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A Wish in the Dark

Christina Soontornvat

A boy on the run. A girl determined to find him. A compelling fantasy looks at issues of privilege, protest, and justice.

All light in Chattana is created by one man — the Governor, who appeared after the Great Fire to bring peace and order to the city. For Pong, who was born in Namwon Prison, the magical lights represent freedom, and he dreams of the day he will be able to walk among them. But when Pong escapes from prison, he realizes that the world outside is no fairer than the one behind bars. The wealthy dine and dance under bright orb light, while the poor toil away in darkness. Worst of all, Pong’s prison tattoo marks him as a fugitive who can never be truly free.

Nok, the prison warden’s perfect daughter, is bent on tracking Pong down and restoring her family’s good name. But as Nok hunts Pong through the alleys and canals of Chattana, she uncovers secrets that make her question the truths she has always held dear. Set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world, Christina Soontornvat’s twist on Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a dazzling, fast-paced adventure that explores the difference between law and justice — and asks whether one child can shine a light in the dark.

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On the Horizon

Lois Lowry

From two-time Newbery medalist and living legend Lois Lowry comes a moving account of the lives lost in two of WWII's most infamous events: Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. With evocative black-and-white illustrations by SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner Kenard Pak.

Lois Lowry looks back at history through a personal lens as she draws from her own memories as a child in Hawaii and Japan, as well as from historical research, in this stunning work in verse for young readers.

On the Horizon tells the story of people whose lives were lost or forever altered by the twin tragedies of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. Based on the lives of soldiers at Pearl Harbor and civilians in Hiroshima,On the Horizon contemplates humanity and war through verse that sings with pain, truth, and the importance of bridging cultural divides. This masterful work emphasizes empathy and understanding in search of commonality and friendship, vital lessons for students as well as citizens of today's world. Kenard Pak's stunning illustrations depict real-life people, places, and events, making for an incredibly vivid return to our collective past.

In turns haunting, heartbreaking, and uplifting,On the Horizonwill remind readers of the horrors and heroism in our past, as well as offer hope for our future.

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Everything, Everything

Nicola Yoon

The instant #1 New York Times bestseller--now a major motion picture starring Amandla Stenberg as Maddy and Nick Robinson as Olly.

Risk everything . . . for love.

What if you couldn't touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun warm your face . . . or kiss the boy next door? In Everything, Everything, Maddy is a girl who's literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly is the boy who moves in next door . . . and becomes the greatest risk she's ever taken.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I'm allergic to the world. I don't leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He's tall, lean and wearing all black--black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can't predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It's almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Everything, Everything will make you laugh, cry, and feel everything in between. It's an innovative, inspiring, and heartbreakingly romantic debut novel that unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, illustrations, and more.

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The Girl from Everywhere

Heidi Heilig

The Girl from Everywhere, the first of two books, blends fantasy, history, and a modern sensibility. Its sparkling wit, breathless adventure, multicultural cast, and enchanting romance will dazzle readers of Sabaa Tahir and Leigh Bardugo. 

As the daughter of a time traveler, Nix has spent sixteen years sweeping across the globe and through the centuries aboard her father’s ship. Modern-day New York City, nineteenth-century Hawaii, other lands seen only in myth and legend—Nix has been to them all.

But when her father gambles with her very existence, it all may be about to end. Rae Carson meets Outlander in this epic debut fantasy.

If there is a map, Nix’s father can sail his ship, The Temptation, to any place and any time. But now that he’s uncovered the one map he’s always sought—1868 Honolulu, the year before Nix’s mother died in childbirth—Nix’s life, her entire existence, is at stake. No one knows what will happen if her father changes the past. It could erase Nix’s future, her dreams, her adventures . . . her connection with the charming Persian thief, Kash, who’s been part of their crew for two years.

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Four Aunties and a Wedding

Jesse Q. Sutanto

 

The aunties are back, fiercer than ever and ready to handle any catastrophe--even the mafia--in this delightful and hilarious sequel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties.
Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day has arrived, and she can't wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. Meddy is hesitant at first, but she hits it off right away with the wedding photographer, Staphanie, who reminds Meddy of herself, down to the unfortunately misspelled name.

Meddy realizes that is where their similarities end, however, when she overhears Staphanie talking about taking out a target. Horrified, Meddy can't believe Staphanie and her family aren't just like her own, they are The Family--actual mafia, and they're using Meddy's wedding as a chance to conduct shady business. Her aunties and mother won't let Meddy's wedding ceremony become a murder scene--over their dead bodies--and will do whatever it takes to save her special day, even if it means taking on the mafia.

 

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Four Treasures of the Sky

Jenny Tinghui Zhang

"Engrossing...Epic" (The New York Times Book Review) · "Transporting" (Washington Post) · "Propulsive" (Oprah Daily) · "Surreal and sprawling" (NPR) · "An absolute must-read" (BuzzFeed) · "Radiant" (BookPage)

"Engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking.” —Ann Patchett


A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

A dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West

Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been—including the ones she most wants to leave behind—in order to finally claim her own name and story.

At once a literary tour de force and a groundbreaking work of historical fiction, Four Treasures of the Sky announces Jenny Tinghui Zhang as an indelible new voice. Steeped in untold history and Chinese folklore, this novel is a spellbinding feat.

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The Verifiers

Jane Pek

 

Introducing Claudia Lin: a sharp-witted amateur sleuth for the 21st century. This debut novel follows Claudia as she verifies people's online lives, and lies, for a dating detective agency in New York City. Until a client with an unusual request goes missing. . . .

"The world of social media, big tech and internet connectivity provides fertile new ground for humans to deceive, defraud and possibly murder one another. . . . Well rendered and charming. . . . Original and intriguing." --The New York Times Book Review

Claudia is used to disregarding her fractious family's model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She's also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls--and that she's just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency.

A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she's landed her ideal job. But when a client vanishes, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate--and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age.



A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.

 

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The Family Chao

Lan Samantha Chang

The residents of Haven, Wisconsin, have dined on the Fine Chao restaurant's delicious Americanized Chinese food for thirty-five years, content to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. Whether or not Big Leo Chao is honest, or his wife, Winnie, is happy, their food tastes good and their three sons earned scholarships to respectable colleges. But when the brothers reunite in Haven, the Chao family's secrets and simmering resentments erupt at last.

Before long, brash, charismatic, and tyrannical patriarch Leo is found dead--presumed murdered--and his sons find they've drawn the exacting gaze of the entire town. The ensuing trial brings to light potential motives for all three brothers: Dagou, the restaurant's reckless head chef; Ming, financially successful but personally tortured; and the youngest, gentle but lost college student James. As the spotlight on the brothers tightens--and the family dog meets an unexpected fate--Dagou, Ming, and James must reckon with the legacy of their father's outsized appetites and their own future survival.

Brimming with heartbreak, comedy, and suspense, The Family Chao offers a kaleidoscopic, highly entertaining portrait of a Chinese American family grappling with the dark undercurrents of a seemingly pleasant small town.

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The Cartographers

Peng Shepherd

A wildly entertaining, imaginative ride with a cinematic plot that keeps the pages turning. -- Real Simple

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father's belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret--one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family's dark history

What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young's whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell's personal hero. But she hasn't seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can't resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence . . . because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one--along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps . . .

Perfect for fans of Joe Hill and V. E. Schwab, The Cartographers is an ode to art and science, history and magic--a spectacularly imaginative, modern story about an ancient craft and places still undiscovered.

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Honor

Thrity Umrigar

THE JANUARY 2022 REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

“In the way A Thousand Splendid Suns told of Afghanistan’s women, Thrity Umrigar tells a story of India with the intimacy of one who knows the many facets of a land both modern and ancient, awash in contradictions.” —Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours 


In this riveting and immersive novel, bestselling author Thrity Umrigar tells the story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide.
 
Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past. While Meena’s fate hangs in the balance, Smita tries in every way she can to right the scales. She also finds herself increasingly drawn to Mohan, an Indian man she meets while on assignment. But the dual love stories of Honor are as different as the cultures of Meena and Smita themselves: Smita realizes she has the freedom to enter into a casual affair, knowing she can decide later how much it means to her.

In this tender and evocative novel about love, hope, familial devotion, betrayal, and sacrifice, Thrity Umrigar shows us two courageous women trying to navigate how to be true to their homelands and themselves at the same time.


 

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The Heart Principle

Helen Hoang

USA Today bestselling author Helen Hoang returns with a witty and sizzling new romance that shows how wrong you can be about someone...and how right they can be for you.

To most people, Quan Diep is nothing but a surly-looking, underachieving playboy. The problem is he's not any of those things. And now that he's the CEO of an up-and-coming retail business, he's suddenly a "catch," and the rich girls who never used to pay any attention to him are looking at him in a new way--especially Camilla, the girl who brushed him off many years ago.

Anna Sun dislikes Quan Diep almost as much as germy bathroom door handles. Or so she tells herself. She will never admit that she has a secret crush on him, especially because he only has eyes for her charismatic and newly engaged younger sister Camilla. Over the years, Anna has worked hard to overcome her OCD, but she'll still need to find a way to bury her anxieties and seduce Quan so he doesn't ruin her sister's engagement, and with it, a crucial real estate development deal.

Slowly, Anna breaks down Quan's dangerous and careless exterior while peeling off her own tough, protective shell. But when Quan discovers Anna's true intentions, he's forced to confront his own hurtful past and learn to forgive, while Anna must face her greatest challenge: truly opening herself up to love.

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Good Talk

Mira Jacob

A "vibrant, inventive, and vulnerable" (Bustle) graphic memoir about American identity, interracial families, and our most difficult conversations, from the acclaimed author of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing.

"By turns hilarious and heart-rending, it's exactly the book America needs at this moment."--Celeste Ng

"How brown is too brown?"
"Can Indians be racist?"
"What does real love between really different people look like?"

Like many six-year-olds, Mira Jacob's half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Z, has questions about everything. At first they are innocuous enough, but as tensions from the 2016 election spread from the media into his own family, they become much, much more complicated. Trying to answer him honestly, Mira has to think back to where she's gotten her own answers: her most formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and, of course, love.

Written with humor and vulnerability, this deeply relatable graphic memoir is a love letter to the art of conversation--and to the hope that hovers in our most difficult questions.

