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Autumn Bird and the Runaway
By Melanie Florence, Richard Scrimger. 2022
Two kids from different worlds form an unexpected friendship.Cody’s home life is a messy, too-often terrifying story of neglect and…
abuse. Cody himself is a smart kid, a survivor with a wicked sense of humour that helps him see past his circumstances and begin to try to get himself out.Autumn is, quite literally, on the other side of the tracks from him. Her home life is loving and secure, and she is “in” with the popular girls at school, even if she has a secret life as a glasses-wearing, self-professed comic book nerd at home. And even if the pressure to fit in at school requires hours of time spent making herself look “perfect.”Returning home from a movie one evening, Autumn comes across Cody, face down in the laneway behind her house. All Cody knows is that he can’t take another beating from his father like the one he just narrowly escaped. He can’t go home, but he doesn’t have anywhere else to go either. Autumn won’t turn her back on him, even if they never really were friends at school. She agrees to let him hide out in her dad’s art studio at night.Over the next couple of days of Autumn sneaking Cody food and bandages, his story comes out. And so does hers.Told in alternating narratives, Autumn Bird and the Runaway is a breathtaking collaboration by two of Canada’s finest writers of books for young readers. Infused with themes of identity, belonging and compassion, it’s a story that reminds us that we are all more than our circumstances, and we are all more connected than we think.The Probability of Everything
By Sarah Everett. 2023
“One of the best books I have read this year (maybe ever).” —Colby Sharp, Nerdy Book ClubNPR Books We Love…
2023 | Publishers Weekly Best of 2023 | Winner of the Governor General's Literary Awards for Young People's LiteratureA heart-wrenching middle grade debut about Kemi, an aspiring scientist who loves statistics and facts, as she navigates grief and loss at a moment when life as she knows it changes forever.Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5.5 trillion and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out.But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. Amplus-68 has an 84.7% chance of colliding with earth in four days, and with that collision, Kemi’s life as she knows it will end.But over the course of the four days, even facts don’t feel true to Kemi anymore. The new town she moved to that was supposed to be “better for her family” isn’t very welcoming. And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending?With the days numbered, Kemi decides to put together a time capsule that will capture her family’s truth: how creative her mother is, how inquisitive her little sister can be, and how much Kemi's whole world revolves around her father. But no time capsule can change the truth behind all of it, that Kemi must face the most inevitable and hardest part of life: saying goodbye."My heart hurt as I raced through the last chapters of this unique book that shines a light on family, friends, grief, and love." —Lisa Yee, author of Maizy Chen's Last ChanceSweet Liberia, Lessons from the Coal Pot
By Susan D. Peters. 2010
Sweet Liberia, Lessons from the Coal Pot is a delightful, painfully honest memoir that chronicles the thick slice of humanity…
sandwiched between Liberia's April 12, 1980 coup and the Civil War in 1989. Like many others who embraced Black Pride, Afros, African clothing and names in the 70's, Susan and thousands more took it one step further and immigrated to Mother Africa. This touching memoir is set against the author's personal growth, her cultural struggles, and her triumphs, and is an informative, personally revealing, and often-comical account of her family's eleven-year journey immersed in the rich culture of Liberia, West Africa. "Many have wondered what it would be like to pack up our things and move to a new country, but none of us have imagined having to flee our new homeland with our children and barely more than the clothes on our back. Yet, Susan Peters managed to do just that while maintaining her faith which would eventually help her rebuild her life and uplift her heart and soul. This book is a wonderful and eye-opening experience that shouldn't be missed!"---Naleighna Kai, National Best-selling author of Speak It into Existence.Judy and the Moons of Korea
By Audrey Mckim. 1970
By telling a fun story about a little girl named Judy, this multicultural children's book is a great introduction to…
