dem

Authors: Kelley, William Melvin
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
BISAC/Subject: FIC019000, FIC049000, FIC052000
ISBN: 9781984899347, Related ISBNs: 0593293193, 0593293207, 1984899333, 1984899341, 9780593293195
Classification: Non-Fiction
Number of pages: 256,
Audience: General/trade
Synopsis: A searing, provocative satire by one of the most important African-American novelists of the twentieth century that lays bare the abiding racism and the legacy of slavery on the psyche of white America.

Mitchell Pierce is a well-off New York ad executive whose marriage is falling apart. He no longer feels any passion for his pregnant wife, Tam, and his toddler son, Jake, has become a disappointment. He feels trapped in an unrewarding and loveless life and though domestic violence is not in Mitchell's character, it is never very far away. Mitchell withdraws to a fantasy world where he can act out his unfulfilled sexual desires.

     Mitchell's life will irrevocably change one day, though, when a young man appears at his apartment door to pick up the family's black maid, Opal, for a date. Cooley it turns out is not a stranger to the household. The twins that Tam is carrying are a result of superfecundation--the fertilization of two separate ova by two different males. So when one child is born black and the other white, Mitchell goes on a quest to find Cooley and make him take his baby.
    In the tradition of Brer Rabbit trickster tales, dem enacts a modern-day fable of the turning the tables on the white oppressor and inverting the history of miscegenation and subjugation of African Americans.
Sign up for our literacy platform for reading at home

LightSail includes up to 6,000 high interest, Lexile aligned book titles with every student subscription. Other titles are available for individual purchase.

Watch the power of

Lightsail in action

×

SUPPORT GROWING READERS

Immediately Engage Students
Immediately Engage Students
Simple intuitive design has classrooms reading within minutes.
Exponentially Grow Reading Time
Exponentially Grow Reading Time
Students love the LightSail experience and naturally spend more time reading.
Accelerate Literacy Development
Accelerate Literacy Development
Students reading 25 minutes a day on LightSail are seeing 2+ years of Lexile growth in a single year.

LightSail Education is a comprehensive Lexile and standards-aligned, literacy platform and digital e-book library. Including multimodal learning functionality and featuring books from leading publishers, LightSail holistically assesses and nurtures each student on their reading and writing-to-learn journey, throughout elementary, middle, and high school.

*LightSail offers a 2,000 or a 6,000 title bundle with its student subscriptions. Other titles are available for individual purchase.