This book collects a three-issue series that Jaime Hernandez created shortly after the initial gazillion-year run of LOVE AND ROCKETS. Those familiar with Jaime's work will be comfortable with his simplified drawing and eminently likable characters.

WHOA, NELLIE! is a wholesale tribute to women's wrestling -- the book contains several pages of "pin-ups" -- that contains all the narrative ups and downs of an actual bout. Rules are broken, the goods guys are winning, the good guys are losing, and then, well, anyway, it's all about loyalty. Xochitl "The Terrible" and Gina are an aspiring tag-team that appeared initially in LOVE AND ROCKETS. Working out of Vicki Glory's stable, they have to fight each other, several formidable opponents (including the terrifying Birmingham Lady Bashers), and, of course, the weird distortions of reality forced on the players in the wrestling universe. Who can be sure of their standing in the pecking order if you can't remember whether you're "good" or "bad" depending on which part of Texas you're in?

The dreams and friendships of Xochitl and Gina are innocent and naive, and their about to get stomped by some old fashioned real-world politics. WHOA, NELLIE! is a classic sports story, told in an entirely unique fashion. A thoroughly gratifying read.

Whoa, Nellie! is a spectacular book for all ages, which is something of a surprise as the Los Bros Hernandez usually handle more adult material. The story is unique, the characters are wonderful (no one writes realistic and sympathetic women like the Hernandez Bros.), and it is just so much fun read! Most importantly, it has one of the most artfully done "messages" I've ever seen anywhere. Adults can enjoy it, but I would buy it for kids, too.

What can I say? Jaime's work is one of the rare comic ouevres (I never could spell that) that genuinely make life worth living. Check it out -- you won't regret it!

The factor that truly impressed me about this picture book for kids from about 5-7 years old is probably the strong design, nicely conceived layout and design of the cover and use of bright, bold colors that kids of this age group are so attracted to when reading along with parents and or teachers. This is the kind of book that any adult could easily sit and read in one sitting. The author knows and understands that kids like to see color and repetition in books and rhyme is always popular. The story tells a lesson, but luckily the author does not hit the reader over the head with too didactic a moral. The author pays attention to the fact that it is the story that must, above all, be front and center---not the lesson. One of the strongest elements of this title is that the author knows how important strong line and bold color is for this age group and she utilizes it to the utmost.

Nelly Jelly and the Jelly Well provides a great lesson in overcoming our foolish fears and prejudices and to love everyone. What we fail to realize is that everyone is different and everyone has something special to offer. Just because someone is different, we can still be kind and be a friend. "Love with your heart and not with your head." Children are very aware of their surroundings and expressed feelings of their peers and to "fit in" they also share these prejudices. "The meaning of love is clearer than clear, that ugly's not ugly, except for our fear." This book has a lot to say for all ages of the world. Tamela Fleetwood was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1954. Four months later she was in Germany. Her father was an attorney, and later a judge for the U.S. Army. She spent half of her life in Germany and the other in North Carolina, Georgia and Hawaii. As an Army brat she experienced the difference between military and civilian life as she moved between the two worlds. "There is a kind of 'color-blindness' which exists in a military brat's childhood. Tamela has a passion for peace and harmony. Nellie Jelly and the Jelly Well is a story that was born out of this passion. She hopes to bring light to the hardened hearts of this generation who are called to love one another, despite their many differences.

As good as Dr. Seuss -- set in the year 21,340! I'm an elementary school teacher. This is one of my favorite books. The whimsical and brilliantly colored illustrations are an "eye candy" delight. My class loves it! The story teaches a lesson about diversity and tolerance. If you need an anti-prejudice book, this one is perfect!

Lossie is an epic tale that caresses you softly and then grips you with intrigue. You can almost smell the salt in the air and feel the breeze in your hair as you settle into the small fishing village of Sneads Ferry. Love, anger, sorrow, achievement, happiness, treachery, bewilderment, forgiveness, fullfillment ..., it's all here.

The passion of each day of life creates within us a special zeal to keep pressing on. Our dreams, our plans, our hopes are what lie within each of us. Lossie knew of such emotions and lived life fully. She was an inspiration to all who met her. Her inner beauty was truly revealed to the reader. I truly enjoyed the book. To the author, I express my gratitude for a great story that will inspire the lives of many.

