Somebody on This Bus Is Going to Be Famous


Book Description

Who's it going to be? Spencer's the smart kid. Shelly's the diva. Miranda's the scaredy-cat. Matthew's just average (so far). In fact, there's nothing about any of the nine middle-schoolers on Mrs. B's bus route that screams "fame." But before the end of the year, somebody on this bus is going to be famous. Every morning, their school bus waits at an empty bus stop. Nobody ever gets on. Nobody ever gets off. And Mrs. B refuses to answer questions about it. Strangest of all, it's Bender the bully who decides to investigate the mystery. But it will take all nine students to find out the truth, for each of them has a clue to the mystery that will change their lives forever. Award-winning author J.B. Cheaney's new middle grade novel weaves multiple points of view into one fascinating read. Part detective story, part tale of self-discovery, this funny and touching novel is destined to be a modern classic. "A heartwarming story of discovery, hope, humor, and mystery – you're in for a fun ride!" —Author of Sure Signs of Crazy and Courage for Beginners "Cheaney's narrative style is dynamic and lively. She clearly has high expectations of her audience, creating a middle-grade reader with both substance and complexity that is also truly fun." —VOYA "Cheaney effectively combines multiple layers of mystery with an uplifting message about resilience." —Kirkus




Somebody on This Bus Is Going to Be Famous


Book Description

Who's it going to be? Spencer's the smart kid. Shelly's the diva. Miranda's the scaredy-cat. Matthew's just average (so far). In fact, there's nothing about any of the nine middle-schoolers on Mrs. B's bus route that screams "fame." But before the end of the year, somebody on this bus is going to be famous. Every morning, their school bus waits at an empty bus stop. Nobody ever gets on. Nobody ever gets off. And Mrs. B refuses to answer questions about it. Strangest of all, it's Bender the bully who decides to investigate the mystery. But it will take all nine students to find out the truth, for each of them has a clue to the mystery that will change their lives forever. Award-winning author J.B. Cheaney's new middle grade novel weaves nine distinctive narratives into one fascinating read. Part detective story, part tale of self-discovery, this funny and touching novel is destined to be a modern classic. Praise for J.B. Cheaney "Twists and turns will keep readers in suspense throughout the tale." -School Library Journal on The Playmakers "The main characters are particularly well drawn and believable..[for] fans of Jack Gantos' Joey Pigza series." —Booklist on Middle of Somewhere




The Secret of Magic


Book Description

Working for a prominent member of the NAACP in 1946 when a request comes from her favorite childhood author to investigate the murder of a black war hero, Regina Robichard travels to Mississippi, where she navigates the muddy waters of racism, relationships, and her own tragic past.




Verbal Analysis - Famous African American Speeches


Book Description

Geared towards advanced upper elementary and middle school students, this book contains 10 famous speeches: Mary McLeod Bethune (What does American Democracy Mean to Me?)Fannie Lou Hamer (Democratic National Convention)Thurgood Marshall (The Equality Speech)Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Speech on Civil Rights)Mary Church Terrell (What It Means to Be Colored)Booker T. Washington (Democracy and Education)Sojourner Truth (Ain't I a Woman?)Malcolm X (The Ballot or the Bullet)Ida B. Wells (NAACP Speech Against Lynching)Frederick Douglas (Appeal to Congress for Impartial Suffrage) Each speech is presented and is accompanied by questions that help students analyze the content as well as the message. This is an excellent material when used in a group setting providing ample opportunity for group and Socratic discussion. Note: Due to copyright laws each speech has been obtained from the original transcriptions. No edits have been performed and no efforts have been made to change any grammatical or orthographic elements.




I'm Going to Be Famous


Book Description

Arlo Moore has resolved to break the world record for eating bananas—consuming seventeen in two minutes should be easy, right? Arlo Moore’s favorite book of all time is TheGuinness Book of World Records, and as bananas are his favorite food, he has memorized the record for eating bananas. While gearing up to start his fifth grade year, Arlo suddenly has a crazy thought: He should break the world record for banana eating and become famous! His brother and sister think he’s crazy for even trying, and they bet Arlo that he can’t break the record in three weeks. Arlo hates when people tell him he can’t do something, and so he agrees. Soon, he will be a world champion. It’s going to take all of Arlo’s concentration and all of his awesome banana-eating powers to break this record and win the bet—and maybe capture the attention of the pretty new girl in school, too. But when everyone starts betting on Arlo’s chances of beating the record, his principal forbids him from training at school. With everyone against him, can Arlo still succeed and become famous?




