Clutch Time

My League Buns has how the knowledge you want.

My League bus has here the knowledge you need. My league but.

Yet they have out the books that the whole wild world onner read My League Bus.

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.

To Malik's Book Show, Bringing a world together with books, culture and community. Hi, my name is Malik, your host of Malik's Book Show, Changing the world with one Book at a time.

Well, I'm glad you tuned in because this is a hot episode.

I was able to get a few interviews I'm gonna air on this episode. I was able to interview Koran Butler, who is a two time NBA All Star and won the NBA Championship with the Minnesota Timberwoods fourteen years in the league, NBA phenomenal player. I gotta interview him and Justin A.

Reynolds.

They collapse on a book called Clutch Time, So I interviewed them.

They're out here trying to help the next generation.

Of youth to read, to achieve, and understand the importance of being there during clutch time to excel. So that book Shot Clock was the first book they wrote. Then the sequels Clutch Time is out Guy. That Malik's where all books are sold as well, but I'm going to air that interview. Classic also was able to interview Teresa Thomas, who wrote a book called Napoli Ever After. They turned into a movie. But her latest book is out called The Secret Keeper on Main Street. She used to own

Climate change.

I think is gonna take a whole lot longer to destroy the earth than how.

Close we are to a nuclear war.

People having such major disagreements and think that violence is the answer. You know, technology and science has evolved humanity and civilization rapidly.

Violence might have worked in the past to.

Solve a lot of problems in cr and in wars that were devastating and the violence of power change. But nowadays, because of technology and the advancement of nuclear weapons, it's a lot more serious and the consequences could be a lot more devastating.

So this just violence needs to end.

This violence needs to stop because technology is able to kill a million people more so in a much more quicker pace than traditional methods of war.

And no one wins.

That people can s I can look at it and and analyze it and dissect it, but no one when everyone loses. We have to find a some civility to talk out the deal differences and be fair and equitable. There's a lot of in unjust injustice occurring because of inequities and social injustice. We have to be fair. We have to understand that there's opportunity in space for all of us to exist and to have what we need

This is is strangling humanity and creating a bubble that's going to bust.

We add the closest than ever for a nuclear war.

And no one wins.

No one wins, so we have time to to make a change. We should do it, and we should do it now. As far as this uh climate can ch change. Okay, well that's gonna take a long time for the Earth is destroyed. But they are wars right now going on, just escalate not de escalating, and people are are are

Anyway, if you want.

To give me your feedback on terms of their question I asked, you can email Real Malik Muhammad at gmail dot com. Realmlik Muhammad at gmail dot com to give me your answer on what's likely to destroy our planet nuclear weapon or climate change?

All right, thank you. Now here come the episode.

I'm sitting here at forty second Street School. Were about to put an event together with Karan Butler justin a Reynolds. They got to brook out called shot Clock is the first book of the series, and we out here with Clutchtime, the new release. But more importantly I got an opportunity to talk to them from my fans on Malik's bookshelf bringing the world together with books, culture and community. Welcome Kuran Butter, Welcome, justin a real we out here chopping up entrepreneurship.

We ain't even talking about books. You know what I'm saying.

I'm I'm so impressed with Karan Butler's moved in from basketball to entrepreneurship.

Tell me all about that, man.

I'm extremely blessed the monitor to you know, be able to pivot into another space and different verticals. The hospitality business with the Graduate hotels. We just iPod we sold to the Hilton and uh it was a significant number. And it's still doing other stuff in the community as far as like franchising with the Starbucks, the O n H Bakery and just trying to employ people that look like me, but also just try to inspire young people that you know, it ain't just basketball, is not just

That's like a cliche, clutch time. We in the clutch time, justin riddles, Come on you brother. One of the books that we constantly sell all the time is the Mom Spider Man series. Tell us all about that man, because that book is man touching people.

Yeah, no, it's a it's been. It's been wild to see the way that the books impacted young people. I think, uh the best part about it is I think about growing up and loving uh Spider Man myself.

But we had Peter Parker, right, and now.

We get to give kids a new Spider Man, Miles Morales from Brooklyn, and so just to see him the way he moves.

You know.

The crazy thing about Miles Morales is like when I'm trying to figure out the villain that he's gonna go against, he's so powerful. It's like I have to set up extra stuff just to make him slow down, Like, how can we slow him down? How can we slow that? That's that's actually real, Like actually he would just use his camouflage in that situation. I was like, man, this guy is too powerful. This wi so so it's it's great.

Wonderful wonder them.

Well, when you go on your tour, tell them the Leak books.

Hey, we out here.

They're about to speak to the students at forty second Street Elementary. So you're gonna be talking about the book Clutch Time that just came out.

So just touch on, you know, up this series about how it came about.

Let's star what you corone.

You know, basically, we're gonna be talking about life because that's what Shot Clock and Clutch Time is really about. It's about young people in a nutshell getting the experience of going out the confines of a seven mile radius north southeast west Oasis Springs and just being able to see the world, and also talking about just the trauma that they carry and the adversity that all these individuals

Absolutely right time is not gonna wait for nobody use it.

Why is it now?

Justin let's let you talk about the book and just how y'all too connected, man, because y'all dynamic dual?

Yeah, yeah, we like to say we like the perfect pick and roll. You know, you can't you got to pick your poison. You know, you stop you try to stop hiling me. Okay, I got you try to stop me. He already got the rack, right, So it's like it's been like that from the very beginning. Honestly, our first conversation. This is not even a joke. My editor, he hit me up and he said, he said, I know how much you love basketball. We should talk about Koran and

Right. Absolutely, that book is life and all the keys to be successful is what you described. You know, put up a shed up. The most critical time is when you're under pressure.

