Juan, born and raised in Alabama, feels one hundred percent American. But other Americans don’t see him as one of them. Following some experiences with exclusion, he decides he wants to be a Filipino, like his parents. He spends a lot of time in the sun to darken his coffee-with-cream complexion and learns to speak Tagalog. During Christmas break, his mother takes him on a trip to the Philippines—a place she still considers home and that has always served as a refuge—to help him become a Filipino.
But in the Philippines, Juan finds that Filipinos, even his relatives, consider him an American. They laugh at his wanting to be brown. His cousins, with whom he has expected to develop an easy camaraderie, fall off their chairs whenever he tries to speak Tagalog.
For Juan, like so many children of immigrants, the struggle to assimilate while also developing his own identity is a challenging, sometimes heartbreaking, and an ever evolving process. Set in the 1980s, Juan’s story will ring true with anyone who’s ever experienced the search for identity in a multicultural setting, or anyone who’s ever struggled to fit in.
84Ribbons-FrontCover-WebMed A young dancer's realizes her life long dream, if only for a while.
Seventeen year old Marta Selbryth realizes her dream of becoming a professional dancer when the Intermountain Ballet Company in Billings, Montana invites her to join their 1957 season. As Marta's new life unfolds, she must learn to face not only the successes of dancing in the corps de ballet, but the challenges and setbacks that might crush the dream she's had for so long.
After a couple of mishaps, Marta settles into life in a boarding house located near the ballet company. Her landlady, Mrs. B., is friendly, reduces her rent when Marta's offers to bake for the boarder and later allows her to use the basement as a practice studio. The two male boarders are supportive; Carol, a fellow boarder, ignores her.
Marta spends her free time practicing when she's not spending time with her new friends Lynne and Bartley,her fellow corps dancers. Their time together becomes an important lifeline through their first year.
Madame Cosper, the artistic director, is a demanding woman. Marta begins their association poorly when she makes a disastrous choice. Expecting expulsion, Marta receives a second chance in the form of dancing the unpopularcharacter roles during the fall and winter performances.Marta determines to dance every role with confidence in hopes of proving to Madame that she's up for every challenge.
Steve, a young college man and a reporter, spots Marta when he's assigned to write an article about ballet for the local paper. He's attracted to her and begins his pursuit.Over the months ahead, he becomes her tour guide of the area and attempts to convince Marta to be his girl. But her steadfast focus is ballet and some of her adventures with him lead to problems with Madame Cosper.
Shortly after Christmas, everything changes for Marta, Bartley and Steve. Significant events permanently influence their lives. Each mustdeal with exhilaration and heartbreak as well as frustration and changes that test their ability to cope.
But Fin wasn't about to give up on himself. With Fin's two best friends, Joey and Penny, by his side, they took penny hikes through the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts. Fin pushed doggedly ahead into the unknown as life kept throwing him challenges, from facing down a bully to coping with the devastating effects of his mother's terminal cancer. Can Fin find redemption during a troubled and confusing time in his life?
Penny Hike is a story of hope, resolve, and digging deeper than you thought possible. It's a story about finding strength, and ultimately persevering in life, even when your soul has been murdered. Penny Hike delves into the unpredictable world of adolescence and the traumatic effects of abuse.
Two years after London is struck by a devastating terrorist attack, it is cut off from the rest of the world, protected by a large force of soldiers (known as Choppers) while the rest of Britain believe that their ex-capital is a toxic, uninhabited wasteland. But that's not true. Jack and his friends know that the truth is very different--and incredible: the few remaining survivors in London are changing; developing strange, fantastic powers; evolving. And the Chopper force guarding London is treating the ruined city as its own experimental ground.
Now, Jack's powers are growing. His friend Lucy-Anne's powers are developing too, and Nomad--that mysterious woman who started it all--is close by. But the Choppers have initiated their final safeguard--a huge nuclear bomb that will wipe out London, and everyone still within its boundaries. Jack and his friends must spread the news of the bomb and save everyone they can. Before that can happen, Jack must face his father, the deadly Reaper, in their final showdown.
When Nikola Tesla is murdered and blueprints for his super weapons are stolen, Tweed and Nightingale are drawn into a global cat and mouse chase with his killers. What's more, it seems that the people who shot Nikola Tesla are the same people responsible for Octavia's mother's disappearance. As the two cases intertwine, Tweed and Nightingale's investigations lead them to a murdered archeologist and a secret society called The Hermetic Order of Osiris. Fleeing the cult's wrath, they go undercover on the luxury airship, The Albion, setting out on her maiden voyage to Tutankhamen's View, a five star hotel built in the hollowed-out and refurbished Great Pyramid of Giza.
In Egypt, the duo begin to unravel the terrible truth behind Tesla's death, a secret so earth-shattering that if revealed it would mean rewriting the entire history of the world. But if the cult's plans aren't stopped, Britain may lose the future.
"A MODERN DAY DRACULA FOR MIDDLE SCHOOLERS..."-- Electively Paige
First Bigfoot, now a vampire.
It's been four months since Alec Kerley and his friends had their run-in with Bigfoot in the Ozark Mountains. During a field trip to southeast Kansas, they are confronted by a vampire.
This vampire knows them. He has been stalking them -- watching, observing, tracking. He knows Alec's father works for a secret government agency that investigates monsters.
And now the monsters want revenge.
Still dealing with the loss of his mother, Alec will have to gather all the courage he can muster, because the monster hunters have become the hunted.
Hold on tight for the scariest Monster Hunters story yet!
****
Alec Kerley and the Wrath of the Vampire is a middle grade inspirational monster novel filled with adventure. It is a legitimately scary story with some gruesome elements, and a great read for all ages -- middle graders, teens, and adults. Parental guidance is suggested. 52,000 words, 24 chapters.
Alec Kerley and the Wrath of the Vampire is the second book in a series, including Alec Kerley and the Terror of Bigfoot (Book One) and Alec Kerley and the Roar of the Dinosaur (Book Three).
Teenage twins Ysabel and Justin Nicholas are lucky. Ysabel's jewelry designs have already caught the eyes of the art world and Justin's intelligence and drive are sure to gain him entrance into the most prestigious of colleges. They even like their parents. But their father has a secret--one that threatens to destroy the twins' happy family and life as they know it.
Over the course of spring break, Ysabel and Justin will be forced to come to terms with their dad's new life, but can they overcome their fears to piece together their happy family again?
Meanwhile, the Choppers treat the ruined city as their own experimental playground. Jack's own developing powers are startling and frightening, though he is determined to save his father, the brutal man with a horrific power who calls himself Reaper. Jack must also find their friend Lucy-Anne, who went north to find her brother. What Lucy-Anne discovers is terrifying--people evolving into monstrous things and the knowledge that a nuclear bomb has been set to destroy what's left of London. And the clock is ticking.
The monster in Conor’s backyard is not the one he’s been expecting — the one from the nightmare he’s had every night since his mother started her treatments. This monster is ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd — whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself — Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.