Best of
International

2010

I Saw Her That Night


Drago Jančar - 2010
    We follow her story from the perspective of five different characters, who also talk about themselves, as well as the troubled Slovenian times before and during World War II; times that swallowed, like a Moloch, not only the people of various beliefs involved in historical events, but also those who lived on the fringes of tumultuous events, which they did not even fully comprehend—they only wanted to live. But “only” to live was an illusion: it was a time when, even under the seemingly safe and idyllic shelter of a manor house in Slovenia, it was impossible to avoid the rushing train of violence.

Igifu


Scholastique Mukasonga - 2010
    From the National Book Award finalist who Zadie Smith says, "rescues a million souls from the collective noun genocide."Scholastique Mukasonga's autobiographical stories rend a glorious Rwanda from the obliterating force of recent history, conjuring the noble cows of her home or the dew-swollen grass they graze on. In the title story, five-year-old Colomba tells of a merciless overlord, hunger or igifu, gnawing away at her belly. She searches for sap at the bud of a flower, scraps of sweet potato at the foot of her parent's bed, or a few grains of sorghum in the floor sweepings. Igifu becomes a dizzying hole in her stomach, a plunging abyss into which she falls. In a desperate act of preservation, Colomba's mother gathers enough sorghum to whip up a nourishing porridge, bringing Colomba back to life. This elixir courses through each story, a balm to soothe the pains of those so ferociously fighting for survival.Her writing eclipses the great gaps of time and memory; in one scene she is a child sitting squat with a jug of sweet, frothy milk and in another she is an exiled teacher, writing down lists of her dead. As in all her work, Scholastique sits up with them, her witty and beaming beloved.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives


Lola Shoneyin - 2010
    The struggles, rivalries, intricate family politics, and the interplay of personalities and relationships within the complex private world of a polygamous union come to life in The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives—Big Love and The 19th Wife set against a contemporary African background.

Interviews with History and Conversations with Power


Oriana Fallaci - 2010
    Oriana Fallaci was granted access to countless world leaders and politicians throughout her remarkable career. Considering herself a writer rather than a journalist, she was never shy about sharing her opinions of her interview subjects. Her most memorable interviews—some translated into English for the first time—appear in this collection, including those with Ariel Sharon, Yassir Arafat, the former Shah of Iran, Lech Walesa, the Dalai Lama, Robert Kennedy, and many others. Also featured is the famous 1972 interview in which she succeeded in getting Henry Kissinger to call Vietnam a "useless war" and to describe himself as "a cowboy." To this day he calls the Fallaci interview "the most disastrous conversation I ever had with the press."

My Happy Life


Rose Lagercrantz - 2010
    She's happy because she's she's going to start school. Dani has been waiting to go to school her whole life. Then things get even better - she meets Ella by the swings. After that, Dani and Ella do everything together. But then somethings happens that Dani isn't prepared for.

Rick Steves Eastern Europe


Rick Steves - 2010
    Enjoy the imperial sights of Vienna and walking tours of exotic Dubrovnik. Then delve into the region's natural wonders: hike through the waterfall wonderland at Plitvice Lakes National Park, drive the winding road to the Julian Alps, and watch the sun dip slowly into the Adriatic from the Dalmatian Coast.Rick's candid, humorous advice will guide you to good-value hotels and restaurants. He'll help you plan where to go and what to see, depending on the length of your trip. You'll learn which sights are worth your time and money, and how to get around by train, bus, car, and boat. More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves guidebook is a tour guide in your pocket.

No Place Like Home: A New Beginning with the Dogs of Afghanistan


Pen Farthing - 2010
    Twelve months later, he has left the Marines, after 20 years service, to run his charity full time. But he barely has a chance to miss life in action, as he is inundated with requests from marines and soldiers to give more rescued dogs the chance of a new life in the West.Whether it's little Helmand, Fubar or Beardog - or the unruly litter known as the Char Badmashis or Four Hooligans - Pen does his upmost to give these dogs the chance they deserve. It is a frustrating and sometimes dangerous process, and while some dogs make it out to safety, others, tragically, do not. But a look out the window to see his own Afghan hounds, Now Zad and Tali, with bright eyes and glossy coats tells him it's all worthwhile.Like his Sunday Times bestseller One Dog at a Time, No Place Like Home is the story of one man's courage and persistence in the face of often insurmountable odds. It will warm - and break - the hearts of dog lovers everywhere.

Bitter Frost Omnibus 1: Books 1-4


Kailin Gow - 2010
    In her dreams, he was always there the breathtakingly handsome but dangerous Winter Prince, Kian, who is her intended. When Breena turns sixteen, she begins seeing fairies and other creatures mortals don t see. Her best friend Logan, suddenly acts very protective. Then she sees Kian, who seems intent on finding her and carrying her off to Feyland. That's fine and all, but for the fact that humans rarely survive a trip to Feyland, a kiss from a fairy generally means death to the human unless that human has fairy blood in them or is very strong, and although Kian seemed to be her intended, he seems to hate her and wants her dead. This edgy tale about beautiful and dangerous fairies, based on Dutch lore, will leave you breathless... This Omnibus Contains the first 4 Full Books of the Bitter Frost Series: Bitter Frost Forever Frost Silver Frost Frost Kisses An Epic Fantasy

Dancing in the Dark


Robyn Bavati - 2010
    Ditty Cohen is passionate about ballet--she loves how it feels to stand en pointe, to rise and spin across the room. But her Orthodox Jewish parents want Ditty to focus on the teachings of the Torah and to marry at a young age according to their religious tradition. Although her parents forbid her to take dance lessons, Ditty secretly signs up for ballet and becomes entangled in a web of deceit. As one lie leads to another and another, Ditty knows she must stop dancing, but she can't abandon the one thing that gives her freedom. She begins to question her faith and everything her parents have taught her, realizing just how much is at stake as her two worlds collide.

Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan


John Bul Dau - 2010
    His wife, Martha, endured similar hardships. In this memorable book, the two convey the best of African values while relating searing accounts of famine and war. There’s warmth as well, in their humorous tales of adapting to American life. For its importance as a primary source, for its inclusion of the rarely told female perspective of Sudan’s lost children, for its celebration of human resilience, this is the perfect story to inform and inspire young readers.

