Growing up on the rough streets of Newark, New Jersey, Rameck, George, and Sampson could easily have followed their childhood friends into drug dealing, gangs, and prison. But when a presentation at their school made the three boys aware of the opportunities available to them in the medical and dental professions, they made a pact among themselves that they would become doctors.  It took a lot of determination—and a lot of support from one another—but despite all the hardships along the way, the three succeeded. Retold with the help of an award-winning author, this younger adaptation of the adult hit novel The Pact is a hard-hitting, powerful, and inspirational book that will speak to young readers everywhere.

    The stakes—then and now—could not be higher: a child or teenager is killed by gunfire every three hours—and homicide is the leading cause of death for African American males between the ages of fifteen and thirty-four.   In Jumped In, Leap brings us stories that reach behind the statistics and sensational media images to the real lives of those stuck in—and trying to escape— "la vida loca.” With the eye of an anthropologist and a heart full of compassion, this small, tough woman from UCLA travels some of the most violent and poverty-stricken neighborhoods, riding along in police cruisers and helicopters, and talking with murderers and drug dealers, victims and grieving mothers.   Through oral histories, personal interviews, and eyewitness accounts of current and former gang members, as well as the people who love and work alongside them, readers come to understand both the people pulled into gangs and those trying mightily to forge alternatives and help their community. In delving into the personal lives of current and former gang members, Leap aims not only to find out what leads them to crime and how to deal most effectively with gang activity, but also to hear the voices of those most often left out of the political conversation and to learn from leaders who offer a different kind of hope, through community outreach and jobs programs.   As she forges lasting friendships in this community and becomes immersed in others’ triumphs and tragedies, Leap’s personal and professional lives intersect in sometimes incendiary ways. With a husband in the Los Angeles Police Department and a daughter in adolescence, she faces plenty of family dilemmas herself. Ultimately, Jumped In is a chronicle of the unexpected lessons gang members taught her while she was busily studying them, and how they changed her forever.

    The one that sets a goal and does everything in her power to accomplish it? That’s Journee. Journee is focused on graduating college and attending Medical school. But, a level headed girl always has a turn-up girl as a best friend, and that's Zoie. Journee's life was planned and moving along accordingly until she and Zoie met Jonas and Lex. Jonas, who is coming into his own, as the plug, after the death of his father, is focused on the money. He wasn’t looking for a relationship. However, when Journee walked into his life doing all of the right things, one night in Vegas quickly turned into a whirlwind love affair. What starts as two people passing time, turns into true feelings and love. Journee starts falling for Jonas and vice versa. Jonas has been burnt before by "love" so he tries to be cautious but falls hard for Journee. Will he end up getting burnt by love again? Stephan is Journee's older brother, known as the fuck-up of the family. With a get it how you live mentality Stephan sets out to do what is natural for him. However, this stick up is different; it involves his sister. Will his plan ultimately get both him and his sister killed? Love and loyalty is tested when outside sources begin to work against the young couple. While Finessing the plug, Journee falls deep in love with Jonas, and he ends up finessing her heart. Will the allure of a dangerous game be the demise of their relationship and one of their lives?

    The degree’s and lifestyle they had planned for her was decent, but it wasn’t what she wanted. GiGi wanted more. She was born in Maumee, Ohio on the outskirts of the Toledo, which was also known as the Mud. She was tired of the wealthy lifestyle that she was born into; she wanted excitement, drama, and action. Tecumseh gave GiGi exactly what she was craving, plus some. She began running the whole city at the age of 18, not because that’s what she wanted to do, but because she was on a mission to avenge the death of the love of her life. Flex was gone, and she was determined to keep his name alive through her. He wasn’t alive to check niggas, so she quickly filled those shoes for him. If they didn’t know about GiGi, if they haven’t heard about GiGi, they better ask somebody! She’s nothing to be played with!

