Ponti

Ponti
Author: Sharlene Teo
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2018-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1501173138

An award-winning novel about the value of friendships in present-day Singapore—a “stirring debut…relatable yet unsettling [that] smartly captures earnest teenage myopathy through a tumultuous high school relationship” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “I am Miss Frankenstein, I am the bottom of the bell curve.” So declares Szu, a teenager living in a dark, dank house on a Singapore cul-de-sac, at the beginning of this richly atmospheric and endlessly surprising tale of non-belonging and isolation. Friendless and fatherless, Szu lives in the shadow of her mother Amisa, once a beautiful actress—who gained fame for her portrayal of a ghost—and now a hack medium performing séances with her sister in a rusty house. When Szu meets the privileged, acid-tongued Circe, an unlikely encounter develops into a fraught friendship that will haunt them both for decades to come. With remarkable emotional acuity, dark comedy, and in vivid prose, Sharlene Teo’s Ponti traces the suffocating tangle the lives of four misfits, women who need each other as much as they need to find their own way. It is “at once a subtle critique of the pressures of living in a modern Asian metropolis; a record of the swiftness and ruthlessness with which Southeast Asia has changed over the last three decades; a portrait of the old juxtaposed with the new (and an accompanying dialogue between nostalgia and cynicism); an exploration of the relationship between women against the backdrop of social change; and, occasionally, a love story—all wrapped up in the guise of a teenage coming-of-age novel…Teo is brilliant” (The Guardian).

Framed!

Framed!
Author: James Ponti
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2016-08-23
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1481436325

Get to know the only kid on the FBI Director’s speed dial and several international criminals’ most wanted lists all because of his Theory of All Small Things in this hilarious start to a brand-new middle grade mystery series. So you’re only halfway through your homework and the Director of the FBI keeps texting you for help…What do you do? Save your grade? Or save the country? If you’re Florian Bates, you figure out a way to do both. Florian is twelve years old and has just moved to Washington. He’s learning his way around using TOAST, which stands for the Theory of All Small Things. It’s a technique he invented to solve life’s little mysteries such as: where to sit on the on the first day of school, or which Chinese restaurant has the best eggrolls. But when he teaches it to his new friend Margaret, they uncover a mystery that isn’t little. In fact, it’s HUGE, and it involves the National Gallery, the FBI, and a notorious crime syndicate known as EEL. Can Florian decipher the clues and finish his homework in time to help the FBI solve the case? Kirkus Reviews praised the “solid, realistic friendship bolstered by snappy dialogue,” and School Library Journal said “mystery buffs and fans of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series are in for a treat.”

My Valley

My Valley
Author: Claude Ponti
Publisher: Elsewhere Editions
Total Pages: 25
Release: 2017-03-07
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0914671634

In My Valley, Claude Ponti leads us on a journey through an enchanted world inhabited by "Touims" (tiny, adorable, monkey-like creatures), secret tree dwellings, flying buildings, and sad giants. Clever language and beautifully detailed maps of imaginary landscapes will delight children and adults alike. Ponti himself has said, "My stories are like fairytales, always situated in the marvelous, speaking to the interior life and emotions of children. That way each child can get what they want out of the images: the characters and dreams are their own."

City Spies

City Spies
Author: James Ponti
Publisher: Aladdin
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2021-01-26
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1534414924

A New York Times bestseller! A GMA3 Summer Reading Squad Selection! “Ingeniously plotted, and a grin-inducing delight.” —People “Will keep young readers glued to the page…So when do I get the sequel?” —Beth McMullen, author of Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls In this thrilling new series that Stuart Gibbs called “a must-read,” Edgar Award winner James Ponti brings together five kids from all over the world and transforms them into real-life spies—perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls. Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency. Operating out of a base in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from various parts of the world. When they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t. Before she knows what she’s doing, Sara is heading to Paris for an international youth summit, hacking into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, dangling thirty feet off the side of a building, and trying to stop a villain…all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team. No one said saving the world was easy…

Forbidden City

Forbidden City
Author: James Ponti
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2022-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 153447921X

