Social Life

The definitive memoir by Damien Echols of the "West Memphis Three", who was falsely convicted of committing three murders. Hear this unforgettable account of his 18 years on death row.

Settled in at her new school and flanked by awesome friends Chloe and Zoey, life is looking up for Nikki Maxwell, especially since her crush, Brandon, asked her to be his lab partner - a seriously awesome development. However, when Nikki overhears mean girl Mackenzie bragging that Brandon's taking her to the Halloween dance, a bummed Nikki signs on to spend Halloween at a kids party with her little sister, Brianna, instead. Then she finds out Mackenzie was lying....

An Improbable Friendship is the dual biography of Israeli Ruth Dayan, now 98, who was Moshe Dayan's wife for 37 years, and Palestinian journalist Raymonda Tawil, Yasser Arafat's mother-in-law, now 74. It reveals for the first time the two women's surprising and secret 40-year friendship and delivers the story of their extraordinary and turbulent lives growing up in a war-torn country.

Lumphy the stuffed buffalo, Stingray the stuffed stingray, and Plastic the plastic thing have many wondrous adventures and learn all about the world. But will they ever discover what kind of toy Plastic truly is?

The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever! This stunning debut novel offers refreshingly clear writing and fascinating, original characters.

On a bright, summer day, a cyclone suddenly sweeps across the Kansas sky. A young girl named Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are carried up into the terrible storm. Far, far away, they crash down in a strange land called Oz. To return home, Dorothy must travel to the Emerald City and meet the all-powerful Wizard of Oz. But the journey won't be easy, and she'll need the help of a few good friends.

Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon, or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd and singing in unison, or the wonder you feel while gazing at centuries-old works of art? In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation and deeply personal inquiry into this elusive emotion.

Twelve-year-old Marvel is afraid of absolutely everything - amusement-park rides, food poisoning, earthquakes, and that big island of plastic floating through the ocean. She also obsesses about smaller worries like making friends, getting called on by the teacher, and walking home alone. But when Marvel stumbles on a group of older kids teasing a baby goat that has mysteriously shown up on the soccer field, she momentarily forgets to be afraid and rescues the frightened animal.

Claire has absolutely no interest in the paranormal. She's a scientist, which is why she can't think of anything worse than having to help out her dad on one of his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours. She thinks she's made it through when she sees a boy with a sad face and dark eyes at the back of the bus. There's something off about his presence, especially because when she checks at the end of the tour...he's gone.

Understanding Your Gifted Child From the Inside Out provides an engaging and encouraging look at raising gifted children today. A follow-up to the best-selling Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy and Successful Children, this new edition focuses on the social and emotional aspects of giftedness, highlighting new information on the issues of perfectionism, self-advocacy, underachievement, mindfulness, and the impact of technology on gifted kids' relationships. The book also features a section on life beyond college, for those listeners whose children are no longer children.

Elisabeth Caldwell's first babysitting job is coming up none too soon. She needs to earn some cash to buy some new gear for her latest interest, tennis. When her grandma hears that Elisabeth will be babysitting, she offers up a list of advice. Meanwhile, Elisabeth is crushing on a boy, and her best pal has her own list of advice on how to get him. Unfortunately, Elisabeth soon finds out that not all advice is good, embarrassing herself terribly in the process!

Whenever we worry about what to eat, how to love, or simply how to be happy, we are worrying about how to lead a good life. No goal is more elusive. In How to Be a Stoic, philosopher Massimo Pigliucci offers Stoicism, the ancient philosophy that inspired the great emperor Marcus Aurelius, as the best way to attain it. Stoicism is a pragmatic philosophy that teaches us to act depending on what is within our control and separate things worth getting upset about from those that are not.

The captivating and heart-pounding sequel to the New York Times best-selling and number-one Kids' Indie Next Pick Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, as heroine Morrigan battles a new evil. Morrigan Crow and her best friend Hawthorne Swift are now proud scholars in the elite Wundrous Society, but life is far from perfect. Does Morrigan have what it takes to prove that she belongs in the Society? Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow was an instant New York Times best seller and an IndieBound best seller.

Welcome to Nowhere, Arizona, the least livable town in the United States. For Gus, a bright 13-year-old with dreams of getting out and going to college, life there is made even worse by Bo Taylor, Nowhere's biggest, baddest bully. When Bo tries to force Gus to eat a dangerously spiny cactus, Rossi Scott, one of the best racers in Nowhere, comes to his rescue - but in return she has to give Bo her prized dirt bike.

Before the battle of the SandWing queens; before the prophecy and the dragonets sent to save Pyrrhia from endless war; a long, long time ago...evil was born. In alternating chapters this Wings of Fire special edition takes listeners back to the very beginning, when powerful, mythical dragons Clearsight, Fathom, and Darkstalker - the most dangerous dragon of all - were just dragonets. When the future was bright and uncertain, when no one had been betrayed or had their heart broken.

Since its original publication in 1996, Holy Land has become an American classic. In "quick, translucent prose" (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times) that is at once lyrical and unsentimental, D. J. Waldie recounts growing up in Lakewood, California, a prototypical post-World War II suburb. Laid out in 316 sections as carefully measured as a grid of tract houses, Holy Land is by turns touching, eerie, funny, and encyclopedic in its handling of what was gained and lost when thousands of blue-collar families were thrown together in the suburbs of the 1950s.

Secure friendships, social confidence, stress-free lunch times... It all awaits you! You’re in school for around 180 days a year, which means 180 lunchtimes. How does that make you feel? Are you someone whose heart races when the bell rings for lunch? Sure, you’re ready to eat and not think about math, but the lunch hour can be more stressful than math. Maybe you have conflicting friendship groups, and every choice seems wrong, or perhaps you’re used to standing on the sidelines, trying to start a conversation, terrified of rejection.

For centuries there have been rumors of another continent on the dragons' planet - another land far across the ocean, populated by tribes of dragons very different from those we know. But there's never been any evidence, and most dragons dismissed the rumors as fairy tales. Until now. Because it turns out the stories are true. And the other tribes are coming.

Teens and pre-teens flock to any new offering from New York Times best-selling author Gordon Korman. Told through multiple viewpoints, Ungifted follows Donovan Curtis through his year at a magnet school for gifted and talented kids. Thanks to an administrative foul-up, the decidedly mediocre student Donovan finds himself enrolled in the Academy of Scholastic Distinction. Out of place and out of luck, Donovan joins the robotics team. And while he learns a few lessons from his gifted classmates, he also teaches a few of his own.

In Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin draws a winsome vision for biblical cultural engagement in which faithfulness to Scripture and sensitivity to culture walk hand in hand. If Christians want to speak with a fresh, engaging and constructive voice within our culture, we need to press deeper into the core truths of the Bible.