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The Hatbox Letters
By Beth Powning. 2021
In this beautiful and deeply moving novel, a young widow struggles to come to terms with her solitary life in…
the rambling Victorian house she shared until recently with her husband and children in semi-rural New Brunswick.It is in this house, surrounded by heirloom gardens and the gentle sounds of a river, that Kate Harding, 52, faces her second winter since the untimely death of her husband. Her children, now grown, are living away, and Kate is truly on her own. In her living room are several hatboxes filled with letters and other ghostly ephemera, recently brought by her sister from the attic of their grandparents’ 18th-century Connecticut house. Their sweet mustiness tinges the air and makes Kate dream of her childhood and of her beloved grandparents. She remembers the sense of permanence and refuge that she felt in their apple-scented world, as well as, more recently, with her husband. As she begins to read the hatbox letters, she discovers that what to a child seemed a serene and blissful marriage was in fact founded on a tragic event. As Kate’s eyes clear to the truth of the past, a new tragedy unfolds, and her own house, filled with the shared detritus of marriage and motherhood, becomes the refuge where Kate can connect the strands of her unravelled life.In The Hatbox Letters — which is both sad and exhilarating, touching and illuminating — Beth Powning offers readers an unforgettable story of love, grief and renewal, both past and present, as well as her extraordinary perceptions of the natural world.Excerpt from The Hatbox LettersThe birds rise with a muted thunder, their wings serrate the light. For an instant, a peregrine falcon zigzags through the flock. Then it drops from the belly of the rising bird-cloud. In its talons is a sandpiper, crumpled like a ball of paper. It is hard to decide which drama to observe, the escape of the falcon with its prey or the flock’s display as the birds rush seaward like a single entity, a ballooning flame that rises and falls, expands and implodes, one instant silver and the next black. The flock speeds back towards the beach, passes close to the watchers, makes a dazzling turn, fast as thought. Then, with a diminishing roar, the birds waver, their legs drop, stretch. They touch down. They fluff their feathers, Kate observes, the way humans pull coats up around necks after a shock. Trying to put ourselves back as we were.Falling out of time
By David Grossman. 2014
Walking Man announces to his wife that he is setting out in search of their son, who has died. As…
Walking Man travels, other townspeople join him in search of their own loved ones. They all question whether death is truly the end of a person. Translated from Hebrew. 2014How they croaked: the awful ends of the awfully famous
By Georgia Bragg, Kevin O'Malley. 2011
Guide to the deaths of nineteen notable people begins with King Tut, who died of malaria. Also covers King Henry…
VIII, whose corpse exploded; George Washington; Marie Curie, who literally worked to death; and Albert Einstein. Includes facts, oddities, and resources. Some violence. For grades 5-8 and older readers. 201110 inventors who changed the world
By Clive Gifford. 2009
Discusses the accomplishments of Archimedes, Galileo, Benjamin Franklin, James Watt, Isambard K. Brunel, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie, Glenn…
Curtiss, and Sergei Korolev--ten pioneers in the fields of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and electricity. Features "life links" that describe the ways one inventor's work influenced another's. For grades 4-7. 2009Betsy Ross and the silver thimble: Ready-to-Read Level 2 (Ready-to-Read Childhood of Famous Americans #Level 2)
By Stephanie Greene, Diana Magnuson. 2002
Young Betsy Ross is upset when her brother tells her that she cannot make furniture because she is a girl.…
Betsy wants to prove that she can do whatever he can, but she ends up proving something to herself instead. For grades 2-4Dirt road: A Novel
By James Kelman. 2016
The story of a teenage boy, who travels with his father from Scotland to Alabama to visit with relatives after…
the death of his mother and sister, and becomes swept up into the world of zydeco and bluesTaking hold: from migrant childhood to Columbia University
By Francisco Jiménez. 2015
Jiménez came to California with his emigrant Mexican family, and worked for many years in the fields alongside them. Here,…
he recounts his life from when he arrives in NY City to begin graduate work at Columbia University in the late 1960s. It was a turbulent, political time, and he missed his girlfriend and family in California. Eventually he became a professor at Santa Clara University in 1973Terrible typhoid Mary: a true story of the deadliest cook in America
By Susan Campbell Bartoletti. 2015
Mary Mallon, who became known as "Typhoid Mary," was hired as a cook for a wealthy family in 1906. A…
few weeks later an outbreak of typhoid fever swept through the household. Eventually it was determined that Mallon was a healthy carrier, spreading the disease but not suffering it herself. She was arrested and quarantined against her will. This biography explores the many violations of Mallon's human and civil rights, the culture of the period, how the public and health officials responded, and the sensationalism of "yellow journalism." For grades 5-8Mind your manners, Alice Roosevelt!
