When members of the Shooting Stars and Petite Picassos team up for a combined STEM and art project, Astrid is torn between her best friend, Hallie, and her arch-rival, Pearl, until she overcomes her initial suspicions and realizes being a good teammate is more about working together than winning.
This is the fourth book in the Astrid the Astronaut chapter book series about a young girl determined to be the first hard-of-hearing astronaut in space! When Astrid and the rest of the Shooting Stars find out that their teacher, Ms. Ruiz, is about to celebrate a big birthday, they band together to create the perfect gift. Her big day happens to be the same as the upcoming robotics competition and they decide to do something there. With the help of Astrid’s big sister, Stella, they program their robot to do a fun dance and give Ms. Ruiz a sweet surprise. But on the day of the competition, the data for the Shooting Stars robot somehow gets mixed up with another one! Will their fun present end up being a major malfunction?
When members of the Shooting Stars and Petite Picassos team up for a combined STEM and art project, Astrid is torn between her best friend, Hallie, and her arch-rival, Pearl, until she overcomes her initial suspicions and realizes being a good teammate is more about working together than winning.
A young cellist dies mysteriously in a fleabag Vancouver hotel the night before she is to depart on a concert tour. Martin Albarez, her fiancé and Washington correspondent for the San Francisco Courier, refuses to accept her death at face value. Events soon lend support to his suspicions.
Bestselling author and humorist Garrison Keillor returns to one of America's most beloved mythical towns, beset by a contagion of alarming candor. A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a Keep America Truckin’ motorway and amusement park, estimated to draw 2.2 million visitors a year. Clint Bunsen and Elena the hometown epidemiologist to the rescue, with a Fourth of July Living Flag and sweet corn feast for a finale. In his newest Lake Wobegon novel, Garrison Keillor takes us back to the small prairie town where for so long American readers and listeners have found laughter as well as the wry airing of our foibles and most familiar desires and fears—a town where, as we know, "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."
A science fiction epic from "the best writer in America" (Tom Clancy)—Hugo and Nebula award-winning author John Varley. Fleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes. But the people of Luna are bored, restless, suicidal—and so is the computer that monitors their existence...
An ancient mogul has bought the power to live forever, but the strong young body he plans to inhabit has other ideas. The battle for immortal life begins in Stanley Bing’s “stimulating, satirical and perhaps even visionary novel” (Wall Street Journal). Immortal life. A fantasy, an impossible dream—or is it? The moguls of Big Tech are pouring their mountain of wealth into finding a cure for death and they are determined to succeed. None of these titans is richer than Arthur Vogel. The inventor, tech tycoon, and all-round monster has amassed trillions of dollars and rules over a corporate empire stretching all the way to Mars. The newest—and most expensive—life extension technology has allowed him to live to 127 years, but time is running out. His last hope to escape the inevitable lies with Gene, a human specifically created for the purpose of housing Arthur’s consciousness. The plan is to discard his aged body and come to a second life in a young, strong host. But there’s a problem: Gene. He may be artificial, but he is a person—and he has other ideas. As Arthur sets off to achieve his goal of world domination, Gene hatches a risky plan of his own. The forces against him are rich, determined, and used to getting what they pay for. The battle between creator and creation is heightened as the two minds wrestle for control of one body. Mixing brisk action, humor, and wicked social commentary, author Stanley Bing has crafted “an engaging and cautionary tale about the direction in which spaceship Earth is hurtling” (USA Today). Welcome to a brave new world that is too familiar for comfort—and watch the struggle for humanity play out to the bitter end.
Eight-year-old Mandy Berr is spirited, sassy, and determined to shine—even if she’s not the center of attention! After learning the hard way that polka dot underwear and white pants are not the best combination, Mandy Berr has gotten over that fashion faux pas, and has (almost) recovered from not being named George Washington in the recent Presidential Pageant. But just when things seem like they might be back in her favor, her former nemesis, Natalie, manages to steal Mandy’s spotlight—again. A broken wrist for Natalie means a cool cast and the attention of Mandy’s classmates…even from Anya, Mandy’s BFF. Can Mandy figure out a way to get back into the center of attention, win back her best friend, AND snag a pair of fancy-dancy periwinkle sunglasses?