Essays by popular children's authors reveal the books that shaped their personal and literary lives, explaining how the stories they loved influenced them creatively, politically, and intellectually.
In letters to an elderly pen pal, eleven-year-old Julie describes how her mischievous younger brother is always getting her in trouble, how she is dealing with painful juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and how she struggles to finish a fund-raising race on crutches.
2016 was officially the “year of gin” in the UK, with sales topping £1 billion! The brilliantly botanical spirit is much more than tonic’s sidekick, it’s sophisticatedly sippable, and adds depth and flavour to any drink.
Voted one of the best poetry collections of 2019 by readers on Goodreads! Bestselling and Goodreads Choice Award winning poet Trista Mateer takes a magical approach to self-care with her new collection, Aphrodite Made Me Do It. In this empowering and feminist retelling, Mateer transforms the mythology of the goddess into 224 pages of modern poetry and full-color artwork. Broken into sections alternating between the perspective of The Poet and Aphrodite herself, the work within tackles the timeless topic of love--romantic, platonic, and self-love. The collection addresses issues like heartbreak, sexuality, womanhood, trauma, and the restorative power in taking control of your own lore, speaking your truths, and rewriting your origin story. If you let her, by the end of this book, Aphrodite will make you believe in the possibility of your own healing. "If you were only made to be beautiful, we wouldn't have put you down here in the dirt."Perfect for fans of Amanda Lovelace, Nikita Gill, Rupi Kaur, Elizabeth Acevedo, Rick Riordan, and Madeline Miller; or anyone interested in Greek myths, tarot, and Instagram poetry. This is the first book in the Myth & Magick series, which also includes Artemis Made Me Do It and Persephone Made Me Do It.
Tales of the country’s original criminals—and how the courts punished them for their misdeeds Scarlet Letters, wanton dalliances, Sabbathbreaking, and debt: Colonial laws were easily broken and the malefactors who broke them, swiftly punished. How did our ancestors deal with murder and mayhem? How did seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New England communities handle deviants? How have definitions of criminal behavior and its punishment changed over the centuries? What were early prisons like? What were the duties of a turn-key? Find out all this and more in The Devil Made Me Do It. Drawing on early court dockets, diaries, sermons, gaolers’ records, and other primary sources, Juliet Haines Mofford investigates historical cases from a time when accused felons often pleaded in their own defense: “The Devil made me do it!” Among the questions that emerge in this fascinating book: Would spinster Sarah Booker be punished today for her 1769 theft of three skeins of linen yarn? Would Joan Andrews still get a T for Theft pinned upon her bodice for cheating a client by placing two stones in the firkin of butter she sold him?
Does God, in His infinite wisdom, convince people to get rid of their car insurance? Does He encourage cannibalism? Does the God of more than six billion people actually have time to root for the Minnesota Vikings? According to some, yes. How do they know? God told them. Luckily, God also told Marc Hartzman to write this book, a collection of the most shocking, absurd, and hilarious things people have ever claimed God asked them to do, and to present them for your pure reading enjoyment. Including: The man that God told to perform surgery on himself God's generous offer to miraculously fill his believer's gas tank The fateful day God (assumedly feeling nostalgic for his teen years) asked a man to TP a police station The woman God instructed to direct traffic—topless And, sadly, many more
Domestic abuse is a national emergency: one in four Australian women has experienced violence from a man she was intimate with. But too often we ask the wrong question: why didn’t she leave? We should be asking: why did he do it? Investigative journalist Jess Hill puts perpetrators – and the systems that enable them – in the spotlight. See What You Made Me Do is a deep dive into the abuse so many women and children experience – abuse that is often reinforced by the justice system they trust to protect them. Critically, it shows that we can drastically reduce domestic violence – not in generations to come, but today. Combining forensic research with riveting storytelling, See What You Made Me Do radically rethinks how to confront the national crisis of fear and abuse in our homes. ‘A shattering book: clear-headed and meticulous, driving always at the truth’—Helen Garner ‘One Australian a week is dying as a result of domestic abuse. If that was terrorism, we’d have armed guards on every corner.’ —Jimmy Barnes ‘Confronting in its honesty this book challenges you to keep reading no matter how uncomfortable it is to face the profound rawness of people’s stories. Such a well written book and so well researched. See What You Made Me Do sheds new light on this complex issue that affects so many of us.’—Rosie Batty
Stories by: Lauren Willig • Adriana Trigiani • Jo Beverley • Alexandra Potter • Laurie Viera Rigler • Frank Delaney & Diane Meier • Syrie James • Stephanie Barron • Amanda Grange • Pamela Aidan • Elizabeth Aston • Carrie Bebris • Diana Birchall • Monica Fairview • Janet Mullany • Jane Odiwe • Beth Pattillo • Myretta Robens • Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway • Maya Slater • Margaret C. Sullivan • and Brenna Aubrey, the winner of a story contest hosted by the Republic of Pemberley “My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” If you just heaved a contented sigh at Mr. Darcy’s heartfelt words, then you, dear reader, are in good company. Here is a delightful collection of never-before-published stories inspired by Jane Austen—her novels, her life, her wit, her world. In Lauren Willig’s “A Night at Northanger,” a young woman who doesn’t believe in ghosts meets a familiar specter at the infamous abbey; Jane Odiwe’s “Waiting” captures the exquisite uncertainty of Persuasion’s Wentworth and Anne as they await her family’s approval of their betrothal; Adriana Trigiani’s “Love and Best Wishes, Aunt Jane” imagines a modern-day Austen giving her niece advice upon her engagement; in Diana Birchall’s “Jane Austen’s Cat,” our beloved Jane tells her nieces “cat tales” based on her novels; Laurie Viera Rigler’s “Intolerable Stupidity” finds Mr. Darcy bringing charges against all the writers of Pride and Prejudice sequels, spin-offs, and retellings; in Janet Mullany’s “Jane Austen, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” a teacher at an all-girls school invokes the Beatles to help her students understand Sense and Sensibility; and in Jo Beverley’s “Jane and the Mistletoe Kiss,” a widow doesn’t believe she’ll have a second chance at love . . . until a Miss Austen suggests otherwise. Regency or contemporary, romantic or fantastical, each of these marvelous stories reaffirms the incomparable influence of one of history’s most cherished authors.
In the ten years since its electrifying debut, Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love has become a worldwide phenomenon, empowering millions of readers to set out on paths they never thought possible. In this candid and captivating collection, nearly fifty of those readers – as diverse in their experiences as they are in age and background – share their stories. Eat Pray Love helped one woman to embrace motherhood, another to come to terms with the loss of her mother, and a third to find peace with not wanting to become a mother at all. One writer finds new love overseas; another embraces his sexual identity. The journeys they recount are transformative –sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, but always inspiring. Entertaining and enlightening, Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It is a celebration for fans old and new.
Knowledge comes in all shapes and sizes, and This Book Made Me Do It celebrates it in all its vastness and variety. This Book Made Me Do It gives step-by-step instructions on everything from hacking their gadgets and toys to making clouds in bottles and creating music from the most surprising of everyday objects. There is something here for the hobbyist, the amateur, or just the fantastically curious. The reader will learn not only how to make a barometer, but why barometers matter, and how to use them to forecast weather. This lively and engaging book--through its clarity, levity, and well-researched information--will keep readers of all ages busy learning, making, creating, hacking, thinking, and doing for a very long time.