Lost in the Sun


Book Description

From the author of A Tangle of Knots and Absolutely Almost, a touching story about a boy who won't let one tragic accident define him. Everyone says that middle school is awful, but Trent knows nothing could be worse than the year he had in fifth grade, when a freak accident on Cedar Lake left one kid dead, and Trent with a brain full of terrible thoughts he can't get rid of. Trent’s pretty positive the entire disaster was his fault, so for him middle school feels like a fresh start, a chance to prove to everyone that he's not the horrible screw-up they seem to think he is. If only Trent could make that fresh start happen. It isn’t until Trent gets caught up in the whirlwind that is Fallon Little—the girl with the mysterious scar across her face—that things begin to change. Because fresh starts aren’t always easy. Even in baseball, when a fly ball gets lost in the sun, you have to remember to shift your position to find it. Praise for Lost in the Sun: A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year! * "Graff writes with stunning insight [and] consistently demonstrates why character-driven novels can live from generation to generation."--Kirkus Reviews *STARRED* * "Graff creates layered, vulnerable characters that are worth getting to know."--Booklist *STARRED* * "[A]n ambitious and gracefully executed story."--Publishers Weekly *STARRED* * "Weighty matters deftly handled with humor and grace will give this book wide appeal."--School Library Journal *STARRED* * "Characterization is thoughtful."--BCCB *STARRED* “In Lost in the Sun, Trent decides that he will speak the truth: that pain and anger and loss are not the final words, that goodness can find us after all—even when we hide from it. This is a novel that speaks powerfully, honestly, almost shockingly about our human pain and our human redemption. This book will change you.”—Gary Schmidt, two-time Newbery Honor-winning author of The Wednesday Wars and Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy “Lisa Graff crafts a compelling story about a boy touched with tragedy and the world of people he cares about. And like all the best stories, it ends at a new beginning.”—Richard Peck, Newbery Award-winning author of A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way From Chicago Lisa Graff's Awards and Reviews: Lisa Graff's books have been named to 30 state award lists, and A Tangle of Knots was long-listed for the National Book Award.




The Lost Sun


Book Description

Seventeen-year-old Soren Bearskin fears both the past and the future. His father, a famed berserker warrior, went to prison after killing thirteen innocent people during a mindless battle-frenzy. Berserking is in Soren's blood, too: constant fevers and insomnia promise the power will explode in him any day. He's terrified of himself. When Baldur - Odin's son and the god of light - vanishes, Odin offers a boon to any who bring him news of his son. Soren sees his chance to change his fate: with that boon, he could ask Odin to strip berserking out of him forever. Along with Astrid Glyn, a teen prophet who's dreamed of Baldur's location, Soren takes off on a road trip across the United States of Asgard in search of the lost god and a new future.




Lost in the Sun


Book Description

Based on extensive research, this book chronicles the story of the only person who, after playing successfully in baseball's Major Leagues, was drafted by the American military and served with honor and distinction in the Vietnam War. According to baseball and military records--including various accounts and articles--Roy Gleason is the only one. Why was this fantastic prospect the only man among thousands of others with major league experience sent into the front lines of combat in Southeast Asia? Perhaps more startling, how did those men avoid this fate? Even Gleason didn't know the answer for more than 40 years until a detailed four-year investigation shed light on the situation. What he learned was shocking. Gleason signed his first professional contract with what was reported to be a six-figure signing bonus. In today's market, that would be worth several million dollars. His career was remarkable and he boasts a career batting average of 1.000 (no one in MLB history, living or dead, matches this mark). He also enjoyed a brief career in film and television, highlighted in the book. Was it merely bad luck that placed Gleason into a war? Was it unfortunate circumstances? After being severely wounded, did he recover to play again? Why didn't he play more, especially with a perfect record at the plate? Roy Gleason's life is an endless list of questions that have gone unanswered--until now. Lost in the Sun is narrated from Gleason's point of view, and opens with a near-fatal experience he endured in a Vietnamese jungle. Providing a first-hand account, he shares tales of how the human mind works when death is all that surrounds it. Throughout each chapter, readers will meet the man wholeft potential success on the playing fields of Major League Baseball for the killing fields of Vietnam. This humble man recognizes, however, that he was only one of thousands who were sent so far away from home, to that place none of us wanted to go and that place where many never left and that place where we were all lost in the sun.




Circles Around the Sun


Book Description

An author attempts to uncover who her older brother was before schizophrenia took hold of him in this “clear-eyed and heartbreaking” memoir (Publishers Weekly). Molly McClosky’s brother Mike was fourteen when she was born. So far apart in age, she barely knew him before schizophrenia took hold of him at the age of twenty-three. Within a few years, Mike’s world began to fall apart. By the time Molly was old enough to begin to know him, Mike was heavily medicated and frequently delusional, living in hospitals or care homes or on the road. Years later, through reading an astonishing archive of letters preserved by her mother and grandmother, and interviewing old friends of Mike's, Molly began to piece together a picture of her brother's life, before and after the illness struck—the story of how a gifted and well-liked student and athlete was overtaken by a terrible illness that rendered him unrecognizable. Now she tells that story, which is also the story of her own demons and of the ways in which a seemingly perfect family can slowly fall apart, and in the end, regroup.