WHAT A DELIGHTFUL JOY TO FIND AND READ THIS STORY. THE AUTHOR PUTS AND KEEPS YOU IN SNEADS FERRY - WITH PICTURESQUE DESCRIPTION AND WARMTH OF THE CHARACTERS AND SURROUNDINGS. TAKE LOSSIE WITH YOU TO THE BEACH, TRAVELING TO WORK, AT BREAK TIME - YOU WON'T WANT IT TO END. LOSSIE AND HER FAMILY WERE MADE FOR A TV MOVIE OR SERIES.

this one is about a interracial couple in connecticut in the 1950's...ms petry manages to handle this story with a cool handle never allow it to become merely tabloid fodder..some of the other plots that were interesting was link's relationship with bill hod, who was practically his father and the butler who marries a promisculous heavy-set black women...

The Narrows was written in 1953. Amazing. Timeless love story of a Dartmouth grad of history who happens to be black and a rich married heiress who happens to be white. Their lives intersect one night in Harlem and continue down a dangerous road of love, passion, and retribution. The star of the book is Link Williams, a young man adopted at the age of eight by Abbie Crunch and the Major. When the Major dies, Link feels invisible and finds a new home in the Last Chance bar where Bill Hod becomes his surrogate father, teaching Link what it means to be a man, a black man.

He grows up strong and intelligent, but faltering in one area. The area of love. The woman that he chooses, the one he wants to marry unbeknownst to him is already married. Worst of all she is white. This breaks many hearts, the people who have loved him and taken care of him, Abbie Crunch, Weak Knees, Bill Hod, and the rest of the Last Chance patrons where Link is the heart and soul, all watch as he make this fatal mistake.

Phenomenal writing, literature, pure art without the sensationalism that is prevalent in our books today.

This book is a case by case story of how the author actually has witnessed in the past and how she approaches witnessing generally - using actual events (but changed names).

I found the book very encouraging and insightful.

In January I visited New York City for a few days. One night my friend and I happened to walk past the Museum Of American Folk Art, and saw something going on inside that involved wine and cheese. We took the bait, paid our admission/donation and joined the tour of the exhibit, which to our tremendous enjoyment, was the artwork of Nellie May Rowe,. The tour was given by the author of this book, Lee Kogan. Not only was this most definitely one of the best things I ever did on the spur of the moment, but the book is one of the nicest things I ever purchased on impulse.

Nellie May Rowe's art combined with Lee Kogan's insight make for a powerful and strangely personal experience. We are given mystifyingly beautiful portraits of a woman's inner life and outer circumstance. The images embrace and thereby transcend the small human details that , by the nature of the beast itself, exist to be integrated into what I believe is the creation of real magic. Real magic doen't take shortcuts.

Lee Kogan graciously signed the book for my daughter, saying that Nellie May Rowe's energy, spirit and marvelous art inspire us all, and this is certainly true: If I may be so bold as to take a quote from the book, from the writings of James Baldwin: "..go back to where you started, or as far back as you can, examine all of it, travel your road again and tell the truth about it. Sing or shout or testify or keep it to yourself; but know whence you came"

Yeah. What he said. Anyways, do right by yourself, get your own copy because I'm not gonna be lending out mine anytime soon!

This is an excellent mystery that reminds me quite a lot of Ruth Rendell's books. Mcmullen introduces us to Nellie, an ordinary middleaged lady with many friends. She builds up the supense from the first page on. The characters are very interesting and realistic. The ending was rather a surprise to me, a good plot.

The words paint pictures of the memories of her feelings. We can know and understand life firsthand from a long ago past.

Reading Daddy Was A Number Runner for the second time as an adult was like visiting an old friend. I first read the novel when I was in junior high and the only thing I remembered from it was this freaky movie theater scene. That and the fact that it was good. Now that I am grown, I took a lot more away from it this time.

Francie is twelve and growing up in 1930's Harlem. She has two older brothers who have totally different aspirations in life. One wants to be a hoodlum and the other wants to quit school to become an undertaker. Her father, a number runner of course, is too proud to go onto public assistance and that causes a lot of turmoil between her parents. She has a best friend that likes to beat her up most of the time. Old white men try to feel her up whenever they get a chance. Francie really endures a lot for a person her age. If you are into period novels, this is a must read because it gives insight in a generation we know nothing about.

