Emma's Laugh


Book Description

As Diana surveyed her newborn baby's face, languid body, and absent cry, she knew something was wrong. Then the doctors delivered devastating news: her first child, Emma, had been born with a rare genetic disorder that would leave her profoundly physically and intellectually disabled. Diana imagined life with a child with disabilities as a dark and insular one—a life in which she would be forced to exist in the periphery alongside her daughter. Convinced of her inability to love her “imperfect” child and give her the best care and life she deserved, Diana gave Emma up for adoption. But as with all things that are meant to be, Emma found her way back home. As Emma grew, Diana watched her live life determinedly and unapologetically, radiating love always. Emma evolved from a survivor to a warrior, and the little girl that Diana didn’t think she could love enough rearranged her heart. In her short eighteen years of life, Emma gifted her family the indelible lesson of the healing and redemptive power of love. This is a mother’s requiem to her perfectly imperfect child—a child who left too soon, but whose lessons continue to inspire a life lived and loved.




She Has Her Mother's Laugh


Book Description

2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Finalist "Science book of the year"—The Guardian One of New York Times 100 Notable Books for 2018 One of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Books of 2018 One of Kirkus's Best Books of 2018 One of Mental Floss's Best Books of 2018 One of Science Friday's Best Science Books of 2018 “Extraordinary”—New York Times Book Review "Magisterial"—The Atlantic "Engrossing"—Wired "Leading contender as the most outstanding nonfiction work of the year"—Minneapolis Star-Tribune Celebrated New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer presents a profoundly original perspective on what we pass along from generation to generation. Charles Darwin played a crucial part in turning heredity into a scientific question, and yet he failed spectacularly to answer it. The birth of genetics in the early 1900s seemed to do precisely that. Gradually, people translated their old notions about heredity into a language of genes. As the technology for studying genes became cheaper, millions of people ordered genetic tests to link themselves to missing parents, to distant ancestors, to ethnic identities... But, Zimmer writes, “Each of us carries an amalgam of fragments of DNA, stitched together from some of our many ancestors. Each piece has its own ancestry, traveling a different path back through human history. A particular fragment may sometimes be cause for worry, but most of our DNA influences who we are—our appearance, our height, our penchants—in inconceivably subtle ways.” Heredity isn’t just about genes that pass from parent to child. Heredity continues within our own bodies, as a single cell gives rise to trillions of cells that make up our bodies. We say we inherit genes from our ancestors—using a word that once referred to kingdoms and estates—but we inherit other things that matter as much or more to our lives, from microbes to technologies we use to make life more comfortable. We need a new definition of what heredity is and, through Carl Zimmer’s lucid exposition and storytelling, this resounding tour de force delivers it. Weaving historical and current scientific research, his own experience with his two daughters, and the kind of original reporting expected of one of the world’s best science journalists, Zimmer ultimately unpacks urgent bioethical quandaries arising from new biomedical technologies, but also long-standing presumptions about who we really are and what we can pass on to future generations.




Winging It


Book Description

'If Emma Murray writes it, I want to read it. Hilarious!' Cathy Kelly Brand new from the bestselling author of Time Out and The Juggle. When her husband David announces he’s been offered a job in New York, Saoirse is thrilled. The glamour of the big city, the shopping, the culture, not to mention the free Manhattan apartment and business class air fare – what’s not to like? There’s just the small matter of making it work for their daughter, five-year-old Anna, who isn’t so keen to leave her friends and school behind. The Big Apple in the middle of summer isn’t quite the holiday Saoirse envisaged, and with David away with work, New York apartment sizes on the miniscule side, and the pace of life faster than the sleepy London suburbs, solo ex-pat parenting pushes Saoirse to her limits. And as the pressure builds and ‘faking it till she makes it’ isn’t cutting it, there’s only one thing for it – Saoirse and Anna need a new plan, and ‘Winging It’ might be their best option... Emma Murray returns with this laugh-out-loud funny, compulsively page-turning adventure about parenting, travelling, and finding your tribe – on both sides of the pond. Praise for Emma Murray: 'With wit, brio and fabulous humour, Emma Murray again delivers a page-turner about travel, parenthood, trying to fit in and finding your own tribe. If Emma Murray writes it, I want to read it. Hilarious.' Cathy Kelly 'A fabulous series full of laughter, witty observations' Jessica Redland 'Emma Murray’s writing is so deft: rib ticklingly funny and also heartbreakingly poignant at times that the reader is swept along with Saoirse and her cast of supporting characters as they navigate their increasingly hectic lives.' Fay Keenan 'Emma tells it how it is with real honesty, and it made me laugh out loud.' Janet Hoggarth 'Witty, fun, beautifully-written. Very highly recommended. Excited to see what comes next from Emma Murray.' Jessica Redland Readers loved Emma’s first book Time Out: ‘Compelling, Uplifting and so very relatable. The characters are superbly written, and I really hope we get to read more from Saoirse.’ ‘I really related to the Saoirse, the main character in this book. I loved her humour, her insecurities, her strengths, her flaws and of course most importantly how she formed a fantastic friendship over a morning bottle of Prosecco.’ ‘Emma Murray has written a 5-star 'how-to' book on being part of the village ... 'it takes a village to raise a child' but it also takes that village to raise up a mom!’ ‘A fabulous read that had me hooked and also made me feel glad that my children were born prior to the arrival of Facebook and social media. But a refreshing read and one I would definitely recommend.’




