Kicking the Sky

Kicking the Sky
Author: Anthony De Sa
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2014-03-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1616203935

It was 1977 when a shoeshine boy, Emanuel Jaques, was brutally murdered in Toronto. In the aftermath of the crime, twelve-year-old Antonio Rebelo explores his neighborhood’s dark garages and labyrinthine back alleys along with his rapscallion friends. As the media unravels the truth behind the Shoeshine Boy murder, Antonio sees his immigrant family--and his Portuguese neighborhood--with new eyes, becoming aware of the frightening reality that no one is really taking care of him. So intent are his parents and his neighbors on keeping the old traditions alive that they act as if they still live in a small village, not in a big city that puts their kids in the kind of danger they would not dare imagine. Antonio learns about bravery and cowardice, life and death, and the heart’s capacity for love--and for cruelty--in this stunning novel.

Kicking the Sky

Kicking the Sky
Author: Anthony De Sa
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2014-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 156512927X

After a shoeshine boy is killed in Toronto, twelve-year-old Antonio Rebelo explores his neighborhood and realizes that, with his Portuguese parents more interested in keeping their old tratitions alive, no one is protecting him in a dangerous city.

Let the Sky Fall

Let the Sky Fall
Author: Shannon Messenger
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2013-03-05
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1442450436

A broken past and a divided future can’t stop the electric connection of two teens in this epic series opener from the author of the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series. Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is. Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life. When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And as the storm bears down on them, she starts to realize the greatest danger might not be the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them.

To Open the Sky

To Open the Sky
Author: Robert Silverberg
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1497632471

This sprawling, episodic novel by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author is a “tour de force sci-fi outing . . . a wonderful read” (Fantasy Literature). 2077. With Earth reeling from centuries of unregulated population growth and environmental decimation, a new religion has taken root. The Vorsters worship science and the material world over all else, searching for the promise of immortality through new technology and the promise of heaven among the physical stars. But on Venus, a renegade sect has found its home. The Harmonists find the answers to life’s eternal questions in their own spirituality and in their own bodies, which have undergone genetic changes on Venus, giving them paranormal abilities. With humanity’s future at stake, religion becomes a political business, and both groups will have to face their motivations and manipulations when a shocking discovery threatens the balance of power in the universe. “The absorbing story of an overpopulated and economically depressed world clinging to the outcome of a religious schism for its salvation.” —sff180

"Open the Sky"

Author: Mark Winheld
Publisher: Xulon Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2010-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1612154263

"On September 1, 1991, bush pilot Dwayne King spearheaded one of the first missionary flights into the crumbling Soviet empire. The historic mission climaxed the transformation of a wild child from upstate New York into a selfless servant. The saga continues at Kingdom Air Corps, where he's training the next generation of young missionaries to fly the Word beyond where the road ends and wilderness begins."--Cover

The Sky Weaver

The Sky Weaver
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2019-11-12
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0062568078

Kristen Ciccarelli’s bestselling Iskari series comes to a captivating end with this final companion novel to The Last Namsara, which Tomi Adeyemi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Children of Blood and Bone, calls “one of my favorite books of all time.” At the end of one world, there always lies another. Safire, a soldier, knows her role in this world is to serve the king of Firgaard—helping to maintain the peace in her oft-troubled nation. Eris, a deadly pirate, has no such conviction. Known as the Death Dancer for her ability to evade even the most determined of pursuers, she possesses a superhuman power to move between worlds. Now Safire and Eris—sworn enemies—find themselves on a common mission: to find Asha, the last Namsara. From the port city of Darmoor to the fabled faraway Star Isles, their search and their stories become woven ever more tightly together as they discover that the uncertain fate they’re hurtling toward just may be a shared one. In this world—and the next.

