Charlotte Carter's mystery, Jackson Park, occurs in the midst of Chicago in the aftermath of the MLK assassination where Black people are still angry and disillusioned, politicians are very nervous, and the city is still smoldering from the riots. Carter's unlikely 'shero' is Cassandra, a college coed; a witty, hippi-ish misfit who is raised by her great-aunt and uncle. Despite the volatile atmosphere, she clings to optimism and hope so when a request to assist a family friend presents itself, she jumps at the opportunity to help.

Danger befalls Cassandra and her family as the seemingly harmless appeal to find a missing girl leads to a decades old murder of a white schoolteacher by a black mentally challenged boy. While on this adventure, she discovers the boy was wrongly accused, learns of her uncle's shady past, and matures on many levels. We follow a trail that leads to a Black vigilante group (The Roots), dirty politicians, police brutality/corruption and are reminded that as much things change, some things remain the same.

I enjoyed the way in which Carter intermingled the old with the new throughout the novel. She paired the young, idealistic, energetic Black youth with the older, cautious, realistic generation to teach the lessons of discretion and patience. Through Cassandra's eyes and ears, we heard the music of Marvin and Aretha; we saw glimpses of war protesters, civil rights activists, and the emerging women's liberation movement. In as much as this was a walk down memory lane, it was an amusing and suspenseful story that was entertaining and easy to read.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO Book Club, The Nubian Circle Book Club

Her mother abandoned Cassandra to her grandmother, who did her duty but had no love to give to the young child. When her grandmother died, her great-uncle Woody and his wife Ivy took her in and treated her like the child they wanted but could never have. The Isle's took Cassandra out of the ghetto that was Forest Street and moved her into their upscale apartment hotel in Cook County Hyde Park.

During a family reunion, a man who lives on Forest Street drops by to beg Woody who has a lot of political and criminal connections to help him find his missing granddaughter who was last seen at a local grocery store. When Woody and Ivy go to the store where the granddaughter was last seen, the owner gives them a ring she left behind. That piece of jewelry is tied to a murder case that took place years ago, one in which many people felt the wrong man was convicted. As Woody, Ivy, and Cassandra delve further into the two cases, somebody is out to keep them quiet at any cost.

The protagonists are black, the year is 1965 eight days after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Riots have erupted in Chicago and the national guard is called in to restore order. Charlotte Carter gives her readers a fine sense of place and time through a strong descriptive story that seems common for that era. Told from the perspective of a twenty-year-old college student, the audience learns how blacks felt about their position in society back them. JACKSON PARK is the Her mother abandoned Cassandra to her grandmother, who did her duty but had no love to give to the young child. When her grandmother died, her great-uncle Woody and his wife Ivy took her in and treated her like the child they wanted but could never have. The Isle's took Cassandra out of the ghetto that was Forest Street and moved her into their upscale apartment hotel in Cook County Hyde Park.

During a family reunion, a man who lives on Forest Street drops by to beg Woody who has a lot of political and criminal connections to help him find his missing granddaughter who was last seen at a local grocery store. When Woody and Ivy go to the store where the granddaughter was last seen, the owner gives them a ring she left behind. That piece of jewelry is tied to a murder case that took place years ago, one in which many people felt the wrong man was convicted. As Woody, Ivy, and Cassandra delve further into the two cases, somebody is out to keep them quiet at any cost.

The protagonists are black, the year is 1965 eight days after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Riots have erupted in Chicago and the national guard is called in to restore order. Charlotte Carter gives her readers a fine sense of place and time through a strong descriptive story that seems common for that era. Told from the perspective of a twenty-year-old college student, the audience learns how blacks felt about their position in society back them. JACKSON PARK is the first installment in what looks to be a great new series.

Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner

There's an immediacy, a you-are-there quality to JACKSON PARK that makes it a truly extraordinary reading adventure. Far more than just another 'mean-streets' narrative, this hard-hitting thriller captures the violence and tensions of post-King-assassination Chicago in stunningly realistic detail through dialogue that literally crackles with authenticity. Its plot centers around middle-aged Woodson "Woody" and Ivy Lisle who are currently living comfortably in Hyde Park, one of Chicago's oldest integrated areas, and enjoying the company of their twenty-year-old grandniece (the story's narrator) Cassandra whom they've raised from early childhood and who is presently a student at Debs College in the Loop where she has become peripherally involved with a black militant group. After a somewhat checkered past, Woody has achieved a solid position...almost Godfather status...in the black community while still maintaining his ties with the white political establishment. When Clay Jackson from their old neighborhood comes to him for help after his granddaughter, Lavelle, has apparently been arrested and subsequently vanished, he agrees to make some inquiries. On the surface, there seems to be little more to the matter than a part-time hooker who fell victim to her lifestyle until Ivy and Cassandra follow a lead of their own which uncovers a ring that somehow connects Lavelle to a decade-old murder of a white teacher by a black man. Because the past is now no longer safely buried, the present suddenly explodes in violence. Ivy is shot and Woody and Cassandra are attacked, costing Woody's nephew, Hero, his life. No more Mr. Nice Guy! Hot on the trail, Woody finds himself hamstrung by Chicago's long history of racism, venery and corruption until fate takes a hand in a clever twist of the plot that allows him to right old wrongs, put paid to some old scores and give Cassandra a new vision of her life and future.

