Top shelf. - Brief Article - book review

Ebony, Dec, 2001

* SOULS GROWN DEEP: AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERNACULAR ART OF THE SOUTH (Tinwood Books, $100) is the second installment in a critically acclaimed series edited by William Arnett and Paul Arnett. It features more than 1,000 photographs and illustrations that convey the power and originality of these often self-taught artists.

* STYLE MASTER GENERAL: THE LIFE AND ART OF DONDI WHITE (Regan Books, $35) charts the brief life and stunning career of legendary graffiti artist Dondi White (1961-1998). In the 1970s and '80s, White, a product of Brooklyn, gained international fame for the highly detailed and stylized designs that he tattooed on public spaces. This paean to White's work, with photos of the trains and walls he sprayed, was written by fellow graffiti artist Andrew Witten and Michael White, one of Dondi's four brothers.

* OVER THE LINE: THE ART AND LIFE OF JACOB LAWRENCE (University of Washington Press, $50) includes photographs of nearly all of the works in the voluminous Lawrence catalog, as well as essays by noted art historians and curators who explain why Lawrence (1917-2000) was considered a master and why his work endures, edited by Peter T. Nesbett and Michelle DuBois.

* IN THE FUNDAMENTALS: EIGHT PLAYSFOR WINNING THE GAMES OF BUSINESS AND LIFE (Harper Business, $25), basketball great Isiah Thomas offers his blueprint for achieving your dreams. The NBA Hall of Famer, now coach of the Indiana Pacers as well as a successful businessman and highly sought-after motivational speaker, reveals how he rose from the mean streets of Chicago's West Side to become a leader in sports and business.

* GEOFFREY HOLDER: A LIFE IN THEATER, DANCE AND ART (Abrams Books, $60) is part biography, part picture book. Dance writer Jennifer Dunning traces the life and career of the multitalented director, dancer, actor, choreographer, musician and costume designer who won a Tony Award and changed the face of Broadway with his designs and direction of the hit musical The Wiz. The book includes more than 250 illustrations that chronicle Holder's life from his youth in Trinidad to his breakthrough appearances on stage and in films.

FOR YOUNG READERS

MIM'S CHRISTMAS JAM (Gulliver Books, $16) is an early 20th-century tale about a pair of children whose Christmas is upset when their father goes to New York to help build the new subway system, by Andrea Davis Pinkney with illustrations by Brian Pinkney.

I CAN DRAW A WEEPOSAUR AND OTHER DINOSAURS (Greenwillow Books, $12) is a collection of whimsical poems about imaginary dinosaurs, by Boise Greenfield with illustrations by Jan Spivey Gilchrist.

MANSA MUSA (Gulliver Books, $16) tells the story of the legendary ruler of ancient Mall who overcomes many trials to create a great empire, by Khephra Burns, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon.

COME BY HERE LORD: EVERYDAY PRAYERS FOR CHILDREN (Just Us Books, $10.95) is a collection of simple prayers, both familiar and new, that provide parents and children with words of thanks and praise, compiled by Cheryl Willis Hudson with photographs by Monica Morgan.

ALSO NOTED

Red on a Rose (Avon Books, $14) is the second novel by Patricia Jones (Passing). This one tells how a woman's idyllic life is dramatically altered following the events of a Saturday afternoon.

The Sisters of Theta Phi Kappa (St. Martin's Press, $24.95) is a new novel about the secrets and deceptions that bind three sorority sisters over a decade, by Kayla Perrin.

Shine Annie (New South Books, $17) charts the fictional life and loves of a young girl growing up amid sweeping change and unrest in 1960s Alabama, by Betty Payne.

Their Story: The History of Blacks/African-Americans in Sewickley & Edgeworth (C&J Enterprises, $20) is an oral history of the lives, loves and labors of the residents of the Sewickley Valley in Pennsylvania, written by Bettie Cole.

Seven Soulful Secrets For Finding Your Purpose, Minding Your Mission (Doubleday, $22.95) is a spiritual guide for African-American women by journalist Stephanie Stokes Oliver.

Erasure (University Press of New England, $24.95), the latest novel by University of Southern California English professor Percival Everett, about a frustrated writer whose troubles mount when his parody of exploitative Black fiction is hailed a brilliant new work.

Media, Culture, and the Modern African-American Freedom Struggle (University Press of Florida, $55) contains a provocatve mix of essays that examine the role of media and popular culture, edited by Brian Ward.

Secrets Men Keep: What They Don't Tell (Man to Man Development, $13) is a guide for men and women designed to unlock the inner thoughts and feelings men harbor, by Tiy-E Muhammad.

Stand and Prosper: Private Black Colleges and Their Students (Princeton University Press, $29.95) offers a look at the history and future of Black colleges and universities, and the unique role these institutions have played in development of Black leaders and role models, by Henry N. Dewry and Humphrey Doermann.

From The Soul: Stories of Great Black Parents and the Lives They Gave Us (Putnam, $24.95), successful Black men and women tell about the devotion, support and encouragement of the loving parents who instilled in them values and confidence that guided them through life, by Phyllis Y. Harris.