Starred ReviewStarred Review No Crystal Stair
A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller
“You can’t walk straight on a crooked line. You do you’ll break your leg. How can you walk straight in a crooked system?”
Lewis Michaux was born to do things his own way. When a white banker told him to sell fried chicken, not books, because “Negroes don’t read,” Lewis took five books and one hundred dollars and built a bookstore. It soon became the intellectual center of Harlem, a refuge for everyone from Muhammad Ali to Malcolm X.
In No Crystal Stair, Coretta Scott King Award–winning author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson combines meticulous research with a storyteller’s flair to document the life and times of her great-uncle Lewis Michaux, an extraordinary literacy pioneer of the Civil Rights era.
“My life was no crystal stair, far from it. But I’m taking my leave with some pride. It tickles me to know that those folks who said I could never sell books to black people are eating crow. I’d say my seeds grew pretty damn well. And not just the book business. It’s the more important business of moving our people forward that has real meaning.”
Format | Your Price | Add |
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978-1-4677-6807-8
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$23.99 |
Awards
- Notable AwardNotable Award Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
- Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choices
- Notable AwardNotable Award YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
- Notable AwardNotable Award NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts
- Notable Books for a Global Society Notable Book
- Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children
- Notable AwardNotable Award School Library Journal Best Book
- Notable AwardNotable Award Coretta Scott King Author Award
- Cream of the Crop for Children's and Young Adult Literature
- Notable AwardNotable Award Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
- Tayshas Reading List
- Notable AwardNotable Award Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
- Notable AwardNotable Award Horn Book Best Books of the Year
- New Mexico-Arizona Book Award
- ABC Best Books for Children Catalog List
- Notable AwardNotable Award Kirkus Best Teen Books of the Year
- Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books
Reviews
The Horn Book Guide
“Opened at the end of the Great Depression, Michaux’s National Memorial African Bookstore became a central gathering place for African American writers, artists, intellectuals, and political figures. In this extraordinary, inspiring book, short chapters are written in thirty-six different voices—mostly of Michaux himself and other historical people.” —The Horn Book Guide
VOYA
“Eye-opening….This book will capture readers’ interest from the first pages and they will find themselves still thinking about it weeks later.” —VOYA
Library Media Connection
“A storytelling quality, as well as short pieces of history on each page, will make this appealing to anyone looking to know more about the Civil Rights era.” —Library Media Connection
Starred ReviewStarred Review The Horn Book Magazine
“An extraordinary, inspiring book to put into the hands of scholars and skeptics alike.”—starred, The Horn Book Magazine
Starred ReviewStarred Review Publishers Weekly
“Nelson and Christie deliver an engrossing blend of history, art, and storytelling in this deeply moving tribute to a singular individual.”—starred, Publishers Weekly
Booklist
“Not only a compelling biography but also a useful addition to the literature of black history and culture.” —Booklist
Starred ReviewStarred Review School Library Journal
“The storytelling format, candid perspectives, supplemental images, and historic connections bring to life an unheralded individualist whose story will engage readers.”&mdashstarred, School Library Journal
Starred ReviewStarred Review Kirkus Reviews
“A stirring and thought-provoking account of an unsung figure in 20th-century American history.”—starred, Kirkus Reviews