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The Girl Watchers Club: Lessons from the Battlefield of Life
by Harry SteinFrom the book: "I guess we'll have to cancel today's lunch," I tell my father-in-law. "We'd better call the guys." My father-in-law, Moe Turner, looks at me, incredulous. "Why in hell would we do that?" he demands, his west Arkansas accent even sharper than usual. Why in hell would we do that? It is, after all, the morning of September 11, 2001, and as I stand there in my in-laws' sunny living room in Monterey, California, the TV across the room is once again showing the slow-motion collapse of the World Trade Center. "Listen, Moe, I really don't think anyone will feel like coming over." "Sure, they will," he snaps. "We gotta talk about it, don't we?" It's not that I can't see Moe's point. He and the others due here today are part of a luncheon club, informally known as the Girl Watchers, that has been meeting for nearly four decades. Ranging in age from the late seventies to mid-eighties, these men have literally grown old together, and around one another, nothing is off limits. If-make that when-they say things that would leave today's politically correct aghast, no one even seems to notice. The talk ranges free and uncensored, from their thoroughly enjoyable (if frequently misspent) boyhoods to the war-no one has to ask which one-to the annoying particulars of aging and their own impending demise.
The Girl Watchers Club: Lessons from the Battlefields of Life
by Harry SteinFor nearly four decades, the Girl Watchers, a group of World War II veterans living in Monterey, California, have gotten together every week to shoot the breeze, solving the world's problems and their own. Now in their late seventies and eighties, the Girl Watchers remain fiercely independent-minded and highly principled. Yet as seriously as they've always taken life's challenges, these men have never taken themselves too seriously. The Girl Watchers' wry wisdom is born of collective experience unique to their generation. Growing up in a far more innocent America, they came of age during the Depression, and by their twenties had helped save the world from tyranny. The lessons they learned in those years -- about human resilience, honest effort, and commitment to ideals larger than oneself -- have continued to serve them, and the country, admirably ever since. In the postwar era they became the first in their families to go to college; then, in a new age in which brains, know-how, and perseverance trumped family connections, they helped create a time of unprecedented prosperity. Finally, in mid life, they weathered perhaps their greatest challenge of all: parenthood in the sixties. Now, as they approach the end, they confront mortality and loss with their typical humor and frankness. The Girl Watchers take nothing for granted, knowing that personal fulfillment, like success, is earned incrementally; and that as there are principles worth dying for, so there are others without which life will always be empty. In a cynical age of endless pop psychologizing and a constant search for contentment in the next new thing, their moral clarity and relentless optimism are nothing short of invigorating. What these men have to teach us has never been more important: that honor is not so much an abstraction as a life plan.
The Girl Who Built an Ocean: An Artist, an Argonaut, and the True Story of the World's First Aquarium
by Jess KeatingThe inspiring tale of a seamstress-turned-scientist who invented the world's first aquarium at a time when women in STEM were startlingly rare.The daughter of a seamstress and a cobbler, Jeanne Villepreux-Power began her career as a dressmaker, sewing beautiful gowns for the Parisian aristocracy. But her heart longed for more, and when she moved to the seaside, she became fascinated by the ocean's mysteries. She filled her pockets with seashells and specimens, and filled her notebooks with oservations about coral and crustaceans and all manner of marine life. The argonaut interested her most of all, but Jeanne's observations of this shy creature were confounded by its tendency to swim away when approached. Jeanne wanted a way to bring a piece of the ocean home with her, and that's she came to build the world's first aquarium—an invention that would pave the way for countless scientific discoveries in the years to come... Jess Keating (Shark Lady) and Michelle Mee Nutter (Allergic) bring Jeanne's story vividly to life with lively text and vibrant artwork that captures the curiosity and perseverance this pioneering woman in science brought to everything she did.
