Service Alert
Delay in delivery of ZIP and Direct to Player materials
You may experience a delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials. All requests for materials will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
You may experience a delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials. All requests for materials will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
Showing 1 - 20 of 30 items
By Clare Chambers. 2020
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021'A WORD-OF-MOUTH HIT' Evening Standard 'A very fine book... It's witty and sharp…
and reads like something by Barbara Pym or Anita Brookner, without ever feeling like a pastiche'David Nicholls'Perfect'India Knight 'Beautiful' Jessie Burton'Wonderful'Richard Osman 'Miraculous'Tracy Chevalier 'A wonderful novel. I loved it'Nina Stibbe 'Effortless to read, but every sentence lingers in the mind' Lissa Evans 'This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I honestly don't want you to be without it'Lucy Mangan'Gorgeous... If you're looking for something escapist and bittersweet, I could not recommend more' Pandora Sykes'Remarkable... Small Pleasures is no small pleasure'The Times'An irresistible novel - wry, perceptive and quietly devastating'Mail on Sunday'Chambers' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esque lucidity' Guardian'An almost flawlessly written tale of genuine, grown-up romantic anguish' The Sunday Times 1957, the suburbs of South East London. Jean Swinney is a journalist on a local paper, trapped in a life of duty and disappointment from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. As the investigation turns her quiet life inside out, Jean is suddenly given an unexpected chance at friendship, love and - possibly - happiness. But there will, inevitably, be a price to pay.Book of the Year for: The Times, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, Daily Express, Metro, Spectator, Red Magazine and Good HousekeepingBy Eugenia Kim. 2019
"A gorgeous achievement.&”—Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko From the author of The Calligrapher&’s Daughter comes the riveting story of…
two sisters, one raised in the United States, the other in South Korea, and the family that bound them together even as the Korean War kept them apart. In 1948 Najin and Calvin Cho, with their young daughter Miran, travel from South Korea to the United States in search of new opportunities. Wary of the challenges they know will face them, Najin and Calvin make the difficult decision to leave their infant daughter, Inja, behind with their extended family; soon, they hope, they will return to her. But then war breaks out in Korea, and there is no end in sight to the separation. Miran grows up in prosperous American suburbia, under the shadow of the daughter left behind, as Inja grapples in her war-torn land with ties to a family she doesn&’t remember. Najin and Calvin desperately seek a reunion with Inja, but are the bonds of love strong enough to reconnect their family over distance, time, and war? And as deep family secrets are revealed, will everything they long for be upended? Told through the alternating perspectives of the distanced sisters, and inspired by a true story, The Kinship of Secrets explores the cruelty of war, the power of hope, and what it means to be a sister.By Eugenia Kim. 2019
"A gorgeous achievement.&”—Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko From the author of The Calligrapher&’s Daughter comes the riveting story of…
two sisters, one raised in the United States, the other in South Korea, and the family that bound them together even as the Korean War kept them apart. In 1948 Najin and Calvin Cho, with their young daughter Miran, travel from South Korea to the United States in search of new opportunities. Wary of the challenges they know will face them, Najin and Calvin make the difficult decision to leave their infant daughter, Inja, behind with their extended family; soon, they hope, they will return to her. But then war breaks out in Korea, and there is no end in sight to the separation. Miran grows up in prosperous American suburbia, under the shadow of the daughter left behind, as Inja grapples in her war-torn land with ties to a family she doesn&’t remember. Najin and Calvin desperately seek a reunion with Inja, but are the bonds of love strong enough to reconnect their family over distance, time, and war? And as deep family secrets are revealed, will everything they long for be upended? Told through the alternating perspectives of the distanced sisters, and inspired by a true story, The Kinship of Secrets explores the cruelty of war, the power of hope, and what it means to be a sister.By Gary D. Schmidt. 2007
Long Island, 1967. Seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood knows that Mrs. Baker "hates his guts" because she would have Wednesday afternoons free…
if he went to catechism or Hebrew school like his classmates. Mrs. Baker worries about her husband in Vietnam and introduces a reluctant Holling to Shakespeare. For grades 5-8. Newbery Honor. 2007By Laura Elliott. 2009
1945. World War II pilot Henry Forester from Under a War-Torn Sky (DB 68311), returns home to Virginia and struggles…
with nightmares. Henry ventures to France to find a boy who saved his life and is shocked at the lingering devastation. Some violence. For senior high readers. 2009By Kirby Larson. 2014
