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Black star / by Alexander, Kwame.;
12-year old Charley Cuffey is many things: a granddaughter, a best friend, and probably the best pitcher in all of Lee's Mill. Set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball, Charley doesn't need reminders from her best friend Cool Willie Green to know that she has lofty dreams for a Black girl in the American South. Even so, Nana Kofi's thrilling stories about courageous ancestors and epic journeys make it impossible not to dream big. She knows he has so many more to tell, but according to her parents, she isn't old enough to know about certain things like what happened to Booker Preston that one night in Great Bridge and why she can never play on the brand-new real deal baseball field on the other side of town. When Charley challenges a neighborhood bully to a game at the church picnic, she knows she can win, even with her ragtag team. But when the picnic spills over onto their ball field, she makes a fateful decision. A child cannot protect herself if she does not know her history, and Charley's choice brings consequences she never could have imagined.
Subjects: Novels in verse.; Historical fiction.; Baseball; African Americans; Race relations;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Draft day : how hockey teams pick winners or get left behind / by MacLean, Doug,1954-author.;
"A Moneyball for hockey. The NHL draft is a critical time for teams, when the foundation for future championships is laid--or when championship dreams die. Only time will tell if a draft is successful, but a failed draft can severely set teams back for seasons, much to the dread of ownership, management, and most importantly, the fans. For even the most die-hard hockey fan, the preparation for draft day is a black box. Former president, general manager, and coach Doug MacLean takes readers behind the scenes, from the 2022 draft in Montreal to revealing draft stories from the past, to show how players are discovered and evaluated to create successful teams. Just as Moneyball illustrated the value of analytics in building teams in baseball and beyond, Draft Day shows the careful considerations that go into assessing talent for success. What is that balance in today's game between metrics and instinct, between analytics and traditional scouting? MacLean draws from his own career as well as anecdotes from across the league to illustrate the hard-won lessons and principles that lead to building successful teams. Hockey is big business, and this book is an invaluable resource for any leader seeking an edge for building resilient organizations. Entertaining and informative, with never-before-told details from some of the biggest moments in NHL history, Draft Day is for every hockey fan who wonders how their team develops that hard-to-define winning chemistry--or fails to, year after year."--
Subjects: National Hockey League.; Hockey players;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Willie : the game-changing story of the NHL's first black player / by O'Ree, Willie,1935-author.; McKinley, Michael,1961-author.; Iginla, Jarome,1977-writer of foreword.;
"An inspiring memoir that shows that anyone can achieve their dreams if they are willing to fight for them. In 1958, Willie O'Ree was a lot like any other player toiling in the minors, waiting for his chance to play in the best hockey league in the world. He'd grown up playing in small towns, working his way up the complicated hierarchy of junior and minor leagues, losing teeth and dropping the gloves along the way. He was good. Good enough to have been signed by the Boston Bruins, good enough to have been invited to training camp twice. In a six-team league, that meant he was one of the best players in the world. Just not quite good enough to play in the NHL. Until January 18 of that year. The call came, and Willie O'Ree was told he'd be suiting up against the Montreal Canadians. The next morning, he opened the paper to see if his name showed up in the box score. Instead, he found it on the front page, in the headline. Without even realizing it, Willie O'Ree had broken hockey's colour barrier, just as his hero, Jackie Robinson, had done for baseball. In 2018, O'Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in recognition not only of that legacy, but of the way he has built on it in the decades since. He has been, for twenty years now, an NHL Executive. As Director of Youth Development, O'Ree has helped the NHL Diversity program expose more than 40,000 boys and girls of diverse backgrounds to unique hockey experiences. Over the past decade, O'Ree has traveled thousands of miles across North America helping to establish 39 local grassroots hockey programs, all geared towards serving economically disadvantaged youth. While advocating strongly that "Hockey is for Everyone," O'Ree stresses the importance of essential life skills, education, and the core values of hockey: commitment, perseverance, and teamwork."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; O'Ree, Willie, 1935-; Hockey players; Black Canadian hockey players;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Catch us when we fall : a novel / by Fay, Juliette,author.;
