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A Call to Conscience

King Martin Luther Shepard Kris Carson Clayborne

Description

This companion volume to "A Knock At Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr". includes the text of his most well-known oration, "I Have a Dream", his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, and "Beyond Vietnam", a powerful plea to end the ongoing conflict. Includes contributions from Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin, the Dalai Lama, and many others.

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The Sword and the Shield

Peniel E. Joseph

Description

"The Sword and the Shield is a dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King that transforms our understanding of the twentieth century's most iconic African American leaders. Peniel E. Joseph reveals a nuanced portrait of two men who, despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives. This is a strikingly revisionist biography, not only of Malcolm and Martin, but also of the movement and era they came to define"--

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Gospel of Freedom

Jonathan Rieder

Description

"I am in Birmingham because injustice is here," declared Martin Luther King, Jr. He had come to that city of racist terror convinced that massive protest could topple Jim Crow. But the insurgency faltered. To revive it, King made a sacrificial act on Good Friday, April 12, 1963: he was arrested. Alone in his cell, reading a newspaper, he found a statement from eight "moderate" clergymen who branded the protests extremist and "untimely."

King drafted a furious rebuttal that emerged as the "Letter from Birmingham Jail"-a work that would take its place among the masterpieces of American moral argument alongside those of Thoreau and Lincoln. His insistence on the urgency of "Freedom Now" would inspire not just the marchers of Birmingham and Selma, but peaceful insurgents from Tiananmen to Tahrir Squares.

Scholar Jonathan Rieder delves deeper than anyone before into the Letter-illuminating both its timeless message and its crucial position in the history of civil rights. Rieder has interviewed King's surviving colleagues, and located rare audiotapes of King speaking in the mass meetings of 1963. Gospel of Freedom gives us a startling perspective on the Letter and the man who wrote it: an angry prophet who chastised American whites, found solace in the faith and resilience of the slaves, and knew that moral appeal without struggle never brings justice.

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Redemption

Joseph Rosenbloom

Description

An “immersive, humanizing, and demystifying” look at the final hours of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life as he seeks to revive the non-violent civil rights movement and push to end poverty in America (Charles Blow, New York Times).

“King comes to life in death—a courage ever so inspiring.”
—Ibram X. Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning


At 10:33 a.m. on April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., landed in Memphis on a flight from Atlanta. A march that he had led in Memphis six days earlier to support striking garbage workers had turned into a riot, and King was returning to prove that he could lead a violence-free protest.

King’s reputation as a credible, non-violent leader of the civil rights movement was in jeopardy just as he was launching the Poor Peoples Campaign. He was calling for massive civil disobedience in the nation’s capital to pressure lawmakers to enact sweeping anti-poverty legislation. But King didn’t live long enough to lead the protest. He was fatally shot at 6:01 p.m. on April 4 in Memphis.

Redemption is an intimate look at the last thirty-one hours and twenty-eight minutes of King’s life. King was exhausted from a brutal speaking schedule. He was being denounced in the press and by political leaders as an agent of violence. He was facing dissent even within the civil rights movement and among his own staff at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In Memphis, a federal court injunction was barring him from marching. As threats against King mounted, he feared an imminent, violent death. The risks were enormous, the pressure intense.

On the stormy night of April 3, King gathered the strength to speak at a rally on behalf of sanitation workers. The “Mountaintop Speech,” an eloquent and passionate appeal for workers’ rights and economic justice, exhibited his oratorical mastery at its finest.

Redemption draws on dozens of interviews by the author with people who were immersed in the Memphis events, features recently released documents from Atlanta archives, and includes compelling photos. The fresh material reveals untold facets of the story including a never-before-reported lapse by the Memphis Police Department to provide security for King. It unveils financial and logistical dilemmas, and recounts the emotional and marital pressures that were bedeviling King. Also revealed is what his assassin, James Earl Ray, was doing in Memphis during the same time and how a series of extraordinary breaks enabled Ray to construct a sniper’s nest and shoot King.

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April 4, 1968

Michael Eric Dyson

Description

On April 4, 1968, at 6:01 PM, while he was standing on a balcony at a Memphis hotel, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and fatally wounded. Only hours earlier King -- the prophet for racial and economic justice in America -- ended his final speech with the words, "I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land."

Acclaimed public intellectual and best-selling author Michael Eric Dyson uses the fortieth anniversary of King's assassination as the occasion for a provocative and fresh examination of how King fought, and faced, his own death, and we should use his death and legacy. Dyson also uses this landmark anniversary as the starting point for a comprehensive reevaluation of the fate of Black America over the four decades that followed King's death. Dyson ambitiously investigates the ways in which African-Americans have in fact made it to the Promised Land of which King spoke, while shining a bright light on the ways in which the nation has faltered in the quest for racial justice. He also probes the virtues and flaws of charismatic black leadership that has followed in King's wake, from Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama.

Always engaging and inspiring, April 4, 1968 celebrates the prophetic leadership of Dr. King, and challenges America to renew its commitment to his deeply moral vision.

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A Knock at Midnight

Martin Luther King, Jr Jr.

Description

A Knock at Midnight is the definitive collection of eleven of Dr. King's most powerful and spiritual sermons, moving and meaningful words to live by for everyone. Compiled by Stanford historian Dr. Clayborne Carson, director of the King Papers Project, and by contributing editor Peter Holloran, this volume covers the full range of Dr. King's preaching career, from the earliest known audio recording of King preaching to his last sermon, delivered just days before his assassination. Especially featured are the title sermon, among Dr. King's favorite and most challenging, and seven sermons never before seen in print. A Knock at Midnight also includes eleven important introductions by renowned ministers and theologians of our time: Reverend Billy Graham, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Bishop T. D. Jakes, among others. Here they share their personal reflections on the sermons and firsthand accounts of the events surrounding their delivery.

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Becoming King

Troy Jackson

Description

This biography sheds new light on King’s development as a civil rights leader in Montgomery among activists such as Rosa Parks, E.D. Nixon, and others.
 
In Becoming King, Troy Jackson demonstrates how Martin Luther King's early years as a pastor and activist in Montgomery, Alabama, helped shape his identity as a civil rights leader. Using the sharp lens of Montgomery's struggle for racial equality to investigate King's burgeoning leadership, Jackson explores King's ability to connect with people across racial and class divides. In particular, Jackson highlights King's alliances with Jo Ann Robinson, a young English professor at Alabama State University; E. D. Nixon, a middle-aged Pullman porter and head of the local NAACP chapter; and Virginia Durr, a courageous white woman who bailed Rosa Parks out of jail.
 
Drawing on countless interviews and archival sources, Jackson offers a comprehensive analysis of King’s speeches before, during, and after the Montgomery bus boycott. He demonstrates how King's voice and message evolved to reflect the shared struggles, challenges, experiences, and hopes of the people with whom he worked. Jackson also reveals the internal discord that threatened the movement's hard-won momentum and compelled King to position himself as a national figure, rising above the quarrels to focus on greater goals.

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Why We Can't Wait

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Description

Dr. King’s best-selling account of the civil rights movement in Birmingham during the spring and summer of 1963 
 
On April 16, 1963, as the violent events of the Birmingham campaign unfolded in the city’s streets, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., composed a letter from his prison cell in response to local religious leaders’ criticism of the campaign. The resulting piece of extraordinary protest writing, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” was widely circulated and published in numerous periodicals. After the conclusion of the campaign and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, King further developed the ideas introduced in the letter in Why We Can’t Wait, which tells the story of African American activism in the spring and summer of 1963. During this time, Birmingham, Alabama, was perhaps the most racially segregated city in the United States, but the campaign launched by King, Fred Shuttlesworth, and others demonstrated to the world the power of nonviolent direct action.
 
Often applauded as King’s most incisive and eloquent book, Why We Can’t Wait recounts the Birmingham campaign in vivid detail, while underscoring why 1963 was such a crucial year for the civil rights movement. Disappointed by the slow pace of school desegregation and civil rights legislation, King observed that by 1963—during which the country celebrated the one-hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation—Asia and Africa were “moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence but we still creep at a horse-and-buggy pace.”
 
King examines the history of the civil rights struggle, noting tasks that future generations must accomplish to bring about full equality, and asserts that African Americans have already waited over three centuries for civil rights and that it is time to be proactive: “For years now, I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”

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A Time to Break Silence

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Description

The first collection of King’s essential writings for high school students and young people
 
A Time to Break Silence presents Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most important writings and speeches—carefully selected by teachers across a variety of disciplines—in an accessible and user-friendly volume. Now, for the first time, teachers and students will be able to access Dr. King's writings not only electronically but in stand-alone book form.
 
Arranged thematically in five parts, the collection includes nineteen selections and is introduced by award-winning author Walter Dean Myers. Included are some of Dr. King’s most well-known and frequently taught classic works, including “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “I Have a Dream,” as well as lesser-known pieces such as “The Sword that Heals” and “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” that speak to issues young people face today. 

