White Elephant

White Elephant
Author: Julie Langsdorf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2019-03-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062857770

A turf war between neighbors leads to a small-town crisis in this sharply observed debut novel perfect for fans of Tom Perrotta, Meg Wolitzer, and Celeste Ng. The white elephant looms large over the town of Willard Park: a newly-constructed behemoth of a home, it towers over the quaint houses, including Allison and Ted Millers’ tiny hundred year old home. When owner Nick Cox cuts down the Millers’ precious red maple—in an effort to make his unsightly property more appealing to buyers—their once serene town becomes a battleground. While tensions between Ted and Nick escalate, other dysfunctions abound: Allison finds herself compulsively drawn to the man who threatens to upend her quietly organized life. A lawyer with a pot habit and a serious mid-life crisis skirts his responsibilities. And in a quest for popularity, a teenage girl gets caught up in a not-so-harmless prank. Newcomers and longtime residents alike clash in conflicting pursuits of the American Dream, with trees mysteriously uprooted, fingers pointed, and lines drawn. White Elephant is a tangled-web tale of a community on the verge and its all-too-human inhabitants, who long to connect but can’t seem to find the words. It's a story about opposing sides struggling to find a middle ground—a parable for our times.

Beasts & Children

Beasts & Children
Author: Amy Parker
Publisher: HMH
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2016-02-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0544370163

Linked stories exploring the dark heart of the American family: “Electrifying, daring . . . sure to appeal to fans of Karen Russell and Lorrie Moore ” (Booklist, starred review). A St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Book of the Year The Bowmans are declining Texas gentry, heirs to an airline fortune, surrounded by a patriarch’s stuffed trophies and lost dreams. They will each be haunted by the past as they strive to escape its force. The Fosters are diplomats’ kids who might as well be orphans. Jill and Maizie grow up privileged amid poverty, powerless to change the lives of those around them and uncertain whether they have the ability to change their own. The Guzmans have moved between Colombia and the United States, each generation seeking opportunity for the next, only to find that the American dream can be as crushing as it is elusive. From the tense territory of a sagging, grand porch in Texas to a gated community in Thailand to a lonely apartment in nondescript suburbia, these wry, dark stories unwind the lives of three families as they navigate the ever-shifting landscapes of the American middle class. “No one is safe, Parker reminds us, especially within the family circle—but one’s chosen family can also offer salvation. . . . The stories, like the mounted heads in the Bowmans’ trophy room, rivet the gaze, demand that readers recognize themselves in those glassy eyes—and then become disconcertingly alive.” —The New York Times Book Review

White Elephants

White Elephants
Author: Chynna T. Laird
Publisher: Eagle Wings Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2011-02-01
Genre: Sensory integration dysfunction in children
ISBN: 9780982624326

Family life in the author's childhood home was not pretty, yet no one seemed to notice, and no one did anything about it. As an adult, she took up the challenge to find out what might have helped her mother fight her battle of self-destruction.

The White Bone

The White Bone
Author: Barbara Gowdy
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2008-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0007291574

The White Bone, ostensibly about an elephant gifted with visionary powers, is a highly imaginative novel about an infinitely gentle species fighting to survive in a mad world of game poachers and environmental disaster.

White Elephant

White Elephant
Author: Trish Harnetiaux
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1501199919

A crackling Christmas mystery that combines murder and blackmail at a holiday office party, in a mashup reminiscent of Big Little Lies and Clue. There are only a few rules in a White Elephant gift exchange: 1) Everyone brings a wrapped, unmarked gift. 2) Numbers are drawn to decide who picks first. 3) Gifts don’t need to be pricey—and often they’re downright tacky. But things are a little different in Aspen, Colorado, at the office holiday party for the real estate firm owned by Henry Calhoun and his wife Claudine. Each Christmas sparks a contest among the already competitive staff to see who can buy the most coveted gift: the one that will get stolen the most times, the one that will prove just how many more commissions they earned that year than their colleagues. Designer sunglasses, deluxe spa treatments, front row concert tickets—nothing is off the table. And the staff is even more competitive this year as Zara, the hottest young pop star out of Hollywood, is in town and Claudine is determined to sell her the getaway home of her dreams. Everyone is puzzled when a strange gift shows up in the mix: an antique cowboy statue. At least the sales agents are guessing it’s an antique—otherwise it’d be a terrible present. It’s certainly not very pretty or expensive-looking. In fact, the gift makes sense only to Henry and Claudine. The statue is the weapon Henry used to commit a murder years ago, a murder that helped start his company and a murder that Claudine helped cover up. She swore that no one would ever be able to find the statue or trace it to their crime. So which of their employees did? And why did they place it in the White Elephant? What could possibly be their endgame? Over the course of the evening, Henry and Claudine race to figure out who could have planted the weapon, and just what the night means for the secrets they’ve been harboring. Further adding to the drama is a snowstorm that closes nearby roads—preventing anyone from leaving, as well as keeping law enforcement from the scene. And by the end of this crazy night, the police will most definitely be required…

Meet My Family!

Meet My Family!
Author: Laura Purdie Salas
Publisher: Millbrook Press
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2018
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 151242532X

Learn about wolf pups, baby orangutans, and many other baby animals in this sweet picture book featuring rhyming verse and informational text!

A Baby Elephant in the Wild

A Baby Elephant in the Wild
Author: Caitlin O'Connell
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 45
Release: 2014
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0544149440

With in-the-field photographs, this photo essay brings young children to the African scrub desert to witness how a baby elephant survives in the wild.

Elephant Walk

Elephant Walk
Author: Jean Craighead George
Publisher: Random House Disney
Total Pages: 40
Release: 1998
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780786850679

Young readers gain a peek at the world of African elephants through the eyes of one endearing baby elephant. Illustrations.

Love, Life, and Elephants

Love, Life, and Elephants
Author: Daphne Sheldrick
Publisher: Picador
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013-06-25
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9781250033376

"Astonishing...You may be tempted after the last page to sell all your possessions and join [Sheldrick's] cause."—The Boston Globe The first person to successfully raise newborn elephants, Dame Daphne Sheldrick has saved countless African animals from certain death. In this indelible and deeply heartfelt memoir, Daphne tells of her remarkable career as a conservationist and introduces us to a whole host of orphans—including Bushy, a liquid-eyed antelope, and the majestic elephant Eleanor. Yet she also shares the incredible human story of her relationship with David Sheldrick, the famous Tsavo National Park warden whose death inspired the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the orphans' nursery, where Daphne works to this day. From her tireless campaign to preserve Kenya's wildlife to the astonishing creatures she befriended along the way, Love, Life, and Elephants is alive with compassion and humor, providing rare insight into the life of one of the world's most fascinating women.