By Leslie Kimmelman, Adam Gustavson. 2009
A brief, fictionalized account of what life was like for Theodore Roosevelt during his political career, with his oldest daughter,…
Alice, a strong-willed and somewhat wild young woman, who loved to do things that shocked the public, even when she lived in the White House. For grades 2-4Soldier's secret: the story of Deborah Sampson
By Sheila Solomon Klass. 2009
After completing her indentured servitude, Deborah Sampson, a tall and strong young woman, wants to join America's Continental army and…
help the colonies gain independence. She disguises herself as a boy, enlists in a Massachusetts regiment, and serves admirably as a Revolutionary War soldier. For grades 6-9. 2009Mummies: the newest, coolest, and creepiest from around the world
By Shelley Tanaka. 2005
Discusses the ways cultures in various climates and time periods have preserved the dead. Describes the process of mummification in…
the Andes mountains and dry deserts of South America, the Egyptian desert, glaciers of Canada and Italy, European peat bogs, Siberian ice, and Chinese sand dunes. For grades 3-6. 2005Wings of madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the invention of flight
By Paul Hoffman. 2003
Author of The Man Who Loved Only Numbers (RC 48056) examines the life and work of Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932), the…
Brazilian-born aeronautical pioneer whose dirigibles captivated Paris. Hoffman highlights Santos-Dumont's aerial accomplishments, role in the race for manned flight, and despair at the destructive power of militarized aircraft during World War I. 2003In 1745 Amos, a church mouse, leaves his home to find a better place to live. He ends up with…
Benjamin Franklin and becomes his confidant and traveling companion. When Franklin dies, many writers extol his achievements, but Amos decides to set the record straight with his own accounts. For grades 5-8Life in the iron mills, and other stories: Second Edition
By Rebecca Harding Davis, Tillie Olsen. 1985
The title piece, first published in the Atlantic Monthly in April 1861, tells the story of an artist living in…
one of the early industrial towns of America and portrays the deprivation of the mill hands and their families. Also included are "The Wife's Story," "Anne," and a biographical sketch of Rebecca Harding Davis. These describe the lives of women constrained by society and by their own senses of dutyLes devoirs d'edmond
By Hugo Léger. 2022
« Ma maman est morte. Je le dis comme c'est arrivé, brusquement. Quelques minutes avant que la mer l'avale, on…
s'amusait tous les deux. Elle était le requin, j'étais le surfeur. On l'a retrouvée le lendemain, comme la boîte noire d'un avion. On ne meurt pas en vacances. C'est pas juste. On peut pas être très heureux et très malheureux la même journée. C'est trop rapproché. » De retour d'un voyage au dénouement malheureux, le jeune Edmond doit apprendre à vivre sans sa mère, pendant que son père essaie de cacher sa peine et que sa soeur ne semble pas vraiment comprendre que leur maman ne reviendra pas. Edmond tente de venir en aide à sa famille en faisant des grilled cheese (avec du beurre des deux côtés, comme sa maman) et toute sortes de petites tâches quotidiennes. Il en vient à se dire qu'il pourrait trouver un boulot... Il n'a peut-être que dix ans, mais ça lui permettrait de faire sa part. Sur le chemin du travail, Edmond rencontrera Raymond et son chat Dali. Au fil de leurs échanges et de sa première expérience professionnelle, il découvrira que rien ne sert de précipiter les choses, qu'il peut encore attendre avant d'être un adulte et qu'il peut prendre le temps d'être un enfant et de vivre son deuil avec ses proches.River boy: the story of Mark Twain
By William Anderson, Dan Andreasen. 2003
Noted historian William Anderson tells the colorful story of Mark Twain's life as he grows from a mischievous boy into…
the enterprising author. Dan Andreasen's fresh, vibrant paintings capture the spirit of the storyteller who will live on forever as one of America's literary icons. For grades 2-4Picture perfect (Fiction - Young Adult)
By Elaine Marie Alphin. 2003
Best friends Ian and Teddy meet regularly in an abandoned motel in the redwood forest, California, to take photographs. One…
day Teddy doesn't show up and Ian suspects his oppressive father has something to do with his friend's mysterious disappearance. Ian is questioned by the sheriff but he can't remember everything that happened that day. For grades 6-9The rough patch: A Caldecott Honor Award Winner
By Brian Lies. 2018
Farmer Evan and his dog do everything together, and they especially love working in the garden. But when his dog…
passes away, Evan lets his garden fill with weeds until a pumpkin vine brings new hope. PRINT/BRAILLE. For grades K-3. 2018The last: Endling (Endling Ser. #1)
By Katherine Applegate. 2018
Fearing she may be the last of her kind, Byx sets off to find a safe haven and to see…
if the legends of hidden dairne packs are true. For grades 4-7. 2018A Dog Called Homeless
By Sarah Lean. 2012
Praised by Newbery Medal–winning author Katherine Applegate as "graceful" and "miraculous," this Schneider Family Book Award–winning novel tells how one…
girl's friendship with a homeless dog mends a family's heart.Cally Fisher knows she can see her dead mother, but the only other living soul who does is a mysterious wolfhound who always seems to be there when her mom appears. How can Cally convince anyone that her mom is still with the family, or persuade her dad that the huge silver-gray dog belongs with them?With beautiful, spare writing and adorable animals, A Dog Called Homeless is perfect for readers of favorite middle-grade novels starring dogs, such as Because of Winn-Dixie and Shiloh.