Lessons in Laughing Out Loud


Book Description

Internationally bestselling author Rowan Coleman delivers a heartwarming new tale about a recent divorcee who finds the courage to tackle her weight issues, her love life, and the dark family secret that has haunted her for years. Willow Briar (known as Will) is thirty-six-years old, five feet two, and a size eighteen. Now that she’s divorced, Will’s social life revolves around her job—working for her demanding talent agent boss Victoria Kincade—and her best friend Daniel Fayre, a successful fashion photographer for whom she harbors a secret crush. An identical twin, Will has struggled with her self-esteem for years—particularly when she looks at her slim, married, happy sister. One day she finds her luck suddenly turning around after buying a fabulous pair of vintage shoes that make her feel slimmer, taller, and sexier. These shoes seem to have a secret history, and Will starts to wonder if they are a little bit magic. Little does she know not even a magic eight ball could predict the shocking turn her life is about to take or that the courage she needs to confront her deep-seated issues will require more than a fashion makeover—it will take a life makeover. Armed with newfound confidence to begin her journey, Will finds the courage to face the dark family secrets of her past—and claim the future meant for her.




Lessons in Laughing Out Loud


Book Description

Willow Briars only has to glance at her identical twin sister, Holly?slim, happy, married with two beautiful children?to see how her life might have turned out differently. The divorced Willow, who works at a London talent agency, has all the outward trappings of success, yet her dissatisfaction is growing along with her dress size. Add in a long-term, fruitless crush on her friend Daniel, and Willow has started to feel invisible. Then she buys a mysterious pair of vintage shoes that make her feel sexy, daring, more confident. Since she?s also babysitting a disgraced starlet and caring for the ex-stepdaughter who just landed on her doorstep, her life is suddenly full. Willow must reevaluate everything she once believed about love, heartache, and her own worth. But can she learn how to stop running from her past and embrace whatever her future may hold?




Laugh Out Loud


Book Description

Get ready to Laugh Out Loud (a lot!) with James Patterson's illustrated middle grade story of a twelve-year-old boy starting his own book company for kids. Jimmy loves reading so much that he's inspired to start a book company for kids -- run by kids. It's a big dream for a twelve-year-old boy. Some would even say it's laugh-out-loud ridiculous! But that doesn't stop Jimmy from dreaming even bigger! His company will be as imaginative and fun as Willy Wonka's chocolate factory . . . with a Ferris wheel instead of an elevator, a bowling alley in the break room, and a river filled with floating books! He just has to believe in himself and his idea (and maybe win the Lotto). In this hilarious story filled with clever references to children's book favorites, James Patterson shows young readers that anything can be achieved if you believe in yourself no matter what!




A Porcupine Named Fluffy


Book Description

A porcupine named Fluffy is happier with his name after he meets a similarly misnamed rhinoceros. OThe humor is just absurd enough to make the picture-book set howl along with Hippo and Fluffy."N"The New York Times Book Review." Full color.




Lessons From Lucy


Book Description

In this “little gem” (Washington Independent Review of Books), Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist and New York Times bestselling author Dave Barry learns how to age happily from his old but joyful dog, Lucy. As Dave Barry turns seventy—not happily—he realizes that his dog, Lucy, is dealing with old age far better than he is. She has more friends, fewer worries, and way more fun. So Dave decides to figure out how Lucy manages to stay so happy, to see if he can make his own life happier by doing the things she does (except for drinking from the toilet). He reconnects with old friends and tries to make new ones—which turns out to be a struggle, because Lucy likes people a lot more than he does. And he gets back in touch with two ridiculous but fun groups from his past: the Lawn Rangers, a group of guys who march in parades pushing lawnmowers and twirling brooms (alcohol is involved), and the Rock Bottom Remainders, the world’s oldest and least-talented all-author band. With each new lesson, Dave riffs hilariously on dogs, people, and life in general, while also pondering Deep Questions, such as when it’s okay to lie. (Answer: when scallops are involved.) Lessons From Lucy shows readers a new side to Dave Barry that’s “touching and sentimental, but there’s still a laugh on every page” (The Sacramento Bee). The master humorist has written a witty and affable guide to joyous living at any age.




The Day You Begin


Book Description

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Featured in its own episode in the Netflix original show Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices! National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone. There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway. (This book is also available in Spanish, as El Día En Que Descubres Quién Eres!)




Living Out Loud


Book Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Anna Quindlen, hailed by the New York Times as “America’s resident sane person,” offers a collection of “engaging, fresh, [and] funny” (Chicago Tribune) essays about growing up, becoming a parent, spirituality, and more. “The lightning bugs are back. They are small right now, babies really, flying low to the ground as the lawn dissolves from green to black in the dusk. There are constellations of them outside the window; on, off, on, off. At first the little boy cannot see them; then, suddenly, he does. ‘Mommy, it’s magic,’ he say. “This is why I had children; because of the lightning bugs.” The voice is Anna Quindlen’s. But we know the hopes, dreams, fears, and wonder expressed in all her nonfiction, for most of us share them. Quindlen first vaulted to national attention with her “Life in the 30s” columns for The New York Times, and this wonderful collection of her early work shows why this Pulitzer Prize–winning author remains in the spotlight.




I Can Only Draw Worms


Book Description

A hilarious picture book in bright, neon colors that is perfect for fans of The Book With No Pictures and The Day the Crayons Quit. This is part counting book, part introduction to worms, but all superbly silly. The fact that the author/illustrator can only draw worms will not take anything away from the laugh-out-loud adventure readers will have as they turn the pages of this slightly subversive picture book.




Ever After


Book Description

Most every woman dreams about having a family and a building a home. We grow up on a steady diet of fairytales and chick flicks that drive our dreams . . . and leave us with a sugarcoated version of reality. We want it all: the prince, the kiss, the proposal, the ring, the castle, and eventually, the kids in smocked rompers playing cheerfully on the perfectly manicured lawn. Our hopes and dreams are pinned on the world’s version of happily-ever-after. The problem is, the fairytales and chick flicks end where real life begins. We never see that follow-up scene where the prince and princess argue at 3 a.m. over who will get up with the colicky newborn. Or the princess reluctantly returns to work to help pay the bills and feels the stress of juggling work and family. And you certainly won’t see that part where the princess moves her last child into the dorm and realizes the bulk of her identity has been based on being a mother. The truth is, marriage and motherhood are hard. Few of us are prepared to handle the balancing act of being a good wife and a good mother, without one or the other getting the short end of the stick. No matter how much we give or how hard we try, we never quite feel like it’s enough. And heaven help us, we always imagine every one else is doing a much better job. In Ever After, best-selling author Vicki Courtney addresses the realities of marriage and motherhood, the difficulties and the blessings. It offers women a behind the scenes glimpse of what a fairytale really looks like on the average day for the average wife and mom. Poignant, funny, and even cathartic, Vicki shares mistakes made, lessons learned, and memories to keep. Most of all, she reflects the hope and promise that God meets us in the middle wherever we are in the journey.




44 Lessons from a Loser


Book Description

44 Lessons from a Loser is the story of Sonya Jones' life both on and off the Biggest Loser Ranch. Sonya came within .01% of winning the 16th season of the hit NBC reality TV show. Her "life lessons" guaranteed to elicit laughter, tears, and a sense of gratitude that these often hysterical misadventures didn't happen to you!