![]() ![]() But Seph's enthusiasm dampens when he learns that training comes at a steep cost, and that Leicester plans to use his students' powers to serve his own dangerous agenda. ![]() Gregory Leicester, the headmaster, promises to train Seph in magic and initiate him into his mysterious order of wizards. At first, it seems like the answer to his prayers. After causing a tragic fire at an after-hours party, Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boys' school on the coast of Maine. Seph is a wizard, orphaned and untrained-and his powers are escalating out of control. ![]() It's the trail of magical accidents-lately, disasters-that follow in his wake. And it's not his attitude that's the problem. Sixteen-year-old Seph McCauley has spent the past three years getting kicked out of one exclusive private school after another. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() And nobody knows anything about it.įunny, intense, complex, and brave, Grasshopper Jungle brilliantly weaves together everything from testicle-dissolving genetically modified corn to the struggles of recession-era, small-town America in this groundbreaking coming-of-age stunner from the author of The Alex Crow and Winger. ![]() An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things. In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. Age 14 and up The end of the world comes with neither a bang nor a whimper but with a dark chuckle and the ominous click-click of giant insect. It’s propulsive plot would be delightful enough on its own, but Smith’s ability to blend teenage drama into a bug invasion is a literary joy to behold… Smith may have intended this novel for young adults, but his technique reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s in “Slaughterhouse Five,” in the best sense.” - New York Times Book Review GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE By Andrew Smith Dutton. “Grasshopper Jungle is a rollicking tale that is simultaneously creepy and hilarious. Winner of the 2014 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction ![]() ![]() Following his remarks, he responded to questions and comments from members of the audience.Ĭharles Mann talked about his book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, published by Alfred A. Mann used pictures during his presentation. of people in the Americas in 1492, the common belief among the experts today. He refuted the commonly taught version of the Americas before Columbus, saying it wasn’t a sparsely populated wilderness but a cultivated land populated by advanced peoples. Charles Mann illuminates all of these issues and reports on how these. In the book, the author described the cultures of the Aztec and Native American peoples of the Americas as well as the technological innovations of their respective cultures. In his book Charles Mann reached the conclusion that in the year before Christopher Columbus landed in 1492, there were more people in the Americas than in Europe. ![]() ![]() Mann 4.04 82,403 ratings4,612 reviews In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. ![]() T16:04:31-04:00 Charles Mann talked about his book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, published by Alfred A. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus Charles C. In a book that startles and persuades, Mann reveals how a new generation of researchers equipped with novel scientific techniques came to previously unheard-of conclusions. ![]() ![]() ![]() When the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer. Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. ![]() A young woman discovers her mysterious powers could help catch a killer in the first book of The Diviners series–a stunning supernatural historical mystery set in 1920s New York City, from Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray.Įvangeline O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and sent off to the bustling streets of New York City–and she is ecstatic. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Don’t remind me that Dickens (among others) wrote his novels piecemeal this way, weekly, changing his plot to satisfy his readers’ opinions as he went along… I firmly believe he would have been even greater had he not suffered under such constraints! Series fiction, on the other hand, often lacks the solid structure that leads to reader satisfaction: because it is written without a solid plan in the initial stages, it seldom forms as cohesive and satisfying a narrative. Series fiction has become so popular in the children’s and young adult literary world that we have forgotten the joy of a good trilogy, which combines the longevity of narrative that series fiction attempts to supply with a story that is well structured and coherent: with a beginning, a middle (climax, change of scene, rising action, another climax, another change of scene and rising action), and an end (a final climax, dénouement, and ultimately great satisfaction for the reader). It is best to review these three titles as a trilogy á la Lord of the Rings, rather than three separate novels. ![]() ![]() ![]() Along the way, she investigates the questions we must inevitably answer. In this intelligent, accomplished work of narrative journalism, Elizabeth Royte does for water what Michael Pollan did for food: she finds the people, machines, economies, and cultural trends that bring it from distant aquifers to our supermarkets. Only now, with the water industry trading in the billions of dollars, have we begun to question what it is we're drinking. The brands have become so ubiquitous that we're hardly conscious that Poland