Quiet Hero


Rita Cosby - 2010
    . . Emmy® award–winning journalist, TV host, and New York Times bestselling author Rita Cosby has always asked the tough questions in her interviews with the world’s top newsmakers. Now, in a compelling and powerful memoir, she reveals how she uncovered an amazing personal story of heroism and courage, the untold secrets of a man she has known all her life: her father. Years after her mother’s tragic death, Rita finally nerved herself to sort through her mother’s stored belongings, never dreaming what a dramatic story was waiting for her. Opening a battered tan suitcase, she discovered it belonged to her father—the enigmatic man who had divorced her mother and left when Rita was still a teenager. Rita knew little of her father’s past: just that he had left Poland after World War II, and that his many scars, visible and not, bore mute witness to some past tragedy. He had always refused to answer questions. Now, however, she held in her hand stark mementos from the youth of the man she knew only as Richard Cosby, proud American: a worn Polish Resistance armband; rusted tags bearing a prisoner number and the words Stalag IVB; and an identity card for an ex-POW bearing the name Ryszard Kossobudzki. Gazing at these profoundly telling relics, the well-known journalist realized that her father’s story was one she could not allow him to keep secret any longer. When she finally did persuade him to break his silence, she heard of a harrowing past that filled her with immense pride . . . and chilled her to the bone. At the age of thirteen, barely even adolescent, her father had seen his hometown decimated by bombs. By the time he was fifteen, he was covertly distributing anti-Nazi propaganda a few blocks from the Warsaw Ghetto. Before the Warsaw Uprising, he lied about his age to join the Resistance and actively fight the enemy to the last bullet. After being nearly fatally wounded, he was taken into captivity and sent to a German POW camp near Dresden, finally escaping in a daring plan and ultimately rescued by American forces. All this before he had left his teens. This is Richard Cosby’s story, but it is also Rita’s. It is the story of a daughter coming to understand a father whose past was too painful to share with those he loved the most, too terrible to share with a child . . . but one that he eventually revealed to the journalist. In turn, Rita convinced her father to join her in a dramatic return to his battered homeland for the first time in sixty-five years. As Rita drew these stories from her father and uncovered secrets and emotions long kept hidden, father and daughter forged a new and precious bond, deeper than either could have ever imagined.

Dog-Heart


Diana McCaulay - 2010
    Alternating between the perspectives of the woman and the boy, the story engages with issues of race and class, examines the complexities of relationships between people of very different backgrounds, and explores the difficulties faced by individuals seeking to bring about social change through their own actions. The dramatic climax and tragic choices made grow from the gulf of incomprehension between middle-class and poor Jamaicans and provide penetrating insights into the roots of violence in impoverished communities.

This Is Not That Dawn


यशपाल - 2010
    Reviving life in Lahore as it was before 1947, the book opens on a nostalgic note, with vivid descriptions of the people that lived in the city’s streets and lanes like Bhola Pandhe Ki Gali: Tara, who wanted an education above marriage; Puri, whose ideology and principles often came in the way of his impoverished circumstances; Asad, who was ready to sacrifice his love for the sake of communal harmony. Their lives—and those of other memorable characters—are forever altered as the carnage that ensues on the eve of Independence shatters the beauty and peace of the land, killing millions of Hindus and Muslims, and forcing others to leave their homes forever.

Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema


Alexis Van Hurkman - 2010
    This craft is an art form that often takes years to perfect and many trial-and-error attempts at getting it right. Here to help both the newcomer and professional who needs to brush up on their skills is the first book to cover a wide variety of techniques that can be used by colorists, no matter what system they're using. Whether you're using a video editing package with a color correction tool built in (Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro) of a dedicated application (Apple Color, Assimilate Scratch, Baselight, or DaVinci), this book covers it all. From the most basic methods for evaluating and correcting an overall image, to the most advanced targeted corrections and creative stylizations typically employed, you'll find this highly organized book a solid reference that's easy to navigate. The accompanying DVD contains footage as well as cross-platform exercises and project files for readers to experiment with. After reading the techniques, readers will learn to apply the methods that all of the color correction applications use, how to problem-solve and trouble-shoot, how to maximize the effectiveness of each tool that's available, and they will discover how to creatively combine techniques and tools to accomplish the types of stylizations that colorists are often called upon to create. Praise for Color Correction Handbook: "From Alexis Van Hurkman comes an up-to-date, most welcome, encyclopedic guide for colorists: Color CorrectionHandbook (Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema). The breadth of this work is almost impossibly ambitious: Van Hurkman embraces all the important topics, and the liberal use of illustrated examples, with accompanying waveforms and solutions from various platforms, succeeds in providing a single reference work for the colorist at almost any level of expertise.... Colorists will find gaps in their knowledge are as well-served by this book as the aspiring colorist already under the tutelage of a master." Ron LingelbachColorist, Dolby Laboratories; Founder, TKcolorist Internet Group (TIG) "Color correction is a complex and subtle craft. The student needs to sit next to professionals on a real jobs, and ask them continuously what they just did, and why they did it. The professional rarely has the time and the patience to answer newbie questions, and the earnest scholar quickly ends up outside the grading suite, wondering sadly whether there was an easier road to knowledge.Now, at last, there may be. Alex Van Hurkman's book comes with a DVD of example material you can load onto your color grading workstation. It covers many useful real examples, explaining what you might do to make the images look better, what is the easiest way to do it on any of the popular platforms, and even how to explain what you are doing to others. If you want to learn color correction, this book will make a difference."Dr Richard KirkColour Scientist, FilmLight LtdRecipient of 2010 AMPAS Scientific and Engineering Award"Van Hurkman covers the theory and the practical application of color-correction very well...it's always good to understand the theory of *why* the image looks good or bad and how it relates to photography, electronics, and physics. I have no doubt Van Hurkman's book is as close as we're going to get to a standard textbook for the world of color correction. If nothing else, I think it communicates the idea to neophyte filmmakers that there's far more to color-correction than just having the software or the box. It's *experience* that makes good color -- not the system."Highly recommended.--Marc Wielage/Senior ColoristLowry Digital/Burbank

Requiem for the Orchard


Oliver de la Paz - 2010
    . . In spite of such hardscrabble cruelties—or because of them—there is also a real tenderness in these poems, the revelations of bliss driving along an empty highway 'like opening a heavy book, / letting the pages feather themselves and finding a dried flower.' . . . The poet has a gift for rendering his world in cinematic images. . . . In short, these poems are the stuff of life itself, ugly and beautiful, wherever or whenever we happen to live it." —Martin Espada

The Volcano, Montserrat and Me: Twenty years with an active volcano


Lally Brown - 2010
    A relaxed retreat where millionaires rubbed shoulders with locals and pop legends like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sting, Phil Collins and Elton John came to record their albums at Air Studios.Then on the morning of 18th July 1995 everything changed. After 350 years of dormancy the volcano in the hills above the capital Plymouth stirred awake. On that first day a sulphurous smell filled the air, ashy steam was vented high into the sky and a roaring sound was heard. The residents of Montserrat were frightened. The authorities were caught completely unprepared. As volcanic activity steadily increased half the population left the island and the remainder fled in terror to the safe north. This is a personal diary of the first three years of the eruption 1995 to 1998 and concludes with a detailed summary of activity during the years 1999 to 2015.The book is a powerful and graphic description of the realities of living with an unpredictable and extremely dangerous volcano, with the added hazard of several hurricanes.There is tension, tragedy, stress and fear but there is also much laughter and love.

