Kirjahaku

Bee's brother, Tommy, knows everything there is to know about sharks. He also knows that his life will be cut short by cystic fibrosis. And so does Bee. That's why she wants to make his wish-foundation-sponsored trip to swim with a great white shark an unforgettable memory. But wishes don't always come true. At least, not as expected. Only when Bee takes Tommy to meet a famous shark attack survivor and hard-core surfer does Tommy have the chance to live one day to the fullest. And in the sun-kissed ocean off a California beach, Bee discovers that she has a few secret wishes of her own. . . .

Brought together by war, separated by duty, a love story for the ages Margaret Kennedy lives on a dairy farm in rural Maine. Her husband Thomas--injured in a war overseas--will never be the man he was. When the President signs a bill in support of wounded veterans, Margaret is invited to the nation's capital. Charlie King, a handsome Foreign Service officer, volunteers to escort her. As the rhododendron blossoms along the Blue Ridge Highway, the unlikely pair fall in love--but Margaret cannot ignore the tug of her marriage vows. Joseph Monninger's Margaret from Maine is a page-turning romance that poignantly explores the dilemmas faced by those who serve our country--and the men and women who love them.

"Unexpected, generous, and poignant." --Huntley Fitzpatrick, author of What I Thought Was True Sixteen-year-old Clair Taylor has neighbors who are what locals call whippoorwills, the kind of people who fill their yards with rusty junk. Clair tries to ignore her surroundings, choosing instead to dream of a future beyond her rural New Hampshire town. But, when a black dog named Wally is chained up to a pole next door, Clair can't look the other way. Clair decides to save Wally, and the immediate connection she has with the lovable dog catches her off-guard, but even more surprising is her bond with eighteen-year-old Danny Stewart, the boy next door.

Joseph Monninger thought the worst when Nellie, his loyal golden retriever, became ill. Home Waters is the story of the road trip that Monninger decided to embark on with Nellie, traveling out West to revisit their favorite mountain haunts and trout streams. Expecting this to be their final excursion together, Monninger maps a course that includes the Wind River Range in Wyoming, the Bighorn River in Montana, and Henry Ford's River in Idaho. Painting a loving portrait of his canine companion and the joys of fishing, Monninger recalls the life events that Nellie has seen him through and describes how, oblivious to her presumed health problems, Nellie contentedly watches bison at Yellowstone, chases a coyote, and falls head over heels for a Chesapeake retriever named Chunky. Combining the charm of John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley with the unsentimental storytelling of A River Runs Through It, Home Waters is a delightful story of a beautiful friendship--one that is, in the end, renewed rather than ended.

"Subtle, nuanced, and full of heart" (Kirkus Reviews), this powerful story about football and a boy on the brink of adulthood is perfect for fans of Carl Deuker and Mike Lupica. Seventeen-year-old Zeb Holloway is happy to work in his uncle's auto repair shop and cruise through school without much effort. He's a quarterback on his high school's undefeated football team, but he never plays. That is, until the star player is injured a week before the state championships. As Zeb assumes the role of QB and team leader, the entire town is watching him. And when a college recruiter says Zeb could have a future beyond his small New Hampshire town, he realizes there's a bigger life out there for him. Can one game really change everything? Fate and football collide in this moving sports novel.

Cobb, a devoted teacher and nature-lover, takes a sabbatical from his New England boys prep school seeking to experience what Henry David Thoreau and the transcendentalists did in the early nineteenth century. Kayaking to the last known spot where the American writer and philosopher camped four years before he died, he encounters the beautiful free-spirited Mary. Also a teacher, avid bird-watcher, and deft adventurist, Mary is flirtatious and beguiling, and the two soon become inseparable. Mary is like no one Cobb has ever met before, but he gets the feeling that she is harboring a secret. Eventually she shares her fears with Cobb--that she may be carrying the gene for a devastating, incurable illness that runs in her family. Finding strength in their commitment to one another, the two embark on a journey that is filled with joy, anguish, hope, and most importantly, unending love. Set against the sweeping natural backdrops of Maine's rugged backcountry, the exotic islands of Indonesia, scenic Yellowstone National Park, and rural New England, Tender River is a timeless and poignant love story that will captivate readers everywhere.

JOE LOUIS VS TONY GALENTO: A fascinating portrait of an era, a compelling tale of two very different men, and one epic moment For fans of powerful untold histories like The Boys in the Boat, Seabiscuit, Tunney, and Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics "A brisk and entertaining history that looks at the state of the nation in the 1930s." -- Kirkus Reviews By all measures, 5' 8" Tony Two Ton Galento stood no chance when he stepped into the ring against the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, the finest heavyweight of his generation. Galento predicted, "I'll moida da bum," and lifted him from the canvas with a single left hook and entered the record books as one of the few men to put the great Louis down. A paloooka, a thug, a vibrant appetite of a man, Galento, the consummate underdog, scored some points for underestimated little guys everywhere. He had scrapped his way out of the streets and into the brightest light of American life, where he took his best shot. The powerful, disciplined, dignified Louis, who thrilled boxing fans with his prowess and inspired millions of Americans, but especially Black Americans during the Jim Crow era, would ultimately gather himself and take Galento apart. It was a rousing display of determination and courage for both men, who emerged from their combat with respect for the other. Joe Monninger's inspiring portrait of two men, a moment, and an era reminds us that sometimes it is through effort, exceeding expectations and beating the odds, that people can most enduringly define themselves.

An uplifting journey of truly seeing and appreciating what makes life worth living in the year following a terminal diagnosis For fans of Ann Patchett's These Precious Days and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking Goodbye to Clocks Ticking is an unforgettable book that tells the story of a singular year of challenges, insights, and peculiar gifts. It is also a sort of postcard from a place many of us will one day visit. After thirty-two years of teaching, Joe Monninger, an avid outdoorsman in robust health, was looking forward to a long retirement with the love of his life in a cabin beside a New England estuary. Three days after his last class, however, he's diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, even though he has not smoked for more than 30 years. It was May, and he might be dead by early fall. Soon Joe learned, however, that he was a genetic match for treatment with a drug that could not cure his cancer, but could prolong his life. With this temporary reprieve, he sets out to live life to the fullest and to write about the year of grace that follows, from his cancer treatments to his innermost thoughts. Goodbye to Clocks Ticking is a work of wisdom and insight. Joe Monninger's aubade to the world that he knew and loved offers a page-turning, suspenseful story to relish and to celebrate, to share and to discuss, to ponder and to learn from. "Full of heart and discovery." - Booklist, on Joseph Monninger's writing