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Dark cloud / by Lazowski, Anna.; Neville-Lee, Penny.;
"Abigail has a dark cloud. One day it appears and then it's always with her, taking different shapes. At school, it's a ball of worries following behind her. At ballet class, it's a fog that gets in the way of her grand jetés. At a birthday party, it's a shadow that takes away her appetite. How can Abigail find a way to step outside her dark cloud when it's always there? And then one day, she has a bright idea. Learning to live with and understand her dark cloud, along with some support from her father and a friend, helps Abigail find moments of sunshine again. In this evocative picture book, written with compassion and care, a little girl visualizes her depression as a way of learning to cope. The compelling visual narrative and lyrical text combine to give kids tools they can use to understand and express their own feelings of sadness and depression as well as empathize with others. A hopeful but realistic approach to a difficult topic."--
Subjects: Picture books.; Depression in children; Depression, Mental; Depressed persons;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The full catastrophe / by Cook, Méira,1964-author.;
"The Full Catastrophe is the story of Charlie Minkoff, a thirteen-year-old boy born with intersex traits, and his grandfather, Oscar, a ninety-year-old Holocaust survivor and Charlie's best friend and confidante. Because the Nazis disrupted Oscar's opportunity for a bar mitzvah, Charlie decides to right the historical wrong and arrange for a joint bar mitzvah for himself and his zeide. Living with his artist mother in a derelict loft in downtown Winnipeg, perpetually wondering about the Orthodox Jewish father who abandoned him, and tormented in school because of his biological differences, Charlie navigates assorted catastrophes thanks to his grandfather's love and the makeshift family who surround him: his mother's best friend Weeza, a couple of elderly shut-in neighbours, a mysterious girl in his class who has dark secrets of her own, and his desperately needy and perpetually flatulent dog, Gellman. The Full Catastrophe is a novel of psychological complexity, tenderness, humour, and community. It is about becoming men; a novel of secrets and the journeys these secrets propel."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Families; Grandfathers; Holocaust survivors; Single mothers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The rooftop garden / by Raman-Wilms, Menaka,author.;
The rooftop garden is a novel about Nabila, a researcher who studies seaweed in warming oceans, and her childhood friend Matthew. Now both in their twenties, Matthew has disappeared from his Toronto home, and Nabila travels to Berlin to find him and try to bring him back. The story is interspersed with scenes from their childhood, when Nabila, obsessed with how the climate crisis will cause oceans to rise, created an elaborate imaginary world where much of the land has flooded. She and Matthew would play their game on her rooftop garden, the only oasis in an abandoned city being claimed by water. Their childhood experiences reveal how their lives are on different trajectories, even at an early stage: Nabila comes from an educated, middle-class family, while Matthew had been abandoned by his father and was often left to deal with things on his own. As an adult, Matthew's dissatisfaction with life leads him to join a group of young men who are angry at society. He eventually finds himself on a violent suicide mission, but Nabila isn't aware of the extent of his radicalization until they finally meet on a street in Berlin.
