The Americans had stunned the world by winning their independence from the mightiest military power on earth and creating a startling new constitution that vested ultimate power in the common man. No one had anticipated that, by the 1790s, the giants of the world — England, France, Spain, and Russia — would again be caught up in war, with the United States trapped in the middle. British Canada to the north, hostile American Indians to the west, Spain and pirates to the south, and British ships in the Atlantic all loomed menacingly on the new country's horizon. Too soon, the Americans had to stand and fight or accept the role of a weakling in the family of nations. When President James Madison declared war against England in June 1812, the British had 600 warships and over 200,000 men in uniform, while America had 16 warships and only 12,000 men at arms. This historical novel reads like a modern David and Goliath story. Views: 51
Nancy Clancy returns in New York Times bestselling team Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser's second Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy chapter book all about love! In the sequel to Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth, Nancy and Bree decide to play matchmaker, but nothing works out as planned. Will love conquer all in the end?Fans of Fancy Nancy will delight in joining Nancy Clancy as she takes on love in the second chapter book in the series. As always, the central theme of all the Nancy Clancy books shines through, showing the beauty of friendship and love. Views: 51
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRHe demanded to know her identity after she felled his attacker with deadly precision. But Dara Alexander feigned amnesia rather than reveal the truth to this blue-eyed Bedouin: she was an American soldier...behind enemy lines. For all she knew, this man was her greatest threat.Sheik Saeed ibn Ahmad was no nomad, she would learn at his desert encampment, but a powerful royal, the target of assassins. Suddenly, his protection became her assignment—an arrangement Saeed refused. Because she was a woman, Dara assumed. And she was right. But Saeed wanted her...to cherish and defend. Views: 51
Badger’s Drift is the ideal English village, complete with vicar, bumbling local doctor, and kindly spinster with a nice line in homemade cookies. But when the spinster dies suddenly, her best friend kicks up an unseemly fuss, loud enough to attract the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby. And when Barnaby and his eager-beaver deputy start poking around, they uncover a swamp of ugly scandals and long-suppressed resentments seething below the picture-postcard prettiness. In the grand English tradition of the quietly intelligent copper, Barnaby has both an irresistibly dry sense of humor and a keen insight into what makes people tick. Badger’s Drift marks Barnaby’s debut.From Publishers WeeklyThe British author makes her debut here in an uncommonly appealing mystery, set in a tranquil village, Badger's Drift. Learned Chief Inspector Barnaby and callow Sergeant Troy go to work when importunate, elderly Miss Bellringer insists that her friend, Emily Simpson, did not die of a heart attack as her doctor claimed, but was murdered. An autopsy proves Miss Bellringer right; Emily had imbibed a Socratic mix of wine and hemlock. Spreading alarm throughout the community, an unseen murderer strikes again, leaving sly Mrs. Rainbird's bloody corpse to be found by her son, the local undertaker. As Barnaby and Troy investigate, they turn up evidence of another crime years earlier, and several suspects. Among them are the doctor's promiscuous wife, a young woman whose brother objects to her marriage to a rich widower and a Lady Chatterley-type gamekeeper. Diligent detecting brings the chief and his bumbling assistant to a sensational expose. Graham makes the characters humanly believable in her witty and tragic novel, a real winner. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalThis choice English confection introduces a memorable police duo, Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and Sergeant Troy. Juxtaposition of the conservative, distinguished Barnaby with the spontaneous, handsome, modish Troy provides ample opportunity for dry humor and wry insight. As the two investigate the coniine (hemlock) poisoning death of 80-year-old spinster Emily Simpson, they encounter a bizarre mixture of eccentric village dwellers, starting with the little old cat-lady and gardener friend of the deceased. The murder, of course, causes a commotion in picturesque Badger's Drift, laden with quaint cottages and Georgian manor houses. A winner. REKCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 51
As if 17-year-old Alexandra Lucas' anxiety disorder isn't enough, mysterious holograms suddenly appear, heralding the end of the world. They bring an ultimatum: heed the warning and step through a portal-like vertex to safety, or stay and be destroyed by a comet that is on a collision course with Earth. The holograms,claiming to be humans from the future, bring the promise of safety. But without the ability to verify their story, Alex is forced to consider what is best for her friends, her family, and herself.To stay or to go. A decision must be made.With the deadline of the holograms' prophecy fast approaching, Alex feels as though she is living on a ticking time bomb, until she discovers it is much, much worse. Views: 51
