Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip-hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri's got massive shoes to fill. But it's hard to get your come up when you're labeled a hoodlum at school and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral—for all the...

Rappy the Raptor and his classmates write poems about their favorite things to celebrate Poetry Week.

Biggie Smalls was right. Things done changed. But that doesn't mean Quadir and Jarrell are cool letting their best friend Steph's music lie forgotten under his bed after he is murdered—not when his rhymes could turn any Bed-Stuy corner into a party, not after years of having each other's backs. With the help of Steph's younger sister, Jasmine, who is eager to see justice for her brother, Quadir and Jarrell come up with a plan to promote Steph's...

A rhythmic tale about different updated fairy tale characters who attend a hip-hop Halloween ball.

When Simon B. Rhymin' and his crew notice inequality in their school and neighborhoood, they use rhymes to help bring their community together.--

Rap duo Hip the turtle and Hop the rabbit try to convince a prickly porcupine that saying "no" to everything is no fun at all.

When his class visits the library, Rappy uses his raps and rhymes to convince his bored classmates that the library is a fun place to be.

"Words burn bright in this joyful celebration of rap, creativity, and self-expression. “Welcome to the cypher! Now huddle up nice and snug. You feel that circle around you? Well, that’s a hip hop hug!” Starting with beatboxes and fingersnaps, an exuberant narrator introduces kids in his community to the powerful possibilities of rap, from turning “a simple phrase/into imagery that soars” to proclaiming, “this is a voice that represents...

"On the first day of school, Rappy the Raptor uses his raps and rhymes to deal with a bully and make a new friend"--

When first-year film student Spencer O'Toole is asked to make a music video for a band, he leaps at the chance. But Jerry, Spencer's dad, shows up, and somehow the band assumes he's in charge, despite the fact that he has zero background in film. And then there's Scratch, violent gang member turned sleazy music producer, who keeps making big promises but fails to deliver on a single one. Spencer has no idea how he's going to get this thing made. When...