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9780807000687

Where Do We Go from Here

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Description

In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., isolated himself from the demands of the civil rights movement, rented a house in Jamaica with no telephone, and labored over his final manuscript. In this prophetic work, which has been unavailable for more than ten years, he lays out his thoughts, plans, and dreams for America's future, including the need for better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, and quality education. With a universal message of hope that continues to resonate, King demanded an end to global suffering, asserting that humankind-for the first time-has the resources and technology to eradicate poverty.

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The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr Jr.

Description

He was a husband, a father, a preacher - and the preeminent leader of a movement that continues to transform America and the world. Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the twentieth century's most influential men and lived one of its most extraordinary lives. Now, in a special volume commissioned and authorized by his family, here is the life and times of Martin Luther King, Jr., drawn from a comprehensive collection of writings, recordings, and documentary materials, many of which have never before been made public.

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Martin Luther King, Jr.

Marshall Frady

Description

"a quick introduction to the life of a great American" -- The New York Times
An inspiring portrait of the incredible life and lasting influence of Dr. Martin Luther King

Marshall Frady, the reporter who became the unofficial chronicler of the civil rights movement, here re-creates the life and turbulent times of its inspirational leader. Deftly interweaving the story of King’s quest with a history of the African American struggle for equality, Frady offers fascinating insights into his subject’s magnetic character, with its mixture of piety and ambition. He explores the complexities of King’s relationships with other civil rights leaders, the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover, who conducted a relentless vendetta against him. The result is a biography that conveys not just the facts of King’s life but the power of his legacy.

 

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The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Description

A collection of the most well-known and treasured writings and speeches of Dr. King, available for the first time as an ebook

The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr. is the ultimate collection of Dr. King's most inspirational and transformative speeches and sermons, accessibly available for the first time as an ebook. Here, in Dr. King's own words, are writings that reveal an intellectual struggle and growth as fierce and alive as any chronicle of his political life could possibly be. Included amongst the twenty selections are Dr. King's most influential and persuasive works such as "I Have a Dream" and "Letter from Birmingham Jail" but also the essay "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence," and his last sermon "I See the Promised Land," preached the day before he was assassinated.

Published in honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr. includes twenty selections that celebrate the life's work of our most visionary thinkers. Collectively, they bring us Dr. King in many roles—philosopher, theologian, orator, essayist, and author—and further cement the most powerful and enduring words of a man who touched the conscience of the nation and world.

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In the Hands of the Great Spirit

Jake Page

Description

The story of the American Indians has, until now, been told as a 500-year tragedy, a story of violent and fatal encounters with Europeans and their diseases, followed by steady retreat, defeat, and diminishment. Yet the true story begins much earlier, and its final recent chapter adds a major twist. Jake Page, one of the Southwest's most distinguished writers and a longtime student of Indian history and culture, tells a radically new story, thanks to an explosion of recent archaeological findings, the latest scholarship, and an exploration of Indian legends. Covering no less than 20,000 years, "In the Hands of the Great Spirit" will forever change how we think about the oldest and earliest Americans.

Page writes gracefully and sympathetically, without sentimentality. He explores every controversy, from the question of cannibalism among tribes, to the various theories of when and how humans first arrived on the continent, to what life was actually like for Indians before the Europeans came. Page dispels the popular image of a peaceful and idyllic Eden, and shows that Indian societies were fluid, constantly transformed by intertribal fighting, population growth, and shifting climates.

Page uses Indian legends and stories as tools to uncover tribal origins, cultural values, and the meaning of certain rituals and sacred lands. He tells the story of contact with Europeans, and the multipower conflicts of the Seven Years War, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812, from the Indians' point of view. He explains the complex and shifting role of the U.S. government as expressed through executive decisions and through the role of the courts. Finally, he tells the fascinating story ofthe late-twentieth-century upsurge in Indian population and resources, which began as a social movement and exploded once casinos came into fashion.

Author and editor of over a dozen books on American Indian life and culture, Page is a masterful teller of this incredible story. "In the Hands of the Great Spirit" will forever change the familiar story of recent centuries, replacing it with a far more sweeping and meaningful story of tribes and peoples who have suffered enormously yet endure and enrich the American experience.

 

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The Other Slavery

Andrés Reséndez

Description

A landmark history the sweeping story of the enslavement of tens of thousands of Indians across America, from the time of the conquistadors up to the early twentieth century

Since the time of Columbus, Indian slavery was illegal in much of the American continent. Yet, as Andres Resendez illuminates in his myth-shattering The Other Slavery, it was practiced for centuries as an open secret. There was no abolitionist movement to protect the tens of thousands of Natives who were kidnapped and enslaved by the conquistadors, then forced to descend into the mouth of hell of eighteenth-century silver mines or, later, made to serve as domestics for Mormon settlers and rich Anglos.

Resendez builds the incisive, original case that it was mass slavery more than epidemics that decimated Indian populations across North America. New evidence, including testimonies of courageous priests, rapacious merchants, Indian captives, and Anglo colonists, sheds light too on Indian enslavement of other Indians as what started as a European business passed into the hands of indigenous operators and spread like wildfire across vast tracts of the American Southwest.

The Other Slavery is nothing less than a key missing piece of American history.For over two centuries we have fought over, abolished, and tried to come to grips with African American slavery.It is time for the West to confront an entirely separate, equally devastating enslavement we have long failed truly to see.
"

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Empire of the Summer Moon

S. C. Gwynne

Description

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
This stunning historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West was a major New York Times bestseller.

In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.

S. C. Gwynne's Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne's exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroads--a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Rangers in 1860. More famous still was her son Quanah, a warrior who was never defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.

S. C. Gwynne's account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history.

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Trail of Tears

John Ehle

Description

A sixth-generation North Carolinian, highly-acclaimed author John Ehle grew up on former Cherokee hunting grounds. His experience as an accomplished novelist, combined with his extensive, meticulous research, culminates in this moving tragedy rich with historical detail.

The Cherokee are a proud, ancient civilization. For hundreds of years they believed themselves to be the "Principle People" residing at the center of the earth. But by the 18th century, some of their leaders believed it was necessary to adapt to European ways in order to survive. Those chiefs sealed the fate of their tribes in 1875 when they signed a treaty relinquishing their land east of the Mississippi in return for promises of wealth and better land. The U.S. government used the treaty to justify the eviction of the Cherokee nation in an exodus that the Cherokee will forever remember as the “trail where they cried.” The heroism and nobility of the Cherokee shine through this intricate story of American politics, ambition, and greed.

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The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

David Treuer

Description

FINALIST FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Named a best book of 2019 by The New York Times, TIMEThe Washington Post, NPRHudson BooksellersThe New York Public LibraryThe Dallas Morning News, and Library Journal.


"Chapter after chapter, it's like one shattered myth after another." - NPR

"An informed, moving and kaleidoscopic portrait... Treuer's powerful book suggests the need for soul-searching about the meanings of American history and the stories we tell ourselves about this nation's past.." - New York Times Book Review, front page

A sweeping history—and counter-narrative—of Native American life from the Wounded Knee massacre to the present.


The received idea of Native American history—as promulgated by books like Dee Brown's mega-bestselling 1970 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee—has been that American Indian history essentially ended with the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. Not only did one hundred fifty Sioux die at the hands of the U. S. Cavalry, the sense was, but Native civilization did as well.

Growing up Ojibwe on a reservation in Minnesota, training as an anthropologist, and researching Native life past and present for his nonfiction and novels, David Treuer has uncovered a different narrative. Because they did not disappear—and not despite but rather because of their intense struggles to preserve their language, their traditions, their families, and their very existence—the story of American Indians since the end of the nineteenth century to the present is one of unprecedented resourcefulness and reinvention.

In The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, Treuer melds history with reportage and memoir. Tracing the tribes' distinctive cultures from first contact, he explores how the depredations of each era spawned new modes of survival. The devastating seizures of land gave rise to increasingly sophisticated legal and political maneuvering that put the lie to the myth that Indians don't know or care about property. The forced assimilation of their children at government-run boarding schools incubated a unifying Native identity. Conscription in the US military and the pull of urban life brought Indians into the mainstream and modern times, even as it steered the emerging shape of self-rule and spawned a new generation of resistance. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is the essential, intimate story of a resilient people in a transformative era.

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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Dee Brown

Description

Immediately recognized as a revelatory and enormously controversial book since its first publication in 1971, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is universally recognized as one of those rare books that forever changes the way its subject is perceived. Now repackaged with a new introduction from bestselling author Hampton Sides to coincide with a major HBO dramatic film of the book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown's classic, eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the nineteenth century. A national bestseller in hardcover for more than a year after its initial publication, it has sold over four million copies in multiple editions and has been translated into seventeen languages.

Using council records, autobiographies, and firsthand descriptions, Brown allows great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes to tell us in their own words of the series of battles, massacres, and broken treaties that finally left them and their people demoralized and decimated. A unique and disturbing narrative told with force and clarity, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee changed forever our vision of how the West was won, and lost. It tells a story that should not be forgotten, and so must be retold from time to time.

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1491 (Second Edition)

Charles C. Mann

Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492—from “a remarkably engaging writer” (The New York Times Book Review).
 
Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

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Native New Yorkers

Evan T. Pritchard

Description

When Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed into the New York Harbor in 1524, he climbed a hill and beheld "campfires as plentiful as stars, as far as the eye can see." Native New Yorkers reveals the city beneath The City, telling the fascinating story of the ancient Algonquin culture that maintained a thriving civilization in the greater New York area that is now a bustling metropolis. This book draws on a wide range of historical sources as well as extensive interviews with living Algonquin elders; exhaustively traces ancient trails, villages, burial grounds, and sacred sites and is supplemented with maps, a timeline of New York's Algonquin history, a glossary of Algonquin words, and a transcript of Giovanni da Verrazzano's letter to King Francis I of France describing his first glimpses of people of New York in 1524.

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An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Description

2020 American Indian Youth Literature Young Adult Honor Book

2020 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People,selected by National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council

2019 Best-Of Lists: Best YA Nonfiction of 2019 (Kirkus Reviews) · Best Nonfiction of 2019 (School Library Journal) · Best Books for Teens (New York Public Library) · Best Informational Books for Older Readers (Chicago Public Library)
Spanning more than 400 years, this classic bottom-up history examines the legacy of Indigenous peoples’ resistance, resilience, and steadfast fight against imperialism.

Going beyond the story of America as a country “discovered” by a few brave men in the “New World,” Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity.

The original academic text is fully adapted by renowned curriculum experts Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include discussion topics, archival images, original maps, recommendations for further reading, and other materials to encourage students, teachers, and general readers to think critically about their own place in history.

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Diwali

Allan Morey

Description

Diwali, the festival of lights, is celebrated all over India and in many other parts of the world. Sing along and join in the fun with this peppy illustrated song about one of the world's brightest and most colorful holidays. This hardcover book comes with a CD and online music access.

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Binny's Diwali

Thrity Umrigar

Description

Binny woke up happy but nervous. It was her day to share about Diwali, the Festival of Lights

Binny is excited to talk to her class about her favorite holiday. But she struggles to find the words.

Taking a deep breath, she tells her classmates about the fireworks that burst like stars in the night sky, leaving streaks of gold and red and green. She shares with them delicious pedas and jalebis. And she shows them clay lamps, called diyas, which look so pretty all the children ooh and aah.

Featuring a heartwarming story by Thrity Umrigar, enchanting illustrations by Nidhi Chanani, and detailed information about the Hindu festival of lights, Binny's Diwali is a holiday treat.

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Peppa Pig: Diwali

Peppa Pig

Description

It is Diwali and Peppa and her family are learning all about this very special celebration. Mummy and Daddy Pig are cooking a feast, and Granny and Grandpa Pig bring everyone special clothes to wear. Then it's time for the party to begin!

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Amma, Tell Me about Diwali!

Bhakti Mathur

Description

Brilliant firecrackers lighting up the night,
Diyas twinkling like stars - what a sight!
This is Diwali, in all its glory,
As told to little Klaka - a magical story.

First the celebration of Prince Rama and his homecoming,
His victory over Ravana, the evil demon King.
Next a story of Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth
Who rewards her true devotees with fortune and health.

"Amme Tell Me" is a charming and informative series of children's books that introduces the major Hindu festivals and figures to young readers, and are perfect for families wanting to share stories of Hinduism with their children or for educators looking for resource on the Hindu culture for their students. Written in rhyme with vivid, captivating illustrations, this series brings Hindu mythology to its readers in a fun and non-preachy way. The Series has ten books on the festivals of Holi, Diwali, and on the Hindu gods Krishna, Hanuman and Ganesha.

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Diwali

Sana Hoda Sood

Description

Diwali is the story of a brave hero, an evil villain, and an epic battle. Join Ram on his adventure to defeat darkness and despair. Journey through time in India to learn about why Diwali came to be and how we celebrate it today.

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Shubh Diwali!

Chitra Soundar

Description

The festival of lights is here--time to celebrate the New Year!

Diwali has arrived! Rangoli art decorates the floor, and strings of flowers hang around the doors. Now it's time to ring the bells, light the lamps, and welcome the New Year with family and friends. A sweet introduction to the Hindu festival of lights.

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Diwali

Rebecca Pettiford

Description

In Diwali, early readers will learn about the Hindu holiday of Diwali and the ways people celebrate it. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage emergent readers as they explore this unique holiday. A labeled diagram helps readers understand the symbols of Diwali while a picture glossary reinforces new vocabulary. Children can learn more about Diwali online using our safe search engine that provides relevant, age-appropriate websites. Diwali also features reading tips for teachers and parents, a table of contents, and an index. Diwali is part of the Holidays series.

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¡Es Diwali!

Richard Sebra

Description

¿Cuál es la celebración más importante en la India? ¡El Diwali! A esta celebración también se le conoce como el festival de luces. Aprende sobre lo que hace la gente para festejar esta festividad especial. Fotografias llenas de color ilustran la belleza del evento. El texto cuidadosamente organizado en niveles provee información clave. Las preguntas de pensamiento crítico a nivel apropiado ayudan a los lectores a profundizar en la información y entender lo que hace única a esta celebración.

What's the most important holiday in India? It's Diwali! This celebration is also known as the festival of lights. Learn what people do to celebrate this special holiday. Full-color photographs illustrate the beauty of the event, and carefully leveled text provides key facts. Age-appropriate critical thinking questions help readers delve more deeply into the information and understand what makes this holiday unique.

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Diwali

Joanna Ponto

Description

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is celebrated with firecrackers, sweet treats, and exciting tales of a prince and princess. Readers will learn about the customs involved in celebrating this joyful holiday, and they can prepare a delicious mango lassi and construct a fun Diwali game to play on the big day.

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The Book Thief

Markus Zusak

Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME

The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times.


When Death has a story to tell, you listen.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. 

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
 
“The kind of book that can be life-changing.” —The New York Times
 
“Deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.” —USA Today

DON’T MISS BRIDGE OF CLAY, MARKUS ZUSAK’S FIRST NOVEL SINCE THE BOOK THIEF.

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Diwali

Rachel Grack

Description

For five days every fall, India shines especially bright. The occasion is Diwali, the country's Festival of Lights. Clay lamps, fireworks and sparklers, and colorful rangoli sand art all add visual brilliance. The Diwali celebration will come alive in this early elementary read.

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Stephen Chbosky

Description

A coming of age novel about Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent. He deals with the usual teen problems, but also with the suicide of his best friend.

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Arte y cultura: Diwali: Suma y resta (Art and Culture: Diwali: Addition and Subtraction)

Joseph Otterman

Description

Diwali is a holiday known as India's "festival of lights." It gets its name from the lamps and candles that people light. Diwali is a time to give thanks. Read about this important holiday as you learn addition and subtraction! This Spanish math book combines math and reading skills and uses real-life examples of problem solving to teach subject-area content. The dynamic images, detailed sidebars, practice problems, and math diagrams make learning arithmetic easy and fun. Text features include a table of contents, a glossary, an index, and captions to build vocabulary and increase understanding of math and reading concepts. An in-depth problem-solving section provides additional learning and practice opportunities. Engage students with this high-interest nonfiction book!

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Walk in My Combat Boots

James Patterson

Description

Discover "the stories America needs to hear" (Admiral William H. McRaven, US Navy (Ret.)) with these moving and powerful recollections of war, told by the men and women who lived them.

Walk in my Combat Boots is a powerful collection crafted from hundreds of original interviews by James Patterson, the world's #1 bestselling writer, and First Sergeant US Army (Ret.) Matt Eversmann, part of the Ranger unit portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down.

These are the brutally honest stories usually only shared amongst comrades in arms. Here, in the voices of the men and women who've fought overseas from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, is a rare eye-opening look into what wearing the uniform, fighting in combat, losing friends and coming home is really like. Readers who next thank a military member for their service will finally have a true understanding of what that thanks is for.

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Flamer

Mike Curato

Description

Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in Flamer, his debut graphic novel, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love.

"This book will save lives." —Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author of National Book Award Finalist Hey, Kiddo

I know I’m not gay. Gay boys like other boys. I hate boys. They’re mean, and scary, and they’re always destroying something or saying something dumb or both.

I hate that word. Gay. It makes me feel . . . unsafe.

It's the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes—but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.

Godwin Books

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Redeployment

Phil Klay

Description

Winner of the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction · Winner of the John Leonard First Book Prize · Selected as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post Book World, Amazon, and more

Phil Klay's Redeployment takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of chaos.

In "Redeployment", a soldier who has had to shoot dogs because they were eating human corpses must learn what it is like to return to domestic life in suburbia, surrounded by people "who have no idea where Fallujah is, where three members of your platoon died." In "After Action Report", a Lance Corporal seeks expiation for a killing he didn't commit, in order that his best friend will be unburdened. A Morturary Affairs Marine tells about his experiences collecting remains--of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers both. A chaplain sees his understanding of Christianity, and his ability to provide solace through religion, tested by the actions of a ferocious Colonel. And in the darkly comic "Money as a Weapons System", a young Foreign Service Officer is given the absurd task of helping Iraqis improve their lives by teaching them to play baseball. These stories reveal the intricate combination of monotony, bureaucracy, comradeship and violence that make up a soldier's daily life at war, and the isolation, remorse, and despair that can accompany a soldier's homecoming.