When Charley Met Emma


Book Description

Winner of the 2019 Foreword INDIES Award Bronze Medal, When Charley Met Emma teaches kids about disability, empathy, and the beauty of friendships with people who are different from you. When Charley goes to the playground and sees Emma, a girl with limb differences who gets around in a wheelchair, he doesn't know how to react at first. But after he and Emma start talking, he learns that different isn't bad, sad, or strange--different is just different, and different is great! This delightful book will help kids think about disability, kindness, and how to behave when they meet someone who is different from them.




Victor and Emma's First Book of Jokes!


Book Description

Victor and Emma hope to make you laugh with this first book containing their best compilation of silly stories, funny jokes, charades, and more great stuff!




Emma's Question


Book Description

When Emma's grandmother, who takes care of her after school and takes her out for bagels on Wednesdays, gets sick and has to go to the hospital, Emma is afraid that she will die--but she is also afraid to talk about her fear.




Laughter and Civility


Book Description

Emma Gad (1852–1921) was a prolific Danish playwright at the turn of the twentieth century. With sparkling prose and witty dialogue, Gad’s ambitious and sophisticated theatrical productions raised important and still pressing questions about sexuality and morality—including the status of women in marriage, divorce, same‐sex desire, and marital infidelity. Through her plays she engaged with contemporaries like Henrik Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw, yet she is primarily remembered for her etiquette book, Takt og Tone. Laughter and Civility, the first biographical and scholarly volume to examine and contextualize her dramas, deeply explores how and why influential women are so often excluded from the canon. Lynn R. Wilkinson provides insightful readings into all twenty-five of Gad’s plays and demonstrates how writers and intellectuals of the time, including Georg and Edvard Brandes, took her critically acclaimed work seriously. This volume rightfully reinstates Emma Gad’s work into the repertory of European drama and is crucial for scholars interested in turn‐of‐the‐century Scandinavian drama, literature, culture, and politics.




Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone


Book Description

The prevailing view of autism and disability is redefined in this beautifully written book.




The Sunken City


Book Description

Amare Bellamy is not a witch. Orphaned as a child and raised on a ship by the most dangerous men in the Caribbean, Amare is one thing and one thing alone: a pirate. And pirates hate magic. After a fateful storm plunges her to the depths of the ocean, Amare wakes to find herself in a strange new world: an underwater kingdom, where magic exists, but is strictly outlawed by the King-a man who claims to be her true father. As Amare struggles to fit into her new role as Princess of the Sunken City, she finds herself tangled in a web of love between two brothers-one good, one not so good. And as strange powers manifest within her, she must question everything she was raised to believe-especially if she has any hope of stopping the evil brewing at the bottom of the ocean.




Separate But Equal?


Book Description

This book looks in detail at the strong contrasts in the provision traditionally made for 'academically' and 'vocationally' minded students, and looks at differences and similarities in practice. The chapters report evidence of how students on both sides think they have been taught. They also report on how those students prefer to learn, how their teachers define the kinds of learning appropriate for particular qualifications and how the organisation of learning for 'different but equal' qualifications was observed in forty schools and colleges. The book's main focus is on the objectives and processes of learning at a stage which is certainly being transformed, but which is still powerfully shaped by myths about the sixth form and education of 'leaders'.