Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Library review by Kimberlyn McKoy Staff Member Book Review. Harlem's best kept secrets! Reid's spunky account of his young life throughout sixties Harlem is an immensely enjoyable read. The detailed descriptions of characters, places, and situations that he encountered make his story that much more real. It is a colorful story of family, community, and the inevitably complex social constructs which have risen from the history of America. Everyone knows something about Harlem, but this book will make you see the city with brand new eyes! NAACP Mid-Manhattan Founders Day Black History Month & 2018 Readers Favorite International Book Award-winning author Grant Harper Reid has authored his second 5-Star book "Harlem Bible In The Beginning. Reid's first book was considered to be a work of pure literary genius, full of humor that pushes the envelope. Harlem Bible is a delightfully amazing and exceedingly enjoyable book. Grant reminiscences his early years as an innocent young black child growing up in Harlem and the suburbs of New. We are weaved through the author's past with flashbacks and timelines that are assembled and chock full of fascinating bygone circumstances of yesteryear. The impetus behind the Harlem Bible came from the author's angst as his beloved Harlem neighborhood became gentrified. With gentrification came newcomers who distorted and misrepresented the historical descriptions of his community. Grant took it personally when condescending intruders flooded onto his beloved streets and defined Harlem's glorious past to suit their own one-sided cravings. Reid watched as many authentic Harlemites passed away taking their tales with them to their hereafters. He chose to do something about it and thus he wrote the Harlem Bible. Harlem Bible arranges the groundwork with corroborated verifiable information then discharges it with reflections for the benefit of the readers. Please don't perceive the Harlem Bible with the usual pasteurized half-stepping Negro books with no basis in fact. If you want to understand the hidden black culture that most colored people won't admit to then this book is for you. Harlem Bible is a look through Grant's life with his family, friends, associates, and adversaries. We follow little Grant as he's bussed to an all-white public school in the Bronx. While there he discovers for the first time what it's like to be a black boy when white students call him Nigger. We find out the author's reaction when he goes to a black summer camp and the "It" girl asks him for a dance. We learn of Reid's reaction at a Jewish day camp after he attempts to befriend the beautiful Jewish American Princess who rebuffs him and won't give him the time of day? What happens to the young author when he sneaks into Jimi Hendrix's limousine without the proper authorization? Discover what happens when the author looks into the mirror and mistakenly concludes that, "he ain't got one scintilla of talent" himself. Laugh with and at him as he attempts and nosedives downward when he wants to become a black hippie. What happens when Grant visits the mixed-race Negro hillbillies called Jackson Whites and believes they want to make him their main dinner course? The Harlem Bible journeys in a world full of jazz, rhythm & blues, soul music, and rock & roll, and famous celebrities. Take a breathtaking gallop into this world full of upwardly mobile African-Americas, original uptown hang-outs, riots, romance, civil rights, and the underworld as this innocent young man tries to acquire a fair and equal education. Oh, the gangsters, ministers, stars, and a potpourri harebrained, zany characters. Special Vintage "Jimi Hendrix Play's Harlem" photographs.
About the Author: Harlem Bible Author's Biography Grant Harper Reid grew up with his family in Harlem. As a pre-teen, he and his family moved to the suburbs of Teaneck, New Jersey. Throughout those formative years, the author often traveled back to Harlem to visit family members or for temporary summer employment. Once Grant graduated from Bard College he returned back to Harlem. The author continued his education with the National Academy of T.V. Arts & Sciences and Ossie Davis's Institute of New Cinema Artists. Then Grant went on to work professionally in the world of entertainment. He kicked off his career with a variety of functions for recording artists and their companies. Reid went on to earn a living servicing all departments while on location for motion picture, music video, and commercial companies. Grant thrived working up close and side by side in spite of some of the most, racist Caucasians and self-absorbed cowardly Negros this side of Hollywood on the Harlem River. It was by no means an unproblematic task for Reid to become proficient as a writer. While in 3rd grade he was bussed from Harlem into an all-white school in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. The students in his classes were more educationally developed in English and the officials ignored what deficits the ghetto children brought with them. It took Reid a lifetime to become the Grand-Prize 5-Star award-winning author that he is today. Harlem Bible is an engaging and hilarious book that explores real black history.