Book picks similar to
The Color of Absence: 12 Stories About Loss and Hope by James Howe
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Faceless
Alyssa B. Sheinmel - 2015
Slowly, she puts the pieces together. Before she could make it home, a storm gathered. Lightning hit a power line and sparks rained down, the hot-burning electrical fire consuming her. Destroying her face. Where her nose, cheeks, and chin used to be, now there is…nothing.Maisie’s lucky enough to qualify for a rare medical treatment: a face transplant. At least, everyone says she’s lucky. But with someone else’s features staring back at her in the mirror, Maisie looks—and feels—like a stranger. The doctors promised that the transplant was her chance to live a normal life again, but nothing feels normal anymore. Before, she knew who she was—a regular girl who ran track and got good grades, who loved her boyfriend and her best friend. Now, she can’t even recognize herself.New York Times bestselling author Alyssa Sheinmel has created a gripping and gorgeously written tale of identity and love. This is a story of losing yourself and the long, hard fight to find your way back.
The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore
Joan Lowery Nixon - 1979
Grabbed and drugged, Christina is kidnapped and held for ransom. When her family pays, she thinks her ordeal is over. But then she realizes that her family thinks she planned the kidnapping! How will Christina prove her innocence?
Twilight Director's Notebook: The Story of How We Made the Movie Based on the Novel by Stephenie Meyer
Catherine Hardwicke - 2009
With never-before-seen notes, sketches, and photographs taken directly from the visionary director's personal notebook, this book includes everything from her visual inspirations, to step-by-step breakdowns of action sequences, to a behind the scenes look at some of the most pivotal moments in the creation of the film, and much more.Get the inside story - this collectible notebook will be a must-have addition to every Twilight fan's bookshelf!
Would You
Marthe Jocelyn - 2008
A Saturday. For Natalie’s amazing older sister, Claire, this summer is fantastic, because she’s zooming off to college in the fall. For Natalie, it’s a fun summer with her friends; nothing special. When Claire is hit by a car, the world changes in a heartbeat. Over the next four days, moment by moment, Natalie, her parents, and their friends wait to learn if Claire will ever recover.From the Hardcover edition.
After
Sue Lawson - 2009
His attempt to fade into the background at his new school is thwarted when Luke Bennett, a boy suffering from a brain injury, befriends him. Here he learns that no matter how hard you try to run from the past it is always right there in front of you, waiting.
8 Plus 1
Robert Cormier - 1980
Meet seventeen-year-old Mike, who visits his grandmother's bedside and learns a family secret.A divorced father who discovers only love, not bribes, can keep his daughter "his" on Thursdays.And Jerry, a young boy desperately looking for the missing Grover Cleveland card to complete his set of president cards.Here are nine stories by Robert Cormier, one of the most gifted writers of young adult fiction today; stories that are warm, touching, and intensely personal--to be savored by readers of all ages.
You Know When the Men Are Gone
Siobhan Fallon - 2011
You learn too much. And you learn to move quietly through your own small domain. You also know when the men are gone. No more boots stomping above, no more football games turned up too high, and, best of all, no more front doors slamming before dawn as they trudge out for their early formation, sneakers on metal stairs, cars starting, shouts to the windows above to throw them down their gloves on cold desert mornings. Babies still cry, telephones ring, Saturday morning cartoons screech, but without the men, there is a sense of muted silence, a sense of muted life. There is an army of women waiting for their men to return in Fort Hood, Texas. Through a series of loosely interconnected stories, Siobhan Fallon takes readers onto the base, inside the homes, into the marriages and families-intimate places not seen in newspaper articles or politicians' speeches. When you leave Fort Hood, the sign above the gate warns, You've Survived the War, Now Survive the Homecoming. It is eerily prescient.
Love & Sex: Ten Stories of Truth
Michael CartMichael Lowenthal - 2001
Edwards protested that 'many adults seem to think that if sex is not mentioned to adolescents, it will go away.' "As succeeding decades have demonstrated, silence is no arbiter of behavior. Not only has sex not gone away, it has become a quintessential -- perhaps even obligatory? -- rite of passage for adolescents." So writes Michael Cart in his foreword to "Love and Sex: Ten Stories of Truth," a groundbreaking volume in which some of the finest writers for adults and teens have contributed original stories on the various aspects of love and sexuality.From Joan Bauer's Beth, whose resolve to remain a virgin is tested when the man of her dreams asks her out, to Michael Lowenthal's Jesse, for whom an after-school tutoring session fulfills a childhood obsession, to Laurie Halse Anderson's Adam and Lily, thrown together on an unwanted blind date, all of these characters reveal different angles on the pressures and complications (and occasional joys) of a teenager's romantic life.Other authors in this collection include Emma Donoghue, Louise Hawes, Angela Johnson, Chris Lynch, Garth Nix, Sonya Sones, and Shelley Stoehr. A portion of the money generated from the sale of this book will be donated to the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) for the promotion of books recommended by YALSA and of teen reading, including their national Teen Read Week.