Redeployment is poised to become a classic in the tradition of war writing. Across nations and continents, Klay sets in devastating relief the two worlds a soldier inhabits: one of extremes and one of loss. Written with a hard-eyed realism and stunning emotional depth, this work marks Phil Klay as one of the most talented new voices of his generation.

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Gender Queer: A Memoir

Maia Kobabe

Description

2020 ALA Alex Award Winner
2020 Stonewall — Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.

Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.

"It’s also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand." — SLJ (starred review)

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Out of Darkness

Ashley Hope Pérez

Description

A Michael L. Printz Honor Book

"This is East Texas, and there's lines. Lines you cross, lines you don't cross. That clear?"

New London, Texas. 1937. Naomi Vargas and Wash Fuller know about the lines in East Texas as well as anyone. They know the signs that mark them. They know the people who enforce them. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive.

Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the 1937 New London school explosion--the worst school disaster in American history--as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people.

"[This] layered tale of color lines, love and struggle in an East Texas oil town is a pit-in-the-stomach family drama that goes down like it should, with pain and fascination, like a mix of sugary medicine and artisanal moonshine."--The New York Times Book Review

"Pérez deftly weaves [an] unflinchingly intense narrative....A powerful, layered tale of forbidden love in times of unrelenting racism."―starred, Kirkus Reviews

"This book presents a range of human nature, from kindness and love to acts of racial and sexual violence. The work resonates with fear, hope, love, and the importance of memory....Set against the backdrop of an actual historical event, Pérez...gives voice to many long-omitted facets of U.S. history."―starred, School Library Journal

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Sherman Alexie

Description

Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.

With a forward by Markus Zusak, interviews with Sherman Alexie and Ellen Forney, and four-color interior art throughout, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike.

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A Court of Mist and Fury

Sarah J. Maas

Description

The # 1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Sarah J. Maas' spellbinding A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court--but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms--and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future--and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.

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Stars in Their Courses

Shelby Foote

Description

A matchless account of the Battle of Gettysburg, drawn from Shelby Foote’s landmark history of the Civil War

Shelby Foote’s monumental three-part chronicle, The Civil War: A Narrative, was hailed by Walker Percy as “an unparalleled achievement, an American Iliad, a unique work uniting the scholarship of the historian and the high readability of the first-class novelist.”

Here is the central chapter of the central volume, and therefore the capstone of the arch, in a single volume. Complete with detailed maps, Stars in Their Courses brilliantly recreates the three-day conflict: It is a masterly treatment of a key great battle and the events that preceded it—not as legend has it but as it really was, before it became distorted by controversy and overblown by remembered glory.

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition)

Jesse Andrews

Description


The book that inspired the hit film!

Sundance U.S. Dramatic Audience Award
Sundance Grand Jury Prize

This is the funniest book you'll ever read about death.

It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he's figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.
This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg's mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg's entire life.

Praise for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
STARRED REVIEW
“One need only look at the chapter titles (“Let's Just Get This Embarrassing Chapter Out of the Way”) to know that this is one funny book.”
Booklist, starred review

STARRED REVIEW
“A frequently hysterical confessional...Debut novelist Andrews succeeds brilliantly in painting a portrait of a kid whose responses to emotional duress are entirely believable and sympathetic, however fiercely he professes his essential crappiness as a human being. Though this novel begs inevitable thematic comparisons to John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (2011), it stands on its own in inventiveness, humor and heart.”
Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“It is sure to be popular with many boys, including reluctant readers, and will not require much selling on the part of the librarian.”
VOYA

"Mr. Andrews' often hilarious teen dialogue is utterly convincing, and his characters are compelling. Greg's random sense of humor, terrible self-esteem and general lack of self-awareness all ring true. Like many YA authors, Mr. Andrews blends humor and pathos with true skill, but he steers clear of tricky resolutions and overt life lessons, favoring incremental understanding and growth."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Awards:
Capitol Choices 2013 - Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choices 2013 list - Young Adult Fiction
YALSA 2013 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
YALSA 2013 Best Fiction for Young Adults
YALSA 2014 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults

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Indestructible

Jack Lucas

Description

Here is an eloquent, plainspoken combat memoir of a young soldier who belongs in a class with World War II combat hero Audie Murphy. At the height of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Jack Lucas and three other Marines attacked a Japanese pillbox. When two enemy grenades landed in their midst, Private Lucas jumped on both grenades, just as they were exploding. His buddies were saved, but Lucas was torn apart. Miraculously, he survived-but just barely. For this brave action seventeen year- old Jack Lucas from North Carolina became the youngest soldier in the twentieth century, and the youngest Marine in history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. In Indestructible, we learn of the rocky road that led Jack Lucas to Iwo Jima-from his lying about his age to join the Marines to his going AWOL in order to join the action in the Pacific-and his arduous, frightening recovery following his heroic sacrifice. Today, wherever Jack Lucas speaks crowds gather to honor him and pay tribute to Marine heritage and pride as well as to pay their respects to one of America's greatest generations.

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The Killer Angels

Michael Shaara

Description

This Pulitzer Prize-winning classic is the finest historical dramatization of the Civil War. The book centers around the key battle of the war: the battle of Gettysburg. In July of 1863, the Confederate Army, led by General Robert E. Lee, invaded the North, in order to deal a fatal blow to the Union Army. Lee's right hand man was the loyal General Longstreet. Opposing them was General George Meade, an unknown quantity at best. In the four most bloody and courageous days of the Civil War, their armies fought, one side for freedom and the other side for tradition. As the bodies piled up on the gory field, so did the dreams and hopes of the dead. Their futures were the ultimate casualties of war.

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First Over There

Matthew J. Davenport

Description

The riveting true story of America's first modern military battle, its first military victory during World War One, and its first steps onto the world stage

At first light on Tuesday, May 28th, 1918, waves of American riflemen from the U.S. Army's 1st Division climbed from their trenches, charged across the shell-scarred French dirt of no-man's-land, and captured the hilltop village of Cantigny from the grip of the German Army. Those who survived the enemy machine-gun fire and hand-to-hand fighting held on for the next two days and nights in shallow foxholes under the sting of mustard gas and crushing steel of artillery fire.

Thirteen months after the United States entered World War I, these 3,500 soldiers became the first "doughboys" to enter the fight. The operation, the first American attack ever supported by tanks, airplanes, and modern artillery, was ordered by the leader of America's forces in Europe, General John "Black Jack" Pershing, and planned by a young staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel George C. Marshall, who would fill the lead role in World War II twenty-six years later.

Drawing on the letters, diaries, and reports by the men themselves, Matthew J. Davenport's First Over There tells the inspiring, untold story of these soldiers and their journey to victory on the Western Front in the Battle of Cantigny. The first American battle of the "war to end all wars" would mark not only its first victory abroad, but the birth of its modern Army.

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Medal of Honor, Revised & Updated Third Edition

Peter Collier

Description

An updated edition of the New York Times bestseller, featuring 12 new recipients and a new foreword by Bradley Cooper
 
Eight veterans from the war in Afghanistan have been awarded our nation’s highest honor for valor in combat since the publication of the third edition of Medal of Honor, including Edward C. Byers, Jr., the newest living recipient and a member of Navy SEAL Team Six, and Clint Romesha, author of the New York Times bestselling Red Platoon. And nearly 50 years after their service, four Vietnam veterans have also since received the recognition they so richly deserve. Now these men rightly take their place in the pages of this revised and updated edition.

Included here are 156 Medal of Honor recipients, captured with a contemporary portrait by award-winning photographer Nick Del Calzo and profiled in moving text by National Book Award nominee Peter Collier. The men in the book fought in conflicts from World War II to Afghanistan, served in every branch of the armed services, and represent a cross section as diverse as America itself. This is their ultimate record.

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Red Platoon

Clinton Romesha

Description

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The only comprehensive, firsthand account of the fourteen-hour firefight at the Battle of Keating in Afghanistan by Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, for readers of Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden and Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.

 
“‘It doesn't get better.’ To us, that phrase nailed one of the essential truths, maybe even the essential truth, about being stuck at an outpost whose strategic and tactical vulnerabilities were so glaringly obvious to every soldier who had ever set foot in that place that the name itself—Keating—had become a kind of backhanded joke.”
 
In 2009, Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost (COP) Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the US military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after its construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: it was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend. 
 
On October 3, 2009, after years of constant smaller attacks, the Taliban finally decided to throw everything they had at Keating. The ensuing fourteen-hour battle—and eventual victory—cost eight men their lives. 
 
Red Platoon is the riveting firsthand account of the Battle of Keating, told by Romesha, who spearheaded both the defense of the outpost and the counterattack that drove the Taliban back beyond the wire and received the Medal of Honor for his actions.

