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Showing 1 - 3 of 3 items
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General fiction, Family stories, Multi-cultural fictionPoetry, General non-fiction, Social issues
Human-narrated audio
Ali is an eighth-grade kid with a lot going on. Between the pressure from his immigrant parents to ace every…
class, his crush on Melissa, who lives in the rich area of town while he and his family live in a shabby apartment complex, and trying his best to fit in with his friends, he feels like he's being pulled in too many different directions. But harder still, Ali is becoming increasingly aware of the racism around him. Comments from his friends about Pakistani food or his skin color are passed off as jokes, but he doesn't find them funny. And when Ramadan starts, Ali doesn't tell anyone he's fasting because it just seems easier. Luckily he finds solace in putting his feelings into words-and poems. But his father is dead set against him using art as a distraction when he's got schoolwork and a future career as a doctor to focus on. Ali's world changes when he, his mom and his little brother are assaulted by some racist teens. Ali must come to terms with his roiling feelings about his place in the world, as a Pakistani immigrant, a Muslim and a teenager with his whole life ahead of him. With help from his grandfather, an inspiring teacher and his friend, Ali leans on his words for strength. And eventually he finds his true voice
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Sports biography
Human-narrated audio
The debut memoir from award-winning journalist Morgan Campbell: an incredible history of a family's battles across generations, a hilarious and…
emotional coming-of-age story, and a powerful reckoning with what it means to be Black in Canada-particularly when you have strong American roots. Morgan Campbell comes from "a fighting family," a connection and clash that reaches back to the south side of Chicago in the 1930s. His father's and mother's families were both part of the Great Migration from the U.S. rural south to the industrial north, but a history of perceived slights and social-class differences solidified a great feud that only intensified over the course of the century after the families came together in marriage and split up across the border. Morgan's maternal grandfather, Claude Jones-a legendary grudge-holder, as well was an accomplished musician, peer of Oscar Peterson, and fixture of the Chicago jazz scene-was recruited to play some shows in Toronto, fell in love with the city, and eventually settled in Canada in the mid-1960s, paving the way for Morgan's parents to join him amid the tumult of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. Morgan's paternal grandmother, Granny Mary, however, remained stateside, a distance her schemes and resentments would only grow to fill. That fighting spirit wasn't limited to the family's own squabbles, though-it animated the way every generation moved through the world. From battling back as a group against white supremacist newcomers who violently resisted Black neighbours, to Morgan's pre-teen mother burnishing her own legend by cold-cocking some racist loudmouth bullies, the lesson was clear: sometimes words weren't enough. In Canada, the Campbells started a family of their own, but the tensions between in-laws never ceased, even as divorce and disease threatened the very foundations of the life they'd built. Bearing witness to all of this was young Morgan, an aspiring writer, budding star athlete, and slow-jam scholar, whose deep American roots landed him an outsider status that led to its own schoolyard scraps and exposed the profound gap between Canada's utopian multicultural reputation and the very different reality. Having grown up bouncing between these disparate identities and nationalities, real or imagined-Black and Canadian, Canadian and American, Campbell and Jones- My Fighting Family is a witty, wise, rich, and soulful illumination of the journey to find clarity in all that conflict
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Family stories, Multi-cultural fictionPoetry
Synthetic audio, Automated braille
Key Selling Points Ali is an eighth-grade student trying to to do it all—get good grades, fit in with his…
friends, get the girl and satisfy his parents—all while struggling to deal with the anti-Muslim racism around him. Writing poetry helps. If only his father wasn't set against it. Call Me Al deals with what it's like to be an immigrant (Ali and his family immigrated from Pakistan when he was little), racism (from peers and the world at large), balancing family versus friends' expectations, first crushes, being from a lower-income household, being Muslim and finding forgiveness for those who hurt you. Features a relatable male protagonist who discovers spoken-word poetry as an outlet for his feelings. Also makes clear the relationship between poetry and hip-hop. Co-authored by the power duo of veteran writer Eric Walters and renowned poet and motivational speaker Wali Shah, who has based this character's struggles with choosing between studying science (for his parents) and writing poetry (for himself) on his own experiences.