Eleven-year-old Aster attends a school for gifted kids, but she doesn't think she's special at all. If she was, her mother wouldn't have left. Each day Aster must do a good, right thing-a challenge she sets herself, to make someone else's life better. Nobody can know about her things, because then they won't count. And if she doesn't do them, she's sure everything will go wrong.Then she meets Xavier. He has his own kind of special missions to make life better. When they do these missions together, Aster feels free, but if she stops doing her good, right things will everything fall apart?
Poetry. The poems in Kindred's second full-length collection look to daisies, goldenrods, sunflowers, ironweeds - all the members of the family asteraceae, or aster family of flowers - to explore family and memory, and to search the tender edges of marriage, infertility, and motherhood. Like the children in 'Noon on Gravel Drive' setting a leaf on fire, these poems 'circle in/ for dance or witness' upon a neighborhood of mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, but also haunted alders, dolls and feathers, Sirens and mean angels. Kindred uses the language of flowers to reveal a rich terrain of survival and desire, inviting the reader to delight in its complex and beautiful images. The linguistic blooms in BOOK OF ASTERS are like the breathtaking visual turns of a kaleidoscope - dazzling, unexpected, and unnerving. Sally Rosen Kindred is the kind of poet Shelley meant when he called poets the unacknowledged legislators of the world. A language this lush and an imagination this inventive can remake us as surely as Kindred's narrators are remade, joy by joy, grief by grief. Kindred is a poet willing to follow her muse and name her vision. BOOK OF ASTERS is a vivid, astonishing collection.--Kathryn Kirkpatrick Sally Rosen Kindred cites 'star' as Greek root of 'aster, ' and these poems themselves are star-flowers. Asters, alders, dandelions, children, animals, a worm, soldiers, other numinous existences, reply with hidden essences to her questing inwardness, as she names them into our recognitions. These poems fuse concept and sound in a manner now unusual, so that obscured humble things appear nakedly valuable to our eyes and to our spirits. In her wise innocence, the world stands brightly recreated, splendid and difficult and painful to behold, in the noontime sunlight of her craft.--James Applewhite Sally Rosen Kindred has a gift for creating poems I wish I'd written. Here is a garden of witness, of forgetting, of memory and music and love's bright blare. Aster as metaphor, aster as ghost - bouquets of common weeds and wildflowers haunt us in these poems, and teach us to lean toward their mysterious light, to blossom with their stories, and to grow - bruised, but fed by their songs.--Meg Kearney
After her mother's death, Abby Tacker learns her family is in an otherworldly blood feud. She must quickly learn who her enemies and allies are and her place amongst the Three Worlds, before her family's arch-nemesis can lay a hand on her.
A gripping, propulsive YA fantasy novel from award-winning author and social media superstar Alex Aster, “Lightlark is an ebullient, fast-paced fantasy with a beautifully rendered world that seethes with intrigue, romance and tension. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough” (#1 New York Times bestselling author Sabaa Tahir) An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller Welcome to the Centennial. Every hundred years, the island of Lightlark appears for only 100 days to host a deadly game, where the rulers of six realms fight to break their curses and win unparalleled power. Each ruler has something to hide. Each curse is uniquely wicked. To break them—and save themselves and their realms—one ruler must die. To survive, Isla Crown must lie, cheat, and betray. Even as love complicates everything . . . Includes Select Exclusive Excerpts from Nightbane, the Second Book in the Lightlark Saga
The daisy-shaped flowers of asters are in bloom from late summer into fall and are available in shades of white, pink, purple, and blue. Native to American habitats like meadows, prairies, thickets, and swamps, asters can be grown in a huge range of climates. The Plant Lover’s Guide to Asters, by nursery owners Paul and Helen Picton, highlights 101 species and cultivars that are readily available in garden centers. Featuring information on growth, care, and design, along with suggested companion plants and hundreds of gorgeous color photographs, it covers everything a home gardener needs to introduce these delightful plants into their garden.
This is a charming collection of poetry by George Lansing Taylor. The poems explore love, nature, and the human experience with a touching and poignant grace. This book is a must-read for lovers of poetry and beautiful literature everywhere. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
P.C. and Kristin Cast, the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of the House of Night phenomenon, return to the scene with The Dysasters—the first action-packed novel in a new paranormal fantasy series. Adoptive daughter of a gifted scientist, Foster Stewart doesn’t live a “normal” life, (not that she’d want to). But controlling cloud formations and seeing airwaves aren’t things most eighteen year olds can do. Small town star quarterback and quintessential dreamy boy next door, Tate “Nighthawk” Taylor has never thought much about his extra abilities. Sure, his night vision comes in handy during games, but who wouldn’t want that extra edge? From the moment Foster and Tate collide, their worlds spiral and a deadly tornado forces them to work together, fully awakening their not-so-natural ability - the power to control air. As they each deal with the tragic loss of loved ones, they’re caught by another devastating blow – they are the first in a group of teens genetically manipulated before birth to bond with the elements, and worse... they’re being hunted. Now, Foster and Tate must fight to control their abilities as they learn of their past, how they came to be, who’s following them, and what tomorrow will bring... more DYSASTERS?
A fun, action-packed fantasy adventure about a girl, her dog, and magic gone wrong! Quiet . . . birds . . . nature. . . . That's what Aster expects when her parents move their whole family to the middle of nowhere. It's just her (status: super-bored), her mom and dad (status: busy with science), her brother (status: has other plans), and . . . . . . magic? In her new home, Aster meets a mysterious old woman with a herd of dogs who gives her a canine companion of her own. But when she and her dog Buzz are adventuring in the forest, they run into a trickster spirit who gives Aster three wishes. After wishing for the ability to understand and talk to her dog, she becomes only able to talk in dog language . . . and the trouble she gets into is just starting. Maybe the middle of nowhere will be more interesting than Aster thought. "Crisp, vibrant artwork." -The AV Club
Turn a shady yard into a sumptuous garden Shade is one of the most common garden situations homeowner’s have, but with the right plant knowledge, you can triumph over challenging areas and learn to embrace shade as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Glorious Shade celebrates the benefits of shade and shows you how to make the most of it. This information-rich, hardworking guide is packed with everything you need to successfully garden in the shadiest corners of a yard. You'll learn how to determine what type of shade you have and how to choose the right plants for the space. The book also shares the techniques, design and maintenance tips that are key to growing a successful shade garden. Stunning color photographs offer design inspiration and reveal the beauty of shade-loving plants.
Parameter Estimation and Inverse Problems, Third Edition, is structured around a course at New Mexico Tech and is designed to be accessible to typical graduate students in the physical sciences who do not have an extensive mathematical background. The book is complemented by a companion website that includes MATLAB codes that correspond to examples that are illustrated with simple, easy to follow problems that illuminate the details of particular numerical methods. Updates to the new edition include more discussions of Laplacian smoothing, an expansion of basis function exercises, the addition of stochastic descent, an improved presentation of Fourier methods and exercises, and more. - Features examples that are illustrated with simple, easy to follow problems that illuminate the details of a particular numerical method - Includes an online instructor's guide that helps professors teach and customize exercises and select homework problems - Covers updated information on adjoint methods that are presented in an accessible manner
