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Skychild
by Suzanne MorrisAt two, Ian Maguire is both a beautiful and very gifted little boy, a child that his parents, Monica and Forrest, are justifiably proud of. But Ian is special in other ways. Increasingly unresponsive to the world around him, he is content only when alone, rocking in his crib or playing obsessively with his favorite toy, a pocket mirror of his mother's. Forrest, preoccupied with his high- pressure job, refuses to see anything unusual about his son's behavior, and retreats ever further into his work. Monica, more anxious than even she will admit, finally takes Ian to be tested. The results are shattering. Her son, the doctors tell her, is probably autistic, certainly psychotic, and there is little hope of improvement. Confirming her deepest fears, the diagnosis plunges Monica into an agony of uncertainty and guilt. Is Ian's sickness the consequence of Forrest's remoteness, or must she now reveal a secret about Ian's birth she has kept even from her husband? Confused, her marriage coming apart, Monica sets out to find her own answers. She takes Ian to Galveston Bay, to a place she knew as a child, and, in a startling climax, she discovers the love and understanding they have both needed so badly.
Dead Air (Jessie Drake Mystery #4)
by Rochelle KrichHailed as one of the "top ten women who write superior crime fiction" the Los Angeles Times, award-winning author Rochelle Krich adds another superb novel of mystery, murder, and icy suspense to her outstanding collection. DEAD AIR stars Krich's popular LAPD Homicide Detective Jessie Drake in a case that begins with a surprise visit from an old friend and quickly turns into a heart-wrenching, life and death drama that rocks the city. Jessie is astonished when her closest high school confidant, who hasn't been in touch for almost two years, shows up at her door with an alarming tale of being harassed by an unseen stalker. Jessie's friend is now "Dr. Renee," a popular radio talk show therapist who doles out quick-fix no-nonsense advice to troubled callers on everything from lackluster marriages to steamy illicit affairs. Now Renee is desperately frightened and convinced Jessie can help her. Skeptical, and with little to go on, Jessie agrees to investigate-just as a favor. But Jessie's interest quickly turns professional when Renee's six-year-old daughter Molly is kidnapped-and the child's nanny murdered. Renee and her estranged husband Barry, already in a fierce battle over custody, trade angry charges of blame and suspicion while Jessie tracks a bizarre series of events that began a few weeks earlier when a battered wife phoned Dr. Renee for help. Now the woman's crazed husband blames the radio therapist for handing out advice that has ruined his marriage. And- on the air for all to hear-he threatens revenge. a child as a pawn, a killer plays a chilling game where he holds all the cards-and he's chosen Jessie to be LAPD's top player. As the hours tick by, he uses the radio talk show to up the ante, sending shocking waves of horror and disbelief through the city and terror into the hearts of loved ones. And under the hot glare of media scrutiny, Jessie works feverishly against the clock to beat him at his own game. Because LAPD's Homicide Detective Jessie Drake knows that a man who has killed and has nothing to lose will stop at nothing to satisfy his own twisted need for vengeance.
Call Down the Stars (Storyteller Trilogy #3)
by Sue HarrisonFilled with detail about the ways of life of these prehistoric Aleuts, the Storyteller Trilogy evokes prehistoric Alaska and the people who struggle to survive its forbidding climate. "Call Down the Stars completes the saga begun in "Song of the River and continued in "Cry of the Wind. The trilogy is peopled by characters good and evil, vengeful perpetrators of revenge on victims. This third and final book of the trilogy ties up all the loose ends. Both books 2 and this book 3 make enough reference to what has happened in the previous books that the reader is not at a total. loss. However, this book especially is not told in a straight plot line but by the vehicle of Storytellers' stories of earlier events and people. .
Cry of the Wind (Storyteller Trilogy #2)
by Sue HarrisonIn the lives and relationships of many members of four different 7th-century Alaskan villages, there is love, hatred, revenge, wars, murders; the customs and mores of the time provide a background to the lives of the village members.
