Download or read book Falling to Earth written by Kate Southwood and published by Europa Editions. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “poignant [and] powerful” novel about a 1920s Midwestern community in the aftermath of a devastating tornado (The New Yorker). In March 1925, the worst tornado in the nation’s history will descend without warning on the small town of Marah, Illinois. By nightfall, hundreds will be homeless and hundreds more will lie in the streets, dead or grievously injured. Only one man, Paul Graves, will still have everything he started the day with—his family, his home, and his business, all miraculously intact. This “absolutely gorgeous” novel follows Paul Graves and his young family in the year after the storm as they struggle to comprehend their own fate and that of their devastated town (The New York Times). They watch helplessly as Marah tries to resurrect itself from the ruins and as their friends and neighbors begin to wonder how one family, and only one, could be exempt from terrible misfortune. As the town begins to recover, the family miscalculates the growing resentment and hostility around them with tragic results, in an “extraordinarily moving” portrayal of survivor’s guilt and the frenzy of bereavement following a disaster (Financial Times). “All the big themes are here—chance, fate, loyalty, revenge, guilt, jealousy . . . Inspired by actual events surrounding the 1925 Tri-State tornado, the worst in U.S. history, Southwood’s poignantly penetrating examination of the psychic cost of survival is breathtaking in its depth of understanding.” —Booklist (starred review) “What’s most exciting about Southwood’s debut is her prose, which is reminiscent of Willa Cather’s in its ability to condense the large, ineffable melancholy of the plains into razor-sharp images.” —The Daily Beast

Download or read book Criss Cross written by Lynne Rae Perkins and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-11-16 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Newbery Medal • New York Times Bestseller • An ALA Notable Book • An ALA Best Book for Young Adults • School Library Journal Best Book • Booklist Editors’ Choice • Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Choice • Horn Book Fanfare Book • New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age In this acclaimed, award-winning, and timeless national bestseller, Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins explores the crisscrossing lives of four teenagers on the verge of adulthood. The unique format incorporates short vignettes, haiku, Q&As, and illustrations by the author. Written with love and humor, Criss Cross is an unforgettable story of friendship, family, and growing up. “It’s hard to write a book this good. Lynne Rae Perkins makes it seem easy.”—Kevin Henkes, New York Times–bestselling author of the Newbery Honor Books Olive’s Ocean and The Year of Billy Miller “Brilliantly captures the adolescent-level Zen that thoughtful kids bring to their assessment of the world.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review) “Best of all are the understated moments, often private and piercing in their authenticity, that capture intelligent, likable teens searching for signs of who they are, and who they’ll become.”—ALA Booklist (starred review) “Written with humor and modest bits of philosophy, the writing sparkles with inventive, often dazzling metaphors.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Like a lazy summer day, the novel induces that exhilarating feeling that one has all the time in the world.”—The Horn Book (starred review) “A gentle story about a group of childhood friends facing the crossroads of life and how they wish to live it. Young teens will certainly relate.”—School Library Journal (starred review)

Download or read book Falling Through the Earth written by Danielle Trussoni and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2007-02-20 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of the Year New York Times bestselling author Danielle Trussoni's unforgettable memoir of her wild and haunted father, a man whose war never really ended. From her charismatic father, Danielle Trussoni learned how to rock and roll, outrun the police, and never shy away from a fight. Spending hour upon hour trailing him around the bars and honky-tonks of La Crosse, Wisconsin, young Danielle grew up fascinated by stories of her dad's adventures as a tunnel rat in Vietnam, where he'd risked his life crawling head first into narrow passageways to search for American POWs. A vivid and poignant portrait of a daughter's relationship with her father, this funny, heartbreaking, and beautifully written memoir, Falling Through the Earth, "makes plain that the horror of war doesn't end in the trenches" (Vanity Fair).

Download or read book Home Lovely written by Lynne Rae Perkins and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hoping for trees or a flower garden, Tiffany transplants and cares for some seedlings that she finds and is surprised by what they become.

Download or read book Returning to Earth written by Jim Harrison and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The longtime chronicler of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula . . . gives eloquent expression to death and the grieving process.” —Booklist Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “a master . . . who makes the ordinary extraordinary, the unnamable unforgettable,” beloved author Jim Harrison returns with a masterpiece—a tender, profound, and magnificent novel about life, death, and finding redemption in unlikely places. Donald is a middle-aged Chippewa-Finnish man slowly dying of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His condition deteriorating, he realizes no one will be able to pass on to his children their family history once he is gone. He begins dictating to his wife, Cynthia, stories he has never shared with anyone as around him, his family struggles to lay him to rest with the same dignity with which he has lived. Over the course of the year following Donald’s death, his daughter begins studying Chippewa ideas of death for clues about her father’s religion, while Cynthia, bereft of the family she created to escape the malevolent influence of her own father, finds that redeeming the past is not a lost cause. Returning to Earth is a deeply moving book about origins and endings, making sense of loss, and living with honor for the dead. It is among the finest novels of Harrison’s long, storied career, and confirms his standing as one of the most important American writers. “A deeply felt meditation on life and death, nature and God, this is one of Harrison’s finest works.” —Library Journal

