Nobody's Laughing


Book Description

The author takes us on a raucous journey into the life and mind of Richard Bonhom. He is a post modern portrait of success despite his failed marriage, delinquent drug addicted daughter and looming financial scandal at work. The story takes place in a one week period preceding Bonhom's fiftieth birthday. A growing discomfort at facing this turning point in his life, and the urgent need to make things right, are the driving forces motivating his desperate search for some form of salvation. These issues force him to dig deep, hold on, and take stock. This serious, but often hilarious, search for meaning and purpose to Richard's world takes the reader along an almost satirical path filled with interesting and often outrageous characters. The setting is Vancouver, Canada. The time is now. When we look out at the world around us, and within us, through the eyes of Richard Bonhom, we inevitably see ourselves, and more importantly, what truly matters in our lives....




Why Is Nobody Laughing?


Book Description

'A warm, sensitive and hopeful portrayal of a young person struggling with their mental health and family dynamics ... it has depth and great heart as well as charming characters that you will grow to love.' - Ciara Smyth, author of NOT MY PROBLEM, winner of the Waterstones Book Prize Will the real Ibrahim Malik please stand up? Ibrahim and Dexter have been best friends forever. While Dexter is always cool and confident, Ibrahim...well, Ibrahim's dealing with a lot. Hiding his passion for comedy from his family, dealing with the pressure of being the oldest child in an immigrant family, and now he's started having episodes he soon realises are panic attacks. When Ibrahim has a panic attack on stage at a local stand-up competition, he runs off to a deserted room. There he finds Sura. Sura is kind and helps him come to terms with his anxiety. He can open up to her in a way he's never been able to with Dexter. But there's also something strange about her - how much she knows about Ibrahim, and how she seems to disappear in an instant. Will Ibrahim crumble under the pressure, or will Sura's words be enough to help him? And what will happen when he no longer has her help? A powerful contemporary novel tackling teenage mental health in boys. Perfect for fans of John Green, Alice Oseman and Holly Bourne.




Nobody Laughs at a Lion!


Book Description

"I'm the King of the Jungle because I'm the best!" says Pa Lion. But each time he shows off his skills, the other animals start to giggle. Don't they know that nobody laughs at a lion? Nobody Laughs At a Lion! is from Level 3 of Ready Steady Read! a fantastic graded reading scheme with four reading levels from Little Tiger Press. Ready Steady Read! makes learning to read fun. Each book contains games and activities to reinforce learning and test comprehension in a way developing readers will enjoy as well as handy parent notes from Prue Goodwin, Lecturer in Literacy and Children's Books. Level 3 is suitable for more confident readers. The stories will help build their confidence, opening up the world of reading and imagination to them. About Level 3: longer sentences with varied structure wider vocabulary high-interest stories of up to 300 words smaller print for experienced readers




Fall Down, Laughing


Book Description

The former "Laverne and Shirley" sitcom actor David Lander recounts his life and career, particularly his battle with multiple sclerosis, which he kept secret for fifteen years.




The Laughing Monsters


Book Description

Denis Johnson's New York Times bestseller, The Laughing Monsters, is a high-suspense tale of kaleidoscoping loyalties in the post-9/11 world that shows one of our great novelists at the top of his game. Roland Nair calls himself Scandinavian but travels on a U.S. passport. After ten years' absence, he returns to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to reunite with his friend Michael Adriko. They once made a lot of money here during the country's civil war, and, curious to see whether good luck will strike twice in the same place, Nair has allowed himself to be drawn back to a region he considers hopeless. Adriko is an African who styles himself a soldier of fortune and who claims to have served, at various times, the Ghanaian army, the Kuwaiti Emiri Guard, and the American Green Berets. He's probably broke now, but he remains, at thirty-six, as stirred by his own doubtful schemes as he was a decade ago. Although Nair believes some kind of money-making plan lies at the back of it all, Adriko's stated reason for inviting his friend to Freetown is for Nair to meet Adriko's fiancée, a grad student from Colorado named Davidia. Together the three set out to visit Adriko's clan in the Uganda-Congo borderland—but each of these travelers is keeping secrets from the others. Their journey through a land abandoned by the future leads Nair, Adriko, and Davidia to meet themselves not in a new light, but rather in a new darkness.




