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Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The acclaimed author of Bird by Bird brings her brilliant combination of humor and warmth to a "smart, funny, and comforting" chronicle of single motherhood (Los Angeles Times Book Review).
It's not like she's the only woman to ever have a baby. At thirty-five. On her own. But Anne Lamott makes it all fresh in her now-classic account of how she and her son and numerous friends and neighbors and some strangers survived and thrived in that all important first year. From finding out that her baby is a boy (and getting used to the idea) to finding out that her best friend and greatest supporter Pam will die of cancer (and not getting used to that idea), with a generous amount of wit and faith (but very little piousness), Lamott narrates the great and small events that make up a woman's life. "Lamott is a wonderfully lithe writer .... Anyone who has ever had a hard time facing a perfectly ordinary day will identify." --Chicago Tribune -
The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton
The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton comprises the poet's ten volumes of verse, including the Pulitzer Prize-winner Live or Die, as well as seven poems from her last years.
From the joy and anguish of her own experience, Sexton fashioned poems that told truths about the inner lives of men and women.
"Women poets in particular owe a debt to Anne Sexton, who broke new ground, shattered taboos, and endured a barrage of attacks along the way because of the flamboyance of her subject matter...Sexton has earned her place in the canon."--from the Foreword by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Maxine Kumin -
The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care
WINNER OF THE 2020 PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL NONFICTION
A twenty-first-century Illness as Metaphor, as well as a harrowing memoir of survival, The Undying explores the experience of illness as mediated by digital screens, weaving in ancient Roman dream diarists, cancer hoaxers and fetishists, cancer vloggers, corporate lies, John Donne, pro-pain "dolorists," the ecological costs of chemotherapy, and the many little murders of capitalism. It excoriates the pharmaceutical industry and the bland hypocrisies of "pink ribbon culture" while also diving into the long literary line of women writing about their own illnesses and ongoing deaths: Audre Lorde, Kathy Acker, Susan Sontag, and others. A genre-bending memoir in the tradition of The Argonauts, The Undying will break your heart, make you angry enough to spit, and show you contemporary America as a thing both desperately ill and occasionally, perversely glorious. Includes black-and-white illustrations
"The Undying is a startling, urgent intervention in our discourses about sickness and health, art and science, language and literature, and mortality and death. In dissecting what she terms 'the ideological regime of cancer, ' Anne Boyer has produced a profound and unforgettable document on the experience of life itself." --Sally Rooney, author of Normal People
"Anne Boyer's radically unsentimental account of cancer and the 'carcinogenosphere' obliterates cliche. By demonstrating how her utterly specific experience is also irreducibly social, she opens up new spaces for thinking and feeling together. The Undying is an outraged, beautiful, and brilliant work of embodied critique." --Ben Lerner, author of The Topeka School
A week after her forty-first birthday, the acclaimed poet Anne Boyer was diagnosed with highly aggressive triple-negative breast cancer. For a single mother living paycheck to paycheck who had always been the caregiver rather than the one needing care, the catastrophic illness was both a crisis and an initiation into new ideas about mortality and the gendered politics of illness. -
Cherry Cheesecake Murder
Hannah Swensen and her bakery, The Cookie Jar, bask in the glow of Hollywood glamour when Main Street becomes a movie set. And although tensions simmer as the cameras roll, no one expects the action to turn deadly . . . until it's too late . . . There's no such thing as privacy in Lake Eden, but Hannah never thought things would go this far. Everyone has been telling her what to do ever since she got not one but two marriage proposals. Movie mania soon shoves Hannah's marriage dilemma into the background and even gives her cat a shot at stardom. The Cookie Jar serves as snack central with Main Street rented out for the week. She stirs lots of fresh gossip, whipping up treats for cast and crew, including demanding director Dean Lawrence's favorite--cherry cheesecake. Features Over a Dozen Cookie and Dessert Recipes from The Cookie Jar! -
Jubilee (50th Anniversary Edition)
The best-selling classic about a mixed-race child in the Civil War-era South that "chronicles the triumph of a free spirit over many kinds of bondage" (New York Times Book Review).