Praise for Good Talk

"Emphasizes the complexities of being part of an interracial family and the struggles of parenting in the present moment."--Time

"Good Talk uses a masterful mix of pictures and words to speak on life's most uncomfortable conversations."--io9

"Mira Jacob just made me toss everything I thought was possible in a book-as-art-object into the garbage. Her new book changes everything."--Kiese Laymon, New York Times bestselling author of Heavy

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They Called Us Enemy

George Takei

New York Times Bestseller!

A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon -- and America itself -- in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.

George Takei has captured hearts and minds worldwide with his captivating stage presence and outspoken commitment to equal rights. But long before he braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father's -- and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future.

In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten "relocation centers," hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard.

They Called Us Enemy is Takei's firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother's hard choices, his father's faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.

What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins co-writers Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.

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We Are Not Free

Traci Chee

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST

From New York Times best-selling and acclaimed author Traci Chee comes We Are Not Free, the collective account of a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, whose lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II.

Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco.

Fourteen teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted.

Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps.

In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart.

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Verso il paradiso

Hanya Yanagihara

In una versione alternativa dell'America del 1893, New York fa parte degli Stati Liberi, dove le persone possono vivere e amare chi vogliono (o almeno così sembra). Il fragile e giovane rampollo di una famiglia illustre rifiuta il fidanzamento con un degno corteggiatore, attratto da un affascinante insegnante di musica senza mezzi. In una Manhattan del 1993 assediata dall'epidemia di aids, un giovane hawaiano vive con il partner molto più anziano e ricco, nascondendo la sua infanzia travagliata e il destino del padre. E nel 2093, in un mondo lacerato da pestilenze e governato da un regime totalitario, la nipote di un potente scienziato cerca di affrontare la vita senza di lui e di risolvere il mistero delle sparizioni di suo marito. Queste tre parti sono unite in una sinfonia avvincente, con note e temi ricorrenti che si approfondiscono e si arricchiscono a vicenda: una residenza a Washington Square Park nel Greenwich Village; malattie e cure dal terribile costo; ricchezza e squallore; il debole e il forte; la razza; la definizione di famiglia e di nazionalità; la pericolosa giustizia dei potenti e dei rivoluzionari; il desiderio di trovare il proprio posto in un paradiso terrestre e la graduale consapevolezza che non può esistere. Ciò che unisce non solo i personaggi, ma anche queste Americhe, è il loro venire a patti con quello che ci rende umani: la paura, l'amore, la vergogna, il bisogno, la solitudine. Verso il paradiso è un meraviglioso esempio di tecnica letteraria, ma soprattutto è un'opera geniale che affronta le nostre emozioni. Hanya Yanagihara scrive un romanzo sul desiderio di proteggere coloro che amiamo - partner, amanti, figli, amici, famiglia e persino i nostri concittadini - e sul dolore che ne deriva quando non possiamo farlo.

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The School for Good Mothers

Jessamine Chan

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick

In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

Until Frida has a very bad day.

The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion.

Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

A searing page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of “perfect” upper-middle class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.

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Interior Chinatown

Charles Yu

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER - From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.

One of the funniest books of the year.... A delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire. --The Washington Post

Willis Wu doesn't perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he's merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He's a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy--the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it?

After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he's ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration--Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu's most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.

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The Chosen and the Beautiful

Nghi Vo

An Instant National Bestseller!
An Indie Next Pick!


A Most Anticipated in 2021 Pick for Oprah Magazine | USA Today | Buzzfeed | Greatist | BookPage | PopSugar | Bustle | The Nerd Daily | Goodreads | Literary Hub | Ms. Magazine | Library Journal | Culturess | Book Riot | Parade Magazine | Kirkus | The Week | Book Bub | OverDrive | The Portalist | Publishers Weekly

A Best of Summer Pick for TIME Magazine | CNN | Book Riot | The Daily Beast | Lambda Literary | The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Goodreads | Bustle | Veranda Magazine | The Week | Bookish | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Den of Geek | LGBTQ Reads | Pittsburgh City Paper | Bookstr | Tatler HK

A Best of 2021 Pick for NPR

A vibrant and queer reinvention of F. Scott Fitzgerald's jazz age classic. . . . I was captivated from the first sentence.—NPR

A sumptuous, decadent read.The New York Times

“Vo has crafted a retelling that, in many ways, surpasses the original.Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Immigrant. Socialite. Magician.


Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society—she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer and Asian, a Vietnamese adoptee treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.

But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.

Nghi Vo’s debut novel, The Chosen and the Beautiful, reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice.

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Arsenic and Adobo

Mia P. Manansala

A RUSA Award-winning novel!

The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes--one that might just be killer....

When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

With the cops treating her like she's the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila's left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block...

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Here Is the World

Lesléa Newman

Here is the world, ever changing and new,
Spinning with joy at the wonder of you!
Here Is the World is a joyous celebration of the Jewish holidays throughout the year for young children. Beginning with the weekly observance of Shabbat, readers join a family through the holidays and the corresponding seasons. From sounding the shofar on Rosh Hashanah to lighting the menorah for Chanukah to rattling a grogger for Purim, and on through the Jewish year, the joy and significance of each holiday beautifully come to life. In addition to the narrative text, there is a description of each holiday in the back matter along with an easy craft or recipe.

Praise for Here is the World
"Both lovely and eminently useful."
--Kirkus Reviews

"
Illustrating the change of seasons, Gal's charcoal and digital collage images effervesce with cheery colors, moving from the radiant gold, yellows, and reds of autumn to the greens and blues of spring--with a stop in snowy winter for Chanukah, of course."
--Publishers Weekly

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My Name Is Aviva

Lesléa Newman

"My name is Aviva, not Amoeba!" shouts Aviva at her teasing classmates. Aviva is determined to change her name until she discovers where her name comes from and why her parents chose that special name for her.

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Jewish Holidays Cookbook

Jill Bloomfield

The traditions and recipes of Judaism are celebrated in this beautiful modern cookbook geared toward kids and their families. Eleven Jewish holidays are discussed and accompanied by recipes for the ancient and modern foods traditionally served. Kids can lead the charge on braiding their first challah or making their own kugel, while sping time learning about Jewish history and heritage.

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Bitter and Sweet

Sandra V. Feder

When Hannah's family has to move, her grandmother tells her how she felt leaving the old country -- it was both bitter and sweet. As Hannah leaves her friends behind and tries to get used to a new house, she only feels bitterness. Was her grandmother wrong about the sweetness?

Hannah starts to feel better about the move when she sees her new house in the soft light of the Shabbat candles. When a new friend reaches out with a special gift, Hannah realizes that sweetness can come from unexpected places and that she can even create some herself.

Featuring art by acclaimed illustrator Kyrsten Brooker, this story subtly conveys a universal message -- while life can be full of challenging moments, sweeter ones can be found and created. An author's note is included on the concept of bitter and sweet in Jewish culture.

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Gittel's Journey

Lesléa Newman

A 2020 Sydney Taylor Honor Book!
A 2019 National Jewish Book Award Winner!

Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by the health inspector, Gittel must make the journey alone. Her mother writes her cousin's address in New York on a piece of paper. However, when Gittel arrives at Ellis Island, she discovers the ink has run and the address is illegible! How will she find her family? Both a heart-wrenching and heartwarming story, Gittel's Journey offers a fresh perspective on the immigration journey to Ellis Island. The book includes an author's note explaining how Gittel's story is based on the journey to America taken by Lesléa Newman's grandmother and family friend.

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"Nice" Jewish Girls

Julie Merberg

Thirty-six mini biographies of groundbreaking, outspoken, odds-defying Jewish women explore their fascinating lives, as well as the ways in which they were shaped by their heritage.

Probing the lives of historic icons like Anne Frank and Emma Goldman to contemporary heroines such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Janet Yellen the book also provides an overview of modern Jewish history. Subjects ranging from Anna Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology to fashion mogul Diane von Furstenberg to comedian Sarah Silverman offer a fascinating window into the ways Jewish women have approached their fields and embraced their identities. The captivating stories of luminaries from the worlds of politics, literature, activism, the arts, business, science, and more show how these women—in many cases—overcame the obstacles of being both Jewish and female to make their unique mark, and how being Jewish impacted their journeys.

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Bubbie's Magical Hair

Abbe Rolnick

Bubbie's Magical Hair is a whimsical story of a grandmother playing with her grandchildren. "When the warm wind rustles with a hint of laughter, Bubbie glides in with her magical hair." Sparse in words, but deep in feeling, the illustrations convey a story of magic and fun as Bubbie grows older and the children mature. "Bubbie's hair rises and falls, as it sweeps dust bunnies under the bed... Brown curls turned to gray waves--Bubbie winds her hair through the tales she has lived. "Nature and imagination combine honoring the power of all grandparents and how relationships endure through life. Bubbie cuts her long locks, as Bubbies do. The world pauses as the curls fall. All is breathless until the silver ends grow with new life. Ribbons, stars, dandelion dust, spread magic. Bubbie's Magical Hair is a visual delight of adventure, change, and a world united by love. "Look for her in the mirror, in the pocket of your coat, and when you look both ways crossing the street."This is a story to be read on many levels exploring feelings, science, international customs, and imagination. Bubbie passes along the magic and legacy to the next generation.

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RBG's Brave and Brilliant Women

Nadine Epstein

This collection of biographies of brave and brilliant Jewish female role models--selected in collaboration with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and including an introduction written by the iconic Supreme Court justice herself-- provides young people with a roster of inspirational role models, all of whom are Jewish women, who will appeal not only to young people but to people of all ages, and all faiths.

The fascinating lives detailed in this collection--more than thirty exemplary female role models--were chosen by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG, as she was lovingly known to her many admirers. Working with her friend, journalist Nadine Epstein, RBG selected these trailblazers, all of whom are women and Jewish, who chose not to settle for the rules and beliefs of their time. They did not accept what the world told them they should be. Like RBG, they dreamed big, worked hard, and forged their own paths to become who they deserved to be.

Future generations will benefit from each and every one of the courageous actions and triumphs of the women profiled here. Real Wonder Women, the passion project of Justice Ginsburg in the last year of her life, will inspire readers to think about who they want to become and to make it happen, just like RBG.

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Klezmer!

Kyra Teis

When Eastern European Jewish immigrants bring their klezmer music with them to America, it takes on a rockin' new vibe, adding elements of Jazz borrowed from its new country. In the beautifully illustrated Klezmer!, a child makes an exciting music-filled visit to her grandparents' apartment in New York City, learning all about the evolution of this toe-tapping music genre.

