A Tale of Twelve Summers


Book Description

There is no end to how people seek the heights. Within such a continuum of mountain enthusiasts, the peakbagger is peculiarly focused on the summit-not just in classic alpine style but also in deserts, jungles, and everywhere a big mountain awaits, ticking off his lists. County high-pointing represents this obsession, providing the practitioner with all manner of rewards, perceived and tangible. His hobby is not for the timid, often entails difficulties beyond the norm, and always consumes inordinately large chunks of time. Part 1 describes the genre in five chapters. Part 2 reviews the author's multisummer project of reaching the highest ground for each of the 414 counties in America's west. It's a memorable accomplishment replete with many unexpected challenges. The required perseverance and will to achieve beyond the norm is his parting message to the reader. Part 3 reviews Alaska and Hawaii county high-pointing, followed by four appendices and a 330-entry glossary of terms. With 400 pages and 236 illustrations, A Tale of Twelve Summers is both comprehensive and visually attractive.




Summer Days and Summer Nights


Book Description

Maybe it's the long, lazy days, or maybe it's the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.




The Twelve Days of Summer


Book Description

Patterned on the popular carol, The Twelve Days of Summer takes readers on a joyous journey into summer, from the first discovery of three eggs in a sparrow’s nest to the day when those eggs hatch. Readers will pore over the pictures, searching for that fifth bumblebee, that tenth crow, and for the thoughtfully chosen toy that turns up on each page: a parachute with the goatsbeard seeds, a fan with the ruffed grouse... This is a story to delight and engage children and adults alike.




Twelve Summers


Book Description

"From cricket tragic Adam Zwar, co-creator of Wilfred, Lowdown and Squinters, comes a hilarious, thought-provoking collection of big memories and the big matches that accompanied them. Every significant moment in actor and writer Adam Zwar's life is tied to cricket. He knows when his voice broke - it happened quickly and harshly during the 1985 Ashes tour of England. He got his first girlfriend during the First Test against England in 1990, then realised the relationship was over during the Fifth Test at the WACA. Obsessed with cricket since boyhood, the game has always been in the background - or foreground - of Adam's life. One of Australia's funniest writers, he tells of twelve formative summers, the milestones and the unforgettable moments inextricably linked with the game he loves. During one disastrous Ashes series Adam was making a documentary on Bodyline and facing Brett Lee bowling over 145km/h at his helmetless head, and when Australia lost to Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup final he was working as a driver for a Melbourne escort agency. And the time Australia was poised for an easy win against India in Kolkata in 2001, Adam was stuck in a Stuttgart hotel drinking milkshakes with AC/DC. Twelve Summers will entertain you, make you laugh out loud and move you - and not just because India beat Australia in Kolkata and Adam had to try really hard to not let the Young brothers see him cry"--Publisher's description.




Five Summers


Book Description

Bittersweet, funny, and achingly honest, Five Summers is a story of friendship, love, and growing up that is perfect for fans of Ann Brashares' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Judy Blume's Summer Sisters. Four best friends, five summers of camp memories Emma, Skylar, Jo, and Maddie have all come back to camp for a weekend of tipsy canoe trips to the island, midnight skinny dipping in the lake, and an epic game of capture the flag—boys versus girls. But the weekend isn't quite as sunwashed as they'd imagined as the memories come flooding back. . . . The summer we were nine: Emma was branded “Skylar’s friend Emma” by the infamous Adam Loring . . . The summer we were ten: Maddie realized she was too far into her lies to think about telling the truth . . . The summer we were eleven: Johanna totally freaked out during her first game of Spin the Bottle . . . The summer we were twelve: Skylar’s love letters from her boyfriend back home were exciting to all of us—except Skylar . . . Our last summer together: Emma and Adam almost kissed. Jo found out Maddie’s secret. Skylar did something unthinkable . . . and whether we knew it then or not, five summers of friendship began to fall apart. A young adult book with a friendship story that will last long after the last s'more is gone.




