All books on page 96

Vicky is the funeral director, owner and mortician of a funeral home in Alphabet City. She tells a harrowing story of her life from day to day with constant death and her being one of very few funeral homes in the neighborhood. From losing young kids to gun violence, people dying of drug overdoses, it takes a toll on a woman who knows everyone in this community. Life is not easy for Vicky but she's the aunt of the neighborhood and she has hope that the neighborhood she once remembered as joyous, gets back to that one day.

Ronald has escaped death quite a few times being a gang member in Alphabet City. His life is not what anyone would want a young man to be but he does it to represent where he's from. He talks about gang life, what it's about, what it consists of and how he mostly survives from day to day and doesn't necessarily live. Will he live to see another day? Time will tell, gang life has one of two ways to go, prison or the morgue…

Cheryl is a young mother raising two teenagers in one of the toughest communities of Alphabet City. She struggles to make ends meet working doubles at her job and leaving her oldest son to take care of his younger sister. With the streets calling the boy's name of fast cash, cars and gang life, Cheryl has to make a lot of sacrifices to protect her kids from that lifestyle. It's a life of struggle as a single mother but she has to fight and keep going from day to day.

Jermaine and Shameka are young teens who have lived a life that not many could even imagine in such a short time. The best friends chronicle their personal lives while living in Alphabet City. They talk about their daily battles and struggles to get by, home life, school and how their mental health is scarred. What they see and the adult decisions they have to make daily to survive is insurmountable. Their experiences will make you realize, not every kid has it easy and that more has to be done to protect them.

Kendra is a drug addict and escort in Alphabet City. She’s all about showing a man a good time and living life vicariously. The only thing is a horrific event as a child changed the landscape of her life and she does all that she can to block it out. It’s not until she one day has no more money or access to promiscuous men and drugs where she’s forced to deal with her childhood memories of pain, anguish and sorrow. Will Kendra turn her life around? Time will tell but in a community of negativity, it won’t be easy.

Tiffani grew up in Alphabet City with aspirations of making this community better. She starts a juice shop to promote a healthy lifestyle and bring people together through her connections. What she soon learns is that the community she’s lived in all of her life is built on putting people in their graves sooner than the average person. Fast food restaurants, liquor stores, funeral homes, cheap clothing stores and bodegas are all that’s around her. While she fights to grow her business and thrive, there are people telling her to pack it up and go to the suburbs. The question is will she give up on her community or fight to get people to make healthier choices so they live longer.

Kevon is well-known in certain parts of Alphabet City but not in a good way. He’s the big time drug dealer that supplies drugs to the recreational users and the hardcore drug addicts that wait for his new supply weekly. He talks about the destruction of the community but he is out to make his money, live a comfortable life and enjoy the fruits of his labor. With Kevon having to constantly be on the lookout for police, law enforcement agencies and enemies, the day to day life is never easy. Will Kevon survive this dangerous game where any day he can be taken out?

Ms. Evelyn Bates is the matriarch of Alphabet City. She moved to Alphabet City as a young girl and has seen it all. She pens her life from the beginnings of this community to what it is currently. As a woman in her 80s, everyone in the neighborhood knows and respects her no matter where she goes. Evelyn pens her story from marriage, to raising children during the crack epidemic in the 80s and seeing the neighborhood that has made her the woman she is, going down in the shambles. Her life has been nothing short of amazing as she has hope that the community can get back to what it once was, thriving and at peace.

FROM A TO Z A PEEK INTO THE ALMIGHTY

From A to Z to the rainbow of color and beyond, Alphabet Soup and Animal Crackers captures the wonder of learning using playful art and tongue tingling alliterations! With an added and fun twist, each painting has at least one hidden elephant for even more creative discovery! A great addition to any bookshelf, from teaching toddlers the basic fundamentals of reading, all the way through grade school!