 

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Tía Fortuna's New Home

Ruth Behar

A poignant multicultural ode to family and what it means to create a home as one girl helps her Tía move away from her beloved Miami apartment.

When Estrella's Tía Fortuna has to say goodbye to her longtime Miami apartment building, The Seaway, to move to an assisted living community, Estrella spends the day with her. Tía explains the significance of her most important possessions from both her Cuban and Jewish culture, as they learn to say goodbye together and explore a new beginning for Tía.

A lyrical book about tradition, culture, and togetherness, Tía Fortuna's New Home explores Tía and Estrella's Sephardic Jewish and Cuban heritage. Through Tía's journey, Estrella will learn that as long as you have your family, home is truly where the heart is.

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Hundred Years of Happiness

Thanhhà Lai

A stunning picture book debut, showcasing the love between grandparents and grandchildren, the challenges of memory loss, and the joy that sweet reminders of a faraway home can bring, from award-winning, bestselling author Thanhhà Lại.

This sweet and emotional picture book will resonate with readers who love A Big Mooncake for Little Star, Ladder to the Moon, and Thank You, Omu!

An's grandmother Bà sometimes gets trapped in her cloudy memories. An and her grandfather, Ông, come up with a plan to bring her back to a happy moment: they grow gấc fruits so they can make xôi gấc, Bà's favorite dish from her wedding in Việt Nam many years ago.

An and Ông work together in the garden, nurturing the gấc seeds. They must be patient and wait for the seeds to grow, flower, and turn into fruit. When the xôi gấc is finally ready, An is hopeful that her grandmother will remember her wedding wish with Ông: hundred years of happiness.

Striking and vivid illustrations bring this tender story of a loving, intergenerational Vietnamese family to life.

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When Lola Visits

Michelle Sterling

Four starred reviews! In an evocative picture book brimming with the scents, tastes, and traditions that define a young girl's summer with her grandmother, debut author Michelle Sterling and illustrator Aaron Asis come together to celebrate the gentle bonds of familial love that span oceans and generations.

For one young girl, summer is the season of no school, of days spent at the pool, and of picking golden limes off the trees. But summer doesn't start until her lola--her grandmother from the Philippines--comes for her annual visit.

Summer is special. For her lola fills the house with the aroma of mango jam, funny stories of baking mishaps, and her quiet sweet singing in Tagalog. And in turn, her granddaughter brings Lola to the beach, to view fireworks at the park, and to catch fish at their lake.

When Lola visits, the whole family gathers to cook and eat and share in their happiness of another season spent together. Yet as summer transitions to fall, her lola must return home--but not without a surprise for her granddaughter to preserve their special summer a bit longer.

* BookPage Best Books of the Year * The New York Public Library's Best Books of the Year * Kirkus Best Books of the Year * An ALSC Notable Children's Book of the Year * A CCBC Choices Pick of the Year *

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While I Was Away

Waka T. Brown

Named one of New York Public Library's Best Books of the Year!

The Farewell meets Erin Entrada Kelly's Blackbird Fly in this empowering middle grade memoir from debut author Waka T. Brown, who takes readers on a journey to 1980s Japan, where she was sent as a child to reconnect to her family's roots.

When twelve-year-old Waka's parents suspect she can't understand the basic Japanese they speak to her, they make a drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months with her strict grandmother. Forced to say goodbye to her friends and what would have been her summer vacation, Waka is plucked from her straight-A-student life in rural Kansas and flown across the globe, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime.

In Japan, Waka struggles with reading and writing in kanji, doesn't quite mesh with her complicated and distant Obaasama, and gets made fun of by the students in her Japanese public-school classes. Even though this is the country her parents came from, Waka has never felt more like an outsider.

If she's always been the "smart Japanese girl" in America but is now the "dumb foreigner" in Japan, where is home...and who will Waka be when she finds it?

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Sunday Funday in Koreatown

Aram Kim

Yoomi and Daddy are going to Koreatown today! This story celebrates family, resilience, and Korean culture.

Yoomi has planned the perfect Sunday! But the shirt she wants to wear is in the laundry. And she doesn't have the seaweed she needs for a kimbap breakfast.

So Yoomi wears another shirt and eats a different breakfast, and she and Daddy take a bus to Koreatown, where they read Korean books, eat Korean treats such as patbingsu and tteokbokki, and visit Grandma. Though Yoomi's perfect day is filled with mishaps and things don't always go her way, Yoomi learns the advantages of being resilient and open-minded. Yoomi's imperfect day is better than she ever could have imagined!

A family recipe for kimbap is included.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Don't miss the rest of the Yoomi, Friends, and Family books, including:

No Kimchi for Me!
(A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, Bank Street Best Book, and Best Book for Family Literacy)

Let's Go to Taekwondo
(A Junior Library Gold Standard Selection)

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Snow Angel, Sand Angel

Lois-Ann Yamanaka

A celebration of home, family, and finding beauty in your heritage, beautifully illustrated by the artist behind Anti-Racist Baby.

Claire has been surrounded by the deep blue waves of Hapuna Beach and the magnificent mountains of Hawai'i all her life, but has never, ever seen snow. When her father drives her and her family to the top of the Mauna Kea, she can't help but to be disappointed...it's not the winter wonderland she's always dreamed of. And that's what she wants, more than anything.

But as Claire edges ever closer to the new year, she wonders if maybe-- just maybe--she can delight in the special joys of winter in her own way--right there, on her Big Island of Hawaii.

Includes backmatter that captures the environmental culture of Hawaii, and will teach children not only about the local flora and fauna, but also the value of being environmentally friendly.

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A Sari for Ammi

Mamta Nainy

"Ammi weaves the most beautiful saris but never gets to wear any of them. Her two little daughters decide to do something about it--break their piggy bank! But when there isn't enough money to buy Ammi a sari, the two girls must work together to find a solution. Will they be able to buy Ammi the gift she so deserves? With a text full of heart, and bright, cheerful artwork, this story brings readers into the home of a weaver's family in Kaithoon, India, where the creation of saris is an art form. The book includes a glossary of Indian terms and a note about the saris made in this region."--Provided by publisher.

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Where Three Oceans Meet

Rajani LaRocca

A child, mother, and grandmother travel all the way to the end of the earth in this picture book that celebrates multigenerational love--perfect for fans of Drawn Together and Alma.

"I want to see what's at the end of the earth "

Sejal, Mommy, and Pati travel together to the southern tip of India. Along the way, they share meals, visit markets, and catch up with old friends.
For Pati, the trip retraces spaces she knows well. For Mommy, it's a return to the place she grew up. For Sejal, it's a discovery of new sights and sounds. The family finds their way to Kanyakumari, where three oceans meet, and delight in making it to the end of the earth together.
This own voices picture book celebrates the beauty of India and the enduring love of family.

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Laxmi's Mooch

Shelly Anand

A joyful, body-positive picture book about a young Indian American girl's journey to accept her body hair and celebrate her heritage after being teased about her mustache.

Laxmi never paid much attention to the tiny hairs above her lip. But one day while playing farm animals at recess, her friends point out that her whiskers would make her the perfect cat. She starts to notice body hair all over--on her arms, legs, and even between her eyebrows.

With her parents' help, Laxmi learns that hair isn't just for heads, but that it grows everywhere, regardless of gender. Featuring affirming text by Shelly Anand and exuberant, endearing illustrations by Nabi H. Ali, Laxmi's Mooch is a celebration of our bodies and our body hair, in whichever way they grow.

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Drawn Together

Minh Lê

The recipient of six starred reviews and the APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature!
Named a Best Book of 2018 by the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Smithsonian, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Booklist, the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, BookRiot, the New York Public Library, the Chicago Public Library-and many more!
When a young boy visits his grandfather, their lack of a common language leads to confusion, frustration, and silence. But as they sit down to draw together, something magical happens-with a shared love of art and storytelling, the two form a bond that goes beyond words.

With spare, direct text by Minh Lê and luminous illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat, this stirring picturebook about reaching across barriers will be cherished for years to come.
A Junior Library Guild selection!

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I Am Golden

Eva Chen

An Instant New York Times Bestseller!

This joyful and lyrical picture book from New York Times bestselling author Eva Chen and illustrator Sophie Diao is a moving ode to the immigrant experience, as well as a manifesto of self-love for Chinese American children.


What do you see when you look in the mirror, Mei? Do you see beauty?

We see eyes that point toward the sun, that give us the warmth and joy of a thousand rays when you smile. We see hair as inky black and smooth as a peaceful night sky. We see skin brushed with gold.

Praise for I Am Golden:

"[A] richly metaphoric celebration of Chinese American identity ... Luminous, gently textured digital art by Diao includes thoughtful, recognizably Chinese cues that add further dimension ... A loving, affecting tribute to how children of immigrants can serve as bridges and torchbearers for their communities." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"From the outset, this gorgeous picture book exudes joy and celebration of identity. Through dazzling illustrations, Diao brings to exuberant life best-selling Chinese American author Chen’s message of finding love and power in one’s differences. ... This powerful and uplifting story captures [Chinese] American joy and is a definite must-read." —Booklist, starred review

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A Thousand Questions

Saadia Faruqi

Set against the backdrop of Karachi, Pakistan, Saadia Faruqi's tender and honest middle grade novel tells the story of two girls navigating a summer of change and family upheaval with kind hearts, big dreams, and all the right questions.

Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in Karachi, Pakistan, with grandparents she's never met. Secretly, she wishes to find her long-absent father, and plans to write to him in her beautiful new journal.

The cook's daughter, Sakina, still hasn't told her parents that she'll be accepted to school only if she can improve her English test score--but then, how could her family possibly afford to lose the money she earns working with her Abba in a rich family's kitchen?

Although the girls seem totally incompatible at first, as the summer goes on, Sakina and Mimi realize that they have plenty in common--and that they each need the other to get what they want most.

This relatable and empathetic story about two friends coming to understand each other will resonate with readers who loved Other Words for Home and Front Desk.

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Friends Are Friends, Forever

Dane Liu

A picture book based on the author's own immigration story, the infinite impact of friendship, and passing on love and kindness around the world.

On a snowy Lunar New Year’s Eve in Northeastern China, it’s Dandan’s last night with Yueyue. Tomorrow, she moves to America. The two best friends have a favorite wintertime tradition: crafting paper-cut snowflakes, freezing them outside, and hanging them as ornaments.

As they say goodbye, Yueyue presses red paper and a spool of thread into Dandan’s hands so that she can carry on their tradition. But in her new home, Dandan has no one to enjoy the gift with—until a friend comes along.

