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Saga boy : my life of Blackness and becoming / by Downing, Antonio Michael,1975-author.;
Antonio Michael Downing's memoir of creativity and transformation is a startling mash-up of memories and mythology, told in gripping, lyrical prose. Raised by his indomitable grandmother in the lush rainforest of southern Trinidad, Downing, at age 11, is uprooted to Canada when she dies. But to a very unusual part of Canada: he and his older brother are sent to live with his stern, evangelical Aunt Joan, in Wabigoon, a tiny northern Ontario community where they are the only black children in the town. In this wilderness, he begins his journey as an immigrant minority, using music and performance to dramatically transform himself. At the heart of his odyssey is the longing for a home. He is re-united with his birth parents who he has known only through stories. But this proves disappointing: Al is a womanizing con man and drug addict, and Gloria, twice abandoned by Al, seems to regard her sons as cash machines. He tries to flee his messy family life by transforming into a series of extravagant musical personalities: "Mic Dainjah", a punk rock rapper, "Molasses", a soul music crooner and finally "John Orpheus", a gold chained, sequin- and leather-clad pop star. Yet, like his father and grandfather, he has become a "Saga Boy", a Trinidadian playboy, addicted to escapism, attention, and sex. When the inevitable crash happens, he finds himself in a cold, stone jail cell. He has become everything he was trying to escape and must finally face himself. Richly evocative, Saga Boy is a heart-wrenching but uplifting story of a lonely immigrant boy who overcomes adversity and abandonment to reclaim his black identity and embrace a rich heritage.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Downing, Antonio Michael, 1975-; Downing, Antonio Michael, 1975-; Authors, Canadian (English); Musicians; Musicians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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All the parts we exile : a memoir / by Nozari, Roza,author.;
"From a queer Muslim woman and artist, a generous, insightful memoir that traces her journey toward radical self-acceptance and of exile from her ancestral home. As the youngest of three daughters, and the only one born in Canada soon after her parents' emigration from Iran, Roza Nozari began her life hungry for a sense of belonging. From her early years, she shared a passion for Iranian cuisine with her mother and craved stories of their ancestral home. Eventually they visited and she fell in love with its sights and smells, and with the warm embrace of their extended family. Yet Roza sensed something was amiss with her mother's happy, well-rehearsed story of their original departure. As Roza grew older, this longing for home transformed into a desire for inner understanding and liberation. She was lit up by the feminist texts in her women's studies courses, and shared radical ideas with her mother -- who in turn shared more of her past, from protesting for the Islamic revolution to her ambivalence about getting married. In this memoir, Roza braids the narrative of her mother's life together with her own on-going story of self, as she arrives at, then rejects, her queer identity, eventually finds belonging in queer spaces and within queer Iranian histories, and learns the truth about her family's move to Canada. All the Parts We Exile is a memoir of dualities: mother and daughter, home and away, shame and self-acceptance, conflict and peace, love and pain -- and the stories that exist within and between them. In sharp, emotionally honest and funny prose, Roza tenderly explores the grief around the parts we exile and the joy of those we hold close in order to be true to our deepest selves"-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Nozari, Roza.; Illustrators; Iranians; Mothers and daughters; Self-acceptance.; Muslim sexual minorities;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Anywhere you go / by Morrissey, Bridget,author.;
"A small-town waitress and a big-city Broadway press agent swap homes to escape the messiness of their personal lives, only to find new purpose -- and new love. Tatum Ward and Eleanor Chapman lead totally opposite lives. Tatum's never left her Midwestern hometown. She resides in a quaint guest cottage on her parents' property while working part-time as a waitress, where she spends most shifts ignoring her feelings for a beautiful regular named June. Eleanor dedicates every waking hour to her high-profile press career, sacrificing personal relationships for professional success, save for the occasional hookup to fight off her loneliness. When both women's lives unexpectedly blow up at the exact same time, they each need an escape, and fast. In Tatum's hometown, Eleanor expects a quiet hideaway where she can recharge. Instead she gets wrapped up in the family drama that Tatum left town to avoid, pulled in by Tatum's charismatic older sibling, Carson, who charms Eleanor at every turn. Tatum ends up in Eleanor's New York high-rise apartment with June. One week together in the big city might make it impossible for Tatum to avoid not just her true feelings for June, but her real dreams for her life. Amid a friendship with a reclusive Hollywood actress and a complicated family reunion, Tatum and Eleanor each discover much more than they bargained for away from home. Their house swap won't last forever, but it might be just long enough for both women to surrender their defenses and finally fight for the life -- and love -- they deserve"--