Download or read book The Runes of the Earth written by Stephen R. Donaldson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-10-14 with total page 851 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Stephen R. Donaldson presents the first novel of the four-volume finale to the series that’s become a modern fantasy classic: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Thomas Covenant lost everything. Abandoned by his wife and child, sick and alone, he was transported while unconscious to a magical, dreamlike world called the Land. Convinced it was all a delusion, Covenant was christened The Unbeliever by the Land’s inhabitants—but gave his life to save this new-found world he came to regard as precious. Ten years after Covenant’s death, Linden Avery still mourns for her beloved companion. But a violent confrontation with Covenant’s son, who is doing the evil Lord Foul’s bidding, forces her into the Land, where a dark malevolence is about to unmake the laws of nature—and of life and death itself. It is here that she comes upon Esmer, son of the Dancers of the Sea, a creature of strange powers who draws Linden backwards through time to witness Thomas Covenant’s return to life, and to reinvent the mysterious, dangerous, and violent history of the Land.

Download or read book Nuts to You written by Lynne Rae Perkins and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-08-26 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How far would you go for a friend? In Nuts to You, the funny and moving illustrated novel by Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins, two squirrels go very far indeed to save a friend who has been snatched up by a hawk. Nuts to You “begs to be read aloud . . . another completely original and exceptional package from Perkins,” said the Horn Book. Nuts to You features black-and-white art by the author on every page, as well as exclusive material original to this edition. Jed, TsTs, and Chai are the very best of friends. So when Jed is snatched up by a hawk and carried away to another realm, TsTs and Chai resolve to go after him. Mysteriously, the hawk has dropped him. They saw it. Jed could be alive. New communities are discovered, new friends are made, huge danger is encountered (both man-made and of the fox and bobcat variety) and the mysteries of squirrel culture are revealed. Nuts to You is wholly original, funny, lively, and thought-provoking. Publishers Weekly said, “Readers . . . will relish the squirrels’ adventures, as well as Perkins’s laugh-aloud illustrations and equally witty footnotes.” Includes an introduction, epilogue, and footnotes throughout, as well as original exclusive material from the author.

Download or read book The Museum of Everything written by Lynne Rae Perkins and published by Greenwillow Books. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book After the Fall How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again written by Dan Santat and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times-bestselling creator of The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend comes the inspiring epilogue to the beloved classic nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. Everyone knows that when Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. But what happened after? Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat's poignant tale follows Humpty Dumpty, an avid bird watcher whose favorite place to be is high up on the city wall--that is, until after his famous fall. Now terrified of heights, Humpty can longer do many of the things he loves most. Will he summon the courage to face his fear? After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) is a masterful picture book that will remind readers of all ages that Life begins when you get back up. 2018 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Winner A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2017 A New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2017 A New York City Public Library Notable Best Book for Kids A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2017 A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of 2017 An NPR Best Book of 2017

Download or read book Pictures from Our Vacation written by Lynne Rae Perkins and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2007-04-24 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Snap! With their new cameras Snap! a brother and sister Snap! take pictures of their vacation. But when they look at their photographs they see: 1. The back of Dad's head 2. Feet 3. A container of noodles That's it? Does 1 + 2 + 3 = summer vacation? What about how it felt to swim in the lake? What about the stories their cousins told and the taste of a just-invented strawberry and whipped cream dessert? For those memories—the memories of summer and the memories of family that mean the most—they need to look someplace else. Someplace deep inside. Someplace permanent.

Download or read book The Pull of Gravity written by Gae Polisner and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). This book was released on 2011-05-10 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While Nick Gardner's family is falling apart, his best friend, Scooter, is dying from a freak disease. The Scoot's final wish is that Nick and their quirky classmate, Jaycee Amato, deliver a prized first-edition copy of Of Mice and Men to the Scoot's father. There's just one problem: the Scoot's father walked out years ago and hasn't been heard from since. So, guided by Steinbeck's life lessons, and with only the vaguest of plans, Nick and Jaycee set off to find him. Characters you'll want to become friends with and a narrative voice that sparkles with wit make this a truly original coming-of-age story.