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Eyes That Kiss in the Corners

Joanna Ho

A New York Times Bestseller and #1 Indie Bestseller - A School Library Journal Best Book of 2021 - Included in NPR's 2021 Books We Love List - Featured in Forbes, Oprah Daily, The Cut, and Book Riot - Golden Poppy Book Award Winner - Featured in Chicago Public Library's Best Books of 2021 - 2021 Nerdie Award Winner - A Kirkus Children's Best Book of 2021

This lyrical, stunning picture book tells a story about learning to love and celebrate your Asian-shaped eyes, in the spirit of Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, and is a celebration of diversity.

A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers'. They have big, round eyes and long lashes. She realizes that her eyes are like her mother's, her grandmother's, and her little sister's. They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons, and are filled with stories of the past and hope for the future.

Drawing from the strength of these powerful women in her life, she recognizes her own beauty and discovers a path to self-love and empowerment. This powerful, poetic picture book will resonate with readers of all ages.

This tale of self-acceptance and respect for one's roots is breathtaking." --Kirkus (starred review)

"A young girl finds beauty in her uniqueness." --School Library Journal (starred review)

"A lyrical celebration of her eyes, their shape, spirit, and legacy." --Booklist (starred review)

"A poignant testament to familial love and legacy." --Publishers Weekly

Plus don't miss the beautiful companion book from the same team: Eyes That Speak to the Stars.

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Front Desk

Kelly Yang

Four starred reviews and over ten best-of-year lists!* Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages. -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

 

Winner of the Asian / Pacific American Award for Children's Literature!* Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages. -- Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewMia Tang has a lot of secrets.Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language?It will take all of Mia's courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?

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Jabari Tries

Gaia Cornwall

Jabari is inventing a machine that will fly all the way across the yard! But making it go from CRASH to WHOOSH will take grit, patience, and maybe even a little help from his sister.

Jabari is making a flying machine in his backyard! "It'll be easy. I don't need any help," he declares. But it doesn't work! Jabari is frustrated. Good thing Dad is there for a pep talk and his little sister, Nika, is there to assist, fairy wings and all. With the endearing father-child dynamic of Jabari Jumps and engaging mixed-media illustrations, Gaia Cornwall's tale shows that through perseverance and flexibility, an inventive thought can become a brilliant reality.

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Awesome Achievers in Technology

Alan Katz

 

 

 

Part of a super fun middle grade series, Awesome Achievers in Technology puts the spotlight on lesser-known heroes and their contributions in tech.Everyone has heard the name Steve Jobs, but what about Nolan Bushnell--Jobs's boss before the invention of Apple, and the founder of the first major video game, Pong? Many of the most relevant figures in tech history have remained in the shadows, but not any longer! From Alan Katz's new Awesome Achievers series, Awesome Achievers in Technology gives kids a look behind the scenes at 12 lesser-known inventors whose contributions to tech are personally relevant to their lives today. Each figure is given a traditional biography but is also subject to Katz's unique brand of silliness, with humorous elements such as imagined poems, song lyrics, and diary entries by and about the not-so-famous figure accompanying each bio.

Spot illustrations throughout add to the lighthearted and appreciative humor each figure receives. Reluctant readers and budding tech enthusiasts alike will delight in this imaginative and engaging introduction to a new series of laugh out loud biographies.

 

 

 

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Vincent Shadow: Toy Inventor

Tim Kehoe

Vincent Shadow isn't particularly good at sports and is constantly being picked on by his classmates at Central Middle School. But it is Vincent's unusually creative mind that truly separates him from other kids his age.
Vincent's top secret attic lab is crammed with toy prototypes --from Liquid Superballs to Bullz-I Basketballs and Sonic Snorkelz--and he has a sketch book filled with drawings of toys he still wants to build. So when a chance encounter with an eccentric toy inventor offers him the opportunity to go from unknown weird kid to toy inventor extraordinaire, Vincent realizes that playtime is over: it's time to get serious about toys.
* Vincent Shadow: Toy Inventor was previously titled The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow.

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Inventions that Could Have Changed the World ... But Didn't!

Joe Rhatigan

The fascinating stories of inventions that could have changed the world, should have made a difference, or would have astounded us all, but for one reason or another, didn't. Some inventions were too wacky, weird, or unwieldy. Other simply didn't work. And still others may be the next big thing . . . some day. Learn about the inventors, what they thought they would accomplish, and what--if anything--they did accomplish. Zany illustrations of the contraptions in use throughout.

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See Inside Inventions

Alex Frith

How did an untidy doctor change the world? Who really invented the radio? And what on earth inspired engineers to try to build a space rocket? Lift the flaps to discover the amazing stories behind some of the world's most ground-breaking inventions.

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How to Become an Accidental Genius

Elizabeth MacLeod

Don't be afraid to try! Make connections! Be persistent! Ask questions and never take no for an answer! Learn the secrets and amazing stories of successful inventors!

How to Become an Accidental Genius is full of inspiring tales of famous and lesser-known inventors who have changed the world, from George Washington Carver, Mary Anderson (inventor of the windshield wiper) and inventor and actress Hedy Lamarr to Frank Epperson (of Popsicle fame) and Mary Sherman Morgan (The Woman Who Saved the U.S. Space Race). Readers will be amazed at the inventiveness of these geniuses. The book focuses on inventors from North America but includes stories from around the world. Organized into eleven chapters that highlight the qualities inventors have in common, the book also features profiles of inventive kids and teenagers.

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What Color is My World?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball legend and the NBA's alltime leading scorer, champions a lineup
of little-known African-American inventors in this lively, kid-friendly book.


Did you know that James West invented the microphone in your cell phone? That Fred Jones invented the refrigerated truck that makes supermarkets possible? Or that Dr. Percy Julian synthesized cortisone from soy, easing untold people's pain? These are just some of the black inventors and innovators scoring big points in this dynamic look at several unsung heroes who shared a desire to improve people's lives. Offering profiles with fast facts on flaps and framed by a funny contemporary story featuring two feisty twins, here is a nod to the minds behind the gamma electric cell and the ice-cream scoop, improvements to traffic lights, open-heart surgery, and more - inventors whose ingenuity and perseverance against great odds made our world safer, better, and brighter.

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Genius!

Deborah Kespert

Genius! tells the stories behind the amazing inventions that helped shape our modern world. Young readers are introduced to the technologies developed by thinkers and inventors such as Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Gutenberg, James Watt, the Wright brothers, and Tim Berners-Lee, and the creativity and determination behind their discoveries.

The book is divided into five key thematic sections: Pioneers, Communication, Technology, Transport, and Into Space. Read about how the innovators who brought us today's world of communications, the Internet, fast travel, space exploration, and entertainment faced challenges and dangers as they dared to create new machines and technologies.

Combining lively, entertaining stories with well-illustrated information on the inventions and their implications, as well as an activities section with mini-experiments for the budding inventor, Genius! brings all the excitement of scientific invention alive for children growing up in an increasingly technology-oriented world.

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The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters

Sean Connolly

It’s hands-on science with a capital “E”—for engineering.

Beginning with the toppling of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, to the destructive, laserlike sunbeams bouncing off London’s infamous “Fryscraper” in 2013, here is an illustrated tour of the greatest engineering disasters in history, from the bestselling author of The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science.

Each engineering disaster includes a simple, exciting experiment or two using everyday household items to explain the underlying science and put learning into action. Understand the Titanic’s demise by sinking an ice-cube-tray ocean liner in the bathtub. Stomp on a tube of toothpaste to demonstrate what happens to non-Newtonian fluids under pressure—and how a ruptured tank sent a tsunami of molasses through the streets of Boston in 1919.

From why the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans to the fatal design flaw in the Sherman tank, here’s a book of science at its most riveting.

 

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Made by Maxine

Ruth Spiro

Meet Maxine, an inspiring young maker who knows that with enough effort and imagination (and mistakes), it's possible to invent anything.

Maxine loves making new things from old things. She loves tinkering until she has solved a problem. She also loves her pet goldfish, Milton. So when it's time for her school's pet parade, she's determined to create something that will allow Milton to march with the other animals. Finally, after trying, trying, and trying again, she discovers just the right combination of recycled odds and ends to create a fun, functional--and absolutely fabulous--solution to her predicament.

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125 Cool Inventions

National Kids

"The future is now! Supercool robots, amazing flying machines, floating hotels--this book is packed with 125 amazing inventions that will make you wish for things you never knew existed! Get the scoop on inventions of the future before they hit stores, like the fish tank that turns your toilet into an aquarium (but don't worry, your fishy friends will be just fine!), or the Cargonaut, a human-size robot that flies around picking up and delivering items just for you! These inventions are paired with incredible photos and loads of fun facts. Discover what the future will look like on every page!,"--back cover.

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Lessons in Chemistry

Bonnie Garmus

Meet 2022's most incomparable protagonist! This blockbuster debut set in 1960s California features the singular voice of Elizabeth Zott, a scientist whose career takes a detour when she becomes the star of a beloved TV cooking show.

"It's the world versus Elizabeth Zott, an extraordinary woman determined to live on her own terms, and I had no trouble choosing a side...A page-turning and highly satisfying tale: zippy, zesty, and Zotty." --Maggie Shipstead, best-selling author of Great Circle

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with--of all things--her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

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Gallant

V. E. Schwab

AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

"A bone-chilling standalone . . . which fuses Shirley Jackson's gothic horror sensibilities with the warmth and dark whimsy of Neil Gaiman."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Gripping worldbuilding, well-rounded characters, and fantastic horror."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Unsettling and intriguing."--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

Everything casts a shadow. Even the world we live in. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. A seam, where the shadow meets its source.

#1 New York Times-bestselling author V. E. Schwab weaves a dark and original tale about the place where the world meets its shadow, and the young woman beckoned by both sides. The Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak in this stand-alone novel perfect for readers of Holly Black and Neil Gaiman.

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for Girls, and all she has of her past is her mother's journal--which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home; it doesn't matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile, or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant--but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?

New York Times-bestselling author V. E. Schwab crafts a vivid and lush novel that grapples with the demons that are often locked behind closed doors. An eerie, stand-alone saga about life, death, and the young woman beckoned by both. Readers of Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, Melissa Albert, and Garth Nix will quickly lose themselves in this novel with crossover appeal for all ages.