Crying Laughing


Book Description

A tragicomic story of bad dates, bad news, bad performances, and one girl's determination to find the funny in high school from the author of Denton Little's Deathdate. Winnie Friedman has been waiting for the world to catch on to what she already knows: she's hilarious. It might be a long wait, though. After bombing a stand-up set at her own bat mitzvah, Winnie has kept her jokes to herself. Well, to herself and her dad, a former comedian and her inspiration. Then, on the second day of tenth grade, the funniest guy in school actually laughs at a comment she makes in the lunch line and asks her to join the improv troupe. Maybe he's even . . . flirting? Just when Winnie's ready to say yes to comedy again, her father reveals that he's been diagnosed with ALS. That is . . . not funny. Her dad's still making jokes, though, which feels like a good thing. And Winnie's prepared to be his straight man if that's what he wants. But is it what he needs? Caught up in a spiral of epically bad dates, bad news, and bad performances, Winnie's struggling to see the humor in it all. But finding a way to laugh is exactly what will see her through. **A Junior Library Guild Selection**




Die Laughing


Book Description

This is a collection of darkly comic standalone strips by a cartoonist Herge (Tintin) idolized. Die Laughing, which is executed in stark black and white, takes aim at everyone and everything in its scathing critique of modern life, but is particularly ruthless toward animal abusers, the military industrial complex, and death penalty enthusiasts. Franquin’s loose but meticulous line work features expressionistic shadows and silhouettes that infuse his depressed, repressed, and oppressed characters with a disturbing manic energy. Die Laughing is filled with visual gags and gag-inducing visuals that will haunt you.




The Wonky Donkey


Book Description

Kids will love this cumulative and hysterical read-aloud that features a free downloadable song "I was walking down the road and I saw... a donkey, Hee Haw And he only had three legs He was a wonky donkey." Children will be in fits of laughter with this perfect read-aloud tale of an endearing donkey. By the book's final page, readers end up with a spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey Download the free song at www.scholastic.com/wonkydonkey.




There Goes the Neighborhood


Book Description

A raised fist against the destructive forces of gentrification and a love letter to communities of color everywhere, Jade Adia's unforgettable debut tells the darkly hilarious story of three best friends willing to do whatever it takes to stay together. The gang is fake, but the fear is real. Rhea's neighborhood is fading away—the mom-and-pop shops of her childhood forced out to make space for an artisanal kombucha brewery here, a hot yoga studio there. And everywhere, the feeling that this place is no longer meant for her. Because while their little corner of South L.A. isn't perfect, to Rhea and her two best friends, it's something even more important—it's home. And it's worth protecting. But as more white people flock to their latest edgy, urban paradise for its cheap rent and sparkling new Whole Foods, more of Rhea's friends and family are pushed out. Until Rhea decides it's time to push back. Armed with their cellphones and a bag of firecrackers, the friends manipulate social media to create the illusion of gang violence in their neighborhood. All Rhea wanted to do was protect her community. Her friends. Herself. No one was supposed to get hurt. No one was supposed to die. But is anyone ever really safe when you're fighting power with fear?




The Changed


Book Description

SciFi aficionado, Avery Blake, and sorceress of suspense, Ninie Hammon, team up to bring you The Changed. This is the second book in The Taken Saga, a terrifying tale of alien invasion told from the perspective of three very special young people. In the last moment of their captivity on board the alien ship, Star, Noah, and Paco are made separate offers: they will be returned to earth, but they each must abandon the other two. Star and Noah refuse outright, but Paco … Does he believe the other two have already betrayed and abandoned him? When the three are returned to the places they were abducted from, their ability to read minds begins to fade, but Paco struggles to hold on, trying to use his newfound mental power to dominate the prison inmates and get revenge on Spade. But is he damaging his own brain every time he wields his power? Star and her grandfather attempt a perilous journey from New Mexico to Kentucky to find Noah because Star can’t stand being separated from him— but they are kidnapped and turned into slave labor for a warlord. There’s something special about Star now and when she is threatened, the other captives rise up to defend her. Are they strong enough to beat the kidnappers? A few days after Noah is returned to Kentucky, an alien shuttle crashes near his hometown. The Astrals are injured and then attacked by a truck full of drunk humans. The Astrals retaliate, destroy the town and the survivors regroup in a monastery. A gang of outlaws attacks the monastery to steal their supplies. They have taken Noah hostage — will they actually hang him from the archway out front unless the survivors surrender? Noah cries out to Star telepathically for help. She’s coming, trying to get there with an army … but will she get there in time? The Changed is the second book in the new alien invasion series, The Taken Saga, by Avery Blake and Ninie Hammon. Get The Changed and continue your new favorite science fiction series today!