Korean culture and festivals.When Judy and her parents spent a year in Korea, she had a wonderful time. Every new moon her friends Sookie and Kim introduced Judy to another of Korea's many traditional festivals and customs. There were so many that Judy quite rightly said: "There are more fun days for children in Korea than in any other country."You can read about the day specially reserved for making kimchi pickles, the snowman who can talk Korean and English, and the summer moon when the children have fun at a yudu picnic party by the river.The delightful illustrations show you the many adventures Judy has with her new friends.A Corner of the World
By Dick Cluster, Mylene Fernández Pintado. 2011
"Mylene Fernandez offers us a magnificent gift. Her story of lost love and the difficult pursuit of literature is at…
the same time an X-ray of life in Havana, set in a present where glimpses of the future have not yet arrived."-Leonardo Padura, author of The Man Who Loved Dogs and the Mario Conde novels of HavanaIn contemporary Havana, "Do I stay or do I go?" is always the question, and love doesn't necessarily conquer all.A cautious, reserved professor of Spanish Literature, Marian has no idea that her quiet life is about to be turned upside down. When she's asked to review the work of a young, ambitious first-time novelist, she meets Daniel, and their love affair leads her to question both the choices she's made so far in her life and the opportunities she might yet still have.Theirs is the story of an intense and impossible love, set in today's Havana, a city where there can be no plans, where chance is the order of the day and a fierce sense of loyalty and pride coexists with the desire to live beyond the island's isolation."The fresh panorama of Cuban society today is painted without taboos or constraints, with a faith in human possibilities, and above all with a courage that stems from what is most legitimate and durable in ourselves."-Nancy Morejón, author of Looking Within: Selected Poems and Piedra Pulida"A Corner of the World is about desires and dreams, and, of course, about love."-Achy Obejas, author of Days of Awe and Ruins"Like the best of Truman Capote, another master of the short novel, Mylene Fernández gives us a cast of unforgettable characters: contradictory, complex, and human."-Fernando Pérez, director of Suite Habana, Life Is to Whistle, and Madagascar"To read this book is to encounter one of the best and most intimate works of Cuban literature of the 21st century."-Mabel Cuesta, author of Cuba post-soviética: un cuerpo narrado en clave de mujer"A sad, erotic, tender, and sometimes ironic tale of passion and desertion. ... the city becomes a co-protagonist, a confidante, a point of departure and return, and of waiting."--Senel Paz, novelist and screenwriter of Strawberry and Chocolate, Things I Left in Havana, and In the Sky with Diamondsd. It's for readers curious about the interior adventures of their fellow human beings, adventures that come with literary pleasures and an alchemy of fiction and life."--Senel Paz, novelist and screen writer (Strawberry and Chocolate, Waiting List, Things I Left in Havana, and In the Sky with Diamonds)Mylene Fernández-Pintado's novels have won the Italo Calvino Prize and Cuba's Critics' Award. She currently lives between Havana and Lugano, Switzerland. This is the first of her works to be translated into English.Alexandrian Summer
By André Aciman, Yardenne Greenspan, Yitzhak Gormezano Goren. 2015
"A powerful novel of tensions-sexual, familial, religious, and political-and an affecting but unsparing portrait of the petit bourgeois world of…
Egyptian Jews standing obliviously on the edge of a precipice. Alexandria--sensual and enchanting--shimmers in these pages." -Dalia Sofer, author of The Septembers of Shiraz"A fine work of art . . . riveting from the first page to the last."-Zo Haderekh"A reason to rejoice. . . . You can't help but keep on smiling with great pleasure."-Maariv"A profound literary experience."