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The Mountains Sing

Que Mai Phan Nguyen

A Best Book of the Month/Season: The New York Times * The Washington Post * O, The Oprah Magazine * USA TodayReal Simple * Amazon PopSugar * Book Riot * Paperback Paris * She Reads We Are Bookish

"[An] absorbing, stirring novel . . . that, in more than one sense, remedies history." —The New York Times Book Review


“An epic account of Việt Nam’s painful 20th century history, both vast in scope and intimate in its telling . . . Moving and riveting.” —VIET THANH NGUYEN, author of The Sympathizer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’s In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Trần family, set against the backdrop of the Việt Nam War. Trần Diệu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Nội, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Hồ Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that tore not just her beloved country, but her family apart.

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Việt Nam, The Mountains Sing brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope.

The Mountains Sing is celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s first novel in English.

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The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

India Holton

A New York Times Notable Book of 2021

"The kind of book for which the word "rollicking" was invented."--New York Times Book Review

A prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her--hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

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Royal Affairs

Leslie Carroll

A funny, raucous, and delightfully dirty history of 1,000 years of bedroom-hopping secrets and scandals of Britain?s royals.

Insatiable kings, lecherous queens, kissing cousins, and wanton consorts?history has never been so much fun.

Royal unions have always been the stuff of scintillating gossip, from the passionate Plantagenets to Henry VIII?s alarming head count of wives and mistresses, to the Sapphic crushes of Mary and Anne Stuart right on up through the scandal-blighted coupling of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Thrown into loveless, arranged marriages for political and economic gain, many royals were driven to indulge their pleasures outside the marital bed, engaging in delicious flirtations, lurid love letters, and rampant sex with voluptuous and willing partners.

This nearly pathological lust made for some of the most titillating scandals in Great Britain?s history. Hardly harmless, these affairs have disrupted dynastic alliances, endangered lives, and most of all, fed the salacious curiosity of the public for centuries. Royal Affairs will satiate that curiosity by bringing this arousing history alive.
 

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Not Just Jane

Shelley DeWees

“Not Just Jane restores seven of England’s most fascinating and subversive literary voices to their rightful places in history. Shelley DeWees tells each woman writer’s story with wit, passion, and an astute understanding of the society in which she lived and wrote.”

—Dr. Amanda Foreman, New York Times bestselling author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

 

Jane Austen and the Brontës endure as British literature’s leading ladies (and for good reason)—but were these reclusive parsons’ daughters really the only writing women of their day? A feminist history of literary Britain, this witty, fascinating nonfiction debut explores the extraordinary lives and work of seven long-forgotten authoresses, and asks: Why did their considerable fame and influence, and a vibrant culture of female creativity, fade away? And what are we missing because of it?

You’ve likely read at least one Jane Austen novel (or at least seen a film one). Chances are you’ve also read Jane Eyre; if you were an exceptionally moody teenager, you might have even read Wuthering Heights. English majors might add George Eliot or Virginia Woolf to this list…but then the trail ends. Were there truly so few women writing anything of note during late 18th and 19th century Britain?

In Not Just Jane, Shelley DeWees weaves history, biography, and critical analysis into a rip-roaring narrative of the nation’s fabulous, yet mostly forgotten, female literary heritage. As the country, and women’s roles within it, evolved, so did the publishing industry, driving legions of ladies to pick up their pens and hit the parchment. Focusing on the creative contributions and personal stories of seven astonishing women, among them pioneers of detective fiction and the modern fantasy novel, DeWees assembles a riveting, intimate, and ruthlessly unromanticized portrait of female life—and the literary landscape—during this era. In doing so, she comes closer to understanding how a society could forget so many of these women, who all enjoyed success, critical acclaim, and a fair amount of notoriety during their time, and realizes why, now more than ever, it’s vital that we remember.

Rediscover Charlotte Turner Smith, Helen Maria Williams, Mary Robinson, Catherine Crowe, Sara Coleridge, Dinah Mulock Craik, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

 

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Princesses

Flora Fraser

From acclaimed biographer Flora Fraser, a brilliant group biography of the six daughters of “Mad” King George III. Fraser takes us into the heart of the British royal family during the tumultuous period of the American and French revolutions and beyond, illuminating the complicated lives of these exceptional women: Princess Royal, the eldest, constantly at odds with her mother; home-loving, family-minded Augusta; plump Elizabeth, a gifted amateur artist; Mary, the bland beauty of the family; Sophia, emotional and prone to take refuge in illness; and Amelia, “the most turbulent and tempestuous of all the Princesses.” Weaving together letters and historical accounts, Fraser re-creates their world in all its frustrations and excitements. The six sisters, though handsome, accomplished and extremely well educated, were kept from marrying by George III, and Fraser describes how they remained subject to their father for many years, while he teetered on the brink of mental collapse. The King may have believed that his six daughters were happy to live celibately at Windsor, but secretly, as Fraser’s absorbing narrative of royal repression and sexual license shows, the sisters enjoyed startling freedom. Several of them, torn between love for their ailing father and longing for independence, forged their own scandalous and subversive lives within the castle walls. With a discerning eye for psychological detail and a keen feminist sensibility, Fraser delves into these clandestine love affairs, revealing the truth about Sophia’s illegitimate baby; examining Amelia's intimate correspondence with her soldier-lover; and investigating the eventual marriages of Princesses Royal, Elizabeth and Mary. Never before has the historical searchlight been turned with such sympathy and acuity on George III and his family. With unparalleled access to royal and private family papers, Flora Fraser has created a revelatory portrait of six fascinating women and their place in history. From the Hardcover edition.

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Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle

The real-life inspiration and setting for the Emmy Award-winning Downton Abbey, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey tells the story behind Highclere Castle and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants, Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon.

Drawing on a rich store of materials from the archives of Highclere Castle, including diaries, letters, and photographs, the current Lady Carnarvon has written a transporting story of this fabled home on the brink of war. Much like her Masterpiece Classic counterpart, Lady Cora Crawley, Lady Almina was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Alfred de Rothschild, who married his daughter off at a young age, her dowry serving as the crucial link in the effort to preserve the Earl of Carnarvon's ancestral home. Throwing open the doors of Highclere Castle to tend to the wounded of World War I, Lady Almina distinguished herself as a brave and remarkable woman.

This rich tale contrasts the splendor of Edwardian life in a great house against the backdrop of the First World War and offers an inspiring and revealing picture of the woman at the center of the history of Highclere Castle.

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Emma

Jane Austen

Jane Austen's beloved comedic novel is now available in a revised and updated Norton Critical Edition.

The text of this Norton Critical Edition of Emma is based on the 1816 edition published by John Murray. George Justice has lightly and judiciously emended the text for faithfulness and clarity. The novel is accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations as well as facsimiles of the 1816 title and dedication pages.

"Backgrounds" collects a wealth of source material, much of it new to the Fourth Edition. New material includes Austen's correspondence with her publisher about the business of writing, which reveals Austen's view of her own writing and career. In addition, there are two sets of verses referenced in Emma, "Kitty, A Fair But Frozen Maid" and "Robin Adair", as well as responses (1815-1950) to Austen and her writing from, among others, Charlotte Brontd, Juliet Pollock, Virginia Woolf, D.W. Harding, and Edmund Wilson.

"Reviews and Criticism" includes twelve major interpretations of the novel, nine of them new to the Fourth Edition. New contributors include Jan Fergus, Patricia Meyer Spacks, Tony Tanner, Maaja Stewart, D.A. Miller, Emily Auerbach, Gabrielle D. V. White, Richard Jenykns, and David Monaghan.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

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Jane Eyre 3rd Edition

Charlotte Brontë

To W. S. Williams, December 11, 1847 -- To W. S. Williams, August 14, 1848 -- To W. S. Williams, early September 1848 -- The Christian Remembrancer and The quarterly -- From The Christian Remembrancer, January 1848 -- The quarterly review, December 1848 / Elizabeth Rigby -- To W. S. Williams, January 2, 1849 -- To W. S. Williams, February 10[?], 1849 -- To W. S. Williams, August 16, 1849 -- From A word to The quarterly -- Charlotte Bronte and the critics, Charlotte Bronte: author and woman, First impressions of Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte Bronte at home, Charlotte Bronte's working habits / Elizabeth Gaskell -- Jane Eyre: The temptations of a motherless woman / Adrienne Rich -- A dialogue of self and soul: plain Jane's progress / Sandra M. Gilbert -- St. John's way and the wayward reader / Jerome Beaty -- Jane Eyre: hazarding confidences / Lisa Sternlieb -- The cinematic reconstitution of Jane Eyre / Jeffrey Sconce -- The pleasure of intertextuality: reading Jane Eyre television and film adaptations / Donna Marie Nudd.

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Jane Austen's Town and Country Style

Susan Watkins

The world of novelist Jane Austen was a place of unsurpassed elegance, beauty, and refinement. This book documents Jane Austen's world: Stoneleigh Abbey, quaint country retreats and stylish town houses. A Buyer's Directory, for those who want to recreate this era in their own homes is included.

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Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners

Josephine Ross

Jane Austen's Guide to Good Manners is a light-hearted, insightful handbook written as if intended for her original Regency Era readers, and illustrated throughout with beautiful watercolors. When Anna, Jane Austen's young niece, sent her a novel for ""literary comment," Jane loved everything about it, except its utter disregard for the manners of the day. The resulting and tender correspondence between the two serves as the foundation for this instructional book.

Etiquette and social behavior of the early 1800s come to life in lovely chapters teaching one on how to pay and return formal "calls," how to properly refuse a proposal of marriage, who should lead off the dancing at a country-house ball, and what to wear for a morning walk. Jane Austen used these daily customs and niceties to brilliantly illuminate the cloistered world of high society women in her timeless novels. Now with this delightful handbook of correct social behavior, readers will learn just why Mrs. Bennet of Pride and Prejudice couldn't call alone on her new, rich, bachelor neighbor and had to force the reluctant Mr. Bennet to do so...even as he uttered "Tis an etiquette I despise."

An indispensable gift for any Austen fan, this beautiful book will prove irresistible to anyone wishing to go back in time to the atmosphere of their favorite Austen novels.

Henrietta Webb is the co-creator of Bad Hair. Josephine Ross has written a number of books including, most recently, Jane Austen: A Companion, published in England by Austen's original publisher John Murray.