Subjects: Queer fiction.; Romance fiction.; Novels.; Actresses; Interpersonal relations; Waitresses; Woman-woman relationships;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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A boy is not a bird / by Ravel, Edeet,1955-;
A young boy named Natt finds his world overturned when his family is uprooted and exiled to Siberia during the occupation of the Soviet Ukraine by Nazi Germany. In 1941, life in Natt's small town of Zastavna is comfortable and familiar, even if the grown ups are acting strange, and his parents treat him like a baby. Natt knows there's a war on, of course, but he's glad their family didn't emigrate to Canada when they had a chance. His mother didn't want to leave their home, and neither did he. He especially wouldn't want to leave his best friend, Max. Max is the ideas guy, and he hears what's going on in the world from his older sisters. Together the boys are two brave musketeers. Then one day Natt goes home and finds his family huddled around the radio. The Russians are taking over. The churches and synagogues will close, Hebrew school will be held in secret, and there are tanks and soldiers in the street. But it's exciting, too. Natt wants to become a Young Pioneer, to show outstanding revolutionary spirit and make their new leader, Comrade Stalin, proud. But life under the Russians is hard. The soldiers are poor. They eat up all the food and they even take over Natt's house. Then Natt's father is arrested, and even Natt is detained and questioned. He feels like a nomad, sleeping at other people's houses while his mother works to free his father. As the adults try to protect him from the reality of their situation, and local authorities begin to round up deportees bound for Siberia, Natt is filled with a sense of guilt and grief. Why wasn't he brave enough to look up at the prison window when his mother took him to see his father for what might be the last time? Or can just getting through war be a heroic act in itself?LSC
Subjects: Historical fiction.; World War, 1939-1945; Exile (Punishment); Friendship; Families;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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The everlasting road / by Kinew, Wab,1981-author.;
The boundaries between the virtual and the real world become dangerously blurred for a young Indigenous girl in the follow-up to the YA fantasy debut Walking in Two Worlds from bestselling Indigenous author Wab Kinew. Perfect for fans of Ready Player One and the Otherworld series. Devastated by the loss of her beloved older brother to cancer, Bugz returns to the place where she can always find solace and strength: the Floraverse. Over the past year, she has gained back all that she had lost in that virtual world, and while the remaining ClanLess members still plot against her, she is easily able to overcome their attacks. Even better, she's been secretly working on a bot that will be both an incredible weapon and a source of comfort: Waawaate. With the Waawaate bot looking exactly like the brother she misses so much--even acting so much like him--Bugz feels ready to show him off to Feng, who has become a constant companion in the Verse, and she cannot wait to team up with both friend and bot to secure her dominance once and for all. But Feng has his own issues to deal with, especially when news that his parents are alive and want to contact him threatens to send his new life on the Rez into upheaval. As they work through their complicated feelings of grief and loss, Feng and Bugz find themselves becoming ever closer. But disturbances in the Floraverse cannot be ignored, especially when Bugz realizes that her Waawaate bot is growing in powers beyond her control . . . "--012+.
Subjects: Science fiction.; Young adult fiction.; Novels.; Brothers; Grief; Interpersonal relations; Virtual reality; Brothers; Grief; Interpersonal relations; Virtual reality; Ojibwe; Ojibwe;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Private Peaceful [videorecording] / by Beaujeu, Guy de,producer.; De la Tour, Frances,1944-; Dixon, Humphrey,film editor.; Griffiths, Richard,1947-2013,actor.; Lynch, John,1961-; Mackey, George,actor.; Morpurgo, Michael.Private peaceful.Videorecording.; O'Connell, Jack,actor.; O'Connor, Pat,1943-; Peake, Maxine,actor.; Portman, Rachel,composer.; Reade, Simon,screenwriter,producer.; Roach, Alexandra,1987-; Zielinski, Jerzy,1950-; BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc.; British Broadcasting Corporation.; Fluidity Films,producer.; Peppermint Pictures,producer.; Poonamallee Productions,producer.; Warner Bros. Entertainment.; Warner Home Video (Firm);
Music Rachel Portman ; director of photography, Jerzy Zielinski ; film editor, Humphrey Dixon.George MacKay, Jack O'Connell, Alexandra Roach, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, John Lynch, Maxine Peake.The story of the unbreakable bond between two brothers from their childhood in rural Devon to the battlefields of the First World War. When young Tommo Peaceful ... volunteers to fight, his protective older brother Charles ... follows him to Flanders. But it is here that both experience the brutal nature of war, far removed from family life and their rivalry for the love of Molly Monks.Canadian Home Video Rating: PG.DVD ; Dolby Digital stereo, 5.1, DTS surround sound; 16:9 widescreen format.