When her family is forced into a Japanese internment camp, Mitsi Kashino is separated from her home, her classmates, and…
her beloved dog, Dash. Heartbroken, Mitsi clings to her one connection to Dash: the letters from the kindly neighbor who is caring for him. For grades 3-6. 2014By Kirby Larson. 2016
New Orleans, 1940s. Polio-survivor Fish Elliot and his neighbor Olympia team up in order to save a starving stray dog…
they call Liberty, and they find other unlikely allies willing to help. For grades 3-6. 2016By Leah Henderson, Floyd Cooper. 2021
Today is a special day. Eli knows it's important if he's allowed to miss one second of school, his "hard-earned…
right." Inspired by true events and told through the eyes of a young boy, this is the deeply moving story about what is regarded as the first Memorial Day on May 1, 1865. Eli dresses up in his best clothes, Mama gathers the mayflowers, Papa straightens his hat, and together they join the crowds filling the streets of Charleston, South Carolina, with bouquets, crosses, and wreaths. Abolitionists, missionaries, teachers, military officers, and a sea of faces Black, Brown, and White, they march as one and sing for all those who gave their lives fighting for freedom during the Civil War. With poignant prose and celebratory, powerful illustrations, A Day for Rememberin' shines light on the little-known history of this important holiday and reminds us never to forget the people who put their lives on the line for their country. For grades K-3By Woody Allen. 1980
Ranges over such subjects as the nature of relativity, the UFO menace, and the predicament of modern man--as well as…
Woody Allen's favorite topics: sex, death, and religion. In these sixteen selections Allen displays his versatility with the written word and his special brand of humor. BestsellerBy Kathryn Erskine. 2017
An inspiring picture-book biography of iconic singer and activist Miriam Makeba by National Book Award winner Kathryn Erskine.Miriam Makeba, a…
Grammy Award–winning South African singer, rose to fame in the hearts of her people at the pinnacle of apartheid—a brutal system of segregation similar to American Jim Crow laws. Mama Africa, as they called her, raised her voice to help combat these injustices at jazz clubs in Johannesburg; in exile, at a rally beside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and before the United Nations. Set defiantly in the present tense, this biography offers readers an intimate view of Makeba’s fight for equality. Kathryn Erskine’s call-and-response style text and Charly Palmer’s bold illustrations come together in a raw, riveting duet of protest song and praise poem. A testament to how a single voice helped to shake up the world—and can continue to do so.By Nicholas Allan. 2004
Never before have the facts of life been presented in such an accessible--or novel--way. Our hero is Willy, a little…
sperm who lives inside Mr. Browne with 300 million friends. Every day Willy practices for the Great Swimming Race. And when the day arrives, he swims faster than his 300 million friends to win the prize--a marvelous egg. Then something wonderful happens, and eventually Mr. and Mrs. Browne have a baby girl who has the same winning smile as Willy and who grows up to be a great swimmer.Hilariously funny, warm, and endearing, this is a picture book that appeals on different levels to both children and grown-ups."Fresh, original, and imaginative. . . . Allan's achievement is in couching fascinating facts within the construct of a gentle, direct narrative. A little knowledge is a wonderful thing, and as the rest of the facts of life fall into place, Allan's readers will look back on this book with a mixture of fondness and wry amusement." --The Guardian (UK)From the Hardcover edition.By T. Coraghessan Boyle, Louie Anderson. 1993
Battle Creek, Michigan, 1907. C.W. Post and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg are becoming famous for their breakfast cereals. Post has…
a diner, and Kellogg has opened a spa, where he extols the value of healthy eating and exercise to cure "autointoxication"--too much meat and too much sex. Will and Eleanor Lightbody have come for the cure, but Will almost dies taking it. And Charles Ossining wants to get a piece of the cereal business. Some strong languageLife is waiting to happen to Hubert Bird.But first he has to open his front door and let it in.In…
weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship and fulfilment. But Hubert Bird is lying.The truth is day after day drags by without him seeing a single soul. Until, that is, he receives some good news - good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on.Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out.Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all . . . Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows will he ever get to live the life he's pretended to have for so long?From bestselling author Mike Gayle, All the Lonely People is by turns a funny and moving meditation on love, race, old age and friendship that will not only charm and uplift, but also remind you of the power of ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference.(P) 2020 Hodder & Stoughton LtdBy Ellen Degeneres, Ellen DeGeneres. 1995
