"Two familes from different social classes are joined together by an unexpected pregnancy and the child that it produces. As the book opens in 2001, it is the evening of sixteen-year-old Melody's coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' Brooklyn brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the music of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress. But the event is not without poignancy. Sixteen years earlier,...

A young girl and her grandmother visit the girl's father in prison.

"By heeding their wise grandmother's advice, a brother and sister discover the ability to lift themselves up and imagine a better world"--

A collection of short stories invites young readers to explore what is truly beautiful in a culture where image often seems more important than virtue and reason.

This volume collects 30 of the best profiles, essays, and columns on female subjects written by female contributors to the magazine over the past 35 years.