List

Category
Audience
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"Wild About Books"

Wild About Books

Judy Sierra

Description

It started the summer of 2002, when the Springfield librarian, Molly McGrew, by mistake drove her bookmobile into the zoo.

In this rollicking rhymed story, Molly introduces birds and beasts to this new something called reading. She finds the perfect book for every animal—tall books for giraffes, tiny ones for crickets. “She even found waterproof books for the otter, who never went swimming without Harry Potter.” In no time at all, Molly has them “forsaking their niches, their nests, and their nooks,” going “wild, simply wild, about wonderful books.” Judy Sierra’s funny animal tale coupled with Marc Brown’s lush, fanciful paintings will have the same effect on young Homo sapiens. Altogether, it’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

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"The Berenstain Bears: We Love the Library"

The Berenstain Bears: We Love the Library

Mike Berenstain

Description

The Berenstain Bears are always checking out books about outer space, medieval knights, cute animals, and more at the library. But then one day, the family finds out the library may be shutting down forever.

The cubs know they have to do something! But how can they save their precious library before it’s too late?

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"Maisy Goes to the Library"

Maisy Goes to the Library

Lucy Cousins

Description

Maisy likes going to the library.
She loves to read a book in a nice, quiet place.

Today, Maisy wants to read a book about fish, but she can only find books about birds or tigers. So she explores some of the other things to do in the library, like using the computer, making copies, listening to music, or looking at fish in the aquarium. Aha! Finally Maisy finds a sparkly book all about fish. But just as she settles into a corner to read, along come Cyril, Tallulah, Eddie, and Ostrich — and they all have noisier activities on their minds!

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"The Lost Library"

The Lost Library

Rebecca Stead

Description

When a mysterious little free library (guarded by a large orange cat) appears overnight in the small town of Martinville, eleven-year-old Evan plucks two weathered books from its shelves, never suspecting that his life is about to change. 

Evan and his best friend Rafe quickly discover a link between one of the old books and a long-ago event that none of the grown-ups want to talk about. The two boys start asking questions whose answers will transform not only their own futures, but the town itself..

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"Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race"

Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race

Chris Grabenstein

Description

On your marks. Get set. Lemon, cello, GO!

Everyone's favorite game maker, Mr. Lemoncello, is testing out his new FABULOUS FACT-FINDING FRENZY game! If Kyle can make it through the first round, he and the other lucky finalists will go on a great race--by bicycle, bookmobile, and even Mr. Lemoncello's corporate banana jet!--to find fascinating facts about famous Americans. The first to bring their facts back to the library will win spectacular prizes! But when a few surprising "facts" surface about Mr. Lemoncello, it might be GO TO JAIL and LOSE A TURN all at once! Could Kyle's hero be a fraud? It's winner take all, so Kyle and the other kids will have to dig deep to find out the truth before the GAME is OVER for Mr. Lemoncello and his entire fantastic empire!

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"Just Like Beverly"

Just Like Beverly

Vicki Conrad

Description

Just Like Beverly follows the life of Beverly Cleary from her early years in Oregon to her career as a beloved children's book author. As a young girl, Beverly Cleary struggled to learn to read and found most children's books dull and uninteresting. She often wondered if there were any books about kids just like her. With hard work, and the encouragement of her parents and a special teacher, she learned to read and at a young age discovered she had a knack for writing. 

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"Librarians"

Librarians

Cari Meister

Description

In Librarians, early readers will learn what librarians do to ensure their libraries have the resources people need to write reports, find jobs, discover new books, and more. Vibrant, full-color photos and carefully leveled text will engage emergent readers as they discover what librarians do on the job. A labeled diagram helps readers identify different areas of a librarian's workspace, while a picture glossary reinforces new vocabulary. Children can learn more about librarians online using our safe search engine that provides relevant, age-appropriate websites. Librarians also features reading tips for teachers and parents, a table of contents, and an index. Librarians is part of Jump!'s Community Helpers series.

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"Sembrando historias: Pura Belpré: bibliotecaria y narradora de cuentos"

Sembrando historias: Pura Belpré: bibliotecaria y narradora de cuentos

Anika Aldamuy Denise

Description

When she came to America in 1921, Pura Belpré carried the cuentos folklóricos of her Puerto Rican homeland. Finding a new home at the New York Public Library as a bilingual assistant, she turned her popular retellings into libros and spread story seeds across the land. Today, these seeds have grown into a lush landscape as generations of children and storytellers continue to share her tales and celebrate Pura’s legacy.

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"Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré"

Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré

Anika Aldamuy Denise

Description

When she came to America in 1921, Pura Belpré carried the cuentos folklóricos of her Puerto Rican homeland. Finding a new home at the New York Public Library as a bilingual assistant, she turned her popular retellings into libros and spread story seeds across the land. Today, these seeds have grown into a lush landscape as generations of children and storytellers continue to share her tales and celebrate Pura’s legacy.

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"Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller"

Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller

Breanna J. McDaniel

Description

Before Augusta Braxton Baker became a storyteller, she was an excellent story listener. Her grandmother brought stories like Br’er Rabbit and Arthur and Excalibur to life, teaching young Augusta that when there’s a will, there’s always a way. When she grew up, Mrs. Baker began telling her own fantastical stories to children at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem. But she noticed that there were hardly any books at the library featuring Black people in respectful, uplifting ways. Thus began her journey of championing books, writers, librarians, and teachers centering Black stories, educating and inspiring future acclaimed authors like Audre Lorde and James Baldwin along the way.

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"Librarians"

Librarians

Jacqueline Laks Gorman

Description

When we need a good book to read, we can go to the place where thousands of books are free and waiting to be opened—the library. Managing all of the resources are the unsung heroes of the Library Science world; the Librarian. Readers will be delighted and intrigued to learn that the librarian’s role goes well beyond managing the bookshelves.

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"Miss Moore Thought Otherwise"

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise

Jan Pinborough

Description

Once upon a time, American children couldn't borrow library books. Reading wasn't all that important for children, many thought. Luckily Miss Anne Carroll Moore thought otherwise! This is the true story of how Miss Moore created the first children's room at the New York Public Library, a bright, warm room filled with artwork, window seats, and most important of all, borrowing privileges to the world's best children's books in many different languages.

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The Leather Apron Club

Jane Yolen

Description

When Billy's father Benjamin Franklin announces that Billy and his lazy cousin James will soon have a tutor, Billy is initially dismayed. But his tutor awakens him to the power of story and books, and when Billy accompanies his father to the Leather Apron Club (which Franklin started in 1727), he decides to do more with his education and life. 

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"Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library"

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library

Carole Boston Weatherford

Description

Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance stood an Afro–Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk’s life’s passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora and bring to light the achievements of people of African descent through the ages. When Schomburg’s collection became so big it began to overflow his house (and his wife threatened to mutiny), he turned to the New York Public Library, where he created and curated a collection that was the cornerstone of a new Negro Division. A century later, his groundbreaking collection, known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has become a beacon to scholars all over the world.

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"Library on Wheels"

Library on Wheels

Sharlee Glenn

Description

Sharlee Glenn's picture book Library on Wheels tells the true story of America's first bookmobile.

If you can't bring the man to the books, bring the books to the man.

Mary Lemist Titcomb (1852-1932) was always looking for ways to improve her library. As librarian at the Washington County Free Library in Maryland, Titcomb was concerned that the library was not reaching all the people it could. She was determined that everyone should have access to the library--not just adults and those who lived in town.

Realizing its limitations and inability to reach the county's 25,000 rural residents, including farmers and their families, Titcomb set about to change the library system forever with the introduction of book-deposit stations throughout the country, a children's room in the library, and her most revolutionary idea of all--a horse-drawn Book Wagon. Soon book wagons were appearing in other parts of the country, and by 1922, the book wagon idea had received widespread support. The bookmobile was born!

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Almost Lost Arts

Emily Freidenrich

Description

Almost Lost Arts features the stories of 20 artisans who have devoted their lives to preserving traditional techniques. 

From globemakers and bookmenders to cassette tape manufacturers and neon sign makers, the profiled artisans represent a diverse mix of media, ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds.

Gorgeous photographs reveal these craftspeople's studios from places like Oaxaca, Kyoto, Milan, and Tennessee.

• Each maker is accompanied by an in-depth profile telling their story
• Features two essays that discuss the challenges and rewards of engaging deeply with the past
• An inspiration to makers, collectors, and history lovers

Almost Lost Arts is a celebration of tactile beauty and a tribute to human ingenuity. 

This book takes readers in-depth with each artisan and explores how people around the world are saving traditional arts from obscurity.

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Let's Move the Needle

Shannon Downey

Description

Craftivism, or the space where art and activism meet, is a powerful, ever-evolving social justice movement that continues to grow and diversify as more voices and mediums take part in it. In Let's Move the Needle, Shannon Downey, an outspoken voice in the craftivist movement for over a decade, provides a roadmap and accessible toolkit for burgeoning art activists.

Filled with self-reflective activities, exercises, prompts, and stories, Let's Move the Needle educates and empowers creatives to center their art around collective action in service of political, social or community issues they are most passionate about; affirming that everyone can be a changemaker and that change-making can be generative, enjoyable, and a bit sassy!