A Little Life


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.




Famous People


Book Description

This fresh, smart novel in the guise of a celebrity memoir probes the inner life of a mega-famous pop star Honestly, what amazes me the most with a lot of the people I meet is that they think they’re so big. They think, ultimately, that the universe revolves around them. And I’m beginning to think that it’s only when you live a life like mine—it’s only when you’re in a position where you don’t even really own yourself, when you can’t even really say that you’re a citizen of any particular country—that you realize that we’re all just tiny pieces of cosmic dust floating through the void until we disappear forever and we’re never heard from again. So begins the life story of our uber famous twenty-two year old narrator. A teen idol since he was twelve, when a video of him singing went viral, his star has only risen since. Now, haunted by the suicide of his manager-father, unsettled by the very different paths he and his teenage love (and girl pop-star counterpart) “Mandy” have taken, and increasingly aware that he has signed on to something he has little control over, he begins to parse the divide that separates him from the “normal people” of the world. Sneakily philosophical, earnest and funny, Justin Kuritzkes's Famous People is a rollicking, unforgettable look at the clash between fame and the human condition.




Promise Not to Tell


Book Description

“McMahon unfurls a whirlwind of suspense...Combining murder mystery and coming-of-age tale with supernatural elements, this taut novel is above all a reflection on the haunting power of memory.” –Entertainment Weekly A woman’s past and present collide in terrifying ways in this explosive debut by New York Times bestselling author Jennifer McMahon. Forty-one-year-old school nurse Kate Cypher has returned home to rural Vermont to care for her mother, who's afflicted with Alzheimer's. On the night she arrives, a young girl is murdered—a horrific crime that eerily mirrors another from Kate's childhood. Three decades earlier, her dirt-poor friend Del—shunned and derided by classmates as "Potato Girl"—was brutally slain. Del's killer was never found, while the victim has since achieved immortality in local legends and ghost stories. Now, as this new murder investigation draws Kate irresistibly in, her past and present collide in terrifying, unexpected ways. Because nothing is quite what it seems . . . and the grim specters of her youth are far from forgotten. More than just a murder mystery, Jennifer McMahon's extraordinary debut novel, Promise Not to Tell, is a story of friendship and family, devotion and betrayal—tautly written, deeply insightful, beautifully evocative, and utterly unforgettable.




The Majic Bus


Book Description

Professor Douglas Brinkley arranged to teach a six-week experimental class aboard a fully equipped sleeper bus. The class would visit thirty states and ten national parks. They would read twelve books by great American writers. They would see Bob Dylan in Seattle, gamble at a Vegas casino, dance to Bourbon Street jazz in New Orleans, pay homage to Elvis Presley’s Graceland and William Faulkner’s Rowan Oak, ride the whitewater rapids on the Rio Grande, and experience a California earthquake. Their journey took them to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Abraham Lincoln’s Springfield, Harry Truman’s Independence, and Theodore Roosevelt’s North Dakota badlands. And it gave them the unforgettable experience of meeting some of their cultural heroes, including William S. Burroughs and Ken Kesey, who took the gang for a spin in his own psychedelic bus. Driven by Doug Brinkley’s energetic prose, The Majic Bus is a spirited travelogue of a unique experience.




The Night Bus Hero


Book Description

From Onjali Q. Rauf, the award-winning and best-selling author of The Boy at the Back of the Class, comes another incredible story, told with humour and heart. 'The boy's an absolute menace.' 'He's a bully. A lost cause!' 'Why can't he be more like his sister?' I've been getting into trouble for as long I can remember. Usually I don't mind 'cos some of my best, most brilliant ideas have come from sitting in detention. But recently it feels like no one believes me about anything - even when I'm telling the truth! And it's only gotten worse since I played a prank on the old man who lives in the park. Everyone thinks I'm just a bully. They don't believe I could be a hero. But I'm going to prove them all wrong... Told from the perspective of a bully, this book explores themes of bullying and homelessness, while celebrating kindness, friendship and the potential everyone has to change for the good.