Nonfiction Education

From the Corner of Bad and Ass is a collection of Carrie Schiffler’s memories about growing up in welfare housing to absentee and alcoholic parents. Throughout these heart-wrenching and often-hilarious stories, we cheer her on as she fights to survive domestic violence, sexual abuse, and cycles of poverty and addiction ... all before her 18th birthday. Prepare to laugh at her attempts to earn the attention she craves and prepare to cry over the inappropriate attention she receives.

Despite what you may have heard, becoming a successful author isn’t about having 67,973 Instagram followers, reaching “best-selling” status for seven seconds, or having Beyoncé take your book on tour with her (as amazing as that would be!). It’s about impacting one person so deeply that they can’t help but recommend your book again and again. It’s also about uncovering more of yourself while you tell your story so that your unique light can’t help but shine more brightly upon the world.

Slime. Ice cream. Crayons. Kids come across these things and more in everyday life. Bring familiar and favorite nouns to young learners, and watch their vocabularies grow!

Good books don’t happen by accident. They happen because the author has a plan every step of the way, from their book’s structure to the publishing path that’s best for them. Any author with a great idea and a boatload of gumption can write and publish an impactful nonfiction book, and Hungry Authors is the tool every writer needs to make that happen.

Charles Wheelan has spent decades mastering effective communication skills in his work as a writer, college professor, journalist, speechwriter, political candidate, and public speaker. In Write for Your Life, he shares his best tips.

Imagine having your own personal mentor - someone encouraging yet honest, supportive yet empowering, who could help you set and achieve your goals, turn your moments of doubt and fear into sources of strength, and discover what you’re truly capable of when you’re at your best. Kendra Levin is that mentor. And with The Hero Is You, she’s here to help you do the best writing of your life - and live your best life while doing it.

Vote for me! It's election time, and campaign ads are everywhere. But what does fundraising, door knocking, and campaigning have to do with getting elected? Listeners learn all about political campaigns and how they play a part in our elections.

After a decade of teaching writing using the same methods he'd experienced as a student many years before, writer, editor, and educator John Warner realized he could do better. Drawing on his classroom experience and the most persuasive research in contemporary composition studies, he devised an innovative new framework: a step-by-step method that moves the student through a series of writing problems, an organic, bottom-up writing process that exposes and acculturates them to the ways writers work in the world.

With in-depth advice for all stages of book creation and publication, The Influential Author takes a uniquely grounded and intellectual approach to nonfiction self-publishing. Unlike self-publishing guides that promise to teach you how to write a best-selling book quickly and easily, it actually walks you through the complex details of planning, writing, editing, and promoting your work at the standards of traditional publishing.

What are the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Why are these documents important to American history? How do they affect the lives of U.S. citizens today? After the colonies won their independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, a new government was created that could help guarantee that the colonists would enjoy the freedoms they had fought so hard to win. Using an inquiry-based approach, listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and how these historic documents provide U.S. citizens with the freedoms they enjoy today.

Writing an autobiography is a deeply personal and introspective journey. It is a chance to reflect on your life, share your experiences, and leave a lasting legacy for future generations. But before embarking on this transformative endeavor, it is important to understand the purpose of an autobiography, and what you hope to achieve through its creation.

Take your kids along on a fun, jungle adventure and share with them the letters of the alphabet and animals in the rainforest. Through the innovative story of Sony’s eagerness to learn Spanish, your child will also delight in learning the letters of the alphabet as well as how to pronounce them through song.

Les aventures d'"Alastor", 6 épisodes. Résumé : S'il il y a bien une chose dans la vie que le petit magicien Alastor aime faire ce sont les bêtises en tout genre accompagné de son fidèle Bilou, son hibou dodu... Sa maman, la douce et patiente Fée Mwadestresses et sa maîtresse Mademoiselle Sapiens s'arrachent les cheveux à cause de ce garnement tout aussi attachant que désobéissant ! Mais heureusement, il apprend vite de ses erreurs ce qui lui laisse toute la place pour imaginer de nouvelles farces.

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free. But with a criminal justice system with the cards stacked against Black men, Hinton was sentenced to death. He resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times.

In 2014, Flint, Michigan, was a cash-strapped city that had been built up, then abandoned by General Motors. As part of a plan to save money, government officials decided that Flint would temporarily switch its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Within months, many residents broke out in rashes.

A peaceful summer night is shattered by gunfire as an unseen assailant tries to murder police officer John Busby. Though horribly wounded, Busby survives. But the perpetrator remains at large, meaning neither Busby, nor his wife, nor their three children are safe. In separate chapters John and his daughter, Cylin, who was nine at the time, recount the story of that year. John writes graphically, and movingly, of his wounds, his pain, his multiple surgeries, and his rage.

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.

Good Prose is an inspiring book about writing - about the creation of good prose - and the record of a warm and productive literary friendship. The story begins in 1973, in the offices of the Atlantic Monthly, in Boston, where a young freelance writer named Tracy Kidder came looking for an assignment. Richard Todd was the editor who encouraged him, and from that article grew a lifelong association. Before long, Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine, the first book the two worked on together, had won the Pulitzer Prize.

Cuba has fought three wars for independence, and still she is not free. Her people have been rounded up in reconcentration camps, where there is always too little food and too much illness. Rosa knows how to heal sickness with medicines made from wild plants. But with a price on her head for helping the rebels, Rosa dares not go out in the open. Instead, she turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her.

In Just Ask, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor celebrates the different abilities kids (and people of all ages) have. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges - and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages listeners to do the same.