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October Light
by John GardnerNew York Times Bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award Winner: A &“dazzling&” novel about the tumultuous relationship of two elderly siblings (Los Angeles Times).James is a cantankerous and conservative seventy-two-year-old who has spent his life caring for the animals on his farm. His widowed older sister, Sally, has strong liberal ideals and a propensity for debate. When Sally&’s bankruptcy forces her to move in with her brother, their lifelong feud quickly escalates—and Sally becomes a prisoner in her own room with nothing to survive on but apples and a trashy novel about marijuana smugglers. As Sally becomes immersed in the book, the story envelops the narrative of the siblings&’ dysfunctional relationship, and Gardner explores a wide array of themes from human autonomy to self-definition to political extremism. The result is a tour de force of Gardner&’s unique literary style at the height of his protean creative powers. This ebook features a new illustrated biography of John Gardner, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Gardner family and the University of Rochester Archives.
October Sky
by Homer H. HickamThe true story, originally published as Rocket Boys, that inspired the Universal Pictures film. It was 1957, the year Sputnik raced across the Appalachian sky, and the small town of Coalwood, West Virginia, was slowly dying. Faced with an uncertain future, Homer Hickam nurtured a dream: to send rockets into outer space. The introspective son of the mine's superintendent and a mother determined to get him out of Coalwood forever, Homer fell in with a group of misfits who learned not only how to turn scraps of metal into sophisticated rockets but how to sustain their hope in a town that swallowed its men alive. As the boys began to light up the tarry skies with their flaming projectiles and dreams of glory, Coalwood, and the Hickams, would never be the same.
October Suite: A Novel (African American Ser.)
by Maxine ClairThe debut novel by the author of Rattlebone. &“Told in a melody all its own, this story touches many lovely and unexpected notes.&” —Elizabeth Strout, #1 New York Times bestselling author It is 1950 and October Brown is a twenty-three-year-old first-year teacher thanking her lucky stars that she found a room in the best boardinghouse for Negro women teachers in Wyandotte County, Kansas. During an affair with an unhappily married handyman, October becomes pregnant. With job in jeopardy and her reputation in tatters, October goes back to Ohio to be with her family: her older sister, Vergie, and her aunts who raised the sisters after their mother was killed by their father. After giving birth, she gives the child to Vergie and her husband to raise as their own, then returns to Kansas City to rebuild her life. But something is missing—and, apparently too late, October realizes what she has done . . . The Midwest, the flourishing of modern jazz, and the culture of segregation form a compelling historical backdrop for this timeless and universal tale of one person&’s battle to understand and master her own desires, and to embrace the responsibilities and promise of mature adulthood. In October Suite, Clair &“has skillfully brought lyricism and word-play to her first novel, a family saga filled with secrets, redemption, and rivalry, as two sisters try to reclaim bonds forged in early childhood tragedy&” (Library Journal). &“Maxine Clair deserves our admiration for this beautifully written and humane novel.&” —The Washington Post &“A beautifully imagined novel that pulses with all the colors and sounds of the lives we live.&” —Marita Golden, author of The Wide Circumference of Love
October: A Novel
by Zoë WicombA South African academic returns to her homeland in this novel by the award-winning author of You Can&’t Get Lost in Cape Town—&“an extraordinary writer&” (Toni Morrison). Winner of the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize, Zoë Wicomb is an essential voice of the South African diaspora, hailed by fellow writers—such as Toni Morrison and J. M. Coetzee, among others—and by reviewers as &“a writer of rare brilliance&” (The Scotsman). In October, Wicomb tells the story of Mercia Murray, a South African woman of color in the midst of a difficult homecoming. Abandoned by her partner in Scotland, where she has been living for twenty-six years, Mercia returns to South Africa to find her family overwhelmed by alcoholism and buried secrets. Poised between her new life in Scotland and her South African roots, Mercia recollects the past and assesses the present with a keen sense of irony. October is a stark and utterly compelling novel about the contemporary experience of a woman caught between cultures, adrift in middle age with her memories and an uncertain future.
Odd & True
by Cat WintersGilded Age sisters face terrible monsters and their own haunted past in this “thought-provoking, atmospheric, and utterly bewitching” YA novel (Booklist, starred review).Growing up on their family’s Oregon farm, Trudchen Grey believed every word of her older sister Odette’s fantastical stories. But now that Tru’s gotten older, she’s starting to wonder if those tales of their monster-slaying mother were just comforting lies. There’s certainly nothing fantastic about Tru’s own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio. In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons—and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all.
