From his first low country boil on a Carolina beach to a face-off with three thugs in a Georgia parking lot, from an unforgettable night in New Orleans to the Beale Street acrobats and a sunset Mississippi River cruise in Memphis, Boone is constantly in unknown territory on his first venture away from home with his dog Frankie. The map his friend Melvin gave him doesn’t offer much guidance, and sometime he feels like Frankie’s in charge of their trip and he’s just following her lead. On his return home he sees old friends and new acquaintances in a different and sometimes disturbing light, prompting him to question many of his assumptions about how things are supposed to be. Trying to keep his feet on the ground and leave behind his Daddy’s most damaging lessons once and for all, Boone realizes that the trip has changed him in ways he never expected.
Shivaun Plozza’s debut novel, Frankie, is a genre-hopping, darkly funny novel about searching for the truth, finding yourself, and falling in love Frankie Vega is angry. Just ask the guy whose nose she broke. Or the cop investigating the burglary she witnessed, or her cheating ex-boyfriend, or her aunt who's tired of giving second chances. When a kid shows up claiming to be Frankie's half brother, it opens the door to a past she doesn't want to remember. And when that kid goes missing, the only person willing to help is a boy with stupidly blue eyes, a criminal record, and secrets of his own. Frankie's search for the truth could change her life, or cost her everything. “Frankie's a great, gutsy character, full of heart.” —Printz Award winner Melina Marchetta, author of The Jellicoe Road and Saving Francesca
19-year-old mage Lady Lyriana Batavia is third in line to the Seat of Power in Bamaria: a position of wealth and privilege, but not safety. Bamaria falls under the rule of the Lumerian Empire, survivors of a celestial war whose island sank in the Drowning. Now all Lumerians submit to the Emperor and his strict laws about magic. He decides what magic can be practiced and what powers remain forbidden. He decides who will die for possession of forbidden magic. Lyr’s own cousin was executed for wielding the wrong kind. And for years, Lyr has sworn to protect her older sisters, helping them conceal their own illicit magic. But when Lyr must participate in the ceremony that reveals her power, she uncovers something else entirely. Something that means banishment from the Empire. Faced with death in exile, and leaving her sisters behind, Lyr has no choice but to accept a deadly contract. She has seven months to train as a warrior and pass the Emperor’s brutal test of strength—all without magic. But when she’s forced to train with Lord Rhyan Hart, the man she’s secretly loved since she was a girl—a feared warrior in exile himself, forbidden to her in every way—she’s in danger of losing far more than her family, life, and country. Rebel forces, and an invading army, are destabilizing Bamaria, just as her family’s secrets threaten to reveal themselves. Surviving the training, and saving her sisters may mean sacrificing her own heart.
As a college student, he was blessed to become a student intern in the Information Technology (IT) department where he continued to increase his computer skills as a part-time computer lab assistant and a computer troubleshooter. These roles pushed his skilled to a brand-new level. “After the internship was over, I followed my instructor everywhere he went so I could learn everything I could. I even stayed after hours to glean from his knowledge.” His instructor told him that he had never met anyone like him before. Someone who was hungry for knowledge. After graduating with a degree in computer science, he was offered a part-time job in the IT department. That job later became full-time. As a contributing co-author to Raising Frankie, he visited his parents twice a week to proofread and suggest any changes he felt were necessary. They wanted to make sure he was comfortable with every line before it went to publication. Since he has embraced the book, the three of us hope readers will share its content to assist anyone they know who is or have dealt with ADHD. Brenda is a retired educator who lives with her husband in North Carolina. During her academic career, she served in several capacities in the educational arena. These positions included teaching academically gifted to disadvantaged and handicapped students in high school, high school assistant principal, and supervisor/director of Career Technical Education Programs. She has also taught on the community college level. In her community, she serves on several church auxiliaries to include serving as a deaconess, member of the senior usher board, and as a Sunday school teacher. Because of her experiences working with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)—via students and their teachers—she wanted to share her knowledge and experiences with others through Raising Frankie. She hopes that loving and living this work will positively impact the lives of others as it has the Moody family. Frankie L. Moody Sr. (Moody), coauthor, is a United States Army Veteran and a retired lieutenant with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Presently, he is actively serving as a church deacon, president of the male ushers, Security Team member, Cub Scout Den Leader, and as a literacy tutor (for adults) with Triangle South Literacy Works. He also is employed part-time to transport people to and from medical appointments. In his years of working with people, Moody often imparted words of wisdom and encouragement whenever the opportunity presented itself. Brenda and Moody worked passionately together to first of all understand the characteristics of ADHD. Secondly, to embrace Frankie’s diagnosis so they could help him to deal with whatever he may have encountered academically as well as socially during his formative years. Toward that end, Moody spent his days off each week serving as a teacher assistant’s when Frankie was in elementary school. He also chaperoned every field trip and assisted with all of his sport activities. During high school, we worked together as a team to support Frankie as needed—to include how to handle unwarranted bullying. During high school and college, we realized that Frankie needed space to make his own decisions. With that said, we were always available and ready to activate whatever actions as were necessary to help Frankie to be successful without encroaching on his “I can do it on my own” abilities.
