Meet Alice, owner of the Amber Music Emporium in Sparkle Town.
Alice loves using her amber wand to invent glittering, new musical instruments. This year, Alice is invited to invent an incredible instrument for a musical extravaganza: the Showstopper Spectacular! But what will she do when things don’t go to plan?
Shayla Lawson is major. You don’t know who she is. Yet. But that’s okay. She is on a mission to move black girls like herself from best supporting actress to a starring role in the major narrative. Whether she’s taking on workplace microaggressions or upending racist stereotypes about her home state of Kentucky, she looks for the side of the story that isn’t always told, the places where the voices of black girls haven’t been heard.
The essays in This is Major ask questions like: Why are black women invisible to AI? What is “black girl magic”? Or: Am I one viral tweet away from becoming Twitter famous? And: How much magic does it take to land a Tinder date?
With a unique mix of personal stories, pop culture observations, and insights into politics and history, Lawson sheds light on these questions, as well as the many ways black women and girls have influenced mainstream culture—from their style, to their language, and even their art—and how “major” they really are.
Timely, enlightening, and wickedly sharp, This Is Major places black women at the center—no longer silenced, no longer the minority.
Behind every landmark drug is a story. It could be an oddball researcher’s genius insight, a catalyzing moment in geopolitical history, a new breakthrough technology, or an unexpected but welcome side effect discovered during clinical trials. Piece together these stories, as Thomas Hager does in this remarkable, century-spanning history, and you can trace the evolution of our culture and the practice of medicine.
Beginning with opium, the “joy plant,” which has been used for 10,000 years, Hager tells a captivating story of medicine. His subjects include the largely forgotten female pioneer who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain, the infamous knockout drops, the first antibiotic, which saved countless lives, the first antipsychotic, which helped empty public mental hospitals, Viagra, statins, and the new frontier of monoclonal antibodies. This is a deep, wide-ranging, and wildly entertaining book.
Introducing a fun retelling of the well-known fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood.
The story is retold in a witty and engaging style, which children will love. Stuart Lynch’s unique, hilarious illustrations bring the story to life and perfectly complement the fun, rhyming text.
The padded format is easy for little hands to hold, making this the perfect book for children and adults to read together.
Anthony Bourdain meets Kapuściński in this chilling look from within the kitchen at the appetites of five of the twentieth century’s most infamous dictators, by the acclaimed author of Dancing Bears.
What was Pol Pot eating while two million Cambodians were dying of hunger? Did Idi Amin really eat human flesh? And why was Fidel Castro obsessed with one particular cow?
Traveling across four continents, from the ruins of Iraq to the savannahs of Kenya, Witold Szabłowski tracked down the personal chefs of five dictators known for the oppression and massacre of their own citizens—Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Uganda’s Idi Amin, Albania’s Enver Hoxha, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, and Cambodia’s Pol Pot—and listened to their stories over sweet-and-sour soup, goat-meat pilaf, bottles of rum, and games of gin rummy. Dishy, deliciously readable, and dead serious, How to Feed a Dictator provides a knife’s-edge view of life under tyranny.
THE TRUTH
Sisters Kate and Lauren meet for Sunday lunch every week without fail, especially after the loss of their father.
THE LIE
But a knock at the door is about to change everything. A young woman by the name of Jess holds a note with the results of a DNA test, claiming to be their half sister.
THE UNTHINKABLE
As the fallout starts, it’s clear that they are all hiding secrets, and perhaps this family isn’t as perfect as it appears.
A century ago, migrants often crossed an ocean and never saw their homelands again. Today, they call―or Skype―home the moment their flight has landed, and that’s just the beginning. Thanks to cheap travel and easy communication, immigrants everywhere stay in intimate contact with their native countries, creating powerful cross-border networks.
In Borderless Economics, Robert Guest, The Economist’s global business editor, travels through dozens of countries and 44 American states, observing how these networks create wealth, spread ideas, and foster innovation. Covering phenomena such as how young Chinese studying in the West are infecting China with democratic ideals, to why the so-called “brain drain”―the flow of educated migrants from poor countries to rich ones―actually reduces global poverty, this is a fascinating look at how migration makes the world wealthier and happier.
While enjoying a sleigh ride with his children, Amish widower Adam Lengacher discovers a car stuck in a snowdrift and an unconscious woman inside. He calls upon Chief of Police Kate Burkholder for help, and she is surprised to recognize the driver: fellow cop and her former friend, Gina Colorosa.
Years before, Kate and Gina were best friends at the police academy and patrol officers in Columbus, but time and distance have taken them down two very different paths. Now, Gina reveals a shocking story of betrayal and revenge that has forced her to run for her life. She’s desperate for protection, and the only person she can trust is Kate―but can Kate trust her? Or will Gina’s dark past put them all in danger?
As a blizzard bears down on Painters Mill, Kate helps Gina go into hiding on Adam’s farm. While the tough-skinned Gina struggles to adjust to the Amish lifestyle, Kate and state agent John Tomasetti delve into the incident that caused Gina to flee. But as Kate gets closer to the truth, a killer lies in wait. When violence strikes, she must confront a devastating truth that changes everything she thought she knew not only about friendship, but the institution to which she’s devoted her life.