How do you perform? You know?

I mean I was a track ad the leader, so I know about the pressure.

You know.

I ran in the Olympics, so I know about it. I ran for Puerto Rico. So but that was one of the highest achievements in my life.

So sports have helped me, especially individual sports has helped me to and I carry in every industry of my life, every endeavor in my life because of what I've learned. Team sports teaching certain things, individual sports teacher certain things.

You know.

So finally, what's the takeaway you want readers to get from your book?

You could be anything. We're trying to unlock the realness in the most authentic way. We have a cliche that we're just trying to unlock the magic inside of you, but you know, it really is what it is. You know, we're just trying to open your mind to something different. We're trying to let you know that there is no seelings to the possibilities. Stay dreaming. I'm forty four years old and I still dream when I sit down and think about characters and share my ideas, and we write

Any final thoughts about it.

Just The only thing I'll say is he mentioned something about having black and brown kids on the cover, and Crina and I talk about this all the time. We could have put a basketball on the cover and so three times more copies, right, but we were insistent that we wanted black and brown faces.

To be representative.

Because the most powerful thing you can see is your own image reflected back to you. It gives validation, right, It says that you belong to you belong here. Not only do we see you and hear you, but you are invaluable.

Right.

You deserve to be the hero of a story.

Every child deserves to see themselves reflected in the story, especially as the hero, not the sidekick, not the comedic relief.

Right.

We're done with that being at the forefront of the story. And so we're just proud to be a part of this. We probably bring the stories together and you know, we just keep making the magic happen hopefully.

So intentional intention and intention. Thank you, My brothers appreciate you.

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Malik's bookshelf, bringing a world together with books, culture.

And community. We did an event tonight with.

Tricia are To, the author of the secret Keeper of main Street. But she hit it big and hit it out the park and had made a home run with the Napolis series.

So that's you know, they didn't make movies.

They didn't, you know, she didn't want it was the Monapoli Ever After series.

So but I got it right here.

And as I always say.

No one can tell you about the book more than the author and her new book, The Secret Keeper of main Street. She just did a book designing and discussion with Jay Allen as the moderator. But I had to, you know, for my audience at Malik Bookshelf, we do book reviews and author interviews, and we need you.

To tell us about this wonderful new release.

The Secret Keeper of main Street is a historical novel set in nineteen fifty at dressmaker has the ability to touch a bride and know if she's marrying her true love or if there's someone else out there who might be her soulmate. She particularly helps one bride who has a secret. When she touches her, she finds out there was a crime committed, and a body turns up and that bride is arrested, and only the dressmaker knows what truly happened.

So describe this book in three words.

Oil, love, and scandal.

Oh we like drama, don't we?

We like drama.

Now, now, apparently you're a maginative. So how did you come up with this idea?

I actually owned a bridal salon for ten years, and I was a dressmaker, and I had so much time with the brides, and they had so much heartache and so many things that they wanted to talk about, and I was there for it, and so I just poured it all into the story.

Wow wow, Wow.

So you wrote a little bit from some experience and people that you met over those ten years owning.

A bridle shop. Now tell us a little bit about that.

You've been an entrepreneur, that's right, you know, not just the author, you know what I'm saying. Wow wow, So, so what made you get into bridle.

My father was a dressmaker. My grandmother was a dressmaker. I learned how to sew when I was really young, and it was just the thing I knew how to do. I used the money to put myself through college and eventually just got a shop and opened up and started paying rent. But it was it was a big undertaking, and it was profitable and it was fun. And so by the time I was done doing the job, I sold the business and started writing, became.

A full time writer. That's right.

But now here you work owned a bridle shop, worked in a bridle shop. But years later you write a book about the bridle shop. Why not early in your career, because you came out with Nappy ever After.

That was first, and that was really a story that was on my heart at the time. And so I think everything comes when it's supposed to come. I mean, Napoli ever After was really the story that needed to be told at that time. It was a big deal for natural hair at that moment, and it just needed to be told.

And it still needed to be told.

You know, you got kids running up the black kids rubbing.

In their hair.

You know, adults doing it too. So but yeah, we need to love our napoly hair. We need to fall in love. So that was your inspiration as you experienced something.

Well, I was going through this time where I was being a teacher and you know when after I sold the salon, I finally used my degree and started teaching, and so I was with the seventh grade and they were so mean to each other and they were calling each other nabyhead this and nabyhead of that, and it just it just broke my heart that we were still

Well, those are two things that you know being in bookstore owner.

You know a lot of books have come out on identity, about loving self, about accepting who you are to be who you are, the skin color, the hair texture, all of these things matter because these two big important things. Why a lot of black kids grow up, boys and girls, you know, not loving themselves, not looking in the mirror and appreciating themselves, believing in themselves, all based upon the color of their skin and the texture of their hair.

And a lot of it.

Is just inflicted by other kids, really and it's sad. So it was just something that inspired me to tell that story and it became a film.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, hey, this has been wonderful, wonderful one. Now I'm gonna tell people go out and buy The Secret Keeper of Main Street. Now we got to have Elik books. But we know it's so wherever books are so We appreciate the time you took to talk to me. Malik's Bookshelf bringing a world together with books, culture and community. Changing the world with one book at a time.

Man and come get the secret keeper of main Street because there are signed copies and I can't wait.

For you to read it. Bawn, you heard it live.

Thank you, thanks for listening to Malik's Bookshelf, where topics on the shelf are books, culture, and community. Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check out my instagram at Malak Books. See you next time.