Showing results by narrator "Kirby" in All Categories

The heartwarming new story about family and friendships from Newbery Medal winner Katherine Applegate. Life is tough for 10-year-old Jackson. The landlord is often at the door, there's not much food in the fridge and he's worried that any day now the family will have to move out of their home. Again. Crenshaw is a cat. He's large, he's outspoken and he's imaginary. He's come back into Jackson's life to help him, but is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything?

On his way home from school, the young narrator of The Strange Library pops into the library, wondering how taxes were collected in the Ottoman Empire. This is his first mistake. Led to a special 'reading room' under the library by a strange old man, he finds himself imprisoned. His mother will be worrying why he hasn't returned, and the old man seems to have an appetite for eating small boys' brains. How will he escape?

Buddy wakes up in the middle of a garbage dump, filled with a certain awareness: he’s a teddy bear; he spent time at a Store waiting for his future to begin; and he is meant for the loving arms of a child. Now he knows one more thing: Something has gone terribly wrong. Soon he finds other discarded teddies - Horace, Sugar, Sunny, and Reginald. Though they aren’t sure how their luck soured, they all agree that they need to get back to the Store if they’re ever to fulfill their destinies.

It's a hot summer afternoon. Tension is in the air. A gang of youths on bikes gathers outside a chip shop. A teenage boy is stabbed and left bleeding on the street. The boy's mother wonders how this could have happened to her son. She is full of questions, but when the answers lie so close to home, are they really what she wants to hear?

A window is but a piece of glass through which we view the world outside. It is not meant to distort. It is not intended to do anything but show us things as they are. At Oxford, though, there is a very particular window that reveals a very particular view. It is a view that defies all laws of nature and science. And when a detective is called in to investigate, he is startled to find that view opens a window into his own life–and a mystery he has never been able to solve.

Everyone in Wynotte, North Carolina, knows the name Davy Malcor. Knows the video clip of him juggling four balls, "All at the very same time!" Knows the Marty McFly jacket his mother made for his birthday that he wore proudly, and often. But no one knows what happened to him the night he went missing more than twenty years ago. When the jacket is unexpectedly uncovered, the cold case reopens, and Davy's family is thrust into yet another media storm. But at the heart of the story are four people forever changed by one single night.

Travis Coates has a good head…on someone else’s shoulders. A touching, hilarious, and wholly original coming-of-age story from John Corey Whaley, author of the Printz and Morris Award–winning Where Things Come Back.

Decades after the fall of Cyador, its survivors have reestablished themselves in Cigoerne, a fertile country coveted by hostile neighbors in less hospitable lands. Young Lerial, the second son of Duke Kiedron, lives in the shadow of his older brother Lephi, the heir to their father's realm. Lerial's future seems preordained: He will one day command his brother's forces in defense of Cigoerne, serving at his older sibling's pleasure and no more.

The Book of Virtues is one of the most popular moral primers ever written, an inspiring anthology that helps children understand and develop character—and helps parents teach it to them. Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Loyalty. Honesty. Friendship. Persistence. Hard work. Self-discipline. Faith. These remain the essentials of good character. The Book of Virtues contains hundreds of exemplary stories offering children examples of good and bad, right and wrong. The updated edition of The Book of Virtues will continue a legacy of raising moral children far into a new century.

Through The Family of Jesus, listeners will develop an emotional connection to the family members of Jesus, learning about their lives and falling in love with Scripture along the way. Bible studies and devotionals abound, and in churches everywhere people gather to seek a deeper understanding of God's word and its application to their lives. But too often these studies engage only the analytic approach to Bible learning.

Ceryl, now a full mage in The White Order, must prove himself indispensable to Jeslek, the High Wizard. Whether it be the threat of assassination, the effective governance of occupied territory, or the fearless and clever direction of troops in battle, Ceryl faces many harrowing obstacles, not the least of which is Anya, the plotting seductress who's the real power behind the scenes of the white wizards. With his wits, his integrity, and the support of his love, the Black healer Leyladin, he must survive long enough to claim his rightful spot within the ruling hierarchy of the White Order.

Mary Catherine grew up in a comfortable life despite an array of health issues, including a congenital heart condition (which she quietly obsesses over). She loves her parents, who are quite wealthy, but the lifestyle never appealed to her. Instead she pursues meaning through an abundance of charity work, always giving away a part of herself in service of others.

Magi'i of Cyador marks the beginning of a new tale from deep within the rich depths of the history of Recluce. This is the story of Lorn, a talented boy born into a family of Magi'i. A diligent student of remarkable talent, Lorn lacks only the single most coveted attribute required of a Magus of Cyador: Unquestionable loyalty. Lorn is too independent for his own good. So Lorn is forced to become a lancer officer, and he's sent to the frontier to fight off the all-too-frequent barbarian raids.

Kai has been doing well in achieving his goal of taking over the entire Avlaim region. Step by step, he has been advancing on this difficult road, but even this is only the beginning. Now he has to work on bettering not only himself, but his entire organization as this is the only way to obtain enough resources and power to find and save his friends. But change is not an easy thing, and few people like it. With his actions, Kai disrupted centuries of stability and drew too much attention to the Avlaim region.

In love for the first time, a son’s decisions about the future divides his family in this fearless and thought-provoking novel from the number one New York Times best-selling author of life-changing fiction. Blending romance and family drama, Truly, Madly, Deeply shows us that, in the shadow of great loss, the only way to live with passion is truly, madly, deeply.

Alistair Gregory, the man who figured out how to put people into video games, is not what he seems. Jesse Rigsby is sure of that. Jesse’s sure of something else, too—he’s being watched. To unravel the mystery, Jesse’s going to have to transform himself into a superspy with serious retro-gaming skills. Can he pull it off before the bad guys catch on?

Nina Riggs was just 37 years old when initially diagnosed with breast cancer - one small spot. Within a year, the mother of two sons, ages seven and nine, and married 16 years to her best friend, received the devastating news that her cancer was terminal. How does one live each day 'unattached to outcome'? How does one approach the moments, big and small, with both love and honesty?

In Fall of Angels, the sixth installment of the Saga of Recluce series, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., introduced the engineer/smith Nylan, the only man among the leadership of the company of "angels" marooned on a high plateau in the west of Candar, and perhaps the one person most responsible for their survival. But the angels are a matriarchal band, and so Nylan must leave his companions and seek a life elsewhere. He travels down from the plateau into the world of warring kingdoms and strange magics with his companion, Ayrlyn, the healer, and his infant son.

Many bemoan the decay of culture. But we all have a responsibility to care for culture, to nurture it in ways that help people thrive. In Culture Care artist Makoto Fujimura issues a call to cultural stewardship, in which we become generative and feed our culture's soul with beauty, creativity, and generosity. We serve others as cultural custodians of the future. This is a book for artists, but artists come in many forms.

Kharl is the best cooper in Brysta, and his life has been as snug and regular as his barrels. But in the course of just a few days, it's all staved in. When a young blackstaffer from Recluce is mysteriously murdered in his cooperage, Kharl is summarily jailed. Then, in a shocking turnaround at the trial, his innocent consort is blamed for the killing and quickly executed. Kharl ends up destitute and on the run, but he does take the slain woman's black staff and the book "The Basis of Order", which explains the principles of its power.