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Climatic changes; Friendship; Radicalism; Radicalization; Roof gardening; Urban gardens;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Clues to the universe / by Li, Christina.;
The only thing Rosalind Ling Geraghty loves more than watching NASA launches with her dad is building rockets with him. When he dies unexpectedly, all Ro has left of him is an unfinished model rocket they had been working on together. Benjamin Burns doesn't like science, but he can't get enough of Spacebound, a popular comic book series. When he finds a sketch that suggests that his dad created the comics, he's thrilled. Too bad his dad walked out years ago, and Benji has no way to contact him. Though Ro and Benji were only supposed to be science class partners, the pair become unlikely friends: Benji helps Ro finish her rocket, and Ro figures out a way to reunite Benji and his dad. But Benji hesitates, which infuriates Ro. Doesn't he realize how much Ro wishes she could be in his place? As the two face bullying, grief, and their own differences, Benji and Ro must try to piece together clues to some of the biggest questions in the universe. Ages 8-12.LSC
Subjects: Fatherless families; Friendship; Fathers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Dickens and Prince : a particular kind of genius / by Hornby, Nick,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."From the bestselling author of Just Like You, High Fidelity, and Fever Pitch, a short, warm, and entertaining book about art, creativity, and the unlikely similarities between Victorian novelist Charles Dickens and modern American rock star Prince. Every so often, a pairing comes along that seems completely unlikely--until it's not. Peanut butter and jelly, Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un, ducks and puppies, and now: Dickens and Prince. Equipped with a fan's admiration and his trademark humor and wit, Nick Hornby invites us into his latest obsession: the cosmic link between two unlikely artists, geniuses in their own rights, spanning race, class, and centuries--each of whom electrified their different disciplines and whose legacy resounded far beyond their own time. When Prince's 1987 record Sign o' the Times was rereleased in 2020, the iconic album now came with dozens of songs that weren't on the original--Prince was endlessly prolific, recording 102 songs in 1986 alone. In awe, Hornby began to wonder, Who else ever produced this much? Who else ever worked that way? He soon found his answer in Victorian novelist and social critic Charles Dickens, who died more than a hundred years before Prince began making music. Examining the two artists' personal tragedies, social statuses, boundless productivity, and other parallels, both humorous and haunting, Hornby shows how these two unlikely men from different centuries "lit up the world." In the process, he creates a lively, stimulating rumination on the creativity, flamboyance, discipline, and soul it takes to produce great art"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Prince; Prince.; Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870; Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The poisoner : the life and crimes of Victorian England's most notorious doctor / by Bates, Stephen,1954-;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In 1856, a baying crowd of over 30,000 people gathered outside Stafford prison to watch the hanging of Dr. William Palmer, "the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey" as Charles Dickens once called him. Palmer was convicted of poisoning and suspected in the murders of dozens of others, including his best friend, his wife, and his mother-in-law--and cashing in on their insurance to fuel his worsening gambling addiction. Highlighting his gruesome penchant for strychnine, the trial made news across both the Old World and the New. Palmer gripped readers not only in Britain--Queen Victoria wrote of "that horrible Palmer" in her journal--but also was a different sort of murderer than the public had come to fear--respectable, middle class, personable--and consequently more terrifying. But as the gallows door dropped, one question still gnawed at many who knew the case: Was Palmer truly guilty? The first major retelling of William Palmer's story in over sixty years, The Poisoner takes a fresh look at the infamous doctor's life and disputed crimes. Using previously undiscovered letters from Palmer and new forensic examination of his victims, journalist Stephen Bates presents not only an astonishing and controversial revision of Palmer's life but takes the reader into the very psyche of a killer"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Palmer, William, 1824-1856.; Poisoners; Poisoning; Serial poisoning;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Aria / by Hozar, Nazanine,author.;
It is the mid-1950s in a democratic but restless Iran, a country newly powerful with oil wealth but unsettled by class and religious divides and by the politics of a larger world hungry (especially the West) for its resources. One night, a humble driver in the Iranian army is walking through a rough area of Tehran when he hears a small, pitiful cry. Curious, he searches for the source, and to his horror, comes upon a newborn baby abandoned by the side of the road and encircled by ravenous dogs. He snatches up the child-- and forever alters his own destiny and that of the little girl, whom he names Aria. Thus begins a stunning and revelatory debut that takes us inside the Iranian revolution-- but as seen like never before, through the eyes of an orphan girl. The novel is structured around each of the three very different women who find themselves fated to mother the lost child: first, the working-class, reckless and self-involved Zahra, married to the kind-hearted soldier; then the wealthy, careful and compassionate Fereshteh, who invites Aria into her compound and adopts her as an heir; and finally, Aria's biological mother, Mehri, whose new family Aria discovers in adolescence. A final section, "Aria," takes us through the brutal coup d'etat that installs the Shah as Iran's supreme leader, even as Aria falls in love with a revolutionary and becomes a young mother herself. Here is a sweeping, unforgettable, timely saga that brilliantly humanizes people trapped and left powerless and voiceless by an unjust world-- people no different from those in the west, wanting love, kindness, belonging and freedom of thought.
