Social Life

Megan Crewe has received both critical accolades and popular acclaim for her young adult novels. The Way We Fall launches a new series featuring 16-year-old Kaelyn, whose island community is quarantined after the outbreak of a deadly virus. Before long, people begin to turn against each other as they fight for dwindling supplies. Remarkably, in the midst of this chaos, Kaelyn discovers both an unlikely ally and a surprising love interest. And with prospects for survival growing dimmer with each passing moment, she will need all the help she can get.

Speed and self-confidence, that’s Astrid’s motto. Nicknamed “the little thunderbolt,” she loves to spend her days racing down the hillside on her sled, singing loudly as she goes, and visiting Gunnvald, her grumpy, septuagenarian best friend and godfather, who makes hot chocolate from real chocolate bars. She just wishes there were other children to share her hair-raising adventures with. But Astrid’s world is about to be turned upside down by two startling arrivals to the village of Glimmerdal: first a new family, then a mysterious, towering woman who everyone seems to know.

Emily Starr had never known what it was to be lonely - until her beloved father died. In this, the first of the Emily novels, young Emily is orphaned and goes to live with her mother's snobbish relatives at New Moon Farm. Sure that she'll never be happy there, Emily endures her stern Aunt Elizabeth and malicious classmates by holding her head high and using her quick wit.

How the Other Half Lives was a pioneering work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting the squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. It served as a basis for future muckraking journalism by exposing the slums to New York City's upper and middle class. How The Other Half Lives quickly became a landmark in the annals of social reform.

Opinionated talk show host and columnist Michael Smerconish has been chronicling local, state, and national events for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer for more than 15 years. He has sounded off on topics as diverse as the hunt for Osama bin Laden and what the color of your Christmas lights says about you. In this collection of 100 of his most memorable columns, Smerconish reflects on American political life with his characteristic feistiness.

In A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, Marianne Williamson revealed how we each become miracle-workers when expressing love and forgiveness in our everyday lives. With The Mystic Jesus, Williamson reveals the role of Jesus in the teachings of the Course. For many, Jesus has become a precious relic, revered yet lacking the immediacy of authentic spiritual force. In The Mystic Jesus, Williamson writes of a Jesus who transcends both glib imagery and outdated religious dogma. She writes not only of an historical Messiah but of a spirit alive in all of us today.

Award-winning journalist and CNN correspondent Elle Reeve was not surprised by the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. With years of in-depth research and on-the-ground investigative reporting under her belt, Reeve was aware of the preoccupations of the online far right and their journey from the computer to QAnon, militias, and racist groups. At the same time, Reeve saw a parallel growth of counterforces, with citizen vigilantes using new tools and tactics to take down the far right.

When Alexander wakes up with gum in his hair, he thinks that maybe it’s going to be a bad day. When he trips on the skateboard by his bed and drops his sweater in the sink, he knows it’s going to be even worse than he thought. His brothers find fabulous prizes in their cereal boxes; he finds cereal. His best friends get fancy desserts in their lunch boxes; Mom forgets dessert. From being scrunched in the car on the way to school all the way to lima beans for supper and kissing on TV (yuck!), the day just keeps getting worse. It’s enough to make him want to move to Australia.

On August 17, 2014, the body of 15-year old runaway Tina Fontaine was found in Winnipeg's Red River. It was wrapped in material and weighted down with rocks. Red River Girl is a gripping account of that murder investigation and the unusual police detective who pursued the killer with every legal means at his disposal. The audiobook, like the movie Spotlight, chronicles the behind-the-scenes stages of a lengthy and meticulously planned investigation. It reveals characters and social tensions that bring vivid life to a story that made national headlines.

In Way of the Warrior Kid, Marc went from wimp to warrior in one summer. He learned to be strong inside and out, mastered his multiplication tables, conquered his fear of swimming, and even made nice with the meanest kid on the playground (who turned out to be not so mean after all). Now, in this second audiobook in the middle grade Warrior Kid series, Marc uses what he learned last summer to help another kid who needs a boost. Can he take the skills he learned from his Navy SEAL uncle Jake to instill the warrior spirit in someone who needs his help?

