Showing titles in Family Life

What's new in LaVaughn's life is Jody, a boy she knew as a child who's come back to the housing project where she lives. Jody is like a miracle: he smells like chlorine; he calls her "little buddy;" he goes with her to the dance. It's just as if he's in love with her. Except not quite.

In this newest contemporary YA novel from author Amy Clipston, Chelsea’s responsible life takes a turn when she meets Dylan while working with the summer stock theater. But when their fun starts to interfere with her relationships and possibly her dreams, Chelsea must decide if her heart is leading her in the right direction after all.

One Friday night, Emma, Anna, and Mariah, three best friends, are out doing something they shouldn't. Then a cell phone rings. One girl's mother wants to know why they aren't where they said they'd be. They make up a story so they won't get into trouble at home. It seems like the easy way out. What happens next challenges their friendship, their community, their relationship with their families, and their sense of themselves. What happens next shows the harm one lie can do.

This heartfelt and humorous contemporary take on Sense and Sensibility follows two sisters - complete opposites - who discover the secrets they’ve been keeping make them more alike than they’d realized.

There's only one way Shelby and her sisters can describe their mother: she's a sexpot. She collects men (and loans, spending money, and gifts of all kinds) from all over the country. Sure, she's atypical, but she's also more than a pretty face and nail polish - she's confident and brave and lives life on her own terms.

Thomas Hardy brings us an England that once existed but no more. It is rural, traditional, pastoral - a society of mannered conduct that flows like a deep river where powerful currents eddy and swirl. In this powerful novel of love and disillusion, Hardy's heroine is torn between the three men in her life. Passionate but capricious, her romantic involvements have fascinated generations of readers.

When Iggy Corso gets kicked out of high school, there's no one for him to tell. His mother has gone off, his father is stoned on the couch, and because the phone's been disconnected, even the social worker can't get through. So he leaves a note and goes out to make something of his life, but that's not so easy when you're 16, living in public housing, have no skills, and your only friend is a law-school dropout who's thinking about joining the Hare Krishnas.

Hai cinque anni, due sorelle e desidereresti tanto un fratellino per fare con lui giochi da maschio. Una sera i tuoi genitori ti annunciano che lo avrai, questo fratello, e che sarà speciale. Tu sei felicissimo: speciale, per te, vuol dire "supereroe". Gli scegli pure il nome: Giovanni. Poi lui nasce, e a poco a poco capisci che sì, è diverso dagli altri, ma i superpoteri non li ha. Alla fine scopri la parola "Down", e il tuo entusiasmo si trasforma in rifiuto, addirittura in vergogna.

The secrets of the past meet the shocks of the present. Aslaug is an unusual young woman. Her mother has brought her up in near isolation, teaching her about plants and nature, and language - but not about life. Especially not how she came to have her own life, and who her father might be. When Aslaug’s mother dies unexpectedly, everything changes. For Aslaug is a suspect in her mother’s death. And the more her story unravels, the more questions unfold. About the nature of Aslaug’s birth. About what she should do next. About whether divine miracles have truly happened.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is considered one of the greatest Russian writers. His works have had a profound and lasting effect on 20th-century literature. His psychological penetration into the human soul had, in novels like Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, a profound influence on the 20th century novel. He also wrote a number of brilliant short stories along these same lines. "The Wedding" is one of his best.

Sara Crew is the spoiled little daughter of rich parents. After her mother's death, she is sent to a "Select Seminary For Young Ladies". Then, Sara suddenly loses her father and money and faces the misery of existing on charity.

When the matriarch of the least successful Jewish family in America gets tired of their misfortune, she begins to consult mystical texts for help. Determined that their next born grandchild will be a genius who changes their fortunes, and convinced that no one in her clan is smart enough to raise a genius by themselves, she decides that the child will be passed from household to household to gain their collective wisdom.

For 12 years Winter has been haunted. Her past, her memories, her feelings, will not leave her alone. And now, at 16, the time has come for her to act. Every journey begins with a single step. If Winter is going to step into the future, she must first step into the past.

On a dark and stormy night, three strangers seek shelter at a young girl's christening party. Thomas Hardy was an English poet, novelist, and short story writer. He is famous for his depictions of Wessex, an imaginary county. Many of his stories also reflected his sense of the tragedy in human life.

Destruction. In a family of healers who save, all I do is destroy. My enforced solitude is for my own safety as well as that of the world, or so my mother tells me. When the boy next door beckons, I can't help but sneak out to forge a friendship with him. Loneliness leads me to defy my family, but desperation prevails when I discover that the grounds of his private academy hold a secret that could help me learn why my ability is so disastrous...or push me to create a catastrophe that will bring about my family's deaths.

Shakespeare Shapiro has always hated his name. His parents bestowed it on him as some kind of sick joke when he was born, and his life has gone downhill from there, one embarrassing incident after another. Entering his senior year of high school, Shakespeare has never had a girlfriend, his younger brother is cooler than he is, and his best friend's favorite topic of conversation is his bowel movements.

Mark Twain wrote this essay when asked to share something with America’s youth. Though he begins in a serious tone, his advice quickly takes a turn for the satirical: “Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don’t, they will make you.” In a similar tone, he goes on to address the matters of respecting one’s elders, rising early, lying, handling firearms, and reading books. This essay is a great example of Twain’s infamous satirical wit and an easy entry point for anyone interested in the writer’s nonfiction.

It was bad enough that they had to move to Brooklyn. Brooklyn Heights, as Tucker Woolf's dad instructs him to tell everyone after he loses his job. Now his father has suddenly developed an allergy to Tucker's cat, Nader, a nine-month-old calico Tucker found underneath a Chevrolet. Tucker's beloved pet finds a new home with overweight, outrageous Susan "Dinky" Hocker, the only person to answer Tucker's ad. As Tucker starts paying regular visits to Dinky's house to check up on Nader, his life begins to change.

Addison McCurtis has been visiting her grandma here in "The Rut" her entire life. But this summer is different; Addie's grandma is sick. Addie and her wanderlust-afflicted mother are called back home to help with her care. But unlike trips of the past, this one lays the foundation for something Addie has never had: a permanent zip code. With the summer days stretched ahead of her, Addie befriends the girls of the Rut....

Sloane Weber is devastated when her older sister dies by suicide. Talley was a bright light who made everyone want to step closer. Why had she made that unthinkable choice? The only clue Talley left behind for Sloane is a puzzle - a list of random places and names, along with the phone number of a boy named Adam, who lives in California and claims he didn’t know Talley. Sloane heads west, enlists Adam’s help, and together they search for answers. But while Sloane is drawn to Adam, she can’t shake the feeling that he’s hiding something.