Purple Coyote


Book Description

"One day, a purple coyote appeared on the hill. A coyote unlike any other. A purple coyote. Jim's never seen a purple coyote before, and he's determined to find out how the creature got his unusual color. But the coyote isn't saying. It's a big secret. So is the reason why the coyote howls a strange howl and dances a strange dance. Jim is stumped, and the more he questions the coyote, the more frustrated he becomes. Then one day the secret is revealed . . . .




The Wake-Up Call


Book Description

In 1970, pampered, naïve, Philly-born Frannie is overwhelmed by the responsibilities of nursing school and college life in Dallas. A love-hate relationship erupts when Robin, her fiery, red-headed roommate, arrives from Chicago to find Frannie's belongings covering every inch of space in their room, and Frannie nowhere in sight. Adding fuel to the fire, Frannie pursues a relationship with a sophomore hunk whom Robin insists is pond scum. She ignores her suitemates' pleas to join their study group, insisting her high school achievements will guarantee her success in college. Frannie's wake-up call comes after nearly two semesters of disastrous decision-making. She finds herself flunking out and her nursing career ending before it begins. With support from an unexpected source, she faces the biggest decision of her life - one that no matter the outcome will upend her future.




Coyote America


Book Description

The New York Times best-selling account of how coyotes--long the target of an extermination policy--spread to every corner of the United States Finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "A masterly synthesis of scientific research and personal observation." -Wall Street Journal Legends don't come close to capturing the incredible story of the coyote. In the face of centuries of campaigns of annihilation employing gases, helicopters, and engineered epidemics, coyotes didn't just survive, they thrived, expanding across the continent from Alaska to New York. In the war between humans and coyotes, coyotes have won, hands-down. Coyote America is the illuminating five-million-year biography of this extraordinary animal, from its origins to its apotheosis. It is one of the great epics of our time.




Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote


Book Description

Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote is an allegorical picture book about the hardships and struggles of immigration from award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh. A Pura Belpré Author and Illustrator Honor Book! An ALA/ALSC Notable Children’s Book! Papa Rabbit left two years ago to travel far away north to find work in the great carrot and lettuce fields to earn money for his family. When Papa does not return home on the designated day, Pancho sets out to find him. He packs Papa’s favorite meal—mole, rice and beans, a heap of still-warm tortillas, and a jug full of fresh aguamiel—and heads north. Along the way, Pancho crosses a river, climbs a fence, and passes through a tunnel guarded by uniformed, bribe-taking snakes. He soon meets a coyote, who offers to help Pancho in exchange for some of Papa’s favorite foods. They travel together until the food is gone and the coyote decides he is still hungry . . . for Pancho! Tonatiuh enlivens Pancho’s story with the spirit of regional folklore, and he adds cultural atmosphere in arresting, flat folk art filled with cultural references. Of course, “coyote” has two meanings here. With tenderness and honesty, he brings to light the trials and tribulations facing families who seek to make better lives for themselves and their children by illegally crossing borders. “Incandescent, humane and terribly necessary.” ―Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) “Pancho Rabbit’s trip has the feel of a classic fable or fairy tale.” ―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)







Make Something Up


Book Description

Twenty one stories and one novella from Chuck Palahniuk, literature's favorite transgressive author, Make Something Up is a compilation that disturbs and delights in equal measure. In "Expedition," fans will be thrilled to find to see a side of Tyler Durden never seen before in a precursor story to Fight Club. And in other stories, the absurdity of both life and death are on full display; in "Zombies," the best and brightest of a high school prep school become tragically addicted to the latest drug craze: electric shocks from cardiac defibrillators. In "Knock, Knock," a son hopes to tell one last off-color joke to a father in his final moments, while in "Tunnel of Love," a massage therapist runs the curious practice of providing 'relief' to dying clients. Funny, caustic, bizarre, poignant; these stories represent everything readers have come




Returning the Gift


Book Description

An unprecedented gathering of more than 300 Native writers was held in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1992. The Returning the Gift Festival brought more Native writers together in one place than at any other time in history. "Returning the Gift," observes co-organizer Joseph Bruchac, "both demonstrated and validated our literature and our devotion to it, not just to the public, but to ourselves." In compiling this volume, Bruchac invited every writer who attended the festival to submit new, unpublished work; he then selected the best of the more than 200 submissions to create a collection that includes established writers like Duane Niatum, Simon Ortiz, Lance Henson, Elizabeth Woody, Linda Hogan, and Jeanette Armstrong, and also introduces such lesser-known or new voices as Tracy Bonneau, Jeanetta Calhoun, Kim Blaeser, and Chris Fleet. The anthology includes works from every corner of the continent, representing a wide range of tribal affiliations, languages, and cultures. By taking their peoples' literature back to them in the form of stories and songs, these writers see themselves as returning the gift of storytelling, culture, and continuance to the source from which it came. In addition to contributions by 92 writers are two introductory chapters: Joseph Bruchac comments on the current state of Native literature and the significance of the festival, and Geary Hobson traces the evolution of the event itself.




The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise


Book Description

"Sometimes a story comes along that just plain makes you want to hug the world. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is Dan Gemeinhart’s finest book yet — and that’s saying something. Your heart needs this joyful miracle of a book." —Katherine Applegate, acclaimed author of The One and Only Ivan and Wishtree A 2020 ILA Teachers’ Choice A 2019 Parents' Choice Award Gold Medal Winner Winner of the 2019 CYBILS Award for Middle Grade Fiction An Amazon Top 20 Children's Book of 2019 A Junior Library Guild Selection Five years. That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation. It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash. Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days...without him realizing it. Along the way, they'll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there's Gladys... Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all...but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.” This title has common core connections.




The Lone Ranger and Tonto Meet Buddha


Book Description

• Shares a series of mindfulness techniques and improv exercises with masks to suppress the ego, calm the mind, and allow spontaneous playfulness and spaciousness to arise from your deepest nature • Draws on Buddhist philosophy to describe how and why the exercises work • Woven throughout with a lighthearted parable of an overweight and out-of-work Lone Ranger and Tonto who meet Buddha and experience spiritual awakening Sharing a series of mindfulness techniques and acting exercises that show how malleable the self can be, award-winning actor, narrator, and Zen Buddhist priest Peter Coyote reveals how to use masks, meditation, and improvisation to free yourself from fixed ideas of who you think you are and help you release your ego from constant defensive strategizing, calm the mind’s overactivity, and allow spontaneous playfulness to arise out of your deepest nature. Developed through 40 years of research and personal study, Coyote’s synthesis of mask-based improv games and Zen practices is specifically designed to create an ego-suppressed state akin to the mystical experiences of meditation or the spiritual awakenings of psychedelics. After preparatory exercises, seeing yourself in a mask will temporarily displace your familiar self and the spirit of the mask will take over. Likening the liberated state induced by mask work to “Enlightenment-lite,” Coyote draws on Buddhist philosophy to describe how and why the exercises work as well as how to make your newly awakened and confident self part of daily life. In true Zen form, woven throughout the narrative is a lighthearted parable of an out-of-work Lone Ranger and Tonto, who meet Buddha and experience spiritual awakening. Illuminating the lessons of mask work, the transformation of the Lone Ranger mirrors that of the individual pursuing this practice, revealing how you will come to realize that the world is more magical and vaster than you thought possible.