Adult World

#1 New York Times best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Anthony Doerr brings his“stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) to selecting The Best American Short Stories 2019. Doerr and the series editor, Heidi Pitlor, winnow down twenty stories out of thousands that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.

Chloe Lukasiak believes that things happen for a reason. She knows that life would be easier without disappointments, bullying, and medical issues - but sometimes it takes challenges to inspire you to achieve big things. From her status as fan favourite on the US hit reality television show Dance Moms to her current life as a social media star with millions of fans, Chloe has found that self-acceptance and kindness are the key to getting over the rough spots in life and realising your passions.

Living in the remote town of Tierra del Sol is dangerous, especially in the criatura months, when powerful spirits roam the desert and threaten humankind. But Cecelia Rios has always believed there was more to the criaturas, much to her family’s disapproval. After all, only brujas - humans who capture and control criaturas - consort with the spirits, and brujeria is a terrible crime. When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, Cece is determined to bring Juana back.

Growing up without parents and without schooling, 14-year-old Cloyd is trouble - trouble to himself and everyone else. Sent by his tribe to a home for Indian boys, he is alone and half-wild in remote Utah canyons. As his feeling of isolation turns to desperation, he runs away to find even more trouble. When Cloyd is found and taken to live with an old rancher, he begins to explore the countryside.

In Bearstone, 14-year-old Cloyd Atcitty watched as a hunter killed what he thought was the last grizzly bear in Colorado. In this sequel, Cloyd continues his quest to find grizzlies in the mountains. Exploring the Weminuche Wilderness, Cloyd finds a pair of orphaned grizzly cubs. He must draw on his courage, determination, and Ute Indian heritage to teach them how to live in the wild. With winter approaching and food growing scarce, Cloyd must not only ensure the survival of the bears, but return to civilization before starvation and cold kill him.

When the precocious Zeze grows up, he wants to be a poet in a bow tie. But for now he entertains himself playing clever pranks on the residents of his Rio de Janeiro shantytown, stunts for which his parents and siblings punish him soundly. Now that his father is out of work, the beatings have become harsher, and life has gotten bleaker. Zeze’s only solace comes from his time at school, his hours secretly spent singing with a Bahian street musician, or his time of refuge with his magical orange tree, which both listens and offers him sage advice.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist William Tuohy follows Richard O'Kane, America's undersea ace of aces, and a few fearless submariners, during the U.S. submarine war in the Pacific. This grueling battle saw 10 million tons of Japanese shipping sunk by U.S. submarines, but the cost to the U.S. Navy was one in five of its boats, the highest casualty rate of the U.S. armed services.

Molly Moon is back, and this time she's hypnotizing her way to the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Along with Rocky and Petula the pug, Molly is tracking the sinister activities of American billionaire Primo Cell, who wants to become president and take over the world. He has all the Hollywood celebrities in his power, but Molly Moon has an amazing power of her own, which even she doesn't know about.

In the mid- to late-19th century, a burgeoning science called electricity promised to shine new light on a rousing nation. Inventive and ambitious minds were hard at work. Soon that spark was fanned, and a war was under way to be the first to light - and run - the world with electricity. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of direct current (DC), engaged in a brutal battle with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, the inventors of alternating current (AC). There would be no ties in this race - only a winner and a loser - and the prize was a nationwide monopoly in electric current.

When Eben McAllister reads about the Seven Wonders of the World, he longs to escape the small farming community of Sassafras Springs and do some exploring of his own. No one else ever seems to want to leave Sassafras, however, not even his best pal, Jeb, and so, for now, Eben figures he's stuck on the farm with Pa and Aunt Pretty until he grows up. All that changes when Pa, tired of Eben's moping, challenges him to find the Seven Wonders in Sassafras Springs.

Malala's memoir of a remarkable teenage girl who risked her life for the right to go to school is now abridged and adapted for chapter book listeners. Raised in a changing Pakistan by an enlightened father from a poor background and a beautiful, illiterate mother, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. Her story of bravery and determination in the face of extremism is more timely than ever.

