A Guide for Using Misty of Chincoteague in the Classroom


MARTY SANDERS - 1999
    Included are sample plans, author information, vocabulary-building ideas, and cross-curricular activities. At the Intermediate and Challenging levels, sectional activities and quizzes, unit tests, and ideas for culminating and extending the novel are also included.

In Our Bones


Pernell Plath Meier - 2020
    Hers was the last generation to grow up before the economic collapse that followed the Corona pandemic. Amidst roiling climate chaos, the government has been taken over by extremists, incompetents, and con-men who tear the country apart while clinging to power. Lauren is swept up in the madness when she falls for the wrong man. She’s looking for love and safety, but Bryan becomes distant and abusive as he obsesses over White Sharia and deepens his ties to the racist patriot militia group. Lauren worries about the safety of her sister and nephew, who is mixed-race. Will Lauren escape from Bryan and keep her nephew safe from danger? In a world where values are tested and morality is unsettlingly murky, Lauren must break free from the constraints in her mind to protect her family.

The Ancestor


Lee Matthew Goldberg - 2020
    He sees another man hunting nearby, astounded that they look exactly alike. After following this other man home, he witnesses a wife and child that brings forth a rush of memories of his own wife and child, except he's certain they do not exist in modern times-but from his life in the late 1800s. After recalling his name is Wyatt, he worms his way into his doppelganger Travis Barlow's life. Memories become unearthed the more time he spends, making him believe that he'd been frozen after coming to Alaska during the Gold Rush and that Travis is his great-great grandson. Wyatt is certain gold still exists in the area and finding it with Travis will ingratiate himself to the family, especially with Travis's wife Callie, once Wyatt falls in love. This turns into a dangerous obsession affecting the Barlows and everyone in their small town, since Wyatt can't be tamed until he also discovers the meaning of why he was able to be preserved on ice for over a century.A meditation on love lost and unfulfilled dreams, The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner in present day Alaska and a historical adventure about the perilous Gold Rush expeditions where prospectors left behind their lives for the promise of hope and a better future. The question remains whether it was all worth the sacrifice….

The Eden Paradox


Barry Kirwan - 2011
    A new habitable planet is discovered within reach, but the first two missions have failed to return. This is the story of the third mission to Eden. What really awaits the crew of four as they make the long journey to this supposed uninhabited virgin planet, and what is the link to the secret 900 year old sect known as Alicians back on Earth? While Blake leads the Eden mission, a young researcher named Micah discovers a terrible truth that threatens the very existence of humanity. Editorial Reviews: A science fiction thriller with terrific images and revelations. SF Author Gary Gibson The reader is pulled into an all too real future, with memorable characters, leaving the reader craving more. Lydia Manx, Piker Press Amazon Reviews: ★★★★★ Superb, well-crafted, quality Scifi. I immediately bought book two in the series! ★★★★★ This is Orson Scott Card quality scifi at half the price! ★★★★★ Best science fiction of the year ★★★★★ Masterful science fiction, refreshingly original ★★★★★ I lost sleep over this book! ★★★★★ A breath-taking and truly epic series ★★★★★ A fabulous four-book set, full of imaginative new ideas ★★★★★ Six stars…brilliant…this series is addictive If you loved Dune, Foundation or Ender's Game, you'll love the first novel in this epic, galaxy-spanning series.

Westwind Secrets


Marilyn Dalla Valle - 2021
    Left by her estranged grandmother, the Second Empire Victorian mansion on Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay is thirty years past prime condition. The estate has no money for maintenance and repairs. Stuck, with meager means and no place to go, Mysti stays, despite rumored ghosts. When a drifter, Harry Pearson, shows up during a severe thunderstorm, she agrees to let him live in the carriage house in exchange for work. Soon, the tumbledown, brick fortress, springs back to life with mowed lawns, tended gardens, rebuilt porches and painted trim, but invisible evil shrouds the property. Broke, and heartbroken by her failed marriage, Mysti abandons a romance novel to write a mystery, using reality for inspiration. Oblivious to danger and driven by an unexplainable force, she delves into her grandmother’s accidental death and squandered assets with skeptical eyes. Bodies drop to protect guilty secrets, some buried for generations. Walking a tightrope to stay alive and protect her dog, Mysti Wade exposes deceit, greed and murder. Justice is served!

