Kitten's Autumn

Ever-curious Kitten explores the woods near her farm on a vibrant autumn day. The second book in the beautifully illustrated Kitten series introduces toddlers to animals and the things they eat while preparing for the winter ahead.

Autumn the Falling Leaves Fairy

Rachel and Kirsty love the fall! They can't wait to go apple picking, carve pumpkins, and take a hayride. But this fall, everything is going all wrong because Autumn the Falling Leaves Fairy's magic is missing! Can the girls help her outsmart Jack Frost and his goblins? Illustrations.

Walkin' with the Ghost Whisperers: Lore and Legends of the Appalachian Trail

Three-time thru-hiker J. R. Tate explores the traditions and lore of the Appalachian Trail:
The thru-hiker who began his hike by parachuting onto Springer Mountain
The trail town that sentenced an elephant to death
Yogi-ing strategies
Trail hermits Old Hog Greer and Uncle Nick Grindstaff
Murders on the AT
Ghosts in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

The Midnight Folk

The Midnight Folk introduces readers to Kay Harker, the orphaned boy who is also the hero of John Masefield’s classic Christmas fantasy, The Box of Delights. Kay lives in a vast old country house, and is looked after by an unpleasant duo: the oily and egregious Sir Theopompous and the petulant and punitive Sylvia Daisy Pouncer. In her zeal to educate Kay on the finer points of Latin grammar, Sylvia Daisy has even taken away all of Kay’s toys. Life seems very dull, until out of an old family portrait steps Kay’s great-grandfather, a sea captain, who, if legend is to be believed, made off with a fabulous treasure.

Soon Kay is engaged in a thrilling quest that begins each night as the clock strikes twelve, taking him into the enchanted and dangerous world of the Midnight Folk: pirates, highwaymen, talking animals, and a gang of witches led by none other than Sylvia Daisy (in cahoots, as in The Box of Delights, with the arch-villain Abner Brown). In the end, it is that ragtag team of old toys that rallies to support Kay and save the day.

A book to set beside C.S. Lewis’s Narnia tales and Joan Aiken’s Wolves of Willoughby Chase—not to mention the Harry Potter series—The Midnight Folk is a wonderful and enthralling contribution to the great English tradition of children’s literature, beloved by adults and children alike.

The Michigan Dogman: Werewolves and Other Unknown Canines Across the U.S.A.

They look like werewolves, but are they? They stand six-feet tall, are covered in fur, and possess both a wolf-like head and the ability to walk upright. Whatever one chooses to call them werewolf, dogman or manwolf an astonishing number of witnesses across the U.S.A. have encountered these creatures on roadsides, in the woods, and near their own homes. They swear the unknown canines are as menacing as they are real. And if these creatures aren't werewolves, what could they be? In her third book about this continuing mystery, author and investigator Linda Godfrey takes readers on a state-by-state creature hunt, exploring many new and shocking reports and leaving no bone unturned in her search for the beast's true nature.

20th Century Ghosts

Imogene is young, beautiful . . . and dead, waiting in the Rosebud Theater one afternoon in 1945. . . .
Francis was human once, but now he's an eight-foot-tall locust, and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. . . .
John is locked in a basement stained with the blood of half a dozen murdered children, and an antique telephone, long since disconnected, rings at night with calls from the dead. . . .
Nolan knows but can never tell what really happened in the summer of '77, when his idiot savant younger brother built a vast cardboard fort with secret doors leading into other worlds. . . .

The past isn't dead. It isn't even past. . . .

The Cat at the Wall

A cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house on the West Bank that has been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards. Should she help him? After all, she's just a cat. Or is she? She was once a regular North American girl, but that was before she died and came back to life as a cat. When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don't know what to do with him. It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching. As the soldiers begin to panic and disaster seems certain, the cat knows that it is up to her to diffuse the situation. But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do?

Skeleton Hiccups

What's the best way to help a skeleton get over his hiccups?