-AhshavAlexandrian Summer is the story of two Jewish families living their frenzied last days in the doomed cosmopolitan social whirl of Alexandria just before fleeing Egypt for Israel in 1951. The conventions of the Egyptian upper-middle class are laid bare in this dazzling novel, which exposes startling sexual hypocrisies and portrays a now vanished polyglot world of horse-racing, seaside promenades, and elegant night clubs. Hamdi-Ali senior is an old-time patriarch with more than a dash of strong Turkish blood. His handsome elder son, a promising horse jockey, can't afford sexual frustration, as it leads him to overeat and imperil his career, but the woman he lusts after won't let him get beyond undoing a few buttons. Victor, the younger son, takes his pleasure with other boys. But the true heroine of the story-richly evoked in a pungent upstairs/downstairs mix-is the raucous, seductive city of Alexandria itself. Published in Hebrew in 1978, Alexandrian Summer appears now in translation for the first time.Yitzhak Gormezano Goren was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1941 and immigrated to Israel as a child. A playwright and novelist, Goren studied English and French literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. In 1982, he cofounded the Bimat Kedem Theater.The Tiny Traveler: A Book of Numbers
By Misti Kenison. 2016
How many gondolas float down the canal? Can you count the number of masks at Carnival? Toddlers will answer these…
questions and more in this new book from Misti Kenison in her Tiny Traveler series. Travel from Rome to Venice as you and your little one count your way through Italy’s most famous landmarks. From one leaning tower to seven fresh pizzas coming out of the oven, you’ll catch the travel bug while teaching children the basics of counting!The fourth book in Kenison’s Tiny Traveler board book series will exposure your child to another country and culture while teaching him or her the basic concept of counting and numbers. So sit back and explore the world with your little one from your very own living room. Traveling to foreign places has never been so fun, or educational, for young children before!A wonderful series for young toddlers (0 to 2 years), this book teaches the basic concept of numbers and counting. Can be used at home or in a childcare facility to teach basic concepts.The Tiny Traveler: A Book of Nature
By Misti Kenison. 2016
From the tiniest bonsai to the peak of Mount. Fuji, your toddler will follow a beautiful nature trail through Japan.…
This new book from Misti Kenison in the Tiny Traveler series explains natural elements in the simplest terms for the youngest of travelers. Cherry blossoms, bamboo, and volcanoes are all illustrated in bold colors to capture the imagination. Toddlers will love finding rocks in the Zen garden, floating lotus blooms, yellow Japanese plums, and more in this delightful board book.Traveling to foreign places has never been so fun, or educational, for young children before! The Tiny Traveler board book series is sure to give your child the travel bug early while transporting the whole family to exotic and fantastic places. Explore the world with your little one from your very own living room.A wonderful board book series for toddlers (0 to 2 years), this book teaches young children about different parts of nature—and important basic concept to learn before entering preschool.How to be Nowhere
By Tim MacGabhann. 2020
Life is finally on the right track for reporter and recovering addict Andrew: he is slowly coming to terms with…
the murder of his photographer boyfriend Carlos, pursuing sobriety and building a new home with a new partner. Andrew has almost forgotten about the story that ruined his life - but that story hasn't forgotten about him, and a series of deadly threats forces him into helping the very man whose gang murdered his boyfriend and left him homeless.A literary take on the classic chase movie, HOW TO BE NOWHERE is the sequel to Tim MacGabhann's genre-busting and critically-acclaimed debut CALL HIM MINE, and a blistering thrill-ride deep into the fog of Central America's murky present and tragic future.DNA (Virtues & Vices #1)
By J. L. Campbell. 2006
When the past impacts the future, life takes a chaotic turn. Russell and Amoy Majors have thriving careers, a comfortable…
home, and two healthy sons. A new chapter opens in their lives when Russ accepts a promotion overseas without consulting Amoy. A move abroad means physical exams, biometric screenings, and embassy interviews. All normal requirements, or they would be, if Amoy didn't believe they might stir a hornet's nest. When an unauthorized test yields unexpected results, the pillars on which Amoy's life is built are shaken. Whether her marriage will survive a shocking revelation and her faith withstand a trial by fire, is anyone's guess. ***DNA is inspirational fiction with a focus on marriage.Call Him Mine: A Telegraph Thriller of the Year
By Tim MacGabhann. 2019
A TELEGRAPH THRILLER OF THE YEAR 'A wild ride' Ian Rankin'Tough and uncompromising: you'll be glad you read it' Lee…