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The Last of the Doughboys

Richard Rubin

Description

In 2003, 85 years after the armistice, it took Richard Rubin months to find just one living American veteran of World War I. But then, he found another. And another. Eventually he managed to find dozens, aged 101 to 113, and interview them. All are gone now.

A decade-long odyssey to recover the story of a forgotten generation and their Great War led Rubin across the United States and France, through archives, private collections, and battlefields, literature, propaganda, and even music. But at the center of it all were the last of the last, the men and women he met: a new immigrant, drafted and sent to France, whose life was saved by a horse; a Connecticut Yankee who volunteered and fought in every major American battle; a Cajun artilleryman nearly killed by a German aeroplane; an 18-year-old Bronx girl "drafted" to work for the War Department; a machine-gunner from Montana; a Marine wounded at Belleau Wood; the 16-year-old who became America's last WWI veteran; and many, many more.

They were the final survivors of the millions who made up the American Expeditionary Forces, nineteenth-century men and women living in the twenty-first century. Self-reliant, humble, and stoic, they kept their stories to themselves for a lifetime, then shared them at the last possible moment, so that they, and the World War they won - the trauma that created our modern world - might at last be remembered. You will never forget them. The Last of the Doughboys is more than simply a war story: It is a moving meditation on character, grace, aging, and memory.

 

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The Coldest Winter

David Halberstam

Description

"In a grand gesture of reclamation and remembrance, Mr. Halberstam has brought the war back home."
--The New York Times

David Halberstam's magisterial and thrilling The Best and the Brightest was the defining book about the Vietnam conflict. More than three decades later, Halberstam used his unrivaled research and formidable journalistic skills to shed light on another pivotal moment in our history: the Korean War. Halberstam considered The Coldest Winter his most accomplished work, the culmination of forty-five years of writing about America's postwar foreign policy.

Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu River and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise. He provides astonishingly vivid and nuanced portraits of all the major figures-Eisenhower, Truman, Acheson, Kim, and Mao, and Generals MacArthur, Almond, and Ridgway. At the same time, Halberstam provides us with his trademark highly evocative narrative journalism, chronicling the crucial battles with reportage of the highest order. As ever, Halberstam was concerned with the extraordinary courage and resolve of people asked to bear an extraordinary burden.

The Coldest Winter is contemporary history in its most literary and luminescent form, providing crucial perspective on every war America has been involved in since. It is a book that Halberstam first decided to write more than thirty years ago and that took him nearly ten years to complete. It stands as a lasting testament to one of the greatest journalists and historians of our time, and to the fighting men whose heroism it chronicles.

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What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez

Claire Jimenez

Description

A powerful debut novel that's "hilarious, heartbreaking, and ass-kicking" (Jamie Ford), of a Puerto Rican family in Staten Island who discovers their long-missing sister is potentially alive and cast on a reality TV show, and they set out to bring her home.

A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Elle - USA Today - Today.com - Ms. Magazine - Good Housekeeping - Bustle - The Week - Goodreads - Bookriot - Pop Culturely - SheReads - Litreactor - Electric Lit - The Mary Sue - People Español - Zibby Mag - Debutiful - Her Campus

Best Books of March by Time - Shondaland - Ms. Magazine - Popsugar - Bookriot - Debutiful - Powell's Book Blog

A March Indie Next Pick! Belletrist and Readers Digest book club pick!

The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen-year-old middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace, it left the family scarred and scrambling. One night, twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister, Nina: This woman's hair is dyed red, and she calls herself Ruby, but the beauty mark under her left eye is instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time?

The years since Ruthy's disappearance haven't been easy on the Ramirez family. It's 2008, and their mother, Dolores, still struggles with the loss, Jessica juggles a newborn baby with her hospital job, and Nina, after four successful years at college, has returned home to medical school rejections and is forced to work in the mall folding tiny bedazzled thongs at the lingerie store.

After seeing maybe-Ruthy on their screen, Jessica and Nina hatch a plan to drive to where the show is filmed in search of their long-lost sister. When Dolores catches wind of their scheme, she insists on joining, along with her pot-stirring holy roller best friend, Irene. What follows is a family road trip and reckoning that will force the Ramirez women to finally face the past and look toward a future--with or without Ruthy in it.

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a vivid family portrait, in all its shattered reality, exploring the familial bonds between women and cycles of generational violence, colonialism, race, and silence, replete with snark, resentment, tenderness, and, of course, love.

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Pineapple Street

Jenny Jackson

Description

A deliciously funny, sharply observed debut of family, love, and class, this zeitgeisty novel follows three women in one wealthy Brooklyn clan

“A vibrant and hilarious debut…Pineapple Street is riveting, timely, hugely entertaining and brimming with truth.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest


Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected old money Stockton family, followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood but giving up far too much in the process; Sasha, a middle-class New England girl, has married into the Brooklyn Heights family, and finds herself cast as the arriviste outsider; and Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can’t have, and must decide what kind of person she wants to be.

Rife with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York’s one-percenters, Pineapple Street is a smart, escapist novel that sparkles with wit. Full of recognizable, loveable—if fallible—characters, it’s about the peculiar unknowability of someone else’s family, the miles between the haves and have-nots, and the insanity of first love—all wrapped in a story that is a sheer delight.

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Citizen Soldiers

Stephen E. Ambrose

Description

Citizen Soldiers opens at 0001 hours, June 7, 1944, on the Normandy beaches, and ends at 0245 hours, May 7, 1945. In between come the battles in the hedgerows of Normandy, the breakout at St.-Lo, the Falaise Gap, Patton tearing through France, the liberation of Paris, the attempt to leap the Rhine in Operation Market-Garden, the near-miraculous German recovery, the battles around Metz and in the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge - the biggest battle in the history of the U.S. Army - the capture of the bridge at Remagen, and finally the overrunning of Germany. From the high command (including Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton) on down to the enlisted men, Stephen E. Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews and oral histories from men on both sides who were there. Ambrose once again re-creates the experiences of the individuals who fought the battles. The women who served as nurses, secretaries, clerks, code-breakers, and flyers are part of the narrative, as are the Germans who fought against us. Within the chronological story, there are chapters on medics, nurses, and doctors; on the quartermasters; on replacements; on what it was like to spend a night on the front lines; on sad sacks, cowards, and criminals; on Christmas 1944; on weapons of all kinds. Ambrose reveals the learning process of a great army - how to cross rivers, how to fight in snow or hedgerows, how to fight in cities, how to coordinate air and ground campaigns, how to fight in winter and on the defensive, how citizens become soldiers in the best army in the world. Ambrose evokes the suffering of warfare, fighting in the cold and wet, gruesome wounds, combat exhaustion, looting, shooting prisoners, random destruction, and more. Throughout, the perspective is that of the enlisted men and junior officers. Even when writing about Ike, Monty, Patton, and Bradley, Ambrose does so from the point of view of the men in the front lines and focuses on how the decisions of the brass affected them. Citizen Soldiers is a biography of the U.S. Army in the European Theater of Operations, June 7, 1944, to May 7, 1945. Allied citizen soldiers overcame their fear and inexperience, the mistakes of the high command, and the enemy to win the war. Once again, Stephen E. Ambrose shows that free men fight better than slaves, that the sons of democracy proved to be better soldiers than the sons of Nazi Germany.

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eBooks & Audiobooks

No True Glory

Francis J. West

Description

"This is the face of war as only those who have fought it can describe it."–Senator John McCain

Fallujah: Iraq’s most dangerous city unexpectedly emerged as the major battleground of the Iraqi insurgency. For twenty months, one American battalion after another tried to quell the violence, culminating in a bloody, full-scale assault. Victory came at a terrible price: 151 Americans and thousands of Iraqis were left dead.

The epic battle for Fallujah revealed the startling connections between policy and combat that are a part of the new reality of war.

The Marines had planned to slip into Fallujah “as soft as fog.” But after four American contractors were brutally murdered, President Bush ordered an attack on the city–against the advice of the Marines. The assault sparked a political firestorm, and the Marines were forced to withdraw amid controversy and confusion–only to be ordered a second time to take a city that had become an inferno of hate and the lair of the archterrorist al-Zarqawi.

Based on months spent with the battalions in Fallujah and hundreds of interviews at every level–senior policymakers, negotiators, generals, and soldiers and Marines on the front lines–No True Gloryis a testament to the bravery of the American soldier and a cautionary tale about the complex–and often costly–interconnected roles of policy, politics, and battle in the twenty-first century.

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We Were Soldiers Once...and Young

Lt. General Ha Moore

Description

Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young.
In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War.

How these men persevered--sacrificed themselves for their comrades and never gave up--makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, have interviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders. This devastating account rises above the specific ordeal it chronicles to present a picture of men facing the ultimate challenge, dealing with it in ways they would have found unimaginable only a few hours earlier. It reveals to us, as rarely before, man's most heroic and horrendous endeavor.

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In Harm's Way

Doug Stanton

Description

A harrowing, adrenaline-charged account of America's worst naval disaster -- and of the heroism of the men who, against all odds, survived.