Ellen DeGeneres, comedian and star of the television sitcom Ellen, discusses her humorous attempt to train for the Iditarod with…
her two pet dogs in California and explains the perks of being a celebrity, including being allowed to add five days to milk's expiration date. She rambles on through various topics until, as she says, she has written the sixty thousand words her contract calls for. Some strong language. BestsellerBy Chris Rock. 1997
Monologues and jokes from the black comedian Chris Rock. Rock started on the Saturday Night Live comedy show and graduated…
to his own television spot, the Chris Rock Show. Rock explores current social issues such as racism, poverty, drugs, and sex. Strong language and descriptions of sex. BestsellerBy T J Klune. 2020
In Nova City, there are extraordinary people, capable of feats that defy the imagination. Shadow Star protects the city and…
manipulates darkness, and Pyro Storm is determined to bring the city to its knees using his power over fire. And then there's Nick who . . . well, being the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom is a superpower, right? Instead of fighting crime, Nick contends with a new year at school, a father who doesn't trust him, and a best friend named Seth, who may or may not be the love of Nick's short, uneventful life. It should be enough. But after a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City's mightiest hero (and Nick's biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. And he'll do it with or without Seth's reluctant help . . . Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl meets Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart in TJ Klune's YA debut: a queer coming-of-age story about a fanboy with ADHD and the heroes he loves.(P) 2020 Macmillan AudioThe thousands of jokes from Berle's sixty years in vaudeville, radio, television, and the movies are arranged alphabetically by more…
than five hundred subjects. Includes an introduction and a "tricks of the trade" advice sectionBy Rebecca Stefoff. 1995
Biografía de la valiente estrella cantante que superó muchos obstáculos para llegar a la cima del mundo músico latino. Habla…
de sus raíces cubanas, su traslado a Miami, su matrimonio, su carrera y el espantoso accidente que casi le costó la vida. Para alumnos de escuela secundaria y lectores mayoresBy David Sedaris. 1998
In David Sedaris's world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran…
Lebowitz and the National Enquirer, Sedaris's collection of stories and essays is a rollicking tour through the American Zeitgeist: a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a teenage suicide tried to incite a lynch mob at her funeral; and in his essays, David Sedaris considers the hazards of rewards of smoking, writing for Giantess magazine, and living with his scrappy brother Paul, aka 'The Rooster'.With a perfect eye and a voice infused with as much empathy as wit, Sedaris writes and reads stories and essays that target the soulful ridiculousness of our behaviour. Barrel Fever is like a blind date with modern life - and anything can happen.When I tell you Stella Fortuna was a special girl, I hope you aren't thinking small-town special. Other people would…
underestimate Stella Fortuna during her long life, and not one of them didn't end up regretting it.*******************A sprawling 20th century saga of a young woman with a fire inside her which cannot be put out, for fans of Elena Ferrante, Captain Correlli's Mandolin, All the Light We Cannot See and Brooklyn.By turns a family saga, a ghost story, and a coming-of cranky-old-age tale, Juliet Grames's THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA lays bare the costs of migration and patriarchal values, but also of the love and devotion that can sustain a family through generations.The book tells the story of Stella Fortuna, born into rural poverty in a mountainside Calabrian village in the early 20th century. After being abandoned by their father, who had left to seek his fortune in L'America, Stella grew up with her beloved mother Assunta, her brother Giuseppe and her sister Tina. Tough, vivacious, and fiercely loyal, the sisters were always inseparable, going on to support each other through immigration, marriage, children, loss - and the seven (or eight, depending how you count them) near-death experiences Stella suffered throughout her life.Beginning in their childhood with the time she was burned by frying oil ("the eggplant attack"), Assunta became convinced that her eldest daughter was cursed, a victim of the Evil Eye or a malevolent ghost. But after Stella woke up from 'The Accident', an eighth brush with death which robbed her of a large portion of her memories, it was Tina who she refused to speak to. Now, despite living across the street from each other, the sisters have not spoken in thirty years. Determined to solve the mystery of this falling out, it's up to the family historian to unravel the life and deaths of Stella Fortuna, to connect the inexplicable dots in her dramatic story, and to suggest, finally, redemption of the battle-scarred and misunderstood woman who has lived her life with a fire inside her which could not be put out.'A compulsive, huge-hearted novel about family, home and how women move through the world; you don't read this book, you live it.' Erin Kelly, author of He Said / She Said(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited