A nature book unlike any other, Jordan Fisher Smith's startling account of fourteen years as a park ranger thoroughly dispels our idealized visions of life in the great outdoors. Instead of scout troops and placid birdwatchers, Smith's beat -- a stretch of land that has been officially condemned to be flooded -- brings him into contact with drug users tweaked out to the point of violence, obsessed miners, and other dangerous creatures. In unflinchingly honest prose, he reveals the unexpectedly dark underbelly of patrolling and protecting public lands.
A riveting tale of perseverance in the face of hardship, Cinderella Man is the chronicle of the boxer James J. Braddock, whose exceptional story of achievement against all odds was the subject of a major motion picture. Braddock, dubbed the Cinderella Man, staged the greatest comeback in fighting history, rising in the span of twelve months from the relief rolls to a face-off against the heavyweight champion, Max Baer. Against the gritty backdrop of Depression-era New York, Schaap paints a vivid picture of the fight world in its golden age, evoking a time when boxing resonated with a country trying desperately to get back on its feet.
A fascinating tour of particle physics from Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman.At the root of particle physics is an invincible sense of curiosity. Leon Lederman embraces this spirit of inquiry as he moves from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations to Einstein and beyond to chart this unique arm of scientific study. His survey concludes with the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe, quarks and all--it's the dogged pursuit of this almost mystical entity that inspires Lederman's witty and accessible history.
In a strangely fascinating memoir that could be described as Middle American gothic, Michael Rips delves into the secret past of his family and their seemingly sleepy Nebraska hometown, exposing the eccentricities and surprises that lurk below the surface. Rips learns that his father was raised in a notorious brothel rumored to have Mob ties. From here, the revelations get stranger, with stories of a dead man who fell through a ceiling, a man who wears a prosthetic penis on his boot to attract the ladies, a homeless millionaire, and a chicken-abusing adolescent. Intertwining past and present, this disarming, absorbing memoir is framed by Rips’s search to identify a woman who posed years earlier for one of his father’s paintings.
In this urgently relevant, wholly enlightening discussion of modern moral decisions, the Harvard theology professor Harvey Cox considers the significance of Jesus and his teachings today. As he did in his undergraduate class Jesus and the Moral Life—a course that grew so popular that the lectures were held in a theater often used for rock concerts—Cox examines contemporary dilemmas in the light of lessons gleaned from the Gospels. Invigorating and incisive, this book encourages an intellectual approach to faith and inspires a clear way of thinking about moral choices for all of us.
In Anne Bartlett’s engaging novel, a chance meeting sparks a friendship between two very different women who share a fascination with knitting. Sandra, a rigid academic, struggles to navigate the world without her husband, whom she has recently lost to cancer. Martha—a self-taught textile artist with her own secret store of grief—spends her days knitting elaborate projects charged with personal meaning. As the two women collaborate on a new project, surprising events will help heal them both.
In 1964, at the age of three, Tim Bascom is thrust into a world of eucalyptus trees and stampeding baboons when his family moves from the Midwest to Ethiopia. The unflinchingly observant narrator of this memoir reveals his missionary parents’ struggles in a sometimes hostile country. Sent reluctantly to boarding school in the capital, young Tim finds that beyond the gates enclosing that peculiar, isolated world, conflict roils Ethiopian society. When secret riot drills at school are followed with an attack by rampaging students near his parents' mission station, Tim witnesses the disintegration of his family’s African idyll as Haile Selassie’s empire begins to crumble.Like Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Chameleon Days chronicles social upheaval through the keen yet naive eyes of a child. Bascom offers readers a fascinating glimpse of missionary life, much as Barbara Kingsolver did in The Poisonwood Bible.
Set in vibrant, multicultural Miami, The Last Flight of José Luis Balboa is an absorbing debut collection of short stories from a gifted writer. Gonzalo Barr captures this international hub city in all its roiling guises, from the opulence of South Beach to the ferocity of Little Havana. Barr introduces us to unforgettable characters -- an unscrupulous newscaster, a Lincoln Road bar manager, a beautiful but cruel teenaged heartbreaker, and the title character, a suicidal Latin pop star -- in situations that teem with humor and brutality, absurdity and poignance. This remarkable debut offers a vivid portrait of a city defined by a blur of cultures.