Song of the River (Storyteller Trilogy #1)
by Sue HarrisonEighty centuries before our time, in the frozen, snowbound interior of a place that will someday be called Alaska, a beautiful young woman called K'os, of the Cousin River Village, is brutally attacked and ravaged by men from the Near River Village. With ruthless passion she vows vengeance on those who have wronged her. The next day, in the same place, K'os finds an abandoned baby-a child with a club foot who's been left to die. She adopts the babe as her own and names him Chakliux. Twenty years later, K'os has grown cold and cunning, obsessed with the desire for revenge and eager to create conflict. Chakliux, respected as his tribe's treasured storyteller, is sent back to the village of his birth, where he has been chosen to wed the shaman's daughter in order to bring peace to the Cousin and Near River People. But before he can win the people's trust, a double murder jeopardizes his mission and forces him to travel to distant lands.
Truth or Dairy
by Catherine ClarkShe's humiliated, she's angry... and she's through with boys. Or at least that's what she says. This is the journal of Courtney Von Dragen Smith: middle child, product of divorce, would-be vegetarian. She writes the first mega-negative page the day after her boyfriend, "such a Dave," breaks up with her because he's heading off to college. Angry and humiliated, Courtney vows to survive senior year on the anti-guy plan. But can she really give up guys and focus on friends, school, and her job at the hip cafe Truth or Dairy? Or will a stint in student government, an epileptic dog, and a guy named Grant ("like-the-lake") Superior turn her world upside down and prove her journal right? It's true: life can get weirder.
Miss Zukas Shelves the Evidence (Miss Zukas Mystery #8)
by Jo DereskeTHIS AIN'T NO GARDEN PARTY In a boldly personal move, Police Chief Wayne Gallant has arranged a meeting between his children and Bellehaven's beloved librarian Helma Zukas. But the fates have not yet smiled on this pair, as the long overdue introductions are interrupted-by murder. For not only is Helma's newest neighbor pushing up roses in her garden, her latest crop's a corpse. And when the chief's investigation has him digging too close to the truth, he's helped to a nearly fatal fall from a cliff, a potentially incriminating library book found within reach. The police demand the library turn over the borrower's name. Determined to uphold the privacy rights of library patrons, the ever mindful Miss Zukas deletes the information from library records-but not before she takes note of it. And now it's up to Helma- with teenagers in tow and an assist from bohemian buddy Ruth-to get to the bottom of this murderous mess before Wayne Gallant's assailant makes sure the evidence Miss Zukas holds is shelved...permanently.
Final Notice (Miss Zukas Mystery #6)
by Jo DereskeLibrarian Helma Zukas usually keeps her home as well organized as the library where she works so she never expected a visit from her elderly Aunt Em to turn her life into chaos and provide her with the makings of a hair-raising whodunit. The moment Helma and her fearless friend Ruth arrive at the airport to pick up the slightly dotty dowager, the trouble begins when the dear lady's purse is snatched. Thinking the incident is safely filed away, they are shocked to arrive home with the recovered purse only to discover the dead body of the would-be thief outside Helma's apartment. Helma can't believe her favorite aunt would be involved in anything unsavory but, with a little investigation, she discovers that Aunt Em's life is not quite an open book. It appears that some dark secrets are about to come to light, and unless Helma can learn the whole story, the final chapters are about to be written as tale of mystery, mayhem...and murder.
Out of Circulation (Miss Zukas Mystery #5)
by Jo DereskeHitting The Books Miss Helma Zukas is reluctant to go hiking on the Cascade mountains, but her friend Ruth is insistent. When she agrees to go, Helma, ever the librarian, does her research, reading up on survival techniques, packing like a pro, and making up a list for her irresponsible friend. As usual, Ruth comes unprepared, having neglected to read Helma's list. But even Helma's careful preparation couldn't have anticipated the discovery of a dead body high in the rocky wilderness. SURVIVING THE TRAIL Since it appears unlikely that the hole in the hiker's chest was caused by a fall, Helma suspects foul play. When the victim is airlifted off the mountain, Ruth is ready to accept a ride back to civilization, but Helma insists they stay and search for the hiker's missing companion. Being good samaritans is one thing, but getting stranded in a blinding snowstorm is quite another. Especially when escaping Nature's deadly fury means holing up in a little cabin with some motley strangers who may be planning a murderous adventure for a couple of dangerously inquisitive women...HITTING THE BOOKS
Miss Zukas And The Raven's Dance (Miss Zukas Mystery #4)
by Jo Dereskean invitation to murder A most unusual death has landed Helma Zukas right in the middle of another murder scene. Stanley Plummer had been cataloging a collection of Native American books for Bellehaven's new Cultural Center when his body was found in the Center's ladies room-stabbed through the heart, and clutching a Barbie doll. Miss Zukas is asked by the library to finish the cataloging. Now she's been asked by the victim-in a letter dated the day he died-to get to the bottom of the mystery. Unable to resist the urge to dig into the facts, Helma becomes convinced there's something hidden in the Center that the murderer wants-and it may be worth killing another cataloger to keep it buried...