    Law and Sin are stuck on how to fix a series of unfortunate events. Tragedy has the ability to either pull people closer or push them further apart. Shantel’s true colors were revealed at the wedding reception and Law can finally see her for who she is. After downplaying his feelings for Love and questioning her loyalty, Law is not sure who he can truly trust besides his brother. When Sin finds Tay’s, house filled with bullets panic instantly fills his heart. Unsure of what he will find, the only thing on his mind is revenge. The devastating news will bring out a side of Law and Sin that nobody was ready for. Will they be able to uncover the mystery and find those responsible for the attack? Sin, her son, Tay and their Grandmother will all be affecting by the shooting but who will survive? Will this tragedy bring Law and Love back together or is it truly too late? The roller-coaster ride that started when Love came back to town is at its peak. The loops, turns and drops that are coming could never be expected but as he has in the past Law will do anything to keep those closest to him safe. Law and Love have a true Hood Love Story, and no one is prepared for the final outcome, not even them.

    He treats her like shit because frankly, she allows herself to be treated like shit. Discover what happens when an abused woman stands up for herself and fights. Take a journey with Judie as she takes on the task of overcoming being naive and weak, and embarks on her own personal journey of empowerment.

    With his father MIA he sets out to tear up the streets of Newark brick by brick to avenge his mother’s death. Any and everybody is a suspect but what happens when the suspect is none other than his own wife Treasure?Treasure is keeping a life threatening secret from her husband that could destroy everything they are trying to build. But where should her loyalty lie with her mother or her husband. Treasure learns all that glitters isn’t gold and soon finds her life in danger…

    For as long as she could remember, she had been treated like royalty, and given any and everything she wanted. Unfortunately, traumatic events from her childhood places a thin sheet of ice over her battered heart, making it hard for her to truly fall in love, despite being in a two-year relationship with her party-promoting boyfriend, Orlando. Deceit from the first man she’s ever loved made Caprice slow to trust. So, when she finds herself smitten by Detroit’s biggest rap artist, Gunna she taken aback and has a hard time accepting that she had indeed fallen in love, and with someone other than her boyfriend. Trey ‘Gunna’ Hayes grew up in the slums, where it was either kill or be killed. Refusing to end up dead in the streets, he did what anybody growing up in the hood with a heart would do—he survived the only way he knew how to, Luckily for Gunna, free-styling on the block led him to what would eventually turn into a very profitable and successful rap career. A rap career that ultimately led him straight to Caprice, who was in a relationship when he first laid eyes on her, swaying her shapely hips to the beat of one of his hottest tracks. He didn’t care about her relationship—when he saw her, he decided he had to have her. Starr, Caprice’s best friend, finds herself in a tough spot when her drug dealing boyfriend Mace proposes to her. That would be all fine and dandy if Starr wasn’t sleeping with one of the corner boys from the hood. Instead of telling Mace no like she should have, Starr accepted his proposal because despite what he couldn’t do for her in bed, he could do a lot for her financially. Precious, another one of Caprice’s childhood friends, has been recklessly—or blindly—in love with her unemployed boyfriend, Derek, for the past five years. When he’s down on his luck, Precious steps up in a way that most women wouldn’t. What she thought was the ultimate scheme ends up being her greatest downfall. Angel is the quiet one in the clique, who’s harboring a few secrets of her own. Stuck in a dead-end relationship with her abusive boyfriend puts her in a deep depression that no one knows about. Will Caprice’s relationship with Orlando survive with Gunna on the prowl? Will Gunna’s reckless background hinder his rap career? Will Precious’s conniving ways lead to the death of her? Will Angel find the strength to finally leave her boyfriend? Find out how it all unfolds between the drama filled pages of Recklessly In Love with a Detroit Bad Boy.

    Well, according to her twin brother Cole, that is. Cole's resentment toward him has been there for as long as she can remember.So it goes without saying that she needs to stay away from Jake if she wants to keep the peace. That should be easy, right?Except there's one problem: Jake is assigned as her partner for a school paper. And as if that's not enough, she also needs his help to get back in her best friend's good graces.Callie knows that getting close to him is not a good idea. Too bad she's starting to like him...