The Sun Is Gone


Book Description

The author describes her life as the older sister of an alcoholic brother, and how her love for him and his dependence on her would last them a lifetime and almost destroy them both.




Rise to the Sun


Book Description

From the author of You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson delivers a stunning novel about being brave enough to be true to yourself, and learning to find joy even when times are unimaginably dark. Olivia is an expert at falling in love . . . and at being dumped. But after the fallout from her last breakup has left her an outcast at school and at home, she’s determined to turn over a new leaf. A crush-free weekend at Farmland Music and Arts Festival with her best friend is just what she needs to get her mind off the senior year that awaits her. Toni is one week away from starting college, and it’s the last place she wants to be. Unsure about who she wants to become and still reeling in the wake of the loss of her musician-turned-roadie father, she’s heading back to the music festival that changed his life in hopes that following in his footsteps will help her find her own way forward. When the two arrive at Farmland, the last thing they expect is to realize that they’ll need to join forces in order to get what they’re searching for out of the weekend. As they work together, the festival becomes so much more complicated than they bargained for. Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other, and music, more than they ever could have imagined. Packed with irresistible romance and irrepressible heart, bestselling author Leah Johnson delivers a stunning and cinematic story about grief, love, and the remarkable power of music to heal and connect us all.




In the Face of the Sun


Book Description

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement amidst an America convulsed by the 1960s, a pregnant young woman and her brash, profane aunt embark upon an audacious road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles to confront a decades-old mystery from 1920's Black Hollywood in this haunting novel of historical fiction from the author of Wild Women and the Blues. A lime-gold Ford Mustang is parked outside my building. Unmistakable. My Aunt Daisy, the driver, is an audacious woman that no one in our family actually speaks to. They only speak about her--and not glowingly. Still, she is part of my escape plan... "Bryce excels at placing readers in a glamorous time and place...riveting and vibrant." - Booklist 1928, Los Angeles: The newly-built Hotel Somerville is the hotspot for the city's glittering African-American elite. It embodies prosperity and dreams of equality for all--especially Daisy Washington. An up-and-coming journalist, Daisy anonymously chronicles fierce activism and behind-the-scenes Hollywood scandals in order to save her family from poverty. But power in the City of Angels is also fueled by racism, greed, and betrayal. And even the most determined young woman can play too many secrets too far... 1968, Chicago For Frankie Saunders, fleeing across America is her only escape from an abusive husband. But her rescuer is her reckless, profane Aunt Daisy, still reeling from her own shattered past. Frankie doesn't want to know what her aunt is up to so long as Daisy can get her to LA--and safety. But Frankie finds there's no hiding from long-held secrets--or her own surprising strength. Daisy will do whatever it takes to settle old scores and resolve the past--no matter the damage. And Frankie will come up against hard choices in the face of unexpected passion. Both must come to grips with what they need, what they've left behind--and all that lies ahead ... RAVES FOR Wild Women and the Blues "The best kind of historical novel: immersive, mysterious and evocative." --Ms. Magazine "Vibrant. . . . A highly entertaining read!" --New York Times Bestselling author Ellen Marie Wiseman "The music practically pours out of the pages." --Oprah Daily




How the Sun Lost Its Shine


Book Description

This book is award-winning journalist Elaine Tassy's no-holds-barred account of her four years working as a reporter at The Baltimore Sun. As one of few black female staff writers, she noticed and spoke out about race, class and gender-based decisions made in the workplace.




Shutting Out the Sun


Book Description

The world’s second-wealthiest country, Japan once seemed poised to overtake America. But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. Japan has the highest suicide rate and lowest birthrate of all industrialized countries, and a rising incidence of untreated cases of depression. Equally as troubling are the more than one million young men who shut themselves in their rooms, withdrawing from society, and the growing numbers of “parasite singles,” the name given to single women who refuse to leave home, marry, or bear children. In Shutting Out the Sun, Michael Zielenziger argues that Japan’s rigid, tradition-steeped society, its aversion to change, and its distrust of individuality and the expression of self are stifling economic revival, political reform, and social evolution. Giving a human face to the country’s malaise, Zielenziger explains how these constraints have driven intelligent, creative young men to become modern-day hermits. At the same time, young women, better educated than their mothers and earning high salaries, are rejecting the traditional path to marriage and motherhood, preferring to spend their money on luxury goods and travel. Smart, unconventional, and politically controversial, Shutting Out the Sun is a bold explanation of Japan’s stagnation and its implications for the rest of the world.




Salvation in the Sun


Book Description

This future she knows for certain—the great sun city will be her undoing. Amidst a power struggle between Pharaoh and the priesthood of Amun, Queen Nefertiti helps the ill-prepared new Pharaoh, Amenhotep, enact his father's plan to regain power for the throne. But what seemed a difficult task only becomes more grueling when Amenhotep loses himself in his radical obsessions. Standing alone to bear the burden of a failing country and stem the tide of a growing rebellion, Nefertiti must choose between her love for Pharaoh and her duty to Egypt in this dramatic retelling of a story forgotten by time. Salvation in the Sun is the first volume of Lauren Lee Merewether's debut family saga, The Lost Pharaoh Chronicles, a resurrection of an erased time that follows the five Kings of Egypt who were lost to history for over three millennia. The story continues in book two, Secrets in the Sand.