En Lugares asombrosos. Travesías insólitas y otras maneras extrañas de conocer el mundo podrás viajar -con Luisito como compañero y guía- a los lugares más recónditos de uno, dos y más continentes: a sitios abandonados que conservan la huella de un hecho inexplicable; espacios delineados por trazos y personajes místicos; habitáculos hechizados por almas que vagan entre dimensiones desconocidas; zonas marcadas por los errores de la historia y sus fantasmas, y pintorescas comisuras del orbe con el sello de una costumbre o un suceso perturbador.

When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables send for a boy orphan to help them out at their farm, they mistakenly get Anne Shirley, a feisty, independent but warm-hearted 11 year-old girl. Fortunately her sunny nature and quirky imagination win the hearts of her reluctant foster parents and everyone in the community. But not a day goes by without some memorable adventure or prank in the tragicomedy of her life.

Three weddings. Three funerals. Alessa’s gift from the gods is supposed to magnify a partner’s magic, not kill every suitor she touches. Now, with only weeks left until a hungry swarm of demons devours everything on her island home, Alessa is running out of time to find a partner and stop the invasion. When a powerful priest convinces the faithful that killing Alessa is the island’s only hope, her own soldiers try to assassinate her. Desperate to survive, Alessa hires Dante, a cynical outcast marked as a killer, to become her personal bodyguard.

It is late August 1892, and Sophia Tims is coming home from a foreign Age, having risked her life in search of her missing parents. Now she is aboard a ship, with a hard-earned, cryptic map that may help her find them at long last. But her homecoming is anything but peaceful. Threatening clouds hang over the New Orleans harbor. Sinkholes have been opening in Boston, swallowing parts of the city whole. Rogue weirwinds tear up the Baldlands.

Twenty years ago, a woman sought safety from the spinning ice and darkness that descended upon a small village. She was given shelter for the night by the local innkeepers but in the morning, she disappeared — leaving behind an infant. Now 19, Ulla Tulin is ready to find who abandoned her as a baby or why.

Oscar Wilde's first play confronts the hypocrisy of public "morality" compared with genuine, private kindness. The reasons for its continued popularity are not difficult to identify: the play's witty dialogue contains many of Wilde's most quoted aphorisms, its stylish setting provides opportunities for elegant presentation, and its cast of memorable characters play out a story which is genuinely moving. This new audio production brings together a full cast worthy of Wilde's creative genius.

World War II was in its early days when brutal German dictator Adolf Hitler paid a visit to Paris, the capital of France. Only days before, on June 14, 1940, German soldiers had overrun the city, shocking the world. Hitler now viewed the city’s cultural treasures as his own. He posed for a photo in front of the Eiffel Tower, the beloved symbol of France and the country’s free, democratic people. The photo, taken by his personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, would show the world that Nazi Germany had triumphed over its bitter enemy.

Twillo lies bleeding out in a volcanic desert. Towering over him is a snarling red wolf, death only seconds away. Right as his vision is going black, a mysterious voice offers Twillo a chance at survival. Do you agree to bind souls? It is the voice of a dragon, one that hasn't been seen for hundreds of years. By agreeing to soulbind with the dragon, Twillo will tie himself to the dragon's destiny, one of future conflict. He will need to cultivate the highly illegal magic power known as dragonessence, and seek instruction across the Four Kingdoms of the Sagaland.

The immortal Count and the dark Merqueen haven't managed to claim Clara or her powers—yet. Even with their personal magic bound, they're hunting Clara with more force than she knows how to handle. They contain the magic of the hundreds of souls they've drained. Clara has her own power, one they haven't been able to touch, a secret binding element that gives life to all magic. She's stronger than ever, with a love great enough to dismantle the Count and Merqueen's devastating illusions. But when you love as fiercely as Clara, you have too much to lose.