From beginning to end, the book was enjoyable. Brutally honest and very mature, but an excellent read. Many times hit close to home, others were a learning experience (like the use of rags, the electric hair on juveniles, etc.) It was a quick read that I didn't want to finish!

Daddy Was A Number Runner provides a horrific historical and sociological picture of Harlem during the 1930's post-Renaissance era. The reader travels throughout the daily trials and tribulations of Francie Coffin, an adolescent girl living with her brothers, mother and father, who is a number runner.

Statistically we know of the crime, deviance, poverty, fatherless homes and emerging welfare system but what we do not read about is the human elements; the feelings involved. Through Francie's own words and her dreams we are able to feel and capture Francie's plight. While Francie appears to be somewhat naïve she is also able to navigate the streets and people within Harlem. Francie serves as an errand girl for her father, gets into scuffles with her friend and is a victim of molestation. On the positive side she is an obedient daughter and sister, attends school and she loves to read. For Francie, reading and attending movies at the theater is her salvation from the madness.

The book goes one step further to examine Black and Jewish relationships. These relationships are presented in the form of tenant/landlord, student/teacher, customer/business owner and domestic/employer and in each, the black characters appear to be the victims. While not harboring resentment towards Jews as a group, the characters demonstrate a dislike towards the individual because in each example the Black character is shown to be subservient towards the Jewish character for survival.

The characters portrayed are captivating and one of the books largest strengths is the ability of Meriwether to show some positive aspects of the inhabitants. Through all of this despair we find love, kindness and support of family and neighbors, male pride, the importance of education, and compassion. The word community resonates throughout this story and the women are the backbone of this community.

There is no happily ever after and everything is not neatly fixed at the conclusion for there is no conclusion. What we have is Francie's acceptance of her life and her community but also her ability to still dream of a different life. Meriwether has provided the reader with an assessment in the life of a small community but does not place blame on one entity. We, the reader, are able to empathize because Daddy Was A Number Runner offers a lesson in history that is relevant today. This is a story of family and the survival of it.

This autobiographical condemnation of the south's Peculiar Institution puts a face on the suffering of the enslaved. American history is full of accounts of slavery which tend to broad overviews of the institution, whereas this book is written by an escaped slave who does not flinch at sharing every detail of her miserable life. Unlike other narratives which distorted the slave's voice through the perspective of the interviewers/authors who were notorious for exaggerating the uneducated slaves' broken english, this book is largely Ms. Jacobs' own words. She was taught to read and write as a child by a kind mistress, so she was able to put her thoughts on paper with clarity that surprised many. Ms. Jacobs had an editor, but this book seems to be her unfiltered view of the world.

It is one thing to hear about how slaveholders took liberties with female slaves, it is quite another to read in stark detail about women being commanded to lay down in fields, young girls being seduced and impregnated and their offspring sold to rid the slaveholder of the evidence of his licentiousness. The author talks about jealous white women, enraged by their husbands' behavior, taking it out on the hapless slaves. The white women were seen as ladies, delicate creatures prone to fainting spells and hissy fits whereas the Black women were beasts of burden, objects of lust and contempt simultaneously. Some slave women resisted these lustful swine and were beaten badly because of it. It was quite a conundrum. To be sure, white women suffered under this disgusting system too, though not to the same degree as the female slaves who had no one to protect them and their virtue. Even the notion of a slave having virtue is mocked. The author rejected the slaveholder's advances and dared to hope that she would be allowed to marry a free black man who loved and respected her. Not only was she not allowed to marry him, she was forbidden to see him or speak to him again.

The author shows us the depth of a mother's love as she suffers mightily to see that her children are not also brought under the yoke of slavery. Though she was able to elude her odious master, she does take up with some other white man in hopes that he would be able to buy her freedom. Her "owner" refuses to sell her and tells her that she and her children are the property of his minor daughter. Her lover seems kind enough as he claims his children and offers to give them his name, and he did eventually buy them, though he failed to emancipate them to spare them from a life of forced servitude. Ms. Jacobs noted that slavery taught her not to trust the promises of white men. Having lived in town most of her life, Ms. Jacobs is sent to the plantation of her master's cruel son to broken in after she continues to refuses his sexual advances. She is resigned to this fate until she learns that her children -- who were never treated like slaves -- were to be brought to the plantation also. It is then that she takes flight.