Jubilee tells the true story of Vyry, the child of a white plantation owner and his black mistress. Vyry bears witness to the antebellum South in both its opulence and its brutality, its wartime ruin, and the promises of Reconstruction.
Weaving her own family's oral history with thirty years of research, Margaret Walker brings the everyday experiences of slaves to light in a novel that churns with the hunger, the hymns, the struggles, and the very breath of American history.
"A revelation."--Milwaukee Journal
Includes a Foreword by Nikki Giovanni -
Cold Earth: A Shetland Mystery
Cold Earth is the seventh book in Ann Cleeves' beloved Shetland series, which is now a major success for the BBC, and available to stream in the US.
From Ann Cleeves, winner of the Crime Writers Association's Diamond Dagger Award, comes Cold Earth. In the dark days of a Shetland winter, torrential rain triggers a landslide that crosses the main road and sweeps down to the sea. At the burial of his old friend Magnus Tait, Jimmy Perez watches the flood of mud and water smash through a house in its path. Everyone thinks the home is uninhabited, but in the wreckage he finds the body of a dark-haired woman wearing a red silk dress. Perez soon becomes obsessed with tracing her identity and realizes he must find out who she was and how she died. Cold Earth is the seventh book in the beloved Shetland series, which is now a major success for the BBC. -
The Sunrise Cove Inn
A divorced criminal lawyer. Her first love. The island she abandoned for a better life over twenty years ago.
Susan Sheridan knows Martha's Vineyard like the back of her hand. She grew up there as the eldest of the three Sheridan Sisters, their father the longtime owner of the Sunrise Cove Inn in Oak Bluffs. The Inn, the water, the sun all spun with laughter, and love, with the most important people-- her family and friends. It was her glittering, perfect life--until it wasn't. Tragedy struck over twenty years ago, and Susan has hardly said a word to her sisters or her father or anyone else she ever loved. Not until now. Her father and Sunrise Cove Inn are both falling apart, just like Susan's life. Her husband left her for the secretary at their shared law firm, and her children have their separate lives. And she's keeping her own secrets. Now it's time to go back to the island she once loved so much. Time to face the horrors and secrets of her past, everything she's tucked away since she left the Vineyard and started a family of her own. But as she digs deeper into the dark psyche of her past, she digs up old truths, lost loves, and regrets--all with the once-familiar backdrop of this gorgeous island. The Vineyard has been waiting for her. But can she handle what she finds there? Can she forgive and never again regret? Dive into this new women's fiction series by heading to Martha's Vineyard-- a backdrop of white sand and crystal blue waters that follow the stories of the Sheridan sisters. A heartwarming journey of friendship, loss, and love that will have you wanting the next book. For fans of Pamela Kelley, Caroline Brown, Debbie Macomber, and Jan Moran. -
A House in the Sky
BREAKING NEWS: Amanda Lindhout's lead kidnapper, Ali Omar Ader, has been caught. Amanda Lindhout wrote about her fifteen month abduction in Somalia in A House in the Sky. It is the New York Times bestselling memoir of a woman whose curiosity led her to the world's most remote places and then into captivity: "Exquisitely told...A young woman's harrowing coming-of-age story and an extraordinary narrative of forgiveness and spiritual triumph" (The New York Times Book Review). As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself visiting its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress, she began saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each adventure, went on to Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a television reporter. And then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia--"the most dangerous place on earth." On her fourth day, she was abducted by a group of masked men along a dusty road. Held hostage for 460 days, Amanda survives on memory--every lush detail of the world she experienced in her life before captivity--and on strategy, fortitude, and hope. When she is most desperate, she visits a house in the sky, high above the woman kept in chains, in the dark. Vivid and suspenseful, as artfully written as the finest novel, A House in the Sky is "a searingly unsentimental account. Ultimately it is compassion--for her naïve younger self, for her kidnappers--that becomes the key to Lindhout's survival" (O, The Oprah Magazine). -
The Old Kingdom Three-Book Box Set: Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen
Just in time for the 25th anniversary of Sabriel, this three-book box set features the original art from the classic must-read fantasy trilogy, a perfect gift for fans of Garth Nix and the teen fantasy genre.
