Top-Secret Grandad and Me: Death by Soup

Top-Secret Grandad and Me: Death by Soup PDF Author: David MacPhail
Publisher: Floris Books
ISBN: 1782505377
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Since his dad literally did a vanishing act (he's a magician!), Jay Patel has turned detective, and now, with the help of his ghostly grandad, he's on a new case – a murder in a fancy country hotel where the cause of death appears to be – s

Top-Secret Grandad and Me: Death by Soup

Top-Secret Grandad and Me: Death by Soup PDF Author: David MacPhail
Publisher: Floris Books
ISBN: 1782505377
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Since his dad literally did a vanishing act (he's a magician!), Jay Patel has turned detective, and now, with the help of his ghostly grandad, he's on a new case – a murder in a fancy country hotel where the cause of death appears to be – s

Top-Secret Grandad and Me: Death by Tumble Dryer

Top-Secret Grandad and Me: Death by Tumble Dryer PDF Author: David MacPhail
Publisher: Floris Books
ISBN: 1782504508
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
You'd think a ghost grandad would be a great sidekick for a wannabe detective. Unfortunately, if there was a 'being a good ghost' exam, Jay’s grandad would fail spectacularly -- he hates walking through walls, he can't touch anything and he's rubbish at haunting. Since his dad literally did a vanishing act (he's a magician), Jay Patel has turned detective, and now, with the help of his granddad, he’s on the case of a dead body that vanished from the library of his Glasgow primary school. But what do diamonds, blackmail and dodgy launderettes have to do with it? David Walliams meets Agatha Christie in the first book of a new laugh-out-loud, weird-and-wacky mystery series for younger readers by the author of Thorfinn the Nicest Viking.

I Know This Much Is True

I Know This Much Is True PDF Author: Wally Lamb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780060391621
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 884

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Book Description
With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.

Grandad's Gifts

Grandad's Gifts PDF Author: Paul Jennings
Publisher: Puffin
ISBN: 9780140548129
Category : Children's stories
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
This is a chilling picture book with a twist in the tail, as Paul slowly brings a fox back to life by feeding its fur with lemons from the tree above its grave. But its the lemons above Paul's grandfather's grave that give the fox its final gift, sight...

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings PDF Author: Maya Angelou
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 030747772X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin From the Paperback edition.

The Night Bus Hero

The Night Bus Hero PDF Author: Onjali Q. Rauf
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1510106782
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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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.

A Gathering of Days

A Gathering of Days PDF Author: Joan W. Blos
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684163403
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
The journal of a 14-year-old girl, kept the last year she lived on the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father's remarriage, and the death of her best friend.

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 PDF Author: Sue Townsend
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060533994
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Adrian Mole's first love, Pandora, has left him; a neighbor, Mr. Lucas, appears to be seducing his mother (and what does that mean for his father?); the BBC refuses to publish his poetry; and his dog swallowed the tree off the Christmas cake. "Why" indeed.

Thorfinn and the Awful Invasion

Thorfinn and the Awful Invasion PDF Author: David MacPhail
Publisher: Floris Books
ISBN: 1782501606
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
Prepare yourself for the wrath of the Norsemen! That is, if you don't mind and it's not too inconvenient... Everyone knows Vikings are ruthless barbarians whose idea of a good time involves pillaging, plundering and feasting. But Thorfinn isn't an ordinary Viking! He is always polite and happily offers to wash the dirty dishes. Too bad his dad is Harald the Skull-Splitter, Village Chief and the roughest and toughest Viking of them all. Tired of Thorfinn and his too-nice ways getting them into trouble, his dad decides it's time for Thorfinn to earn his gruesome Viking name. Stuck on a longboat with a ragtag bunch of adventurers who'd like to throw him overboard, how will the Nicest Viking cope with a dangerous voyage to Scotland? Thorfinn the Nicest Viking is a funny, illustrated, action-packed new series for young readers who love Horrid Henry and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, set in a world where manners mean nothing and politeness is pointless!

Thorfinn and the Disgusting Feast

Thorfinn and the Disgusting Feast PDF Author: David MacPhail
Publisher: Floris Books
ISBN: 1782502327
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 89

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Book Description
Prepare yourself for the wrath of the Norsemen! That is, if you don't mind and it's not too inconvenient... Everyone knows Vikings are ruthless barbarians whose idea of a good time involves pillaging, plundering and feasting. But Thorfinn is no ordinary Viking! He is always polite and happily offers to wash the dirty dishes. Too bad his dad is Harald the Skull-Splitter, Village Chief and the roughest and toughest Viking of them all. The king of Norway is coming to visit Indgar village and Thorfinn is named Head Chef for the greatest feast the village has ever seen. Apparently the king has a taste for exotic fish, but he's also been known to catapult chefs who displease him into the sea! Thorfinn sets sail for Orkney with a ragtag crew to visit his Uncle Rolf and learn how to cook and catch fish. But it seems a poisoner is at large and he has his eyes on the poisson... Thorfinn the Nicest Viking is a funny, illustrated, action-packed new series for young readers who love Horrid Henry and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, set in a world where manners mean nothing and politeness is pointless!