On her own since the age of eighteen, Cass Macklin dated brilliant, troubled Ben McGreavy, convinced he was the smartest person she'd ever known. They partied their way through their twenties, slowly descending into a bleak world of binge-drinking and broken promises, inebriated for most of a decade. Now Ben is dead, and Cass is broke, homeless, scared ... and pregnant. Determined to have a healthy pregnancy and raise Ben's baby, Cass has to find a way to stop drinking and build a stable life for herself and her child. But with no money, skills, or sober friends or family, the task seems insurmountable. At wit's end, Cass turns to the only person with the means to help her: Ben's brother Scott, third basemen for the Boston Red Sox, a man with a temper and problems of his own. The two make a deal that neither one of them is sure they can live up to. As Cass struggles to take control of her life and to ask for help when she needs it, Scott begins to realize there's a life for him beyond the baseball diamond. By turns heartbreaking and humorous, with its message that change is possible, that forgiveness can be freely given, and that life, though imperfect, is worth embracing, Catch Us When We Fall is a story of human connectedness and hope.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Baseball players; Forgiveness; Man-woman relationships; Pregnant women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The gone dead train / by Turner, Lisa(Lisa Celeste);
"After a time away to recover from the aftermath of a horrible case that left his partner dead, Billy's back in Memphis, drawn into an ever-widening murder mystery that focuses on flawed heroes: a disgraced major league baseball player, two legendary blues musicians on the lam, a straight-arrow lady cop tortured by a guilty conscience, and two iconic civil rights warriors with secrets so dark they'll shock the nation. Detective Billy Able is at a crossroads. His previous case left him questioning everything he believed about his abilities as a cop and as a friend. Even though he's considering leaving police work behind - he's unable to turn off the instincts he's honed after a decade on the force. But when he stops a crime he sees from being committed, he finds himself embroiled in a much bigger scandal. A murder that has just taken place has connections to a series of much older crimes and dates back to the civil rights movement. As he investigates, Billy uncovers so many layers of secrets he can barely keep the truth from the lies. And he knows the straight-laced cop assigned to the case is hiding something big. But is it connected to the case? And this time he's determined to make sure he finds out the truth before anything else can happen. But as the search for truth with the help of a Santeria Priest leads him deeper into the underbelly of Memphis, will Billy make it out alive?"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Detective and mystery stories.; Mystery fiction.; Murder; Police;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Brush of wings / by Kingsbury, Karen,author.;
"From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes the third novel in an unforgettable series about divine intervention and the trials and triumphs of life for a group of friends. Despite needing a heart transplant and against the advice of her doctor, Mary Catherine moves to Uganda to work at a new orphanage. Whatever time she has left, Mary Catherine wants to spend it helping children--especially since there will be no children of her own. The only problem is Major League Baseball player Marcus Dillinger, the man she never meant to fall in love with. Neither Marcus nor Mary Catherine's other friends--Tyler Ames and Sami Dawson--know just how serious her heart condition is. Still, Marcus is sure in the depths of his soul that something isn't right. Ultimately his correspondence with Mary Catherine leads him on a desperate life-or-death mission to rescue her and get her to a US hospital before time runs out. Meanwhile, Sami and Tyler struggle with issues of their own. In a season when Tyler plans to ask Sami to marry him, the very core of their relationship is in jeopardy. The team of angels walking is busier than ever in this epic battle between life and death. A Brush of Wings is a poignant tale of love, sacrifice, and the power of faith"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Christian fiction.; Religious fiction.; Love stories.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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One perfect lie / by Scottoline, Lisa,author.;