Return to the Old Kingdom and experience one of the first feminist teen fantasies. With paperback editions of Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen--all with the cover artwork by Leo and Diane Dillon--it's a perfect gift for fantasy fans.
In a land where magic rules, the clash between the living and the dead will be forever changed by dark secrets, deep love, and dangerous magic.
Praise for Sabriel
"Sabriel is a winner, a fantasy that reads like realism. Here is a world with the same solidity and four dimensional authority as our own, created with invention, clarity, and intelligence. I congratulate Garth Nix. And I look forward to reading his next piece of work." --Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials trilogy
"Rich, complex, involving, hard to put down, excellent high fantasy." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Nix has created an ingenious, icy world. The action charges along at a gallop. A page-turner for sure." --ALA Booklist (starred review)
"An involving fantasy that takes off running and doesn't let up the pace until the final page. The pacing is exquisite, the suspense rising and falling and rising again until the truly edge-of-your-seat finale. A winner for fantasy and adventure lovers." --BCCB
Praise for Lirael
"What makes Lirael a delight is the magic that Nix brings to his story and to his characters." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Riveting. Readers who like their fantasy intense in action, magisterial in scope, and apocalyptic in consequences will revel in every work." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for Abhorsen
"Nix brings his trilogy to a literally earth-shattering conclusion. Action explodes from the very first pages. Breathtaking, bittersweet, and utterly unforgettable." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This title has a cinematic sweep; the tense, climactic confrontation pulls from the very beginning into a tightly constructed, satisfying conclusion." --BCCB
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Epic Athletes: Alex Morgan
Kicking off his new series of sports biographies for young readers, journalist Dan Wetzel tells the inspiring true life story of a US Women's Soccer star in Epic Athletes: Alex Morgan.
Featuring graphic-style illustrations by Cory Thomas! Fierce competitor. World Cup winner. Role model. U.S. Women's Soccer star Alex Morgan has earned each of these impressive titles throughout her incredible career. As a young girl growing up in Southern California, she dreamed of being a professional soccer player, fighting to compete on the international stage against the world's greatest athletes. Flash forward to the present and Alex Morgan has emerged as the face of U.S. Women's soccer, famous for her clutch, late-game goals, and an inspiration to kids across the country. Bestselling author Dan Wetzel details the rise of an American champion in this uplifting biography for young readers, complete with dynamic comic-style illustrations.
Praise for Epic Athletes * "An unusually informative and enjoyable sports biography for young readers." --Booklist, starred review for Epic Athletes: Stephen Curry -
Pinkalicious: Eggstraordinary Easter: An Easter and Springtime Book for Kids
This 8x8 storybook with a page of stickers sends the Pinkerton family on an eggsciting Easter scavenger hunt!
When Pinkalicious wakes up on Easter morning, she finds a note from Edgar Easter Bunny that leads to a fun family day. Your family will enjoy sharing this storybook and stickers--the perfect Easter basket gift and springtime read.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Kann's treat of a story has become an Easter favorite for kids and parents. This adorable 8x8 storybook includes stickers for kids to enjoy.
Readers can watch Pinkalicious and Peter on the funtastic PBS Kids TV series Pinkalicious & Peterrific!