The Turning of the Tide


Liz Shakespeare - 2010
    

The Bookseller's Sonnets


Andi Rosenthal - 2010
    Thomas More, legal advisor to and close friend of Henry VIII. As Jill and her colleagues work to authenticate this rare find, letters arrive to convey the manuscript's history and the donor's unimaginable story of survival. At the same time, representatives from the Archdiocese of New York arrive to stake their claim to this controversial document, hoping to send it to a Vatican archive before its explosive content becomes public. As the process of authentication hovers between find and fraud, and as the battle for provenance plays out between religious institutions, Jill struggles with her own family history, and her involvement in a relationship she fears will disrupt and disappoint her family.

Korean for Beginners: Mastering Conversational Korean (CD-ROM Included)


Henry J. Amen IV - 2010
    Realistic situations you might encounter in Korea in Korean-speaking environments are described, and new words are explained in terms of how you'll find them useful to communicate. Numerous illustrations enliven the text, and a CD-ROM bound into the jacket lets you listen and repeat phrases in the book. Soon you'll be able to say with pride, "I know Korean!" Features of Korean for Beginners are:-Learn to read Korean writing with ease-Practical phrases help you converse with confidence-A lighthearted "guide" walks you through, bringing the language to life-The CD–ROM's native Korean speakers help you to speak Korean like a proAs the more than 1 million Americans who speak Korean can attest, Korean is here to stay, and generations of young (and older) adults are determined to learn it. This book is for people who want a grasp of how to speak, write and understand Korean—and who want to enjoy things while they're at it!

Thoughts and Counsels of the Saints for Every Day of the Year


Various - 2010
    Please enjoy this historical and classic work. All of our titles are only 99 cents and are formatted to work with the Nook. Also, if it is an illustrated work, you will be able to see all of the original images. This makes them the best quality classic works available for the lowest price. So enjoy this classic work as if it were the original book!

I Ching: Walking your path, creating your future


Hilary Barrett - 2010
    The Chinese Zhou people developed this Book of Changes. The I-Ching is an ancient Chinese oracle, a proven tool of divination that can help readers foresee the future. It is a complete guide to change: understanding it, moving with it, creating it. It describes change that is transformative and seasonal, global and personal, incremental and revolutionary. It tells stories of great historical change, and it sketches tiny vignettes of everyday life—marrying, surviving an illness, repairing a well.The beautifully designed pages of this book, along with its striking flexibound cover will appeal to the reference and gift markets. This manual includes all 64 hexagrams with key questions delineating the main themes, and step-by-step instructions on how to cast a hexagram, with three coins or with yarrow stalks or beads. The book also offers simple techniques for discovering the personal meaning of the answers you receive and suggests ways to carry your readings into daily life.This attractive, practical I Ching for divination pays homage to the original text while supporting the modern user with lucid explanations and guidelines for interpreting the oracle.

Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East


Geoffrey Wawro - 2010
    The result is a definitive and revelatory history whose drama, tragedy, and rich irony he relates with unprecedented verve. Wawro combed archives in the United States and Europe and traveled the Middle East to unearth new insights into the hidden motivations, backroom dealing, and outright espionage that shaped some of the most tumultuous events of the last one hundred years. Wawro offers piercing analysis of iconic events from the birth of Israel to the death of Sadat, from the Suez crisis to the energy crisis, from the Six-Day War to Desert One, from Iran-contra to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the rise of al- Qaeda. Throughout, he draws telling parallels between America's past mistakes and its current quandaries, proving that we're in today's muddle not just because of our old errors, but because we keep repeating those errors.America has juggled multiple commitments and conflicting priorities in the Middle East for nearly a century. Strands of idealism and ruthless practicality have alternated- and sometimes run together-in our policy. Quicksand untangles these strands as no history has done before by showing how our strategies unfolded over the entire century and across the entire region. We've persistently misread the intentions and motivations of every major player in the region because we've insisted on viewing them through the lens of our own culture, hopes, and fears. Most administrations since Eisenhower's have adopted their own "doctrine" for the Middle East, and almost every doctrine has failed precisely because it's a doctrine-a template into which events on the ground refuse to fit. Geoffrey Wawro's peerless and remarkably lively history is key to understanding our errors and the Middle East-at last- on its own terms.

Eight Days: A Story of Haiti


Edwidge Danticat - 2010
    While Junior is trapped for 8 days beneath his collapsed house after an earthquake, he uses his imagination for comfort. Drawing on beautiful, everyday-life memories, Junior paints a sparkling picture of Haiti for each of those days--flying kites with his best friend or racing his sister around St. Marc's Square--helping him through the tragedy until he is finally rescued. Love and hope dance across each page--granting us a way to talk about resilience as a family, a classroom, or a friend.

A Warrior's Tale


L.T. Suzuki - 2010
    Besieged by the enemy from the east and now immersed in war with soldiers of the Dark Army from the west, Nayla Treeborn and her people are about to engage in the next great war that will decide the fate of all mankind and Elves in Imago. In a desperate attempt to deliver word to the Elf king of Wyndwood andthose of the alliance for a call to arms, she is the last surviving messenger sent forth by her people. Now, trapped in a storm at the top of the world, she fights to survive the deadly elements in a strange land.Despised by Elves and shunned by mortals, she must now find the courage to make a place in this world, and the compassion to save those who keep her at arm's length. This adventure recounts the defining moments in Nayla's life that had forged her into a deadly warrior, a great captain and a legend amongst the people of Imago.

Village of Sycamore


Maria Rihte - 2010
    She s ready to begin a new life in her grandmother s old cottage in this picturesque village of lush gardens and wild waterfront. Jackie opens her own studio and gallery and finds that life is perfect except for the bills. In a desperate attempt to save the life she now loves, Jackie organizes a studio tour, rallying together the island s many artists and crafts people, in hopes of bringing more visitors to the island. The idea is popular, but Jackie is almost defeated. How to persuade these fiercely independent artists to work together without disrupting the delicate balance of their daily lives? The whole village falls into chaos as artistic personalities clash and long-hidden skeletons come out of the closet. Secret trysts, nude portraits, love and inconsolable broken hearts, mistaken death, and resurrection slowly unravel Jackie s carefully crafted tour plans."