Subjects: Feminist fiction.; Historical fiction.; Orphans; Women; Mothers; Families; Social classes; Coming of age;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Mr. Malcolm's list / by Allain, Suzanne,author.;
"Move over, Mr. Darcy, there's a new man in town ... It is a truth universally acknowledged that an arrogant bachelor insistent on a wife who meets the strictest of requirements-deserves his comeuppance. The Honorable Mr. Jeremy Malcolm is searching for a wife, but not just any wife. He's determined to elude the fortune hunters and find a near-perfect woman, one who will meet the qualifications of his well-crafted list. But after years of searching, he's beginning to despair of ever finding this paragon. And then Selina Dalton arrives in town ... Selina, a vicar's daughter of limited means and a stranger to high society, is thrilled when her friend Julia invites her to London. Until she learns it's part of a plot to exact revenge on Mr. Malcolm. Selina is reluctant to participate in Julia's scheme, especially after meeting the irresistible Mr. Malcolm, who seems very different from the arrogant scoundrel of Julia's description. But when Mr. Malcolm begins judging Selina against his unattainable standards, Selina decides that she has some qualifications of her own. And if he is to meet them he must reveal the real man behind ... Mr. Malcolm's List"--
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Historical fiction.; Man-woman relationships; Marriage; Revenge; Upper class;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Like every form of love : a memoir of friendship and true crime / by Viswanathan, Padma,1968-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Padma Viswanathan was staying on a houseboat on Vancouver Island when she struck up a friendship with a warm-hearted, working-class queer man named Phillip. Their lives were so different it seemed unlikely to Padma that their relationship would last after she returned to her usual life. But, that week, Phillip told her a story from his childhood that kept them connected for more than twenty years. Phillip was the son of a severe, abusive man named Harvey, a miner, farmer and communist. After Phillip's mother left the family, Harvey advertised for a housekeeper-with-benefits. And so Del, the most glamorous and loving of stepmothers, stepped into Phillip's life. Del had hung out with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Mexico City before the Cuban revolution; she was also a convicted bank robber who had violated her parole and was suspected in her ex-husband's murder. Phillip had long since lost track of Del, but when Padma said she'd like to write about her and about his own young life, he eagerly agreed. Quickly, though, Padma's research uncovered hidden truths about these larger-than-real-life characters. Watching the effects on Phillip as these secrets, evasions and traumas came to light, she increasingly feared that when it came to the book or the friendship, only one of them would get out of this process alive. In this unforgettable memoir, Padma reflects on the joys and frictions of this strange journey with grace, humour and poetry, including original readings of Hans Christian Andersen fairytales and other stories that beautifully echo her characters' adventures and her own. Like Every Form of Love is that rare thing: an irresistible literary page-turner that twists and turns, delivering powerful revelations, right to the very end."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Viswanathan, Padma, 1968-; Family secrets.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Three girls from Bronzeville : a uniquely American memoir of race, fate, and sisterhood / by Turner, Dawn,author.;
"The three girls formed an indelible bond: roaming their community in search of hidden treasures for their "Thing Finder box," and hiding under the dining room table, eavesdropping as three generations of relatives gossiped and played the numbers. The girls spent countless afternoons together, ice skating in the nearby Lake Meadows apartment complex, swimming in the pool at the Ida B. Wells housing project, and daydreaming of their futures: Dawn a writer, Debra a doctor, Kim a teacher. Then they came to a precipice, a fraught rite of passage for all girls when the dangers and the harsh realities of the world burst the innocent bubble of childhood, when the choices they made could-- and would-- have devastating consequences. There was a razor thin margin of error -- especially for brown girls. With a keen investigative eye and intimate detail, Dawn chronicles the dramatic turns that send their lives careening in very different -- and shocking -- directions over the decades. The result is a powerful tour de force on the complex interplay of race and opportunity, class and womanhood and how those forces shape our lives and our capacity for resilience and redemption"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Trice, Debra.; Turner, Dawn; Turner, Dawn.; Turner, Kim, 1968-1994; African American women; African Americans; Journalists; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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