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Jane Austen

Claire Tomalin

Here, firmly rooted in her own social setting for the first time, is the real Jane Austen--the shy woman willing to challenge convention, the woman of no pretensions who nevertheless called herself "formidable," a woman who could be frivolous and yet suffer from black depressions, who showed unfailing loyalty and, in the conduct of her own life, unfailing bravery. In an act of understanding and brilliant synthesis, Claire Tomalin reveals Jane Austen with a clarity never before achieved, one which makes us look upon her novels with fresh and even greater admiration.
The world she wrote about--that place of civility and reassuring stability--was never quite her own. As Tomalin shows, Jane Austen's family existed on the very fringe of the world she described in her fiction, struggling to get ahead with little money and no land in the competitive society of Georgian England, sometimes succeeding but often failing with painful consequences. New research in family papers has yielded a rich, tragicomic picture of the Austen clan--their ambitions, their matrimonial alliances, their exotic connections with India and France. At the same time, Tomalin's explorations in local archives reveal a surprising view of the neighbors the family lived among in Hampshire, more extravagant and eccentric by far than anyone depicted in Austen's books. We realize how much closer her genius lies, in its splendid artifice, to the great comic operas of Mozart than to the main tradition of the English novel.
But it is in the deeply human portrait of Jane Austen herself that this biography excels. The honesty and directness of her personality (perfect heroines made her "sick and wicked"), her strength ingiving up a chance at marriage to follow the path her vocation as a writer required her to take, the warmth and long consistency of her relationship with her sister, Cassandra, the poignancy of her death--Claire Tomalin here captures, with unforgettable skill, the living character of a great writer who is read, reread, read again, and adored, now more than ever.

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Jane Austen's Sanditon

Janet Todd

Coming to PBS Masterpiece Classic soon! Gorgeous, profound, delightful, useful, original, this fully illustrated, informative volume combines Jane Austen's Sanditon novel and Janet Todd's ground-breaking essay.

 

"I so enjoyed Janet Todd's beautifully produced book." Andrew Davies, screenwriter.

Sanditon is Jane Austen's last novel, left unfinished when she died. A comedy, it continues the strain of burlesque and caricature she wrote as a teenager and in private throughout her life. This beautifully illustrated volume combines the full novel and Todd's ground-breaking essay, where she contextualizes Austen's life and work, Sanditon's connection with Northanger Abbey (1818) and the Austen family's speculation in England and the West Indies. She examines the moral and social problems of capitalism, entrepreneurship, and whether wealth trickles down to benefit the place it is made. In explaining the early nineteenth-century culture of self: the exploitation of hypochondria, health fads, seaside resorts, cures, she contends that Sanditon is an innovative, ebullient study of human beings' vagaries - rather than using common sense, Sanditon's characters follow intuition and bodily signs believing that desire can be translated into physical facts and speech can transform fantasy into reality. Todd shows Austen's themes to be akin to contemporary concerns: the mistakes of the self-deluded reveal the inevitable, ridiculous gap between how we think of ourselves and how we appear and sound to others.

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Jane Austen Embroidery

Jennie Batchelor

Jane Austen was as skillful with a needle as she was with a pen, and this unique book showcases rare and beautiful embroidery patterns from her era, repurposed into 15 modern sewing projects. Derived from Lady's Magazine (1770–1832), a popular monthly periodical of fashion, fiction, and gossip, the projects consist of embroidered clothes, accessories, and housewares. Designs include an evening bag, a muslin shawl, an apron, a floral napkin set and tablecloth, and other pretty and practical items with timeless appeal.
These authentic patterns — many of which have not been reprinted in more than 200 years—are enlivened by vivid glimpses into the world of Regency women and their domestic lives. Fascinating historical features, quotes from Austen's letters and novels, enchanting drawings, clear instructions, and inspirational project photography trace the patterns' origins and illustrate their imaginative restoration for modern use. A must-have for every Jane Austen fan, this book is suitable for needleworkers at every level of experience.

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Georgette Heyer's Regency World

Jennifer Kloester

The definitive guide for all fans of Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen, and the glittering Regency period

"Detailed, informative, impressively researched. A Heyer lover writing for Heyer fans."
-Times Literary Supplement

Immerse yourself in the resplendent glow of Regency England and the world of Georgette Heyer...

From the fascinating slang, the elegant fashions, the precise ways the bon tonate, drank, danced, and flirted, to the shocking real life scandals of the day,Georgette Heyer's Regency World takes you behind the scenes of Heyer's captivating novels.

As much fun to read as Heyer's own novels, beautifully illustrated, and meticulously researched, Jennifer Kloester's essential guide brings the world of the Regency to life for Heyer fans and Jane Austen fans alike.

"An invaluable guide to the world of the bon ton. No lover of Georgette Heyer's novels should be without it."
-- Katie Fforde

"Splendidly entertaining"
-Publishers Weekly

"Meticulously researched yet splendidly entertaining, Kloester's comprehensive guide to the world of upper-class regency England is a must-have."
-Publishers Weekly Starred Review

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Georgette Heyer

Jennifer Kloester

The groundbreaking biography of one of the world's best-loved and bestselling authors

Who was the real Georgette Heyer?

Georgette Heyer famously said, "I am to be found in my work."

Who was this amazing writer who was so secretive about her personal life that she never gave an interview? Where did she get her ideas? Were there real-life models forher ultra-manly heroes, independent-minded heroines, irascible guardians, and clever villains? What motivated her to build a Regency worldso intricately researched that readers want to escape there again and again?

Heyer's Regency romances, historical novels, and mysteries have surprised and delighted millions of readers for decades, while the woman behind the storieshas stayed hidden...Until now!

With unprecedented, exclusive access to Heyer's notebooks, papers, and early letters, Jennifer Kloester uncovers both the complex life of a private woman anda masterful writer's craft that will forever resonate in literature and beyond.

"A wonderful entertaining biography--a readable and lively account of this beloved writer."--Eloisa James, #1 New York Timesbestselling author

"Required reading for all lovers of Regency novels."--Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling author of No Longer a Gentleman

"A superb portrayal of one of my all-time favorite writers."--Anne Gracie, award-winning author of Bride By Mistake

"An engaging, intriguing, absorbing, read!"--Stephanie Laurens, #1 New York Timesbestselling author

Praise for Georgette Heyer's Regency World:

"Meticulously researched yet splendidly entertaining ... a must-have."--Publishers WeeklyStarred Review
"Detailed, informative, impressively researched. A Heyer lover writing for Heyer fans."--Times Literary Supplement
"Kloester's lively book will delight died-in-the-wool Regency readers." --Booklist

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Belle

Paula Byrne

From acclaimed biographer Paula Byrne, the sensational true tale that inspired the major motion picture Belle (May 2014) starring Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson, Penelope Wilton, and Matthew Goode—a stunning story of the first mixed-race girl introduced to high society England and raised as a lady.  

The illegitimate daughter of a captain in the Royal Navy and an enslaved African woman, Dido Belle was sent to live with her great-uncle, the Earl of Mansfield, one of the most powerful men of the time and a leading opponent of slavery. Growing up in his lavish estate, Dido was raised as a sister and companion to her white cousin, Elizabeth. When a joint portrait of the girls, commissioned by Mansfield, was unveiled, eighteenth-century England was shocked to see a black woman and white woman depicted as equals. Inspired by the painting, Belle vividly brings to life this extraordinary woman caught between two worlds, and illuminates the great civil rights question of her age: the fight to end slavery.

Belle includes 20 pages of black-and-white photos.

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Behind the Palace Doors

Michael Farquhar

Spanning 500 years of British history, a revealing look at the secret lives of some great (and not-so-great) Britons, courtesy of one of the world’s most engaging royal historians
 
Beleaguered by scandal, betrayed by faithless spouses, bedeviled by ambitious children, the kings and queens of Great Britain have been many things, but they have never been dull. Some sacrificed everything for love, while others met a cruel fate at the edge of an axman’s blade. From the truth behind the supposed madness of King George to Queen Victoria’s surprisingly daring taste in sculpture, Behind the Palace Doors ventures beyond the rumors to tell the unvarnished history of Britain’s monarchs, highlighting the unique mix of tragedy, comedy, romance, heroism, and incompetence that has made the British throne a seat of such unparalleled fascination.
 
Featuring:
• stories covering every monarch, from randy Henry VIII to reserved Elizabeth II
• historical myths debunked and surprising “Did you know . . . ?” anecdotes
• four family trees spanning every royal house, from the Tudors to the Windsors

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At Home with Jane Austen

Kim Wilson

Tour the homes and settings of Jane Austen, one of the most widely read and beloved authors in English literature, in this beautiful book featuring over 100 color photographs and illustrations.

"I shall be very glad to see you at home again, and then...who will be so happy as we?" -- Jane Austen

From her youth in a country rectory in Steventon, a small village in Hampshire, England--where she wrote her first stories for her friends, Volume the First, Volume the Second, and Volume the Third--to the fashionable spa town of Bath, to the seaport of Southampton, to her final years in her last settled home at peaceful Chawton Cottage, where she penned her most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's life was hardly that of a shut in. A regular visitor to London, to the seashore for holidays, and to the estates of friends and relatives, Jane carried her own notion of home with her wherever she went and drew inspiration for her brilliantly witty novels from every new experience. She wrote most everywhere she traveled, accompanied by her portable writing desk.

With gorgeous photography and illustrations, At Home with Jane Austen explores Austen's world, her physical surroundings, and the journeys the popular author took during her lifetime. Author Kim Wilson ties Austen's novels to places where she lived, visited, and even attended school, ending with her final months in temporary lodgings in Winchester, England. Jane Austen's enduring legacy is the final chapter of this beautiful and eye-opening book.

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The Annotated Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen

From the editor of the popular Annotated Pride and Prejudice comes an annotated edition of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey that makes her lighthearted satire of the gothic novel an even more satisfying read. Here is the complete text of the novel with more than 1,200 annotations on facing pages, including:

-Explanations of historical context
-Citations from Austen's life, letters, and other writings
-Definitions and clarifications
-Literary comments and analysis
-Maps of places in the novel
-An introduction, bibliography, and detailed chronology of events
-225 informative illustrations

Filled with fascinating details about the characters' clothing, furniture, and carriages, and illuminating background information on everything from the vogue for all things medieval to the opportunities for socializing in the popular resort town of Bath, David M. Shapard's Annotated Northanger Abbey brings Austen's world into richer focus.

