Can a smelly monster threaten a town? Or tiny creatures organise a river clean-up? Polythene bags, glass bottles, and paper sheets need to be recycled and a homesick mudskipper tells stories about his mangrove home! Sounds incredible, doesnt it? And thats not all Ramu, the fisher boy, misses his vanished beach, Rinas trying hard to find out where all that sand comes from, Rahuls head is exploding with questions about volcanoes, while Minas looking for ideas to celebrate World Environment Day! Can anyone help these kids? The Disappearing Beach and other nature stories is a collection of nine tales about problems affecting our environment and with useful clues on how to tackle them.
One of The New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year National Book Award Finalist Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize Finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award National Best Seller "Splendidly imagined . . . Thrilling" --Simon Winchester "A genuine masterpiece" --Gary Shteyngart Spellbinding, moving--evoking a fascinating region on the other side of the world--this suspenseful and haunting story announces the debut of a profoundly gifted writer. One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls--sisters, eight and eleven--go missing. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women. Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother. We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty--densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes, and the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska--and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused. In a story as propulsive as it is emotionally engaging, and through a young writer's virtuosic feat of empathy and imagination, this powerful novel brings us to a new understanding of the intricate bonds of family and community, in a Russia unlike any we have seen before.
Grandma cobra has lost her tooth, and she is furious because she can’t find it. To make it worse, it is a moonless night and the jungle is pitch dark. Maybe that slimy frog Mandu has stolen it thinking that it’s a treasure. And Kumi, a little adivasi girl, is out there in the dense forest looking for the chataka bird. But why? Because the fields of her village are parched, and the chataka is the messenger of rain, for it is known to ride on the monsoon winds. The Toothless Cobra… takes the readers into the heart of the wild and reveals its mysterious creatures in all their majesty, all their moods. Its charming illustrations bring the animals to life and capture them in action in their natural habitat. This collection of short stories promotes the idea of positive human–animal interactions and encourages young readers to love and care for animals.
"A page-turner with a deep heart."—Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of Girls of Summer How do you start a new chapter of your life when you haven’t closed the book on the previous one? Eighteen months ago, Autumn Divac’s husband went missing. Her desperate search has yielded no answers, and she can’t imagine moving forward without him. But for the sake of their two teenage children, she has to try. Autumn takes her kids home for the summer to the charming beachside town where she was raised. She seeks comfort working alongside her mother and aunt at their bookshop, only to learn that her daughter is facing a huge life change and her mother has been hiding a terrible secret for years. And when she runs into the boy who stole her heart in high school, old feelings start to bubble up again. Is she free to love him, or should she hold out hope for her husband’s return? She can only trust her heart…and hope it won’t lead her astray. "A heart-tugging romance. Readers are sure to be sucked in.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review Don’t miss New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak’s latest novel, The Seaside Library! Other charming reads from Brenda Novak: Summer on the Island One Perfect Summer
The international phenomenon that has sold more than two million copies, If Cats Disappeared from the World--now a Japanese film--is a heartwarming, funny, and profound meditation on the meaning of life. This timeless tale from Genki Kawamura (producer of the Japanese blockbuster animated movie Your Name) is a moving story of loss and reconciliation, and of one man’s journey to discover what really matters most in life. The young postman’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family and living alone with only his cat, Cabbage, to keep him company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can tackle his bucket list, the devil shows up to make him an offer: In exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, the postman will be granted one extra day of life. And so begins a very strange week that brings the young postman and his beloved cat to the brink of existence. With each object that disappears, the postman reflects on the life he’s lived, his joys and regrets, and the people he’s loved and lost.
The Last Beach is an urgent call to save the world's beaches while there is still time. The geologists Orrin H. Pilkey and J. Andrew G. Cooper sound the alarm in this frank assessment of our current relationship with beaches and their grim future if we do not change the way we understand and treat our irreplaceable shores. Combining case studies and anecdotes from around the world, they argue that many of the world's developed beaches, including some in Florida and in Spain, are virtually doomed and that we must act immediately to save imperiled beaches. After explaining beaches as dynamic ecosystems, Pilkey and Cooper assess the harm done by dense oceanfront development accompanied by the construction of massive seawalls to protect new buildings from a shoreline that encroaches as sea levels rise. They discuss the toll taken by sand mining, trash that washes up on beaches, and pollution, which has contaminated not only the water but also, surprisingly, the sand. Acknowledging the challenge of reconciling our actions with our love of beaches, the geologists offer suggestions for reversing course, insisting that given the space, beaches can take care of themselves and provide us with multiple benefits.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Destined to become an adventure classic." —Anchorage Daily News Hailed as "gripping" (New York Times) and "beautiful" (Washington Post), The Adventurer's Son is Roman Dial’s extraordinary and widely acclaimed account of his two-year quest to unravel the mystery of his son’s disappearance in the jungles of Costa Rica. In the predawn hours of July 10, 2014, the twenty-seven-year-old son of preeminent Alaskan scientist and National Geographic Explorer Roman Dial, walked alone into Corcovado National Park, an untracked rainforest along Costa Rica’s remote Pacific Coast that shelters miners, poachers, and drug smugglers. He carried a light backpack and machete. Before he left, Cody Roman Dial emailed his father: “I am not sure how long it will take me, but I’m planning on doing 4 days in the jungle and a day to walk out. I’ll be bounded by a trail to the west and the coast everywhere else, so it should be difficult to get lost forever.” They were the last words Dial received from his son. As soon as he realized Cody Roman’s return date had passed, Dial set off for Costa Rica. As he trekked through the dense jungle, interviewing locals and searching for clues—the authorities suspected murder—the desperate father was forced to confront the deepest questions about himself and his own role in the events. Roman had raised his son to be fearless, to be at home in earth’s wildest places, travelling together through rugged Alaska to remote Borneo and Bhutan. Was he responsible for his son’s fate? Or, as he hoped, was Cody Roman safe and using his wilderness skills on a solo adventure from which he would emerge at any moment? Part detective story set in the most beautiful yet dangerous reaches of the planet, The Adventurer’s Son emerges as a far deeper tale of discovery—a journey to understand the truth about those we love the most. The Adventurer’s Son includes fifty black-and-white photographs.
Three women find a second chance—or is it a third—in this novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Best Beach Ever. When unlikely friends Madeline, Avery, and Nicole arrive in Miami’s South Beach neighborhood, they’re hoping for a do-over. Literally. They’ve been hired to bring a historic house back to its former glory on a new television show called Do Over. If they can just get this show off the ground, Nikki could fix her finances, Avery could restart her career, and Maddie would have a shot at keeping her family together. The women quickly realize that having their work broadcast is one thing, but having their personal lives play out on TV is another. Soon they’re struggling to hold themselves, and the project, together. With a decades-old mystery—and hurricane season—looming, the women are forced to figure out just how they’ll weather life’s storms...
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street novels comes the story of one woman’s journey into a secret past—and a life she never expected on the ravaged coast of Biloxi, Mississippi... Working at an auction house in New York, Julie Holt meets a struggling artist and single mother who reminds her very much of her missing younger sister. Monica Guidry paints a vivid picture of her Southern family through stories, but never says why or how she lost contact with them. And she has another secret: a heart condition that will soon take her life. Feeling as if she’s lost her sister a second time, Julie inherits from Monica an antique portrait—as well as custody of her young son. Taking him to Biloxi, Mississippi, to meet the family he’s never known, Julie discovers a connection of her own. The portrait, of an old Guidry relative, was done by her great-grandfather—and unlocks a surprising family history.... INCLUDES A READERS GUIDE AND AN EXCERPT OF DREAMS OF FALLING