Do you have to be a Chicagoan to fully appreciate all the nuances of this compelling novel? No! It stands alone beautifully on its own considerable merits as an exciting, enthralling mystery. But speaking from the POV of both having lived in Hyde Park and taught in the inner city during the Sixties, I was completely blown away by Ms. Carter's knowledgeable recreation of the people...the place...and the period. It held me spellbound, brought back so many memories, and made me eager to read more about the lives of the Lisles.

this is an adorable book teaching words like on, out, over, under, etc. it is very small, however, and hard for little hands to use and the very young to focus on.

On the same day her boss Ed Saunders informs her that she will be promoted to a Junior Associate at the Chicago investment firm, Roslyn Baines learns about the inheritance. Apparently, an unknown great aunt, Ida Mae Patterson, has left her with the family home in Plainsville, Iowa. However, a stipulation states that Roslyn must live in the home for one year or local resident Jack Jensen would inherit the place, while Roslyn would receive a cutting from the family rosebush.

Roslyn has no intention of leaving Chicago, but her boss persuades her to spend some time in Iowa while a police investigation of an associate's activities occur. In Plainsville, Roslyn meets Jack, who runs a landscaping business. They are immediately attracted to one another, but Roslyn leaves for home after a few days. However, an accident due to icy conditions sends her right back to Plainsville to recover. Roslyn begins to learn about her other family and the schism that left twins estranged. She also falls in love with Jack, but danger from an unexpected source will threaten her life even before the big city girl can decide what to do about Iowa.

THE INHERITANCE is an entertaining contemporary romance with a nice touch of intrigue that will provide readers with a delightful tale. The story line centers on family schisms that for good or bad are passed down from generation to generation. The addition of the investment firm problems provides an interesting but unnecessary sidebar. Still, that subplot does not hold back Janice Carter's spectacular look at family feuding long after the participants no longer live.

Harriet Klausner

Though I've been playing the guitar for almost 15 years, I was self-taught and, as such, never really developed a firm grasp on the fundamentals of reading music and applying it to the guitar. Most instructional books that broached the topic made it seem too daunting and intimidating. This prevented me from taking on more ambitious pieces, namely classical arrangements. However, finding "Introducing Classical Guitar" changed all that.

This easy-to-read, 27 page book presents both reading music and mastering the fundamentals of classical guitar in a way that is both easy to understand and fun to learn. Through concise and familiar descriptions and examples, one not only learns but understands all those things that may have seemed too advanced in the past. I opened this book completely intimidated and overwhelmed by musical notation for the guitar. I closed it feeling confident enough to take-on the most complex of pieces.

Moreover, to add to its unique "user-friendly" delivery, the book is replete with various hints and words of wisdom that make playing classical guitar seem do-able. For instance, understanding the nature of music, how to site-read with ease, how to memorize pieces, how to get your fingers "working," etc. Sitting down with it is a pleasant experience as a whole.

However, an experienced player may find it a bit too basic or slow for their needs. Needless to say, it does touch upon such things as familiarizing one with the fretboard, the proper way to manipulate the instrument, and the basic chords. Though these can, of course, be skipped-over, I actually found it enriching to understand the general theory behind what I already knew, as well as practice the suggested methods of playing, especially since Carter's explanations were void of pretension and assumption, unlike so many other classical instructionals. Moreover, don't expect to finish this book and have a repertoire of impressive pieces. Since the emphasis is on learning the fundamentals, most of the exercises are quite basic (although his easy-to-learn version of "Asturias" will cause heads to turn). But to that end, I think the book would be perfect for the beginning guitarist as well.

I probably spent no more than a week or two with this book before I found myself moving on to more advanced pieces. Within a few months I'd say I've gone from being a chord-strummer to a fairly competent classical guitarist, thanks to Carter's book. It really was like turning on a light for me.