When Motherless Daughters was published 20 years ago, it unleashed a tsunami of healing awareness. When Denna Babul and Karin Luise couldn't find the equivalent book for fatherlessness, The Fatherless Daughter Project was born. The book will set fatherless women on the path to growth and fulfillment by helping them to understand how their losses have impacted their lives.

The second book in Dav Pilkey's mega-best-selling Captain Underpants series, now available in Sound-O-Rama! George and Harold are usually responsible kids - whenever anything bad happens, George and Harold are usually responsible! This time, their latest prank backfires, and they accidentally invent an army of terrifying talking toilets. Luckily, they know a superhero with enough snap in his waistband to save the day! This looks like another job for the amazing Captain Underpants!

Ruby’s story picks up a few months after the events of The One and Only Bob. Now living in a wildlife sanctuary, Ruby’s caretaker from the elephant orphanage in Africa where she grew up is visiting. Seeing him again brings back a flood of memories both happy and sad of her life before the circus, and she recounts the time she spent in the African savannah to Ivan and Bob.

Infinite Life demonstrates that our every action has infinite consequences for ourselves and others, here and now, and after we are gone. Thurman introduces the seven Transcendent Virtues to reconstructing body and mind carefully in order to reduce the negative consequences and cultivate the positive. In his powerful, pragmatic style, Thurman delivers life-changing lessons on the virtues and emotions. He invites us to take responsibility for our actions and their consequences while we revel in the knowledge that our lives are truly infinite.

Is your phone the first thing you reach for in the morning and the last thing you touch before bed? Do you frequently pick it up “just to check”, only to look up 45 minutes later wondering where the time has gone? Do you say you want to spend less time on your phone - but have no idea how to do so without giving it up completely? If so, this book is your solution. Award-winning journalist Catherine Price presents a practical, hands-on plan to break up - and then make up - with your phone. The goal? A long-term relationship that actually feels good.

Something weird is going on! Miss Suki is a famous children's book author - and she's coming to A.J.'s school! She lives in the rainforest and writes about endangered animals. But when her pet raptor gets loose in the classroom, it's the kids who are going to be endangered! Yikes!

A five-time Moth GrandSLAM winner and bestselling novelist shows how to tell a great story - and why doing so matters. Whether we realize it or not, we are always telling stories. On a first date or job interview, at a sales presentation or therapy appointment, with family or friends, we are constantly narrating events and interpreting emotions and actions. In this compelling book, storyteller extraordinaire Matthew Dicks presents wonderfully straightforward and engaging tips and techniques for constructing, telling, and polishing stories that will hold the attention of your audience (no matter how big or small).

A gripping new novel in verse by the author of the Printz Honor-winning Starfish, featuring a poverty-stricken boy who bravely rides out all the storms life keeps throwing at him.

The Krusty Krab is celebrating its eleventy-seventh anniversary, and Mr. Krabs is looking forward to selling lots of Krabby Patties. But just before the celebration is about to begin, Mr. Krabs, Squidward, Patrick, and SpongeBob accidentally lock themselves in the freezer! While they make their way through the maze of air shafts above the Krusty Krab, reminiscing about their favorite memories along the way, Plankton finally gets his hands on the Krabby Patty formula! Will they get out in time to save the formula and celebrate the eleventy-seventh anniversary?

When a mysterious new witch arrives at the academy, the celebrations are cut short. As the witch begins recruiting faeries into her rival school of witchcraft, it becomes clear she has dark intentions. And soon Brystal's friend Lucy becomes embroiled in an ominous plot against mankind. Elsewhere, the fragile peace is on the brink of shattering. Outrage has spread throughout the kingdoms in opposition to the legalization of magic.