The Annotated African American Folktales


Henry Louis Gates Jr. - 2017
    Following in the tradition of such classics as Arthur Huff Fauset’s “Negro Folk Tales from the South” (1927), Zora Neale Hurston’s Mules and Men (1935), and Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly (1985), acclaimed scholars Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar assemble a groundbreaking collection of folktales, myths, and legends that revitalizes a vibrant African American past to produce the most comprehensive and ambitious collection of African American folktales ever published in American literary history. Arguing for the value of these deceptively simple stories as part of a sophisticated, complex, and heterogeneous cultural heritage, Gates and Tatar show how these remarkable stories deserve a place alongside the classic works of African American literature, and American literature more broadly.Opening with two introductory essays and twenty seminal African tales as historical background, Gates and Tatar present nearly 150 African American stories, among them familiar Brer Rabbit classics, but also stories like “The Talking Skull” and “Witches Who Ride,” as well as out-of-print tales from the 1890s’ Southern Workman. Beginning with the figure of Anansi, the African trickster, master of improvisation—a spider who plots and weaves in scandalous ways—The Annotated African American Folktales then goes on to draw Caribbean and Creole tales into the orbit of the folkloric canon. It retrieves stories not seen since the Harlem Renaissance and brings back archival tales of “Negro folklore” that Booker T. Washington proclaimed had emanated from a “grapevine” that existed even before the American Revolution, stories brought over by slaves who had survived the Middle Passage. Furthermore, Gates and Tatar’s volume not only defines a new canon but reveals how these folktales were hijacked and misappropriated in previous incarnations, egregiously by Joel Chandler Harris, a Southern newspaperman, as well as by Walt Disney, who cannibalized and capitalized on Harris’s volumes by creating cartoon characters drawn from this African American lore.Presenting these tales with illuminating annotations and hundreds of revelatory illustrations, The Annotated African American Folktales reminds us that stories not only move, entertain, and instruct but, more fundamentally, inspire and keep hope alive.The Annotated African American Folktales includes:Introductory essays, nearly 150 African American stories, and 20 seminal African tales as historical backgroundThe familiar Brer Rabbit classics, as well as news-making vernacular tales from the 1890s’ Southern WorkmanAn entire section of  Caribbean and Latin American folktales that finally become incorporated into the canonApproximately 200 full-color, museum-quality images

The Far Country


Nevil Shute - 1952
    When she meets Carl, she has every reason to stay. But the two come from different worlds, and need work to build a life together in a pioneer country.

A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult


D.K. Publishing - 2020
    The perfect introduction to magic and the occult, it explores forms of divination from astrology and palmistry to the Tarot and runestones, mystical plants and potions such as mandrake, the presence of witchcraft in literature from Shakespeare's Macbeth to the Harry Potter series, and the ways in which magic has interacted with mainstream religions.The most comprehensive illustrated history of witchcraft available, A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult will enthrall and fascinate you with its lavish illustrated, accessible entries, whether you are a believer or a skeptic.

The Waverly Novels: The Betrothed


Walter Scott - 1825
    The action takes place in the Welsh Marches during the latter part of the reign of Henry II, after 1187. Eveline, the 16-year-old daughter of Sir Raymond Berenger, is rescued from a Welsh siege by the forces of Damian Lacy. She is betrothed to his uncle, Sir Hugo, who leaves on a crusade. Rebels led by Ranald Lacy attempt to kidnap her, and Damian fights them off, but a confused sequence of events convinces the King that she and her beloved are in league against him.

The Butterscotch Bride


Parker J. Cole - 2020
    A story of love and sacrifice in the years before the War that devastated the country.A young enslaved girl, singled out and favored by her mistress, arrives to a new plantation when tragedy strikes the household.An enslaved man, recaptured twice after escaping his bondage, bides his time until he can escape again.Their paths will collide as they meet and destiny will be changed as they fight for both freedom and love.**This is the prequel to the upcoming release of A Groom for Altar, Book 7 of The Blizzard Brides series**

The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition


Manisha Sinha - 2016
    Manisha Sinha overturns this image, broadening her scope beyond the antebellum period usually associated with abolitionism and recasting it as a radical social movement in which men and women, black and white, free and enslaved found common ground in causes ranging from feminism and utopian socialism to anti-imperialism and efforts to defend the rights of labor. Drawing on extensive archival research, including newly discovered letters and pamphlets, Sinha documents the influence of the Haitian Revolution and the centrality of slave resistance in shaping the ideology and tactics of abolition. This book is a comprehensive new history of the abolition movement in a transnational context. It illustrates how the abolitionist vision ultimately linked the slave’s cause to the struggle to redefine American democracy and human rights across the globe.

The Ticket


Heather Grace Stewart - 2016
    In a gutsy last minute move, Pete goes on social media asking for women with his girlfriend's exact name to apply to join him on the trip. Twenty-one women apply, and the ensuing interview process is both awkward and hilarious. When he finally chooses a feisty, headstrong, recently-divorced lawyer, he has no idea what to expect from their world wide adventures - and neither does Allie James. She has pretty much sworn off men since her divorce. Will either of them get the vacation they were so desperately hoping for?