David Tucker has been writing Late for Work throughout his twenty-eight-year career at top city newspapers. In his poems he follows reporters hustling for stories and captures the beauty of everyday life, lived between breaking headlines.
An essential guide for today's traveler: timesaving tips to navigate, book, and troubleshoot your travel planning, on and off the Web. If you've ever tried to find a sale fare you saw advertised for a flight, only to turn up much higher prices, or discovered that the hotel you booked wasn't exactly "steps away from the ocean," you know that the do-it-yourself era of travel can mean something else entirely: you're on your own. Now Susan Stellin, a regular contributor to the New York Times, offers the ultimate guide to the sometimes overwhelming logistics of travel, from researching trip plans to avoiding pitfalls on the road. This comprehensive guidebook presents practical advice on the most useful Web sites, strategies for finding the best deals, and resources to help you decide where and when to go. It also provides crucial tips to ensure your trip doesn't disappoint, includingwhat you should research before you book your hotelhow to avoid hidden fees and expensive change penaltieswhat your credit card covers when you rent a carwhom to call if you need a doctor far from homeNo matter what type of trip you're planning-business or pleasure, domestic or international, budget or splurge, exotic getaway or family visit-How to Travel Practically Anywhere will be an indispensable resource.
When a wounded wild rabbit is found in the front yard, he is given a good home and a memorable name by a twelve-year-old with a liking for basketball, the trombone, and the newspaper’s daily horoscope. But Orwell is no ordinary rabbit. It soon seems that he is attempting to reward his young caretaker by mysteriously sending coded messages in the form of predictions: the final score of the Super Bowl, advance notice of a pop quiz at school, tomorrow’s winning lottery number! Can this little rabbit foretell the future? Can Orwell actually make luck happen? Here is a magical and heartwarming story about kindness, friendship, and hope in the shadow of fortune’s ever-turning wheel.
The Diezmo tells the incredible story of the Mier Expedition, one of the most absurd and tragic military adventures in the history of Texas -- a country and a state, as Rick Bass writes, that was "born in blood." In the early days of the Republic of Texas, two young men, wild for glory, impulsively volunteer for an expedition Sam Houston has ordered to patrol the Mexican border. But their dreams of triumph soon fade into prayers for survival, and all that is on their minds is getting home and having a cool drink of water. After being captured in a raid on the Mexican village of Mier, escaping, and being recaptured, the men of the expedition are punished with the terrible diezmo, in which one man in ten is randomly chosen to die. The survivors end up in the most dreaded prison in Mexico. There they become pawns in an international chess game to decide the fate of Texas, and with their hopes of release all but extinguished, they make one desperate, last-ditch effort to escape. A great crossover book with appeal for high school students. It will also interest readers of westerns and historical fiction.
A pampered young African-American girl finds herself mysteriously transported back in time to the days of slavery.
Thus reads an article in the Waverly Times, which is Exhibit A in this fresh and inventive story about ESP, friendship, sisterhood, and the ties that bind. Told by the characters themselves, Mind Games crackles with personality and reveals how each student tries to prove that ESP exists and what he or she discovers along the way. Funny and engaging, the individual voices are right on target, revealing the complex relationships and characters of the members of the Mad Science Club. Here they grapple with life, death, love, and the lottery—all before they reach the eighth grade!
After a tumultuous first semester, Mimi Schulman thinks she’s ready to give social climbing a rest and settle into the groove of New York’s wacky Baldwin School. She’s eager to start over with her friends, reconnect with her dad, and make headway with Max Roth—the hottest guy in tenth grade.But when an assignment for the school paper turns scandalous and spirals out of control, Mimi finds little time to enjoy her new and improved existence. Instead, she embarks on a roller coaster ride through the underbelly of the New York art world, from the VIP lounge of a shady nightclub to a private Caribbean island populated with washed-up TV stars and fifteen-second celebrities. As answers keep slipping through her fingers, Mimi begins to wonder if she’ll ever manage to pin down the story and get on with her life. And if so, will her life still be there?All Q, No A is a touching comedy that will appeal to anyone who knows what it’s like have more questions than answers. Fans of Mimi Schulman beware! This book will keep you screaming with laughter long after you’ve turned the last page.