Fantastic 3-Pack of True Animal Stories! A family book bundle all ages will enjoy. ABBA's story is not just about a horse, rather it's about the challenges of letting go that adults must face. NEVER NAME YOUR PIG is written in the voice of Miss Lily horse. She tells about her pig phobia, and how she overcame her fears. TOBY is a discovery picture book of his adventures. 3 genuinely good reads! Views: 51
Written to be read aloud by two voices--sometimes alternating, sometimes simultaneous--here is a collection of irresistible poems that celebrate the insect world, from the short life of the mayfly to the love song of the book louse. Funny, sad, loud, and quiet, each of these poems resounds with a booming, boisterous, joyful noise. In this remarkable volume of poetry for two voices, Paul Fleischman verbally re-creates the "Booming/boisterious/joyful noise" of insects. The poems resound with the pulse of the cicada and the drone of the honeybee. Eric Beddows′s vibrant drawings send each insect soaring, spinning, or creeping off the page in its own unique way.A clear and fascinating guide to the insect world--from chrysalid butterflies to whirligig beetles-- and an exultant celebration of life.Ages 6+ Views: 51
Police reporter Annie Seymour tries to solve the mystery of a murdered Yale-student-by-day, escort-by-night. If things weren't bizarre enough, New Haven, Connecticut, is being infiltrated by a parade of ceramic cows.From Publishers WeeklyA phone call summons New Haven, Conn., crime reporter Anne Seymour from a beer-fogged sleep to cover a breaking story at the start of Olson's spirited debut, the winner of the first Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award. The dead body of a Yale undergrad lies at the foot of a luxury high-rise condo. Anne faces the usual stonewalling by the detective-on-the-scene;which smarts a little extra as he has recently vacated her bed. Dogged by a pesky fellow reporter, Anne struggles to keep her byline to herself, while she's warned off the case by her boss, her cop boyfriend and the university higher-ups. The plot thickens when she learns that the student was a high-priced escort, as is the next young female Yalie found murdered. A slave to her hormones, the smell of garlic and her driving ambition, the spunky, imperfect Anne is an engaging protagonist. Several other well-realized characters, some bovine humor and an amiable sense of the Yale/New Haven community round out this enjoyable first. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistThe first winner of the Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award is a worthy choice to honor the late Mysterious Press editor who was known for her ability to discover new talent. Olson, travel editor for the New Haven Register, sets her debut novel in a world she knows well: journalism. Annie Seymour, a thirtysomething crime reporter for the New Haven Herald, is spinning her wheels on the job and in her personal life. Then a Yale coed, who was moonlighting for an escort service, is murdered. Annie smells Big Story, but she's barely able to start sniffing the trail before her publisher, her cop boyfriend, and her lawyer mother all attempt to put her off the scent. Further distractions appear in the form of a PI on the case who arouses more than Annie's competitive juices. Olson succumbs to the occasional cliche ("My life was hanging in the balance"), but she's onto to something good in Annie, whose dry wit and frenzied manner recall various female sleuths (Millhone to Plum) without seeming purely imitative. Expect much more from Olson and Seymour. Bill OttCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 51
A new collection from one of contemporary American poetry's finest craftsmenThrough birdcalls and ancient songs, rain patter and a child's scribble, the poems in Far-Fetched "sound the empty space / to test how long / how far." They follow the contours of Appalachian hillsides, Missouri river bends, and remote Australian coastlines, tuning language to landscape. They register emotional life with great care; this is a work of fierce and delicate attention to the world. It is also poetry meant to be heard, alert to the pleasures of sound. As August Kleinzahler has observed, "In Devin Johnston's poetry every syllable is alive; the vowels and consonants combine to make a distinctive, lovely, austere music." Views: 51
"They were born in the city from people born elsewhere."What We All Long For follows the overlapping stories of a close circle of second-generation twenty-somethings living in downtown Toronto. There's Tuyen, a lesbian avant-garde artist and the daughter of Vietnamese parents who've never recovered from losing one of their children in the crush to board a boat out of Vietnam in the 1970s. Tuyen defines herself in opposition to just about everything her family believes in and strives for. She's in love with her best friend Carla, a biracial bicycle courier, who's still reeling from the loss of her mother to suicide eighteen years earlier and who must now deal with her brother Jamal's latest acts of delinquency. Oku is a jazz-loving poet who, unbeknownst to his Jamaican-born parents, has dropped out of university. He is in constant conflict with his narrow-minded and verbally abusive father and tormented by his unrequited love for Jackie, a gorgeous... Views: 51