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The Annotated Mansfield Park

Jane Austen

From the editor of the popular Annotated Pride and Prejudice comes an annotated edition of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park that makes her story of an impoverished girl living with her wealthy relatives an even more satisfying read. Here is the complete text of Austen's own favorite novel with more than 2,300 annotations on facing pages, including:

● Explanations of historical context
● Citations from Austen's life, letters, and other writings
● Definitions and clarifications
● Literary comments and analysis
● Maps of places in the novel
● An introduction, bibliography, and detailed chronology of events
● More than 225 informative illustrations

Filled with fascinating details about the characters' clothes, houses, and carriages, as well as background information on such relevant issues as career paths in the British navy, contemporary attitudes toward slavery, and the legal and social consequences of adultery, David M. Shapard's Annotated Mansfield Park brings Austen's world into richer focus.

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Mary Boleyn

Alison Weir

Sister to Queen Anne Boleyn, she was seduced by two kings and was an intimate player in one of history's most gripping dramas. Yet much of what we know about Mary Boleyn has been fostered through garbled gossip, romantic fiction, and the misconceptions repeated by historians. Now, in her latest book, New York Times bestselling author and noted British historian Alison Weir gives us the first ever full-scale, in-depth biography of Henry VIII's famous mistress, in which Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds Mary Boleyn and uncovers the truth about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age.

With the same brand of extensive forensic research she brought to her acclaimed book The Lady in the Tower, Weir facilitates here a new portrayal of her subjects, revealing how Mary was treated by her ambitious family and the likely nature of the relationship between the Boleyn sisters. She also posits new evidence regarding the reputation of Mary's mother, Elizabeth Howard, who was rumored to have been an early mistress of Henry VIII.

Weir unravels the truth about Mary's much-vaunted notoriety at the French court and her relations with King François I. She offers plausible theories as to what happened to Mary during the undocumented years of her life, and shows that, far from marrying an insignificant and complacent nonentity, she made a brilliant match with a young man who was the King's cousin and a rising star at court.

Weir also explores Mary's own position and role at the English court, and how she became Henry VIII's mistress. She tracks the probable course of their affair and investigates Mary's real reputation. With new and compelling evidence, Weir presents the most conclusive answer to date on the paternity of Mary's children, long speculated to have been Henry VIII's progeny.

Alison Weir has drawn fascinating information from the original sources of the period to piece together a life steeped in mystery and misfortune, debunking centuries-old myths and disproving accepted assertions, to give us the truth about Mary Boleyn, the so-called great and infamous whore.

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Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey

Fiona Countess of Carnarvon

Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey tells the story behind Highclere Castle, the setting for Julian Fellowes's Emmy Award-winning PBS show Downton Abbey, and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants, Catherine Wendell.  In this transporting companion piece to the New York Times bestseller Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, Catherine, a beautiful and spirited American woman who married Lady Almina's son, the man who would become the 6th Earl of Carnarvon, presides over the grand estate during a tumultuous time for the British aristocracy. Following the First World War, many of the great houses of England faded as their owners fortunes declined in the new political and social world of the 1920s and 1930s. As war loomed, Highclere's survival as the family home of the Carnarvons was again in the balance--as was peace between the nations of Europe.
    Using copious materials--including diaries and scrapbooks--from the castle's archives, the current Countess of Carnarvon brings alive a very modern story in a beautiful and fabled setting, paying particular attention to the staff who provide Highclere Castle with continuity between generations.

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Jane Austen at Home

Lucy Worsley

"Jane Austen at Home offers a fascinating look at Jane Austen's world through the lens of the homes in which she lived and worked throughout her life. The result is a refreshingly unique perspective on Austen and her work and a beautifully nuanced exploration of gender, creativity, and domesticity."--Amanda Foreman, bestselling author of Georgianna, Duchess of Devonshire

Take a trip back to Jane Austen's world and the many places she lived as historian Lucy Worsley visits Austen's childhood home, her schools, her holiday accommodations, the houses--both grand and small--of the relations upon whom she was dependent, and the home she shared with her mother and sister towards the end of her life. In places like Steventon Parsonage, Godmersham Park, Chawton House and a small rented house in Winchester, Worsley discovers a Jane Austen very different from the one who famously lived a 'life without incident'.

Worsley examines the rooms, spaces and possessions which mattered to her, and the varying ways in which homes are used in her novels as both places of pleasure and as prisons. She shows readers a passionate Jane Austen who fought for her freedom, a woman who had at least five marriage prospects, but--in the end--a woman who refused to settle for anything less than Mr. Darcy.

Illustrated with two sections of color plates, Lucy Worsley's Jane Austen at Home is a richly entertaining and illuminating new book about one of the world’s favorite novelists and one of the subjects she returned to over and over in her unforgettable novels: home.

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Inventing the Victorians

Matthew Sweet

"Suppose that everything we think we know about the Victorians is wrong." So begins Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet, a compact and mind-bending whirlwind tour through the soul of the nineteenth century, and a round debunking of our assumptions about it. The Victorians have been victims of the "the enormous condescension of posterity," in the historian E. P. Thompson's phrase. Locked in the drawing room, theirs was an age when, supposedly, existence was stultifying, dank, and over-furnished, and when behavior conformed so rigorously to proprieties that the repressed results put Freud into business. We think we have the Victorians pegged-as self-righteous, imperialist, racist, materialist, hypocritical and, worst of all, earnest.

Oh how wrong we are, argues Matthew Sweet in this highly entertaining, provocative, and illuminating look at our great, and great-great, grandparents. In this, the year of the centenary of Queen Victoria's death, Sweet forces us to think again about her century, entombed in our minds by Dickens, the Elephant Man, Sweeney Todd, and by images of unfettered capitalism and grinding poverty.

Sweet believes not only that we're wrong about the Victorians but profoundly indebted to them. In ways we have been slow to acknowledge, their age and our own remain closely intertwined. The Victorians invented the theme part, the shopping mall, the movies, the penny arcade, the roller coaster, the crime novel, and the sensational newspaper story. Sweet also argues that our twenty-first century smugness about how far we have evolved is misplaced. The Victorians were less racist than we are, less religious, less violent, and less intolerant. Far from being an outcaste, Oscar Wilde was a fairly typical Victorian man; the love that dared not speak its name was declared itself fairly openly. In 1868 the first international cricket match was played between an English team and an Australian team composed entirely of aborigines. The Victorians loved sensation, novelty, scandal, weekend getaways, and the latest conveniences (by 1869, there were image-capable telegraphs; in 1873 a store had a machine that dispensed milk to after-hours' shoppers). Does all this sound familiar?

As Sweet proves in this fascinating, eye-opening book, the reflection we find in the mirror of the nineteenth century is our own. We inhabit buildings built by the Victorians; some of us use their sewer system and ride on the railways they built. We dismiss them because they are the age against whom we have defined our own. In brilliant style, Inventing the Victorians shows how much we have been missing.

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Inside the Victorian Home

Judith Flanders

The Victorian age is much closer to us in time than we might believe. Yet at that time, in the most technologically advanced nation in the world, people buried meat in fresh earth to prevent mold forming and wrung sheets out in boiling water with their bare hands. Such household drudgery was routinely performed by the grandparents of people still living, but the knowledge of it has passed as if it had never been.

Judith Flanders's book is laid out like a Victorian house, taking you through the story of daily life from room to room. In each space she depicts the home's furnishings and decoration: from childbirth in the master bedroom, through the scullery and kitchen, the separate male and female domains of the drawing room and the parlor, and ending in the sickroom. A rich selection from diaries, letters, advice books, magazines, and paintings fills the rooms with the people and personalities of the age. 100 illustrations, 3 8-page color inserts.

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The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

Karina Yan Glaser

From New York Times best-selling author Karina Yan Glaser comes one of Times' Notable Children's Books of 2017: "In this delightful and heartwarming throwback to the big-family novels of yesteryear, a large biracial family might lose their beloved brownstone home, but win it back with an all-out charm offensive."

The Vanderbeekers have always lived in the brownstone on 141st Street. It's practically another member of the family. So when their reclusive, curmudgeonly landlord decides not to renew their lease, the five siblings have eleven days to do whatever it takes to stay in their beloved home and convince the dreaded Beiderman just how wonderful they are. And all is fair in love and war when it comes to keeping their home.

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Real Sisters Pretend

Megan Dowd Lambert

This warm, engaging story, which unfolds entirely through the conversation of two adopted sisters, was inspired by the author's own daughters, whom she overheard talking about how adoption made them real sisters even though they have different birth parents and do not look alike. I liked how they took care of one another in their pretend-play scenario about climbing a mountain, Lambert says, and I loved how they also took care of one another s feelings as they talked about adoption. Real Sisters Pretend captures these interactions perfectly and movingly. Told with simple words and playful illustrations, this book touches on the topics of adoption, two moms, and multiracial family life. Illustrated by award-winning artist Nicole Tadgell.

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The Powwow Thief

Joseph Bruchac

"Twins Jamie and Marie Longbow are excited about summer with their grandparents, traveling from powwow to powwow selling goods they helped to make. When their grandmother's most beautifulnecklace goes missing, it's up to the twins to solve the mystery"--

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Spectacular Sisters

Aura Lewis

Starring the special bond between sisters throughout history, with beautiful full-color illustrations, this fun and inspiring 208-page biography collection from author-illustrator Aura Lewis is perfect for fans of Rad American Women A-Z and the Women in Art/Science/Sports series.

Sisters are spectacular! They can be your biggest cheerleaders, your most trusted confidants, and your much-needed fashion advisors (as long as they're not stealing your clothes!).

But sisterhood can also be complex: full of rivalry, jealousy, and not-so-friendly competition. From pop culture sensations like the Kardashians/Jenners to civil rights activists Coretta Scott King and Edythe Scott Bagley to tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams, these sisters--and so many others throughout history--have not only impacted art, culture, and society, but also illustrate the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.

At the end of the day, whether you're mortal enemies or best friends, spectacular sisters will always have your back. Share this book at home or in the classroom. It's a great source for capsule biographies of a wide variety of powerful women.

Featured in Mother Mag's 50+ Crowd-Pleasing Gifts for Kids guide!

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Bracelets for Bina's Brothers

Rajani LaRocca

Celebrate diversity, math, and the power of storytelling!

For the Hindu holiday of Raksha Bandhan, Bina is determined to make beaded bracelets for her brothers all by herself. She finds out which colors her brothers like and dislike and sets to work. Working with her every-other-one beading pattern causes Bina to discover something new about patterns--and her brothers.

Storytelling Math celebrates children using math in their daily adventures as they play, build, and discover the world around them. Joyful stories and hands-on activities make it easy for kids and their grown-ups to explore everyday math together. Developed in collaboration with math experts at STEM education nonprofit TERC, under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.

