Tommy and the Order of Cosmic Champions

Tommy and the Order of Cosmic Champions
Author: Anthony D. Grate
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2022-10-18
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1626349673

Sometimes our greatest moments of enlightenment come from our worst mistakes. ​When life supplies eleven-year-old Tommy Grant with some unfavorable circumstances intruding on his otherwise tranquil life in Ohio, he retreats into the spell-binding Order of Cosmic Champions. When he discovers that the largely successful animated program and toy line is holding a nationwide "Create-A-Character" contest where applicants submit their action figure designs, Tommy knows he has to enter as surely as he knows his own name. But when Tommy's character design fails to win the contest, he finds his world crumbling from all sides. And there is only one way he knows to fix it. What follows is a whirlwind coming-of-age adventure of righting wrongs, overcoming perilous obstacles, confronting our inner demons, and challenging the limits of reality. In this waxing nostalgic and imaginative fantasy, readers will discover what excitement lies waiting when you take risks and conquer your fears. Only one question remains: In the final hour when you heed the call, the courage to give your all, will you stand or fall?

Decimated Dreams

Decimated Dreams
Author: Brennan LaFaro
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2022-12-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1637897332

Five years after the demise of Robert Weeks, his shadow still haunts Elsie and Travis. Along with their young daughter, April, the Morlands have found peace, but when the sun sets, nightmares drag Elsie back to the worst day of her life. Still, it's all in the past, right? When April claims a man with green eyes taps on her window at night, it's only a matter of time before children begin to disappear again. Starting with April. With their daughter stolen and an undead madman seemingly back from the grave, Elsie and Travis have no choice but to return to the twisting, turning streets of Slattery Falls. What will it cost them to get their daughter back and make sure Robert Weeks stays dead this time?

Send Down the Rain

Send Down the Rain
Author: Charles Martin
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0718084764

Can two people brought together by desperate circumstances help one another heal, and maybe even begin a new life? New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin’s Send Down the Rain answers the questions of what it means—and what level of sacrifice it takes—to truly love someone. Allie is still recovering from the loss of her family’s beloved waterfront restaurant on Florida’s Gulf Coast when she loses her second husband to a terrifying highway accident. Devastated and losing hope, she shudders to contemplate the future—until a cherished person from her past returns. Joseph has been adrift for many years, wounded in both body and spirit and unable to come to terms with the trauma of his Vietnam War experiences. Just as he resolves to abandon his search for peace and live alone in a remote cabin in the Carolina mountains, he discovers a mother and her two small children lost in the forest. A man of character and strength, he instinctively steps in to help them get back to their home in Florida. There he will return to his own hometown—and witness the accident that launches a bittersweet reunion with his childhood sweetheart, Allie. When Joseph offers to help Allie rebuild her restaurant, it seems the flame may reignite—until a forty-five-year-old secret begins to emerge, threatening to destroy all hope for their second chance at love. Send Down the Rain will take you on a journey that spans the sweltering migrant worker routes of south Florida, muddy battlefields of Vietnam, thickets of northwest North Carolina, and the idyllic shores of America’s most beautiful beach (Cape San Blas). At the story’s center lies the question: What does it mean—and what level of sacrifice does it take—to truly love someone? Praise for Send Down the Rain: “Charles Martin understands the power of story and he uses it to alter the souls and lives of both his characters and his readers.”—Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author Full-length, stand-alone novel Includes discussion questions for book clubs Also by bestselling author Charles Martin: The Mountain Between Us, Chasing Fireflies, When Crickets Cry, and The Letter Keeper

The Sport of Kings

The Sport of Kings
Author: C. E. Morgan
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 561
Release: 2016-05-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0374715173

A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Fiction • A Recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the Rathbones Folio Prize • Longlisted for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence • One of New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Book Named a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly • GQ • The New York Times (Selected by Dwight Garner) • NPR • The Wall Street Journal • San Francisco Chronicle • Refinery29 • Booklist • Kirkus Reviews • Commonweal Magazine "In its poetic splendor and moral seriousness, The Sport of Kings bears the traces of Faulkner, Morrison, and McCarthy. . . . It is a contemporary masterpiece."—San Francisco Chronicle Hailed by The New Yorker for its “remarkable achievements,” The Sport of Kings is an American tale centered on a horse and two families: one white, a Southern dynasty whose forefathers were among the founders of Kentucky; the other African-American, the descendants of their slaves. It is a dauntless narrative that stretches from the fields of the Virginia piedmont to the abundant pastures of the Bluegrass, and across the dark waters of the Ohio River; from the final shots of the Revolutionary War to the resounding clang of the starting bell at Churchill Downs. As C. E. Morgan unspools a fabric of shared histories, past and present converge in a Thoroughbred named Hellsmouth, heir to Secretariat and a contender for the Triple Crown. Newly confronted with one another in the quest for victory, the two families must face the consequences of their ambitions, as each is driven---and haunted---by the same, enduring question: How far away from your father can you run? A sweeping narrative of wealth and poverty, racism and rage, The Sport of Kings is an unflinching portrait of lives cast in the shadow of slavery and a moral epic for our time.

Just River

Just River
Author: Sara B Fraser
Publisher:
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2021-11-24
Genre:
ISBN: 9781684338146

The Otis, an inconsequential river-not the Hudson-flows through Wattsville, a small city a few hours north but a universe away from the real City, capital C. You might think the everyday people who live here, in this land of scarce opportunity, are also inconsequential. Until you meet them. Sam, a cross-dresser with a voice like Tina Turner's and his best friend Carol, a cashier who stress eats, prove their mettle when Carol's daughter Garnet is imprisoned for defending herself against a violent boyfriend. Sam and Carol's plots to save Garnet have consequences, however. An innocent boy is blamed for their actions and kidnapped, a dog gets poisoned, and Garnet's life is imperiled as parole becomes a distant dream. In the end, it's the river that offers up justice for these heroes-at-heart. But they will need to be able to swim.

The Mighty Lalouche

The Mighty Lalouche
Author: Matthew Olshan
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2013-05-14
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0375987428

In Paris, France, there lived a humble postman named Lalouche. He was small, but his hands were nimble, his legs were fast, and his arms were strong. When his job was replaced by an electric car, he turned to boxing to support himself and his pet finch, Genevieve. But--"You? A boxer?" the fighters asked. "I could sneeze and knock you down!" Still, Lalouche refused to give up. And perhaps small Lalouche was just nimble . . . just fast . . . and just strong enough to beat his fierce competitors. This is a marvelous story, full of humor and heart, and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, winner of a New York Times Best Illustrated Award.

We All Looked Up

We All Looked Up
Author: Tommy Wallach
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2015-03-24
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1481418777

The lives of four high school seniors intersect weeks before a meteor is set to pass through Earth's orbit, with a 66.6% chance of striking and destroying all life on the planet.

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes (2021-2021) #1

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes (2021-2021) #1
Author: Brian Michael Bendis
Publisher: DC Comics
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2021-01-26
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN:

Whatever happened to the Legion of Super-Heroes? The team is no more, and the United Planets are in total chaos as one of the Legion’s own has turned on the entire galaxy! Everyone is affected...and not everyone survived! Ultra Boy tries to put the Legion back together to face the future head on! Find out the fates of all your favorite Legionnaires like Shadow Lass, Triplicate Girl, Brainiac Five, and Bouncing Boy. Plus, a shocking twist in the Legion mythology-and a long overdue appearance by the Legion of Substitute Heroes! It’s all here in a truly way-out tale by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist extraordinaire Riley Rossmo!