Child'Hilarious, gripping, poetic. I loved it' Adrian McKinty, author of The Chain 'Gripping from beginning to end' Independent'Intoxicating and chilling' Observer 'Pacy and exciting' Daily Telegraph'Vivid and lyrical' Guardian'MacGabhann paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of Mexico, in all its seething, sweltering madness and beauty' Irish Independent Nobody asked us to look.Every day, every since, I still wish we hadn't. Jaded reporter Andrew and his photographer boyfriend, Carlos, are sick of sifting the dregs of Mexico's drug war: from cartel massacres to corrupt politicians, they think they've seen it all.But when they find a body even the police are too scared to look at, what started out as just another assignment becomes the sort of story all reporters dream of... ...until Carlos pushes for answers too fast, and winds up murdered, leaving Andrew grief-stricken and flailing for answers, justice, and revenge.Rolling Fields
By David Trueba. 2020
WINNER OF AN ENGLISH PEN AWARD'Effortlessly readable and fizzing with energy, this novel is by turns quirky, funny and thoughtful'Mail…
on Sunday Dani Mosca is 40 and his father has just died. Fulfilling his father's last wishes, Dani embarks on a road trip back to his childhood village, a three-hour hearse journey from Madrid. Leaving behind the busy streets of the city for the deserted, archaic heart of Spain, Dani revisits the key junctions of his life: his conflicted relationship with a pragmatic and authoritarian father; the mystery of his birth; his school years in the repressed atmosphere of Catholic Spain; the origin of his band and its early successes; the emptiness left by a tragically lost friendship; his great loves. Laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving and featuring an unforgettable cast of characters - from Ecuadorian drivers to Spanish Bowie lookalikes - Rolling Fields is a novel full of the grace and messiness of life: brave, exciting and completely irresistible.Translated from Spanish by Rahul BeryThe Residue Years: from Pulitzer prize-winner Mitchell S. Jackson
By Mitchell S. Jackson. 2014
'This novel is written with a breathtaking, exhilarating assurance and wit. Terrific' The Times 'A wrenchingly beautiful debut by a…
writer to be reckoned with' Jesmyn WardMitchell S. Jackson grew up black in a neglected neighbourhood in America's whitest city, Portland, Oregon. In the '90s, those streets and beyond had fallen under the shadow of crack cocaine and its familiar mayhem. In his commanding autobiographical novel, Jackson writes what it was like to come of age in that time and place, with a breakout voice that's nothing less than extraordinary.The Residue Years switches between the perspectives of a young man, Champ, and his mother, Grace. Grace is just out of a drug treatment programme, trying to stay clean and get her kids back. Champ is trying to do right by his mum and younger brothers, and dreams of reclaiming the only home he and his family have ever shared. But selling crack is the only sure way he knows to achieve his dream. In this world of few options and little opportunity, where love is your strength and your weakness, this family fights for family and against what tears one apart.Honest in its portrayal, with cadences that dazzle, The Residue Years signals the arrival of a writer set to awe.Winner Whiting Writers' AwardWinner Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary ExcellenceFinalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut FictionThe Last Story of Mina Lee: the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick
By Nancy Jooyoun Kim. 2020
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICKINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'I loved this book so much' REESE WITHERSPOON---In 1987, Mina Lee flies…
from Seoul to Los Angeles to start a new life.Thirty years later, Margot Lee speaks to her mother for the last time.Between these two moments extends a lifetime of secrets. These are stories of unexpected loves and devastating losses. Of choices made and those left behind. Of a mother and daughter who have always struggled to understand each other.These are stories waiting to be told, before it's too late.Reminiscent of Celeste Ng's page-turning meditations on identity, this searing mother-daughter story explores the diverse and unsettling realities of being an immigrant in America.