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The Ultimate Origami Book

Hinkler

Description

The Ultimate Origami Book - Fold, Create, Explore!

Unfold your creativity with The Ultimate Origami Book! Perfect for both beginners and experienced folders, this comprehensive guide features 39 beautiful traditional and contemporary origami projects. With clear, step-by-step instructions and detailed diagrams, you'll be guided through each fold with ease.

  • 39 Origami Projects - Includes both classic and modern designs
  • Action-Packed Folds - Create a transforming ninja star, moving fireworks, an infinity cube, and a magic ball
  • 115 Colorful Origami Papers - Ready to use, no prep required
  • Clear Instructions & Diagrams - Easy-to-follow for folders of all levels

Whether you're new to paper folding or looking to sharpen your skills, this book offers hours of fun and creative exploration for all ages!

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Statement Macramé

Natalie Ranae

Description

Make Your Large-Scale Macramé Dreams Come True 

If you’ve ever seen a stunning piece of macramé and dreamed of someday being able to make your own . . . now you can! Consider this book your master class on creating large-scale macramé. Natalie Ranae is renowned for her large custom designs. As the follow-up to her bestselling introductory book Macramé at Home, here she takes things up a notch. Combining her years of design expertise and friendly teaching style, Natalie guides you step by step through 12 amazing pieces. From floor-to-ceiling backdrops for your wedding or special event to impressive wall art and multi-plant hangers for your home, these designs are big, bold, beautiful and guaranteed to make an unforgettable statement in any space. Natalie also shares two design tutorials for her most popular macramé pieces: headboards. 

These showstopping pieces are best suited for those with previous experience in macramé. The process is achievable thanks to Natalie’s detailed directions and step-by-step photos. Whether you recreate the designs exactly as shown, make your own modifications or use this as an inspiring look-book, every page will have you swooning over Natalie’s boho-chic style and the intricate details in these stunning macramé pieces.

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Into the Great Emptiness

David Roberts

Description

By 1930, no place in the world was less well explored than Greenland. The native Inuit had occupied the relatively accessible west coast for centuries. The east coast, however, was another story. In August 1930, Henry George Watkins (nicknamed “Gino”), a twenty-three-year-old British explorer, led thirteen scientists and explorers on an ambitious expedition to the east coast of Greenland and into its vast and forbidding interior to set up a permanent meteorological base on the icecap, 8,200 feet above sea level. The Ice Cap Station was to be the anchor of a transpolar route of air travel from Europe to North America.

The weather on the ice cap was appalling. Fierce storms. Temperatures plunging lower than –50° Fahrenheit in the winter. Watkins’s scheme called for rotating teams of two men each to monitor the station for two months at a time. No one had ever tried to winter over in that hostile landscape, let alone manage a weather station through twelve continuous months. Watkins was younger than anyone under his command. But he had several daring trips to the Arctic under his belt and no one doubted his judgement.

The first crisis came in the fall when a snowstorm stranded a resupply mission halfway to the top for many weeks. When they arrived at the ice cap, there were not enough provisions and fuel for another two-man shift, so the station would have to be abandoned. Then team member August Courtauld made an astonishing offer. To enable the mission to go forward, he would monitor the station solo through the winter. When a team went up in March to relieve Courtauld, after weeks of brutal effort to make the 130-mile journey, they could find no trace of him or the station. By the end of March, Courtauld’s situation was desperate. He was buried under an immovable load of frozen snow and was disastrously short on supplies. On April 21, four months after Courtauld began his solitary vigil, Gino Watkins set out inland with two companions to find and rescue him.

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The Longest Winter

Alex Kershaw

Description

The epic story of the vastly outnumbered platoon that stopped Germany's leading assault in the Ardennes forest and prevented Hitler's most fearsome tanks from overtaking American positions.


On the morning of December 16, 1944, eighteen men of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon attached to the 99th Infantry Division found themselves directly in the path of the main thrust of Hitler's massive Ardennes offensive. Despite being vastly outnumbered, they were told to hold their position "at all costs." Throughout the day, the platoon repulsed three large German assaults in a fierce day-long battle, killing hundreds of German soldiers. Only when they had run out of ammunition did they surrender to the enemy. But their long winter was just beginning. 

As POWs, the platoon experienced an ordeal far worse than combat-surviving in wretched German POW camps. Yet miraculously the men of the platoon survived--all of them--and returned home after the war. More than thirty years later, when President Carter recognized the platoon's "extraordinary heroism" and the U.S. Army approved combat medals for all eighteen men, they became America's most decorated platoon of World War II. 

With the same vivid and dramatic prose that made The Bedford Boys a national bestseller, Alex Kershaw brings to life the story of these little-known heroes--an epic tale of courage, duty, and survival in World War II and one of the most inspiring episodes in American history. The Longest Winter is an intensely human story about young men who find themselves in frightening wartime situations, who fight back instinctively, survive stoically, and live heroically.

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Winter of Entrapment

Joseph A. King

Description

History of the Donner Party which tried to cross the Sierra Nevada during the winter of 1846-1847. The party was trapped by snow, and thirty nine of the eighty seven perished.

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The Winter People

Jennifer McMahon

Description

West Hall has always been a town of strange disappearances and legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who was found murdered in the field behind her house in 1908, a few short months after the tragic death of her daughter, Gertie, drove her mad. People say that Sara's ghost still walks after dark, and some leave offerings on their doorstep to keep her from entering their homes uninvited.

Now, in present day, Ruthie lives in Sara's farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister, Fawn. Alice has always insisted that they remain on the fringes, living off the land without internet or outside interference. But one morning Ruthie wakes up to find that Alice has disappeared without a trace. When she searches the house for clues, she is startled to find a secret compartment beneath the floorboards that contains two objects. One, a gun. And two, a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary.

The story the diary tells is one of a mother skating on the edge of sanity, willing to do whatever she can to bring her daughter back even if it means dabbling in dark and dangerous territory. As Ruthie gets sucked deeper into the mystery of Sara's death, she discovers that she's not the only one looking for someone that they've lost. But she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.

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The Hunting Party

Lucy Foley

Description

Everyone's invited...everyone's a suspect..

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they've chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands--the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

The trip begins innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group's tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year's Eve, the cord holding them together snaps, just as a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year's Day, one of them is dead. . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage says. But how close is too close?

DON'T BE LEFT OUT. JOIN THE PARTY NOW.

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Realm of Ice and Sky

Buddy Levy

Description

Arctic explorer and American visionary Walter Wellman pioneered both polar and trans-Atlantic airship aviation, making history’s first attempts at each. Yet, Wellman has been cast as a self-promoting egomaniac known mostly for his catastrophic failures. Instead he was a courageous innovator who pushed the boundaries of polar exploration and paved the way for the ultimate conquest of the North Pole—which would be achieved not by dogsled or airplane, but by airship.

In 1908–09, American explorers Dr. Frederick Cook and Robert Peary, in separate expeditions, both claimed they’d reached the North Pole first, but their claims were seriously questioned. There was enough doubt that Norwegian explorer extraordinaire Roald Amundsen—who’d made history and a name for himself by being the first to sail through the Northwest Passage and the first man to the South Pole—attempted to fly to the North Pole by airship. He would go in the Norge, designed by Italian aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile. The 350-foot Norge flew over the North Pole on May 12, 1926, and Amundsen was able to accurately record and verify their exact location. 

However, Nobile felt slighted by Amundsen. Two years later, Nobile returned, this time in the Italia, backed by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. This was an Italian enterprise, and Nobile intended to win back the global accolades and reputation he believed Amundsen had stripped from him. The journey ended in disaster, death, and accusations of cannibalism, launching one of the greatest rescue operations the world had ever seen.

Realm of Ice and Sky is the riveting tale of the men who first flew the most technologically advanced airships of their time to the top of the world, risking and even giving their lives for science, country, and polar immortality.

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Into Thin Air

Jon Krakauer

Description

A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. 

By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. 

This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy.  "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. 

In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment."  According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer.  His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."

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Beartown

Fredrik Backman

Description

By the lake in Beartown is an old ice rink, and in that ice rink Kevin, Amat, Benji, and the rest of the town’s junior ice hockey team are about to compete in the national semi-finals—and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. 

Under that heavy burden, the match becomes the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown. 

This is a story about a town and a game, but even more about loyalty, commitment, and the responsibilities of friendship; the people we disappoint even though we love them; and the decisions we make every day that come to define us. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

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Never Lie

Freida McFadden

Description

A twisting, pulse-pounding thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid and The Coworker!

Sometimes the truth kills...

Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams. They think they've found it when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace years ago. But when a violent winter storm traps them at the estate, the house begins to lose its appeal.

Stuck inside and growing restless, Tricia stumbles on a collection of audio transcripts from Dr. Hale's sessions with patients. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to the doctor's mysterious disappearance.

With each tape, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and a web of lies slowly unravels. But by the time Tricia reaches the final cassette, the one that reveals the entire horrifying story, it will be too late...

