Wonder English

In her new essay collection, the beloved author of High Tide in Tucson brings to us from one of history's darker moments an extended love song to the world we still have. From its opening parable gleaned from recent news about a lost child saved in an astonishing way, the book moves on to consider a world of surprising and hopeful prospects, ranging from an inventive conservation scheme in a remote jungle to the backyard flock of chickens tended by the author's small daughter.

Has the joy of the holiday season become painfully dissonant with the hard edges of life? Do you feel weary from the way Christmas has become a polished, predictable brand? You aren't alone. For too many of us, Christmas has lost its wonder. What if we stopped treating the Christmas story as something that happened a long time ago and started believing that it's a story that's still happening today?

The periodic table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of adventure, greed, betrayal, and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow elements on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.

Zara Riddle is trying to find work-life-magic balance, but there's one big secret this witch needs to crack. Chet Moore, the moody shifter who lives next door, has been running hot and cold like a broken faucet ever since they met. Zara finally resorts to magic to get the truth out of him. It turns out her instincts were right. Chet has been hiding something, and it's a doozy. Now Chet wants Zara's help with an intensely personal mission. He wants her to track down a lost soul and solve a cold case - a strange and violent case that powerful entities would rather keep buried.

When two curious kids embark on a "wonder walk," they let their imaginations soar as they look at the world in a whole new light. They have thought-provoking questions for everything they see: Is the sun the world's light bulb? Is dirt the world's skin? Are rivers the earth's veins? Is the wind the world breathing? I wonder . . . Young listeners will wonder too, as they ponder these words and make all kinds of new connections. What a wonderful world indeed!

At a time when society’s relationship with science is increasingly polarized while threats to human life on earth continue to rise, Townsend offers a balanced, moving perspective on the common ground between science and religion through the spiritual fulfillment he found in his work. Awash in Townsend's electrifying and breathtaking prose, THIS ORDINARY STARDUST offers hope that life can carry on even in the face of near-certain annihilation.

The Titanic sinking is one of the most memorable tragedies in history. Find out what really happened when the doomed ship sank on April 15, 1912.

One boy: Jack McKinley is an ordinary kid with an extraordinary problem. In a few months, he's going to die. One mission: Jack needs to find seven magic loculi that, when combined, have the power to cure him. One problem: The loculi are the relics of a lost civilization and haven't been seen in thousands of years. Seven wonders: Because they're hidden in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Jasmine thought that she had earned her happily ever after when she and Aladdin defeated Jafar. Then her beloved father dies and, overnight, all her plans for the future change. Instead of her wedding, she's now planning a funeral and a coronation—her coronation, to become the first woman to rule Agrabah. But before the sultan's crown is placed on her head, her claim to the throne is called into question.

Sy Montgomery's popular 2011 Orion magazine piece, "Deep Intellect", about her friendship with a sensitive, sweet-natured octopus named Athena and the grief she felt at her death, went viral, indicating the widespread fascination with these mysterious, almost alien-like creatures. Since then Sy has practiced true immersion journalism, from New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, pursuing these wild, solitary shape-shifters.

A story about life as a fifth grader at Beecher Prep through the eyes of Charlotte, the girl who had been chosen to be Auggie's "welcome" buddy. Listeners will not only learn more about Charlotte and her budding friendship with fan-favorite, Summer (they solve a mystery together), but how the girls at Beecher Prep react to Auggie attending their school for the first time.

Gloriously rich and utterly delightful, Miss Peregrine’s Museum of Wonders is an indispensable guide to the peculiar world, perfect for longtime fans and new listeners alike. Covering everything from how to blend in with suspicious normals to the most popular time loops to visit as a temporal tourist, this essential volume is ideal for anyone curious about the world of Miss Peregrine: its strange history, curious practices, fascinating places, most famous (and infamous) names, and much more.

In this clear and methodical field guide, author Mark Coleman shows you step-by-step how to develop a nature-based meditation practice every week of the year. Through systematic cultivation of mindfulness techniques, he’ll teach you how to attune to your senses and connect with the richness of the sensory world.

Webmind - the vast consciousness that spontaneously emerged from the infrastructure of the World Wide Web - has proven its worth to humanity by aiding in everything from curing cancer to easing international tensions. But the brass at the Pentagon see Webmind as a threat that needs to be eliminated. Caitlin Decter-the once-blind 16-year-old math genius who discovered, and bonded with, Webmind - wants desperately to protect her friend. And if she doesn't act, everything - Webmind included - may come crashing down.

The last thing Gwen Cooper wanted was another cat. She already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen’s veterinarian called with a story about a three-week-old eyeless kitten who’d been abandoned. It was love at first sight.

My name is Elena and I used to be a human being. Now I am a sex slave. If you are reading this diary then I am either dead or I have managed to escape... Trafficked: The Diary of a Sex Slave is a gritty, gripping, and tear-jerking fictional audiobook, inspired by real victims' accounts and research into the sex trafficking underworld.

Dani Capelli has never truly belonged anywhere. And from her earliest days as a foster child in Queens, she would have been lost if it weren’t for her love of animals. Until high school, when she fell hard for the wrong boy, and found herself pregnant - and married - by graduation. Two daughters later, Dani realized her mistake and filed for divorce, and with the help of scholarships and loans - and a lot of macaroni and cheese dinners - she enrolled in vet school. Things were finally looking up, until her ex-husband became her late husband, in the most notorious way possible.

Praised by Publishers Weekly for its “engrossing plot lines,” Alix Ohlin’s Signs and Wonders features 16 compelling tales about the connections between people - and the decisions that have the power to alter their lives. In the title story, a married couple decides to divorce. The next night, the man falls into a coma - and his wife is forced to make a difficult decision.

This is the story of the Italian tourist who became the first European to completely cross Asia. After returning home, he wrote a book about the amazing things he had seen. Even today, people still love hearing about his adventures!

The best-selling author of The Wonder of Boys offers a holistic and uplifting look at how to celebrate life after 50. Written with Gurian’s courageously optimistic outlook on life, The Wonder of Aging is a comprehensive and comforting road map of what to expect in the second half of your life - and how to celebrate it. The elder years can be a journey into something richer and deeper, full of hope and meaning rather than a sense of fate, and this audiobook gives you the tools to revel in them to the fullest.