Dodging Satan: My Irish/Italian, Sometimes Awesome, But Mostly Creepy, Childhood


Kathleen Zamboni McCormick - 2015
    Michael’s Catholic school outside Boston in the 60s and 70s, takes refuge in her wacky misunderstandings of Bible Stories and Catholic beliefs to avoid the problems of her Irish/Italian family life. Her musings on sadistic nuns, domestic violence, emerging sexuality, and God the Father’s romantic life will delight readers. Bridget creates glorious supernatural worlds—with exorcisms, bird relics, Virgin Martyrs, time travel, Biblical plagues, even the ‘holy’ in holy water—to cope with a family where leather handbags and even garlic can cause explosions. An avid Bible reader who innocently believes everything the nuns tell her, Bridget’s saints, martyrs, and boney Christs become alive and audible within her. While the nuns chide her sinful ‘mathematical pride’ and slow eating habits, God answers her prayers instantly by day, but the devil visits nightly in the dark. Scenes run the gamut from laugh-out-loud Catholic brainwashing of children, to heart-wrenching abuse, to riveting teenage excursions toward sex. Young Bridget tries to make sense of a world of raging men and domestically subjugated women and carve a future for herself, wrestling with how God and men treat women. Her Italian female relatives—glamorous Santa Anna, black-and-blue Aunt Maria, sophisticated Eleanor with a New York ‘Fellini pageboy’—offer sensual alternatives to the repression of her immediate family. She prays fervently that “despite God’s bizarre treatment of married women... some [girls] might still discover ways to have a great time without being a nun.” Dodging Satan is the flip-side of l'Histoire d'une Âme by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux authored by a twentieth century American girl chomping on a blue-gum cigar while she talks to a confidant about God and sex.

Boo's Shoes - A Rabbit and Fox Story: Learn To Tie Shoelaces


Sybrina Durant - 2021
    He doesn’t want to learn to tie them. He has plenty of shoes for every occasion and none of them have laces or strings. So, what’s the point of learning to tie? His friend, Farah Fox, convinces him that it’s a skill he can use. . . and one that might make him happier, too.This book is meant to be a parent-child activity. Youngsters can read Boo’s story and their parents can help with the how-to-tie instruction pages. A fun shoelace-themed “I Did It” badge is included at the back of the book to give in celebration of conquering this difficult task.Exercises in manual dexterity build self-esteem in children. Knowing how to tie shoe-strings, scarves and more into a bow is a useful and rewarding skill.“Teach a child a useful skill. Build confidence and self-esteem that lasts a lifetime.”Author, Sybrina DurantOther books in the “Learn To Tie With The Rabbit and the Fox” series are the book with that name in English, Spanish and Tagalog plus a special little book to gift to boys in a wedding party. “Nellie Knows How To Knot A Neck Scarf”, “Ned Knows How To Knot A Neck Tie” and "Cleo Can Tie A Bow" are also part of the series.

Making Hearts


Jack Getze - 2020
    But a blunt nurse explains the truth: Emily is giving birth. The seventeen-year-old has tricked her mind and body into believing she isn’t pregnant, when the baby is full term and already being born.A life-affirming, feel-good story of love, family and the special way new babies can inspire, Making Hearts introduces a character readers will strongly care about and root for. Noelle wins the hearts of all with her loving enthusiasm for life, her wit, and by personally defeating the villain’s lowdown scheme in an astonishing climax readers will never forget.

Pleasant Day


Vera Jane Cook - 2015
    As Pleasant struggles with her mother's distance, her father's infidelity and the death of her best friend, she draws closer to Clarissa, an older woman with an uncanny, almost psychic, ability to 'read people.'As Clarissa uncovers the stories behind the murders, both Pleasant and Clarissa's worlds are transformed by the truths they’re forced to accept, and both find solace and strength in the shared histories that have shaped them.

Eye for Eye


J.K. Franko - 2019
    until their teenage daughter is senselessly killed.Just as they’re managing to put that tragic loss behind them, a complete stranger approaches Roy in a bar with a drunken proposal—he invokes their daughter’s memory to ask Roy to kill a man.All is not as it seems, however, and Roy and Susie soon find themselves navigating an intricate web of deception, betrayal, and revenge.Can Roy and Susie outwit their hidden enemies? And what secrets lie buried in their past that could destroy them?Eye for Eye is the pulse-pounding Book One of the Talion crime thriller series which begins with the Eye for Eye Trilogy.Eye for EyeTooth for ToothLife for LifeIf you like smart, fast-paced thrillers with unexpected twists, then you’ll love J.K. Franko’s ride on the dark side.