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Migrations

Charlotte McConaghy

Description

Franny Stone has always been the kind of woman who is able to love but unable to stay. Leaving behind everything but her research gear, she arrives in Greenland with a singular purpose: to follow the last Arctic terns in the world on what might be their final migration to Antarctica. Franny talks her way onto a fishing boat, and she and the crew set sail, traveling ever further from shore and safety. But as Franny’s history begins to unspool—a passionate love affair, an absent family, a devastating crime—it becomes clear that she is chasing more than just the birds. When Franny's dark secrets catch up with her, how much is she willing to risk for one more chance at redemption?

Epic and intimate, heartbreaking and galvanizing, Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations is an ode to a disappearing world and a breathtaking page-turner about the possibility of hope against all odds.

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Winterkill

C. J. Box

Description

It's an hour away from darkness, a bitter winter storm is raging, and Joe Pickett is deep in the forest edging Battle Mountain, shotgun in his left hand, his truck's detached steering wheel handcuffed to his right—and Lamar Gardiner's arrow-riddled corpse splayed against the tree in front of him. Lamar's murder and the sudden onslaught of the snowstorm warn: Get off the mountain. But Joe knows this episode is far from over. And when his own daughter gets caught up in his hunt for the killer, Joe will stop at nothing to get her back...

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Frigid

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Description

"No one could replace me in his life. I knew that. I was the friend who knew everything about him and whom he trusted above everyone else.

I was Kyler's best friend.

And because of that, he would never love me the way I loved him."

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney Bell, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They've been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The problem? He's never stayed with a girl for longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year of college, Sydney won't risk their friendship by declaring her feelings.

Meanwhile, Kyler has always put Sydney on a pedestal too high to reach. To him, she's everything. But he's hidden away his feelings, drowning them in other girls instead. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the best thing he can never have.

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort after a massive snowstorm, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings from finally coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

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The Family You Make

Jill Shalvis

Description

During the snowstorm of the century Levi Cutler is stranded on a ski lift with a beautiful stranger named Jane. After strong winds hurl the gondola in front of them into the ground, Levi calls his parents to prepare them for the worst...but can't bring himself to say goodbye. Instead, wanting to fulfill his mother's lifelong wish, he impulsively tells her he's happily settled and Jane is his girlfriend--right before his phone dies.

But Levi and Jane do not.

Now Levi's family is desperate to meet "The One." Though Jane agrees to be his pretend girlfriend for just one dinner, she's nervous. After a traumatic childhood, Jane isn't sure she knows how to be around a tight-knit family that cherishes one another. She's terrified, and a little jealous. But an unexpected series of events and a host of new friends soon show Jane that perhaps this is the life she was always meant to have.

As Jane and Levi spend more time together, pretend feelings quickly turn into real ones. Now all Jane has to do is admit to herself she can't live without the man she's fallen in love with and the family she has always dreamed of.

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Spinning Silver

Naomi Novik

Description

With the Nebula Award–winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike.

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Voices in the Snow

Darcy Coates

Description

Clare remembers the cold. She remembers abandoned cars and children's toys littered across the road. She remembers dark shapes in the snow and a terror she can't explain. And then... nothing. When she wakes, aching and afraid in a stranger's gothic home, he tells her she was in an accident, a crash in the snow. He claims he saved her. Clare wants to leave, but a vicious snowstorm has blanketed the world in white, trapping them together, and there's nothing she can do but wait.

At least the stranger seems kind... but Clare doesn't know if she can trust him. He promised they were alone here, but she sees and hears things that convince her something else is creeping about the surrounding woods, watching. Waiting. Between the claustrophobic storm and the inescapable sense of being hunted, Clare is on edge... and increasingly certain of one thing:

Her car crash wasn't an accident. Something is waiting for her to step outside the fragile safety of the house... something monstrous, something unfeeling.

Something desperately hungry.

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Snow Blind

P. J. Tracy

Description

Nothing's bleaker than Minneapolis during the winter, the season that, to some longtime residents, lasts eleven months of the year. So what better way to bring a little cheer to the good people of the city than by sponsoring an old-fashioned snowman-building contest? In a matter of hours, a local park is filled with the innocent laughter of children and their frosty creations. But things take an awful turn when the dead bodiesof Minneapolis police officers are discovered inside two of the snowmen- sending the MPD and Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth on high alert. The nextday, Iris Rikker, the newly minted sheriff of rural Dundas County, comes across another dead cop. Fearing that Rikker's inexperience will hamper the investigation, Magozzi and Rolseth head north-in a blizzard-to hunt for clues. As Grace MacBride and her crack computer jocks at Monkeewrench combcyber-murder websites for connections, a terrifying link emerges, connecting the dead cops, Magozzi and Rolseth, and Monkeewrench-a link that must be broken, before it's too late.

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The Wood at Midwinter

Susanna Clarke

Description

'A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really.'

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees-and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.

One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst-and the path of her life is changed forever.

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The Overnight Guest

Heather Gudenkauf

Description

A woman receives an unexpected visitor during a deadly snowstorm in this chilling thriller from New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf.

True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn't mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she's retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.

As the storm worsens, Wylie finds herself trapped inside the house, haunted by the secrets contained within its walls--haunted by secrets of her own. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. After bringing the child inside for warmth and safety, she begins to search for answers. But soon it becomes clear that the farmhouse isn't as isolated as she thought, and someone is willing to do anything to find them.

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A Quiet Life

Ethan Joella

Description

Set in a close-knit suburb in the grip of winter, A Quiet Life follows three people grappling with loss and finding a tender wisdom in their grief.

Chuck Ayers used to look forward to nothing so much as his annual trip to Hilton Head with his wife, Cat—that yearly taste of relaxation they’d become accustomed to after a lifetime of working and raising two children. Now, just months after Cat’s death, Chuck finds that he can’t let go of her belongings—her favorite towel, the sketchbooks in her desk drawer—as he struggles to pack for a trip he can’t imagine taking without her.

Ella Burke delivers morning newspapers and works at a bridal shop to fill her days while she anxiously awaits news—any piece of information—about her missing daughter. Ella adjusts to life in a new apartment and answers every call on her phone, hoping her daughter will reach out.

After the sudden death of her father, Kirsten Bonato set aside her veterinary school aspirations, finding comfort in the steady routine of working at an animal shelter. But as time passes, old dreams and new romantic interests begin to surface—and Kirsten finds herself at another crossroads.

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61 Hours

Lee Child

Description

A bus crashes in a savage snowstorm and lands Jack Reacher in the middle of a deadly confrontation. In nearby Bolton, South Dakota, one brave woman is standing up for justice in a small town threatened by sinister forces. If she’s going to live long enough to testify, she’ll need help. Because a killer is coming to Bolton, a coldly proficient assassin who never misses.
 
Reacher’s original plan was to keep on moving. But the next 61 hours will change everything. The secrets are deadlier and his enemies are stronger than he could have guessed—but so is the woman he’ll risk his life to save.

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The Bear and the Nightingale

Katherine Arden

Description

Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.

Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.

But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed—to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

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Once Upon a River

Diane Setterfield

Description

On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed.

Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless.

Three families are keen to claim her. A wealthy young mother knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for two years. A farming family reeling from the discovery of their son’s secret liaison, stand ready to welcome their granddaughter. The parson’s housekeeper, humble and isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister. But the return of a lost child is not without complications and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be everyone’s. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be known.

Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth. Suspenseful, romantic, and richly atmospheric, the beginning of this novel will sweep you away on a powerful current of storytelling, transporting you through worlds both real and imagined, to the triumphant conclusion whose depths will continue to give up their treasures long after the last page is turned.

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Winter Solstice

Rosamunde Pilcher

Description

In Winter Solstice Rosamunde Pilcher brings her readers into the lives of five very different people....

Elfrida Phipps, once of London's stage, moved to the English village of Dibton in hopes of making a new life for herself. Gradually she settled into the comfortable familiarity of village life -- shopkeepers knowing her tastes, neighbors calling her by name -- still she finds herself lonely. 

Oscar Blundell gave up his life as a musician in order to marry Gloria. They have a beautiful daughter, Francesca, and it is only because of their little girl that Oscar views his sacrificed career as worthwhile. 

Carrie returns from Australia at the end of an ill-fated affair with a married man to find her mother and aunt sharing a home and squabbling endlessly. With Christmas approaching, Carrie agrees to look after her aunt's awkward and quiet teenage daughter, Lucy, so that her mother might enjoy a romantic fling in America.

Sam Howard is trying to pull his life back together after his wife has left him for another. He is without home and without roots, all he has is his job. Business takes him to northern Scotland, where he falls in love with the lush, craggy landscape and set his sights on a house.

It is the strange rippling effects of a tragedy that will bring these five characters together in a large, neglected estate house near the Scottish fishing town of Creagan. 

It is in this house, on the shortest day of the year, that the lives of five people will come together and be forever changed. Rosamunde Pilcher's long-awaited return to the page will warm the hearts of readers both old and new. Winter Solstice is a novel of love, loyalty and rebirth.

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One by One

Ruth Ware

Description

Getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world. Especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a full-service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkers…each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide.