Miss Zukas and the Stroke of Death (Miss Zukas Mystery #3)
by Jo DereskeRACE AGAINST DEATH Civic-minded librarian Miss Helma Zukas has reluctantly agreed to use her long-dormant skills as a canoeist to paddle down Washington Bay on behalf of the Bellehaven Library relay race team. But before Helma has a chance to test her aquatic talents, she is once again matching wits with the local police over the identity of a killer. And this time it involves keeping her somewhat flaky artist friend, Ruth Winthrop, off Death Row. When the flamboyant Ruth rejected the attention of a dirty old man in a local bar she never thought it would be to put him off permanently. But when his body shows up just outside her studio, the police consider her a prime suspect. Helma, knows for sure that Ruth is no killer, but she didn't suspect that asking too many questions about the life of the unsavory dead man would unearth some long- buried Scandals...and cause someone to want to close the book on the inquisitive librarian.
Miss Zukas and the Island Murders (Miss Zukas Mystery #2)
by Jo Dereske[From The Back Cover] The ever-conscious Miss Helma Zukas -from Bellehaven, Washington, is not one to renig on a promise-even one made hastily. . . and too long ago to possibly remember! So when an anonymous note in the morning mail reminds her of her vow to bring her high school classmates together for a twenty-year reunion, Miss Zukas begins organizing the perfect celebration ... despite some vague and mysterious warnings about dire consequences. But when a secret saboteur disrupts her well-planned reunion trapping Helma and her old classmates on a fogbound island with a murderer in their midst-the intrepid librarian-sleuth takes charge once again. With a dubious assist from her raffish friend 'Ruth, Miss Zukas is determined to close the books on crimes both current and overdue for solution ... before the killer takes the Ilumni out of circulation permanently.
Miss Zukas and the Library Murders (Miss Zukas Mystery #1)
by Jo DereskeWhen a dead body turns up right in the middle of the fiction stacks, the police are baffled. But Helma Zukas, who never fails to make note of the slightest deviation from the norm of everyday life, is tracking some baffling questions of her own. With the help of her not-so-proper best friend, Ruth, a six-foot-tall bohemian artist with a nose for gossip and a penchant for getting into trouble, the two are soon in hot pursuit of the truth...and getting close enough to find they're about to become the killer's next victims.
A Farewell to Yarns (A Jane Jeffry Mystery, Book #2)
by Jill ChurchillLife is hectic enough for suburban single mom Jane Jeffry this Christmas season-what with her having to survive cutthroat church bazaar politics and finish knitting the "afghan from Hell" at the same time. The last thing the harried homemaker needs is an unwelcome visit from old acquaintance Phyllis Wagner and her ill-mannered brat of a teenage son. And the Wagner picture becomes even more complicated when a dead body is woven into the design. Solving a murder, however, is a lot more interesting than knitting, so Jane's determined to sew the whole thing up. But with a plethora of suspects and the appearance of a second corpse, this deadly tapestry is getting quite complex indeed. And Jane has to be very careful not to get strangled herself by the twisted threads she's attempting to unravel.
Night Journeys
by Avi[From The Back Cover.] "Peter can help Robert and Elizabeth. Or he can help himself. It's his choice. The year is 1768. In eight years, the American Revolution will begin. Newly orphaned, Peter York has been adopted by a deeply religious Quaker farmer. Peter chafes under his new guardian's strict and unyielding views and vows to break away. He sees his chance when two runaway indentured servants are reported to be fleeing through his community. If he catches one, there will be a reward-and freedom. But capturing the runaways leads to consequences-and choices-Peter cannot foresee." In this historic thriller, as Peter copes with a raging river, pain, exhaustion and fear, his views of right and wrong and of his new family change. Read the rest of the story of Peter, Elizabeth and Robert in, the exciting sequel, Encounter At Easton, which is also available from Bookshare.