Odd Girl In
by Jo WhittemoreTwelve-year-old tomboy Alexis "Alex" Evins is a first-class prankster, following in the not-so-glorious footsteps of her older twin brothers, Parker and Nick. But when the trio plays a disastrous prank (hair + fire = bad), their dad sends them to a character-building after-school program. Alex, Parker, and Nick all must pass the course together--or else it's off to private school (shudder). After weeks of intense classes and unpleasant encounters, the Evins sibilings are faced with the ultimate test of teamwork, leadership, and responsibility. But when an earlier misstep threatens all their hard work, Alex must scramble to make things right. Can the "evil Evins" actually pass the course in one piece? Or are they destined for an epic fail?hen an earlier misstep threatens all their hard work, Alex finds herself scrambling to make things right. Can the "evil Evins" actually pass this course in one piece? Or are they destined for an epic fail?
Odd Girl Out: How to help your daughter navigate the world of friendships, bullying and cliques - in the classroom and online
by Rachel SimmonsWhen Odd Girl Out was first published, it ignited a long-overdue conversation about the hidden culture of female bullying. Today the dirty looks, taunting notes and social exclusion that plague girls' friendships have gained new momentum in cyberspace.In this revised and updated edition, educator and bullying expert Rachel Simmons gives girls, parents and educators proven and innovative strategies for navigating social dynamics online, as well as brand new classroom initiatives and step-by-step parental suggestions for dealing with conventional bullying. Including the latest research and real-life stories, Odd Girl Out continues to be the definitive resource on the most pressing social issues facing girls today.
Odd Girl Out: My Extraordinary Autistic Life
by Laura James<P>A sensory portrait of an autistic mind <P>From childhood, Laura James knew she was different. She struggled to cope in a world that often made no sense to her, as though her brain had its own operating system. <P>It wasn't until she reached her forties that she found out why: Suddenly and surprisingly, she was diagnosed with autism. With a touching and searing honesty, Laura challenges everything we think we know about what it means to be autistic. <P>Married with four children and a successful journalist, Laura examines the ways in which autism has shaped her career, her approach to motherhood, and her closest relationships. <P>Laura's upbeat, witty writing offers new insight into the day-to-day struggles of living with autism, as her extreme attention to sensory detail--a common aspect of her autism--is fascinating to observe through her eyes. <P>As Laura grapples with defining her own identity, she also looks at the unique benefits neurodiversity can bring. <P>Lyrical and lush, Odd Girl Out shows how being different doesn't mean being less, and proves that it is never too late for any of us to find our rightful place in the world.
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls (Read-On)
by Rachel SimmonsThe classic work on female bullying now revised and updated to include new material on cyberbullying and the dangers of life online. When Odd Girl Out was first published, it became an instant bestseller and ignited a long-overdue conversation about the hidden culture of female bullying. Today the dirty looks, taunting notes, and social exclusion that plague girls&’ friendships have gained new momentum in cyberspace. In this updated edition, educator and bullying expert Rachel Simmons gives girls, parents, and educators proven and innovative strategies for navigating social dynamics in person and online, as well as brand new classroom initiatives and step-by-step parental suggestions for dealing with conventional bullying. With up-to-the-minute research and real-life stories, Odd Girl Out continues to be the definitive resource on the most pressing social issues facing girls today. &“Peels away the smiley surfaces of adolescent female society to expose one of girlhood&’s dark secrets: the vicious psychological warfare waged every day in the halls of our . . . schools.&”—San Francisco Chronicle &“Provocative . . . Cathartic to any teen or parent trying to find company . . . it will sound depressingly familiar to any girl with a pulse.&”—Detroit Free Press &“Encourages girls to address one another when they feel angry or jealous, rather than engage in the rumor mill.&”—Chicago Tribune &“Simmons examines how such &‘alternative aggression&’—where girls use their relationship with the victim as a weapon—flourishes and its harmful effects . . . Simmons makes an impassioned plea that no form of bullying be permitted.&”—Publishers Weekly
Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write about Bullies, Cliques, Popularity, and Jealousy
by Rachel SimmonsNATIONAL BESTSELLER. When Odd Girl Out was first published, it ignited a long-overdue conversation about the hidden culture of female bullying. In this updated edition, educator and bullying expert Rachel Simmons offers proven and innovative strategies for navigating social dynamics in person and online. Simmons gives step-by-step parental parental suggestions for dealing with conventional bullying. Full of research-backed advice and real-life stories, Odd Girl Out continues to be a powerful resource on the most pressing social issues facing girls today.