When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech start-up, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other: presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes. But as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. The storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. Even worse, one Snooper hadn’t made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit.

As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one.

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Winter Garden

Kristin Hannah

Description

Mesmerizing from the first page to the last, Kristin Hannah's Winter Garden is one woman’s sweeping, heartbreaking story of love, loss, and redemption. At once an epic love story set in World War II Russia and an intimate portrait of contemporary mothers and daughters poised at the crossroads of their lives, it explores the heartbreak of war, the cost of survival and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. It is a novel that will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned.

1941. Leningrad, a once magical city besieged by war, cut off from aid, buried in snow. A city full of women desperate to save their children and themselves...

2000. Loss and old age have taken a terrible toll on Anya Whitson. At last, she will reach out to her estranged daughters. In a halting, uncertain voice, she begins to weave a fable about a beautiful Russian girl who lived in Leningrad a lifetime ago...

Nina and Meredith sit spellbound at their mother’s bedside, listening to a story that spans more than sixty years and moves from the terrors of war-torn Leningrad under siege to modern-day Alaska.

In a quest to uncover the truth behind the story, Nina and Meredith discover a secret so shocking, so impossible to believe, it shakes the foundation of their family and changes who they believe they are.

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The Frozen River

Ariel Lawhon

Description

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town's most respected gentlemen--one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon's newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

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The First-Time Gardener: Growing Vegetables

Jessica Sowards

Description

Homesteader Jessica Sowards, the warm and energetic host of YouTube’s Roots and Refuge Farm, is the perfect teacher for new gardeners, offering not just know-how but inspiration and time-management tips for success.

Before you sink your hands into the soil, she’ll answer all those questions rolling around inside your head:
 

  • Where do I put my new garden?
  • How do I prepare the soil?
  • What vegetables should I plant?
  • Is it better to start new plants from seed or should I buy transplants?
  • What about watering, feeding, and taking care of my garden?
  • What do I do if bugs show up?


There are no stupid questions here. Everyone has to start somewhere, after all. Not only will you learn how to prepare, plant, and tend your first vegetable garden, you’ll also learn:
 

  • How to design an eco-friendly layout
  • How to grow with the seasons
  • How to maximize your harvest, even if you only grow in a small space


Jessica wants your first food-growing experience to be a positive one, and she’s prepared to go the distance to make sure tending the earth becomes your new favorite hobby.

A single growing season is all it takes to fall in love with growing your own healthy, organic, nutrient-dense food. With Jessica as your guide, you’ll soon discover all the satisfactions, challenges, and great joys of growing your own food garden.

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1000 Japanese Knitting & Crochet Stitches

Nihon Vogue

Description

1000 Japanese Knitting & Crochet Stitches is a treasure trove of needlecraft patterns and motifs for experienced knitters and crocheters seeking to create and better understand the infinite variety of their craft. This Japanese reference work is beloved by knitters the world over, and the English version will allow even more crafters to enjoy these techniques.

This dictionary includes 700 original knitting stitch patterns and 300 original crochet patterns that have inspired many modern Japanese knitwear designs. You'll find classic lacy, cable, Aran, Fair Isle, Nordic, and ethnic patterns; geometric, botanical, and animal motifs; and so much more. This one-stop reference has detailed stitch diagrams showing how to execute over 60 different knitting stitches and over 40 different crochet stitches. Each pattern is charted with a delineation of the pattern repeat.

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Happier Hour

Cassie Holmes

Description

Our most precious resource isn’t money. It’s time. We are allotted just twenty-four hours a day, and we live in a culture that keeps us feeling “time poor.” Since we can’t add more hours to the day, how can we experience our lives as richer?

Based on her wildly popular MBA class at UCLA, Professor Cassie Holmes demonstrates how to immediately improve our lives by changing how we perceive and invest our time. Happier Hour provides empirically based insights and easy-to-implement tools that will allow you to:

-Optimally spend your hours and feel confident in those choices
-Sidestep distractions
-Create and savor moments of joy
-Design your schedule with purpose
-Look back on your years without regrets

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Homemade

Carol Endler Sterbenz

Description

Offering an abundance of information and inspiration, Homemade is a revelatory addition to the craft world—the ultimate reference book on crafting and also a warm, engagingly written book that combines history and personal narrative with the science that makes a craft possible and the passion that inspires it. 

Carol Endler Sterbenz is a crafter, a teacher, a homemaker, a wife, and a mother. Raised by immigrant parents who taught her the enduring value of resourcefulness and creativity, she makes her lifetime of experience and infinite enthusiasm the foundation for Homemade. Sterbenz provides readers with not only practical information and direction but also a philosophy and methodology of crafting that build confidence and ability, making it easy to achieve truly professional results. 

Teeming with clear, reliable, and thorough information on everything from tools and materials to techniques, Homemade is an essential guide to seven of the most beloved crafts: beading, the flower arts, paper crafting, hand printing, decoupage, decorative embellishing, and children’s arts and crafts. 

Crafters—beginners and veterans alike—can turn to Homemade to learn which glues and finishes to use, how to form a perfect beaded loop, assemble a miniature robot, hollow out an egg, emboss paper, make a hand-tied bouquet, or transform a chandelier. Overflowing with hundreds of techniques; easy-to-follow step-by-step directions supported by more than eight hundred beautiful and precise hand-drawn illustrations, diagrams, and patterns; and countless insider secrets and troubleshooting tips, Homemade is an indispensable go-to reference no crafter should be without.

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Learn To Code Html And Css

Shay Howe

Description

HTML and CSS can be a little daunting at first but fear not. This book, based on Shay Howe's popular workshop covers the basics and breaks down the barrier to entry, showing readers how they can start using HTML and CSS through practical techniques today. They'll find accompanying code examples online, while they explore topics such as the different structures of HTML and CSS, and common terms. After establishing a basic understanding of HTML and CSS a deeper dive is taken into the box model and how to work with floats. The book includes an exercise focused on cleaning up a web page by improving the user interface and design, solely using HTML and CSS. With a few quick changes the web page changes shape and comes to life. Interactive, technically up-to-the-minute and easy-to-understand, this book will advance a student's skills to a professional level.

 

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Cricut: 14 Books in 1 - The Most Complete Guide to Master Your Cricut Machine with 200+ Projects Ideas - Top Secret Tips and Tricks to Effortlessly Become Your Friends’ & Family’s Favorite Crafter!

Olita Design

Description

Have you just bought your brand-new Cricut dream machine and have no idea where to start?

Are you struggling with it and are looking for the easiest way to learn to use it with confidence?

If yes, you are in the right place…

Cricut crafts are amazing to look at, and the Cricut machine and Cricut Design Space software give you the option to make just about anything.

The problem is that in order to accomplish all this cool stuff, the level of complexity is far from trivial, so we risk leaving our Cricut machine in the closet gathering dust.

But no need to worry! This all-inclusive 14-in-1 bundle has been crafted exactly for you!

Here is a tiny fraction of what you will find inside:

  • How to set up your machine quickly and easily, so you don't have to go crazy before you get started
  • All the details, technicalities, and differences you need to know about Cricut Joy, Maker, Maker 3, Explore Air 2 and Explore 3
  • A list of the most common mistakes and issues with the Cricut machine and how to avoid/solve them
  • A simple guide to Cricut software thanks to which you can use it smoothly and know right away what all the optimal settings are for your specific project
  • The best materials and tools to use with each specific Cricut machine, so you know right away what to buy
  • 21 must have accessories to make each of your projects a stunning decoration for your home, a fantastic gift, or why not, a desirable sale item on Etsy
  • Hundreds of project ideas for all levels, from beginner to advanced, so you can be sure that you always have great options, especially given that you can make most of them once and be able to wing them or freestyle to your own liking the next time
  • Simple and fun Cricut projects for kids to help them develop their creativity and fantasy from an early age
  • How to start your DIY Cricut business and monetize your art through specific tips on how to find gaps in the market and what platforms to use
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Artisan Air-Dry Clay

Radka Hostasova

Description

No Kiln? No Problem! 

Learn to make beautifully textured home décor accents with inexpensive air-dry clay! The process is easy, and the results are surprisingly stylish when you follow the tips, advice, and instruction from author and clay artist-designer Radka Hostasova. 

Aimed at absolute beginners—this book starts with an overview of the tools and materials needed to produce the best results. A comprehensive "Getting Started" chapter teaches essential home pottery techniques such as rolling slab, coiling, sculpting, and pinching. Also included are creative ideas for adding color with acrylic paint, watercolor, and metallics. At the book's heart are a range of beautiful projects, including trinket bowls, napkin rings, wall hangings, coasters, and others. Each lesson comes with a detailed reference photograph and easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions. 
 

  • Roll, coil, sculpt and carve air-dry clay to create beautiful projects
  • Make modern and stylish projects such as coasters, trinket dishes, home décor accents, kid's projects, and more
  • Use easy home pottery as a mode of relaxation and stress relief
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Beginner's Guide to Self Sufficiency Projects for the Home

Editors of Cool Springs Press

Description

Build a self-sufficient life with these 40+ photo-illustrated projects for growing and preserving your own food, keeping animals, harnessing alternative energy, and more.