The Girl Who Buried Her Dreams in a Can: A True Story
by Tererai TrentAn inspirational picture book autobiography from Oprah Winfrey&’s "All-Time Favorite Guest&” This is the story of a little girl with big dreams.All the girl ever wanted was an education. But in Rhodesia, education for girls was nearly impossible. So she taught herself to read and write with her brother&’s schoolbooks and to count while watching cattle graze. When the girl became a young wife and mother, she wrote her goals on a scrap of paper and buried them in a can—an ancient ritual that reminded her that she couldn't give up on her dreams.She dreamed of going to America and earning one degree; then a second, even higher; and a third, the highest. And she hoped to bring education to all the girls and boys of her village.Would her dreams ever come true?Illustrated with Jan Spivey Gilchrist&’s graceful watercolors, Dr. Tererai Trent&’s true story of perseverance is sure to inspire readers of all ages.
The Girl Who Climbed Everest: Lessons learned facing up to the world's toughest mountains
by Bonita Norris'What I've learned from climbing mountains is that we can push ourselves far beyond what we think we are capable of, and it's outside of our comfort zones that the most amazing things happen.'What drives us to go to our limits and beyond? What does it take to make dreams come true over all else? And how can you turn fear into courage? From Everest to K2, The Girl Who Climbed Everest is the story of Bonita Norris' journey undertaking the world's toughest and most dangerous expeditions. Once an anxious teenager with an eating disorder it was the discovery of a passion for climbing that inspired Bonita to change her life. Drawing on her experiences to capture the agonies - both mental and physical - and joys of her incredible feats Bonita also imparts the lessons learned encouraging you to harness greater self-belief.The Girl Who Climbed Everest is an honest exploration of everything Bonita has learnt from climbing. Life lessons about ambition, values, risk, happiness, the courage to fail, and what's ultimately important. An indispensable and important book for anyone who has ever doubted their potential or put limits on themselves - whatever challenge you face or ambitions you want to achieve, The Girl Who Climbed Everest will inspire you to take action and live life more fearlessly.
The Girl Who Climbed Everest: Lessons learned facing up to the world's toughest mountains
by Bonita Norris'What I've learned from climbing mountains is that we can push ourselves far beyond what we think we are capable of, and it's outside of our comfort zones that the most amazing things happen.'What drives us to go to our limits and beyond? What does it take to make dreams come true over all else? And how can you turn fear into courage? From Everest to K2, The Girl Who Climbed Everest is the story of Bonita Norris' journey undertaking the world's toughest and most dangerous expeditions. Once an anxious teenager with an eating disorder it was the discovery of a passion for climbing that inspired Bonita to change her life. Drawing on her experiences to capture the agonies - both mental and physical - and joys of her incredible feats Bonita also imparts the lessons learned encouraging you to harness greater self-belief.The Girl Who Climbed Everest is an honest exploration of everything Bonita has learnt from climbing. Life lessons about ambition, values, risk, happiness, the courage to fail, and what's ultimately important. An indispensable and important book for anyone who has ever doubted their potential or put limits on themselves - whatever challenge you face or ambitions you want to achieve, The Girl Who Climbed Everest will inspire you to take action and live life more fearlessly.
The Girl Who Couldn't Smile
by Shane DunphyStarting work at Little Scamps creche, child protection worker Shane Dunphy faces the difficulty of communicating and befriending some of the other diverse and challenging children - as well as uncovering the secret of a girl who couldn't smile.
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science
by Joyce SidmanBugs, of all kinds, were considered to be “born of mud” and to be “beasts of the devil.” Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them? <P><P>One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly. <P><P>In this visual nonfiction biography, richly illustrated throughout with full-color original paintings by Merian herself, the Newbery Honor–winning author Joyce Sidman paints her own picture of one of the first female entomologists and a woman who flouted convention in the pursuit of knowledge and her passion for insects.