Subjects: Brothers; Coming-of-age films.; Cowardice; Feature films.; Historical films.; Single-parent families; Soldiers; War films.; Working class; World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918;
© c2015., BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc. ; Distributed in the USA and Canada by Warner Home Video,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How not to drown : a novel / by Wriston, Jaimee,author.;
Amelia MacQueen has lost her favorite son, Gavin, to a suspicious drowning, for which her daughter-in-law has been convicted. She's been awarded temporary custody of Gavin and Cassie's twelve-year-old daughter, Heaven, a name that makes Amelia cringe. Reluctantly, she takes Heaven in, but asks the girl to call her Grandmelia instead of Grandma, a name that doesn't make Amelia feel quite so old. The daughter of drug addicts, who has long been left to her own devices, Heaven does not appreciate her grandmother's constant critical ministrations, and the pair quickly butt heads. She instead bonds with Uncle Daniel, Amelia's older, agoraphobic son, who never leaves his bedroom. Through the wall between their rooms, Daniel spins Celtic tales for Heaven from the Isle of Skye, where the family's ancestors lived, including fifteen-year-old Maggie, who mysteriously disappeared crossing the Atlantic many years ago. Heaven decides that the best way to deal with bullying at school is to become a siren from one of Uncle Daniels's stories. She sings "drowning songs" in the swim team pool, luring mean girl Bethany Harrison under at the deep end. Then, Amelia comes home one day to find her granddaughter serving Oreos to the cops who picked her up for "snaking" junk food from the neighborhood. As much as Amelia loved Gavin, Heaven is the last thing Amelia would have asked for, but when Heaven goes missing during a dangerous storm one night, Amelia is forced to reexamine her outlook on family. In vivid prose, Jaimee Wriston tells a wry multi-generational tale of redemption, exploring the bonds that make and break a family and the transformative power of storytelling.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Drowning; Grief; Grandparents as parents; Grandmothers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The magic of meditation : stories and practices to develop gratitude and empathy with your child / by Champeaux-Cunin, Marie-Christine,author.; Butet, Dominique,author.; Chödzin, Sherab,translator.; Ricard, Matthieu,writer of foreword.; translation of:Champeaux-Cunin, Marie-Christine.Méditation pour les enfants.;
Includes bibliographical references."This mindfulness meditation primer is really two books in one. The first is a guide for parents to the basics and benefits of meditation for children in terms of health, managing emotions, and promoting success in school. The second is a concise practice program for children, featuring Yupsi, the magical dragon. The tales of Yupsi, which are infused with a sense of adventure as well as compassion and empathy, provide a fun and engaging entree to the practice"--
Subjects: Meditation for children; Meditation.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Every last fear / by Finlay, Alex,author.;
"In one of the year's most anticipated debut psychological thrillers, a family made infamous by a true crime documentary is found dead, leaving their surviving son to uncover the truth about their final days. "They found the bodies on a Tuesday." So begins this twisty and breathtaking novel that traces the fate of the Pine family, a thriller that will both leave you on the edge of your seat and move you to tears. After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family--his mom, his dad, his little brother and sister--have been found dead from an apparent gas leak while vacationing in Mexico. The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI and State Department seem far less certain--and they won't tell Matt why. The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn't the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt's older brother, Danny--currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte--was the subject of a viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. Though the country has rallied behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about his brother that he's never told anyone: the night Charlotte was killed Matt saw something that makes him believe his brother is guilty of the crime. When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents and siblings, he's faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the documentary, a frenzied media, and memories he'd hoped to leave behind forever. Now, as the deaths in Mexico appear increasingly suspicious and connected to Danny's case, Matt must unearth the truth behind the crime that sent his brother to prison--putting his own life in peril--and forcing him to confront his every last fear. Told through multiple points-of-view and alternating between past and present, Every Last Fear is not only a page-turning thriller, it's also a poignant story about a family managing heartbreak and tragedy, and living through a fame they never wanted"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Families; Family secrets; Murder; Small cities; True crime television programs;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Gather me : a memoir in praise of the books that saved me / by Edim, Glory,1982-author.;
"An inspiring memoir of family, community, and resilience, and an ode to the power of books to help us understand ourselves, from the renowned founder of Well-Read Black Girl. 'She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.'-Toni Morrison. For Glory Edim, that 'friend of my mind' is books. Edim, who grew up in Virginia to Nigerian immigrant parents, started the popular Well-Read Black Girl book club at age thirty, but her love of books stretches far back: to public libraries alongside her little brothers after elementary school while her mother was working; to high school librairies where she discovered books she wasn't being taught in class; to dorm rooms and airplanes and subway rides-and, eventually, to a community of half a million other readers. When Edim's father moved back to Nigeria while she was still a child, she and her brothers were left with a single mother and little money, often finding a safe space at their local library. Books were where Edim found community, and as she grew older, she discovered the Black writers whose words would forever change her life: Nikki Giovanni through children's poetry cassettes; Maya Angelou through a critical high school English teacher; Toni Morrison while attending Morrison's alma mater, Howard University; Audre Lorde on a flight to Nigeria. In prose full of both joy and heartbreak, Edim recounts how these writers and so many others helped her to value herself: to find her own voice when her mother lost hers, to trust her feelings when her father remarried, to create bonds with other Black women and uplift their own stories. Gather Me is a glowing testament to the power of representation and the lasting impact of literature to gather our disparate parts and put them back together"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Edim, Glory, 1982-; Edim, Glory, 1982-; African American businesspeople; African American women authors; African American women; Authors, American; Books and reading; American literature; Literature;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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