Learning to do more things yourself is healthy, rewarding, and fulfilling, and benefits the environment. Whether you live in the suburbs or have 80 acres in the mountains, this new and affordable edition adapted from the best-selling Step-by-Step Projects for Self-Sufficiency guides your way with clear plan drawingsprecise instructions, and detailed photos.

Beginner’s Guide to Self-Sufficiency Projects for the Home is organized into the categories Chickens & Other Creatures, Nourishing Your Garden, Garden Projects, Food Preparation & Preservation, Homestead Amenities, and Outbuildings & Fences, with projects that include:

  • A portable chicken ark
  • Two types of beehives
  • Solar cookers
  • Firewood storage
  • A potato-growing box
  • Hoophouses and greenhouses
  • Raised planting beds
  • Rain barrels
  • A cider press
  • Compost bins
  • Drying racks
  • And more


With these easy-to-follow projects, make progress, step by step, toward your goal of more independent living.

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Write a Must-Read

AJ Harper

Description

A book is not about something. A book is for someone.

You want to write a nonfiction book that matters. A book readers love and rave about. A book they underline, dog-ear, and highlight. A must-read.

How do you do that, when you’ve never written a book like that before? When you aren’t sure what content to include in a nonfiction book, or how to organize it? And when you’re not sure if your idea is worth pursuing in the first place?

At the heart of the answers to all these questions is a craft created by AJ Harper, ghostwriter and editor for some of the foremost thought leaders of our time. The foundation of that craft is a simple, yet powerful philosophy: Reader First. When you learn how to put your reader first at every stage of book development, writing, and editing, you can create the connection and trust required to transform their lives.

In these pages, Harper reveals the proven methods and frameworks she has used for nearly two decades to write and edit perennial bestsellers. It’s not the easy way, or the fast way; it’s the effective way. The payoff for doing this important work: a must-read book, and a massive readership who serve as ambassadors for your message and your brand.

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True Brews

Emma Christensen

Description

You can make naturally fermented sodas, tend batches of kombucha, and brew your own beer in the smallest apartment kitchen with little more equipment than a soup pot, a plastic bucket, and a long-handled spoon. All you need is the know-how.  
             
That’s where Emma Christensen comes in, distilling a wide variety of projects—from mead to kefir to sake—to their simplest forms, making the process fun and accessible for homebrewers. All fifty-plus recipes in True Brews stem from the same basic techniques and core equipment, so it’s easy for you to experiment with your favorite flavors and add-ins once you grasp the fundamentals.  
             
Covering a tantalizing range of recipes, including Coconut Water Kefir, Root Beer, Honey–Green Tea Kombucha, Pear Cider, Gluten-Free Pale Ale, Chai-Spiced Mead, Cloudy Cherry Sake, and Plum Wine, these fresh beverages make impressive homemade offerings for hostess gifts, happy hours, and thirsty friends alike.

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Bookcraft

Heather Weston

Description

From heirloom memories to unique journals, albums, and altered books—or simple tag books for your kids—Bookcraft contains all the skills you will ever need.

Books are a central part of life, and have been with us for around 2,000 years. Although most books we use are produced commercially, many of us are drawn to the book form in its various guises, and are interested in exploring how to make books of our own, whether as a vehicle for telling stories, as scrapbooks, or as notebooks and journals.

This guide provides the essential ingredients for designing and making your own books, from simple binding and finishing techniques to complex complete products. Projects are designed to suit a variety of skill levels from beginner to advanced, and use a step-by-step approach to learning the necessary skills.

Each project begins with basic techniques and progresses through to thought-provoking applications of those techniques. Each technique includes an example of a finished book that fully and beautifully utilizes the methods described by the techniques.

This book explores more experimental binding and page treatment techniques, and has a comprehensive gallery of ideas outlining the skills and materials needed to apply techniques often reserved for professionals.

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DIY Thrift Flip

April Yang

Description

Flip it, Make it, Love it!

In DIY Thrift Flip: Sewing Techniques for Transforming Old Clothes into Fun, Wearable Fashions, expert thrift flipper April Yang, aka Coolirpa, gives you the ultimate guide to turning secondhand finds into trendy, one-of-a-kind fashions. 

Perfect for anyone with big fashion dreams and a small budget, whether you’re looking to slay your style game or create an Insta-worthy wardrobe makeover, this book has everything you need to go from “meh” to “OMG!” 

  • Getting Started. Essential materials and tools, setting up a workspace, organizing supplies, sewing machine basics, and choosing fabric.
  • How to Shop for Alterable Clothes. Where to shop, what types of clothes to look for, what can and can’t be fixed, and how to gauge size when you can’t try something on.
  • Altering Basics. How to use patterns to alter clothes or parts of garments, techniques for altering without using patterns, the basics of garment altering, adding sleeves, hems, and pockets, and how to custom-tailor an altered piece for a great fit.
  • Projects. A variety of beginner- to intermediate-level projects inspire and guide you along your own thrift flips.
  • QR codes give you access to techniques, tutorials, and project details.


If you’re all about saving cash, helping the planet with sustainable style, and showing off your personal flair, DIY Thrift Flip is your new BFF. It’s time to create, elevate, and SLAY!

Ready to make your thrifting dreams a reality? Start flipping today!

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Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (Core Rulebook, D&D Roleplaying Game)

Dungeons & Dragons

Description

Weave legendary stories in the world’s greatest roleplaying game. 
 
All you need to run a Dungeons & Dragons game is your imagination, some dice, and this book. The Dungeon Master’s Guide teaches you how to how to run D&D adventures for your players— how to invent monsters for them to fight, mysteries for them to solve, and fantasy worlds for them to explore. 

• The Dungeon Master’s Guide is one of the three main Dungeons & Dragons books, along with the Player’s Handbook and Monster Manual. It’s a reference used by the Dungeon Master (the game’s narrator) to create adventures—to run Dungeons & Dragons games and fill them with characters and stories. 
 
• The Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) is full of tools to help you immerse players in the game. What’s the demon lord’s secret weakness? Are the orcish invaders a criminal enterprise, or traitorous allies? Dozens of tables throughout the book help inspire your decisions and keep the game flowing smoothly. 
 
• In the Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG), even the tables tell tales. A legendary sword takes five decades to craft. Who created it, and why? A tavern-crawling gnome has an eye twitch. How did she get it, and when? In every detail is an architecture for narrative—and the Dungeon Master’s Guide has all the tools you need to flesh it out with ease. 
 
• In Dungeons & Dragons, you and your friends coauthor your own legend. Guided by a Dungeon Master, you create characters and play their roles in a story, rolling dice and navigating maps as you unfold a tale as limitless as your imagination. 
 
• Dungeons & Dragons is the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Created in 1974, D&D transformed gaming culture by blending traditional fantasy with miniatures and wargaming.

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The Mindful Art of Space Making

April Scott Tandy

Description

Are you dreaming of a serene, clutter-free home but feeling overwhelmed by the chaos around you? The Mindful Art of Space Making is your ultimate guide to transforming your living space--and your life--through mindful decluttering. Join April Scott Tandy, a seasoned expert in home transformation, as she introduces her proven Space Maker Method. Her innovative approach to decluttering goes beyond merely getting rid of things; it's about curating your home with intention and purpose. Inside, you'll learn how to: go at your own pace, making decisions you won't regret; use quick wins to build your confidence; handle emotional and sentimental items with care; build unstoppable momentum through focused effort. This book isn't just a collection of tips and tricks; it's a transformative journey that empowers you to take control of your home and your life. Imagine a home where you have space for a cozy reading nook, an inspiring arts and crafts area, or simply room to breathe. This is the essence of Space Making - to make space for what you love!

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Knit Yourself Calm

Lynne Rowe

Description

Knitting is a relaxing and therapeutic pastime, and this winning combination focuses on mindfulness and the perfect stress-busting knitting projects. Whether you choose a portable project to knit on the go, a group project to do with friends, or one that introduces new skills to stimulate a creative mind, this book is the perfect path to keeping calm. 

The book is aimed at beginners as well as more advanced knitters, but does not include anything more complex than basic knit and purl stitches, increasing, decreasing and some simple colourwork. 

Lynne Rowe covers the essential techniques at the start of the book, followed by projects that have been specifically designed for mindfulness. The projects themselves are split into five sections: Quick and Easy, Portable, Group, Big, and New Skills. Within these sections, you can choose to make things such as a wash cloth, a hat, a blanket, a shawl and an evening bag, amongst others. 

Every single one has been designed to promote calm and mindfulness and all the projects are beautifully photographed with clear and simple knitting patterns. 

The Introduction is written by Betsan Corkhill, an experienced healthcare professional who founded the community interest company stitchlinks.com in 2005. It has grown into a global online community for those who enjoy the therapeutic benefits of craft, and in particular, knitting. Betsan has also advised on the projects included in the book and repetitive techniques to promote a calm state. 

The five sections have different ways of promoting calm and the feelgood factor: 

Quick and Easy: the projects in this section are designed for when you when you feel like a quick fix to raise your mood. Use your favourite colours and textures to enhance the benefits of the rhythmic movements and the feelgood effects. The feeling of success you experience will motivate and inspire you. 