Welcome to Wellsboro

It's Autumn in Tioga County, and it's one of my favorite seasons. I love the changing of the leaves, often you can notice a difference overnight. We get a lot of visitors to see the fall foilage. People on motorcyles, or people in town for a big wedding. If you are on a bike, you don't have a lot of room for books.

We understand and we can ship those books home for you. We had a women here last week visiting from California. She found books that she was having a hard time finding, but we had them. She didn't have a lot of room in her suitcase, but we took care of that for her. Those books are on they way. We ship every day...

Oh So Brave Dragon

Dragon knows he is supposed to be brave—because that’s what dragons do. He’s so brave and valiant, he’s ready to try out his fearsome roar! But when he hears something that scares him, he turns to his forest friends to find the noise, and to help him be brave.

Young readers will relate to Dragon’s fears, and delight in his quest to be brave. Bestselling author/artist David Kirk, creator of the popular Miss Spider series, has created another beautiful, meaningful picture book to follow Oh So Tiny Bunny.

On Haunted Ground: The Green Ghost and Other Spirits of Cemetery Road

The true story of a family and its ghosts

Lisa Rogers sensed that the house she bought with her husband Wes came with a ghost. But nothing prepared them for doors slamming on their own, objects flying, and the nightly appearance of a glowing green orb in their bedroom.

The men in the family wouldn't--or couldn't--accept the paranormal activity. While daughter Keshia grew attached to the grandmotherly ghost who taught her not to be afraid of thunderstorms and the Native American spirit who tucked her into bed, her brother Troy wasn't quick to believe in their unearthly guests.

This amazing true story details two decades of terrifying, funny, and heartwarming paranormal encounters--the mischievous entity that imitates the voice of each family member, the spool that "comes to life" to chase the kids, the shocking events that shake Wes and Troy's skepticism--and the enduring love that keeps the family together through it all.

Pumpkin Pumpkin

Jamie plants a pumpkin seed in the spring and, after watching it grow all summer, carves a face in it for Halloween! But best of all, he saves some seeds that he will plant again next spring.

A Year Without Autumn

Jenni Green's family vacation has finally arrived! Even though she has to deal with her annoying little brother, her slightly overbearing dad, and her very pregnant mom, she gets to spend a week with her bestest friend in the world, Autumn. But twelve-year-old Jenni's world turns upside down when she takes an old elevator to visit Autumn and discovers that everything has changed: not only is her friend in a different condo, but tragedy has struck Autumn's family, Jenni's mother has had her baby, and everyone is a year older. When Jenni realizes that the elevator caused her to skip a whole year, she tries to go back, but soon finds that fixing things won't be as easy as pressing a button. How can she alter the past and keep her family and Autumn's from falling apart? With honesty and insight, Liz Kessler explores how the bonds of family and friendship can endure through time.

Slave Ghost Stories: Tales of Hags, Hants, Ghosts, & Diamondback Rattlers

A compilation of stories borrowed from former slaves of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. These tales were gathered by the WPA in the years 1935-1939. The slaves were asked questions about their family history and the widespread belief in spirits of various sorts. According to these stories, the five main creatures that "walked the night" were hags, hants, boo-daddies, plat-eyes and ghosts. All had separate characteristics. Hags disguised themselves as regular people, but a midnight they would shed their skin and torment their enemies, draining them of their energy. Hants lived in trees and would torture their victims day and night. Boo-daddies were reincarnations of witch doctors. Plat-eyes could take the form of an animal, sometimes changing from one animal to another. Ghosts were seen coming out of graveyards at night. This book relates the stories of these spirits based upon eyewitness accounts of former slaves.

Coyote Autumn

"You Can't Keep A Coyote!

They're Wild...."

Brad has always wanted a dog, so when he catches the little coyote, he decides to keep it. He couldn't have a dog when his family lived in a Chicago apartment, but now that they've moved to rural Oklahoma anything seems possible. Even rescuing an orphaned coyote pup...and keeping it a secret from his parents. With his friend Nolan's help, Brad is determined to tame Scooter, train him, play with him, and hide him in an old dog pen behind the barn. It almost works...until Mom and Dad discover his secret -- and Scooter steals their hearts and gives them all a coyote's-eye view of what it's like to live in the dangerous world of men.

