A young boy dreams of music and sunshine in the Great Smoky Mountains As far as Billy is concerned, there’s no sight more beautiful than the sun setting over the Blue Ridge Mountains. When the day is done, he sneaks away from his work to watch the sun go down. If his father knew, he would call Billy lazy, but Mama would understand. She knows life in the mountains is hard and that there’s no point in living if a person can’t take time to appreciate what he has. Billy dreams of the day when he can pick up his fiddle and sing the folk songs of his people. Until then, he will be content with the sun. This beautifully written novel tells a story of simple fun and irresistible pleasures in 1 of the most beautiful regions in the United States.
"Author Bair has serious finance credentials. She is a former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and current chair of Fannie Mae—and, now, an author of whimsical personal finance books for young children."—Booklist A serial spender discovers that there's a difference between wanting something and needing it. Billy the Blue-Footed Booby, who lived on the Galapagos, wanted to buy an umbrella, so he went to Selling Seal. But Billy didn't listen to Seal's explanation of what that umbrella would end up costing him. And then Billy wanted a fan like Arlene the tortoise's, a purple-striped wig like Ig the iguana's, neon-green shoes like Niels the lizard's, and Seal's anchovy grill. All his friends and his twin sister Bess tried to help, but Billy lost everything.
The Newbery Medal–winning childhood classic of life on a Florida farm—part of the Regional series from the author of the Mr. Small picture books. Birdie and her family are trying to build a farm in Florida. But it’s not easy with the heat, droughts, and cold snaps—and neighbors that don’t believe in fences. But Birdie won’t give up on her dream of strawberries, and her family won’t let those Slaters drive them from their home! This Newberry Medal–winning novel presents a realistic picture of life on the Florida frontier. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Lenski including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.
Billy Harrington is the biggest player in Blue Ridge, only his wild card is about to be tabled by a feisty silver vixen.Billy Harrington.A young girl walks into a bar...I'd like to say this is the start of a bad joke, but it isn't really.It's my life.Can you be called a baby-daddy if the secret baby shows up as a teenager?I don't know anything about raising a teen.And the one person who could help me is my nemesis.Roxanne McAllister.I should hate him for being her father.Only I don't fault him for sleeping with my sister. This is the story of my life.I've always been runner-up to my older sibling.Then tragedy strikes--again--and I'm left with a dilemma.Can I count on the person I despise the most in Blue Ridge?
In this debut novel, Peter is a simple man who lives by a simple truth--a person gains strength by leaning on his constants. To him, those constants are the factory where he works, the family he loves, and the God who sustains him. But when news of job cuts comes against the backdrop of an unexpected snowstorm, his life becomes filled with far more doubts than certainties. With humor and a gift for storytelling, Billy Coffey brings you along as he spends his snow day encountering family, friends, and strangers of his small Virginia town. All have had their own battles with life's storms. Some have found redemption. Others are still seeking it. But each one offers a piece to the puzzle of why we must sometimes suffer loss, and each one will help Peter find a greater truth--our lives are made beautiful not by our big moments, but our little ones.
The settlers who did not migrate to new lands became geographically isolated and politically and economically marginalized. Yet they created fulfilling lives for themselves by forging effective and oftentimes sophisticated folklife traditions, many of which endure in the region today.
Now available in one volume—three novels from Billy Coffey. When Mockingbirds Sing What marks the boundary between a miracle from God and the imagination of a child? Leah is a child from Away, isolated from her peers because of her stutter. But then she begins painting scenes that are epic in scope, brilliant in detail, and suffused with rich, prophetic imagery. When the event foreshadowed in the first painting dramatically comes true, the town of Mattingly takes notice. Leah attributes her ability to foretell the future to an invisible friend she calls the Rainbow Man. Some of the townsfolk are enchanted with her. Others fear her. But there is one thing they all agree on—there is no such thing as the Rainbow Man. But then a dramatic and tragic turn of events leaves the town reeling and places everyone’s lives in danger. Now the people of Mattingly face a single choice: Will they cling to what they know . . . or embrace the things Leah believes in that cannot be seen? The Devil Walks in Mattingly For the three people tortured by their secret complicity in a young man's untimely death, redemption is what they most long for . . . and the last thing they expect to receive. It has been twenty years since Philip McBride's body was found along the riverbank in the dark woods known as Happy Hollow. His death was ruled a suicide. But three people have carried the truth ever since—Philip didn't kill himself that day. He was murdered. Yet what cannot be laid to rest is bound to rise again. These three will be drawn together for a final confrontation between life and death . . . between truth and lies. In the Heart of the Dark Wood A motherless girl hungry for hope . . . and the dream that could be leading her astray. Almost two years have passed since twelve-year-old Allie Granderson’s beloved mother, Mary, disappeared into the wild tornado winds. Her body has never been found. Now, Allie and her best friend Zach leave the city behind and push into the inky forest on the outskirts of Mattingly. For Allie, the journey is more than a ghost hunt: she is rejoining the mother she lost—and finding herself with each step deeper into the heart of the dark wood. Brimming with lyrical prose and unexpected discoveries, In the Heart of the Dark Wood illustrates the steep transition we all must undergo—the moment we shed our childlike selves and step into the strange territory of adulthood.
“IN A LIFE FULL OF LIES, HE FINALLY SETTLED FOR THE TRUTH.” No one in Mattingly ever believed Bobby Barnes would live to see old age. Drink would either rot Bobby from the inside out or dull his senses just enough to send his truck off the mountain on one of his nightly rides. Although Bobby believes such an end possible—and even likely—it doesn’t stop him from taking his twin sons Matthew and Mark into the mountains one Saturday night. A sharp curve, blinding headlights, metal on metal, his sons’ screams. Bobby’s final thought as he sinks into blackness is a curious one—There will be stars. Yet it is not death that greets him beyond the veil. Instead, he returns to the day he has just lived and finds he is not alone in this strange new world. Six others are trapped with him. Bobby soon discovers that this supposed place of peace is actually a place of secrets and hidden dangers. Along with three others, he seeks to escape, even as the world around him begins to crumble. The escape will lead some to greater life, others to endless death . . . and Bobby Barnes to understand the deepest nature of love.
DIVDIVIt’s the worst blizzard in fifty years! Delores is very ill, but there’s no way to get through the snow. How long will she be stranded at school? /divDIVOut on the South Dakota prairie, the winters are fierce. This storm is the worst one yet: It’s below freezing outside, and the winds are howling. All of the other kids have gone home, but Delores’s family can’t get to her, so she has to stay at the school. Between a fuel shortage and having to boil snow for drinking water, it’s been hard for both Delores and her teacher, Miss Martin. Now Delores is very ill. How will Miss Martin get her to the doctor in all this snow?/divDIV /divDIVPrairie School was inspired by letters from children at a real South Dakota prairie school, which Lenski then visited during the severe blizzards of the winter of 1950./divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Lenski including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate./div/div