In 1542, when sixteen-year-old Marguerite is selected by her uncle, the Sieur de Roberval, as one of the young women to accompany him on his voyage to the New World, she seizes the chance to escape the oppressive household of her father. Marguerite persuades her forbidden young lover, Pierre, to join the voyage so they can be wed when they reach Canada. But when Marguerite and Pierre are caught together on the ship, they are banished to the tiny, wild Isle of Demons, off the coast of Quebec—and their voyage to freedom becomes a fight for their very survival. Inspired by the true story of Marguerite de La Rocque, Paradise is a gripping novel of adventure, courage, love, and hardship.
This is the story of four seasons in the life of Charles Wenmoth, a twenty-seven-year-old apprentice blacksmith and Methodist lay preacher in Cornwall in 1870. Life is at its hardest; poverty is everywhere. Charles crosses and recrosses the raw, beautiful landscape, attending to the sick and helping the poor, preaching in chapels with ever-dwindling congregations. He questions his faith along the way but never quite loses it, balancing it with the pleasure he takes in nature, the light in the skies, the colors of the earth, and in his attachment to a girl to whom he is drawn by the piety and patience she maintains despite her long illness. Inspired by the language of his great-great-grandfather's diaries and the Bible, influenced by authors as diverse as Hardy, Blake, and Faulkner, Peter Hobbs has created a first novel of breathtaking ambition and stylistic innovation, and of enormous emotional power.
Beloved for his hilarious and unexpectedly moving novels, Bruce Coville is also a master of the short story. These two collections, in one volume for the first time, feature eighteen tales of unusual breadth and emotional depth. This omnibus is a perfect introduction to Bruce Coville's magic for the uninitiated.Includes an introduction by Jane Yolen.
The complex web of relationships that make up a major-league baseball team is the heart of this story about a rookie pitcher who becomes a threat to his team's chances for the pennant.
Shortly before a serious accident ends his dream of pitching, Roy Tucker is called up from a small-town team in Connecticut to help the Brooklyn Dodgers out of a slump.Includes an introduction by Bruce Brooks.
Roy Tucker and his Brooklyn Dodgers teammates summon every ounce of their collective skill to fight for the greatest title in baseball--World Series champs.Includes an introduction by Bruce Brooks.
While Andy Russell's parents are at the hospital with his newborn brother, Andy is having big problems at home. His strange aunt Janet has come to babysit, and she's on a mission to rid the house of germs in preparation for the baby. Andy is convinced his aunt wants him to clean all of his "germy" pets . . . right out of the house! The sixth book in the Andy Russell series is filled with hilarious misunderstandings, warm reunions, and a sweet new addition to the Russell family.
Wendy isn't as blind as a bat--there are bats that can see better than she can. Which is why, when her new glasses break, she's all too happy to wear the dorky pair of sunglasses she finds on the lawn. They seem to match her prescription, and that's all that matters if she's going to be able to make it through her school day.
It's 1900--the dawn of a new century--and never in her wildest dreams did fifteen-year-old Rose Frampton ever think she'd leave her family and home on the peaceful shores of her island plantation in South Carolina . . . especially not to live with a new husband in the land of the Yankees. But she is doing just that. Rose's new life with her handsome and wealthy husband in Brooklyn, New York, is both scary and exciting. As mistress of the large Victorian estate on Dorchester Road, she must learn to make decisions, establish her independence, and run an efficient household. These tasks are difficult enough without the added complication of barely knowing her husband. As romance blossoms and Rose begins to find her place, she discovers that strength of character does not come easily but is essential for happiness. Writing in diary form, Ann Rinaldi paints a sensual picture of time and place--and gives readers an intimate glimpse into the heart of a child as she becomes a woman.
It's bad enough that Deanna has to waste her summer in France and her only friend is a mangy black cat, but now she's staring hopelessly into a well, trying to figure out what in the world to wish for. Before she can make a wish, the cat scratches her, her watch falls into the well, and then . . . so has she! Except that now she's in medieval France, the cat is a handsome young man, and her watch has the power to completely change history. Maybe a quiet summer would have been nice?
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