The Handmaid's Tale

Banned Books Week was started in 1982, and is held every year during the last week of September. The freedom to access information and express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular, is the foundation for Banned Books Week. This campaign stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of viewpoints so individuals can develop their own opinions and conclusions.

Books featured during Banned Books Week have either been targets, or have actually been banned or restricted, but thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community, most of these books have been retained in library collections.

In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies? This question has made The Handmaid's Tale a challenged book.
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable.

Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now....
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.

The Great Little Pumpkin Cookbook

Pumpkins are one of those few ingredients that can do it all-soups, salads, starters, side dishes, dinners, and desserts. Make it sweet or make it savory, this native American makes any meal a little more festive. Here, Michael Krondl offers a staggering selection of choices from the traditionally familiar to the exotically ethnic.

Wynken Blynken And Nod

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod take children on a magical journey into the night sky--where the three fishermen sail in a wooden shoe, capturing stars in nets of silver and gold and laughing along with the moon.
This classic bedtime poem is illustrated with adorable bunnies by David McPhail.
Praise for the hardcover edition:
McPhail smoothly varies the perspective and composition from scene to scene, so like the lullaby itself, the pictures suggest rhythm, grace, and mystery. A natural for reading aloud, and even better for singing aloud, this book may become a bedtime favorite. --Booklist

The Things They Carried

Banned Books Week was started in 1982, and is held every year during the last week of September. The freedom to access information and express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular, is the foundation for Banned Books Week. This campaign stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of viewpoints so individuals can develop their own opinions and conclusions.

Books featured during Banned Books Week have either been targets, or have actually been banned or restricted, but thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community, most of these books have been retained in library collections.

A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.

The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.

Taught everywhere—from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing—it has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing. The Things They Carried won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Brave New World

Banned Books Week was started in 1982, and is held every year during the last week of September. The freedom to access information and express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular, is the foundation for Banned Books Week. This campaign stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of viewpoints so individuals can develop their own opinions and conclusions.

Books featured during Banned Books Week have either been targets, or have actually been banned or restricted, but thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community, most of these books have been retained in library collections.

Brave New World is an often challenged book. Aldous Huxley is rightly considered a prophetic genius and one of the most important literary and philosophical voices of the 20th Century, and Brave New World is his masterpiece. From the author of The Doors of Perception, Island, and countless other works of fiction, non-fiction, philosophy, and poetry, comes this powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations. Brave New World remains absolutely relevant to this day as both a cautionary dystopian tale in the vein of the George Orwell classic 1984, and as thought-provoking, thoroughly satisfying entertainment.

The Leaves on the Trees

The leaves in the trees are falling down in this autumn-themed 8x10 picture book!

THE LEAVES ON THE TREES revels in the sights, sounds, smells, and general feeling of the autumn leaves.
Based on the classic song, "The Wheels on the Bus," THE LEAVES ON THE TREES explores all types of trees making the magical transformation from the green leaves of summer to fascinating foliage of fall.

Too Many Pumpkins

With countless unwelcome pumpkins to deal with, Rebecca Estelle turns disaster into a celebration.

One Spooky Night: A Halloween Adventure

Intricately cut pages and shadowy sheets of vellum come together in this tale of a little monster’s moonlit stroll through the woods to a creepy old house and a festive, fold-out finale full of Halloween cheer.

In One Spooky Night, intricately cut pages are overlaid with shadowy vellum to create a fun and mysterious tale that follows a little monster walking through the woods. Along the way, he encounters all sorts of curious sights, including hooting owls, grinning pumpkins, and even floating ghosts. One Spooky Night's charming lyrical text accompanies the little monster down the forest path to a mysteriously creepy old house--encouraging readers to wonder, "What's inside?" The surprise ending, complete with a gatefold grand finale will encourage everyone to exclaim, "Happy Halloween!"

Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin

The grinning, glowing fun is now available in a Classic Board Book™ edition! Young readers can join Peter as he searches for a perfect pumpkin!

