Showing results by narrator "Soneela Nankani" in All Categories

What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you see a differently abled person? Pity? Sympathy? The real-life success stories of 15 differently abled people charted in Because Life Is a Gift will make you think otherwise.

Best friends Colin and Ty live one day at a time - the only way it's possible to survive in Metaltown, where money is in short supply, illness runs rampant, and street rules are the highest law. With the other near-starving teenagers of Metaltown, they work long, grueling hours for pennies at the Small Parts factory, attaching fuses to bombs and manufacturing weapons. When they're worked to the bone, they seek shelter where they can find it, and do it all again the next day.

Faerie, a novel for young people, is the fierce yet gently unfolding story of a hyperimaginative girl who is on a collision course to womanhood. She likens herself to a half-human fairy creature who does not belong in the earthly world; but in the cold light of day, she is a psychiatric patient at a hospital where she is being treated for anorexia - her sickness driven by the irrational need to undo nature and thwart the passage of time.

When the posthuman Next suddenly reappear in a solar system that banished them, humans are threatened. Their reactions vary from disgust and anger to yearning to live forever like the powerful Next, who are casually building a new city out of starships in the heart of the rewilded planet Lym. The first families of Lym must deal with invasion while they grapple with their own inner fears.

From James Beard Leadership Award winner Saru Jayaraman, Forked is an enlightening examination of what we don't talk about when we talk about restaurants: Is the line cook working through a case of stomach flu because he doesn't get paid sick days? Is the busser not being promoted because he speaks with an accent? Is the server tolerating sexual harassment because tips are her only income?

What if a society banished its worst nightmare to the far edge of the solar system, destined to sip dregs of light and struggle for the barest living? What if that life thrived, grew, learned, and became far more than anyone ever expected, yearning to return to the sun? What if it didn't share your moral compass in any way? The Glittering Edge duology describes the clash of forces when an advanced society that has filled a solar system with flesh-and-blood life meets the near-AIs it banished long ago.

Sophie loves the hidden shop below her parents' bookstore, where dreams are secretly bought and sold. When the dream shop is robbed and her parents go missing, Sophie must unravel the truth to save them. Together with her best friend - a wisecracking and fanatically loyal monster named Monster - she must decide whom to trust with her family's carefully guarded secrets. Who will help them, and who will betray them?

After dealing with killer whales, evil scientists, the return of her long-lost mother, and, certainly not least of all, the challenges of breastfeeding, Elvie Nara has just about had it. And then the Jin'Kai (along with the aforementioned estranged mom) kidnap her baby. And before she knows it, another Jin'Kai attack puts her on the run again, but not before discovering that Olivia was implanted with a genetic tracking device.

With King Lohar dead and a usurper queen in power, Gul and Cavas face a new tyrannical government that is bent on killing them both. Their roles in King Lohar's death have not gone unnoticed, and the new queen is out for blood. What she doesn't know is that Gul and Cavas have a connection that runs deeper than romance, and together, they just might have the strength and magic to end her for good. Then a grave mistake ends with Cavas taken prisoner by the government.

Savedra Severos is no stranger to intrigue. Mistress to the King of Selafai and daughter of a rival noble house, she navigates the treacheries of court with every breath. On the eve of delicate peace talks, the court mage is found murdered. As Savedra investigates, she stumbles further into a web of secrets that enmeshes three kingdoms - entangling spies and sorcerers, lovers and enemies, strangers and kin. Among those secrets are Savedra's own, dangerous enough to destroy her king and her family if they come to light.

The summer before that fateful birthday, Maris is in the wealthy beach town of Cross Cove with her estranged father and his new family - and the infamous Duvals. Since the youngest member of the Duval family, Edison, is back from college and back in the arms of Maris' new stepsister, her summer looks to be a long string of lazy days on the Duval's lush beach. But Edison is hiding something. And the more Maris learns about him, the more she's given signs that she should stay as far away from him as possible.

Susan is the new girl - she's sharp and driven, and strives to meet her parents' expectations of excellence. Malcolm is the bad boy - he started raising hell at age 15 after his mom died of cancer, and has had a reputation ever since. Susan's parents are on the verge of divorce. Malcolm's dad is a known adulterer. Susan hasn't told anyone, but she wants to be an artist. Malcolm doesn't know what he wants - until he meets her. Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other.

Welcome to Vale Hall: a school for aspiring con artists. When Brynn Hilder is recruited to the elite Vale Hall, she can’t believe her luck. Vale means a new life. But Brynn soon learns that she hasn’t been recruited because of her straight A's - she’s been chosen because up until now, her extracurriculars involved conning rich North Shore kids out of their extravagant allowances in an attempt to save up for college. At Vale Hall, she’ll be expected to use her skills for a much bigger purpose: to rid the city of crooked politicians and corrupt officials.

A young woman climbs the tallest tree in Istanbul’s centuries-old Gülhane Park, determined to live out the rest of her days there. Perched in an abandoned stork’s nest in a sanctuary of branches and leaves, she tries to make sense of the rising tide of violence in the world below. Torn between the desire to forget all that has happened and the need to remember, her story, and the stories of those around her, begins to unfold.

Bollywood takes over in this “effervescent” (Booklist) and magical middle grade novel about an Indian American girl whose world turns upside down when she involuntarily starts bursting into glamorous song-and-dance routines during everyday life. You know how in Bollywood when people are in...

Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature In the companion novel to the beloved and award-winning Amina’s Voice, Amina once again uses her voice to bridge the places, people, and communities she loves—this time across continents. It’s the last few days of an...

Practical tips and advice for parents navigating the school system from a mom who’s been there. One in five children have dyslexia, but too many parents feel isolated and defeated in their efforts to secure an equal chance for their children. After fighting the school system for four years to...

If 17-year-old Kareena Thakkar is going to alienate herself from the entire Indian community, she might as well do it gloriously. She’s landed the chance of a lifetime, an invitation to the US Muay Thai Open, which could lead to a spot on the first-ever Olympic team. If only her sport weren’t seen as something too rough for girls, something she’s afraid to share with anyone outside of her family. Despite pleasing her parents, excelling at school, and making plans to get her family out of debt, Kareena’s never felt quite Indian enough, and her training is only making it worse.

Brynn Hilder has conned a lot of people. From the spoiled rich kids of Sikawa City to her mom's loser ex-boyfriend, from a motorcycle gang to a senator's son. If there was money to be gained, or a secret to uncover, she figured out how to get it done. And thanks to Vale Hall and its director, Dr. David Odin, she's found a family of hustlers just like her. Together, Brynn and her friends have overcome doubt, deceit, and betrayal to unearth the truth - a truth even a group of professional scammers couldn't have predicted.

In two-time O. Henry-prize winner Swamy's debut collection of stories, dreams collide with reality, modernity collides with antiquity, myth with true identity, and women grapple with desire, with ego, with motherhood and mortality.