Otto and the Secret Light of Christmas


Nora Surojegin - 2010
    So he heads north, trudging through dark forests and skiing towards the fells of Lapland, in search of the secret light of Christmas. On his way he meets the mighty Kekri, king of the forest, Niiu, a beautiful leaf fairy, a hungry badger, a friendly bear and the infamous Ironworm. But will he ever find the mysterious light he's looking for, and will Christmas brighten Otto's winter? In this charming storybook a mother and daughter team have painted a captivating picture of the landscape, wildlife and folklore of Finland. Otto and his friends are brought to life in sensitive, detailed illustrations on every page. Each chapter features a short new episode, making this book perfect for bedtime reading.

Mary Had a Little Lamb


Jonas Sickler - 2010
    And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go!   Indestructibles is the trusted series for easing little ones into story time. Beloved by babies and their parents, Indestructibles are built for the way babies “read” (i.e., with their hands and mouths) and are:Rip Proof—made of ultra-durable tight-woven materialWaterproof—can be chewed on, drooled on, and washed!Emergent Literacy Tool—bright pictures and few or no words encourage dialogic readingPortable—lightweight books can go anywhere, perfect for the diaper bag and for travelSafe for Baby—meets ASTM safety standards

Jake's Monster Mess


Ken Spillman - 2010
    Jake's room is only slightly messy—until he tries to clean it! After he has cleared out his sock drawer, his jock drawer, and his toy cupboard and dragged all the dusty and forgotten clutter out from under the bed, he realizes all those things are piled high on his floor—and worse, they've expanded! Packed with inventive and fun illustrations, this is a hilarious story of one boy’s battle with his topsy-turvy bedroom.

Jake's Gigantic List


Ken Spillman - 2010
    This year he wants a pirate, a dinosaur, a leopard, and a dragon. Luckily for Jake, his Auntie Lyn knows where to find such gifts, but Jake can't imagine such a place. When Auntie Lyn takes him to a bookstore and leaves him to sort through two piles of books—the boring books and the "okay" books—Jake discovers that they are not boring at all. In fact, they hold the key to fulfilling his gigantic birthday wish list.

A History of the Yoruba People


Stephen Adebanji Akintoye - 2010
    With a population of nearly 40 million spread across Western Africa - and diaspora communities in Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and North America - Yoruba are one of the most researched groups emanating from Africa. Yet, to date, very few have grappled fully with the historical foundations and development of this group which has contributed to shaping the way African communities are analyzed from prehistoric to modern times. This commendable book deploys four decades of historiography research with current interpretations and analyses to present the most complete and authoritative volume to date. This exceptionally lucid account gathers and imparts a wealth of research and discourses on Yoruba studies for a wider group of readership than ever before.

The Red Piano


André LeBlanc - 2010
    During China's Cultural Revolution a young girl is taken from her family and sent to a far-off labor camp. Forbidden to play the piano, she nevertheless finds a way of smuggling handwritten music into the camp and sneaking away at night to practice a piano in a secret location—until, one night, she is caught. Inspired by the amazing true story of international concert pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei, this acclaimed picture book poetically relates an astonishing story of perseverance set against a cataclysmic period of history.

A Blonde Bengali Wife


Anne Hamilton - 2010
     For Anne Hamilton, a three-month winter programme of travel and "cultural exchange" in a country where the English language, fair hair, and a rice allergy are all extremely rare was always going to be interesting, challenging, and frustrating. What they didn't tell Anne was that it would also be sunny, funny, and the start of a love affair with this unexplored area of Southeast Asia. A Blonde Bengali Wife shows the lives beyond the poverty, monsoons, and diarrhoea of Bangladesh and charts a vibrant and fascinating place where one minute Anne is levelling a school playing field "fit for the national cricket team," and then cobbling together a sparkly outfit for a formal wedding the next. Along with Anne are the essential ingredients for survival: a travel-savvy Australian sidekick, a heaven-sent adopted family, and a short, dark, and handsome boy-next-door. During her adventures zipping among the dusty clamour of the capital Dhaka, the longest sea beach in the world at Cox's Bazaar, the verdant Sylhet tea gardens, and the voluntary health projects of distant villages, Anne amasses a lot of friends, stories...and even a husband. A Blonde Bengali Wife is the "unexpected travelogue" that reads like a comedy of manners to tell the other side of the story of Bangladesh. All money earned from A Blonde Bengali Wife goes direct to the charity, Bhola's Children, of which the author and agent are active participants. A Blonde Bengali Wife isn't about Bhola but it is a tribute to Anne's journeys into Bangladesh and all the friends she has made there. Most of all, it is the story of the country that inspired Bhola's Children.

The Burmese Box : Two Novellas


Leela Majumdar - 2010
    When Panchu Mama narrates the hair-raising story of how it was acquired and the mysterious circumstances in which it got lost, Goopy decides to find the fabled box and its precious contents. 'The Burmese Box' is an action-packed story of a family on a treasure hunt, as they grapple with devious plans and nasty crooks, a highly suspicious detective and eccentric relatives. In 'Goopy's Secret Diary', con men, hidden treasures, a stolen necklace and the secret of an old mansion make for a fascinating read as we follow Goopy's rollicking adventures in a forest. Featuring two novellas, The Burmese Box is beloved children's author Lila Majumdar at her best. Her impeccable style and trademark humour will keep generations of readers in thrall.

Dancers of the World


Aurelia Hardy - 2010
    This book lets young readers discover the world through dance and music. Through anecdotes, the reader will discover the dancers' love for dance enhanced with wonderful illustrations by Sybile.Gr 3-6- Fifteen young women worldwide enthusiastically describe the dance form they love and practice. Each one talks about the music, the steps, and the dance's history, and imagines herself in a particular role. In some cases, she describes a real performance. The styles vary greatly-ballet, ballroom, folk, Kabuki, Senegalese, Flamenco, Tahitian, etc. The text is written in a casual, diarylike format that is appealing. The colorful double-page illustrations with some foldouts feature elongated figures with the same idealized dancer's body in attractive costumes and appropriate settings. The text is often on colored pages that sometimes seem a bit opaque for the print to be able to stand out. A useful addition for collections that need more information about the various forms of dance.--School Library Journal“Dancers of the World" is a magical vignette of 14 graceful dancers from locations, traditions, and cultures around the world. Beautifully illustrated with fold-out painted scenes, dancers like Heloise, from the Parisian ballet, or Maeva, a Tahitian dancer, or Cynthia, an American rock and roll dancer adorn these incredible pages. Each dancer has a brief biography that includes specifics about the origin of the type of dance she specializes in. From Aram, a Bollywood dancer in Omandur, South India, to Akiko, a kabuki dancer in Japan, here are beautiful examples of many styles of exotic, graceful dance traditions. "Dancers of the World" is a treasure chest book especially appealing to young girls who hope to follow their own dance dreams.--Midwest Book Review

Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes: Share and Sing in Two Languages [Audio CD Included]


Faye-Lynn Wu - 2010
    Whether your native language is English or Chinese, you can learn the rhymes along with your children. Just follow the words on the page, or play the CD and sing along! Nursery rhymes and songs include:Muffin ManHappy Birthday to YouI See the MoonAs I Was Going AlongHickory Dickory DockI Love Little PussyAnd many more…

A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk


Jan L. Coates - 2010
    The year is 1987, and suddenly in the night soldiers from the north invade the village, looting, burning, and killing. The war has arrived, and the life of Jacob will never be the same. This novel is based on the real life experiences of a Sudanese boy who, with thousands of other boys from the region, fled for his life and spent seven years walking through deserts, grasslands and forests, crossing crocodile-infested rivers, surviving life in massive refugee camps. The so-called Lost Boys of Sudan – as they were called by an American aid organization – numbered as many as 27,000, and while many died – from starvation, attacks by wild animals, drowning, or through the brutality of the military – many survived. Jacob never returned to his village, but though he was only seven years old when he had to flee, he somehow managed to live through an almost unimaginable ordeal. Throughout the seven years covered in this story, Jacob resists the temptation to join the liberation army. Steadily Jacob finds himself more and more adhering to his mother’s advice that getting an education is crucial to escaping the cycle of violence that afflicts his country. Jacob’s struggle, then, is to persist in seeking out teachers and eventually a school where his ambition to learn about the world can be met. Through it all he learns about loyalty and love for close friends who have been thrust together with him on this extraordinary journey, and also about the guiding light provided by the memory of his mother.

Without Anesthesia: New & Selected Poems


Aleš Debeljak - 2010
    This staggering volume by a leading poet of Eastern Europe, acclaimed both at home and abroad, includes the entirety of Debeljak's two most recent collections, Unended and Under the Waterline (available for the first time in English) and selections from his groundbreaking earlier work.

People: The Royals Revised and Updated: Their Lives, Loves and Secrets


People Magazine - 2010
    . . Diana dazzled, Grace glowed, and there were many happily--and unhappily--ever afters. Now People takes you inside the lives of the world's royals--at home, at play and up close and personal. Here in this gorgeous celebration of all things regal are those unforgettable weddings, shocking scandals, and dashing heirs to gilded thrones.

The Price of Stones: Building a School for My Village


Twesigye Jackson Kaguri - 2010
     Growing up in rural Uganda, Kaguri overcame poverty to earn a degree from the national university and worked as a human rights advocate, eventually making his way to pursue studies at Columbia University. When he returned to his village in Uganda with his wife, they were overwhelmed by the plight of his village's many AIDS orphans and vowed to open the first tuition-free school in the district for these children. Faced with many daunting obstacles, including little money, skepticism among friends in both the U.S. and Uganda, corrupt school inspectors, and a lack of supplies, he doggedly built one classroom after another until they had an accredited primary school filled with students dreaming of becoming the future doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers, and even presidents of Uganda. The Price of Stones is the stirring story behind the founding of the Nyaka AIDS Orphans School. Weaving together tales from his youth with the enormously inspiring account of the remarkable challenges and triumphs of the school, Kaguri shows how someone with a modest idea is capable of achieving monumental results. His story will captivate all readers of Three Cups of Tea and Tracy Kidder's Strength in What Remains.

The Cigar Maker


Mark McGinty - 2010
    The year is 1898. Young Cuban rebel Salvador Ortiz and his family have escaped the hardship of war-torn Cuba, but the union halls, cigar factories, and dark alleys of Tampa are filled with violence and vendetta. Salvador must defy constant labor strife and deadly corruption in a one-industry town known for backroom cockfights, street thugs, late-night abductions and mass production of the world's best hand-rolled stogies. An ideological battle for control of the cigar industry tests Salvador's self-respect and love of hard work as he fights to abandon his rambunctious, outlaw past and lead his proud Cuban family into a colorful immigrant society. His wish for a peaceful life as a husband, a father, and a man of dignity is threatened by a lawless underworld and a cultural conflict with a dangerous, bloody history.The Cigar Maker won the following awards:*Bronze Medal, IPPY Awards 2010*Finalist: Book of the Year Awards, Historical Fiction, 2010*Honorable Mention General Fiction: London Book Festival, 2010*Honorable Mention General Fiction: DIY Convention, 2011*Honorable Mention General Fiction: New England Book Festival, 2010

Saved by Her Enemy: An Iraqi woman's journey from the heart of war to the heartland of America


Don Teague - 2010
    Her understanding of the world, of her place in it, and of the United States had been steeped in the culture of Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein. Yet, in the midst of insurgents attempting to kidnap and kill her, she found herself on the receiving end of lifesaving help from those she considered her enemies.Rafraf suddenly finds herself living with a Christian family in the Bible Belt of America. Nothing had prepared her for this new reality—the life of a college student in a vastly foreign culture, in a community as far from her expectations as she could have imagined, and in a family that opens their hearts to enfold her.Saved by Her Enemy is a riveting journey of two very different people from opposite sides of the world, of faith, of experience, and of expectations. The dramatic intersection of their lives and their journey together is an inspiration to those who have ever felt there was more to life than the world they knew. A young Iraqi woman, an American war correspondent, and a true tale of friendship, faith, and family against the backdrop of war and the collision of culturesThis is a story of a very unlikely friendship—between American war correspondent Don Teague and Rafraf Barrak, an Iraqi college girl who won a job as a translator for NBC during the early months of violence in the wake of the American invasion of Iraq.While covering a story together, the two were nearly killed by a bomb, an experience that created a bond between them that led them down a path neither could have imagined.What follows is a story of transformation, as Rafraf—from a devout Muslim family—becomes the target of terrorist threats to kidnap and murder her. Don and his fellow correspondents mobilize to help save her life and suddenly Rafraf finds herself on the receiving end of an offer for safety and a new life in the United States. Dramatically transplanted from the streets of Iraq to the Bible Belt of middle America, Rafraf finds everything that she knew—or thought she knew—about herself, her values, her world, even faith and family, turned upside down. Meanwhile, Don; his wife, Kiki; and their children discover they’ve embarked on an adventure with Rafraf that reshapes their lives. This captivating story inspires us all to join Don and Rafraf in discovering that there is far more to life than the world we know.