Of Mice and Men

Banned Books Week was started in 1982, and is held every year during the last week of September. The freedom to access information and express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular, is the foundation for Banned Books Week. This campaign stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of viewpoints so individuals can develop their own opinions and conclusions.

Books featured during Banned Books Week have either been targets, or have actually been banned or restricted, but thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community, most of these books have been retained in library collections.

One of those controversial books is Of Mice and Men, a controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.
Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.

Pumpkin Soup

Deep in the woods in an old white cabin, three friends make their pumpkin soup the same way every day. The Cat slices up the pumpkin, the Squirrel stirs in the water, and the Duck tips in just enough salt. But one day the Duck wants to stir instead, and then there is a horrible squabble, and he leaves the cabin in a huff. It isn't long before the Cat and the Squirrel start to worry about him and begin a search for their friend. Rendered in pictures richly evoking autumn, Helen Cooper's delightful story will resonate for an child who has known the difficulties that come with friendship. Included at the end is a recipe for delicious pumpkin soup.

Fall

What happens to leaves during fall? Read this book to find out what happens in the fall. Books in this series introduce children to the four seasons. Each book uses simple, repetitive text to teach children basic vocabulary, and includes stunning photographs to show the changes that take place during each season. In Fall, children learn about typical autumn activities and changes in the natural world.

Apples and Pumpkins

In preparation for Halloween night and trick-or-treating, a family visits Mr. Comstock's farm to pick apples and pumpkins. In this Classic Board Book version of a perennial favorite, a young girl shares in the joy and excitement of the fall season. Full color.

Eleanor & Park

Banned Books Week was started in 1982, and is held every year during the last week of September. The freedom to access information and express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular, is the foundation for Banned Books Week. This campaign stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of viewpoints so individuals can develop their own opinions and conclusions.

Books featured during Banned Books Week have either been targets, or have actually been banned or restricted, but thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community, most of these books have been retained in library collections.

Elanor & Park is often challenged. Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love—and just how hard it pulled you under.

A 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book for Excellence in Young Adult Literature
Eleanor & Park is the winner of the 2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Best Fiction Book.
A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013
A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013
An NPR Best Book of 2013

Thank You for Your Support

I want to thank everyone who's supported us. It might have been a donation, or buying a book, or just sharing our posts. I thank you. We love books at From My Shelf Books, and we want to continue doing what we do. Your help has been appreciated.

You may know that my wife and I started out of our apartment. Selling our used books, going to book sales, and finally making the leap to a brick and mortar store. We started in the basement of 87 Main Street in Wellsboro, and after several years, outgrew the space.

A retail space came open at 25 Main Street and we leaped at the chance to expand. We even let a friend who had been renting from us know of the opportunity. We signed a lease and were excited to begin building our business. You may have heard that it is unwise to go into business with friends or family, and there is a lot of truth to that advice.

He wasn't happy with the amount of retail space he rented. He wasn't happy with the amount of basement. He wasn't happy where the recycling was placed once a week. He just wasn't happy. Basically, he wasn't the man we had known all those years. His constant complaining is a big part of the problem we have had and continue to have with the landlord.

We were served an eviction notice for such trivial things as where we put the cardboard for pickup, and when the check was written for the utilities, as we share those with our unsatisfied neighbor. Ultimately, we won the case against the eviction notice, even though we had to take it all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme court.

In our case, three judges has to decide on the case, and the decision was unanimous in our favor. One judge even asked the opposing attorney if this case should be here, and the term "petty" was even in the final decission. We should have never had to go that far, but we did. We won, but we are left with the cost of paying our lawyer.

That's why I'm asking for your help. I just wanted to make a living selling books and giving Wellsboro the type of bookstore that I wish were here growing up. The landlord and my co-tenant didn't want that to happen. If you can help keep a rural bookstore going, the only bookstore in three counties, you will be helping Wellsboro grow.