Portable: These smaller projects are even more portable, so keep one in your bag at all times. Use it to manage stress on the go, on your commute to work, in your lunch break, when travelling or at any other time when life is getting a bit much and you need to feel calm. 

Group: Getting together with friends to knit, chat and laugh over a cuppa is one of lifes joys. Supportive friends help us to live longer, healthier, happier lives so why not combine the calming nature of knitting with the support of being with friends? Its a powerful way to switch off your stress fight-or-flight response and switch on a bit of fun, play and laughter. 

Big: Its a lovely cosy feeling to sit quietly at home with your Big project on your lap, keeping you warm as you knit. Let it be your constant friend, the one you turn to to find calm and consistency when the world around you feels a bit frantic. As you get into the flow of the pattern, its familiarity will enable you to settle into a soothing rhythm whenever you need to knit yourself calm. 

New Skills: Learning new skills on a regular basis is essential for nurturing a healthy brain, opening new neural pathways and even encouraging the growth of new brain cells right into old age. This section focuses on a range of new skills to encourage you to experiment with different stitch patterns and combinations of colour and textures. They are designed specifically to stimulate your creative mind. 

Whatever your skill level, there are plenty of projects in this book to help you achieve calm, bust those stress levels and enjoy a pastime which is creative, fun and produces beautiful projects to wear, or for the home.

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Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff

Matt Paxton

Description

Your boxes of photos, family’s china, and even the kids' height charts aren’t just stuff; they’re attached to a lifetime of memories--and letting them go can be scary. With empathy, expertise, and humor, Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff, written in collaboration with AARP, helps you sift through years of clutter, let go of what no longer serves you, and identify the items worth keeping so that you can focus on living in the present.

For over 20 years, Matt Paxton has helped people from all walks of life who want to live more simply declutter and downsize. As a featured cleaner on Hoarders and host of the Emmy-nominated Legacy List with Matt Paxton on PBS, he has identified the psychological roadblocks that most organizational experts routinely miss but that prevent so many of us from lightening our material load. Using poignant stories from the thousands of individuals and families he has worked with, Paxton brings his signature insight to a necessary task. 

Whether you’re tired of living with clutter, making space for a loved one, or moving to a smaller home or retirement community, this book is for you. Paxton’s unique, step-by-step process gives you the tools you need to get the job done.

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It's about Time

Valorie Burton

Description



 

Discover the eternal value of your finite time--and intentionally choose the meaningful over the urgent every single day.

Our culture makes it so that even the most organized and efficient among us feels the pressure of the ticking clock and the possibility and regret of missing out. Modern life has evolved in a way that sets us up for stress, pressure, and overload. New norms and attitudes tap into deeply-wired psychological impulses that make it harder than ever to take control of your time. Many of us also have innate personality traits that make the struggle even worse.

No wonder time can become a tyrant that leaves us chronically stressed and discontented. Unlock an approach to life that bestselling author Valorie Burton calls "living timelessly." You will come to understand

1) the gradual changes that have led us to a place where having too much to do and too little time to do it is the norm,

2) the vision for what it could look like if you were free from the stress of time and how to blast through the obstacles to those possibilities, and

3) the practical steps to choosing the meaningful over the urgent so that your life is unhurried yet purposeful and reflects the values and impact that are unique to you.

It's About Time helps you reimagine a life that is meaningful, at a pace that is natural, with a load that is doable and equips you with the tools to make it happen.

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The Joy of Well-Being

Colleen Wachob

Description

In this empowering and accessible collection of health and wellness advice, the co-founders of mindbodygreen challenge our definition of wellness, health, and self-improvement by revealing what a healthy lifestyle looks like at the fundamental level-and it's not what we think. What does a healthy lifestyle actually look like on the most fundamental level? Across the board, there's so much pressure to pick a health identity to define us. But that's not the reality of how health works. There is no "one size fits all" solution to being healthy, and there are countless studies that support this point of view when it comes to what you eat, your mental health, and how you choose to live. The only universal principle is that you have got to be happy: happy with the choices you are making, happy with the life you are living, and those choices need to work with your body to promote your somatic needs for happiness. Happiness and Healthiness go hand in hand, and who couldn't use a little more of both these days? In The Joy of Well-Being, co-founders of mindbodygreen, one of the largest wellness lifestyle websites, Colleen and Jason Wachob help us tap into the health we already have and guide us through making intentional choices about the life we live today. We're encouraged to make health choices that are right for us as we learn to embrace intentionalism--a way of seeing our health that informs what wellbeing means to us in what we eat, how we sleep, how we breathe, how we take care of our mental health, and every other dimension of our lives.

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Inner Workout

Taylor Elyse Morrison

Description

Caring for yourself is essential. But we need both direction and intention if we want to find out what we truly need in the moment. This is where Inner Workout comes in: First by redefining what self-care truly is and then by diving deep into areas where you might need some help. Addressing issues like body positivity, burnout, brain fog, self-confidence, and more, this guide offers a variety of practices, prompts, and actionable advice to strengthen your connection to each aspect of yourself.

Think of this as a choose your own self-care adventure: Take the Take Care Assessment and find out which practices you deeply need right now. Flip to a section that resonates with you. Or read through each chapter to discover what each dimension of care can offer you. The guidance within these pages isn't meant to change who you are, but to strengthen the wisdom you already have within. Whether new to self-care or wanting to deepen the connection you've cultivated with yourself, this book is here for you at every step in your wellness journey.

ACTIONABLE SELF-CARE FOR EVERYONE: Self-care, in all its forms, remains a powerful and popular topic. It seems only natural to refer to our mental health care as a workout: Something we practice every day in little and big ways to address our whole selves. Inner Workout offers lots of prompts, inspiration, and ideas to keep your self-care practice fresh and applicable at every stage of life. 

THE ANSWER TO BURNOUT, BRAIN FOG, AND MORE: Each section of Inner Workout tackles a key area of self-care and helps to alleviate common wellness concerns:

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Slow Productivity

Cal Newport

Description

Our current definition of “productivity” is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices?

Long before the arrival of pinging inboxes and clogged schedules, history’s most creative and impactful philosophers, scientists, artists, and writers mastered the art of producing valuable work with staying power. In this timely and provocative book, Cal Newport harnesses the wisdom of these traditional knowledge workers to radically transform our modern jobs. Drawing from deep research on the habits and mindsets of a varied cast of storied thinkers – from Galileo and Isaac Newton, to Jane Austen and Georgia O’Keefe – Newport lays out the key principles of “slow productivity,” a more sustainable alternative to the aimless overwhelm that defines our current moment. Combining cultural criticism with systematic pragmatism, Newport deconstructs the absurdities inherent in standard notions of productivity, and then provides step-by-step advice for cultivating a slower, more humane alternative.

From the aggressive rethinking of workload management, to introducing seasonal variation, to shifting your performance toward long-term quality, Slow Productivity provides a roadmap for escaping overload and arriving instead at a more timeless approach to pursuing meaningful accomplishment. The world of work is due for a new revolution. Slow productivity is exactly what we need.

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Keep Sharp

Sanjay Gupta

Description

Throughout our life, we look for ways to keep our minds sharp and effortlessly productive. Now, globetrotting neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta offers “the book all of us need, young and old” (Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker) with insights from top scientists all over the world, whose cutting-edge research can help you heighten and protect brain function and maintain cognitive health at any age.

Keep Sharp debunks common myths about aging and mental decline, explores whether there’s a “best” diet or exercise regimen for the brain, and explains whether it’s healthier to play video games that test memory and processing speed, or to engage in more social interaction. Discover what we can learn from “super-brained” people who are in their eighties and nineties with no signs of slowing down—and whether there are truly any benefits to drugs, supplements, and vitamins. Dr. Gupta also addresses brain disease, particularly Alzheimer’s, answers all your questions about the signs and symptoms, and shows how to ward against it and stay healthy while caring for a partner in cognitive decline. He likewise provides you with a personalized twelve-week program featuring practical strategies to strengthen your brain every day.

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Don't Overthink It

Anne Bogel

Description

You are not doomed to a life of overthinking. 

We've all been there: stuck in a cycle of what-ifs, plagued by indecision, paralyzed by the fear of getting it wrong. Nobody wants to live a life of constant overthinking, but it feels like something we just can't escape. But is it?

Anne Bogel's answer is no. Not only can you overcome negative thought patterns that are repetitive, unhealthy, and unhelpful, you can replace them with positive thought patterns that will bring more peace, joy, and love into your life. 

In Don't Overthink It, she teaches you how to 

● adopt a framework for making choices that uses an appropriate amount of energy
● build a solid foundation to set yourself up for success and avoid overwhelm
● understand the destructive effects of overthinking
● apply strategies for dealing with questions both small and large
● implement practices to stop unhealthy thought patterns

With this book, you can be free to focus on what really matters and stop overthinking.

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Get a Hobby!

Tina Barseghian

Description

Is your daily grind taking the joy out of life? Don't get glum—get a hobby!

