Service Alert
Website maintenance April 24 10pm ET
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
Showing 1 - 11 of 11 items
By Toni Morrison. 2008
Colonial North America, 1680s. An Anglo-Dutch trader reluctantly accepts a young slave girl named Florens as payment for a bad…
debt. Her mother hopes the transaction will prove a mercy to Florens, but subsequent years in Jacob Vaark’s household reveal the harsh reality of being under another’s dominion. Some violence. Bestseller. 2008.By Toni Morrison. 2015
A searing tale about the way childhood trauma shapes and misshapes the life of the adult. At the centre: a…
woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life; but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love until she told a lie that ruined the life of an innocent woman, a lie whose reverberations refuse to diminish. Bestseller. 2015.By Toni Morrison. 1992
The story of Violet and Joe Trace, married for over 20 years, residents of Harlem in 1926. When Joe shoots…
his 18-year-old lover, Violet disfigures the girl's body at her funeral. As Joe mourns, Violet becomes obsessed with the lovers' relationship. Past and present voices, like jazz, quietly sing the blues. Some strong language.By Toni Morrison. 2004
An account of the thoughts and feelings of children involved in school desegregation. Provides background to the 1954 groundbreaking Brown…
v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision and the movement to eliminate racist laws. For grades 3-6. 2004By Toni Morrison. 2004
Son, a black fugitive, invades the West Indian home of a retired millionaire, upsetting the racially diverse household. He captivates…
pampered Jadine, a black fashion model. Their ideologically complicated love affair plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan. 2004 foreword by the author. Strong language. 1981By Toni Morrison. 1970
1941. Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--poor, ugly, and black--desperately wants blue eyes, which she thinks would solve all her problems. But instead…
she is subjected to rejection, violence, and an unwanted pregnancy. Slowly, she begins to descend into madness. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 1970By Toni Morrison. 1987
This novel surveys nearly a century of American history as it impinges upon four generations of a single black family.…
Macon Dead III, known as Milkman, is the first black baby allowed to be born in Mercy Hospital in the 1930s. Milkman undertakes an epic journey into an understanding of his family's heritage and, hence, himself. Strong language and descriptions of sexBy Toni Morrison. 1973
Set in an Ohio community called the Bottom, the novel follows two friends, Sula and Nel, from childhood to old…
age and death. Some strong language and explicit descriptions of sexBy Toni Morrison, Shadra Strickland, Slade Morrison. 2014
On one gray and rainy afternoon, Louise makes a fateful trip to the library. With the help of a new…
library card and through the transformative power of books, what started out as a dull day turns into one full of surprises, ideas, and fun! Grades K-3. 2014.By Aesop, Toni Morrison, Sean Qualls, Slade Morrison. 2010
Little Cloud does not want to join the other clouds in terrorizing the earth with storms, but grows lonely and…
longs to look closer at mountains and seas, until Lady Wind makes her dream come true. Grades K-3 and older readers. c2010. Uniform title: Bundle of sticks.By Wilfred Samuels. 1990
Literary study of the fiction of the Nobel Prize-winning author. Examines five novels in chronological order, ending with the Pulitzer…
Prize-winning Beloved (BR 7074/RC 26026). The authors analyze Morrison's use of African-American folklore, history, and elements of communal life to create characters in search of wholeness and authentic experience. Includes biographical information and a bibliography