We just don't sell books. We offer several programs--such as a teen bookclub, a writer's group, and more. We grew up here, and we want to build something that lasts. You can help in several ways. If you can donate, you can visit our fundraiser, any amount is appreciated, and if you can't, we understand that too. If you can share, it's still helpful.

I never really wanted to ask for donations, but at this point, I just don't know how I'm ever going to come up with the money. It takes a lot of books to earn $5,000 dollars, but if you want to buy a book, that's what we do. You can visit our website. It's secure, and you can buy new books from us there. Most books via the website are 20% off regualr retail with some exceptions.

We started by selling used books, and about 25% of our inventory is still used. We often have out of print books come in, as well as gently used books that have recently been released. It varies, and it's always fun to come in and browse, but we also sell these used books via half.com a subsiderary of Ebay. You can visit our store here or find some of our more eccelctic items on Ebay, our seller name is kcool1969. We ship daily.

Thanks again for all those we have given us support, even if it's just a "hang in there" We want to keep bringing Wellsboro and Tioga County a love of books and fun, and with your help, we can make that happen...

The Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin

This gently spooky twist on "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" makes a favorite nursery rhyme just perfect for Halloween
"The itsy bitsy pumpkin"
"rolled down the spooky street."
"He passed a ghoulish ghost"
"and some stinky goblin's feet."
A little pumpkin is trying to find his way back home And with a little help from a friendly witch, he is soon safe and sound, back on his porch--where there are no spiders to be seen Little ones will love this fresh fall spin on a classic nursery rhyme

Pumpkin Cat

Through the seasons, Cat and Mouse work together in the garden.
Together, they watch seeds that turn into plants in the spring,
and plants that turn into flowers in the summer,
and flowers that turn into pumpkins in the fall!
And when their pumpkins are finally ready, Mouse gives the best surprise of all to his friend, Cat!
Anne Mortimer’s charming story about friendship and discovery is perfect for any season.

The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition

Banned Books Week was started in 1982, and is held every year during the last week of September. The freedom to access information and express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular, is the foundation for Banned Books Week. This campaign stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of viewpoints so individuals can develop their own opinions and conclusions.

Books featured during Banned Books Week have either been targets, or have actually been banned or restricted, but thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community, most of these books have been retained in library collections.

Diary of a Young Girl is one of those often challenged books. Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl is among the most enduring documents of the twentieth century. Since its publication in 1947, it has been read by tens of millions of people all over the world. It remains a beloved and deeply admired testament to the indestructible nature of the human spirit.

Restored in this Definitive Edition are diary entries that were omitted from the original edition. These passages, which constitute 30 percent more material, reinforce the fact that Anne was first and foremost a teenage girl, not a remote and flawless symbol. She fretted about and tried to cope with her own sexuality.

Like many young girls, she often found herself in disagreements with her mother. And like any teenager, she veered between the carefree nature of a child and the full-fledged sorrow of an adult. Anne emerges more human, more vulnerable and more vital than ever.

Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the horrors of Nazi occupation, hid in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse for two years. She was thirteen when she went into the Secret Annex with her family.

Banned Book: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Banned Books Week was started in 1982, and is held every year during the last week of September. The freedom to access information and express ideas, even those considered unorthodox or unpopular, is the foundation for Banned Books Week. This campaign stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of viewpoints so individuals can develop their own opinions and conclusions.

Books featured during Banned Books Week have either been targets, or have actually been banned or restricted, but thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community, most of these books have been retained in library collections.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is one of those challenged books. Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Alexie's YA debut, released in hardcover to instant success, recieving seven starred reviews, hitting numerous bestseller lists, and winning the 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

The Hemingway Hoax - Hugo & Nebula Winning Novella

The Hemingway Hoax is a Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella that weaves an intricate plot of a fake Hemingway manuscript with time travel, multiple universes, and the potential destruction of the omniverse itself. *** Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, lost a bag containing the manuscript of his first novel on a Parisian train. In 1996, John Baird, a renowned Hemingway scholar, decides to use that loss to account for a fake manuscript he creates. *** Little does Baird suspect that his attempt to pass off the forgery as a recovered Hemingway manuscript will take him on a journey involving parallel universes and time travel. For Hemingway's reputation is intricately linked to the fate of multiple worlds in the omniverse and any attempt to change that can have disastrous consequences.

