The First International Bank of Grenada will go down in history as one of the biggest banking swindles of all time. Aided and abetted by a corrupt government, Van Brink and his satraps lured hundreds of innocent investors to place their savings in a bank he claimed "had a vision". With evangelical zeal he preached the gospel of his bank, playing upon the religious and charitable aspect but also promising outlandish returns on investments. From Oregon to Nauru, to Grenada, to Uganda, Van Brink left a trail of financial misery behind him. One Big Fib is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the shady world of offshore banking.
A little girl who breaks her mother's cookie jar learns that it is always better to tell the truth and face the consequences than deal with a tiny lie that keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Wow! A boy finds some humongous boxes outside. He and his dog use them to make a train that goes far, far, far; a race car that goes fast, fast, fast; and a plane that goes up, up, up. Litter is everywhere, and the boy blames the wind. But as he watches his elderly neighbor clean up his mess, the boy knows what he must do. Truth triumphs and the boy's honesty is rewarded with forgiveness, friendship, and cookies. An I Like to Read(R) book. Guided Reading Level E.
Was George W. Bush really the "worst president ever"? Immediately following his departure from office, historians ranked Dubya as the 36th best (or seventh from the worst) president in US history. Though that's far from a laudable ranking, I still think that 36th out of 44 is a bit overgenerous. Certainly, incompetence is a difficult quality to measure-there are so many factors to consider. Nevertheless, if we take the global scope of Dubya's bungling into consideration, I think it is safe to say that no president has ever impacted so many people so negatively as George W. Bush.
Edwurd Fudwupper spends all his time cooking up big fibs. But one day, he tells such a humdinger that the army, the air force and the dog catcher are called to try to reverse the damage wrought. An unlikely heroine comes to his rescue.
In Long Odds, Gordon Weaver's latest collection, each male protagonist struggles for moral and emotional strength to cope with a universe gone awry. Each of the eleven stories centers around a circumstance that is both ordinary and shockingly unpredictable. A small-time flop of a con man in the "psychic" business becomes dependent on his inspirational talks with a dead hustler from a bygone era. An eccentric helplessly watches a crumbling society from a table in his favorite diner. A proper Bostonian buries his black-sheep brother in rural Mississippi. A group of newly divorced men takes up daily exercise, in search of solace, in an upscale mall. Some of Weaver's characters win in the end, some fail miserably, but all of their stories depict their confrontations with self and surroundings. Each story lures the reader forward despite the potential disappointment and self-destruction that often loom just ahead for the characters. The father of a blind girl builds an elaborate Christmas light display for her as his wife watches with bewildered disapproval. A part-time college English teacher travels the freeways from job to job, and from woman to woman, to avoid the paralysis of stasis. Written in the bold, sharp style that is Weaver's trademark, Long Odds includes stories that shift in mood and tone from the serious to the comically ironic, but which are unified by a common sense of isolation as each man labors to make sense of his place in the world. Lauded by Publishers Weekly as presenting "characters whose cries are so human, raw and mordant, the reader forgets the fiction and is delivered inside the experience," Weaver skillfully introduces a level of depth and intensity to situations that may appear commonplace at first glance. This inventive collection offers a gallery of men who, outwardly ordinary, are revealed as complex in their humanity, defined as much by their sensibilities as by their actions--or their failures to act.
After hearing about the exciting summer vacations of his classmates, Arthur decides to write an embellished version of his own summer experiences. Simultaneous.
Sid and his friend Lulu are always trying to outdo each other with their weekend activities. One day, Sid tells a little fib, which escalates until no one quite knows the truth.