Blacks and Blackness in Central America: Between Race and Place


Lowell Gudmundson - 2010
    Yet in the development of national identities and historical consciousness, Central American nations have often countenanced widespread practices of social, political, and regional exclusion of blacks. The postcolonial development of mestizo or mixed-race ideologies of national identity have systematically downplayed African ancestry and social and political involvement in favor of Spanish and Indian heritage and contributions. In addition, a powerful sense of place and belonging has led many peoples of African descent in Central America to identify themselves as something other than African American, reinforcing the tendency of local and foreign scholars to see Central America as peripheral to the African diaspora in the Americas. The essays in this collection begin to recover the forgotten and downplayed histories of blacks in Central America, demonstrating the centrality of African Americans to the region’s history from the earliest colonial times to the present. They reveal how modern nationalist attempts to define mixed-race majorities as “Indo-Hispanic,” or as anything but African American, clash with the historical record of the first region of the Americas in which African Americans not only gained the right to vote but repeatedly held high office, including the presidency, following independence from Spain in 1821.Contributors. Rina Cáceres Gómez, Lowell Gudmundson, Ronald Harpelle, Juliet Hooker, Catherine Komisaruk, Russell Lohse, Paul Lokken, Mauricio Meléndez Obando, Karl H. Offen, Lara Putnam, Justin Wolfe

Beneath the Lion's Gaze


Maaza Mengiste - 2010
    This memorable, heartbreaking story opens in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1974, on the eve of a revolution. Yonas kneels in his mother’s prayer room, pleading to his god for an end to the violence that has wracked his family and country. His father, Hailu, a prominent doctor, has been ordered to report to jail after helping a victim of state-sanctioned torture to die. And Dawit, Hailu’s youngest son, has joined an underground resistance movement—a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed across a ravaged Ethiopia. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze tells a gripping story of family, of the bonds of love and friendship set in a time and place that has rarely been explored in fiction. It is a story about the lengths human beings will go in pursuit of freedom and the human price of a national revolution. Emotionally gripping, poetic, and indelibly tragic, Beneath The Lion’s Gaze is a transcendent and powerful debut. .

The No. 1 Car Spotter


Atinuke - 2010
    He's the Number 1 car spotter in his village.The Number 1 car spotter in the world! The start of an exciting new series about the irresistible Number 1, whose hobby is car spotting, but who is good at solving all sorts of problems for his village.

The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the XXI Century


Michel Chossudovsky - 2010
    The complex causes as well as the devastating consequences of the economic crisis are carefully scrutinized with contributions from Ellen Brown, Tom Burghardt, Michel Chossudovsky, Richard C. Cook, Shamus Cooke, John Bellamy Foster, Michael Hudson, Tanya Cariina Hsu, Fred Magdoff, Andrew Gavin Marshall, James Petras, Peter Phillips, Peter Dale Scott, Bill Van Auken, Claudia von Werlhof and Mike Whitney.Despite the diversity of viewpoints and perspectives presented within this volume, all of the contributors ultimately come to the same conclusion: humanity is at the crossroads of the most serious economic and social crisis in modern history.

Rama and Sita: Path of Flames


Sally Clayton - 2010
    Rama marries beautiful Sita, but Ravana, the 10-headed, 20-armed Demon King, falls in love with her too. He captures her and takes her in his chariot to the Demon Kingdom, Lanka. Rama has to find a way to rescue Sita, and he seeks the help of the monkey general Hanuman and the King of the Bears, and Jambuvan, the King of the Bears. Rama, his brother Lakshman and the band of monkeys and bears battle their way to the Kingdom of the Demons. They cross the sea by building a bridge, with the help of the fishes and sea creatures, and find Sita locked in Hanuman's tower, guarded by demonesses. After a final, terrible battle, the Demon King is defeated and Rama and Sita are reunited. The beautiful end to the story, telling how people put out lamps to light Rama and Sita's pathway home, is at the heart of the Hindu festival of Divali. in which earthen lamps - called divas - are lit, to celebrate the return of Rama after his exile and to mark the end of one year and the beginning of another.

Seized: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters


Max Hardberger - 2010
    Seized throws open the hatch on the shadowy world of maritime shipping, where third-world governments place exorbitant liens against ships, pirates seize commercial vessels with impunity, crooks and con artists reign supreme on the docks and in the shipyards—and hapless owners have to rely on sea captain Max Hardberger to recapture their ships and win justice on the high seas. A ship captain, airplane pilot, lawyer, teacher, writer, adventurer, and raconteur, Max Hardberger recovers stolen freighters for a living.  In Seized, he takes us on a real-life journey into the mysterious world of freighters and shipping, where fortunes are made and lost by the whims of the waves.  Desperate owners hire Max Hardberger to “extract” or steal back ships that have been illegitimately seized by putting together a mission-impossible team to sail them into international waters under cover of darkness.  It’s a high stakes assignment—if Max or his crew are caught, they risk imprisonment or death. Seized takes readers behind the scenes of the multibillion dollar maritime industry, as he recounts his efforts to retrieve freighters and other vessels from New Orleans to the Caribbean, from East Germany to Vladivostak, Russia, and from Greece to Guatemala.  He resorts to everything from disco dancing to women of the night to distract the shipyard guards, from bribes to voodoo doctors to divert attention and buy the time he needs to sail a ship out of a foreign port without clearance.  Seized is adventure nonfiction at its best.

A Child's Introduction to the World: Geography, Cultures, and People--From the Grand Canyon to the Great Wall of China


Heather Alexander - 2010
     Starting with the basics hemispheres, latitude and longitude, continental drift, map notation, landforms, population density, and more the book gives kids a solid foundation to begin exploring world geography. Each section profiles a different continent, including climates and biomes (tundra, grasslands, etc.), mountain ranges and bodies of water, people and cultures, governments and industries, wildlife, and much more. And sidebars throughout offer biographies of explorers, fun facts, and projects kids can do with parents or on their own. The book also includes a pop-up paper globe and reusable stickers. With 150 charming, original watercolor illustrations, A Child's Introduction to the World is an entertaining and comprehensive overview of our fascinating planet.

Dreaming of Wolves: Adventures in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania


Alan E. Sparks - 2010
    Through a series of entertaining vignettes and informative essays, the author paints an extraordinary portrait of the lives of wolves, of the researchers who study them, and of the rural people with whom they have coexisted for centuries in a remote mountainous region of Eastern Europe – an exotic land that has remained largely untouched by modern trends and undiscovered by western travelers.Whether joining the narrator as he tracks wolves through the deep snows and dense forests of the Carpathian Mountains, or fends off belligerent shepherd dogs, or journeys through history to discover the real Dracula, the reader learns a remarkable amount of fascinating information about wolves, about the history and folklore of Romania, and about traditional rural life in the mountain villages of Transylvania. The story is written in an understated voice that is at once honest and humorous, deriving from events perceived with a keen and sensitive eye. The book presents several sub-themes – such as the benefits of conserving wilderness, the joy of discovering self through the pursuit of dreams, and an unusual perspective on the nature of time and consciousness – all of which are woven smoothly into the fabric of a well-told story.The narrative is enhanced with 32 pages of beautiful color photographs.

