![]() Agent: Andrew Blauner, Blauner Books Literary Agency. Randi Schofield is the sole provider for an ailing father and, at the same time, for her own children a situation now common among Americans in their 30s and 40s. ![]() ![]() The compassionately told stories of survival are almost miraculous: a young man who had been abandoned and abused by his adoptive parents proudly returns to Covenant House to cook and serve a gourmet meal another, bearing physical scars, walks the halls as an at-risk coordinator for a high school and in the epilogue, we learn that a young woman who had survived drug addiction and prostitution has been accepted to college to study juvenile justice. ![]() In addition, the authors highlight such issues as human trafficking, the shortcomings of the foster care system, and the financial cost of not caring for homeless youth, as well as providing suggestions and resources for mentoring, helping teen parents, and supporting LGBTQ youth. Telling the story of six young people who came to a Covenant House, the nationwide network of faith-based homes for homeless and runaway youth, Ryan and Kelley uncover their dire circumstances as well as efforts by Covenant House staff, and the kids themselves, to get off the streets. ![]() Almost Home, was a collaboration with former New York Times reporter Tina Kelley. With narrative precision and journalistic detail, the heartbreaking trajectory from abandonment and abuse to teen homelessness is laid bare in this book by Covenant House president Ryan and staff member Kelley, a former New York Times reporter. Kevin Ryan is the President and CEO of Covenant House International. ![]()
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![]() It starts with activities built around the letter “a”: Assemble. ![]() It’s also a way to look at protest through the lens of the letters of the alphabet. Rob Sanders’ picture book, Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights, provides a way to talk with young children about activism and how people can choose to peacefully make their voices heard to advocate for justice. Rob also coordinates the Rising Kite Writing Contest for SCBWI Florida, organizes meetings for SCBWI Florida members in the Tampa Bay area, and critiques picture book manuscripts for other writers. RUBY ROSE ON HER TOES (the first in a two-book deal with HarperCollins) releases in 2016, and Rob just sold RODZILLA to Justin Chanda at Simon & Schuster. ![]() OUTER SPACE BEDTIME RACE was released by Random House Children’s Books in January 2015. Rob’s first picture book, COWBOY CHRISTMAS, was released by Golden Books/Random House in 2012. These days he teaches elementary kids about books and words and reading and writing, and writes books for those same kids. He worked for fifteen years in religious educational publishing as a writer, editor, editorial manager, and product designer. ![]() Rob is a picture book author, a writing teacher, a blogger, and a great uncle. Rob is not a cowboy, a ballerina, an alien, or a temper-tantrum-throwing toddler. Rob Sanders does not work as a telephone sales rep, a loading dock worker, a trophy engraver, or an editor. ![]() ![]() There is some suggestion that she has made a mark upon his soul by living with him for so long. By the time we get the entire tale of how the tattoos came to be, Rod has become romantically involved with the female tattoo artist. The older hobo claims he is searching for the woman who tattooed him to this extent, but it is unclear if she is real, a phantom, or an invention of his somewhat disturbed mind. There is no connecting thread here, save for the continuing framing story of the young man becoming entranced by the illustrations. The movie reuses the same three principal actors in every story vignette, making it a bizarre, confusing task to try to re-identify each as their role changes from tale to tale. Each one in turn plays out a science fiction tale, a morality play, some bitter, some sweet, some perplexing. He warns the young man not to stare too closely at them for too long, as they seem to come alive and portray tales. ![]() ![]() The senior hobo(Rod Stieger) is covered from head to toe by tattoo illustrations that both enrich and curse him. A young hobo falls in with an experienced traveler who at times frightens and entices him. Just as the original book is an anthology of science fiction stories, the Illustrated Man movie has a framing device to connect the fragmented story vignettes that are told. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() To hear the full conversation, listen at the link above or download and subscribe to “Stagecraft” on podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the Broadway Podcast Network. ![]() “It’s our superpower, and we toss it away to just be what they used to call glee men, the ones who entertain only and feed each other sugar and get you to buy shit that we don’t need. “These works that we’re are encouraging people to be human and to continue to create civilization, which is one of things that we as artists can do,” she said. Parks added that artists, like plays, also have superpowers - and argued against squandering those gifts. And then you can go and see Stoppard’s work and see all of the stories. “You can see ‘Topdog’ on 45th Street and then go to 48th and see ‘Ohio State Murders’ and then go see ‘The Piano Lesson’ on 47th and then go see ‘Death of a Salesman‘ on 44th. “All these plays will talk to each other,” he said. Appearing with Parks on Stagecraft, Leon said he considers both those projects, plus other plays now running on Broadway, as works that are all in conversation. It’s directed by Kenny Leon, who is also directing an upcoming production of Adrienne Kennedy’s “Ohio State Murders” this fall. The story of the tight, rivalrous bond between two brothers, “Topdog/Underdog” is back on Broadway this season in a new production starring Corey Hawkins (“In the Heights”) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen”). ![]() ![]() ![]() In fact, in more than forty years of writing there probably isn’t much I haven’t done. There too, I had both thought about it and done it, although I’ve never had anything more than the script for a made-for-television movie produced. ![]() Then he asked if I’d ever thought about the big time? For a moment I thought he meant trying to write a best seller, but it turned out he meant writing for film. Again, I had not only thought of it, but had done it. He asked if I’d ever thought about writing for TV. He asked if I had ever thought about writing for adults? I said I had and I have. ![]() What followed was a conversation every writer of picture, middle-grade, and YA books has probably had many times.