Inspired by Horowitz’s millions of fans worldwide, Secret Weapon expands the world of Alex Rider with more thrilling action and pulse-pounding heroics. Follow Alex as he infiltrates a terrorist hideout in Afghanistan, fights to prevent an assassination attempt at a ski resort over Christmas, and much more! The #1 New York Times bestselling Alex Rider is back with more exciting, edge-of-your-seats adventures!
A great introduction to readers’ favorite super-spy, Secret Weapon contains a combination of new and previously published material.
This winning memoir of triumph over tragedy tells a story that has deeply affected thousands of readers. When he was just nine years old, Josh Sundquist was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a virulent cancer strain that eventually claimed his left leg. Told in a wide-eyed, often heartbreaking voice, Just Don’t Fall is the astounding story of the boy Josh was and of the young man he became—an utterly heroic struggle through numerous hospitalizations and worse to become an award-winning skier in the Paralympics and renowned motivational speaker. What emerges is one of the most fresh and sincere works of inspiration to come along in years.
Blessed people flourish by a power that transcends human talent or hard work–a mystical grace empowers them to be joyful and fruitful. But does it ever feel like others are blessed while you’re stuck?
With honesty and warmth, Alan Wright shares his inspiring journey from craving blessing to living the blessed life. The absence of his father’s affirmation left him struggling for years with symptoms of the unblessed life: shame, pretense, and drift. But when he grasped the most powerful blessing in the Old Testament–the mysterious, ancient blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh–he learned how to receive blessing and how to bless the lives of his loved ones. And you can too.
With biblical insight and practical wisdom, The Power to Bless shows you how to craft a positive, faith-filled blessing. By learning a few simple, biblical skills for imparting life-changing blessings, you’ll be more spiritually blessed than you’d ever imagined, and you’ll be equipped with the power to bless the people you love.
This New Testament for ages 8 to 12 offers children a fun challenge as they explore the Bible. Highlighting important facts and verses, the NIV Kids’ Quiz New Testament helps children engage with the Bible, while making it fun to learn all about God’s Word! With answers to find in every book of the New Testament, they won’t want to stop reading.
This New Testament is a great outreach resource for churches, Christian schools, and vacation Bible school.
Features include:
-More than 800 quiz questions throughout
-An engaging, colorful interior
-Bible book introductions include important facts to interest kids in each book of the New Testament
-9.5-point print size for a comfortable reading experience
-The complete New Testament text of the accurate, readable, and clear New International Version (NIV)
For Love Understood, Laura Mucha has interviewed hundreds of strangers, from the ages of 8 to 95 in more than 40 countries, asking them to share their most personal stories, feelings, and insights about love and relationships. These intimate and illuminating conversations raised important questions, such as:
– How does your upbringing influence your relationships?
– Does love at first sight exist? Should you “just know?”
– What should you look for in a partner?
– Is monogamy natural?
– Why do people cheat?
– How do you know when it’s time to walk away?
Drawing on psychology, philosophy, anthropology and statistics, Love Understood combines evidence, theory and everyday experience and is the perfect read for anyone who is curious about how we thing, feel and behave when it comes to love.
In today’s complex corporate world, contemporary governance calls for a varied and versatile cognitive approach to problems–demanding times require nimble minds and rounded perspectives.
The authors’ research has identified five key leadership intelligences–the 5Qs–which high-performing leaders need to simultaneously employ in order to achieve transformational change. These are:
· IQ (cognitive intelligence): a leader’s ability to acquire deductive abilities and draw together contrasting strands of information;
· EQ (emotional intelligence): a leader’s ability to understand and manage both their own emotions and those of others;
· PQ (political intelligence): a leader’s ability to navigate a way forward through diverse stakeholder agendas while ensuring continued engagement with critical players;
· RQ (resilience quotient): the capacity of a leader to emotionally sustain high performance under continued pressure and adversity; and
· MQ (moral intelligence): a leader’s ability to understand their own value system and draw on this to determine the moral boundaries of individuals, teams and the organization.
The 5Qs come together to inform every aspect of leadership, and each of them can, in different ways, be nurtured and practiced through learning and development. Andrew Kakabadse and Ali Qassim Jawad have tested the 5Qs on leaders worldwide, applying them at all levels of leadership in order to explore the combinations of intelligences needed to become a well-rounded, effective leader in any situation.
It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order…
Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.
Ramona Quimby can’t wait to start fourth grade. With a new baby sister to brag about, new calluses to show off, and a new best friend to get to know, everything’s going to be great!
Or is it? When Ramona’s spelling is atrocious, her teacher, Mrs. Meacham, is firm about her needing to improve. Then a scary incident at a friend’s house leaves Ramona feeling at fault. Who knew growing up could be filled with such complicated situations?
In the Ramona books, Beverly Cleary expertly depicts the trials and triumphs of growing up through a relatable heroine who isn’t afraid to be exactly who she is. These books continue to make young readers laugh in recognition and pleasure. They’re perfect for independent and shared reading, at home or in the classroom.