Meet Frankie Bonny: Jinxed witch, martial arts badass, and chaos magnet extraordinaire. Dive headfirst into a world where magic runs amok, reality bends like a pretzel, and normal is just a setting on the washing machine. This complete nine-book series follows Frankie as she punches, kicks, and wise-cracks her way through: Haunted ships and vanishing covens Multiversal mayhem and alien ancestry Vampire family dinners and jailbreak vacations Merman romance and cursed seashells Shifter genes gone wild and magical murder mysteries And a wedding that's more "chaos" than "I do" With her smart-mouthed familiar Dex by her side and a rotating cast of supernatural hotties, Frankie takes on pirates, time lords, and her own wonky powers. She'll break curses, solve murders, and accidentally create new universes—all while trying to master the art of magical adulting. From cozy mystery beginnings to reality-warping adventures, watch as Frankie evolves from housework-spell novice to multiverse-hopping badass. Buckle up, buttercup. This ain't your grandma's witch series. Get ready for nine books of non-stop magical mayhem, snarky humor, and a heroine who flips the bird at fate. Normal was never an option, and Frankie wouldn't have it any other way. Not ready to commit? Grab Frankie B: The Ghost Ship, the first in this series while it's free. If you love a paranormal series with a kick ass witch who can take care of business even without her magic, then welcome to the Marina Witches Mysteries. Perfect for fans of Misty Bane, Amanda M. Lee, and Lily Harper Hart, as well as Dionne Lister, Morgana Best, and Jane Hinchey. Join Frankie and Dex as they take on dark forces and injustice along with Frankie's hot, but equally mysterious, neighbor. With Zane around, the main danger is to Frankie's heart.
A group of nine people, family & stranger, are forced to hide to escape the evil hunting them, General Mikhael Malig. Lorraine MacKie, an expectant mother among them, has visions of the future. She has seen her unborn child will one day help to change the world. Born blind, Gideon is destined to help save humanity from forces that would lead every soul to the darkness they themselves are trapped within. As Gideon grows, he is shaped by the people around him, gaining understanding and appreciation of the weaknesses & strengths of those he loves. As an adult, he will meet the woman who with her own unique gift will give him the strength he needs to do what he must. This woman is Sera, a deaf half-human, half-angel, created in a government lab with seven others. First she must overcome her own disability before she can discover who and what she really is. When she finally does, she will go in search of Gideon, and complete the great task they were born to do.
No mother is prepared for the moment when a child comes out to her as a person whose physical gender is out-of-keeping with his emotional and psychological gender-identity. In Michelle Alfano's intimate memoir, she recounts her experience as the mother of a transgender child. The central metaphor of The Unfinished Dollhouse tells the story: on Frankie's fourth birthday, her parents Michelle and Rob purchased a kit to create a beautiful dollhouse. Michelle imagined building the home, buying the tiny pieces of furniture and accessories to fill it and, more importantly, the times she and her daughter would spend constructing the perfect dollhouse - a fantasy of domestic and familial happiness. Frankie expressed no interest in such typically girlish pursuits because Frankie harboured a secret - a secret about gender. In the years to follow, Frankie's parents experienced an education in parenting a child transitioning from female to male - which pronouns to use, how to disclose the information to friends, family, school and how to deal with the reactions of all - some heartening, some surprising, some disappointing. There is no memoir like The Unfinished Dollhouse in the Canadian cultural landscape, a memoir by the mother of a transgender child.
The steady rise of Clint Eastwood’s career parallels a pressing desire in American society over the past five decades for a figure and story of purpose, meaning, and redemption. Eastwood has not only told and filmed that story, he has come to embody it for many in his public image and film persona. Eastwood responds to a national yearning for a vision of individual action and initiative, personal responsibility, and potential for renewal. An iconic director and star for his westerns, urban thrillers, and adventure stories, Eastwood has taken film art to new horizons of meaning in a series of masterpieces that engage the ethical and moral consciousness of our times, including Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, and Mystic River. He revolutionized the war film with the unprecedented achievement of filming the opposing sides of the same historic battle in Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, using this saga to present a sharply critical representation of the new America that emerged out of the war, a society of images and spectacles. This timely examination of Clint Eastwood’s oeuvre against the backdrop of contemporary America will be fascinating reading for students of film and popular culture, as well as readers with interests in Eastwood’s work, American film and culture.
The Monster High ghouls are back and more spooktacular than ever in this all-new, original middle grade series set in the world of Nickelodeon’s animated show and written by Adrianna Cuevas! As Monster High prepares for its annual talent show, Frankie Stein is left wondering what they could perform. When Torelei Stripe mocks Frankie’s music playing abilities, Frankie is left even more confused about which of their brain parts is exciting enough for the talent show. Luckily, Headmistress Bloodgood presents Frankie with new information about their brain that might hold the answer. Except Frankie discovers that their brain part is from a disgraced scientist accused of unethical experiments. Plagued by dreams from the scientist’s life, Frankie teams up with Draculaura and Clawdeen to discover the truth about their past—and save Monster High in the process.