In this entertaining, information-packed guide, journalist and ReadyMade contributing editor Tina Barseghian invites you to explore 101 thoroughly absorbing diversions, from conventional to downright wacky, that'll satisfy every taste, talent, and timetable. The bonus: Practicing a hobby boosts your all-around mental and physical health, as longtime family practitioner Dr. Miguel Figueroa reveals in the Foreword.

Are you an independent, nature-loving, outdoorsy type? Consider beachcombing, caving, or mushroom hunting. Crafty, meticulous, and patient? You might enjoy needlework, knotting, or growing bonsai. Just take the personality quiz to identify those hobbies that best match your aptitude, interests, and even your mood, then it's on to the hobbies. Each hobby entry provides a playful mix of information: overviews, histories, and sample projects to help you get your hobby on, plus profiles of dedicated hobbyists and resources that'll help take you to the next level. Get a Hobby! might just be the inspiration you've been looking for.

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The Adventures of Penguin and Panda: Surprise!

Brenda J. Maier

Description

Penguin and Panda should not be friends. The very idea is absurd. Penguin likes to build things and Panda likes to nap. Panda munches bamboo and Penguin gobbles cheese puffs and jam-banana sandwiches. Penguin never powers down and Panda has a hard time powering up. There is no way their friendship would ever work. Except somehow, it does.

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Chip Gets Swimmer Shivers

Maddie Frost

Description

Chip is starting swim school and he really isn’t looking forward to it.

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Frank's Red Hat

Sean E Avery

Description

Frank is a penguin with ideas. Mostly terrible ones.

That's why his fellow penguins are nervous when he shows them his strange new creation. It was something they'd never seen or expected to see in their cold and colorless Antarctic world—a red hat.

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Pascal the Very Hungry Penguin

Nishani Reed

Description

When Pascal the penguin tries Nabil's delicious biriyani rice, Pascal decides to leave the zoo and go home with him! But Nabil will be in BIG TROUBLE if his mom finds out. And Pascal is EVERYWHERE - honking, dancing, bouncing on the bed and making a HUGE bubbly mess in the bathroom . . . Will Nabil's parents let Pascal stay?


 

 

 

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Waiting for Mama

Gianna Marino

Description


"When everyone is sleeping, all I can hear is Papa's heart. Boom-Boom-Boom. My papa loves me."

It's deep winter in the Antarctic and a little penguin baby waits in the cold and snow for its mama to return from her long journey to find food. But all the while, the baby is protected and kept warm by its papa, until Mama returns with food . . . and love.

 

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Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin

Julia Donaldson

Description

Excited by his aunts' stories of the South Pole, plucky penguin Jonty Gentoo sneaks out of the zoo and sets off to find the land of the gentoo penguins. However, the world is a very big place for a little gentoo penguin and enthusiastic Jonty swims... in the wrong direction! 

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Penguin and Ollie

Salina Yoon

Description

Penguin is searching the ocean for treasure when he meets Ollie, a shy octopus who is curious about Penguin's adventure. So curious that he can't stay camouflaged for long!

But as the two meet other sea creatures during their search, Ollie is still too shy and hides again. Worried about his new friend, Penguin recruits the other animals to help look for Ollie, and they discover a treasure more precious than jewels.

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A Quilt for Christmas

Melody Carlson

Description

Cuddle up with this cozy story of giving and forgiving--with a little bit of romance

Christmas should be celebrated with family, but for Vera Swanson, that's not an option this year. Widowed and recently relocated, she is lonely in her condo-for-one--until little Fiona Albright knocks on her door needing help. 

With her mother seriously ill and her father out of town, Fiona enlists Vera's aid, and when she finds out her new neighbor is a quilter, she has a special request--a Christmas quilt for Mama.

Vera will have to get a ragtag group of women together to fulfill the request. Between free-spirited artist Tasha, chatty empty nester Beverly, retired therapist Eleanor, and herself, Vera has hopes that Christmas for the Albright family will be merry, after all. And she may even find herself a new family of friends along the way.

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Christmas Presents

Lisa Unger

Description

Instead of presents this Christmas, a true crime podcaster is opening up a cold case...

Madeline Martin has built a life for herself as the young owner of a thriving business, The Next Chapter Bookshop, despite her tragic childhood and now needing to care for her infirm father. When Harley Granger, a failed novelist turned true crime podcaster, drifts into her shop in the days before Christmas, he seems intent on digging up events that Madeline would much rather forget. She's the only surviving victim of Evan Handy, the man who was convicted of murdering her best friend Steph, and is suspected in the disappearance of two sisters, also good friends of Madeline's, who have been missing for nearly a decade. It's an investigation that has obsessed her father Sheriff James Martin right up until his stroke took his faculties.

Harley Granger has a gift for seeing things that others miss. He wasn't much of a novelist, but his work as a true crime author and podcaster has earned him fame and wealth--and some serious criticism for his various unethical practices. Still, visiting Little Valley to be closer to his dying father has caused him to look into a case that many people think is closed--and some want reopened. And he has a lot of questions about the night Stephanie Cramer was killed, Ainsley and Sam Wallace disappeared, and Madeline Martin was left for dead, bleeding out on a riverbank.

Since Evan Handy went to jail, three other young women have gone missing, most recently a young college dropout named Lolly. Five young women missing in the same area in a decade. Are they connected? Was Evan Handy innocent after all? Or was there some else there that night? Someone who is still satisfying his dark appetites?

As Christmas approaches and a blizzard bears down, Madeline and her childhood friend Badger return to a past they both hoped was dead--to find the missing Lolly and to answer questions that have haunted them both, discovering that the truth is more terrible and much closer to home than they think.

Coupling a picturesque, cozy setting with a deeply unsettling suspenseful plot, Christmas Presents is a chilling seasonal novella that can be enjoyed all year long.

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A Royal Christmas

Melody Carlson

Description

Adelaide Smith is too busy for fairy tales. 

She's been working hard to put herself through law school, and she's determined to stay focused on her goals. Then she receives a letter notifying her that she is a direct descendant of King Maximillian Konig V, the ruler of a small European principality called Montovia. 

What? No. That's the stuff of cheesy made-for-TV movies, not real life.

Still, curiosity gets the best of her, leading to a Christmas break trip chock-full of surprises, including a charming village, an opulent palace, family mysteries, royal jealousies, a handsome young member of Parliament, and the chance at a real-life fairy tale romance.

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Mistletoe in Paradise

Jill Shalvis

Description

Problem Number One – Getting There
Old childhood friends each fly separately to join their
families on what’s been an annual holiday themed yacht adventure. Secret ex-lovers,
Hannah and James are determined to make the best of things…

Problem Number Two – Getting Stuck.
When everyone but Hannah and James gets held up in an
airport snarl, it leaves them stuck together for four days, making Hannah’s
already problematic trip a whole lot harder to face. Especially because she
comes bearing more than just gifts…

Problem Number Three -- Falling In Love (again)
As the former lovers try to make the best of the Christmas
snafu, they soon realize that the best things in life can’t be planned and
sometimes love is sweeter the second time around. 

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The Christmas Guest

Peter Swanson

Description

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma's aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she'd ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.

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A Quilt for Christmas

Melody Carlson

Description

Cuddle up with this cozy story of giving and forgiving--with a little bit of romance

Christmas should be celebrated with family, but for Vera Swanson, that's not an option this year. Widowed and recently relocated, she is lonely in her condo-for-one--until little Fiona Albright knocks on her door needing help. 

With her mother seriously ill and her father out of town, Fiona enlists Vera's aid, and when she finds out her new neighbor is a quilter, she has a special request--a Christmas quilt for Mama.

Vera will have to get a ragtag group of women together to fulfill the request. Between free-spirited artist Tasha, chatty empty nester Beverly, retired therapist Eleanor, and herself, Vera has hopes that Christmas for the Albright family will be merry, after all. And she may even find herself a new family of friends along the way.

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Under the Texas Mistletoe

Karen Witemeyer

Description

In this 3-in-1 novella collection, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer presents the new story "A Texas Christmas Carol," in which a town's wealthy, Scrooge-like bachelor finds his world invaded by a woman set on earning his donation for helping the local poor, and by the penetrating questions of three mysterious visitors. 

It also includes, for the first time in print, "An Archer Family Christmas." When the Archer clan gathers for the Christmas holiday, an unexpected request for help leaves Cassandra Archer directly in the path of a dangerous outlaw. Desperate to protect the woman he loves, Jim Archer races to the rescue, only to find that Cassie's life is not the only one in peril. It will take a Christmas miracle--and the entire Archer clan--to keep a second Archer Christmas from ending in disaster.

In previously published "Gift of the Heart," a widow and her young daughter move to Hope Springs for a fresh start. But with no money to secure a home, Ruth must convince a wealthy resort owner to accept her heirloom brooch as collateral. Will the pin that brought love to three generations soften the heart of a wounded recluse and give Ruth a second chance at love as the holidays draw near?

Sprinkled throughout the collection, you'll find a hope-filled Christmas devotion, Witemeyer holiday recipes, and fun facts about nineteenth-century Christmas celebrations!

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The Santa Suit

Mary Kay Andrews

Description

When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love—but Ivy didn't bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much junk, that it's a full-time job sorting through all of it. 