Spring and Evian were once real springs, bubbling in remote corners of Maine and France. ![]() Having already surpassed milk and beer, and second now only to soda, bottled water is on the verge of becoming the most popular beverage in the country. Tap or bottled? This book is an incisive, stylish and habit-changing narrative investigation into the commercialization of our most basic human need: drinking water. ![]() ![]() ![]() Few common folk in the late 18th century gave these objects a second thought, but Smith was unable to take anything geological for granted. These "pound-stones" turned out not to be stones at all, but lithified sea-urchins, nearly all of which weigh in at around 22oz - a long pound, or about enough butter to keep a family going for a fortnight. The curious objects used to counterbalance the butter scales in his uncle's dairy, for example, fascinated him. William Smith, born in 1769 of an Oxfordshire blacksmith, fell in love with all things subterranean at an early age. But the first, published in 1815, was the work of just one remarkable man, and Simon Winchester tells his story in The Map that Changed the World. Not surprisingly, modern geological maps of Britain embody the work of thousands of people. Figuring out what goes where underneath the agricultural carpet is a complex game of join-the-dots, where a road cutting can be a godsend and a cliff face an embarrassment of data. ![]() ![]() And you can't make a geological map just by wandering around with a theodolite, because most geology, in Britain anyway, is buried under barley and sheep. Only the most garish colours will do - scarlet for granite, canary yellow for oolitic limestone and bright green for, well, greensand. Maps produced by geographers are usually dull, accurate affairs, but geology maps are a riot. ![]() ![]() His answer amazes them when he claims that he is collecting supplies of a different sort – sun rays for the cold dark days ahead, colours for the grey winter and words for the long days when they might run out of things to say. Not surprisingly, the other hard working mice are none too pleased so they challenge Frederick. ![]() Instead of working as hard as his brothers and sisters, he spends his days staring at the meadow seemingly half asleep. Frederick is the only mouse who seems to see things slightly differently though. However, by working hard night and day the little family look like they could collect enough to see them through the long hard winter. Unfortunately, the farmers have moved away meaning that there are not such rich pickings to collect for the winter. The story of Frederick starts by introducing a chatty family of field mice who live in a stone wall alongside a meadow not far from a barn and a granary. ![]() Is he just being extremely lazy or is he actually contributing in a different but equally helpful way? However, one field mouse, Frederick, doesn't seem to be doing any work. It's arduous work but as long as they all put their weight they should be ready. ![]() Summary: There is a family of field mice who work very hard all through Summer and Autumn getting ready for the long hard winter. ![]() ![]() ![]() Death on the Nile is written by Michael Green, adapted from Christie’s novel, and is produced by Ridley Scott, Mark Gordon, Simon Kinberg, Kenneth Branagh and Judy Hofflund with Matthew Jenkins and James Prichard serving as executive producers. ![]() He is joined by an all-star cast of suspects, including: Tom Bateman, four-time Oscar® nominee Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders and Letitia Wright. The Body in the Library Agatha Christie 10. The Man in the Brown Suit (Colonel Race, 1) Agatha Christie 9. Murders (Hercule Poirot, 12) Agatha Christie 8. Murder at the Vicarage Agatha Christie 7. Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot, 16) Agatha Christie 6. The sinister tale of obsessive love and its murderous consequences plays out against an epic landscape of danger and foreboding, with enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences unsettled and guessing until the final, shocking denouement.ĭeath on the Nile reunites the film-making team behind 2017’s global hit Murder on the Orient Express based on another celebrated Christie novel, and stars: five-time Academy Award® nominee Kenneth Branagh as the iconic Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, 3) Agatha Christie 5. In Death on the Nile, a mystery-thriller directed by Kenneth Branagh based on Agatha Christie’s 1937 novel, Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian adventure aboard a glamorous river steamer descends into a terrifying search for a murderer when an idyllic honeymoon is shattered by violent deaths. ![]() ![]() ![]() Meaning, approximately 30% of our population is sleep deprived. The CDC estimates 1 in 3 adults are getting less than 7 hours of rest each night. But what happens if your body isn’t getting the rest it needs? In fact, workplace fatigue regularly causes safety incidents, and it can mean the difference between life and death when organizations don’t have a fatigue management plan in place to prevent worker fatigue to ensure safer, more productive, and healthier workplaces.Īccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults should get at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. ![]() Uninterrupted sleep is important for all aspects of life and particularly when it comes to cognitive fatigue’s direct and measurable role in and the coordination required for complex tasks across heavy industry, such as mining, oil & gas, and construction. What Happens When You Don’t Sleep for a Day? ![]() |