Map Is Only One Story


Book Description




A Map Is Only One Story


Book Description

From rediscovering an ancestral village in China to experiencing the realities of American life as a Nigerian, the search for belonging crosses borders and generations. Selected from the archives of Catapult magazine, the essays in A Map Is Only One Story highlight the human side of immigration policies and polarized rhetoric, as twenty writers share provocative personal stories of existing between languages and cultures. Victoria Blanco relates how those with family in both El Paso and Ciudad Juárez experience life on the border. Nina Li Coomes recalls the heroines of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and what they taught her about her bicultural identity. Nur Nasreen Ibrahim details her grandfather’s crossing of the India-Pakistan border sixty years after Partition. Krystal A. Sital writes of how undocumented status in the United States can impact love and relationships. Porochista Khakpour describes the challenges in writing (and rewriting) Iranian America. Through the power of personal narratives, as told by both emerging and established writers, A Map Is Only One Story offers a new definition of home in the twenty-first century.




DIY MFA


Book Description

Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you. DIY MFA is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. Inside you'll learn how to: • Set customized goals for writing and learning. • Generate ideas on demand. • Outline your book from beginning to end. • Breathe life into your characters. • Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. • Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. • Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With DIY MFA, you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.




User Story Mapping


Book Description

User story mapping is a valuable tool for software development, once you understand why and how to use it. This insightful book examines how this often misunderstood technique can help your team stay focused on users and their needs without getting lost in the enthusiasm for individual product features. Author Jeff Patton shows you how changeable story maps enable your team to hold better conversations about the project throughout the development process. Your team will learn to come away with a shared understanding of what you’re attempting to build and why. Get a high-level view of story mapping, with an exercise to learn key concepts quickly Understand how stories really work, and how they come to life in Agile and Lean projects Dive into a story’s lifecycle, starting with opportunities and moving deeper into discovery Prepare your stories, pay attention while they’re built, and learn from those you convert to working software




Let Love Have the Last Word


Book Description

“An insightful memoir that uncovers unique stories about matters of the heart.” —Essence The inspiring New York Times bestseller from Common—the Grammy Award, Academy Award, and Golden Globe–winning musician, actor, and activist—explores how love and mindfulness can build communities and allow you to take better control of your life through actions and words. Common believes that the phrase “let love have the last word” is not just a declaration; it is a statement of purpose, a daily promise. Love is the most powerful force on the planet, and ultimately the way you love determines who you are and how you experience life. Touching on God, self-love, partners, children, family, and community, Common explores the core tenets of love to help us understand what it means to receive and, most importantly, to give love. He moves from the personal—writing about his daughter, to whom he wants to be a better father—to the universal, where he observes that our society has become fractured under issues of race and politics. He knows there’s no quick remedy for all of the hurt in the world, but love—for yourself and for others—is where the healing begins. In his first public reveal, Common also shares a deeply personal experience of childhood molestation that he is now confronting…and forgiving. Courageous, insightful, brave, and characteristically authentic, Let Love Have the Last Word shares Common’s own unique and personal stories of the people and experiences that have led to a greater understanding of love and all it has to offer. It is a powerful call to action for a new generation of open hearts and minds, one that is sure to resonate for years to come.




The Map That Leads to You


Book Description

"In every person's life there comes a time when it's necessary to not only step outside their comfort zone, but to also leap way from it. For Heather, her carefully ordered world is already planned out: travel with her friends after college, come back to a great career in September, and head into a life where not much is left to chance. But that was before she met Jack, who makes his own rules. Jack, who is following his grandfather's journals through Europe. Jack, who has a secret that could change everything...."--




It's Kind of a Funny Story


Book Description

Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life—which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job—Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That's when things start to get crazy. At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he's just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away.




The Best Story


Book Description

The best story is one that comes from the heart. The library is having a contest for the best story, and the quirky narrator of this book just has to win that rollercoaster ride with her favorite author! But what makes a story the best? Her brother Tim says the best stories have lots of action. Her father thinks the best stories are the funniest. And Aunt Jane tells her that the best stories have to make people cry. A story that does all these things doesn't seem quite right, though, and the one thing the whole family can agree on is that the best story has to be your own. Anne Wilsdorf's hilarious illustrations perfectly capture this colorful family and their outrageous stories in Eileen Spinelli's heartfelt tale about creativity and finding your own voice.




Henry's Map


Book Description

A fun-filled introduction to maps through the eyes of an adorable pig Henry is a very particular sort of pig. "A place for everything and everything in its place," he always says. But when he looks out his window he is troubled. The farm is a mess! Henry is worried that nobody will be able to find anything in this mess. So he draws a map showing all the animals exactly where they belong. And Henry embarks on a journey through the farm, his friends tagging along as he creates his map: sheep in the woolshed, chickens in the coop, the horse in the stable. After the map is complete, Henry uses it to bring himself back home, where he is relieved to know that he is exactly where he belongs. A place for everything and everything in its place, indeed. For fans of Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth or of Winnie the Pooh, this sweet romp through the farm is adorably illustrated by David Elliot, who created the endearing animals who inhabit Brian Jacques world of Redwall. Perfect for pre-schoolers and elemetary-schoolers learning to read maps for the first time. Praise for Henry's Map: *** “With appealing characters and gentle humor, this book will be a hit at storytime, or as an introduction to mapping lessons.” —School Library Journal *** (starred) *** “Here’s hoping for many more Henry-centric adventures.” —Kirkus Reviews *** (starred) “Elliot’s barnyard animals brim with personality and emotion, matching the understated humor of this charming story.” —Publisher’s Weekly “This story may even inspire budding cartographers to map their own world.” —Booklist




The Map of Love


Book Description

Booker Prize Finalist Here is an extraordinary cross-cultural love story that unfurls across Egypt, England, and the United States over the course of a century. Isabel Parkman, a divorced American journalist, has fallen in love with a gifted and difficult Egyptian-American conductor. Shadowing her romance is the courtship of her great-grandparents Anna and Sharif nearly one hundred years before. In 1900 the recently widows Anna Winterbourne left England for Egypt, an outpost of the Empire roiling with political sentiment. She soon found herself enraptured by the real Egypt and in love with Sharif Pasha al-Baroudi, an Egyptian nationalist. When Isabel, in an attempt to discover the truth behind her heritage, reenacts Anna’s excursion to Egypt, the story of her great-grandparents unravels before her, revealing startling parallels for her own life. Combining the romance and intricate narrative of a nineteenth-century novel with a very modern sense of culture and politics—both sexual and international—Ahdaf Soueif has created a thoroughly seductive and mesmerizing tale.