of the Black students. This book presents the results of a longitudinal study of academic achievement and pre-college enrichment of disadvantaged African American adolescents in two inner-city high schools. Through its presentation and analysis of the students' perceptions of pre-college enrichment seen in relation to their definitions of scholarship and the discussion of findings related to parent and teacher involvement, this book provides fresh perspectives on the school experiences of Black adolescents and offers important insights for those involved in both the development and evaluation of enrichment programs.




Standing Outside the Law


Book Description

Troy Jacobson has always tried to stay invisible; the Snake, the palsy he has wrestled with his entire life, usually has other ideas. But in the spring of 1969, Troy finds a place where he can be accepted when he and two old friends, Jesse and Coleman, decide to start a commune of their own in Denton, Texas. They bring in other friends and lovers and it works for a few months until the hot summer day when Coleman hits on a girl that Jesse brings home from a gig. R.E., Coleman's girlfriend and the one steadying influence in his life, tries to help him balance the demons that drive him to make all the wrong choices. When an expensive car pulls up outside one morning, the men in suits inside set in motion a series of events that take them back into family histories that range from the Utopian communes of the 1850s, to the early days of the Beats, and to the mansions of the ultra-rich in Fort Worth, and then forward onto roads leading away from Texas and out west into the unknown.




Standing Outside the Fire


Book Description

SLOW BURN It began as an anonymousflirtation. Storm raging, lightsflickering, two stranded travelersdecided to share uninhibitedconversation—but no names—during a stolen encounter. Talking turned intokissing…and the need to know each other's names. Inan instant, Boone Devlin and Erin Frye discoveredthey weren't exactly strangers. And Boone discovered that Erin was a virgin.Only fate could have seen fit to land bachelorhoodlovin'Boone in bed with the marriage-mindedmanager of the Texas ranch he'd inherited andintended to sell. Suddenly, his best-laid plans promisedto be the ultimate betrayal. Because Boone wasstarting to suspect that he and Erin had created a lotmore than sparks….










Mountain Craft


Book Description




The Journal


Book Description

A young woman gives birth to a baby, then sinks into a coma. Her family finds a journal she has kept since she was a very young child and are astounded to discover she had recorded events in their lives she should not have known.




The Whispering Roots


Book Description




Pepi and I


Book Description

Does freshly deceased rat taste better than frozen steak? Can dogs weed a flowerbed? Does the Universe provide free birthday cakes in a park? As soon as Jitka and her fiancé buy a house, it’s time for Jitka to fulfil her long-time dream: to have a faithful, cute, furry friend, capable of true, unconditional love. The new addition to their family is strong-willed, with a clear focus on his own wants. He displays daily his obvious love of all the things the world so generously provides for him, especially if it tastes good, or at least is not completely inedible. Not aware yet that a dramatic turn of events is just around the corner, Jitka and her fiancé are enjoying life with the many surprising and frequently comical situations that Pepi drags them into. As life, so often unpredictable, can change laughter into tears, joy into fear and vice-versa, Jitka’s secure world is turned upside down and she is hurtling down the roller coaster with Pepi by her side. Will they make it? These are life lessons – powerful, maybe, but always entertaining.




Firstborns


Book Description

When Captain Malcom Kin, captain of the West Army, received orders from the master-at-arms to eliminate a people called the Firstborns, who were deemed enemies to their way of life by the Ten heads of state, he immediately began to ask questions about killing unarmed people. "That is genocide," he whispered. The master-at-arms promptly reminded him of his duty as a captain in the army. Captain Kin reluctantly accepted his orders. But unknown to him, those orders will take him on a journey to learn the truth about the ten heads of state, as well as himself.