Odd Man Out
by Sarah EllisWinner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize and the TD CCBC Canadian Children's Literature Award Kip is spending the summer with his grandmother and his five eccentric girl cousins, including Emily, who thinks she's a dog. Gran's house is about to be demolished, so anything goes, whether it's drawing maps on the walls or sawing off the knob at the bottom of the banister for a smoother ride. When Kip bashes through an old closet, he discovers the binder his late father kept as a teenager. He's bewildered by what he finds: puzzling lists, hair samples, old newspaper clippings and business cards -- all accompanying a confidential report written by a mysterious young operative who is carrying out a secret plan to infect teenagers with a cell-altering virus. This wonderful novel has all the Sarah Ellis hallmarks -- quirky characters, insight and wit -- underpinned by resonant themes of family, memory and the creative imagination. Upcoming from Sarah Ellis in May 2014 Outside In: Eight years after the publication of Odd Man Out, Sarah Ellis returns to Groundwood Books with a highly anticipated new novel about family, friendship, materialism and beauty.
Oddballs
by William SleatorThe Sleators are not your average family . . . When author William "Billy" Sleator was growing up, life was a never-ending adventure. The best presents his parents ever gave him and his sister, Vicky, were 2 younger brothers, Danny and Tycho. The 4 siblings delighted in playing pranks on one another and on their unsuspecting friends and neighbors. The children's mother and father also liked to joke around. Their mom, who was a pediatrician, came up with a witty name for the kids' drama club: the Parkview Traumatic Club. Their dad, who was a physiologist, would sometimes blindfold Billy, along with his sister and brothers, and take them for a ride--dropping them off in an unfamiliar place and telling them to find their way back with only a single dime to make a phone call. Whether he's regaling us with tall tales about hypnotism and séances, riffing on his family's deepest secrets, or waxing philosophical about being liked for who you are and not who you hang out with, Sleator offers an illuminating window into his unique and offbeat family, in which life was lived to the fullest.
Oddbird's Chosen Family
by Derek DesiertoOddbird has always been on his own. And he’s managed pretty well. But that’s changing – now, he wishes for a family.When Oddbird’s friends plan a big surprise for him, he realizes he’s surrounded by those who accept and care for him. All families don’t look the same, and sometimes the families we choose are where we belong.
Odder: An Otter's Story (Picture Book)
by Katherine ApplegateA stunning picture book from acclaimed author Katherine Applegate, adapted from the #1 bestselling middle-grade novel that spent 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list!Odder spends her days playing underwater and learning life lessons from her mother. But when Odder’s life takes a dramatic turn, she is rescued by humans. The people are kind, and introduce Odder to other rescues. Soon, it’s clear that Odder has a talent for teaching other pups how to otter. Adapted from Katherine Applegate’s bestselling novel of the same name (with over 80 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list!), and inspired by the true story of a program that pairs orphaned otter pups.
Oddfellow's Orphanage
by Emily Winfield MartinWhat do an onion-headed boy, a child-sized hedgehog, and a tattooed girl have in common? They are all orphans at Oddfellow's Orphanage! This unusual early chapter book began life as a series of full-color portraits with character descriptions. Author/illustrator Emily Martin has fleshed out the world of Oddfellow's with an episodic story that follows a new orphan, Delia, as she discovers the delights of her new home. From classes in Cryptozoology and Fairy Tale Studies to trips to the circus, from Annual Hair Cutting Day to a sea monster-sighting field trip, things at Oddfellows are anything but ordinary . . . except when it comes to friendships. And in that, Oddfellows is like any other school where children discover what they mean to each other while learning how big the world really is.In Oddfellow's Orphanage, Emily Martin brings a very strange place to life with her unique style of both art and writing.From the Hardcover edition.
Oddity
by Sarah CannonJoin a tough eleven-year-old as she faces down zombie rabbits, alien mobs, and Puppet Cartels while trying to find her missing twin in Sarah Cannon's imaginative middle-grade debut, Oddity.Welcome to Oddity, New Mexico, where normal is odd and odd is normal.Ada Roundtree is no stranger to dodging carnivorous dumpsters, distracting zombie rabbits with marshmallows, and instigating games of alien punkball. But things haven’t been the same since her twin sister, Pearl, won the town’s yearly Sweepstakes and disappeared . . .Along with her best friend, Raymond, and new-kid-from-Chicago Cayden (whose inability to accept being locked in the gym with live leopards is honestly quite laughable), Ada leads a self-given quest to discover Oddity’s secrets, even evading the invisible Blurmonster terrorizing the outskirts of town.But one of their missions goes sideways, revealing something hinky with the Sweepstakes . . . and Ada can’t let it go. Because, if the Sweepstakes is bad, then what happened to Pearl?