Fair Trade and Social Justice: Global Ethnographies


Sarah Lyon - 2010
    Consumers pay a "fair price" for Fair Trade items, which are meant to generate greater earnings for family farmers, cover the costs of production, and support socially just and environmentally sound practices. Yet constrained by existing markets and the entities that dominate them, Fair Trade often delivers material improvements for producers that are much more modest than the profound social transformations the movement claims to support.There has been scant real-world assessment of Fair Trade's effectiveness. Drawing upon fine-grained anthropological studies of a variety of regions and commodity systems including Darjeeling tea, coffee, crafts, and cut flowers, the chapters in Fair Trade and Social Justice represent the first works to use ethnographic case studies to assess whether the Fair Trade Movement is actually achieving its goals.Contributors: Julia Smith, Mark Moberg, Catherine Ziegler, Sarah Besky, Sarah M. Lyon, Catherine S. Dolan, Patrick C. Wilson, Faidra Papavasiliou, Molly Doane, Kathy M'Closkey, Jane Henrici

Dismantling the Empire: America's Last Best Hope


Chalmers Johnson - 2010
    Now, in a brilliant series of essays written over the last three years, Johnson measures that price and the resulting dangers America faces. Our reliance on Pentagon economics, a global empire of bases, and war without end is, he declares, nothing short of "a suicide option.""Dismantling the Empire" explores the subjects for which Johnson is now famous, from the origins of blowback to Barack Obama's Afghanistan conundrum, including our inept spies, our bad behavior in other countries, our ill-fought wars, and our capitulation to a military that has taken ever more control of the federal budget. There is, he proposes, only one way out: President Obama must begin to dismantle the empire before the Pentagon dismantles the American Dream. If we do not learn from the fates of past empires, he suggests, our decline and fall are foreordained. This is Johnson at his best: delivering both a warning and an urgent prescription for a remedy.

A Gift from Childhood: Memories of an African Boyhood


Baba Wagué Diakité - 2010
    He is most unhappy about this at first, but under his grandmother’s patient and wise tutelage he comes to love his close-knit village community. He learns how to catch a catfish with his bare hands, flees from an army of bees, and mistakes a hungry albino cobra snake for a pink inner tube. Finally, Grandma Sabou decides that Baba is educated enough to go to school, and he moves back to the city, where his family struggles to provide him with a formal education. But he brings his village stories with him, and in the process of sharing them with his neighborhood uncovers his immense artistic and storytelling talents.

The Big Little Book of Magick: A Wiccan's Guide to Altars, Candles, Pendulums, and Healing Spells


D.J. Conway - 2010
    Bestselling author D. J. Conway shows how to integrate magickal practices into your daily life and reap the benefits of their richly diverse potential in this omnibus edition of four popular titles in the Little Book of Magic series. Altar Magick: Creating an altar helps us become more receptive to the sacred. Learn where and how to build an altar, what to include, and how it can focus and enhance your spiritual practice at home. Candle Magick: Candle burning is a simple yet powerful practice, and a potent form of sympathetic magick. Learn how to choose the type and color of candles appropriate for selected spells and rituals.   Pendulum Magick: The pendulum is an ancient tool used in divining, healing, and decision making. Learn how to make a pendulum and harness its power for gaining insight into the future. Healing Magick: The practice of blending magick with healing is older than recorded history. Learn the most effective magickal means of restoring or achieving good health, using spells, rituals, affirmations, visualizations, herbs, talismans and amulets, and runes.   Together, these information-packed volumes provide a diverse, extensive look at four types of modern-day magick. Filled with diagrams, charts, and drawings, this enlightening series of guides is a must-have for anyone looking to enliven, enrich, and enchant their everyday existence.

Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World


Michael Edwards - 2010
    Its supporters argue that using business principles to solve global problems is far more effective than more traditional approaches. What could be wrong with that? Almost everything, argues former Ford Foundation director Michael Edwards. In this hard-hitting, controversial exposé, he marshals a wealth of evidence to reveal that in reality, a market approach hurts more than it helps. Real change will come when business acts more like civil society, not the other way around.

Yasmin's Hammer


Ann Malaspina - 2010
    Yasmin longs to go to school so she can learn to read, but her family needs the money she and her sister earn at the brickyard to help keep the rice bag full and the roof repaired.As she hammers away at bricks day after day, Yasmin dreams of a different life. If she could read, she could be anything she wants to be when she grows up. One night Yasmin has an idea—a secret plan that will bring her one step closer to making her dream a reality.

In Search of Happiness


Juliette Saumande - 2010
    With a wise bird as his guide, he travels to different lands where he is offered praise and gifts. Realizing that none of these places is the Land of Happiness, he returns home, ready to make his own happiness. Illustrations."

Maria's Journey


Ramon Arredondo - 2010
    The couple and their tiny daughter immigrated to the United States in the 1920's, living in a boxcar while Miguel worked for the Texas Railroad and eventually, settling in East Chicago, Indiana, where Miguel worked for Inland Steel. Their story includes much of early-twentieth-century America: the rise of unions, the plunge into the Great Depression, the patriotism of WWII, and the starkness of McCarthyism. Immigration status colors every scene, adding to their story deportation and citizenship, and a miraculous message of hope.

Islam in the Modern World: Challenged by the West, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition


Seyyed Hossein Nasr - 2010
    authority on Islam and, Seyyed Hossein Nasr discusses today’s hot button issues—including holy wars, women’s rights, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and the future of Moslems in the Middle East—in this groundbreaking discussion of the fastest-growing religion in the world. One of the great scholars in the modern Islamic intellectual tradition, and the acclaimed author of books such as The Garden of Truth and The Heart of Islam, Nasr brings incomparable insight to this exploration of Muslim issues and realities, delivering a landmark publication promoting cross-cultural awareness and world peace.

T is for Tokyo


Irene Akio - 2010
    His story is both tender and descriptive, complemented by full- and double-paged illustrations. From making wishes with daruma dolls and flying kites shaped like caterpillars to discovering the two-toed shoes of construction workers and nibbling on roasted chestnuts, Tokyo springs to life in a way guaranteed to enchant young readers—and their parents. Bilingual text enhances this cultural immersion for language learners of all ages.

