NCW Libraries

In the ingenious and vividly imagined narrative poem The Lumberjack's Dove, GennaRose Nethercott describes a woodsman who cuts off his hand with an axe--however, instead of merely being severed, the hand shapeshifts into a dove. Far from representing just an event of pain and loss in the body, this incident spirals outward to explore countless facets of being human, prompting profound reflections on sacrifice and longing, time and memory, and--finally--the...

Presents the well-known poem about an important Christmas visitor.

"From the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing comes a new book of narrative in verse that takes a personal and historical look at the experience of Black girlhood. In the American imagination the contrasts between visibility and invisibility for Black girlhood are glaring. A recent report by the African American Policy Forum states that while Black girls make up only 16% of the female students in schools,...

"When Walela is diagnosed at twenty-three with advanced stage blood cancer, they're suddenly thrust into the unsympathetic world of tubes and pills, doctors who don't use their correct pronouns, and hordes of "well-meaning" but patronizing people offering unsolicited advice as they navigate rocky personal relationships and share their story online. But this experience also deepens their relationship to their ancestors, providing added support from...

A well-known poem about an important Christmas Eve visitor.

In this version of Clement Moores' classic poem, a brother and sister struggle to stay awake until midnight to ring in the new year.

In an adaptation of Clement C. Moore's Christmas classic, Father Mouse awakens on Christmas Eve to discover Santa Claus coming down the chimney with a sack full of toys.

The famous narrative poem recreating Paul Revere's midnight ride in 1775 to warn the people of the Boston countryside that the British were coming.