The Girl Who Escaped ISIS: This Is My Story
by Andrea C. Hoffmann Farida Khalaf"Farida Khalaf's story is harrowing but crucial--especially when it comes to understanding what ISIS actually is and does." --Glamour "As gripping as it is appalling...a compelling testament to the suffering of ordinary people caught up in violence far beyond their control--and to the particularly terrible price it exacts from women." --The GuardianA young Yazidi woman was living a normal, sheltered life in northern Iraq during the summer of 2014 when her entire world was upended: her village was attacked by ISIS. All of the men in her town were killed and the women were taken into slavery. This is Farida Khalaf's story. In unprecedented detail, Farida describes her world as it was--at nineteen, she was living at home with her brothers and parents, finishing her schooling and looking forward to becoming a math teacher--and the hell it became. Held in a slave market in Syria and sold into the homes of several ISIS soldiers, she stubbornly attempts resistance at every turn. Farida is ultimately brought to an ISIS training camp in the middle of the desert, where she plots an against-all-odds escape for herself and five other girls. A riveting firsthand account of life in captivity and a courageous flight to freedom, this astonishing memoir is also Farida's way of bearing witness, and of ensuring that ISIS does not succeed in crushing her spirit. Her bravery, resilience, and hope in the face of unimaginable violence will fascinate and inspire.
The Girl Who Fell to Earth: A Memoir
by Sophia Al-MariaAward-winning filmmaker and writer Sophia Al-Maria’s The Girl Who Fell to Earth is a funny and wry coming-of-age memoir about growing up in between American and Gulf Arab cultures. Part family saga and part personal quest, The Girl Who Fell to Earth traces Al-Maria’s journey to make a place for herself in two different worlds.When Sophia Al-Maria's mother sends her away from rainy Washington State to stay with her husband's desert-dwelling Bedouin family in Qatar, she intends it to be a sort of teenage cultural boot camp. What her mother doesn't know is that there are some things about growing up that are universal. In Qatar, Sophia is faced with a new world she'd only imagined as a child. She sets out to find her freedom, even in the most unlikely of places.The Girl Who Fell to Earth takes readers from the green valleys of the Pacific Northwest to the dunes of the Arabian Gulf and on to the sprawling chaos of Cairo. Struggling to adapt to her nomadic lifestyle, Sophia is haunted by the feeling that she is perpetually in exile: hovering somewhere between two families, two cultures, and two worlds. She must make a place for herself—a complex journey that includes finding young love in the Arabian Gulf, rebellion in Cairo, and, finally, self-discovery in the mountains of Sinai.The Girl Who Fell to Earth heralds the arrival of an electric new talent and takes us on the most personal of quests: the voyage home.
The Girl Who Fought Back: Vladka Meed and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Scholastic Focus)
by Joshua M. GreeneA Junior Library Guild Selection!The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is one of history's most powerful acts of resistance. Here, author Joshua M. Greene (Signs of Survival) tells the true story of a young Jewish woman who was instrumental in the uprising as a smuggler of messages and weapons into and out of the Warsaw Ghetto.Scholastic Focus is the premier home of thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and thoughtfully designed works of narrative nonfiction aimed at middle-grade and young adult readers. These books help readers learn about the world in which they live and develop their critical thinking skills so that they may become dynamic citizens who are able to analyze and understand our past, participate in essential discussions about our present, and work to grow and build our future.Warsaw, Poland, 1940s: The Nazis are on the march, determined to wipe out the Jewish people of Europe. Teenage Vladka and her family are among the thousands of Jews forced to relocate behind the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto, a cramped, oppressive space full of starvation, suffering, and death.When Vladka's family is deported to concentration camps, Vladka joins up with other young people in the ghetto who are part of the Jewish underground: a group determined to fight back against the Nazis, no matter the cost.Vladka's role in the underground? To pass as a non-Jew, sneaking out of the ghetto to blend into Polish society while smuggling secret messages and weapons back over the ghetto wall. Every move she makes comes with the risk of being arrested or killed. But Vladka and her friends know that their missions are worth the danger-they are preparing for an uprising like no other, one that will challenge the Nazi war machine.This astonishing true story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, told through the lens of Holocaust survivor and educator Vladka Meed, introduces readers to a crucial piece of history while highlighting the persistence of bravery in the face of hate.