Seventy Summers


Book Description

Sometimes you need a little help learning to believe in yourself. And it can show up in the most unexpected ways. Robbie Berger has stalled out in his life and career, hoping for a fresh gust of wind to take him in a new direction. When he arrives at the home of his latest "senior care" assignment, Robbie has no idea he's about to meet someone destined to change his world. The new client unfolds a remarkable tale of a corporation run aground, a twelve-year-old boy convinced he'll always be a loser, and a sage owl whose wisdom may shift the future for them all. This story-within-a-story is about the boundless possibilities that arise when we learn to ask the right questions, set priorities that match our values, and go after the things we we want in life with unstoppable gusto.




Twelve Unending Summers


Book Description

Honest and compelling, Twelve Unending Summers is a deeply personal journey that resonates with the universal human need to find a home and embrace the legacy of family heritage.




Wrong Way Summer


Book Description

Heidi Lang’s novel Wrong Way Summer is a moving summer road-trip story for fans of Crenshaw and The Someday Birds. A Junior Library Guild Selection Claire used to love her dad’s fantastical stories, especially tales about her absent mom—who could be off with the circus or stolen by the troll king, depending on the day. But now that she’s 12, Claire thinks she’s old enough to know the truth. When her dad sells the house and moves her and her brother into a converted van, she’s tired of the tall tales and refuses to pretend it’s all some grand adventure, despite how enthusiastically her little brother embraces this newest fantasy. Claire is faced with a choice: Will she play along with the stories her dad is spinning for her little brother, or will she force her family to face reality once and for all? Equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, Wrong Way Summer is a road-trip journey and coming-of-age story about one girl’s struggle to understand when a lie is really a lie and when it’s something more: hope. “This is a sweet story about family, truth, protection, friendship, and first crushes . . . Not only does the author construct a story that draws the reader in, she also provides a love and understanding of the art of storytelling.” —School Library Connection




Factory Summers


Book Description

For three summers beginning when he was 16, cartoonist Guy Delisle worked at a pulp and paper factory in Quebec City. Factory Summers chronicles the daily rhythms of life in the mill, and the twelve hour shifts he spent in a hot, noisy building filled with arcane machinery. Delisle takes his noted outsider perspective and applies it domestically, this time as a boy amongst men through the universal rite of passage of the summer job. Even as a teenager, Delisle’s keen eye for hypocrisy highlights the tensions of class and the rampant sexism an all-male workplace permits. Guy works the floor doing physically strenuous tasks. He is one of the few young people on site, and furthermore gets the job through his father’s connections, a fact which rightfully earns him disdain from the lifers. Guy’s dad spends his whole career in the white collar offices, working 9 to 5 instead of the rigorous 12-hour shifts of the unionized labor. Guy and his dad aren’t close, and Factory Summers leaves Delisle reconciling whether the job led to his dad’s aloofness and unhappiness. On his days off, Guy finds refuge in art, a world far beyond the factory floor. Delisle shows himself rediscovering comics at the public library, and preparing for animation school–only to be told on the first day, “There are no jobs in animation.” Eager to pursue a job he enjoys, Guy throws caution to the wind. Translated by Helge Dascher and Rob Aspinall




I Want to Go Home


Book Description

Gordon Korman’s uproarious, outrageous, and all-too-familiar summer camp adventure is BACK! Rudy Miller really isn’t into the whole camping thing. So when his parents send him to Camp Algonkian “for his own good” all he wants to do is go home. Rudy teams up with his cabin-mate Mike for a series of carefully planned — yet hilariously bungled — escape attempts. Unfortunately, their counsellor (and nemesis) Chip is as determined to keep them there as they are to get away. Rudy and Mike spend their days plotting, playing chess, and working off punishments for their failed escapes. Hmmm, maybe it isn’t such a bad way to spend the summer after all . . .