In this third “thrilling” (Kirkus Reviews) installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies help a fellow agent in another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls. After taking down a mole within their organization, the City Spies are ready for their next mission—once again using their unique skills and ability to infiltrate places adults can’t. The sinister Umbra has their sights set on recruiting a North Korean nuclear physicist by any means necessary, and the City Spies plan to keep an eye on his son by sending Paris to the chess prodigy’s tournaments in Moscow and Beijing. Meanwhile, Sydney’s embedded as a junior reporter for a teen lifestyle site as she follows the daughter of a British billionaire on tour with the biggest act on her father’s music label to uncover what links both the band and the billionaire have to a recent threat from an old Soviet missile base. From a daring break-in at one of London’s most exclusive homes to a dangerous undercover mission to a desperate search and rescue operation on the streets of Beijing, the City Spies have their work cut out for them on their most dangerous mission yet.

Vanished!

Vanished!
Author: James Ponti
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2017-08-22
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1481436333

In Washington, D.C., 12-year-old Florian Bates, a consulting detective for the FBI, and his best friend Margaret must uncover the truth behind a series of private middle-school pranks that may or may not involve the daughter of the President of the United States.

Dead City

Dead City
Author: James Ponti
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2012-10-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1442441291

Seventh-grader Molly has always been an outsider, even at New York City's elite Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology, but that changes when she is recruited to join the Omegas, a secret group that polices and protects zombies.

Trapped!

Trapped!
Author: James Ponti
Publisher: Aladdin
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2019-09-10
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1534408924

“A top-shelf test of courage, friendship, and ingenuity.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Florian Bates—the only kid on the FBI Director’s speed dial and several international criminals’ most wanted lists—must clear the name of a friend being framed for a crime he didn’t commit in this hilarious third novel in the Framed! series. When Florian and Margaret’s FBI supervisor, Marcus Rivers, is accused of a crime, it’s up to the mystery solving duo to jump into action and clear his name. After all, Marcus is more than their boss—he’s family. The case involves one of Marcus’s first investigations for the FBI and a Russian spy ring. But the spy they’re chasing learns what they’re up to and turns the tables. Now, Marcus is implicated in a variety of crimes, including theft, corruption, and espionage. For Florian and Margaret, it just got personal. They’re going to catch the spy and clear Marcus’s name…even if they have to break into (and out of) the Library of Congress to do it.

Blue Moon

Blue Moon
Author: James Ponti
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2014-09-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1442441321

While helping the Omega team track down down the identity of the original thirteen zombies in New York City, Molly tries to keep her mother's secret and uncovers a sinister plan of the undead.

Gio Ponti

Gio Ponti
Author: Gio Ponti
Publisher: Silvana Editoriale
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2019-01-30
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9788836641253

The prolific architect, designer and Domus editor reinvented the look of everyday life from the spoon to the cathedral With more than 100 buildings and scores of design objects to his name, Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti revolutionized postwar architecture and opened up prospects for new ways of life. Gio Ponti: Archi-Designer covers Ponti's entire career from 1921 to 1978, highlighting the many aspects of his work: from mechanical production to handicraft, from architecture to industrial design, from furniture to lighting, from the creation of magazines to his forays into the fields of glass, ceramics and goldsmithing. His work exemplified a certain tendency identified by his fellow architect Ernesto Rogers in 1952, an interest in designing dal cucchiaio alla città ("from the spoon to the town")--giving equal attention and applying the same innovative design thinking to small spoon and skyscraper alike. Featuring more than 500 pieces, this book traces Ponti's multidisciplinary journeys through architecture, furniture and design in his work for private homes and public buildings, including universities and cathedrals. Regarded as one of the most influential architects and designers of the 20th century, Giovanni "Gio" Ponti (1891-1979) established his architectural firm in 1921 and was extraordinarily prolific from that point on, working as an architect, industrial designer, artist, furniture designer, teacher and writer. In 1928 he founded the magazine Domus, which he would direct for most of his life, helping to spread his vision of a revitalized modern aesthetics in Italian industrial production, architecture, interior design and the decorative arts.