The Girl Who Had No Enemies: And the Man Who Hated Women
by Dennis FlemingAnthony J. LaRette Jr. , had been on a ten-year-long path of violence, murder, and rape. Eighteen-year-old Mickey Fleming had recently graduated high school and had stayed home from her summer job to nurse a migraine headache and a fractured collarbone. THE GIRL WHO HAD NO ENEMIES follows the parallel trajectories of these polar opposites until they meet and then chronicles the emotional damage and rebirth in the aftermath. This book is a rewrite and was formerly titled "She Had No Enemies" (available in Kindle version). This current edition includes a substantial amount of background information on serial killer Anthony J. LaRette Jr. and many of his victims. Also included is more information on the author's sister's activities during the days leading to her death. The story is based on the author's best efforts to remember personal experiences. Information on some people, conversations, and events was gathered from court documents, interviews, research, journals, press accounts, and the memories of friends and acquaintances. Every effort was made to represent events and circumstances as they happened. To protect the identity of some individuals, such as witnesses, their names and identifying characteristics have been changed. No person or event has been fabricated or condensed. THE GIRL WHO HAD NO ENEMIES revisits every aspect of the tragedy, not only by taking the reader to the scene of the crime in visceral detail but by uncovering layers of revelations in a tense and absorbing way. We are allowed access to all of the writer's secret spaces and disillusionment and share with him a profound awareness of the human condition when he witnesses the execution of his sister's killer and finds a way to write about the love he and his Mickey shared. Though the story begins with a horrible murder, it is not a typical work in the true-crime genre. The book's structure lays out, in sound-bite fashion, the killer's life of repeated hospitalization in mental health facilities and incarcerations in penal institutions. LaRette's story is interjected with increasing frequency into the loving relationship between young Mickey Fleming and her older brother until the murderer's ten-year rampage ends with Mickey, his final victim. For nine years, LaRette sat uncooperative on death row at the Missouri State Correctional Center in Potosi, Missouri, until he was introduced to a young detective, Patricia Juhl, from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department in Florida. After that first meeting, the killer promised to cooperate on other murders and rapes in which he was implicated, but he insisted on being interviewed by Juhl - and no one else. So began a six-year odyssey as Juhl made numerous trips from Florida to Missouri in order to interview LaRette, who would dole out tantalizing murder details-a test to see if Juhl would verify their accuracy-before giving her the rest of the information she needed to solve the case. The investigation eventually led to LaRette's confession to over two dozen rapes in eleven states. In this heart-rending work of nonfiction, a sharp depiction of personal emotional loss, Fleming has crafted a work memorable in its brutal exploration of the author's own odyssey to emerge psychologically anew out of the emotional wilderness created by his sister's murder. The author paints an image of Mickey so vivid that readers feel her powerful influence on a big brother who obsessed on the loss of this special sister to the point of his eventual discovery of his own true direction in life. The book's theme of turning tragedy into personal growth is uplifting.
The Girl Who Just Wanted to be Loved
by Angela Hart<p>A damaged little girl and a foster carer who wouldn't give up... <p>Eight year old Keeley looks like the sweetest little girl you could wish to meet, but demons from the past make her behavior far from angelic. She takes foster carer Angela on a rocky and very demanding emotional ride as she fights daily battles against her deep-rooted psychological problems. Can the love and specialist care Angela and husband Jonathan provide help Keeley triumph against the odds?</p>
The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney
by Alice B. McGintyAn empowering, inspiring--and accessible!--nonfiction picture book about the eleven-year-old girl who actually named the newly discovered Pluto in 1930.When Venetia Burney's grandfather reads aloud from the newspaper about a new discovery--a "ninth major planet" that has yet to be named--her eleven-year-old mind starts whirring. She is studying the planets in school and loves Roman mythology. "It might be called Pluto," she says, thinking of the dark underworld. Grandfather loves the idea and contacts his friend at London's Royal Astronomical Society, who writes to scientists at the Lowell Observatory in Massachusetts, where Pluto was discovered. After a vote, the scientists agree unanimously: Pluto is the perfect name for the dark, cold planet. Here is a picture book perfect for STEM units and for all children--particularly girls--who have ever dreamed of becoming a scientist.
