A Circle of Quiet (Crosswicks Journals #1)

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Catherine Ross-Stroud

"Much has been written about the state of black adolescence - often from a sociological point of view situating black teens in an at-risk category. However, through her characters, young adult author Janet McDonald (1954-2007) presents the wide range of adolescent life. McDonald presents the multifarious views of society in relation to the self efficacious drive of urban teens to rise above their circumstances by any means necessary." "This book is a biocritical study of McDonald and her work as it relates to the contribution she has made to teen fiction. It explains McDonald's profoundly realistic fiction, which holds wide appeal for teens in search of answers to the coming of age mystery."--BOOK JACKET.

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David Nuffer

"The Best Friend I Ever Had" is an unusual non--fiction book about people the author has known over the past 30 years -- people who knew Ernest Hemingway. Among them are Hemingway's wife, Mary; his son, Patrick; his friends in Cuba at mid-century; a jai-alai champion; and his best friend in Ketchum, Idaho, over the 22 years that he visited or lived there. Their comments and reminiscences about the literary icon are new and revealing, sometimes provocative, sometimes inflammatory. In these pages are photographs and documents never before published, including unreleased letters to Hemingway from his doctors at the Mayo Clinic following his shock treatments there in 1960-61. In the words of one academic researcher, "I thought, and was told, that the Mayo file was closed and unavailable". This book proves otherwise. Here are eight chapters of remembrances plus a final chapter with four capsule entries, including the story of the discovery of Hemingway's Toronto Star typewriter. You'll find "The Best Friend" a font of fresh information that discloses the complexity of the man behind the legend.

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Toby Talbot

From breakfast to bedtime, a young girl imagines being different women who made history, and ends the day empowered to be herself.

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R. Kent Rasmussen

The creator of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain has long been regarded as the quintessential American writer. Critical Companion to Mark Twain, an updated and expanded edition of the award-winning Mark Twain A to Z, is the essential reference to Mark Twain's life and writings. All new to this two-volume edition are more than 30 extensive critical analyses on Mark Twain's most important works and a concise biography of Mark Twain. In addition, there are more than 350 completely new entries, several new appendixes and maps, and more than 100 new illustrations. Original entries have been updated and expanded to incorporate more details and to account for new developments in the field of Mark Twain studies. With more than 150,000 words of new material and a new, student-friendly structure, Critical Companion to Mark Twain is the essential reference for students, librarians, scholars, and fans of Mark Twain. Coverage includes: A concise but comprehensive biography of Mark Twain; Detailed synopses of, and critical commentaries on, all of Mark Twain's major works; Discussions of all the characters and places in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and major characters and fictional places in other works; Entries on family, friends, contemporaries, places, publishers, topics, and more; Appendixes, including a glossary of terms used by Mark Twain, a chronology, a bibliography, and much more. - Publisher.