---'Suspenseful and deeply felt... raises questions about the reality of the American dream and illuminates stories that often go untold' CHLOE BENJAMIN'Painful, joyous... A story that cries out to be told' LA TIMES'Carefully illuminates the two sides of the silence between a Korean immigrant mother and her Korean American daughter, a silence only too familiar to many of us - and emerges with a stunningly powerful and original novel' ALEXANDER CHEE'A timely, important novel... Fans of Celeste Ng won't be able to put down this heartfelt, cross-generational novel about the powerful bond and fragility of family and what it really means to strive for the "American dream"' POPSUGAR---Readers fell in love with Margot and Mina...'Beautifully rendered. Achingly sweet. Enjoyable story with wonderfully realistic characters that you want to follow''An emotionally gripping story of loss and belonging''I LOVED THIS BOOK''This book is filled with wonderful characters, a story to please and mouth-watering Korean food''It speaks to all women who have been marginalized by their families or society at large'Repentance
By Eloísa Díaz. 2021
A FINANCIAL TIMES 'SUMMER BOOKS OF 2021' PICK'An accomplished, inventive detective novel thrumming with tension and family secrets' Sanaë Lemoine,…
author of The Margot Affair'An astonishingly assured first novel, both funny and moving'The Times Crime Club'Very impressive... Repentance is an evocative crime thriller with a likeable, self-aware protagonist, but also skilfully explores the darkest period in Argentina's modern history'Financial Times'A powerful crime novel ... Opening old historical wounds that still strongly affect Argentinian society, this is a tale with many layers, many of them painful to evoke and a strong depiction of a country and a period that still simmers between the pages of history books and the crime novel is a perfect way of lancing the boil. Recommended'Maxim Jakubowski, Crime Time BUENOS AIRES, 1981.Argentina is in the grip of a brutal military dictatorship.Inspector Joaquín Alzada's work in the Buenos Aires police force exposes him to the many realities of life under a repressive regime: desperate people, terrified people and - worst of all - missing people.Personally, he prefers to stay out of politics, enjoying a simple life with his wife Paula. But when his revolutionary brother Jorge is disappeared, Alzada will stop at nothing to rescue him.TWENTY YEARS LATER...The country is in the midst of yet another devastating economic crisis and riots are building in the streets of Buenos Aires. This time Alzada is determined to keep his head down and wait patiently for his retirement. But when a dead body lands in a skip behind the morgue and a woman from one of the city's wealthiest families goes missing, Alzada is forced to confront his own involvement in one of the darkest periods in Argentinian history - a time ofcollective horror and personal tragedy.Alternating between two key moments in the life of a man and his country, Repentance is a noir with a difference, featuring an unforgettable character on a quest to solve a case that offers both a painful reminder of all he has lost and a last chance at redemption.Dirty Bird Blues
By Clarence Major. 1996
A quietly influential force in African American literature and art, Clarence Major makes his Penguin Classics debut with the twenty-fifth-anniversary…
edition of Dirty Bird BluesSet in post-World War II Chicago and Omaha, the novel features Manfred Banks, a young, harmonica-blowing blues singer who is always writing music in his head. Torn between his friendships with fellow musicians and nightclub life and his responsibilities to his wife and child, along with the pressures of dealing with a racist America that assaults him at every turn, Manfred seeks easy answers in "Dirty Bird" (Old Crow whiskey) and in moving on. He moves to Omaha with hopes of better opportunities as a blue-collar worker, but the blues in his soul and the dreams in his mind keep bringing him back to face himself. After a nightmarish descent into his own depths, Manfred emerges with fresh awareness and possibility. Through Manfred, we witness and experience the process by which modern American English has been vitalized and strengthened by the poetry and the poignancy of the African-American experience. As Manfred struggles with the oppressive constraints of society and his private turmoil, his rich inner voice resonates with the blues.The Choir Director
By Carl Weber. 2011
New York Times bestselling author Carl Weber takes readers back to church, where preaching isn't always enough, nothing goes better…