The book is excellent for the mathematically inclined student who masters well linear lagebra. It uses matrix notaion extensively and enables one to generalize results without getting lost. I used that book in my intermediate econometrics course at the undergraduate level. I am convinced it is a mistake to start learning econometrics by first using the algebraic approach then the matrix approach. This only brings about confusion. This book is excellent as when one thinks hard through theoretical results it is much easier to get a good grasp of the empirical results one finds in applied work. I always consult this book first when I am a bit rusty in classical and special topics in econometrics. The book is not up to date to more modern econometrics such as cointegration and unit root analysis (those subjects don't exist in it).

The Invisible Harry is a humorous book. Bille is desprate to get a pet dog. But there is always the problem of having your parents agree to it. Every year for Christmas she asks, but no luck. When her babysitter's(Jody)dog has puppies, Bille decides that it is time to take matters into her own hands.
Her parents are divorced, and she goes over to her dad's apartment every other weekend. She has the perfect chance to have a real puppy! Since Jody is a scientist, they both figure out a way to make the puppy invisible! From there on, Bille has to keep Harry from being lost, or found out by her dad, her sister and her classmate. What will happen when she has to do a play at school, if Harry is with her? Will her father and mother find out and force her to give him back? And her sister is always suspiculy staring at Bille when she sneaks food or water under the table...

Jackson, Tennessee (Madison County) is located ninty miles east of Memphis; a rail, distribution and agricultural center for Western Tennessee.

Settled in the late 1700's-early 1800's; this area produced Davey Crockett, many Civil War heroes, Casey Jones, and Carl Perkins.

A wonderful look at a fine quality-of-life area that has grown from "small town" to the fifth largest city in Tennessee.

Emma Inman Williams was not only a shepherd of the book but a layer of the city's foundation.

I knew her and loved her.

This book is essentially an annotated and expanded collection of columns originally published in Bass Player magazine. As such, it's more of a disconnected set of essays than a narrative; the discussion of significant bass players is somewhat spotty, and doesn't go into great detail on their music and style in the way that (for example" Todd Coolman's "The Bass Tradition" does. But it's still both entertaining and educational. The chapters, being mostly self-contained, can be read at random as the reader's interest dictates.

The first section of the book is primarily short snapshots of significant bassists, each being composed of a short biography accompanied by brief musical examples. The latter section- almost an appendix- consists of longer examples of styles and techniques. It's not really a method book, but it does offer some insight into styles and harmonic and rhythmic concepts for the beginning or intermediate jazz bassists. The accompanying CD helps illustrate the musical examples for those whose reading and playing technique are at a more basic stage.

All in all, a very entertaining and useful book for jazz bassists of all abilities, and an excellent choice for bedside reading.

At the end of this juvenile biography, author Mellonee Carrigan suggests that Jimmy Carter has become the most respected and successful ex-president in the nation's history. The key here, of course, is the notion of respect. After all, in terms of former Presidents William Howard Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Andrew Johnson was returned to the U.S. Senate after narrowly avoiding conviction at his impeachment trial, and John Quincy Adams was "Old Man Eloquent" in the U.S. House of Representatives. Still, if you narrow the focus down to the 20th century the only other ex-President who comes to mind for any sort of political success after leaving the White House is Herbert Hoover, who was called upon by President Truman to help feed Europe after World War II; it had been Hoover's similar efforts after World War I that brought him to national prominence. Here endeth the history lesson.

One third of this volume is devoted to what Jimmy Carter has done since leaving office. The first two-thirds are a fairly straightforward biography of his life. However, it the last part of the book certainly makes the case that Carter has made significant contributions since 1981. Carrigan covers the foundation of the Carter Center at Emory University dedicated to improving people's lives, the Atlanta Project to attack social problems associated with inner city poverty, and his volunteer construction work for Habitat for Humanity. Carter's political work as a writer, an observer of elections, and a diplomatic negotiator are also detailed. However, the young readers at whom this book is aimed will undoubtedly be most impressed by what is pictured on the cover: Carter working on building a home for Habitat for Humanity. When children think about this in the context of Carter's entire life as covered in "Jimmy Carter: Beyond the Presidency," it should be clear to them that this is just another part of the work to which he has dedicated his entire life. It is not surprising that most of the juvenile biographies I have been reading about Carter include the work he has been doing the last twenty years as an ex-President. That might be the best proof of Carrigan's claim.

I really enjoyed reading Johnny Nine - a first-hand account from a member of the jury made me feel like I was in the courtroom also. The author provides intimate details of the trial that are not available from any other source, liberally peppered with his own feelings and thoughts as he is uprooted from his daily routine and does his civic duty in a foreign world. I was thankful for the insights that he shared with the readers, and found the book to be very entertaining and educational.