Savvy Sage Online


Richard Sprout - 2020
    Make new friends. Oh, and try not to die.​A first person LitRPG Gamelit Fantasy novel, Savvy Sage Online tells the story of how Nate, a twenty something guy ended up a beta tester for a next generation game system. While inside, he tries builds relationships while avoiding evil sorcerers, deadly monsters and learning how to creatively apply his new magical skills in interesting ways.Once inside the game world, Nate quickly makes friends, first with Roger and then Jenny, a plucky warrior redhead who saves him from becoming cat food. After that, Nate meets Alice, a mage working tables to save for guild dues. When Alice gives Nate a Request, he dives deep magical exploration to help make their ambitious plans come true.Together, the three fight monsters, dive into a dangerous dungeon, learn innovative magical techniques and plot to create a new place of learning for the curious. Debut novel from Richard Sprout, Savvy Sage Online is an original story over 124,000 words in length.Pick up this binge-worthy tale today!Themes from the book: Relationships with women, cultivation of magical skills, settlement building, meta-magic, crafting, gamelit, game mechanics, RPG elements, level progression, exploration, crafting, skill development and more. Savvy Sage Online is a book that will thrill fans of authors like Eric Vall, Logan Jacobs, Noah Layton, Tamryn Tamer, A.J. Markam and Simon Archer, or series like Princess Master, Ex-Supers, Herald of Shalia, Skullduggery, Tribe Master and Forge of the Gods.

Back To You


Steve Bates - 2021
    But Eddie sees through the disguise, takes an unexpected ride, and demonstrates it to his boss at a failing cable TV network. Through a series of adventures, the time machine becomes damaged, friends become stranded, and history gets changed in many ways—some dangerous, all humorous. Two romances—one quite unconventional—blossom along the way. Back to You is a hilarious science fiction romp in the tradition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

UNDER THE BUS


Kyle Keyes - 2021
    Hobbs Creek Police Chief, Alvin Phillips believed it was his lucky silver dollar. The Six-O-Clock news refused comment because the incident did not relate to the Corona virus.

The Sense of Touch


Ron Parsons - 2013
    A brilliant but troubled Bangladeshi physics student searches for balance, acceptance, and his own extraordinary destiny after his father disappears. When a Halloween blizzard immobilizes Minneapolis, a young woman is forced to confront the snow-bound nature of her own relationships and emotions. During an excursion to an idyllic swimming hole hidden in the Black Hills, two old friends unexpectedly compete for the affections of an irresistible, though married, Lakota woman. Like a mythical expedition to reach the horizon or the quest to distill truth from the beauty around us, the revelation confirmed by these imaginative stories - elegant, sometimes jarring, always wonderfully absurd - is that the very act of reaching is itself a form of touch.“The quiet plains of the North Country serve as a perfect backdrop for Parsons’ moving debut, a collection of short stories whose characters often live deeply solitary, if not always lonely, lives.”-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Eloquently written and replete with a continual stream of un-hackneyed twists and turns, Parsons’ collection is superbly crafted. Engaging, riveting, and at times, mind-boggling, The Sense of Touch is earmarked to become a literary classic.”-- San Francisco Book Review (five-star review)"Parsons has made himself a man to watch in the literary world. Each of these stories is as thrilling as the next." -- Portland Book Review (five-star review)"Each story is honed with purpose and infused with subtle energies. He creates delicate lines between the frigid cosmos and the warmth that can be generated among people. Parsons' writing has a strong pulse. This debut assortment heralds his promising career." -- The US Review of Books (Top-Rated Recommended Review)

Kazungul


Marcus L. Lukusa - 2014
    Until recently I was just a normal boy. Well, besides the fact that I grew up wearing a copper bracelet and a malachite collar. When I moved to Johannesburg though, everything changed. I found out that I had a dark side and that I had enemies. Enemies that wanted to destroy me and others like me. I need to find a way to stop them. I need to get control of my dark side. I need help...In a universe filled with war and mystical creatures, Raymond embarks on a journey to discover his true identity and to tame his dark side. During his journey he meets a mermaid, gets tangled up in a love triangle, is taken prisoner, finds his ancestors, and is dragged into the worst war the universe has ever seen. The war of Gog and Magog. Will Raymond discover his destiny? Will he be able to stop the war of Gog and Magog?