In Mania's Memory


Lisa Birnie - 2010
    She is seven when World War II begins and eleven when she witnesses her mother die in Auschwitz. A year later, she is transferred to the work camp, Reichenbach. Johanne, an SS guard, slips her food and looks out for her, giving her hope that she will survive. Johanne even voices her desire to adopt Mania when the war ends. But when at last it does, they are suddenly separated. As the years pass, Mania often thinks about Johanne and wishes that she could thank her. Then, decades later, their lives serendipitously, perhaps miraculously, reconnect. Mania hires a cleaning lady whom she is sure is Johanne, but the woman elusively denies it.Lisa Birnie interweaves the true stories of these two remarkable women with her own experience of the war, as she attempts to discover the truth. Her book fearlessly traverses gray areas of war, belief and memory. Will Johanne admit to being the one who saved Mania? Is she deliberately keeping the truth a secret? Or is Mania mistaken? As Mania often says, “Life’s full of secrets, and every secret has a purpose.”

Voice from the Planet


Charles DegelmanDavid Landau - 2010
    Most anthologies are limited by their themes to a particular town or country, reinforcing entrenched literary nationalism whereby institutionalized literati only appreciate their own. Not Voice from the Planet. This collection of extraordinary voices is unlimited. It will transport you on a globe-trotting adventure from the trauma of African earthquake to a lush glimpse of love in the jungles of Peru. Break through to war-torn Congo, to American rebellion of the 1960s, to fire dancing in the mountains of Bulgaria, to high finance on 9/11. You'll find the unexpected wit and intelligence in this volume enthralling. The second in a series of anthologies of Living Fiction edited by Harvard alumni, Voice from the Planet is generative.

Photography and Africa


Erin Haney - 2010
     Since the advent of the medium in the first half of the nineteenth century, a myriad of photographers—both indigenous and immigrant, amateur and professional, explorer and colonist, naturalist and artist—have recorded intrepid expeditions, documented flora and fauna, and chronicled the transformations of the cultural landscape.            Photography and Africa investigates the many themes that intertwine the photographs with the circumstances of their creation. Presenting a wealth of astonishing and rare images, Erin Haney brings together some of the most vibrant examples captured in the continent. From royal portraiture in the nineteenth-century Cape Coast to staged vignettes of old Cairo streets to apartheid-era South African resistance photography, this book illustrates the fascinating and long-standing relationship between Africa and the photograph.A powerful and celebratory insight into Africa’s relationship with the photograph, Photography and Africa will appeal to those interested in the photography and culture of Africa and how the two have interacted and informed each other over time.

Flight of the Butterflies


Roberta Edwards - 2010
    It's not only an amazing sight to behold for the lucky residents of the area, but also a true miracle of nature. This easy reader follows the 2,500 mile-long journey of the Monarchs, with both full color illustrations and photographs.

Maps and Shadows


Krysia Jopek - 2010
    It explores the impacts of this shattering experience on a family from four points of view.

Take This Man


Alice Zeniter - 2010
    Alice is white. Mad is black. Alice is French; Mad, though he has studied and lived in France for years, is not. They have been friends since childhood and never been romantically involved. But now Mad is being threatened with deportation and marrying Alice strikes both friends as the best solution to their problems. On the eve of her wedding, Alice reflects on their years of friendship-from their childhood together to the first time she ever heard racial slurs being directed at her friend to the victory of Jean- Marie Le Pen in the presidential primaries in 2002. This succession of personal anecdotes forms a grand history of racism and a moving portrait of contemporary youth. Recounting stories of rebellion and friendship, of the passage from indignant adolescent to consciously engaged adult, Take This Man is a delightful and original novel by a talented young author.

Riding the Ice Wind: By Kite and Sledge across Antarctica


Alastair Vere Nicoll - 2010
    Not since Shackleton nearly perished attempting the same thing in his Endurance expedition had such a crossing been attempted. This is the story not only of the first West-to-East traverse of the continent of Antarctica, but of the crossing of two phases in the author’s life—from youth into manhood,  fantasy into reality. It is also the story of a race against time, as he fought to get home for the birth of his first child. As Alastair battled through the freezing wastes, exploring the earth’s wildest continent and his deepest self, he was haunted by the ghosts of past explorers and by the question of what it is to be a “modern man.”

The Brazilian Kitchen: 100 Classic and Creative Recipes for the Home Cook


Leticia Moreinos Schwartz - 2010
    It's in the face of the people and in the foods they eat. Ingredients like yucca, cornmeal, farofa, and dend? oil used to be seen as peasant food. Now they are considered precious ingredients in modern recipes. THE BRAZILIAN KITCHEN represents Brazil's diverse regions alongside its famous international cities? offerings. This cookbook is the product of the author's passion for her country's cuisine?her aim is to bring Brazil's favorite foods into American kitchens.

Playa Perdida


Dan Schmidt - 2010
    +++++---Dan Schmidt has a terrific mind and a gift for language. In Playa Perdida, he has drawn on a world he knows well to craft a tale you will not forget.John Ortberg Senior Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church; Menlo Park, CA---Not only has Dan Schmidt created interesting and believable characters, but he has presented them in lively, witty, and insightful prose. This novel is a must-read for all pastors, and for anyone closely related to a pastor. Crystal Downing Professor of English and Film Studies; Messiah College; Grantham, PA---Playa Perdida transports the reader to a tropical testing ground, where we all figure out what's important and what's not. The characters are authentic, the description effortlessly vivid. You will think you're there.Randy Petersen Author, playwright---What better summer beach reading could there be than a book about a beach? Really, Playa Perdida is a great read for any season. It deals with the quiet drama of spiritual growth - through endearing characters and an engaging story in a captivating setting.Brian McLaren (brianmclaren.net) Author/speaker+++++ A decade of pastoring cranky congregations has left Gray Albright badly frayed. Wanting to make sure he doesn’t come apart at the seams, friends send Gray to Panama for a much-needed vacation. But storms force his plane down early, and before he knows it, Gray and his family are in Playa Perdida, an uncharted beach town in Central America.The expatriates living there ask Gray to start a church for their community, to which he says no. Then the congregation back home decides to fire him and so, at the urging of his wife Moira, Gray reconsiders. They move south, into a duplex next to an Austrian couple with dogs; their new used car needs a full-time mechanic. But the ocean is a mile away, as is fantastic coffee at Café Café. And the job? Gray finds himself among expatriates who have washed up on this beach from all over the world--like Slot, a one-armed, big-hearted vet; the dowager Charlotte Pipe; a surfing sage; a garage band whose members have surprising depth; and, a gaggle of other off-beat charlatans and saints. With a laconic pace, gentle humor and attention to detail, Playa Perdida draws readers into life among quirky expats under the radar on the edge of obscurity. As Gray discovers, they're people with checkered pasts and uncertain futures--people like himself--in need of second chances.