How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters: Fight Back When Monsters and Mother Nature Attack

Sharks Are Flying at Your Head at 300 mph.
How Will You Survive?

In the apocalyptic world we live in, Mother Nature is angry. Danger waits at every turn, and catastrophes like the Los Angeles sharknados have taught us that we need to be ready for anything. Too many lives have already been lost.

But fear not. How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters is the first and only comprehensive guide to surviving the very worst that Mother Nature can throw our way. Inside this life-saving reference, you’ll find:
• Vital information about dozens of unnatural disasters and ungodly monsters that can injure, maim, or kill you, from arachnoquakes and ice twisters to piranhacondas and mega pythons;
• Easy-to-understand survival tips for avoiding a bloody demise;
• Inspirational words of wisdom from survivors, including Fin Shepard and April Wexler;
• Useful resources, such as the Shepard Survival Assessment Test (S.S.A.T), and much more.
With this essential book in hand, you too can be a hero who laughs in the face of calamity while saving friends and family. Or you can just avoid getting savagely ripped apart by a robocroc. Either way, you’ve been warned. Now be prepared.

Wookiee Pies, Clone Scones, and Other Galactic Goodies: The Star Wars Cookbook

May the Force be with all aspiring Jedi cooks as they use Yoda, Darth Vader, and R2-D2-shaped cookie cutters to create 30 sweet and savory treats! From Chocolate Chewies to Obi-Wan Tons, this galactic cookbook features easy-to-make recipes for Star Wars–themed treats that will delight any Jedi appetite.

Semisweet: An Orphan's Journey Through the School the Hersheys Built

The Milton Hershey School is the richest and wealthiest K-12 residential school in the world. Its $12 billion trust fund, financed by sales of the iconic Hershey candy, eclipse that of Cornell, Dartmouth, and Johns Hopkins combined. Even more stunning is that the school for orphans owns The Hershey Company and not the other way around. As the twentieth-century drew to a close, the School s Board of Managers creatively interpreted the Founder s mission and tried to turn the refuge for extremely needy children into more of a middle-class boarding school. The alumni Homeguys challenged the Board and, after a decade of legal struggle and national publicity, won the battle to reclaim the soul of the school. Johnny O Brien, an orphan who lived at the school growing up, helped to lead the successful alumni protest. In a shocking turn of events, he was then selected to become Milton Hershey School s eighth president and tasked with restoring the mission, morale, and character-building culture of the Home. He would need all his orphan resilience, Princeton and Johns Hopkins wisdom, and his good friends, to transform this unusual and remarkable school. In a riveting and haunting account, O Brien tells a universal story about the vulnerability of needy children, describes the madness that consumed his beloved brother, explores the cruelty of bullies both young and old, exposes the corrupting influence of money, and shows how the Milton Hershey School continues its sacred mission of saving thousands of America s neediest children.

Jim Henson's the Storyteller

When people told themselves their past with stories, explained their present with stories, foretold the future with stories...the best place by the fire was kept for...The Storyteller
Finally back in print and in a gorgeous new hardcover, Jim Henson's The Storyteller features nine folktales based on Henson's Emmy-award winning television series, beautifully told by Academy Award-winning director Anthony Minghella. Before writing the Academy Award-winning classic The English Patient and being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Talented Mr. Ripley, the late Anthony Minghella worked alongside Jim Henson to bring forgotten tales of European folklore to vivid life on television. The series debuted to critical acclaim and in deference to the tales that inspired Henson and the series, Minghella adapted the nine stories into prose. Accompanied by stunning illustrations from an array of artistic talent and style, these tales are the early work of an incredible storyteller and are part of a series of novels being printed by Archaia and the Jim Henson company that celebrate the creative spirit of Jim Henson and his collaborators. In his introduction Minghella dedicates the book and these stories to his son Max, writing, "I have tried to fill his days with their magic just as he has filled my days with his own." Now, long after taken out of print, fans can share the magic of these stories and the master storyteller who crafted them, with readers of all ages.

