Elmore and Pinky


Book Description

A prickly porcupine searches for a best friend in this sequel to Elmore from Toot & Puddle author Holly Hobbie. Elmore the porcupine feels warm and comfortable in his neighborhood, and has many friends. But lately he has been feeling that he is missing someone, someone who will always be there -- a best friend. His uncle assures him that those kinds of friendships just happen over time, but determined Elmore goes out in search of one anyway. Then Elmore meets Pinky, a skunk who has a similar problem. Likely companions for Pinky are deterred because...well, he stinks! As the two commiserate and spend time together, they accept each other's shortcomings and develop what each of them wants most: a real friendship with a best friend. Holly Hobbie tenderly renders these sweet and relatable characters in exquisite watercolor, and has us rooting for them to the end.




Elmore


Book Description

A new, irresistible character from the creator of Toot & Puddle is now available in a board book for the littlest readers! Elmore is a porcupine desperate to make friends. But it is hard to be close to others when you're covered with spikes that shoot off your back every so often. Elmore suffers rejection and heartbreak, but the goodness of his forest community ultimately shines through as the animals find a way to connect with this prickly bundle of love. Holly Hobbie is the creator of the beloved Toot & Puddle series and now brings us a character for the next generation. Just as charming, funny, and good-hearted as her little pigs, Elmore the porcupine will snuggle and prickle his way securely into the picture-book canon.




Toot & Puddle: How Does Your Garden Grow?


Book Description

Bestselling and beloved characters Toot and Puddle return twenty-five years after their debut with a brand-new story full of the same charm and whimsy that originally made they so popular. Toot & Puddle, with help from cousin Opal, are planting the dream garden they've always wanted. But when the plants arrive, so does trouble. Someone or something keeps eating all of the spinach! Not wanting to share with the thief, they try everything from putting up signs to fencing the garden in, all to keep out the unwanted visitor. When the trio finally does find out who's eating all the vegetables, they decide that maybe sharing is the best way to go after all. Holly Hobbie renders these beloved characters in exquisite watercolor, and has us rooting for them to the end.




A Cat Named Swan


Book Description

Discover this beautiful pet-adoption story from Holly Hobbie, the creator of the bestselling Toot & Puddle series and one of the most treasured children’s illustrators of all time. Beloved author-illustrator Holly Hobbie presents the story of a rescue cat’s adoption, the paradise he finds, and the transformative joy he brings to his new family. Holly Hobbie’s intricate watercolors evoke the small kitten’s hardscrabble life as powerfully as they do his blissful one. This story tugs the heartstrings and is a testament to the importance of pet adoption and the powerful ways that pets connect with their people.




Anatomy of Injustice


Book Description

From Pulitzer Prize winner Raymond Bonner, the gripping story of a grievously mishandled murder case that put a twenty-three-year-old man on death row. In January 1982, an elderly white widow was found brutally murdered in the small town of Greenwood, South Carolina. Police immediately arrested Edward Lee Elmore, a semiliterate, mentally retarded black man with no previous felony record. His only connection to the victim was having cleaned her gutters and windows, but barely ninety days after the victim's body was found, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. Elmore had been on death row for eleven years when a young attorney named Diana Holt first learned of his case. With the exemplary moral commitment and tenacious investigation that have distinguished his reporting career, Bonner follows Holt's battle to save Elmore's life and shows us how his case is a textbook example of what can go wrong in the American justice system. Moving, enraging, suspenseful, and enlightening, Anatomy of Injustice is a vital contribution to our nation's ongoing, increasingly important debate about inequality and the death penalty.




The Big O


Book Description

Karen's easy life as a receptionist and armed robber is about to take a turn for the worse. Rossi, her ex, is getting out of prison any day now. He'll be looking for his motorcycle, his gun, the sixty grand he says is his, and revenge. But he won't be expecting Ray, the new guy Karen's just met, to be in his way. No stranger to the underworld himself, Ray wants out of the kidnapping game now that some dangerous new bosses are moving in. Meanwhile Frank, a disgraced plastic surgeon, hires Ray to kidnap his ex-wife for the insurance money. But the ex-wife also happens to be Karen's best friend. Can Karen and Ray trust each other enough to work together on one last job? Or will love, as always, ruin everything? From a writer hailed as "Elmore Leonard with a hard Irish edge" ("Irish Mail on Sunday"), Declan Burke's "The Big O "is crime fiction at its darkest and funniest.




The Cat Man of Aleppo


Book Description

The Caldecott Honor-winning true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, who in the midst of the Syrian Civil War courageously offered safe haven to Aleppo's abandoned cats. Aleppo's city center no longer echoes with the rich, exciting sounds of copper-pot pounding and traditional sword sharpening. His neighborhood is empty--except for the many cats left behind. Alaa loves Aleppo, but when war comes his neighbors flee to safety, leaving their many pets behind. Alaa decides to stay--he can make a difference by driving an ambulance, carrying the sick and wounded to safety. One day he hears hungry cats calling out to him on his way home. They are lonely and scared, just like him. He feeds and pets them to let them know they are loved. The next day more cats come, and then even more! There are too many for Alaa to take care of on his own. Alaa has a big heart, but he will need help from others if he wants to keep all of his new friends safe.




Niceville


Book Description

Something is wrong in Niceville. . . A boy literally disappears from Main Street. A security camera captures the moment of his instant, inexplicable vanishing. An audacious bank robbery goes seriously wrong: four cops are gunned down; a TV news helicopter is shot and spins crazily out of the sky, triggering a disastrous cascade of events that ricochet across twenty different lives over the course of just thirty-six hours. Nick Kavanaugh, a cop with a dark side, investigates. Soon he and his wife, Kate, a distinguished lawyer from an old Niceville family, find themselves struggling to make sense not only of the disappearance and the robbery but also of a shadow world, where time has a different rhythm and where justice is elusive. . . .Something is wrong in Niceville, where evil lives far longer than men do. Compulsively readable, and populated with characters who leap off the page, Niceville will draw you in, excite you, amaze you, horrify you, and, when it finally lets you go, make you sorry you have to leave. Read the first thirty-five pages. Find out why Harlan Coben calls Carsten Stroud the master of “the nerve-jangling thrill ride.” Now with an excerpt from Carsten Stroud’s next book, The Homecoming.




Fanny


Book Description

All Fanny wants in the world is a Connie doll, but Mom says "NO!" But no one ever said she couldn't make one instead! With some scissors, glue, and her craft box in hand, Fanny sets out to replicate Connie, but it's Annabelle who is the result of her efforts. A little lopsided and a little unkempt, Annabelle turns out to be the companion Fanny has always wanted. Though at first her friends turn up their noses, in the end everyone learns that using your imagination and working with your own two hands can result in the best toy of all!




What Is a Refugee?


Book Description

An accessible picture book that oh-so-simply and graphically introduces the term "refugee" to curious young children to help them better understand the world in which they live. Who are refugees? Why are they called that word? Why do they need to leave their country? Why are they sometimes not welcome in their new country? In this relevant picture book for the youngest children, author-illustrator Elise Gravel explores what it means to be a refugee in bold, graphic illustrations and spare text. This is the perfect tool to introduce an important and timely topic to children.