On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and dementia. By the time rescue arrived, all but 317 men had died. The captain's subsequent court-martial left many questions unanswered: How did the navy fail to realize the Indianapolis was missing? Why was the cruiser traveling unescorted in enemy waters? And perhaps most amazing of all, how did these 317 men manage to survive?Interweaving the stories of three survivors -- the captain, the ship's doctor, and a young marine -- journalist Doug Stanton has brought this astonishing human drama to life in a narrative that is at once immediate and timeless. The definitive account of a little-known chapter in World War II history, In Harm's Way is destined to become a classic tale of war, survival, and extraordinary courage.

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What it is Like to Go to War

Karl Marlantes

Description

From the author of the award-winning, best-selling novel Matterhorn, comes a brilliant nonfiction book about war

In 1968, at the age of twenty-three, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty Marines who would live or die by his decisions. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his war experience. In What It Is Like to Go to War, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at what it is like to experience the ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our soldiers for war. Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings--from Homer to The Mahabharata to Jung. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of the journey.

Just as Matterhorn is already being acclaimed as acclaimed as a classic of war literature, What It Is Like to Go to War is set to become required reading for anyone--soldier or civilian--interested in this visceral and all too essential part of the human experience.

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Honremos a nuestros héroes: Día de los Veteranos (Remembering Our Heroes: Veterans Day)

Kelly Rodgers

Description

Teach young students about the men and women who serve in the armed forces for the United States. This Spanish-translated nonfiction book helps readers understand the importance of our nation's veterans, and how to honor them on Veteran's Day. Primary source documents and images engage readers as they build their literacy skills and social studies content knowledge.

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Veterans Day

Marlene Targ Brill

Description

Outlines the history of Veterans Day from its beginnings after World War I, and describes several ways citizens honor war veterans.

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Archie Celebrates Diwali

Mitali Banerjee Ruths

Description

It's Archie's favorite holiday—Diwali. And this year she gets to share it with her friends and introduce them to the festival of lights!

Archana loves her family's annual Diwali (deh-vah-lee) party, and this year she gets to share it with all her friends from school. She helps with the decorations and the food, and is eager for everyone to arrive. But once the party starts a thunderstorm kicks up and drenches the outside decorations and knocks out the power. Archie worries that everything will be ruined. How can there be a festival of lights without any electricity?

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A Holly Jolly Diwali

Sonya Lalli

Description

"Lalli's prose is deft, her characters are delightful and her book is the just-right holiday romance."--USA Today

One type-A data analyst discovers her free-spirited side on an impulsive journey from bustling Mumbai to the gorgeous beaches of Goa and finds love waiting for her on Christmas morning.


Twenty-nine-year-old Niki Randhawa has always made practical decisions. Despite her love for music and art, she became an analyst for the stability. She's always stuck close to home, in case her family needed her. And she's always dated guys that seem good on paper, rather than the ones who give her butterflies. When she's laid off, Niki realizes that practical hasn't exactly paid off for her. So for the first time ever, she throws caution to the wind and books a last-minute flight for her friend Diya’s wedding.

Niki arrives in India just in time to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, where she meets London musician Sameer Mukherji. Maybe it's the splendor of Mumbai or the magic of the holiday season, but Niki is immediately drawn to Sam. At the wedding, the champagne flows and their flirtatious banter makes it clear that the attraction is mutual.

When Niki and Sam join Diya, her husband and their friends on a group honeymoon, their connection grows deeper. Free-spirited Sam helps Niki get in touch with her passionate and creative side, and with her Indian roots. When she gets a new job offer back home, Niki must decide what she wants out of the next chapter of her life—to cling to the straight and narrow like always, or to take a leap of faith and live the kind of bold life the old Niki never would have dreamed of.

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Celebrate Diwali

Deborah Heiligman

Description

Beautiful, dynamic photographs and brief, lively text introduce readers to the joyous holiday of Diwali, evoking the celebrations of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world.

In Deborah Heiligman's inviting global odyssey of the Hindu holiday we learn that Diwali celebrates the triumph of good over evil, and of light over darkness. Although celebrated differently in different places, Diwali is universally viewed as a time of great joy, celebrated with fireworks, sweets, and gifts.

Celebrate Diwali brings to life the holiday's traditions, food, and celebration rituals. The informative back matter includes Diwali recipes, a glossary, a Diwali card game, a map, and a resource list of books and Web sites. Also included is a note to parents and teachers from the book's consultant, Dr. Vasudha Narayanan.

National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.
Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

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Diwali

Lori Dittmer

Description

A kindergarten-level introduction to Diwali, covering the holiday's history, popular traditions, and such defining symbols as clay lamps and rangoli designs.

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Diwali

Kate Torpie

Description

The 'festival of lights' is one of the most popular festivals in the Hindu calendar. Like most Hindu festivals, Diwali celebrates the triumph of good over evil. According to one legend Diwali is observed to mark the return of Lord Rama to his homeland, Ayodhya, after defeating Ravana, an evil demon. It is said that people lit lamps down the streets to celebrate the Lord Rama's victory. In keeping with the legend, Hindus across the world light lamps and fireworks on this day.

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Diwali

Rina Singh

Description

During Diwali, Hindus, Sikhs and Jains celebrate the legends and stories that describe the triumph of good over evil and justice over oppression. Critically acclaimed author Rina Singh explores her Indian roots as she tells the Diwali stories, which remind us that eventually light will prevail over darkness.

Enriched by personal stories and spiced with festive recipes, including two by acclaimed chef, Vikram Vij, Diwali: Festival of Lights brings to life the holiday's traditions, food and rituals and takes you on a journey to see how this festival is celebrated around the world!

Diwali is the second book in the Orca Origins series, which examines how ancient traditions are kept alive in the modern world.

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Funny Bones

Duncan Tonatiuh

Description

A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year
A Robert F. Sibert Award Winner
A Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book
An ALA/ALSC Notable Children's Book
STARRED REVIEW *"Playful but informative . . . a fascinating introduction to the artist and his work." ―Booklist
STARRED REVIEW *"Artistically beautiful and factually accessible . . . effectively blends artistic and political content for young readers." ―Kirkus Reviews

Discover the story behind José Guadalupe Posada's iconic Día de Muertos skeletons in this fascinating picture book from award-winning creator Duncan Tonatiuh.

Funny Bones tells the story of how calaveras came to be. The amusing figures are the creation of Mexican artist José Guadalupe (Lupe) Posada (1852-1913). Lupe learned the art of printing at a young age and soon had his own shop. In a country that was not known for freedom of speech, he drew political cartoons, much to the amusement of the local population but not to the politicians.

While he continued to draw cartoons, he is best known today for his calavera drawings. They have become synonymous with Mexico's Día de Muertos festival. Calaveras are skeletons performing all sorts of activities, both everyday and festive: dancing in the streets, playing instruments in a band, pedaling bicycles, promenading in the park, and even sweeping the sidewalks.

They are not intended to be frightening, but rather to celebrate the joy of living and provide humorous observations about people. Author and illustrator Tonatiuh relates the pivotal moments of Lupe's life and explains the different artistic processes he used.

Juxtaposing his own artwork with Lupe's, Tonatiuh brings to light the remarkable life and work of a man beloved by many but whose name has remained in obscurity.

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Day of the Dead

Lori Dittmer

Description

A kindergarten-level introduction to the Day of the Dead, covering the holiday's history, popular traditions, and such defining symbols as marigolds and skulls.

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Coco: A Story about Music, Shoes, and Family

Diana López

Description

Inspired by Pixar Animation Studios' latest film, Coco, this middle grade novel retells the story of Miguel's daring adventure, and features exciting new scenes about his family.
Disney*Pixar's Coco is the celebration of a lifetime, where the discovery of a generations-old mystery leads to a most extraordinary and surprising family reunion. Directed by Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) and produced by Darla K. Anderson (Toy Story 3), Disney*Pixar's Coco opens in U.S. theaters November 22, 2017.

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I Remember Abuelito

Janice Levy

Description

It's the Day of the Dead! It's time to celebrate! In this bilingual book, a young girl is busy helping her family prepare to honor those who have died. First she goes with her mama to the market to buy pan de muerto. Then she lays a path of marigold petals with her papa. But mostly, she thinks of her abuelito. She misses him very much and is excited for his spirit to visit that night. And when she sees the butterflies fly through the sky, she knows that his spirit is with them. Written in both Spanish and English, this book includes activities and recipes just right for any Day of the Dead celebration. Loretta Lopez's colorful illustrations perfectly complement Janice Levy's child-friendly introduction to this important holiday. Ms. Levy and Ms. Lopez, who both live in New York State, previously collaborated on "Celebrate! It's Cinco de Mayo! / ÁCelebremos! ÁEs el Cinco de Mayo!"

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Día de los Muertos

Hannah Eliot

Description

Learn all about the traditions of Día de los Muertos with this second book in the brand-new board book series Celebrate the World, which highlights special occasions and holidays across the globe.