The Sky Above Us

The Sky Above Us
Author: Natalie Lund
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0525518037

"A compelling, well-voiced look at how teenagers deal with tragedy." -- School Library Journal "Powerfully crafted and captivating." --Midwest Book Review From the author of We Speak in Storms comes a compelling mystery about three friends searching for the truth in the aftermath of a plane crash. The morning after their senior year beach party, Izzy, Cass, and Janie are woken by a thundering overhead. Then they and their classmates watch in shock as a plane crashes into the water. When the passengers are finally recovered, they are identified as Izzy's twin brother, Israel, Cass's ex-boyfriend, Shane, and Janie's best friend, Nate. But Izzy can feel when her brother is in pain, and she knows he's not really dead. So she, Cass, and Janie set out to discover what actually happened that day--and why the boys were on the plane. Told in alternating timelines and points of view, this powerful and captivating novel follows the three boys in the weeks leading up to that fateful flight, and the girls they left behind as they try to piece together the truth about the boys they loved and thought they knew. A spellbinding story about the ripple effects of tragedy, the questions we leave unanswered, and the enduring power of friendship. Praise for The Sky Above Us: "Achingly human with hints of magic, this tale of loss in its many forms builds a compelling mystery." --Booklist "Lund proves adept at smoothly navigating a complicated plot, building and holding suspense, and creating easily relatable, multidimensional characters." --Publishers Weekly "A bruising look at loss from many angles." --BCCB "A deftly written and simply spellbinding story about the ripple effects of tragedy, the questions we leave unanswered, and the enduring power of friendship." --Midwest Book Review

We Own the Sky

We Own the Sky
Author: Luke Allnutt
Publisher: Harlequin
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2018-04-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1488078718

A triumphant story of a father and his little boy—and a love that knows no limits. Rob Coates is a survivor. He’d thought he’d won the lottery of life—a beautiful home, an incredible wife Anna, and their precious son Jack, who makes every day an extraordinary adventure. But when tragedy befalls his family, Rob becomes his own worst enemy, pushing away all he holds dear. With his world now suddenly just outside of his grasp, Rob turns to photography, capturing the beautiful skyscrapers and clifftops he used to visit—memories of the time when his family was happy. And just when it feels as though there’s nowhere left to turn, Rob embarks on the most unforgettable of journeys to reclaim the joy and love he thought he’d lost. Deeply emotional, beautifully written, and filled with tremendous heart, We Own the Sky is a soaring debut about the strength of the human spirit and the boundlessness of love. It is a stunningly honest reminder of life’s greatest gifts, showing how even a broken heart can learn to beat again.

Tasting the Sky

Tasting the Sky
Author: Ibtisam Barakat
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2007-02-20
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 1429998474

Winner, Arab American National Museum Book Award for Children's/YA Literature, among other awards and honors. "When a war ends it does not go away," my mother says."It hides inside us . . . Just forget!" But I do not want to do what Mother says . . . I want to remember. In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near her home and she is separated from her family; the harshness of life as a Palestinian refugee; her unexpected joy when she discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. This is the beginning of her passionate connection to words, and as language becomes her refuge, allowing her to piece together the fragments of her world, it becomes her true home. Transcending the particulars of politics, this illuminating and timely book provides a telling glimpse into a little-known culture that has become an increasingly important part of the puzzle of world peace.

Pillar to the Sky

Pillar to the Sky
Author: William R. Forstchen
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2014-02-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0765334380

"A towering epic to rank with Douglas Preston's Blasphemy and Michael Crichton's Prey... Pandemic drought, skyrocketing oil prices, dwindling energy supplies and wars of water scarcity threaten the planet. Only four people can prevent global chaos. Gary Morgan--a brilliant, renegade scientist is pilloried by the scientific community for his belief in a space elevator: a pillar to the sky, which he believes will make space flight fast, simple and affordable. Eva Morgan--a brilliant and beautiful scientist of Ukrainian descent, she has had a lifelong obsession to build a pillar to the sky, a vertiginous tower which would mine the power of the sun and supply humanity with cheap, limitless energy forever. Gunther Rothenberg--the ancient but revered rocket-scientist who labored at Peenemunda with von Braun to create the first rockets and continued on to build those of today. A legend, he has mentored Gary and Natalia for two decades, nurturing and encouraging their transcendent vision. Franklin Smith--the eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire who will champion their cause, wage war with Congress and government bureaucracy and most important, finance their herculean undertaking. This journey to the stars will not be easy--a tumultuous struggle filled with violence and heroism, love and death, spellbinding beauty and heartbreaking betrayal. The stakes could not be higher. Humanity's salvation will hang in the balance"--