The House at the End of Hope Street

When Alba Ashby, the youngest Ph.D. student at Cambridge University, suffers the Worst Event of Her Life, she finds herself at the door of 11 Hope Street. There, a beautiful older woman named Peggy invites Alba to stay on the house’s unusual conditions: she’ll have ninety-nine nights, and no more, to turn her life around. Once inside, Alba discovers that 11 Hope Street is no ordinary house. Past residents include Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Parker, and Agatha Christie, who all stayed there at hopeless times in their lives and who still hang around—quite literally—in talking portraits on the walls. With their help Alba begins to piece her life back together and embarks on a journey that may save her life.

Filled with a colorful, unforgettable cast of literary figures, The House at the End of Hope Street is a wholly imaginative novel of feminine wisdom and second chances, with just the right dash of magic.

Six Feet Over It

Home is where the bodies are buried.

Darkly humorous and heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Jennifer Longo’s YA debut about a girl stuck living in a cemetery will change the way you look at life, death, and love.

Leigh sells graves for her family-owned cemetery because her father is too lazy to look farther than the dinner table when searching for employees. Working the literal graveyard shift, she meets two kinds of customers:

Pre-Need: They know what’s up. They bought their graves a long time ago, before they needed them.

At Need: They are in shock, mourning a loved one’s unexpected death. Leigh avoids sponging their agony by focusing on things like guessing the headstone choice (mostly granite).

Sarcastic and smart, Leigh should be able to stand up to her family and quit. But her world’s been turned upside down by the sudden loss of her best friend and the appearance of Dario, the slightly-too-old-for-her grave digger. Surrounded by death, can Leigh move on, if moving on means it’s time to get a life?

Kind Regards: The Lost Art of Letter-Writing

Including ruminations on the importance of letter writing from famous literary and historical luminaries past, this is the fascinating story of how a simple piece of paper revolutionized global communication"" """"No literary form is more revealing, more spontaneous or more individual than a letter." --P.D. James" Ever since the advent and increasing popularity of electronic communication, it has become clear that the worthy art of letter writing is in a sad decline. Emails and texts have overtaken the humble pen and paper as the most popular methods of communication. Here, the complete history of letter writing and how it has shaped the world today is explored--from the early Greek philosophers, to the great letter writers Byron and Walpole, as well as many famous letters that have changed the world. It also covers the invention of the fountain pen and the growth of the mail delivery system, instructions for novice letter writers on how to construct the perfect correspondence, and how--despite the ever-growing influence of technology--handwritten letters might at last be regaining their value, meaning, and popularity in the modern world.

The Prepper's Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster

BE PREPARED
BE SAFE
From California earthquakes and Rocky Mountain wildfires to Midwest floods and Atlantic hurricanes, you can’t escape that inevitable day when catastrophe strikes your home town — but you can be prepared! Offering a simple DIY approach, this book breaks down the vital steps you should take into 101 quick, smart and inexpensive projects:
#6 Make a Master List of Passwords
#16 Calculate How Much Water You Need
#33 Start a Food Storage Plan for $5 a Week
#60 Make a Safe from a Hollowed-out Book
#77 Assemble an Inexpensive First Aid kit
#89 Learn to Cook Without Electricity
#94 Pack a Bug-out Bag

Someone Else's Love Story

For single mom Shandi Pierce, life is a juggling act. She's finishing college, raising precocious three-year-old Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced parents.Then she gets caught in the middle of a stickup at a gas station and falls instantly in love with William Ashe, when he steps between the armed robber and her son.

Shandi doesn't know that William's act wasn't about bravery. When he looked down the barrel of the robber's gun he believed it was destiny: it's been exactly one year since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn't define destiny the way other people do--to him destiny is about choice.

Now William and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head-on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.