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Performing femininity is explored again in "Maymuun's Mouth," which also features the first references to displacement and immigration. The theme of girlhood progresses in the next poem, "Things We Had Lost in the Summer," which describes a reunion between cousins who were separated for years, and the way they changed. She learns that the man goes on to rape women during the war, introducing the topic of war and violence against women. "Your Mother's First Kiss" follows a mother whose first sexual experience was nonconsensual, but resulted in her having the man's child. These themes continue to develop as the book progresses. This furthers the theme of broken relationships, and also orients the book from a female perspective. The first poem is "What Your Mother Told You After Your Father Left," a short piece about a woman who put her faith in God to keep her lover with her, but who was ultimately abandoned. This is a brief introduction to the rest of the work, and it serves to ease the reader in to the following poems. This line introduces the themes of broken relationships, the effect of a child's parents, and the power of physical appearances. Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth opens with an italicized line on an otherwise blank page: "I have my mother's mouth and my father's eyes on my face they are still together" (6). Mouthmark Series, by Flipped Eye Publishing, 2011. The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Shire, Warsan. ![]() ![]() Their object was to land men and cargo in Norway for the Norwegian Underground, and to rescue refugees and carry them to Britain. The heroes of the book are Norwegian sailors, fishermen and merchant seamen, who had escaped to Shetland after the invasion of Norway by Germany in 1940. A story of heroism and endeavour and of adventure at sea. "The Story of the Special Norwegian Naval Unit based on Scotland. Cream boards with blue lettering on spine, blue illustration on front board. x, 220, pages + 20 illustrations on 8 plate leaves. 1955 reprint of 1953 edition, of a title first published in 1951. ![]() Dust-jacket protected in archival mylar cover. Some tape and adhesive residue to edges of dust-jacket. ![]() ![]() Previous owner's initials on front endpaper. ![]() ![]() ![]() “Yes, it’s about the dark side of fame on the internet, but it’s about the dark side of fame in general, the weirdness of it. “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” started out as a graphic novel back in 2013, “but I realized I was waiting for the perfect artist and if I kept doing that, it would never get written,” Green says. “If you have exceptional experiences, why not use them?” he says, describing how his interview with Barack Obama played out in a scene where April talks to the president. Green tapped into his own experiences - and those of friends - for April’s story. I’m actually pretty sleepy,” knows a thing or two about internet fame: “Since 2007, my brother and I have been making videos back and forth to each other (and several hundred thousand people) on a YouTube channel called Vlogbrothers.” Green, who introduces himself on his website by saying diffidently, “I’m Hank, I do a bunch of stuff. ![]() ![]() By the next morning, the video has gone viral, transforming April into an internet celebrity. ![]() 1 - 23-year-old April May, coming home from work late one night in New York City, stumbles upon an enormous metal sculpture planted on the sidewalk, “a 10-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor, its huge barrel chest lifted up to the sky.” She and a friend shoot a video of it, which they upload to YouTube, and go to bed. In Hank Green’s debut novel, “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” - which debuts on the fiction list at No. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Their astounding hypocrisy is evidence of a more sinister intention, I believe. Is it not ironic that the same people who claim the American workforce is racist and that black Americans have a harder time securing jobs and moving up the corporate ladder would at the same time do all they can to prevent workplace preparedness by advocating against the best available paths for education? It is too often the case that those with the loudest voices against school choice are the very same Democrats who send their own kids to private schools. It is even more unfathomable that liberals would ask them to. “It is unfathomable that black parents would continue to put their children’s future at risk by pledging allegiance to abysmal public schools when the option to drastically improve their educational circumstances sits before them. ![]() ![]() She may have moved away, married (then divorced), and had a child, but Beckett was never able to shake his feelings for her. ![]() As was hinted in Call Me Crazy, it turns out that he’s harbored a crush for his childhood friend, Maddie Blake, ever since they were in high school. Loyal and hardworking, all we really knew was that he left his job on Wall Street to return home to care for his aging father and take over duties at his family’s ranch. Beckett Weaver always had an air of mystery to him in the other books, he seemed like the strong, silent type. ![]() I can’t believe we’re already at the last book in the Bellamy Creek series, it seems like only yesterday that Griffin was rescuing Blair after crashing her car in her debutante dress! Now, we’re finally getting Beckett’s story and saying goodbye to this great group of guys. ![]() How was it possible that fifteen years had gone by, and I still struggled to breathe normally when she was in the room? ![]() |