I Cried to Dream Again


Book Description

There is perhaps no crime more disturbing than the abuse of a child—and no court cases as upsetting as those in which juveniles who have faced abuse are tried for fighting back. In this gripping memoir Sara Kruzan, a survivor of childhood abuse and sex trafficking, tells the honest, disturbing, and ultimately empowering story of her journey from abuse to incarceration without parole for killing her abuser to finally gaining her liberation. "As someone who has worked with trafficking survivors in the developing world, I am struck by how vividly Kruzan’s memoir shows us how easily these same atrocities take place, barely noticed, beneath the sophisticated veneer of life in the U.S. A brilliant and illuminating read."—Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and author of Mighty Be Our Powers Sara is currently an advocate for the rights of incarcerated women and children, and the inspiration behind Sara’s Law, a bill currently in the House of Representative seeking to protect children of abuse from facing life sentences. "I was eleven when I first met GG. I realized later that he had to have been aware of the chaos that was my life because he played me perfectly. I was walking home after school ... I heard a red Mustang purring like a huge lion behind me as I turned onto my block. When it caught up with me, a man leaned out of the window and motioned for me to come closer. 'Hey, excuse me,' he said. I approached the window and politely and cheerfully replied, ‘Yes?’ He said, 'I’ve been noticing you a lot, and I just want to talk to you. I’m gonna go get some ice cream and go to the park. I would love for you to come and join me. We won’t be gone long. Is that okay with you?' Ice cream! I found his offer irresistible. GG leaned over and opened the passenger door, 'What’s your name? People call me GG.' 'Sara,' I said shyly.'"—from I Cried to Dream Again




Dream Again


Book Description

The inspiring story of Isaiah Austin, the man who captured our hearts when he was made the honorary NBA draft pick after a shocking diagnosis ended his professional basketball career before he could even step onto the court. “There are two choices in life: you make it your excuse or you make it your story.” Isaiah Austin’s mother shared these words of wisdom with him as a child as he came to terms with a torn retina taking away the ability to see with his right eye. Faced with adversity at such a young age, Isaiah had to choose—let his disability define him or overcome the challenge and shine. Overcoming that challenge is exactly what Isaiah did as he made a name for himself on Baylor University’s NCAA Division 1 basketball team. Everyone expected Isaiah to have a successful career in the NBA after college, but on June 21, 2014—just five days before the NBA draft—Austin was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the body’s connective tissue, putting him at risk of rupturing his heart if he continued to play basketball. In seconds, Austin’s hopes for a career in the NBA became impossible. After hearing about Isaiah’s diagnosis, NBA commissioner Adam Silver invited Austin to attend the 2014 draft as his personal guest. The League recognized Isaiah’s courage, resilience, and determination in a bittersweet moment when he was made an Honorary Draft Pick. Rather than letting another challenge destroy his faith, Austin has once again strived to overcome adversity by becoming a spokesperson for The Marfan Foundation, raising awareness and understanding for the disease. Despite the many heartbreaking challenges he has faced, Isaiah’s story is inspirational and full of hope as he encourages everyone to tower in the face of adversity and keep living out your dreams, no matter what life throws your way. *Proceeds from Dream Again will go to the Isaiah Austin Foundation, which provides support for the awareness and research of Marfan syndrome and those affected by it.




When I Waked, I Cried To Dream Again: Poems


Book Description

A dynamic, moving hybrid work that celebrates Black youth, often too fleeting, and examines Black lives lost to police violence. In this astonishing volume of poems and lyric prose, Whiting Award–winner A. Van Jordan draws comparisons to Black characters in Shakespearean plays—Caliban and Sycorax from The Tempest, Aaron the Moor from Titus Andronicus, and the eponymous antihero of Othello—to mourn the deaths of Black people, particularly Black children, at the hands of police officers. What do these characters, and the ways they are defined by the white figures who surround them, have in common with Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and other Black people killed in the twenty-first century? Balancing anger and grief with celebration, Jordan employs an elastic variety of poetic forms, including ekphrastic sestinas inspired by the photography of Malick Sidibé, fictional dialogues, and his signature definition poems that break down the insidious power of words like “fair,” “suspect,” and “juvenile.” He invents a new form of window poems, based on a characterization exercise, to see Shakespeare’s Black characters in three dimensions, and finds contemporary parallels in the way these characters are othered, rendered at once undesirable and hypersexualized, a threat and a joke. At once a stunning inquiry into the roots of racist violence and a moving recognition of the joy of Black youth before the world takes hold, When I Waked, I Cried to Dream Again expresses the preciousness and precarity of life.




A Tempest


Book Description




Sorry I Haven't Texted You Back


Book Description

Returning to the form of Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately, Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back is a poetic mixtape dedicated to those who struggle or have struggled with their mental health. Divided into two parts, “Side A” holds 92 poems, titled as “tracks,” and “Side B” holds the “remixes,” or blackout-poetry versions, of those 92 poems. The book includes the evergreen themes of love, grief, and hope. Named after Cook’s viral Instagram poem, Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back lands in the crossroads of self-help and poetry.




In My Dreams


Book Description

The dreams were happening again. It was something seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Hayes thought she'd outgrown. She didn't want them anymore; detailed premonitions of how people would die. One night, Lizzy's worst nightmare occurs. She dreams of her boyfriend, Michael Young, and soon discovers his car was found in a river, along with his lifeless body. Confusion settles deep within when Michael appears alive in her dreams. He warns her, attempting to keep her safe from the very person who murdered him. Awake, Lizzy must pull on her inner strength, not only to save herself, but also her friends whose lives are in danger. In My Dreams is a story of trust, friendship, courage, and true love that lives beyond the grave.




Robinson Crusoe


Book Description

An adaptation of the story of Robinson Crusoe who was shipwrecked on an island, how he survived and was finally rescued. Rewritten "in words easy for every child, ... shortened by leaving out all the dull parts."




Venus and Adonis


Book Description




All Your Perfects


Book Description

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us and It Ends with Us—whose writing is “emotionally wrenching and utterly original” (Sara Shepard, New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars series)—delivers a tour de force novel about a troubled marriage and the one old forgotten promise that might be able to save it. Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair. All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?




Hag-Seed


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The beloved author of The Handmaid’s Tale reimagines Shakespeare’s final, great play, The Tempest, in a gripping and emotionally rich novel of passion and revenge. “A marvel of gorgeous yet economical prose, in the service of a story that’s utterly heartbreaking yet pierced by humor, with a plot that retains considerable subtlety even as the original’s back story falls neatly into place.”—The New York Times Book Review Felix is at the top of his game as artistic director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. Now he’s staging aTempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, but it will also heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And also brewing revenge, which, after twelve years, arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Margaret Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own. Praise for Hag-Seed “What makes the book thrilling, and hugely pleasurable, is how closely Atwood hews to Shakespeare even as she casts her own potent charms, rap-composition included. . . . Part Shakespeare, part Atwood, Hag-Seed is a most delicate monster—and that’s ‘delicate’ in the 17th-century sense. It’s delightful.”—Boston Globe “Atwood has designed an ingenious doubling of the plot of The Tempest: Felix, the usurped director, finds himself cast by circumstances as a real-life version of Prospero, the usurped Duke. If you know the play well, these echoes grow stronger when Felix decides to exact his revenge by conjuring up a new version of The Tempest designed to overwhelm his enemies.”—Washington Post “A funny and heartwarming tale of revenge and redemption . . . Hag-Seed is a remarkable contribution to the canon.”—Bustle