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Little Brothers & Little Sisters

Monica Arnaldo

Little sisters and little brothers all long for the same few things when it comes to their older siblings: a turn to play, a place on the team, a chance to shine. This book starts with four pairs of siblings in and around an apartment complex, each expressing through play and daily life the many gripes and pitfalls of younger siblings.

Subtly, the narrative shifts to reflect the good things that come with having an older sibling: a helping hand, a partner in crime, a friend for life. The book ends on a high note--when it comes to brothers and sisters, the good outweighs the bad, and both big and little siblings have a special place in each others' hearts. Minimal text paired with impressionistic, full-spread illustrations creates weight and emotion in this lovely book that will help kids feel understood in all the pains and joys of siblinghood.

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As Brave as You

Jason Reynolds

A Kirkus Award FinalistA Schneider Family Book Award WinnerA Coretta Scott King Author Honor BookAn ALA Notable Books for Children NomineeGenie and his brother, Ernie, leave Brooklyn for the first time to spend the summer with their grandparents in Virginia -- in the country! When he figures out that Grandpop is blind, Genie thinks he's the bravest guy ever. But he never leaves the house. Then Ernie won't learn how to shoot. Is bravery only about proving something? What about owning up to what you won't do?

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The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher

Dana Alison Levy

 

 

”Fans of Beverly Cleary's Quimbys, Judy Blume's Hatchers, and, more recently, Jeanne Birdsall's Penderwicks will fervently hope that more Fletcher misadventures are yet to come.” —School Library Journal, StarredThe start of the school year is not going as the Fletcher brothers hoped. Each boy finds his plans for success veering off in unexpected and sometimes diastrous directions. And at home, their miserable new neighbor complains about everything. As the year continues, the boys learn the hard and often hilarious lesson that sometimes what you least expect is what you come to care about the most.

Praise for The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher

A Junior Library Guild Selection

[set star] ”Their banter is realistic, and the disorder of their everyday lives, convincing. The Fletcher family rules!” —Kirkus Reviews,Starred

”Dana Alison Levy has gloriously reimagined the classic family story into a thoroughly modern mold, and it works perfectly.” —Bruce Coville, bestselling author ofMy Teacher Is an Alien and the Unicorn Chronicles
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[set star] ”With its semi-episodic structure, laugh-out-loud humor, and mix of zaniness and love, Levy's debut offers something truly significant: a middle-grade family story featuring gay parents and interracial families that is never about either issue.” —School Library Journal, Starred

”Levy provides a compelling, compassionate, and frequently hilarious look at their daily concerns. By book's end readers will want to be part of (or at least friends with) this delightful family.” —The Horn Book





 

 

 

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Twins

Varian Johnson

Coretta Scott King Honor author Varian Johnson teams up with rising cartoonist Shannon Wright for a delightful middle-grade graphic novel

Maureen and Francine Carter are twins and best friends. They participate in the same clubs, enjoy the same foods, and are partners on all their school projects. But just before the girls start sixth grade, Francine becomes Fran -- a girl who wants to join the chorus, run for class president, and dress in fashionable outfits that set her apart from Maureen. A girl who seems happy to share only two classes with her sister

Maureen and Francine are growing apart and there's nothing Maureen can do to stop it. Are sisters really forever? Or will middle school change things for good?

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My Sister, Daisy

Adria Karlsson

Daisy's older brother is thrilled when he gets a new sibling. They are best buddies who do everything together. But in kindergarten, things change. His sibling tells him she is a girl and wants to be called Daisy. Daisy's brother must adjust to the change--including what it means for him and their relationship. A powerful, moving picture book based on a true story, My Sister, Daisy handles a sensitive subject with warmth and love.

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Sun and Moon Sisters

Khoa Le

Two sisters, the Sun and the Moon, rule the sky, but each is jealous of the other’s power. One night, to settle their quarrel, they decide to switch roles…and calamity ensues!

The Sun and the Moon are sisters, and they rule and sky together peacefully. One day, however, each begins to wonder: who is more important? This friction leads them to make a powerful decision to switch roles, hoping that it will lead to a greater understanding of their powers. Soon, the Sun begins shining all through the night, and the Moon brings night to the day. In the end, the two sisters will learn an important lesson about the importance of harmony and the balance of their relationship.

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The Penderwicks

Jeanne Birdsall

This series of modern classics about the charming Penderwick family from National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller Jeanne Birdsall is perfect for fans of Noel Streatfeild and Edward Eager. Over one million copies sold, now with a bright new look!

This summer the Penderwick sisters have a wonderful surprise: a holiday on the grounds of a beautiful estate called Arundel. Soon they are busy discovering the summertime magic of Arundel's sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. But the best discovery of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel's owner, who quickly proves to be the perfect companion for their adventures.

The icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is not as pleased with the Penderwicks as Jeffrey is, though, and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Which, of course, they will—won't they? One thing's for sure: it will be a summer the Penderwicks will never forget.

Deliciously nostalgic and quaintly witty, this is a story as breezy and carefree as a summer day.

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We Are Water Protectors

Carole Lindstrom

Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal
#1 New York Times Bestseller

Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption
a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade.

Water is the first medicine.
It affects and connects us all . . .

When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth
And poison her people’s water, one young water protector
Takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource.

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The EARTH Book

Todd Parr

"I take care of the earth because I know I can do little things every day to make a BIG difference..."

With his signature blend of playfulness and sensitiviy, Todd Parr explores the important, timely subject of environmental protection and conservation in this eco-friendly picture book. Featuing a circular die-cut Earth on the cover, and printed entirely with recycled materials and nontoxic soy inks, this book includes lots of easy, smart ideas on how we can all work together to make the Earth feel good - from planting a tree and using both sides of the paper, to saving energy and reusing old things in new ways.

Best of all, the book includes an interior gatefold with a poster with tips/reminders on how kids can "go green" everyday. Equally whimsical and heartfelt, this sweet homage to our beautiful planet is sure to inspire readers of all ages to do their part in keeping the Earth happy and healthy.

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Amara and the Bats

Emma Reynolds

Environmental activism gets a nocturnal twist in this utterly charming picture book about a young girl and her mission to save the bats!

Amara loves bats! Her favorite thing to do is to collect bat facts and watch the amazing mammals fly at night by her house. But when Amara moves to a new town, she learns that her beloved bats no longer roost nearby because so many trees are being cut down.

Amara is upset. What can she do to help? She's just one person, and the problem feels so much bigger than her. But after doing some research, she discovers that there are many young people making big changes all around the world. Inspired to take action, Amara gathers her new friends to help save the bats. Together, she knows they can make a difference!

Emma Reynolds crafts an inspiring story about community action, perseverance, and what to do in the face of climate anxiety. At its heart, this is a story about hope and finding a place to call home.

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Zonia's Rain Forest

Juana Martinez-Neal

A heartfelt, visually stunning picture book from Caldecott Honor and Robert F. Sibert Medal winner Juana Martinez-Neal illuminates a young girl's day of play and adventure in the lush rain forest of Peru.

Zonia's home is the Amazon rain forest, where it is always green and full of life. Every morning, the rain forest calls to Zonia, and every morning, she answers. She visits the sloth family, greets the giant anteater, and runs with the speedy jaguar. But one morning, the rain forest calls to her in a troubled voice. How will Zonia answer?
Acclaimed author-illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal explores the wonders of the rain forest with Zonia, an Asháninka girl, in her joyful outdoor adventures. The engaging text emphasizes Zonia's empowering bond with her home, while the illustrations--created on paper made from banana bark--burst with luxuriant greens and delicate details. Illuminating back matter includes a translation of the story in Asháninka, information on the Asháninka community, and resources on the Amazon rain forest and its wildlife.

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What a Waste

Jess French

In this informative book on recycling for children, you will find everything you need to know about our environment. The good, the bad and the incredibly innovative. From pollution and litter to renewable energy and plastic recycling.

This educational book will teach young budding ecologists about how our actions affect planet Earth and the big impact we can make by the little things we do.

Did you know that every single plastic toothbrush ever made still exists? Or that there is a floating mass of trash larger than the USA drifting around the Pacific Ocean?

It is not all bad news though. While this is a knowledge book that explains where we are going wrong, What a Waste also shows what we are getting right! Discover plans to save our seas. How countries are implementing green projects worldwide, and how to turn waste into something useful. The tiniest everyday changes can make all the difference to ensure our beautiful planet stays lush and teeming with life.

It is a lively kid's educational book with fabulous illustrations and fun facts about the world broken into easy to digest bite-sized bits. Each page can be looked at in short bursts or longer reads for more detail, making it a great children's book for a range of age groups.

Get Involved - Make A Difference!

Almost everything we do creates waste, from litter and leftovers to factory gases and old gadgets. Find out where it goes, how it affects our planet and what we can do to reduce the problem.

From how to make your home more energy and water efficient, to which items can be recycled and tips for grocery shopping, this book is packed full of ideas on how you can get involved to make our planet a better place to live.

This environment book for children has a wealth of ideas for becoming a planet-defending hero:
- Discover shocking facts about the waste we produce and where it goes
- Learn where about our Earth's limited resources and how to take some pressure off
- Your trash is another man's treasure
- Small changes to take your home from wasteful to super resource efficient
- Dive into saving our oceans and super recycling
- And much, much more

What a Waste is one of several nature books for kids written by Jess French, a passionate conservationist and veterinarian committed to protecting the beautiful world we live in.

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The Water Princess

Susan Verde

Based on supermodel Georgie Badiel's childhood, a young girl dreams of bringing clean drinking water to her African village

With its wide sky and warm earth, Princess Gie Gie's kingdom is a beautiful land. But clean drinking water is scarce in her small African village. And try as she might, Gie Gie cannot bring the water closer; she cannot make it run clearer. Every morning, she rises before the sun to make the long journey to the well. Instead of a crown, she wears a heavy pot on her head to collect the water. After the voyage home, after boiling the water to drink and clean with, Gie Gie thinks of the trip that tomorrow will bring. And she dreams. She dreams of a day when her village will have cool, crystal-clear water of its own.

Inspired by the childhood of African-born model Georgie Badiel, acclaimed author Susan Verde and award-winning author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds have come together to tell this moving story. As a child in Burkina Faso, Georgie and the other girls in her village had to walk for miles each day to collect water. This vibrant, engaging picture book sheds light on this struggle that continues all over the world today, instilling hope for a future when all children will have access to clean drinking water.

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