The Sherlock Holmes School of Self-Defence: The manly art of Bartitsu as used against Professor Moriarty

When Sherlock Holmes wrestled Dr Moriarty on the Reichenbach Falls, he was employing a system of self-defence that was all the rage in Victorian Britain. In an age when footpads and fogle-snatchers meant a man of breeding took his life in his hands when walking across town, a martial arts craze too hold that did not escape Conan-Doyle's keen eye for research. Schools spring up all over London, chief among which was E.W. Barton-Wright's "Bartitsu" method.

The Sherlock Holmes School of Self-Defence commemorates Barton-Wright's exploits and the fighting techniques of the famous sleuth himself (though Conan-Doyle mischievously spelled it Baristu). Learn how to defend yourself with an overcoat, cane, or umbrella, or even to wield your bicycle against an attacker. Wonderful illustrations based on original photographs instruct the reader in skills that range from the sublime to the elementary.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory

Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life s work. With an original voice that combines fearless curiosity and mordant wit, Caitlin tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters, gallows humor, and vivid characters (both living and very dead). Describing how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes), and cared for bodies of all shapes and sizes, Caitlin becomes an intrepid explorer in the world of the deceased. Her eye-opening memoir shows how our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead). In the spirit of her popular Web series, Ask a Mortician, Caitlin s engaging narrative style makes this otherwise scary topic both approachable and profound."

The Invisible Circus

In Jennifer Egan’s highly acclaimed first novel, set in 1978, the political drama and familial tensions of the 1960s form a backdrop for the world of Phoebe O’Connor, age eighteen. Phoebe is obsessed with the memory and death of her sister Faith, a beautiful idealistic hippie who died in Italy in 1970. In order to find out the truth about Faith’s life and death, Phoebe retraces her steps from San Francisco across Europe, a quest which yields both complex and disturbing revelations about family, love, and Faith’s lost generation. This spellbinding novel introduced Egan’s remarkable ability to tie suspense with deeply insightful characters and the nuances of emotion.

The Maze Runner

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.
Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.
Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile

One man's odyssey into the brutal hive of the National Football League

As an unsigned free agent who rose through the practice squad to the starting lineup of the Denver Broncos, Nate Jackson took the path of thousands of unknowns before him to carve out a professional football career twice as long as the average player. Through his story recounted here--from scouting combines to preseason cuts to byzantine film studies to glorious touchdown catches--even knowledgeable football fans will glean a new, starkly humanized understanding of the NFL's workweek. Fast-paced, lyrical, dirty, and hilariously unvarnished, Slow Getting Up is an unforgettable look at the real lives of America's best athletes putting their bodies and minds through hell.

The Man in the High Castle

In The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick's alternate history classic, the United States lost World War II and was subsequently divided between the Germans in the east and the Japanese in the west.

In this world, we meet characters like Frank Frink, a dealer of counterfeit Americana who is himself hiding his Jewish ancestry; Nobusuke Tagomi, the Japanese trade minister in San Francisco, unsure of his standing within the beauracracy and Japan's with Germany; and Juliana Frink, Frank's ex-wife, who may be more important than she realizes. These seemingly disparate characters gradually realize their connections to each other just as they realize that something is not quite right about their world. And it seems as though the answers might lie with Hawthorne Abendsen, a mysterious and reclusive author whose bestselling novel describes a world in which the US won the War...

The Man in the High Castle is Dick at his best, giving readers a harrowing vision of the world that almost was.

Soon I Will be Invincible

Doctor Impossible—evil genius, would-be world conqueror—languishes in prison. Shuffling through the cafeteria line with ordinary criminals, he wonders if the smartest man in the world has done the smartest thing he could with his life. After all, he's lost every battle he's ever fought. But this prison won't hold him forever.

Fatale—half woman, half high-tech warrior—used to be an unemployed cyborg. Now, she's a rookie member of the world's most famous super-team, the Champions. But being a superhero is not all flying cars and planets in peril—she learns that in the locker rooms and dive bars of superherodom, the men and women (even mutants) behind the masks are as human as anyone.

Soon I Will Be Invincible is a wildly entertaining first novel, brimming with attitude and humor—an emotionally resonant look at good and evil, love and loss, power and glory.