At the end of October each year, it’s time to celebrate an ancient tradition: Día de los Muertos! With vibrant illustrations by Golden Globe–winning Mexican illustrator Jorge Gutierrez, this festive board book teaches that Día de los Muertos honors ancestors and loved ones who have passed. From sugar skulls to papel picado, this is a holiday that truly commemorates the cycle of life.

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Celebrating Dia de Los Muertos

Ann Heinrichs

Description

Dia de los Muertos, or 'Day of the Dead', may seem like a bleak name for a holiday. But this exciting occasion is actually a special time to remember loved ones and to celebrate life. Young readers discover how food, fun, and memories contribute to a festival that is more about rejoicing than mourning. Additional features to aid comprehension include activities and poetry, informative sidebars, a table of contents, a phonetic glossary, sources for further research, an index, and an introduction to the author and illustrator.

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Celebrating Day of the Dead

Theodore Jones

Description

The Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, may sound a bit scary. However, this enlightening book explains to readers how this special holiday is actually a day of joy as well as remembrance for millions of people in Latin America and the United States. The symbols, customs, and origins of the holiday are discussed in accessible text, while vivid photographs illustrate the presented concepts.

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Day of the Dead Crafts

Kerry Arquette

Description

Celebrated on November 1 and 2, Day of the Dead honors the memory of departed souls, welcoming them back to celebrate the best of life. Families decorate grave sites with marigolds and set up stunning altars. Streets flutter with paper banners. Store windows glisten with sugar skulls. Skeleton figures grin rakishly from every corner. Day of the Dead Crafts is filled with dozens of terrific projects that allow you to participate in the excitement of the holiday while expressing your own creativity. You'll enjoy showcasing these unique, fun, and meaningful projects throughout the year.

Inside you'll find step-by-step instructions, ideas, and inspiration for a wide range of projects, including:

  • Calaveras, those comical and clever skeleton figures caught in the act of enjoying life's favorite activities
  • Masks and skulls made from paper mache, gourds, and even sugar
  • A meaningful and artistic ofrenda, or altar, to honor those who have passed
  • Necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and more to wear day or night
  • Pieces guaranteed to liven up any decor

Colorful, whimsical, and often dramatic, Day of the Dead art is steeped in rich history and symbolism. The projects in Day of the Dead Crafts honor the traditional, while taking advantage of today's materials for a fresh and exciting twist.

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Antiquity in Gotham

Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis

Description

The first detailed study of "Neo-Antique" architecture applies an archaeological lens to the study of New York City's structures
Since the city's inception, New Yorkers have deliberately and purposefully engaged with ancient architecture to design and erect many of its most iconic buildings and monuments, including Grand Central Terminal and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch in Brooklyn, as well as forgotten gems such as Snug Harbor on Staten Island and the Gould Memorial Library in the Bronx. Antiquity in Gotham interprets the various ways ancient architecture was re-conceived in New York City from the eighteenth century to the early twenty-first century.
Contextualizing New York's Neo-Antique architecture within larger American architectural trends, author Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis applies an archaeological lens to the study of the New York buildings that incorporated these various models in their design, bringing together these diverse sources of inspiration into a single continuum. Antiquity in Gotham explores how ancient architecture communicated the political ideals of the new republic through the adaptation of Greek and Roman architecture, how Egyptian temples conveyed the city's new technological achievements, and how the ancient Near East served many artistic masters, decorating the interiors of glitzy Gilded Age restaurants and the tops of skyscrapers. Rather than classifying neo-classical (and Greek Revival), Egyptianizing, and architecture inspired by the ancient Near East into distinct categories, Macaulay-Lewis applies the Neo-Antique framework that considers the similarities and differences--intellectually, conceptually, and chronologically--among the reception of these different architectural traditions.
This fundamentally interdisciplinary project draws upon all available evidence and archival materials--such as the letters and memos of architects and their patrons, and the commentary in contemporary newspapers and magazines--to provide a lively multi-dimensional analysis that examines not only the city's ancient buildings and rooms themselves but also how New Yorkers envisaged them, lived in them, talked about them, and reacted to them. Antiquity offered New Yorkers architecture with flexible aesthetic, functional, cultural, and intellectual resonances--whether it be the democratic ideals of Periclean Athens, the technological might of Pharaonic Egypt, or the majesty of Imperial Rome. The result of these dialogues with ancient architectural forms was the creation of innovative architecture that has defined New York City's skyline throughout its history.

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AMC's Best Day Hikes in the Catskills and Hudson Valley

Peter W. Kick

Description

Available for the first time in rich full-color, AMC's Best Day Hikes in the Catskills and Hudson Valley, 3rd Edition, is the go-to guide for hikes in this popular New York region. Encompassing more than 600 miles of trails within just a few hours of New York City, the Catskills and Hudson Valley are a hiker's paradise, boasting varied and scenic terrain, from Westchester County to Albany. This fully updated guide leads beginner and experienced hikers alike along 60 of the region's most spectacular trails, from shorter nature walks to longer day hikes. From classic hikes such as Storm King Mountain in the Hudson Highlands, to carriage roads in the Shawangunks, to a historic walk around the grounds of Oleana, to new hikes in Harriman State Park just an hour outside New York City, this book covers the area's must-do outings. An at-a-glance trip planner highlights the best hikes near public transportation, as well as those best for kids, dogs, and winter snowshoeing and skiing. Inside you'll find: - 60 hikes ideal for hikers of all ability levels- GPS coordinates to all trailheads- Locator map and at-a-glance trip planner for easy planning- Detailed maps showing parking areas, trails, and natural highlights- Summaries of time, distance, and difficulty level for each trail- Hiking and safety tips, including advice on what to carry in your pack- Essays on the flora, fauna, and historic landmarks of the region Also Available: - AMC's Best Day Hikes near New York City (ISBN: 9781934028384)- Catskill Mountain Guide, 3rd Edition (ISBN: 9781934028940)- Discover the Adirondacks (ISBN: 9781934028315)

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The Lowdown on the High Bridge

The Lowdown on the High Bridge

Sonia Manzano

Description

"Meet the High Bridge, the oldest walking bridge in New York City, as she tells her story of how she came to carry fresh, clean drinking water to the people living on the island of Manhattan in New York City."

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One Crazy Summer

Rita Williams-Garcia

Description

Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.

When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

Set during one of the most tumultuous years in recent American history, one crazy summer is the heartbreaking, funny tale of three girls in search of the mother who abandoned them—an unforgettable story told by a distinguished author of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia.

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Escape!

Sid Fleischman

Description

Who was this man who could walk through brick walls and, with a snap of his fingers, vanish elephants? In these pages you will meet the astonishing Houdini—magician, ghost chaser, daredevil, pioneer aviator, and king of escape artists. No jail cell or straitjacket could hold him! He shucked off handcuffs as easily as gloves.

In this fresh, witty biography of the most famous bamboozler since Merlin, Sid Fleischman, a former professional magician, enriches his warm homage with insider information and unmaskings. Did Houdini really pick the jailhouse lock to let a fellow circus performer escape? Were his secrets really buried with him? Was he a bum magician, as some rivals claimed? How did he manage to be born in two cities, in two countries, on two continents at the same instant?

Here are the stories of how a knockabout kid named Ehrich Weiss, the son of an impoverished rabbi, presto-changoed himself into the legendary Harry Houdini. Here, too, are rare photographs never before seen by the general reader!

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The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm

Nancy Farmer

Description

This Newbery Honor book by award-winning, bestselling author Nancy Farmer is being reissued in paperback!

The year is 2194, and Tendai, Rita, and Kuda are the children of Zimbabwe's wealthy and powerful chief of security. They've escaped from their father's estate to explore the dangerous city of Harare--and promptly disappear. Their parents call in the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, detectives whose exposure to nuclear waste has given them special powers. Together they must save the children from the evils of the past, the technology of the future, and criminals with plans much more sinister than anyone could have imagined.

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How They Croaked

Georgia Bragg

Description

Over the course of history men and women have lived and died. In fact, getting sick and dying can be a big, ugly mess-especially before the modern medical care that we all enjoy today. How They Croaked relays all the gory details of how nineteen world figures gave up the ghost. For example:

 

It is believed that Henry VIII's remains exploded within his coffin while lying in state.
Doctors "treated" George Washington by draining almost 80 ounces of blood before he finally kicked the bucket.
Right before Beethoven wrote his last notes, doctors drilled a hole in his stomach without any pain medication.
Readers will be interested well past the final curtain, and feel lucky to live in a world with painkillers, X-rays, soap, and 911.

 

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War Horse

War Horse

Michael Morpurgo

Description

A powerful tale of war, redemption, and a hero's journey.

In 1914, Joey, a beautiful bay-red foal with a distinctive cross on his nose, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges toward the enemy, witnessing the horror of the battles in France. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey's courage touches the soldiers around him and he is able to find warmth and hope. But his heart aches for Albert, the farmer's son he left behind. Will he ever see his true master again?

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What Is Rock and Roll?

Jim O'Connor

Description

Put on your dancing shoes and move to the music.

