Showing results by narrator "James Peter Francis" in All Categories

A powerful wartime saga recounting the extraordinary story of the 761st Tank Battalion, the first all-Black armored unit to see combat in World War II.

Junior, a 300 pound musical and artistic prodigy, depends on his imagination for companionship. Buddy is used to depending on no one but himself. Homeless, he uses his wits to survive the streets. With the help of Mr. Poole, the school custodian, the two boys discover a sheltered universe of their own in the basement room. When their hiding place is discovered, and Junior loses the only place he feels safe, his imagination takes over. It will take all of Buddy’s resource to protect his friend as the realities of Junior’s world come crashing in around them both.

Such is our task, and such lies before us all: Liberty or death. In the summer of 1775, fleeing from a death sentence, Octavian and his tutor, Dr. Trefusis, escape through rising tides and pouring rain to find shelter in British-occupied Boston. Sundered from all he knows Octavian hopes to find safe harbor. But in the midst of war, no place is safe. The city of Boston itself is under siege. What follows is a tale of skirmish and flame, flight and fury, and battle on sea and land.

In this brilliant narrative, Fleischman re-creates the first great battle of the Civil War from the points of view of sixteen different participants. Through an unflinching narrative of the battle of Bull Run, human faces begin to emerge from the faded pages of history. Read by a varied cast of narrators, the characters on both sides spring to vivid life as they share their feelings as the battle of Bull Run rages around them.

Damon Pierce's life has just reached a defining moment: a gifted California lawyer, he's being divorced by his wife and his work often seems soulless. Then he receives a frantic e-mail from Marissa Brand Okari—a woman he loved years ago—and decides to risk everything to respond to her plea for help. Marissa's husband, Bobby Okari, is the charismatic leader of a freedom movement in the volatile west African nation of Luandia, which is being torn apart by the world's craving for its vast supply of oil.

In the groundbreaking tradition of his award-winning Monster and Bad Boy: A Memoir, Walter Dean Myers fashions a highly listenable, powerful novel about the rules for success for young men, especially those navigating coming of age while Black. Share this book in the classroom, in a father-son group, or as a summer listening (or anytime) choice that's likely to spark conversation and be a favorite.

A defense attorney who lives his life in shades of gray, Victor Carl fights all the right fights for all the wrong reasons. With a failing legal practice, a dead-end love life, and a pile of unpaid traffic tickets, Victor skates on the razor's edge of legal ethics in search of the easy buck. But the one absolute in Victor's life is loyalty, especially to a client, even if he happens to be dead.

When Filthy White Guy buys about a hundred burritos and blows up the microwave of the convenience store where Paris Scott has been working for 30 long nights, Paris decides his life couldn't be more of a mess. But when he gives Filthy White Guy a ride home to a Bel Air mansion, things really start to explode.

The Gospel According to Matthew is Volume 22 from Gospel and Acts, the New Testament, from the unabridged Contemporary English Version Translation of the Holy Bible.

After three years of struggling to restore his father's vineyard, lawyer Jason Dark has managed to get his life on track and to win back his estranged wife and son. Then, in one irrevocable moment on a dark, storm-swept mountain road, he must make a terrible choice - a choice that forces him into a succession of lies that he hopes will protect his family. Will he survive the consequences of his momentous decision?

It is the evening of 16-year-old Melody's coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the music of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress - the very same dress that was sewn for a different wearer, Melody's mother, for a celebration that ultimately never took place. Unfurling the history of Melody's parents and grandparents - from the 1921 Tulsa massacre to post-9/11 New York....

Kevin Johnson is 13 years old. And heading for juvie. He's a good kid, a great friend, and a star striker for his Highland, New Jersey, soccer team. His team is competing for the State Cup, and he wants to prove he has more than just star-player potential. Kevin's never been in any serious trouble... until the night he ends up in jail. Enter Sergeant Brown, a cop assigned to be Kevin's mentor. If Kevin and Brown can learn to trust each other, they might be able to turn things around before it's too late.

Tired of the dating scene in suburban Philadelphia, 29-year-old Myles Moore is waiting for the right woman. He fills his days with basketball, teaching grade school, and “good peoples,” but his buddies always get on his case about his lofty standards in females. When he meets beautiful Marisa Marrero, a black Latina lawyer, he knows she is the woman of his dreams. But Marisa is all too human—ambitious, self-sufficient, and with her own views of romance.

Generations of American history students grew up believing that slave rebellion was relatively rare, that slaves accepted their lot and became attached to their masters, and that they were ultimately liberated with little or no effort of their own. Liberally sprinkled with quotations from Civil War-era blacks, both slave and free, Breaking the Chains gives readers a well-researched look at the lives of real slaves.

So believes Victor Carl, the antithesis of the classic sharp-eyed, cool, and dispassionate lawyer. Late one night Victor gets a panicked phone call from an old law school buddy. Guy Forrest claims he's just found the body of his fiancee in the house they shared. The victim is the entracing Hailey Prouix, a woman with numerous charms who had mesmerized Victor - and every other man she ever met.

Tip and Teddy are becoming men under the very eyes of their adoptive father, Bernard Doyle. A student at Harvard, Tip is happiest in a lab, whilst Teddy thinks he has found his calling in the Church, and both are increasingly strained by their father's protective plans for them. But when they are involved in an accident on an icy road, the Doyles are forced to confront certain truths about their lives, how the death of Doyle's wife Bernadette has affected the family, and an anonymous figure who is always watching.

For a young adolescent, David Curry has a lot to contend with. He loves and fears Reuben, his troubled father. His older brother, Ty, is turning into someone David doesn't know anymore, or trust. And his mom is struggling to hold everything together.

At four years old, Richard Wright set fire to his home in a moment of boredom; at five his father deserted the family; by six Richard was - temporarily - an alcoholic. It was in saloons, railroad yards and streets that he learned the facts about life, about fear, hunger and hatred, while his mother's long illness taught him about suffering. In a world of White hostility and subjugation it would be his love of books and pursuit of knowledge that would propel him to follow his dream of justice and opportunity in the north.

Two friends, the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, share this uplifting story about their childhoods, showing young listeners how to find joy even in uncertain times. This is a charming story of how every child has joy inside them, even when it sometimes hides, and how we can find it, keep it close, and grow it by sharing it with the world.