I Wish


Elizabeth Langston - 2014
    What she gets is a genie with rules. Lacey Linden has gotten good at hiding the truth of her life—a depressed mom, a crumbling house, and bills too big to pay. In school, she's a girl with a ready smile and good grades, but at night, Lacey spends her time dreaming up ways to save her family. On a get-cash-quick trip to the flea market, she stumbles over a music box that seemingly begs her to take it home. She does, only to find it is inhabited by a gorgeous "genie." He offers her a month of wishes, one per day, but there's a catch. Each wish must be humanly possible. Grant belongs to a league of supernatural beings, dedicated to serving humans in need. After two years of fulfilling conventional wishes, he's one assignment away from promotion to a new job with more challenging cases. His month with Lacey is exactly what he expects and nothing like he imagines. Lacey and Grant soon discover that the hardest task of all might be saying goodbye. "Langston wisely limits the power of wishes, so there can be no easy fixes to complex problems...putting the focus on the compelling and sympathetic characters." --School Library Journal

Indian Fairy Tales


Joseph Jacobs - 1892
    Stories included are:The Lion and the CraneHow the Raja's Son Won the Princess LabamThe LambikinPunchkinThe Broken PotThe Magic FiddleThe Cruel Crane OutwittedLoving LailiThe Tiger, the Brahman and the JackelThe Soothsayer's SonHarisamanThe Charmed RingThe Talkative TortoiseA Lac of Rupees for a Bit of AdviceThe Gold-Giving SerpentThe Son of Seven QueensA Lesson for KingsPride Goeth Before a FallRaja RasaluThe Ass in the Lion's SkinThe Farmer and the Money LenderThe Boy Who had a Moon on his Forehead...The Prince and the FakirWhy the Fish LaughedThe Demon with the Matted HairThe Ivory City and its Fairy PrincessHow Sun, Moon and Wind Went Out to DinnerHow the Wicked Sons were DupedThe Pigeon and the Crow

The Secret Life of Cows


Rosamund Young - 2003
    They can sulk, hold grudges, and they have preferences and can be vain. All these characteristics and more have been observed, documented, interpreted and retold by Rosamund Young based on her experiences looking after the family farm's herd on Kite's Nest Farm in Worcestershire, England. Here the cows, sheep, hens and pigs all roam free. There is no forced weaning, no separation of young from siblings or mother. They seek and are given help when they request it and supplement their own diets by browsing and nibbling leaves, shoots, flowers and herbs. Rosamund Young provides a fascinating insight into a secret world - secret because many modern farming practices leave no room for displays of natural behavior yet, ironically, a happy herd produces better quality beef and milk.

To Build a Fire and Other Stories


Jack London - 1908
    In these collected stories of man against the wilderness, London lays claim to the title of greatest outdoor adventure writer of all time.Contents:- To build a fire- Love of life- Chinago- Told in the drooling ward- The Mexican- War- South of the slot- Water baby- All Gold Canyon- Koolau the leper- Apostate- Mauki- An Odyssey of the north- A piece of steak- Strength of the strong- Red one- Wit or Porportuk- God of his fathers- In a far country- To the man on trail- White silence- League of the old men- Wisdom of the trail- Batard

The Pastures of Heaven


John Steinbeck - 1932
    Steinbeck tackles two important literary traditions here; American naturalism, with its focus on the conflict between natural instincts and the demand to conform to society's norms, and the short story cycle. Set in the heart of 'Steinbeck land', the lush Californian valleys.

Long After Midnight


Ray Bradbury - 1976
    - Mark V • (1976)Getting Through Sunday Somehow (1962)Have I Got a Chocolate Bar for You! (1973)Interval in Sunlight (1954)Long After Midnight (1963)One Timeless Spring (1946)Punishment Without Crime (1950)The Better Part of Wisdom (1976)The Blue Bottle (1950)The Burning Man(1975)The Messiah (1973)The Miracles of Jamie (1946)The October Game (1948)The Parrot Who Met Papa(1972)The Pumpernickel (1951)The Utterly Perfect Murder (1971)The Wish (1973)

The Nick Adams Stories


Ernest Hemingway - 1966
    The 2nd section, On His Own, includes "The Light of the World", "The Battler", "The Killers", "The Last Good Country" & "Crossing the Mississippi".The 3rd section, War, has "Night Before Landing", "Nick Sat Against the Wall", "Now I Lay Me", "A Way You'll Never Be" & "In Another Country". The 4th section, Soldier Home, has "Big Two-Hearted River", "The End of Something", "The Three-Day Blow" & "Summer People". The 5th section, Company of Two, has "Wedding Day", "On Writing", "An Alpine Idyll", "Cross-Country Snow" & "Fathers & Sons".

Field Notes: The Grace Note of the Canyon Wren


Barry Lopez - 1994
    An anthropologist traveling with an aboriginal people finds that, because of his aggressive desire to understand them, they remain always disturbingly unknowable. A successful financial consultant, failing to discover his roots in Africa, jogs from Connecticut to the Pacific Ocean in order to forge an indigenous connection to the American landscape. A paleontologist is haunted by visions of wildlife in a vacant lot in Manhattan. In simple, crystalline prose, Lopez evokes a sense of the magic and marvelous strangeness of the world, and a deep compassion for the human predicament.