Rock and roll sprang from a combination of African-American genres, Western swing, and country music that exploded in post World War II America. Jim O'Connor explains what constitutes rock music, follows its history and sub-genres through famous musicians and groups, and shows how rock became so much more than just a style of music influencing fashion, language, and lifestyle.

This entry in the New York Times best-selling series contains eighty illustrations and sixteen pages of black and white photographs.

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Artemis Fowl Movie Tie-In Edition (Artemis Fowl, Book 1)

Eoin Colfer

Description

Twelve-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl has discovered a world below ground of armed and dangerous--and extremely high-tech--fairies. He kidnaps one of them, Holly Short, and holds her for ransom in an effort to restore his family's fortune. But he may have underestimated the fairies' powers. Is he about to trigger a cross-species war?

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A Song for Harlem

Pat McKissack

Description

Harlem in its heyday?the 1920s?is the backdrop for the next Scraps of Time story. For Lilly Belle, ?the capital of Black America? is about as far from her hometown of Smyrna, Tennessee, as a twelve-year-old can get?maybe not in miles but certainly in mind set. A summer program for gifted young writers opens a new world. Jazz music in the street lulls her to sleep, her classroom is in a mansion called ?the Dark Tower,? and the author Zora Neale Hurston is her teacher, helping Lilly Belle come to a deeper understanding of the power of words, especially her own. Once again Patricia C. McKissack builds an involving story around real events and famous figures.
 

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Young Cam Jansen and the Library Mystery

David A. Adler

Description

When Cam Jansen, her father, and her friend Eric go to the library, Cam finds a mystery to read. But soon, she has a mystery to solve. Her father's shopping list has disappeared. Cam decides to use her amazing skills to investigate, and with a click, she puts her photographic memory into action. Where was the list seen last? And where can it possibly be?

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Narwhal on a Sunny Night

Mary Pope Osborne

Description

The #1 bestselling Magic Tree House series is ready to whisk you away through time with Jack and Annie! This time, meet famous explorer Leif Erikson and help save a narwhal!

When the magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie to Greenland, they're not sure what time they've landed in, but they immediately know what their mission is: save a narwhal! Then they meet a young hunter named Leif Erikson and they ask for his help. But Leif has other ideas...

Track the facts with Jack and Annie in the nonfiction companion to this book: Narwhals and Other Whales.

Did you know that there's a Magic Tree House book for every kid?
Magic Tree House: Perfect for readers who are just beginning chapter books
Merlin Missions: More challenging adventures for the experienced reader
Fact Trackers: Nonfiction companions to your favorite Magic Tree House adventures

If you're looking for Merlin Mission #33: Carnival at Candlelight, it was renumbered as part of the rebrand in 2017 as Merlin Mission #5.

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Ivy and Bean No News Is Good News

Annie Barrows

Description

The 8th book in the New York Times bestselling Ivy & Bean series is now available in paperback! Ivy and Bean need some money. Ten dollars, to be exact. Never mind what for. Okay, it's for low-fat Belldeloon cheese in a special just-for-one serving size. Don't ask why. But how are Ivy and Bean going to make ten dollars? Hey, maybe they should write a newspaper about Pancake Court and sell it! Great idea! And easy, too. All they have to do is nose around the neighborhood. Wow—it's interesting what comes out when snoops start digging. It's even more interesting when the neighbors read about it in the newspaper.

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Miss Nelson is Missing!

Harry Allard

Description

The classic, hilarious story of a misbehaving class, their sweet teacher, and the legendary substitute teacher who restores order in their chaotic classroom.

Miss Nelson's class always acts up--especially when their teacher is absent from school! But after a week with their strict substitute, Viola Swamp, the kids can't wait for Miss Nelson to come back.

Full of tongue-in-cheek humor and James Marshall's simply silly illustrations, this is the ultimate back-to-school book or teacher gift: Accept no substitute!

Plus don't miss the companion books: Miss Nelson Is Back and Miss Nelson Has a Field Day!

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Strega Nona

Strega Nona

Paola Tomie de

Description

Now, for the first time, Strega Nona reveals her life's story to artist/author Tomie dePaola, in this wonderful prequel to the famous "Strega Nona" books. From the dark and stormy night when she is born to the day she takes the place of the retiring Grandma Concetta as a strega, here is Strega Nona's magical story. Full-color illustrations.

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Frog and Friends

Eve Bunting

Description

Welcome to Frog and his world. He enjoys nothing better than spending time floating in his pond or visiting with his friends. He appreciates the simpler things in life and would prefer that things stay just the way they are--nice and peaceful.

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Get a Hit, Mo!

David A. Adler

Description

Mo may not be the biggest, the strongest, or the fastest baseball player, but he won't let that stop him from playing! This Step 2 reader from Geisel Award winner David Adler is now in Step into Reading!

Baseball season has arrived and Mo is all set to play with his team, the Lions. But Mo always bats last, and he always plays right field—and no balls ever come to right field. Will Mo ever get his chance to help the Lions win?

Step 2 Readers use basic vocabulary and short sentences to tell simple stories, for children who recognize familiar words and can sound out new words with help. Rhyme and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story.

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The Lion & the Mouse

Jerry Pinkney

Description

In award-winning artist Jerry Pinkney's wordless adaptation of one of Aesop's most beloved fables, an unlikely pair learn that no act of kindness is ever wasted. After a ferocious lion spares a cowering mouse that he'd planned to eat, the mouse later comes to his rescue, freeing him from a poacher's trap. With vivid depictions of the landscape of the African Serengeti and expressively-drawn characters, Pinkney makes this a truly special retelling, and his stunning pictures speak volumes.

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Olivia the Spy

Ian Falconer

Description

Everyone's favourite pig is about to have a surprise trip to the ballet! But when Olivia overhears her mother complaining about her recent naughty behaviour, her imagination runs wild and she decides to find out everything being said about her . . . until her eavesdropping leads her to believe she is being carted off to prison!

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Llama Llama Red Pajama

Anna Dewdney

Description

Llama llama

 

red pajama

reads a story

with his mama.

 

This gift edition of a bedtime read-aloud classic is perfect for birthdays, baby showers, and special occasions! Enclosed in a beautiful slip-case cover is the classic hardcover edition, a CD audio recording of the author reading Llama Llama Red Pajama and six more Llama Llama stories, and a brand new, removable piece of art by Anna Dewdney. Lots of Llama Llama to give and to love!

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Hair Love

Matthew A. Cherry

Description

A New York Times Bestseller and tie-in to Academy-Award Winning Short Film "Hair Love"

"I love that Hair Love is highlighting the relationship between a Black father and daughter. Matthew leads the ranks of new creatives who are telling unique stories of the Black experience. We need this."
- Jordan Peele, Actor & Filmmaker

It's up to Daddy to give his daughter an extra-special hair style in this ode to self-confidence and the love between fathers and daughters, from Academy-Award winning director and former NFL wide receiver Matthew A. Cherry and New York Times bestselling illustrator Vashti Harrison.


Zuri's hair has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Zuri knows it's beautiful. When Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he LOVES his Zuri, and he'll do anything to make her -- and her hair -- happy.

Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to loving your natural hair -- and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere. A perfect gift for special occasions including Father’s Day, birthdays, baby showers, and more!

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Shoo, Fly Guy!

Shoo, Fly Guy!

Tedd Arnold

Description

The third book in a humorous, easy-to-read series about a boy and his fly! Each book in the series has a different fun foil cover!

 

Fly Guy returns home to discover that Buzz has gone on a picnic without him! Sad and hungry, Fly Guy takes off in search of his favorite food. He gets shooed away from a hamburger, a pizza, a dog's bones, and even roadkill--leaving readers to guess what Fly Guy's favorite oozy, lumpy, smelly, and brown food could possibly be! Why, it's shoo-fly pie, of course!Using hyperbole, puns, slapstick, and silly drawings, bestselling author/illustrator Tedd Arnold creates an easy reader that is full of fun. With an eye-catching holographic foil cover, this is the third in a series of four books.

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Cat's Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut

Description

“A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!”—The New York Times 

Cat’s Cradle
is Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet’s ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers, Cat’s Cradle is one of the twentieth century’s most important works—and Vonnegut at his very best.

“[Vonnegut is] an unimitative and inimitable social satirist.”—Harper’s Magazine

“Our finest black-humorist . . . We laugh in self-defense.”—Atlantic Monthly

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The Fellowship of the Ring

J. R. R. Tolkien

Description

Begin your journey into Middle-earth.

A New Legend Begins on Prime Video, in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

J.R.R. Tolkien's classic epic fantasy trilogy The Lord of the Rings, now with a fresh new package for Book 1, The Fellowship of the Ring.

In ancient times, the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages, it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

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The Marrow Thieves

Cherie Dimaline

Description

Winner of 2017 Governor General's Literary Award (Young People's Literature - Text)
Winner of 2017 Kirkus Prize

Winner of the 2018 Sunburst Award
Winner of the 2018 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award

Winner of the 2018 Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and M?tis Young Adult Literature


Just when you think you have nothing left to lose, they come for your dreams.

Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden - but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

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