Bride Of The MacHugh
by Jan Cox SpeasElspeth is a provocative and feminine lass who lived in a turbulent time in Scotland's history, a period crowded with romance, intrigue, battles and characters that are memorable for their vitality and charm, their lust, strength and willfulness. Alexander MacHugh was head of one of Scotland's mightiest clans when the rebellious Highlanders rallied around the MacDonald banner. He was a man of massive will but gravely courteous demeanor, and he clashed with Elspeth at every encounter, his will pitted against hers, neither of them willing to surrender to an irresistible attraction. It was early in the seventeenth century in Scotland, and the men and women who lived, loved and fought then were no less stormy and unpredictable than the violent events which caught them up and determined their fates. In these pages you will meet the corrupt and ambitious Earl of Argyll, Elspeth's wily guardian, who epitomizes an insatiable greed for power and wealth; Kate MacLachlan, the beautiful and treacherous redhead, whose passion for Alexander MacHugh would stop at nothing for fulfillment; Gavin, the grim and mysterious youth with a scar across his cheek; Elspeth's half-sister, Jeanie Lamond, as fair and fresh as a May morning and, of course, the many brave and gallant Scottish rebels, led by the MacDonalds, who harried the Campbells and would not be subdued by England. It seemed just another day when Elspeth Lamond rode into the wild and untameable hills and moors of the Highlands on a quiet mission from London, but within a few hours she was a captive riding in the rain toward an unknown destination. From the day of her abduction by a band of rough horsemen till the day she fled the thick walls of her guardian's castle, Elspeth's fate was irrevocably linked with the Lamonds and with their friend, the MacHugh whose name reverberates through these pages with the vigor of a clash of arms.
Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes
by Ted ConoverAs a college student, the author decided that he wanted to study the men who have been called hobos, those who travel by hopping freight trains, and who live however they can. He wanted to know whether their lifestyle was as attractive as it seemed to many young people.
Bodega Dreams: A Novel
by Ernesto Quinonez"A new and authentic voice of the urban Latino experience. " --Esmeralda Santiago, author of When I Was Puerto Rican. In a stunning narrative combining the gritty rhythms of Junot Diaz with the noir genius of Walter Mosley, Bodega Dreams announces the arrival of a writer who The Village Voice has already hailed as "a Writer on the Verge." The word is out in Spanish Harlem: Willy Bodega is king. Need college tuition for your daughter? Start-up funds for your fruit stand? Bodega can help. He gives everyone a leg up, in exchange only for loyalty--and a steady income from the drugs he pushes. Lyric, inspired, and darkly funny, this powerful debut novel brilliantly evokes the trial of Chino, a smart, promising young man to whom Bodega turns for a favor. Chino is drawn to Bodega's street-smart idealism, but soon finds himself over his head, navigating an underworld of switchblade tempers, turncoat morality, and murder.
What About Me?
by Colby RodowskyDorrie adores art. She is determined that she will graduate from high school in New York, and go on to art school. When her parents tell her that they will be leaving the city so that Dorrie's mother will have more help caring for Dorrie's younger brother who is developmentally delayed, Dorrie is furious. She is often resentful of the time and attention her parents devote to her brother, embarrassed by his odd behaviour, and angry that she is asked to make social sacrifices in order to help care for him, and this decision to move only fuels her anger and resentment. In the end, something happens that makes Dorrie reassess her feelings.
The Revealers
by Doug WilhelmThrowing light on a dark problem: Parkland Middle School is a place the students call Darkland, because no one in it does much to stop the daily harassment of kids by other kids. <P><P>Three bullied seventh graders use their smarts to get the better of their tormentors by starting an unofficial e-mail forum at school in which they publicize their experiences. <P>Unexpectedly, lots of other kids come forward to confess their similar troubles, and it becomes clear that the problem at their school is bigger than anyone knew. <P>The school principal wants to clamp down on the operation, which she does when the trio, in their zealousness for revenge, libel a fellow student in what turns out to have been a setup. <P>Now a new plan of attack is needed ... <P>This suspenseful story of computer-era underground rebellion offers fresh perspectives on some of the most enduring themes in fiction for young readers.
Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson<P>I am clanless. I wasted the last weeks of August watching bad cartoons. I didn't go to the mall, the lake, or the pool, or answer the phone. I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don't have anyone to sit with. <P>From her first moment at Merryweather High, Melinda Sordino knows she's an outcast. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops-a major infraction in high-school society-so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know glare at her. <P>She retreats into her head, where the lies and hypocrisies of high school stand in stark relief to her own silence, making her all the more mute. <P>But it's not so comfortable in her head, either-there's something banging around in there that she doesn't want to think about. Try as she might to it won't go away, until there is a particular confrontation. <P>Once that happens, she can't be silent-she must speak the truth. In this powerful novel, an utterly believable, bitterly ironic heroine speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while learning that, although it's hard to speak up for yourself, keeping your mouth shut is worse.
The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods
by Ann Cameron<P>From the day Amanda Woods traded right hands with Lyle Leveridge, she knew things were going to change for her. There are some things in life you just can't change, like who your parents are or the way your sister treats you, but she is determined to change what she can. <P>To begin with, she's not going to be just plain Amanda Woods anymore, she's going to be Amanda K. Woods-someone who is proud and strong and sure of herself. <P>Amanda K. Woods is discovering that the person other people think she is and the person she really is are different people. She doesn't quite want to be herself, an eleven-year-old girl who her mother thinks is "average," but then she doesn't want to be like her mother, whose expectations are always high and mighty. <P>She feels closest to her father, but doesn't quite want to be like him, either. She certainly doesn't want to be like her older sister, Margaret, even though her mother thinks Margaret's perfect in almost every way. <P> There is more to Amanda than anyone else can see, and there are things about Amanda that Amanda herself doesn't even know yet. <P>- With the help of a new friend and the borrowed right hand of an old one, Amanda begins to find the secret person who lives inside herself.
Charlie's Run
by Valerie HobbsWhen Charlie's parents announce that they are separating, he knows that even though they aren't saying that horrible word--divorce--it's only a matter of time. To Charlie's mind, his family is perfect, and he can't bear the idea that things won't be the same. "There isn't a darned thing you can't get done if you set your mind to it," his father has always said, and Charlie decides that it's up to him to change his parents' minds. He needs to do something big, something he would never do, to show them that he's serious. But his plan to keep his family together takes on a life of its own, and leads him further from his family than he'd ever have guessed. In this moving novel, Charlie encounters kindness, hardship and danger, discovers the hard way that divorce isn't the worst thing that can happen to a kid, that many families have unthinkably serious problems, and that for most kids, running away is a bad decision. He realizes that the problems which can't be fixed must be faced.
Me and Rupert Goody
by Barbara O'Connor<P>Learning to share love. <P>Things at Jennalee's house are just plain crazy, which is why she loves her predictable days helping Uncle Beau (who isn't really her uncle) at his general store. <P>But then Rupert Goody shows up, claiming to be Uncle Beau's son. Jennalee can't believe it, because Rupert is black and Uncle Beau is white. But Uncle Beau tells her it is true and incorporates Rupert into his life, ruining Jennalee's routine. <P>Although Rupert is slow, he is kind-hearted and tries hard to please. When more unforeseen events -- this time frightening ones -- further interrupt life at the store, Jennalee comes to see that Rupert Goody, odd though he may be, is certainly not the worst unexpected thing that could come along, and that he belongs with Uncle Beau as much as she does. <P>With a vividly depicted setting, emotional truth, and a distinctly Southern voice, Barbara O'Connor shows that there is love enough to go around.
Gloria Rising
by Ann CameronSometimes it's the little things that are really big, Gloria learns when her mom sends her to the grocery store for an onion. Because of the onion, she meets Dr. Grace Street, an astronaut. But how is she supposed to understand Dr. Street's advice that the big things are often not as big as they seem? Especially since it's only the beginning of fourth grade and already Gloria has enormous teacher troubles! The Dragon of Doom, a.k.a. Mrs. Yardley, doesn't seem to like Gloria, or anyone else for that matter-except for Billy Watkins, the class bully. Things go from bad to worse when Billy gets the whole class in trouble. Then a surprise visit from Dr. Street reminds Gloria that she knows how to rise above her difficulties. In this sincere and funny follow-up to Glorias Way, Gloria learns that a little self-confidence can help her accomplish big things.