In seeking to align herself with the expanding consciousness prevalent today, Bertoia has had many masterful teachers: her children, flying fish, angels that travel by Greyhound, bullfrogs, and a storm, to name a few. Helpful hints come from the invisible realms through a dragon, various other selves, and a team of light beings. Some of the subjects she explores, with frequent humor, great affection, and occasional annoyance, are quantum evolution, remote viewing, the binary language of time and timelessness, the artist as a channel, the dial of perception, the power of transformation, and dreamtime communications. A delightful and uplifting book.
I'm Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter meets Emergency Contact in this stunning Pura Belpré Honor Book about first love, familial expectations, the power of food, and finding where you belong. Penelope Prado has always dreamed of opening her own pastelería next to her father's restaurant, Nacho's Tacos. But her mom and dad have different plans—leaving Pen to choose between not disappointing her traditional Mexican American parents or following her own path. When she confesses a secret she's been keeping, her world is sent into a tailspin. But then she meets a cute new hire at Nacho's who sees through her hard exterior and asks the questions she's been too afraid to ask herself. Xander Amaro has been searching for home since he was a little boy. For him, a job at Nacho's is an opportunity for just that—a chance at a normal life, to settle in at his abuelo's, and to find the father who left him behind. But when both the restaurant and Xander's immigrant status are threatened, he will do whatever it takes to protect his newfound family and himself. Together, Pen and Xander must navigate first love and discovering where they belong in order to save the place they all call home. This stunning and poignant novel from debut author Laekan Zea Kemp explores identity, found families and the power of food, all nestled within a courageous and intensely loyal Chicanx community.
The belief in my little angel has given me my greatest strength. Embrace all the mystery, wonder, and love your child has to offer. Nothing can take that away from you, not even autism. What you are about to read is a true story about my daughter and other angels in my life. They have given me the love, patience, and faith needed to survive in our new world together. This is not a cure-all book that debates or dictates which treatments or therapies are best for treating autism. However, this book meant to give others renewed strength and courage. Our story is not just about autism. It is meant to be shared by anyone who is struggling with any life challenge. More importantly, I am sending you this message... "You are not alone, you are never alone."
Somewhere between the townships called Luck and Trust, at a mountain cabin known as the Goddess House, two very different women may, if they dare, find common ground and friendship.
Jen Larsen, author of the critically acclaimed memoir Stranger Here and a subject of the Oprah Winfrey Network TV show In Deep Shift with Jonas Elrod, tells a liberating story of hard-won self-acceptance—a tale of one girl, who knows that weight is just a number, and that no one is completely perfect. This is a distinct, complex debut from a new voice in YA with an unforgettable main character whose doubts and insecurities will resonate with readers, and shed light on the dangers of taking on others' expectations instead of your own. Underscored by a fierce intelligence and a dry, disarming wit, Future Perfect will satisfy fans of such authors as Maureen Johnson.
The Perfect American is a fictionalized biography of Walt Disney's final months, as narrated by Wilhelm Dantine, an Austrian cartoonist who worked for Disney in the 40s and 50s, illustrating sequences for Sleeping Beauty. It is also the story of Dantine himself, who desperately seeks Disney's recognition at the risk of his own ruin. Peter Stephan Jungk has infused a new energy into the genre of fictionalized biography. Dantine, imbued with a sense of European superiority, first refuses to submit to Disney's rule, but is nevertheless fascinated by the childlike omnipotence of a man who identifies with Mickey Mouse. We discover Walt's delusions of immortality via cryogenic preservation, his tirades alongside his Abraham Lincoln talking robot, his invitation of Nikita Khruschev to Disneyland once he learns that the Soviet Premier wants to visit the park, his utopian visions of his EPCOT project, and his backyard labyrinth of toy trains. Yet, if at first Walt seems to have a magic wand granting him all his wishes, we soon discover that he is as tortured as the man who tells his story. After Disney refuses to acknowledge Dantine's self-professed talent and hard work, he fires the frustrated cartoonist for writing, along with other staff members, an anonymous polemical memorandum regarding Disney's jingoistic politics. Years later, in the late 60s, still deeply wounded by his dismissal, Dantine follows Disney's trail to capture what makes Walt tick. Dantine wants us to grasp what it is like to live and breathe around the man who thought of himself as more famous than Santa Claus. Walt's wife Lillian, his confidante and perhaps his mistress Hazel, his brother Roy, his children Diane and Sharon, his close and ill-treated collaborators, and famous figures such as Peter Ustinov, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and Geraldine Chaplin, all contribute to the novel's animation, its feel for the life of the Disney world. This deeply researched work not only provides interesting interpretations of what made Walt Disney a central figure in American popular culture, but also explores the complex expectations of gifted European immigrants who came to the United States after World War II with preconceived notions of how to achieve the American dream.
As the early 20th century steadily recedes into the distant past, many details of daily life during that American pre-depression period fade to an increasingly abstract perspective, void of the feeling brought to life in this loving couple’s extensive and valuable correspondence. This is a rare first-hand account of the stress and hardships of a country nurse, and country doctor and WWI veteran, from humble origins. There is also a vivid portrayal of organized nursing at its infancy in rural communities, and the uncertain and difficult circumstances of establishing a country practice for practitioners of the Hippocratic Oath—as opposed to their big city brethren—and their transition from horse-and-buggy to Henry Ford’s first automobiles. The imagination of 21st century readers is revived with glimpses of rural life, family relations and varied problems in turn-of-the-century Texas, where disease and sudden death stalked young and old, as in all the ‘frontier’ states of the pre-WWI south western United States. Along with the moving emotions expressed through its characters, this correspondence is sure to awaken in readers, an understanding of just how much is taken for granted today and to what extent the values of the pre-depression generations have eroded.