Download or read book Falling Upwards written by Richard Holmes and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: **Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)** **Time Magazine 10 Top Nonfiction Books of 2013** **The New Republic Best Books of 2013** In this heart-lifting chronicle, Richard Holmes, author of the best-selling The Age of Wonder, follows the pioneer generation of balloon aeronauts, the daring and enigmatic men and women who risked their lives to take to the air (or fall into the sky). Why they did it, what their contemporaries thought of them, and how their flights revealed the secrets of our planet is a compelling adventure that only Holmes could tell. His accounts of the early Anglo-French balloon rivalries, the crazy firework flights of the beautiful Sophie Blanchard, the long-distance voyages of the American entrepreneur John Wise and French photographer Felix Nadar are dramatic and exhilarating. Holmes documents as well the balloons used to observe the horrors of modern battle during the Civil War (including a flight taken by George Armstrong Custer); the legendary tale of at least sixty-seven manned balloons that escaped from Paris (the first successful civilian airlift in history) during the Prussian siege of 1870-71; the high-altitude exploits of James Glaisher (who rose) seven miles above the earth without oxygen, helping to establish the new science of meteorology); and how Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jules Verne felt the imaginative impact of flight and allowed it to soar in their work. A seamless fusion of history, art, science, biography, and the metaphysics of flights, Falling Upwards explores the interplay between technology and imagination. And through the strange allure of these great balloonists, it offers a masterly portrait of human endeavor, recklessness, and vision. (With 24 pages of color illustrations, and black-and-white illustrations throughout.)

Download or read book Fall of Giants written by Ken Follett and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-08-30 with total page 1010 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ken Follett’s magnificent historical epic begins as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits. . . . An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House. . . . A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy. . . . And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution. From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again. . . .

Download or read book Little Bird written by Cynthia Voigt and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A sweet and uplifting read.”—Publishers Weekly Celebrated Newbery Medal–winner Cynthia Voigt introduces Little Bird, a tiny crow with a big imagination and an even bigger heart, in this timeless read-alone and read-aloud just right for the young middle grade audience. Little Bird features black-and-white illustrations by Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins throughout. When a wild fisher cat attacks their nest, Little Bird and her flock are devastated. Not only does the fisher cat harm the fledglings, but it also makes off with the shiny pendant that the superstitious crows rely on for good luck. Little Bird believes that she can find the lucky pendant and return it to the nest before disaster strikes. The other crows aren’t so sure—after all, Little Bird is so little and undependable and meek. But with the help of some new friends—including a very funny goat—Little Bird journeys through forests and over lakes and fields, challenging her wits and survival skills along the way. The crow who returns home is wiser, braver, kinder, and ready—at last—to spread her wings. Newbery Medal–winner Cynthia Voigt’s gentle humor, sense of fun and adventure, and delightful main character sing off the page in this timely short novel about bravery and friendship, illustrated by Newbery Medal–winner Lynne Rae Perkins. A page-turning read-aloud for families and classrooms, and a terrific book for fans of Nuts to You, by Lynne Rae Perkins, and Avi’s Poppy books.

Download or read book As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth written by Lynne Rae Perkins and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-04-27 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Note from the Publisher: This title may not be suitable for devices with smaller screens. Train. Car. Plane. Boat. Feet. He'll get there. Won't he?

Download or read book Leave the World Behind written by Rumaan Alam and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now a Netflix film starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans and Kevin Bacon. Written for the Screen and Directed by Sam Esmail. Executive Producers Barack and Michelle Obama, Tonia Davis, Daniel M. Stillman, Nick Krishnamurthy, Rumaan Alam A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in Fiction One of Barack Obama's Summer Reads A Best Book of the Year From: The Washington Post * Time * NPR * Elle * Esquire * Kirkus * Library Journal * The Chicago Public Library * The New York Public Library * BookPage * The Globe and Mail * EW.com * The LA Times * USA Today * InStyle * The New Yorker * AARP * Publisher's Lunch * LitHub * Book Marks * Electric Literature * Brooklyn Based * The Boston Globe A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong. From the bestselling author of Rich and Pretty comes a suspenseful and provocative novel keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped—and unexpected new ones are forged—in moments of crisis. Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?

Download or read book Secret Sisters of the Salty Sea written by Lynne Rae Perkins and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins introduces two irresistible sisters—Alix and Jools—and takes readers on an unforgettable vacation to the beach. This joyful celebration of sisters, family, friendship, and the ocean is illustrated in black-and-white throughout. The Wall Street Journal said, “Ocean meets sky meets two young girls in Lynne Rae Perkins’s affectionate chapter book. . . . Illustrations by the author add wit and tenderness to this sunny summer story.” For fans of Kate DiCamillo and Rebecca Stead. Alix and her older sister, Jools, have never been to the ocean. When their parents pack them up to spend a week by the shore, Alix is nervous about leaving home—but excited, too. At the beach, the sisters make friends, go exploring, and have adventures big and small. To Alix’s surprise, as the week comes to an end, she finds she doesn’t want to leave! Each chapter contains its own miniature discovery—from picking periwinkles, meeting a crab, and making sandcastles, to exploring the nearby town. Award-winning author Lynne Rae Perkins has beautifully crafted a genuine and engaging novel about sisters, family, and exploration. A great read-aloud, as well as a good choice for newly independent readers. Booklist said, “Ordinary pleasures, in the hands of a writer so skilled, are elevated.” Features black and white art throughout.