Oddly Normal: One Family's Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms with His Sexuality
by John SchwartzA heartfelt memoir by the father of a gay teen, and an eye-opening story for families who hope to bring up well-adjusted gay adults. Three years ago, John Schwartz, a national correspondent atThe New York Times, got the call that every parent hopes never to receive: his thirteen-year-old son, Joe, was in the hospital following a failed suicide attempt. After mustering the courage to come out to his classmates, Joe's disclosure -- delivered in a tirade about homophobic attitudes--was greeted with dismay and confusion by his fellow students. Hours later, he took an overdose of pills. Additionally, John and his wife, Jeanne, found that their son's school was unable to address Joe's special needs. Angry and frustrated, they initiated their own search for services and groups that could help Joe understand that he wasn't alone. Oddly Normal is Schwartz's very personal attempt to address his family's own struggles within a culture that is changing fast, but not fast enough to help gay kids like Joe. Schwartz follows Joseph through childhood to the present day, interweaving his narrative with common questions, including: Are effeminate boys and tomboy girls necessarily gay? Is there a relationship between being gay and suicide or mental illness? Should a child be pushed into coming out? Parents, teachers, and counselors alike will welcome Oddly Normal and its crucial lessons about helping gay kids -and any kid who is different -- learn how to cope in a potentially hostile world.
Odessa Again
by Dana ReinhardtFourth grader Odessa Green-Light lives with her mom and her toad of a little brother, Oliver. Her dad is getting remarried, which makes no sense according to Odessa. If the prefix "re" means "to do all over again," shouldn't he be remarrying Mom? Meanwhile, Odessa moves into the attic room of their new house. One day she gets mad and stomps across the attic floor. Then she feels as if she is falling and lands . . . on the attic floor. Turns out that Odessa has gone back in time a whole day! With this new power she can fix all sorts of things--embarrassing moments, big mistakes, and even help Oliver be less of a toad. Her biggest goal: reunite Mom and Dad.
Odysseus Abroad
by Amit ChaudhuriFrom the widely acclaimed writer, a beguiling new novel, at once wistful and ribald, about a day in the life of two Indian men in London--a university student and his bachelor uncle--each coping in his own way with alienation, solitariness, and the very art of living.It is 1985. Twenty-two-year-old Ananda has been in London for two years, practicing at being a poet. He's homesick, thinks of himself as an inveterate outsider, and yet he can't help feeling that there's something romantic, even poetic, in his isolation. His uncle, Radhesh, a magnificent failure who lives in genteel impoverishment and celibacy, has been in London for nearly three decades. Odysseus Abroad follows them on one of their weekly, familiar forays about town. The narrative surface has the sensual richness that has graced all of Amit Chaudhuri's work. But the great charm and depth of the novel reside in Ananda's far-ranging ruminations (into the triangle between his mother, father, and Radhesh--his mother's brother, his father's best friend; his Sylheti/Bengali ancestry; the ambitions and pressures that rest on his shoulders); in Radhesh's often artfully wielded idiosyncrasies; and in the spiky, needful, sometimes comical, yet ultimately loving connection between the two men. This eBook edition includes a reading group guide.
Oedipal Experiences in Same-Sex Families (ISSN)
by Yifat Eitan-PersicoThis book updates the Oedipus complex for a contemporary audience in the light of social and cultural changes and explores its implications for psychoanalytic treatment and our understanding of queer families.Growing evidence during the past few decades indicates that children who grow up in same-sex families adapt well. These findings, which do not conform to the predictions of Oedipal theory, expose the theory’s biases, and call for reexamination of its premises. This book based on ground-breaking research and pursues a methodical investigation of the characteristics of the same-sex families that defy the expectations of Oedipal theory. Furnished with vivid illustrations, it invites the reader to engage actively in the interpretive effort and presents a diverse and complex story about kinship, opening a window onto a rich world of infantile phantasies and parents’ psychological conflicts, at the fascinating intersection of the personal and the social.Oedipal Experiences in Same-Sex Families will appeal to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, educators and policymakers, same-sex parents, and parents who were assisted by gamete donation.
Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories
by Blume Lempel Ellen Cassedy Yermiyahu Ahron TaubWriting in Yiddish using stream-of-consciousness, flashback, and eroticism, Lempel's modern short-story style was appropriate to her themes, which were often daring: incest-Oedipus in Brooklyn (1981), rape-"Alone Together," (1989) and the ambivalent attraction of one woman to another "Correspondents" (1992). The settings of her short stories were largely American. This is the first translation and prize-winning collection of her best stories.Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub (the translators) on encountering Blume Lempel's stories wrote: "When we began reading and translating, we didn't know we were going to find a mother drawn into an incestuous relationship with her blind son. We didn't know we'd meet a young woman lying on the table at an abortion clinic. We didn't know we'd meet a middle-aged woman full of erotic imaginings as she readies herself for a blind date. Buried in this forgotten Yiddish-language material, we found modernist stories and modernist story-telling techniques - imagine reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez with the conversational touch of Grace Paley."Lempel (1907-1999) was one of a small number of writers in the United States who wrote in Yiddish into the 1990s. Though many of her stories opened a window on the Old World and the Holocaust, she did not confine herself to these landscapes or themes. She often wrote about the margins of society, and about subjects considered untouchable. her prize-winning fiction is remarkable for its psychological acuity, its unflinching examination of erotic themes and gender relations, and its technical virtuosity. Mirroring the dislocation of mostly women protagonists, her stories move between present and past, Old World and New, dream and reality.While many of her stories opened a window on the Old World and the Holocaust, she also wrote about the margins of society, about subjects considered untouchable, among them abortion, prostitution, women's erotic imaginings, and even incest. She illuminated the inner lives of her characters-mostly women. Her storylines migrate between past and present, Old World and New, dream and reality, modern-day New York and prewar Poland, bedtime story and passionate romance, and old-age dementia and girlhood dreams.Immigrating to New York when Hitler rose to power, Blume Lempel began publishing her short stories in 1945. By the 1970s her work had become known throughout the Yiddish literary world. When she died in 1999, the Yiddish paper Forverts wrote: "Yiddish literature has lost one of its most remarkable women writers."Ellen Cassedy, translator, is author of the award-winning study "We Are Here", about the Lithuanian Holocaust. With her colleague Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, they received the Yiddish Book Center 2012 Translation Prize for translating Blume Lempel. Yermiyahu Ahron Taub is the author of several books of poetry, including "Prayers of a Heretic/Tfiles fun an apikoyres" (2013),"Uncle Feygele"(2011), and "What Stillness Illuminated/Vos shtilkayt hot baloykhtn (2008)."
Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard
by Mawi AsgedomRead the story that has inspired millionsThe desert, I remember. The shrieking hyenas, I remember.... <p><p>I remember playing soccer with rocks, and a strange man telling me and my brother Tewolde that we had to go on a trip and Tewolde refusing to go. The man took out a piece of gum and Tewolde happily traded it for his homeland.... <p><p>So begins the remarkable true story of a young boy's journey from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American suburb, and eventually to a full-tuition scholarship at Harvard University. <p><p>Following his father's advice to "treat all people-even the most unsightly beetles-as though they were angels sent from heaven," Mawi overcomes the challenges of language barriers, cultural differences, racial prejudice, and financial disadvantage to build a fulfilling, successful life for himself in his new home. <p><p> Of Beetles and Angels is at once a harrowing survival story and a compelling examination of the refugee experience. With hundreds of thousands of copies sold since its initial publication, the unforgettable memoir continues to touch and inspire readers. This special fifteenth anniversary edition features bonus materials, including a new introduction and afterword by the author.
Of Blood and Bone (Chronicles of The One)
by Nora Roberts'A match for end-of-the-world classics like Stephen King's The Stand' - New York Times Review of Books 'Breathtaking' - Heat Thirteen years ago, a catastrophic pandemic known as The Doom killed billions. For those left behind, it is a chance to build a new world. But The Doom was no ordinary virus. In some survivors, it awoke strange powers - to heal, to harm, even to predict the future. Fallon Swift has no memories of the old world - but she is destined to shape this new one. Growing up with her three brothers on a quiet farm, she has been protected from danger by her mother and stepfather. Now she must leave them, and learn to fight. Because Fallon is not only a powerful 'Uncanny' - she also has a pivotal role to play in the bloody battles ahead. A war between good and evil is brewing, and Fallon - young, tough, headstrong - must be ready. A sequel to the number one bestselling Year One, this breathtaking novel of love, war, family and magic is a gripping and deeply satisfying continuation of an extraordinary new trilogy.
Of Human Bonding: Parent-Child Relations across the Life Course (Social Institutions and Social Change Series)
by Alice S. Rossi Peter Henry RossiThis life-course analysis of family development focuses on the social dynamics among family members. It features parent-child relationships in a larger context, by examining the help exchange between kin and nonkin and the intergenerational transmission of family characteristics.
Of Love and Dust (Vintage Contemporaries)
by Ernest J. GainesWhen Jim Kelly is put in charge of Marcus, a man alleged to have killed a man, his calm life is completely disrupted. Marcus is not a likable man. He admits to killing a man who he says deserved what he got. But when he begins to question the rules that black people are held to, Jim can't help but begin to respect and admire his courage.