Kokomo Kid is about more than just growing up in a medium-sized Indiana city, where factories flourished and neighbors were actually neighborly. It's about the human dynamic and how our past forms and sometimes even predicts our future, whether we like it or not. It is what we do with those feelings and memories rising from good and bad moments that defines our character as we meander toward our golden years. This simple and sincere book is a sentimental journey to a time of innocence, love, and lost loves--a nostalgic, introspective, inspiring peek into the diary of the atypical childhood of a midwestern gal.
KOKOMO KID Still Has Something to Say ~ THE SEQUEL is from the same writer who authored KOKOMO KID ~ Reflections of Growing Up in Indiana’s City of Firsts. Cheryl Soden Moreland’s second book is a continuation of growing up not only in Kokomo with her grandparents as guardians but also delves more into the childhood visits she had with her parents and siblings in Indianapolis’ historic and popular Fountain Square neighborhood. Cheryl gives glimpses into the personalities of those she grew up with while telling of the places she frequented in Indiana’s capital city, along with her experiences of sharing her days and nights with those closest to her. This book is intended for anyone who has ever been a child; for anyone who has made memories during their childhood. That would include just about all of us. Whether the moments we have created and recall are ones we cherish or would soon rather forget, this book might help you to revive some of those beloved memories held deep which may have been lost in time and place. You may be able to relive some of your own past that was forgotten, holding close the best of moments while overlooking, even letting go of, the worst of times. It is in the understanding and ability to empathize with not only those who came before us decades ago who had our best interests in mind and heart, but also to come to terms with ourselves and how we perceive the child we were yesterday to the adult we have become today. No matter how many lemons we have been dealt with while growing up, just take them and turn them into pitchers of lemonade. Extract the sweetness from your life by adding your own sugar to the sour. Make it palatable. That is what this author has done, showing how life – even with all its ups and downs and sometimes wild roller coaster rides – is still a pretty good gig. It’s not always wrapped tightly and neatly with a big beautiful bow, so it is up to each of us to make our little world what we want it to be. Continue walking along that sometimes crooked yellow brick road to find the life that has been paved just for you. An excerpt from between these covers.... I looked over at the front yard and suddenly felt like I was in a dream, experiencing a replay of a piece of my past that created smiles and tears at the same time. I was “seeing” Baby Brother, having died just four months before Daddy, running around the side of the house to the backyard, with his toy gun in hand, either chasing me or being chased by me. I heard our screams and laughter, while seeing Lil Sis and my other brother playing outside, too, with Big Sis sitting on the front porch with Mom and Dad. I felt all was well as it was before, or as any child could imagine their life to be at that innocent stage, with everyone happy and healthy in their youth with so much life to look forward to.
The first Japanese American jockey, Kokomo Joe burst like a comet on the American horse-racing scene in the summer of 1941. As war with Japan loomed, Yoshio ?Kokomo Joe? Kobuki won race after race, stirring passions far beyond merely the envy and antagonism of other jockeys. His is a story of the American dream catapulting headlong into the nightmare of a nation gripped by wartime hysteria and xenophobia. The story that unfolds in Kokomo Joe is at once inspiring, deeply sad, and richly ironic?and remarkably relevant in our own climate of nationalist fervor and racial profiling. ø Sent to Japan from Washington State after his mother and three siblings died of the Spanish flu, Kobuki continued to nurse his dream of the American good life. Because of his small stature, his ambition steered him to a future as a star jockey. John Christgau narrates Kobuki?s rise from lowly stable boy to reigning star at California fairs and in the bush leagues. He describes how, at the height of the jockey?s fame, even his flight into the Sonora Desert could not protect him from the government?s espionage and sabotage dragnet. And finally he recounts how, after three years of internment, Kokomo Joe tried to reclaim his racing success, only to fall victim to still-rampant racism, a career-ending injury, and cancer.
The love affair between boxing and Hollywood began with the dawn of film. As early as the days of Chaplin, the "boxing film" had assumed its place as a subgenre, and over the decades it has taken the forms of biographies, dramas, romances, comedies, and even musicals and westerns. Such well known pictures as The Champ, Body and Soul, Don King: Only in America, Girl Fight, The Irish in Us, The Kid from Brooklyn, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Raging Bull, each of the Rocky movies and When We Were Kings are just a few examples of the feature films included in this filmography. Thoroughly researched, this work examines 98 boxing films from the 1920s through 2003. Each entry provides basic filmographic data (the film's studio, its genre, its length, cast and credits); a detailed synopsis of the film; illuminating commentary on the boxing sequences; and excerpts from contemporary reviews. Most entries also summarize the making of the film, with particular attention to the training of the actors for the boxing scenes. The filmography also includes information on studio publicity releases and advertisements, press books and exhibitor campaign materials for each film.