At the top of a closet, Ivy finds an old Santa suit—beautifully made and decades old. In the pocket of a suit she finds a note written in a childish hand: it's from a little girl who has one Christmas wish, and that is for her father to return home from the war. This discovery sets Ivy off on a mission. Who wrote the note? Did the man ever come home? What mysteries did the Rose family hold?

Ivy's quest brings her into the community, at a time when all she wanted to do was be left alone and nurse her wounds. But the magic of Christmas makes miracles happen, and Ivy just might find more than she ever thought possible: a welcoming town, a family reunited, a mystery solved, and a second chance at love.

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A Winter Dream

Richard Paul Evans

Description

 From wonderful storyteller and author of the bestselling phenomenon. The Christmas Box, a new holiday novel based on the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors. Joe is forced out of the family business by his jealous siblings. Moving on to a? Other company, he soon becomes chief advisor to the CEO. Then the economy turns, and Joe's siblings need his help to save the family business. Based on the Old Testament story about Joseph and the coat of many colors and including a love story, A Winter Dream can be embraced for its message of forgiveness by believers and nonbelievers alike.

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The Christmas Train

David Baldacci

Description

Disillusioned journalist Tom Langdon must get from Washington, D.C., to L.A. in time for Christmas. Forced travel by train, he begins a journey of rude awakenings, thrilling adventures, and holiday magic. He has no idea that the locomotives pulling him across America will actually take him into the rugged terrain of his own heart, as he rediscovers people's essential goodness and someone very special he believed he had lost. 

David Baldacci's THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN is filled with memorable characters who have packed their bags with as much wisdom as mischief...and shows how we do get second chances to fulfill our deepest hopes and dreams, especially during this season of miracles.
 

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The Twelve Topsy-turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas

James Patterson

Description

At Christmastime, the Sullivans are missing someone dear to them ... until unexpected guests begin to arrive at their empty brownstone in Harlem--and they keep coming. And they stay. For twelve long, hard, topsy-turvy, messy days. But that's when the Sullivans discover that the moments in life that defy hope, expectation, or even imagination, might be the best gifts of all. 

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Winter in the Blood

James Welch

Description

During his life, James Welch came to be regarded as a master of American prose, and his first novel, Winter in the Blood, is one of his most enduring works. The narrator of this beautiful, often disquieting novel is a young Native American man living on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana. Sensitive and self-destructive, he searches for something that will bind him to the lands of his ancestors but is haunted by personal tragedy, the dissolution of his once proud heritage, and Montana's vast emptiness. Winter in the Blood is an evocative and unforgettable work of literature that will continue to move and inspire anyone who encounters it.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie

Description

“The murderer is with us—on the train now . . .”

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer.

Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again.

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Small Things Like These

Claire Keegan

Description

Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

An international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.

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Skipping Christmas

John Grisham

Description

Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. 

Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty, they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash, they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences—and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.

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The Christmas House

Beverly Lewis

Description

With the holidays approaching, Liz Lantz is dedicated to using her Hickory Hollow buggy tour business to share God's love with the Englisher tourists who visit her Lancaster County community. But when her father and brother are called away for a while, Dat finds a young Amishman to assist her on the tours in her brother's place, much to Liz's dismay. Regardless, the popularity of her Christmas House Buggy Tour means she could use the help, so as the countdown to Christmas begins, she works alongside Matthew Yoder, who quickly takes a genuine interest in the tour customers--and Liz. 

As an Englisher family in Hickory Hollow expresses their festive spirit with a lavishly decorated house for the second year running, Liz's Amish community becomes increasingly concerned about attracting unwanted traffic and attention, and Liz wonders if there is any way to bridge the gap to help the new neighbors feel welcome. At the same time, she grapples with her growing feelings for Matt, whose position with her is only temporary. Can she find a way to bring harmony to Hickory Hollow in time for Christmas? 

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Snowflakes and Starlight

Debbie Macomber

Description

'Tis the season for cozy stories of falling in love

Here Comes Trouble by Debbie Macomber

After rival columnist Nolan Adams writes an unflattering piece about rookie journalist Maryanne Simpson, she decides to make some big life changes. She needs to show the tough, streetwise Nolan that she deserves his respect. When they end up as neighbors, Maryanne discovers that she can't resist Nolan's gruff charm, and although he doesn't seem to be an appropriate match for a socialite, Maryanne has other ideas!

Once Upon a Wedding by JoAnn Ross

Desiree Marchand doesn't have time for any complications ahead of her friend's wedding--especially not her ex-boyfriend, rock star Bastien Broussard. Unfortunately, the wedding is down a singer...and whether Desiree likes it or not, Bastien is the perfect man for the job.

An Alaskan Christmas Homecoming by Jennifer Snow

The only thing Griffin Geller wants for Christmas is to reconcile with his family, which would take a real miracle. They haven't spoken to him in the three months he's been back in Wild River, Alaska. But when Jade Frazier walks into his tattoo shop, determined to decorate the front window, she helps remind Griffin that Christmas can be a season for second chances...in life as well as love.

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The Christmas Tree Farm

Laurie Gilmore

Description

Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that's too cute for its own good.

Bennett Ellis is on vacation in Dream Harbor trying to take a break from both his life and his constant desire to fix things.

But somehow fate finds Ben trapped by a blanket of snow at Kira's farm, and, despite her Grinchiest first impressions, with the glow of the fairy lights twinkling in the trees, and the promise of a warming hot chocolate, maybe, just maybe, these two lost souls will have a Christmas they'll remember forever...

The Christmas Tree Farm is a spicy romantic mystery with a HEA guaranteed, perfect to curl up with this winter!

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Finding Perfect

Colleen Hoover

Description

Finding Perfect is a novella that brings back several of Colleen Hoover's most beloved characters. Told from the point of view of Daniel from Finding Cinderella, readers will finally get the conclusion they've been hoping for. For the best reading experience, make sure you've read all four books that come together to make up this heartwarming story; Hopeless, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella and All Your Perfects.

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This Winter

Alice Oseman

Description

It can be a hard time of year... It's another Christmas for the Spring family. Which means a lot af relatives, a lot of food, a lot of chaos, and a lot of chances for people to say or do the wrong thing. Tori Spring knows her brother Charlie is overwhelmed by it all. She wants to help... But how? Charlie isn't certain he can stay in his own house as things get into full swing. His boyfriend Nick's house is an obvious refuge. But he's also unsure about ruining Nick's Christmas with his own concerns. Sometimes the only path to comfort and joy is through honesty, sharing... and banding together to find the warmth in winter.

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The Christmas Stranger

Richard Paul Evans

Description

Sometimes the universe sends us exactly who we need...

Three years after losing his family in a Christmas Eve accident, grief-stricken Paul Wanlass hasn’t just given up on Christmas, he’s given up on life. He can’t imagine anything to keep him here—not his work as a computer repairman, not the residents in his Salt Lake City neighborhood, and certainly not the idea of connecting with someone new. When a stranger knocks on his door, claiming to be picking up a laptop, Paul allows him in—but discovers the man has a very different mission in mind.

Paul wakes the next morning unsure if his encounter with the stranger really happened or was just a dream–but when the stranger shows up again, Paul challenges him to give him just one reason to live. The stranger agrees to the challenge but warns Paul not to expect a path he would have guessed or chosen.

As the stranger promised, Paul’s life takes a wild and fateful turn. A robbery connects him with a woman who has also lost the love of her life, and, in a seemingly unrelated incident, Paul rescues a young boy from bullying, only to find the boy needs a different kind of rescue. The twists leave Paul wondering what these people have in common, and why they were brought together. Who—or what—really is this Christmas stranger, and how will Paul find meaning once again?

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This Winter

Alice Oseman

Description

It can be a hard time of year... It's another Christmas for the Spring family. Which means a lot af relatives, a lot of food, a lot of chaos, and a lot of chances for people to say or do the wrong thing. Tori Spring knows her brother Charlie is overwhelmed by it all. She wants to help... But how? Charlie isn't certain he can stay in his own house as things get into full swing. His boyfriend Nick's house is an obvious refuge. But he's also unsure about ruining Nick's Christmas with his own concerns. Sometimes the only path to comfort and joy is through honesty, sharing... and banding together to find the warmth in winter.

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The Mistletoe Mystery

Nita Prose

Description

Molly Gray has always loved the holidays. When Molly was a child, her gran went to great lengths to make the season merry and bright, full of cherished traditions. The first few Christmases without Gran were hard on Molly, but this year, her beloved boyfriend and fellow festive spirit, Juan Manuel, is intent on making the season Molly’s mofinst joyful yet.

But when a Secret Santa gift exchange at the Regency Grand Hotel raises questions about who Molly can and cannot trust, she dives headfirst into solving her most consequential—and personal—mystery yet. Molly has a bad feeling about things, and she starts to wonder: has she yet again mistaken a frog for a prince?

A heartwarming, magical story about the true spirit of the season, The Mistletoe Mystery reminds us that love is the greatest mystery of all.

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Everything Is Tuberculosis

John Green

Description

Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John be­came fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequi­ties that allow this curable, preventable infec­tious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

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Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Description

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

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