The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival
by Estelle Nadel Bethany StroutA beautifully illustrated graphic novel recounting the heart-rending true story of a young girl's struggle for survival during the Holocaust, suitable for children age 10+.Born to a Jewish family in a small Polish village, Estelle Nadel - then known as Enia Feld - was just seven years old when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. Once a vibrant child with a song for every occasion, Estelle would eventually lose her voice as, over the next five years, she would survive the deaths of their mother, father, their eldest brother and sister, and countless others.Estelle would weather loss, betrayal, near-execution, and spend two years away from the warmth of the sun - all before the age of eleven. And once the war was over, she would walk barefoot across European borders before finally crossing the Atlantic to arrive in New York City - a young woman carrying the unseen scars of war.The Girl Who Sang is an enthralling first-hand account written by Estelle Nadel for children learning about the Holocaust in the later stages of the primary curriculum. Beautifully rendered in bright hues with expressive, emotional characters, illustrator Sammy Savos masterfully brings Estelle's story to a whole new generation of readers.
The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival
by Estelle Nadel Bethany Strout Sammy SavosA heartrending graphic memoir about a young Jewish girl's fight for survival in Nazi occupied Poland, The Girl Who Sang illustrates the power of a brother's love, the kindness of strangers, and finding hope when facing the unimaginable. Born to a Jewish family in a small Polish village, Estelle Nadel—then known as Enia Feld—was just seven years old when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. Once a vibrant child with a song for every occasion, Estelle would eventually lose her voice as, over the next five years, she would survive the deaths of their mother, father, their eldest brother and sister, and countless others.A child at the mercy of her neighbors during a terrifying time in history, The Girl Who Sang is an enthralling first-hand account of Estelle's fight for survival during World War II. She would weather loss, betrayal, near-execution, and spend two years away from the warmth of the sun—all before the age of eleven. And once the war was over, Estelle would walk barefoot across European borders and find remnants of home in an Austrian displaced persons camp before finally crossing the Atlantic to arrive in New York City—a young woman carrying the unseen scars of war.Beautifully rendered in bright hues with expressive, emotional characters, debut illustrator Sammy Savos masterfully brings Estelle story of survival during the Holocaust to a whole new generation of readers. The Girl Who Sang is perfect for fans of March, Maus, and Anne Frank's Diary.
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
by Elizabeth Weil Clemantine WamariyaA riveting story of dislocation, survival, and the power of stories to break or save us. <P><P>Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when her mother and father began to speak in whispers, when neighbors began to disappear, and when she heard the loud, ugly sounds her brother said were "thunder." <P>In 1994, she and her fifteen-year-old sister, Claire, fled the Rwandan massacre and spent the next six years wandering through seven African countries, searching for safety--perpetually hungry, imprisoned and abused, enduring and escaping refugee camps, finding unexpected kindness, witnessing inhuman cruelty. They did not know whether their parents were dead or alive. <P>When Clemantine was twelve, she and her sister were granted asylum in the United States, where she embarked on another journey--to excavate her past and, after years of being made to feel less than human, claim her individuality. <P>Raw, urgent, and bracingly original, The Girl Who Smiled Beads captures the true costs and aftershocks of war: what is forever destroyed; what can be repaired; the fragility of memory; the disorientation that comes of other people seeing you only as broken--thinking you need, and want, to be saved. <P>But it is about more than the brutality of war. It is about owning your experiences, about the life we create: intricately detailed, painful, beautiful, a work in progress. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
by Elizabeth Weil Clemantine Wamariya“The plot provided by the universe was filled with starvation, war and rape. I would not—could not—live in that tale.” Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when her mother and father began to speak in whispers, when neighbors began to disappear, and when she heard the loud, ugly sounds her brother said were thunder. In 1994, she and her fifteen-year-old sister, Claire, fled the Rwandan massacre and spent the next six years migrating through seven African countries, searching for safety—perpetually hungry, imprisoned and abused, enduring and escaping refugee camps, finding unexpected kindness, witnessing inhuman cruelty. They did not know whether their parents were dead or alive. When Clemantine was twelve, she and her sister were granted refugee status in the United States; there, in Chicago, their lives diverged. Though their bond remained unbreakable, Claire, who had for so long protected and provided for Clemantine, was a single mother struggling to make ends meet, while Clemantine was taken in by a family who raised her as their own. She seemed to live the American dream: attending private school, taking up cheerleading, and, ultimately, graduating from Yale. Yet the years of being treated as less than human, of going hungry and seeing death, could not be erased. She felt at the same time six years old and one hundred years old. In The Girl Who Smiled Beads, Clemantine provokes us to look beyond the label of “victim” and recognize the power of the imagination to transcend even the most profound injuries and aftershocks. Devastating yet beautiful, and bracingly original, it is a powerful testament to her commitment to constructing a life on her own terms.
