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By Elizabeth Sammons with love from Neighbor-to-Neighbor

Ordinary Notes, Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution, and The Devil’s Half Acre are books of note for this month.  This literature intends to expand our awareness, theology and/or acceptance of diverse viewpoints. We in Neighbor to Neighbor hope you’ll discover how these writings from various generations embrace what it means to be human and to walk in spirit. …

Ordinary Notes by Sharpe, Christina 
Explore this series of 248 notes. Their themes and tones, sometimes about language, beauty, memory; sometimes about history, art, photography, and literature—always attend to the ordinary-extraordinary dimensions of Black life. 

Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution by Winston, Sherri
This story features a young Black girl who summons the courage to fight against her school’s dress code. Lotus Bloom just wants to express herself--with her violin, her retro style, and her peaceful vibe, not to mention her fabulous hair. 

The Devil's Half Acre by Green, Kristen
New York Times bestselling author Kristen Green draws on years of research to tell the extraordinary and little-known story of young Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who blazed a path of liberation for thousands. She was forced to have the children of a brutal slave trader and live on the premises of his slave jail, known as the "Devil's Half Acre." When she inherited the jail after the death of her slaveholder, she transformed it into "God's Half Acre," a school where Black men could fulfill their dreams. It still exists today as Virginia Union University, one of America's first Historically Black Colleges.