    Not only that, she is strikingly gorgeous, witty, and smart. But she is also damaged. No matter how many great qualities she possesses; Riley has ended up scorned by love time and time again. This time though, when love leaves her with absolutely nothing and she is ready to call it quits once and for all, she finds refuge in an unlikely place. Mason Moore is handsome, wealthy, and noble. But for every positive attribute there is an even stronger, much more ruthless quality hidden underneath the surface. Growing up the son of a street legend in Passaic, New Jersey’s Aspen Place Projects, Mase has been groomed for the street life ever since he could remember. So when Mase inherited his title of Kingpin along with all the burdens that came along with it when his father was murdered in cold blood he was up for the challenge. Along with his childhood friend Steele, Mase has prided himself on his ability to continue to build and grow the organization that was handed to him with ease… that is until money turns up missing and a new flame threatens to knock him off of his square. Riley and Mase hit it off instantly and seem to be made for each other but can they really trust the fairytale their connection appears to be? Is it real or is their love circumstantial? Are they entertaining the idea of something that isn’t meant to last? With both their pasts hell bent on being a part of their futures, falling in love with each other could cost Mase and Riley not only their relationship but also their lives.

    He took my money, led me on, slept with my best friend, and left me to die. Now I’m here all alone with our child in my stomach thinking, should I kill it or let a piece of the man I hate with all my soul, live with me for the rest of my life? My name is Ashanti Knight and this is my story…

    While she’s holdin’ it down, is her man really grindin’ or cheatin’? Yahria aka Yah-Yah was a hood chick that didn’t mind fighting for what she loved. Growing up without both of her parents, she was a product her environment. She was raised by her grandmother and was the girlfriend to the newest up and coming dopeboy. Putting her life on hold, Yahria made sure her man’s needs came first while she lagged behind with his promises to make sure she was straight. After one drunken night, she discovers her intuition was right all along. Subashtian aka Bash isn’t your average dude. He dresses different, he acts different, and he spends his money different. To the human eye, he’s not a boss but the people close to him know what and who he is. Bash took a big loss, and it made him hide in a shell. He promised to never open up to anyone else besides his family. He thought he had everything planned out until destiny linked him with his opposite. Bash likes his women calm and lady-like until he meets Yah-Yah. Can opposites attract or will they clash because they are from two different worlds?

    Yet by the age of fifteen, McCall was packing a gun and embarking on a criminal career that five years later would land him in prison for armed robbery.In these pages, McCall chronicles his passage from the street to the prison yard--and, later, to the newsrooms of The Washington Post and ultimately to the faculty of Emory University. His story is at once devastating and inspiring, at once an indictment and an elegy. Makes Me Wanna Holler became an instant classic when it was first published in 1994 and it continues to bear witness to the great troubles--and the great hopes--of our nation. With a new afterword by the author

    Appropriated, chewed up, mulled over, digested, contemplated, and contorted - gathering up along the way fashion, ecology, politics, and art - architectural concepts become veritable things unto themselves in the present tense. As astoundingly diverse as contemporary architecture is, most importantly it is a reflection of what's happening right now all over the world, in people's minds and in the global collective consciousness. The many faces of world architecture today make for a mind-expanding book. Here you'll find the most recent work of over 60 architects and firms, including familiar names such as O. Gehry, Meier, Ando, Foster, and Starck, as well as a host of newcomers sure to be the architecture-celebrities of future generations. Highlights include Jakob & MacFarlane's morphological Restaurant at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Diller & Scofidio's "Blur Building" proposal for the International Expo 2001 in Switzerland (an ovular structure suspended over a lake, encapsulated by a fine mist of water, creating the look of a cloud hovering over the lake), and Herzog & de Meuron's remarkable Tate Modern. Proving that contemporary architecture is not limited to physical building design, New York firm Asymptote's Guggenheim Virtual Museum is also included, a place where visitors can take a cyber-stroll through rooms that are designed to be "compelling spatial environments." Presented alphabetically by architect or firm, Architecture Now! can be used like a reference guide, with extensive photographs and illustrations, biographical and contact information for designers, and a careful selection of today's most influential architects.

    The authors review their earlier findings and then synthesize what has been learned since 1990 about college's influences on students' learning. The book also discusses the implications of the findings for research, practice, and public policy. This authoritative and comprehensive analysis of the literature on college-impact is required reading for anyone interested in higher education practice, policy, and promise3/4faculty, administrators, researchers, policy analysts, and decision-makers at every level.