After a mysterious fall from his New York City apartment, Philip Chase has moved back home with his mother, Charlene, a bitter woman who has never fully accepted the death of her younger son, Ronnie, five years earlier. Numb from watching too much television, rereading a tragic biography, and trading snipes with his mother, Philip is in stasis.

But everything changes late one windy February night when Ronnie's high school girlfriend shows up on their doorstep. A sad young woman who still bears the scars of the accident that took Ronnie's life on the night of their prom, Melissa has unexpectedly found hope. She is nine months pregnant. And the father, she claims, is Ronnie.

0-688-17571-6, Morrow, $24.95, Hardcover
 

Qualities Teachers and Parents Use to Motivate, Inspire, and Educate Children

After publishing the New York Times bestseller The Essential 55, award-winning teacher Ron Clark took his rules on the road and traveled to schools and districts in 49 states. He met amazing teachers, administrators, students, parents — all kinds of people involved in bringing up great kids. In the best of these people, he noticed the same qualities that he'd observed in so many of the teachers, children, and parents he'd worked with during his time teaching in North Carolina and Harlem. There are the qualities he describes in The Excellent 11

1-4013-0141-X, Hyperion, $19.95, Hardcover
 

Seventeen-year-old Keisha is the beautiful, sheltered daughter of an activist pastor with a checkered past. Handsome, ambitious Jamal — a street-savvy crack dealer — is the son of North Philly's most notorious drug kingpin. A history of violence and betrayal lies between their fathers, who are now bitter enemies. After one of his church members is gunned down — with a bullet he is sure was meant for him — Pastor Anderson goes after Frank Nichols, determined to drive him from the neighborhood for good. There's just one problem: Keisha and Jamal are in love. When the families face off on opposite sides at an antidrug demonstration, a high-ranking police official is killed in the crossfire, and Jamal becomes the primes suspect in the murder. Keisha is left with a choice: Will she stay with her father in the confines of the sheltered world she's known, or will she venture into the unknown to help Jamal clear his name?

K-901474, St. Martin's Minotaur, $19.95, Hardcover
 

Venus and Serena WIlliams are two of the world's greatest-ever female tennis players. Between them they have won nine Grand Slam singles titles. In How to Play Tennis they provide you with the skills and techniques to play your personal best.

0-7566-0582-2, DK Publishing, $19.99, Hardcover
 

Leadership Lessons from Football's Top Head Coaches

Meet Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden, John Fox, Andy Reid, and Mike Sherman — top NFL head coaches whose careers rest on their ability to lead other men to win in the fiercely competitive world of professional football.

In an extraordinary collaboration with Bob LaMonte, each of these five coaches share their leadership principles in Winning the NFL Way.

0-06-073883-9, HarperCollins, $24.95, Hardcover