The Girl Who Stole My Holocaust
by Tal Haran Noam Chayut"She took from me the belief that absolute evil exists in this world, and the belief that I was avenging it and fighting against it. For that girl, I embodied absolute evil ... Since then I have been left without my Holocaust, and since then everything in my life has assumed a new meaning: belongingness is blurred, pride is lacking, belief is faltering, contrition is heightening, forgiveness is being born." The Girl Who Stole My Holocaust is the deeply moving memoir of Chayut's journey from eager Zionist conscript on the front line of Operation Defensive Shield to leading campaigner against the Israeli occupation. As he attempts to make sense of his own life as well as his place within the wider conflict around him, he slowly starts to question his soldier's calling, Israel's justifications for invasion, and the ever-present problem of historical victimhood. Noam Chayut's exploration of a young soldier's life is one of the most compelling memoirs to emerge from Israel for a long time.
The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography
by Charlotte ChandlerEven a short list of Bette Davis's most famous films -- Of Human Bondage; Jezebel; Dark Victory; The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex; Now, Voyager; All About Eve; What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? -- reveals instantly what a major force she was in Hollywood. Her distinctive voice, her remarkable eyes, her astonishing range and depth of characterization -- all these qualities combined to make Bette Davis one of the finest performers in film history. Drawing on extensive conversations with Bette Davis during the last decade of her life, Charlotte Chandler gives us a biography in which the great actress speaks for herself. (It was she who suggested that Chandler write this book.) Chandler also spoke with directors, actors, and others who knew and worked with Davis. As a result Davis comes to life in these pages -- a dynamic, forceful presence once again, just as she was on the screen. Though she owed everything to her mother, Ruthie, Bette Davis remained fascinated all her life by her hard-to-please father, who walked out on his family. She remembered the disappointment -- which never left -- over her father's lack of interest in her, and she believed that her resentment of him was probably a major factor in her four failed marriages: she kept putting her men in a position where they would eventually disappoint her. She spoke happily of her love affairs with Howard Hughes and William Wyler; she recalled her leading men, favorite co-stars, and unloved rivals; and she took great care to refute the persistent Hollywood legend that she was difficult to work with. Alone and ill, she faced her last days with bravery and dignity. The Girl Who Walked Home Alone is a brilliant portrait of an enduring icon from Hollywood's golden age and an unforgettable biography of the real woman behind the star.
The Girl With Nine Wigs
by Sophie van der Stap'It's Saturday and everything is different. No, I didn't go to the market this morning and I didn't have my usual coffee on Westerstraat. And no, I wasn't getting ready for a new semester at college. Next Monday, January 31st, I have to admit myself at the hospital for my first chemotherapy session. For the next two months, I'm expected each week for a fresh shot of vincristine, etoposide, ifosfamide and loads more exciting abracadabra.'Sophie is twenty-one when she is diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of cancer. A striking, fun-loving student, her world is reduced overnight to the sterile confines of a hospital. But within these walls Sophie discovers a whole new world of white coats, gossiping nurses, and sexy doctors; of shared rooms, hair loss, and eyebrow pencils.As wigs become a crucial part of Sophie's new life, she reclaims a sense of self-expression. Each of Sophie's nine wigs makes her feel stronger and gives her a distinct personality, and that is why each has its own name: Stella, Sue, Daisy, Blondie, Platina, Uma, Pam, Lydia, and Bebé. There's a bit of Sophie in all of them, and they reveal as much as they hide. Sophie is determined to be much more than a cancer patient.With refreshing candor and a keen eye for the absurd, Sophie van der Stap's The Girl With Nine Wigs makes you smile when you least expect it.
