Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 35 items
This boy's life: a memoir
By Tobias Wolff. 1989
Dangerous minds
By LouAnne Johnson. 1992
Johnson tells of teaching English in a rough Los Angeles high school. She has only one rule: respect yourself and…
everyone in class. Her respect for the students and the reputation of her Marine Corps training break down the barriers to learning. In her program, she teaches the same students for three years, allowing her to become an influence in their lives. Made into a movie of the same title. Bestseller. 1992.The Simpsons: a complete guide to our favorite family
By Matt Groening. 1997
Angela's ashes: a memoir (The frank Mccourt Memoirs Ser.)
By Frank McCourt. 1996
Frank McCourt recollects his "miserable Irish Catholic childhood" in the squalor of Limerick. Absent any support from his glib, but…
shiftless, alcoholic father, the family suffered hunger, cruelty, disease, and the death of children. McCourt recounts his story without rancour. Strong language. Winner of the 1998 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. Pulitzer Prize Winner. 1996.The century
By Peter Jennings, Todd Brewster. 1998
Researched and compiled by the staff of ABC News, this chronicle of the twentieth century charts changes in popular attitudes…
in the United States and describes key events in other countries as they affected the American worldview. Personal interviews and a series of story-filled essays provide a "coherent picture of a remarkable time." Bestseller. 1998.Doubt: a parable
By John Patrick Shanley. 2005
The Bronx, 1964. Sister Aloysius, stern principal of St. Nicholas Catholic School, is convinced that school chaplain Father Flynn is…
a pedophile, and that instead of mentoring the school's only black student, he has seduced him. Through meetings with Flynn, young teacher Sister James, and the student's mother, she gathers her evidence and plans a course of action. No one is totally right or truthful, keeping everyone in a state of doubt. Pulitzer Prize winner. 2005.Beautiful boy: a father's journey through his son's meth addiction
By David Sheff. 2007
Before meth, Sheff's son, Nic, was a varsity athlete, honour student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling…
wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. Sheff traces the first warning signs, the attempts at rehabilitation, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict's fate, the rest of the family must care for one another, too, lest they become addicted to addiction. Bestseller. 2008, c2007.Heaven is for real: a little boy's astounding story of his trip to heaven and back
By Lynn Vincent, Todd Burpo. 2010
Burpo, a pastor in Nebraska, relates the 2003 experiences reported by his three-year-old son Colton, who believes that during an…
emergency appendectomy he died, went to heaven, and returned to life. Colton describes seeing Jesus, angels, and deceased relatives. c2010.Hillbilly elegy: a memoir of a family and culture in crisis
By J. D. Vance. 2016
Shares the story of the author's family and upbringing, describing how they moved from poverty to an upwardly mobile clan…
that included the author, a Yale Law School graduate, while navigating the demands of middle class life and the collective demons of the past. Bestseller. 2016.Hidden figures: young readers' edition
By Margot Shetterly. 2016
The amazing true story of four African American female mathematicians at NASA who helped achieve some of the greatest moments…
in our space program. Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. This book brings to life the stories of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African American women who lived through the Civil Rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the movement for gender equality, and whose work forever changed the face of NASA and the country. For grades 3-6. 2019 Coretta Scott King Honor Book for Best Illustration. 2016.Hidden figures: the American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race
By Margot Lee Shetterly. 2016
Before John Glenn orbited Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as…
“human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. The book follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. Bestseller. 2016.Sully: my search for what really matters
By Jeffrey Zaslow, Chesley Sullenberger. 2016
On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed one of the most remarkable emergency landings in aviation history when Captain Chesley…
"Sully" Sullenberger skillfully glided US Airways Flight 1549 onto the surface of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. His cool actions not only averted tragedy but made him a hero and an inspiration worldwide. To Sullenberger, a calm, steady pilot with forty years of flying experience who is also a safety consulting expert, the landing was not a miracle but rather the result of years of practice and training - wisdom he gained in the cockpit of U.S. Air Force jets and in his Texas boyhood. Bestseller. c2009.The zookeeper's wife
By Diane Ackerman. 2007
When Germany invaded Poland, bombers devastated Warsaw--and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers…
Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into the empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants and refusing to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, even as Europe crumbled around her. Bestseller. 2007.Marley and me: life and love with the world's worst dog
By John Grogan. 2005
A columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer reminisces about the untrainable Labrador retriever that he and his wife acquired as Florida…
newlyweds. Recalls Marley's hilarious escapades and his capacity for love as the Grogans become the parents of three kids. Bestseller. 2005.Unbroken: an extraordinary true story of courage and survival
By Laura Hillenbrand. 2012
Details the life of Louis Zamperini (b. 1917), an Olympic runner and World War II bombardier, who survived a plane…
crash and forty-seven days adrift at sea only to become a POW in Japan. Relates Louis's later religious awakening under Billy Graham's ministry. Bestseller 2010. 2012.In the heart of the sea: the tragedy of the whaleship Essex
By Nathaniel Philbrick. 2000
The epic true-life story of one of the most notorious maritime disasters of the nineteenth century which was the inspiration…
for Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby Dick". The author uses a hitherto unknown diary of one of the survivors discovered in an attic in Connecticut in 1998 to tell the tale. Winner of the 2000 National Book Award for Nonfiction. 2000.Saving capitalism: for the many, not the few
By Robert B Reich. 2015
Reich outlines how the American economic system is failing, with increasing income inequality and a shrinking middle class, and reveals…
how a market designed for broad prosperity can reverse the trend toward diminished opportunity. Bestseller. 2015.Being mortal: medicine and what matters in the end
By Atul Gawande. 2014
In his previous books, Dr. Gawande, a practicing surgeon, has fearlessly revealed the struggles of his profession. Now he examines…
its ultimate limitations and failures - in his own practices as well as others’ - as human lives draw to a close. And he discovers how we can do better. He follows a hospice nurse on her rounds, a geriatrician in his clinic, and reformers turning nursing homes upside down. He finds people who show us how to have the hard conversations and how to ensure we never sacrifice what people really care about. The subject of a PBS documentary. Bestseller. 2014.The boys in the boat: nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Olympics
By Daniel Brown. 2013
Traces the story of an American rowing team from the University of Washington that defeated elite rivals at Hitler's 1936…
Berlin Olympics, sharing the experiences of their enigmatic coach, a visionary boat builder, and a homeless teen rower. Bestseller. 2013.The glass castle: A Memoir
By Jeannette Walls. 2006
Reporter for MSNBC.com looks back on her unsettled life. Describes growing up in a dysfunctional family, which was always on…
the move. She recalls her father's dream of building a "glass castle," and relates how she and her siblings escaped to make lives of their own. Bestseller. 2006.