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Becoming: Adapted for Young Readers
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Michelle Obama's worldwide bestselling memoir, Becoming, is now adapted for young readers. Michelle Robinson was born on the South Side of Chicago. From her modest beginnings, she would become Michelle Obama, the inspiring and powerful First Lady of the United States, when her husband, Barack Obama, was elected the forty-fourth president. They would be the first Black First Family in the White House and serve the country for two terms. Growing up, Michelle and her older brother, Craig, shared a bedroom in their family's upstairs apartment in her great-aunt's house. Her parents, Fraser and Marian, poured their love and energy into their children. Michelle's beloved dad taught his kids to work hard, keep their word, and remember to laugh. Her mom showed them how to think for themselves, use their voice, and be unafraid. But life soon took her far from home. With determination, carefully made plans, and the desire to achieve, Michelle was eager to expand the sphere of her life from her schooling in Chicago. She went to Princeton University, where she learned what it felt like to be the only Black woman in the room. She then went to Harvard Law School, and after graduating returned to Chicago and became a high-powered lawyer. Her plans changed, however, when she met and fell in love with Barack Obama. From her early years of marriage, and the struggle to balance being a working woman, a wife, and the mom of two daughters, Michelle Obama details the shift she made to political life and what her family endured as a result of her husband's fast-moving political career and campaign for the presidency. She shares the glamour of ball gowns and world travel, and the difficulties of comforting families after tragedies. She managed to be there for her daughters' swim competitions and attend plays at their schools without catching the spotlight, while defining and championing numerous initiatives, especially those geared toward kids, during her time as First Lady. Most important, this volume for young people is an honest and fascinating account of Michelle Obama's life led by example. She shares her views on how all young people can help themselves as well as help others, no matter their status in life. She asks readers to realize that no one is perfect, and that the process of becoming is what matters, as finding yourself is ever evolving. In telling her story with boldness, she asks young readers: Who are you, and what do you want to become? -
Six Revolutionary WOW Factor Women
WHAT EXACTLY IS THE WOW FACTOR?
It's a special quality tucked down deep inside you, which comes out when a problem needs solving. It might come from love, courage, or perseverance. Whatever inspires it, it is the part of you that says, "Watch Out World! I can deal with this."
In this book, you will meet six strong, determined, independent women of America's Revolutionary period-among them an extraordinary schoolteacher; an enslaved woman who went to court and won her freedom; a clever mother who took on six Redcoats on her own; an Oneida maiden who braved a blizzard to save Washington's troops at Valley Forge; a sixteen-year- old girl trapped in a fort under siege; and even a president's wife, hauling important documents from the burning White House-all of whom found their WOW factors within a few years of each other!
Who knows? As you explore their stories, you might just discover your own WOW factor!
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Key Lime Pie Murder
New York Times Bestseller It promises to be a busy week for Hannah Swensen. Not only is she whipping up treats for the chamber of commerce booth at the Tri-County fair, she's also judging the baking contest; acting as a magician's assistant for her business partner's husband; trying to coax Moishe, her previously rapacious feline, to end his hunger strike, and performing her own private carnival act by juggling the demands of her mother and sisters. With so much on her plate, it's no wonder Hannah finds herself on the midway only moments before the fair closes for the night. After hearing a suspicious thump, she goes snooping-only to discover Willa Sunquist, a student teacher and fellow bake contest judge, dead alongside an upended key lime pie. But who would want to kill Willa and why? Now Hannah needs to crank up the heat, hoping that Willa's killer will get rattled and make a mistake. If that happens she intends to be there, even if it means getting on a carnival ride that could very well be her last. . . "Yummy. . .Fluke has developed a charming supporting cast who all feel like friends by the time the murder is solved. The dozens of tempting recipes Fluke includes are an added treat." --Publishers Weekly -
Pray for Silence: A Kate Burkholder Novel
One family. One horrific murder. An entire town under suspicion...
The Planks moved from Lancaster County Pennsylvania to the small Amish community of Painters Mill, hoping to resume the comforts of the Plain Life in Ohio. Less than one year later, the family of seven is found dead--slaughtered on their own farm. "Shades of In Cold Blood . . . Another chilling thriller."--People magazine Police Chief Kate Burkholder and her small force have few clues, no motive, and no suspect. Formerly Amish herself, Kate is no stranger to the secrets the Amish keep from their "English" neighbors--and each other. When the diary belonging to the rebellious teenager Mary Plank turns up, Kate is surprised to find not only a kindred spirit but a murder suspect: the charismatic stranger who stole Mary's heart. "Violent and earthy, and completely impossible to put down."--BookPage Then there's Mary's brother, Aaron. Shunned by his family and the rest of the Amish community, could he have returned to seek revenge? Now it's up to Kate to search for some dark truths about the Planks--and confront long-buried secrets of her own. As Kate's obsession with the case grows so does her resolve to bring the killer to justice--even if it means putting herself into the line of fire . . . "Will appeal to fans of Karin Slaughter and Tami Hoag."--Library Journal