Put On Your Crown

Modeled after Maria Shriver's Just Who Will You Be, Queen Latifah's goal with Put On Your Crown is to help young women build a strong sense of self-esteem. A US Dept. of Justice survey found that females ages 16-24 are more vulnerable to partner violence than any other group, almost triple the national average. Cases like Chris Brown's assault on pop star Rihanna showed an ugly side of adolescent life. However, Queen Latifah has always been a shining example of a woman happy with herself and unwilling to compromise to fit into the "hollywood ideal" of what a confident beautiful woman should look like. The result: She's one of the biggest A-list celebrities in Hollywood.

Ladies, I'm not here to tell you how many secret ways you can bend over backwards to get some man to come and validate you. You've heard enough of that. Men, I'm not here to tell you how to attract more women in an effort to chase the fulfillment your heart yearns for but you never learned how to keep. You've tried that already. It did not, and still has not worked. I'm here to tell you how to stop getting mindscrewed, toyed with, and taken for granted. It's killing your hope in love, and likely even eating away at your sense of self. You don't have to admit it to me, and you can hide it from your circle, but deep down, you know. Why am I so sure? Because I've been there before. I've been on both the receiving and giving end of heartbreak. I've been the bullshitter and the bullshitted. I, like many of you, tried everything to put myself in position where I could never get hurt, but no matter what, I failed because I was already hurting due to my lack of understanding of self-love. In this book, I take you through not only my personal process in that journey but also the lessons I learned to help me lead millions in that same journey for themselves today. I'm not telling you it's going to be easy, I'm just telling you that if you continue going in circles like you've been doing then it's by choice because I've now given you the map. The rest is on you to make the necessary steps. Just don't forget your crown

[ital]Put on Your Crown![ital] is a result of the relationship advice Patterson has shared with viewers of Black Entertainment Television (BET) and readers of [ital]Jet[ital] magazine, as well as her interviews/surveys with over 100 women seeking relationships and on-air advice and questions from her radio broadcast that reaches over half a million listeners in 50 cities. Combined with wit and humor, [ital]Put on Your Crown![ital] empowers single Christian woman to learn to love themselves even when they feel unlovable because they are single.

We know our children are special, and now the incomparable Nancy Tillman expresses this universal feeling in the most touching of ways: Every child is born with a crown. The crown is everything that gives us unique value. Our crown will always be with us wherever we go, whatever we do.

Named one of the best books of 2017 by NPR, the Huffington Post, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the Horn Book Magazine, the News & Observer, BookPage, Chicago Public Library, and more The barbershop is where the magic happens. Boys go in as lumps of clay and, with princely robes draped around their shoulders, a dab of cool shaving cream on their foreheads, and a slow, steady cut, they become royalty. That crisp yet subtle line makes boys sharper, more visible, more aware of every great thing that could happen to them when they look good: lesser grades turn into As; girls take notice; even a mother’s hug gets a little tighter. Everyone notices. A fresh cut makes boys fly. This rhythmic, read-aloud title is an unbridled celebration of the self-esteem, confidence, and swagger boys feel when they leave the barber’s chair—a tradition that places on their heads a figurative crown, beaming with jewels, that confirms their brilliance and worth and helps them not only love and accept themselves but also take a giant step toward caring how they present themselves to the world. The fresh cuts. That’s where it all begins. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut is a high-spirited, engaging salute to the beautiful, raw, assured humanity of black boys and how they see themselves when they approve of their reflections in the mirror.

“A story of madness, art, alcohol and creativity…elegantly translated…vivid.”New York Times An exasperated writer obsessed with American cinema embarks on an increasingly bizarre journey in this heady, engrossing novel. A man writes an enormous screenplay on the life of Herman Melville. Not a single producer is interested in it. One day, someone gives him the phone number of the great American filmmaker Michael Cimino, legendary director of The Deer Hunterand Heaven's Gate. A meeting is arranged in New York, and Cimino reads the manuscript. What follows is a series of crazy adventures through Ellis Island, the Musée de la Chasse in Paris, a lake in Italy. We run into Isabelle Huppert, Diana the hunting goddess, a Dalmatian named Sabbat, a diabolical neighbor, and two shady characters with conspicuous mustaches. There's also a pretty PhD student, an unpleasant concierge, and an aggressive maître d' who looks like Emmanuel Macron... This improbable, insightful tale bridges the divide between cinema and literature in unexpected ways that are at once gratifying and profound.

You are royalty. What if you could experience the ups and downs of life with deep confidence and profound security? What if you felt so deeply loved that you stopped caring what people think of you, that you stopped second guessing yourself? What if you really walked with the dignity and grace of divine royalty? That's what Straighten Your Crown is all about. This book is the mirror that you have been looking for your whole life. It's a mirror that reflect how God sees you and the delight that He feels about you. You will see that you make Him smile. These pages will open new options to you. The option to say no to self-doubt. The option to choose your thoughts. The option to achieve anything you want. The option to believe that you are enough. As you read, each chapter will invite you to step fully into being God's daughter. You're the daughter of the King. The King's fingerprints of love and protection are evident in every area of your life, from the mountaintop moments to the darkest valley, and as you read, you will see His love for you shows up in ways you have never before considered. It's time to know what it feels like to be enough. It's time to know what life feels like without anxiety, without stress, and without self-doubt. It's time to stand tall with confidence and shine like the light you were created to be. It's time to straighten your crown. 

Have hope, this is a love story where you will find your true self, how to love the real you with honor, how to be a friend to yourself and to others. WOMAN, Would You Dare To Put Your Crown Back On? Seeks to help you escape the weeds of your previous life and allow room for new seeds to bloom in a cultivated soil that will produce a better life. Maria has worked daily to achieve a freedom, she has never known before, the value that gives her courage and to discover her purpose for living with dignity, respect, order, understanding, compassion and peace. Now she describes her story and the lessons she has learned during her journey through variety of experiences. She shares the conversations she has had with God and reveals how with His help, she established an abundant life by learning a new way of life--and how you can do the same. This personal narrative and exploration of faith presents one woman’s testimony with the hope of helping other women find the value, purpose and honor they were meant to have.