with the Word than a song--and it's time for some hard-earned lessons in love, brotherhood, and betrayal. Bishop T. K. Wilson has done all he can to make First Jamaica Ministries a success. But with his last choir director getting caught in a scandal, attendance and cash flow are down. To fill the pews and collection plates, Bishop is counting on a new choir director, the charismatic Aaron Mackie, to revive the church. Aaron has been waiting his entire life to prove he has what it takes to be a big-time choir director. But his ways around women, past and present, could cost him more than his job. Simone Wilcox is smart, sexy--and a highly respected church trustee. She's got her eye on the new choir director, with the intention of having a lot more on him, and no one is getting in her way. First Lady Monique Wilson does and says what she wants, regardless of church politics. Despite her shortcomings and a past rumored to include a long list of men, she'll do just about anything to protect the Bishop. You'd think the Bishop was being tested enough, with choir in-fighting, romantic jealousies, and personal vendettas. But a final piece of the puzzle has yet to be revealed: Someone has been robbing the church blind. Someone whose connection to the Bishop is far too close for comfort. . . . Praise For The Church SeriesUp To No GoodThis page-turning drama keeps readers in suspense until the very last page. --Upscale MagazineThe First LadyWeber gives us a front-row pew seat to all the action going down. . . --Essence®So You Call Yourself A ManA delightful and entertaining book. --Black Issues Book ReviewThe Preacher's SonWeber spins a lively, revelation-packed tale deepened by genuine emotion, convincing detail and smart dialogue. --Publishers WeeklyMeet a Librarian! (In Our Neighborhood)
By AnnMarie Anderson. 2021
Join Emma and Theo as they meet a librarian in their community!Emma and Theo were working together on a class…
project about shark's teeth. A trip to their school library and the local branch put the kids in touch with two librarians who were more than happy to help. Share the excitement as their school librarian and Ms. McMahon help Emma and Theo find all the information they need-and gives the kids a first-hand look at a librarian's job.Meet Emma and Theo, two best friends who share a neighborhood-as well as curious minds and adventuresome spirits! Join in the excitement as these fun-loving friends meet a variety of community helpers and learn the ins-and-outs of their very important jobs. Each story is told from the point of view of either Emma or Theo in an engaging narrative that combines fiction and nonfiction text. Beautiful illustrations and real-life photos contribute to the fun. Add in a detailed map, a Q&A with a community helper, as well as tips and tools, and you've got a series of books that kids won't want to put down!Meet a Nurse! (In Our Neighborhood)
By Cynthia Unwin. 2021
Join Emma and Theo as they meet a nurse in their community!Emma and Theo were playing freeze tag in gym…
class when suddenly Emma couldn't catch her breath. Luckily the school nurse was on hand to help in the emergency-and to provide the ongoing care Emma needs. Share the excitement as Nurse Henry helps Emma manage her asthma-and gives the kids a first-hand look at a school nurse's job.Meet Emma and Theo, two best friends who share a neighborhood - as well as curious minds and adventuresome spirits! Join in the excitement as these fun-loving friends meet a variety of community helpers and learn the ins-and-outs of their very important jobs. Each story is told from the point of view of either Emma or Theo in an engaging narrative that combines fiction and nonfiction text. Beautiful illustrations and real-life photos contribute to the fun. Add in a detailed map, a Q&A with a community helper, as well as tips and tools, and you've got a series of books that kids won't want to put down!Meet a Mail Carrier! (In Our Neighborhood)
By Becky Herrick. 2021
Join Emma and Theo as they meet a mail carrier in their community!It was a special day when Daniel the…
mail carrier delivered a package for Theo. That one simple act sent Emma and Theo on an adventure that gave them a closer look at how the U.S. Postal Service works. Share the excitement as Daniel helps Theo and Emma get a package mailed-and gives them a first-hand look at a mail carrier's job.Meet Emma and Theo, two best friends who share a neighborhood - as well as curious minds and adventuresome spirits! Join in the excitement as these fun-loving friends meet a variety of community helpers and learn the ins-and-outs of their very important jobs. Each story is told from the point of view of either Emma or Theo in an engaging narrative that combines fiction and nonfiction text. Beautiful illustrations and real-life photos contribute to the fun. Add in a detailed map, a Q&A with a community helper, as well as tips and tools, and you've got a series of books that kids won't want to put down!