The Girl With No Name
by Marina ChapmanThe riveting account of a girl who was abandoned in the jungle and lived among monkeys.In the early 1950s, in a remote mountain village in South America, a small girl was abducted then abandoned deep in the Colombian jungle. For approximately the next five years she lived with a troop of capuchin monkeys and gradually became feral. Taken from the jungle by a pair of hunters, she was sold as a slave to a couple who beat and tortured her, and then spent several years as a street child before being taken in by a family of criminals. Finally, a sympathetic neighbour arranged for her to go live with her daughter in safety in Bogota. This is a unique and inspiring story of abandonment, despair, and eventual happiness.
The Girl With No Name: The Incredible Story Of A Child Raised By Monkeys
by Marina ChapmanIn 1954, in a remote mountain village in South America, a little girl was abducted. She was four years old. Marina Chapman was stolen from her housing estate and abandoned deep in the Colombian jungle. That she survived is a miracle. Two days later, half-drugged, terrified, and starving, she came upon a troop of capuchin monkeys. Acting entirely on instinct, she tried to do what they did: copying their actions she slowly learned to fend for herself. So begins the story of her five years among the monkeys, during which time she gradually became feral; lost the ability to speak, lost all inhibition, lost any sense of being human, replacing human society with the social mores her new simian family. But society was eventually to reclaim her. At age ten she was discovered by a pair of hunters who took her to the lawless Colombian city of Cucuta where, in exchange for a parrot, they sold her to a brothel. When she learned that she was to be groomed for prostitution, she made her plans to escape. But her adventure was not over yet... In the vein of Slumdog Millionaire and City of God, this rousing story of a lost child who overcomes the dangers of the wild to finally reclaim her life will astonish readers everywhere.
The Girl With No Name: The Incredible Story of a Child Raised by Monkeys
by Lynne Barrett-Lee Marina ChapmanThe poignant story of a girl who overcomes unique hardship and deprivation--growing up with a troop of capuchin monkeys--to find ultimate redemptionIn 1954, in a remote mountain village in South America, a little girl was abducted. She was four years old. Marina Chapman was stolen from her housing estate and then abandoned deep in the Colombian jungle. That she survived is a miracle. Two days later, half-drugged, terrified, and starving, she came upon a troop of capuchin monkeys. Acting entirely on instinct, she tried to do what they did: she ate what they ate and copied their actions, and little by little, learned to fend for herself.So begins the story of her five years among the monkeys, during which time she gradually became feral; she lost the ability to speak, lost all inhibition, lost any real sense of being human, replacing the structure of human society with the social mores of her new simian family. But society was eventually to reclaim her. At age ten, she was discovered by a pair of hunters who took her to the lawless Colombian city of Cucuta where, in exchange for a parrot, they sold her to a brothel. When she learned that she was to be groomed for prostitution, she made her plans to escape. But her adventure wasn't over yet . . .In the vein of Slumdog Millionaire and City of God, this rousing story of a lost child who overcomes the dangers of the wild and the brutality of the streets to finally reclaim her life will astonish readers everywhere.
The Girl With Seven Names
by Hyeonseo LeeAn extraordinary insight into life under one of the worldâe(tm)s most ruthless and secretive dictatorships âe" and the story of one womanâe(tm)s terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom. As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by a secretive and brutal communist regime. Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond the confines of the Hermit Kingdom and, as the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to wonder, question and to realise that she had been brainwashed her entire life. Given the repression, poverty and starvation she witnessed surely her country could not be, as she had been told âeoethe best on the planetâe ? Aged seventeen, she decided to escape North Korea. She could not have imagined that it would be twelve years before she was reunited with her family. She could not return, since rumours of her escape were spreading, and she and her family could incur the punishments of the government authorities âe" involving imprisonment, torture, and possible public execution. Hyeonseo instead remained in China and rapidly learned Chinese in an effort to adapt and survive. Twelve years and two lifetimes later, she would return to the North Korean border in a daring mission to spirit her mother and brother to South Korea, on one of the most arduous, costly and dangerous journeys imaginable. This is the unique story not only of Hyeonseoâe(tm)s escape from the darkness into the light, but also of her coming of age, education and the resolve she found to rebuild her life âe" not once, but twice âe" first in China, then in South Korea. Strong, brave and eloquent, this memoir is a triumph of her remarkable spirit.