'It does not disappoint.' - The Guardian When Mina receives an urgent call from her best friend back in Melbourne, her world is turned upside down. Her reclusive mother, Elaine, has left the house for the first time in twelve years. Mina drops everything to fly home, only to discover that Elaine will not talk about her sudden return to the world, nor why she's spent so much time hiding from it. Their reunion leaves Mina raking through pieces of their painful past in a bid to uncover the truth. Both tender and fierce, heartbreaking and funny, Kokomo is a story about how secrets and love have the power to bring us together and tear us apart. 'A timely song of secrets, sex and the meaning of love' - Sydney Morning Herald 'A coming-of-age novel for the Peter Pan generation, Kokomo juggles the dissatisfactions of sex, marriage, and corporate ambition with deceptive lightness and radiant empathy. Reading this book felt like drinking with friends in a cozy pub until last call; I emerged from it shiny-faced, unbothered by the cold, wanting more.' - Laura Elizabeth Woollett, author of THE LOVE OF A BAD MAN and BEAUTIFUL REVOLUTIONARY 'This is a book that gets right into your body. It makes you laugh, makes you think, but it doesn't stop there - it plays with your heart and leaves it different. This is smart, raw, tender fiction that feels as real as life.' - Ronnie Scott, author of THE ADVERSARY 'Graceful and raw, this is a remarkable study of the forces of desire and regret. Hannan is both acute witness and masterful reporter of love in all its faulty and essential shapes. Kokomo dazzles, pierces, and stays.' - Robert Lukins, author of THE EVERLASTING SUNDAY 'I can't remember being so excited by a debut novel. Kokomo is a delight, a book I wanted to finish in a greedy rush but one I also wanted to savour. It's so full of life, on each page there are tiny moments of delight, irreverence, tenderness. Kokomo is the Australian response to Normal People, this is Monkey Grip for the new generation of readers. This book will be read and cherished by many, and Victoria Hannan is a name we will see a great deal more in the future.' - J.P. Pomare, author of CALL ME EVIE and IN THE CLEARING 'Hannan's Kokomo is a sharply observed novel of one woman's facade and how it falls; an undoing that is both ordinary and compelling. This debut heralds an exciting new Australian voice with a story of estrangement from kin, friendship, love, self and country - one that will be familiar to many, and surprising, for it is often a shock to see one's reflection.' - Anna Krien, author of NIGHT GAMES and ACT OF GRACE
TOP o’ the WORLD is a tale of ONCE UPON A TIME….. This is a child’s fantasy / fairy tale of Maida who visited the Wishing Pole at the North Pole, despite some very wise men with bald heads and long white beards who say there isn’t a Wishing Post at all! This is one of those gems of the children’s literary world that for some unfathomable reason never became a best seller. Not only does it have a cracking story-line it also has six exquisitely crafted full page colour plates but also 20 BnW vignettes to help young readers visualise the story as it progresses. In this book you will read about how Maida, who loves ice-cream, met the “Man with the Growly Voice”, who was an arctic explorer who told her a whole lot of interesting things about his journeys and voyages AND about the wishing post. The last thing she remembered, he was telling her about the time he met Father Christmas at the North Pole – and then she woke up in bed with a desire to find the Wishing Post and Father Christmas. Then he room was flooded with a bright eerie light. So, she went to the window and saw the Man with the Growly Voice who came to her and said, “I’ve come to take you to the Wishing Post.” What happened next you may ask? Well you’ll just have to download this book and find out for yourself. ============ KEYWORDS/TAGS: Top o the World, Maida, Aunt Mary, Man with the Growly Voice, North Pole, Polar Bear, Santa Claus, afraid, airship, alone, Arctic, Arcturia, Aurora Borealis, beautiful, bedtime story, believe, Billy, Candy, children, children’s story, climate, Disconsolate, Eskimos, explorer, fable, Fairy tale, fantasy, Folklore, Forbidden, happy, ice-cream, Illusia, Inuit, journey, Jack Frost, Jack-in-the-Box, Kankakee, Kokomo, Lover, Nortern Lights, poor, scream, Snow, story, three, two, Walrus, White Queen, window, Wishing, wonderful, young
Witness the beauty, rich history, and diverse attractions of Indiana by car. Twenty tours take you winding through the state, across covered bridges, along rivers and into the heart of the Hoosier State. This book is about fun and discovery, with the trip more than the destination in mind. Features colored photos and detailed maps.