"One perfect lie is an emotional thriller and a suburban crime story that will keep you guessing until you turn the very last page. On the surface, it tells the tale of the struggling single mother of a high-school pitcher, a shy kid so athletically talented that he's being recruited for a full-ride scholarship to a Division I college, with a future in major-league baseball. But the mother fears that she's losing her grip on her son because he's being lured down a darker path by one of his teammates, a secretly disturbed young man from an affluent family, whose excellent grades and fun-loving manner conceal his violent criminal plans. Add a handsome stranger who comes to town and infiltrates the high school, posing as a teacher but with a hidden agenda all his own. The mix becomes combustible when a beloved faculty member turns up dead as a suicide, in circumstances equally consistent with murder. Only then is the true identity of the fake teacher revealed, and the single mother finds herself engaged in a battle for the future, the soul, and the very life of her only son. One Perfect Lie is a riveting and suspenseful family drama, and by the time you close the book, you will realize that nothing was as it seemed at the beginning"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Single parents; Baseball players; High school teachers; Impostors and imposture; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 4
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One perfect lie [sound recording] / by Scottoline, Lisa,author.; Newbern, George,1964-narrator.; Macmillan Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by George Newbern."One perfect lie is an emotional thriller and a suburban crime story that will keep you guessing until you turn the very last page. On the surface, it tells the tale of the struggling single mother of a high-school pitcher, a shy kid so athletically talented that he's being recruited for a full-ride scholarship to a Division I college, with a future in major-league baseball. But the mother fears that she's losing her grip on her son because he's being lured down a darker path by one of his teammates, a secretly disturbed young man from an affluent family, whose excellent grades and fun-loving manner conceal his violent criminal plans. Add a handsome stranger who comes to town and infiltrates the high school, posing as a teacher but with a hidden agenda all his own. The mix becomes combustible when a beloved faculty member turns up dead as a suicide, in circumstances equally consistent with murder. Only then is the true identity of the fake teacher revealed, and the single mother finds herself engaged in a battle for the future, the soul, and the very life of her only son. One Perfect Lie is a riveting and suspenseful family drama, and by the time you close the book, you will realize that nothing was as it seemed at the beginning"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Audiobooks.; Single parents; Baseball players; High school teachers; Impostors and imposture; Secrecy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Cuba on the verge : 12 writers on continuity and change in Havana and across the country / by Guerriero, Leila,1967-editor.;
As the US and Cuba move toward the normalization of diplomatic relations after an epic fifty-six-year standoff, we find ourselves face-to-face with one of the few places in the world that has been off limits to most Americans. Standing on both sides of the divide, twelve of our most celebrated writers investigate this period of momentous transition in Cuba on the Verge. These essays span the spectrum, from Carlos Manuel Álvarez's story of being among the last generation of Cubans to be raised under Fidel Castro to Patricia Engel's look at how Cuba's capital has changed through her years of riding across it with her taxi driver friend; from The New Yorker's Jon Lee Anderson (who traveled with President Obama on the first trip to Cuba by an American president since the twenties) on being a foreigner in Cuba during the Special Period to Francisco Goldman on the Tropicana, then and now, to Leonardo Padura on the religion that is Cuban baseball.
Subjects: Essays.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Brush of wings [sound recording] / by Kingsbury, Karen,author.; Heyborne, Kirby,narrator.; LaVoy, January,narrator.; Simon & Schuster Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Kirby Heyborne and January LaVoy."From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes the third novel in an unforgettable series about divine intervention and the trials and triumphs of life for a group of friends. Despite needing a heart transplant and against the advice of her doctor, Mary Catherine moves to Uganda to work at a new orphanage. Whatever time she has left, Mary Catherine wants to spend it helping children--especially since there will be no children of her own. The only problem is Major League Baseball player Marcus Dillinger, the man she never meant to fall in love with. Neither Marcus nor Mary Catherine's other friends--Tyler Ames and Sami Dawson--know just how serious her heart condition is. Still, Marcus is sure in the depths of his soul that something isn't right. Ultimately his correspondence with Mary Catherine leads him on a desperate life-or-death mission to rescue her and get her to a US hospital before time runs out. Meanwhile, Sami and Tyler struggle with issues of their own. In a season when Tyler plans to ask Sami to marry him, the very core of their relationship is in jeopardy. The team of angels walking is busier than ever in this epic battle between life and death. A Brush of Wings is a poignant tale of love, sacrifice, and the power of faith"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Christian fiction.; Religious fiction.; Audiobooks.; Love stories.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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