After enduring 7-years of confinement in cramped quarters under the roof of her grandmother's house, the author escapes to the North which is not quite the haven she imagined. Still, it is better than the south, and she makes friends who buy her freedom leaving her both relieved and bitter that she is still seen as property to be bought and sold like livestock. In New York Ms. Jacobs is reunited with her children and a beloved brother who'd escaped a few years ago while accompanying his master -- her former lover -- to the free states.

There is no fairytale ending to this story because the author endures plenty of abuse and uncertainty even after she makes it to the North. She is hunted down by the relentless slaveowners who were aided by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and "The bloodhounds of the North." This is a wrenching account of this shameful period of American history, and should be required reading for all.

Intended to convince northerners -- particularly women -- of the rankness of Slavery, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl presents a powerful autobiography and convincing writing that reads like a gripping novel but is organized and argued like an essay.

Incidents follows the "true story" (its authenticity is doubted in some places) of Linda [Jacobs uses a pseudonym] who is born into the shackles of slavery and yearns for freedom. She lives with a depraved slave master who dehumanizes her, and a mistress who mistreats her. As the novel progresses, Linda becomes increasingly starved of freedom and resolves to escape, but Linda finds that even escaping presents its problems.

But Incidents is more than just a gripping narration of one woman's crusade for freedom, and is rather an organized attack on Slavery, intended to convince even the most apathetic of northerners. And in this too, Incidents succeeds. The writing is clear, and Jacobs' use of rhetorical strategy to preserve integrity is astonishing.

Well written, convincing, entertaining, Incidents is an amazing book.

Harriet Jacobs' (1813-1897) "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" is one of the few accounts of Southern slavery written by a woman. The book was published in 1861 through the efforts of Maria Child, an abolitionist who edited the book and wrote an introduction to it. The book had its origin in a series of letters Jacobs wrote between 1853 and 1861 to her friends in the abolitionist movement, notably a woman named Amy Post. Historically, there was some doubt about the authorship of the book and about the authenticity of the incidents it records. These doubts have largely been put to rest by the discovery of the letters.

The book indeed has elements of a disguise and of a novel. Jacobs never uses her real name but calls herself instead "Linda Brent." The other characters in the book are also given pseudonyms. Jacobs tells us in the Preface to the book (signed "Linda Brent") that she changed names in order to protect the privacy of indiduals but that the incidents recounted in the narrative are "no fiction".

Jacobs was born in slave rural North Carolina. As a young girl, she learned to read and write, which was highly rare among slaves. At about the age of 11 she was sent to live as a slave to a doctor who also owned a plantation, called "Dr. Flint" in the book.

Jacobs book describes well the cruelties of the "Peculiar Institution -- in terms of its beatings, floggings, and burnings, overwork, starvation, and dehumanization. It focuses as well upon the selling and wrenching apart of families that resulted from the commodification of people in the slave system. But Jacobs' book is unique in that it describes first-hand the sexual indignities to which women were subjected in slavery. (Other accounts, such as those of Frederick Douglass, were written by men.) The book is also unusual in that Jacobs does not portray herself entirely as a hero but describes the nature of the steps she took to avoid becoming the sexual slave of Flint. Thus, when Flint subjected her to repeated sexual advances from the time Jacobs reached the age of 16, she tried to avoid him by beginning an affair with a white, single attorney with whom she had two children. When Flint's advances persisted, Jacobs formed the determination to try to secure her freedom.

The bulk of the book describes how Jacobs hid precariously in a cramped attic for seven years waiting for the opporunity to secure her freedom. There are also accounts of her prior attempts to leave slavery, including a particularly harrowing account of several days in a place aptly named "Snaky Swamp."

Jacobs describes her relationship with her grandmother, a free black woman who was probably the major inspiration of her life. She also describes well her love and concern for her children, conceived through the liasion with the white attorney.

This book offers a rare perspective on American slavery as it affected women. It is also a testament, I think, to the value of literacy and knowledge as an instrument for winning and preserving free human life. Although this story is not pretty, it is a testament to human persistence in the face of adversity and to the precious character of human freedom.