Boys can be anything they want to be! This timely book joins and expands the gender-role conversation and gives middle-grade boys a welcome alternative message: that masculinity can mean many things. You won't find any stories of slaying dragons or saving princesses here. In Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different, author Ben Brooks-with the help of Quinton Wintor's striking full-color illustrations-offers a welcome alternative narrative: one that celebrates introverts and innovators, sensitivity and resilience, individuality and expression. It's an accessible compilation of 75 famous and not-so-famous men from the past to the present day, every single one of them a rule-breaker and stereotype-smasher in his own way. Entries include Frank Ocean, Salvador Dali, Beethoven, Barack Obama, Ai Weiwei, Jesse Owens, and so many more-heroes from all walks of life and from all over the world.
Boys will be boys and girls will be girls? Not in this book. The follow-up to Ben Brooks's New York Times bestselling Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different, this book offers more extraordinary true stories of amazing people who broke the mold and changed the world for the better. The resulting message? Be yourself, and your dreams might come true. With the help of Quinton Winter's striking full-color illustrations, Brooks offers an accessible compilation of 76 famous and not-so-famous influencers from the past to the present day, every single one of them a rule-breaker and stereotype-smasher in his or her own way. Entries include Emma Gonzalez, Andy Warhol, Bjork, Hans Christian Andersen, Sally Ride, and so many more -- heroes from all walks of life and from all over the world.
A fully illustrated book collecting important, impactful, and inspiring words from amazing people who have made a difference by a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator team. The things we say, write, and sing can inspire, comfort, uplift, and excite other people. But words do not only provoke emotions, they lead to action too. This book, like most others, is a collection of words. What makes these words different is how they changed the world and changed peoples' lives. Some of them were heard by millions of people around the planet, while others were written in personal letters from one person to another. Learn more about 75 people throughout history who have used their words to make a difference in the world, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nujeen Mustafa, Lin Yutang, Lydia Maria Child, Malala, Socrates, Sampa the Great, and more. Fully illustrated with art by Quinton Winter, this new middle grade book is sure to uplift and inspire young readers to use words to change the world.
Jayla feels threatened by her classmate Sam, who has bullied her in the past for her "nerdy" love of astronomy and stars. Sam is now bullying Jayla's friend Luisa, and she enlists Jayla to participate. Jalya reluctantly joins in but soon realizes it is wrong. With the help of caring adults and friends, Jayla comes to sympathize with Luisa and finds the courage to dare to stand up to Sam and put an end to the bullying.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER This sequel to the sensational New York Times bestseller, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, showcases 100 brand-new bedtime stories of incredible women throughout history and around the world. In this book, readers will embark on an empowering journey through 100 new bedtime stories, featuring the adventures of extraordinary women through the ages, such as: Agatha Christie, Writer Angela Merkel, Chancellor Audrey Hepburn, Actress Beyoncé, Singer, Songwriter, and Businesswoman Georgia O'Keeffe, Painter Katherine Johnson, Computer Scientist Madam C. J. Walker, Businesswoman Madonna, Singer, Songwriter, and Businesswoman Oprah Winfrey, TV Host, Actress, and Businesswoman Sojourner Truth, Activist The unique narrative style of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls transforms each biography into a fairytale, filling readers with wonder and a burning curiosity to know more about each hero. After the release of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, the passionate community of supporters, spanning 70+ countries, wrote in to suggest the Rebel Girls who inspired them. As a result, the stories in Volume 2 are entirely crowd-sourced and boasts a brand-new graphic design, a glossary, and full-page, full-color portraits of each subject, created by the best female artists of our time.
Believe in the impossible... A magical story celebrating the power of imagination, from the bestselling author of STORIES FOR BOYS WHO DARE TO BE DIFFERENT. Oleg and Emma entered their den to find a cardboard spaceship standing exactly where they usually sat. Slowly, the front door opened and out stepped a boy. 'My name's Sebastian Cole,' he said. 'But you already know that.' When Oleg and Emma invent a new classmate called Sebastian, they are amazed when he appears - very much real - in their secret den. Sebastian isn't like the rest of their classmates. He's never eaten pizza, he's not sure what goose bumps are, and he has a satchel that seems to hold an endless supply of hot ice cream. But as the trio begin their adventures, more impossible things keep happening, from a runaway goat appearing at school to a sighting of some snowwomen walking down the road. Things soon take a turn for the dangerous when the three friends are pursued by the mysterious Institute of Unreality, who want to capture and erase Sebastian, restoring order to the world. With the help of a cowboy gardener, an imprisoned scientist, and the rest of their class, can Emma and Oleg protect their new friend and keep the magic of the impossible alive? After inspiring countless young readers with tales of extraordinary people in the world around them, Ben Brooks' first children's novel is a magical adventure that celebrates friendship, the power of imagination, and ice cream.
An illustrated book of biographies highlighting the inspiring and innovative qualities of forty very different men throughout history, for fans of Heroes for My Son and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. Our history books are full of great men, from inventors to explorers to presidents. But these great men were not always good men. It's time for our role models to change. This book pays tribute to Mr. Rogers, Barack Obama, Hayao Miyazaki, and more: men whose masculinity is grounded in compassion and care. These men have varying worldviews and are accomplished in a range of fields, but they share important commonalities. They served their communities. They treated people with respect. They lifted others up. And they went on to create change, inspire others, and, indeed, do great things--not in spite of their goodness, but because of it. These men's stories will educate, entertain, and encourage the next generation of writers, activists, entrepreneurs, and other leaders of all genders to do better and be better--to be truly groundbreaking.
With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
THE SENSATIONAL NO.1 BESTSELLER 'The definitive book of the year in our house, for both parents and offspring' Maggie O'Farrell, Guardian Books of the Year 'Absolutely beautiful - get one for yourself and one to inspire a woman in your life' Stylist 'In an ideal world, not only would mothers read this aloud to their daughters, but teachers would read it to schoolboys' Sunday Times What if the princess didn't marry Prince Charming but instead went on to be an astronaut? What if the jealous step sisters were supportive and kind? And what if the queen was the one really in charge of the kingdom? Illustrated by sixty female artists from every corner of the globe, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls introduces us to one hundred remarkable women and their extraordinary lives, from Ada Lovelace to Malala, Amelia Earhart to Michelle Obama. Empowering, moving and inspirational, these are true fairy tales for heroines who definitely don't need rescuing.
Boys can be anything they want to be! In this sequel to the New York Times bestseller Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different, Ben Brooks introduces seventy-six more boys and men who will inspire young readers to live boldly and true to themselves. What do environmental activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, philosopher Socrates, and singer Ed Sheeran all have in common? Each of them defied expectations -- going against the grain and pursuing their dreams despite a seemingly impossible barrage of obstacles and difficulties. Their stories are incredible, as are those of tap dancer Evan Ruggiero, Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri, the brave Chernobyl Divers, and the other inspirational boys who fill the pages of this extraordinary book. Together, their stories offer young boys the welcome alternative message that masculinity can mean many things -- that it's okay to be sensitive, to be bold, and to follow their hearts.