Hush Little Baby
Caroline B. Cooney - 1999
She’s doesn’t know if the adorable child is even Dusty’s, or if she plans on returning. But when an angry, frightening man comes looking for the baby, Kit decides that the most important thing is to keep him safe—at all costs. With the help of her maybe-boyfriend, Rowen, and his little sister, Muffin, Kit is determined to figure out what’s really going on. But as they attempt to return the mysterious baby to wherever it is he belongs, they discover that he’s part of something that could put them all in incredible danger . . .
Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog
Garth Stein - 2011
Most dogs love to chase cars, but Enzo longs to race them.He learns about racing and the world around him by watching TV and by listening to the words of his best friend, Denny, an up-and-coming race car driver, and Denny's daughter, Zoë, his constant companion. Enzo finds that life is just like being on the racetrack - it isn't simply about going fast.Applying the rules of racing to his world, Enzo takes on his family's challenges and emerges a hero. In the end, Enzo holds in his heart the dream that Denny will go on to be a racing champion with his daughter by his side.For theirs is an extraordinary friendship - one that reminds us all to celebrate the triumph of the human (and canine) spirit.
Hunting Kat
Kelley Armstrong - 2012
After an experiment-gone-wrong and a bullet to the heart, she now hungers for human blood, and the worst part about that is the guilt. But guilt isn't the only thing stressing her. Kat is being hunted by the Edison Group, a dangerous Cabal that is responsible for her undead state. Kat is running out of places to hide, and she has no one to turn to — until she meets Chad and Neil. They're on the run like she is, and they offer to help Kat against their common enemy. But the boys aren't all that they seem, and for Kat, deciding whether to trust them may be a matter of life or death.
Cat O' Nine Tales: And Other Stories
Jeffrey Archer - 2006
Ingeniously plotted, with richly drawn characters and Jeffrey Archer's trademark of deliciously unexpected conclusions, this new collection has the added bonus of thirteen charming illustrations by the internationally acclaimed artist Ronald Searle. Some of these twelve stories were inspired by the two years Jeffrey Archer spent in prison, including the story of a company chairman who tries to poison his wife while on a trip to St. Petersburg---with unexpected consequences. "The Red King" is a tale about a con man who discovers that an English lord requires one more chess piece to complete a set that would be worth a fortune. In another tale of deception, "The Commissioner," a Bombay con artist ends up in the morgue after he uses the police chief as bait in his latest scam. "The Perfect Murder" reveals how a convict manages to remove an old enemy while he's locked up in jail, and then set up two prison officers as his alibi. In "Charity Begins at Home," an accountant realizes he has achieved nothing in his life, and sets out to make a fortune before he retires. And then there is Archer's favorite, "In the Eye of the Beholder," in which a handsome star athlete falls in love with a three-hundred-pound woman . . . who happens to be the ninth-richest woman in Italy. Jeffrey Archer is the only author to have topped international bestseller lists with his fiction, nonfiction, and short stories. "Cat o'Nine Tales" is Archer at his best: witty, poignant, sad, surprising, and unforgettable.
What Happened to Goodbye
Sarah Dessen - 2011
Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out. Combining Sarah Dessen's trademark graceful writing, great characters, and compelling storytelling, What Happened to Goodbye is irresistible reading.
Vacations from Hell
Libba Bray - 2009
. . and then you're undead?in this must-have collection, five of today's hottest writers—Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty), Cassandra Clare (City of Bones), Claudia Gray (Evernight), Maureen Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes), and Sarah Mlynowski (Bras & Broomsticks)—tell supernatural tales of vacations gone awry. Lost luggage is only mildly unpleasant compared to bunking with a witch who holds a grudge. And a sunburn might be embarrassing and painful, but it doesn't last as long as a curse. Of course, even in the most hellish of situations, love can thrive. . . .From light and funny to dark and creepy, these stories have something for everyone. You definitely won't want to leave this collection at home!
Florida
Lauren Groff - 2018
Groff transports the reader, then jolts us alert with a crackle of wit, a wave of sadness, a flash of cruelty, as she writes about loneliness, rage, family, and the passage of time. With shocking accuracy and effect, she pinpoints the moments and decisions and connections behind human pleasure and pain, hope and despair, love and fury—the moments that make us alive.