Showing results by narrator "Gilli Messer" in All Categories

The literary tradition of the fairy tale has long endured as the vehicle by which we interrogate the laws of reality. These fantastical stories, populated with wolves, kings, and wicked witches, have throughout history served as a template for understanding culture, society, and that muddy terrain we call our collective human psyche. In Happily, Sabrina Orah Mark reimagines the modern fairy tale, turning it inside out and searching it for the wisdom to better understand our contemporary moment in what Mark so incisively calls “this strange American weather.”

Dr. Jonas Salk is one of the most celebrated doctors and medical researchers of the 20th century. The child of immigrants who never learned to speak English, Jonas was struck by the devastation he saw when the soldiers returned from battle after WWII. Determined to help, he worked to become a doctor and eventually joined the team that created the influenza vaccine. But Jonas wanted to do more. As polio ravaged the United States - even the president was not immune! - Jonas decided to lead the fight against this terrible disease.

Nestled in the hills of West Virginia lies White Sulphur Springs, home to the Greenbrier Resort. Long a playground for presidents and film stars, the Greenbrier has its own gravitational pull. Over ten decades, four generations of the Zelner family must grapple with their place in its shadow . . . and within their own family.

Did you know that the tongue of blue whale can weigh as much as an elephant? How about that blue whales’ songs can be louder than the engine of a jet plane? Or that, with the right equipment, you can hear a blue whale’s heartbeat two miles away? Perfect for all animal lovers—and blue whale fans in particular—this book is filled with all the facts you need to know to become a blue whale expert! Where are blue whales found? What's it like to be a blue whale? Why are blue whales endangered, and who has been working hard to save them?

In this story told in spare, lyrical prose, a Jewish family prepares for their Passover seder, visiting the farmer's market for walnuts, lilacs, and honey (and adopting a kitten along the way!), then chopping apples for the charoset, and getting dressed up before walking to Nana's house. The refrain throughout is “Dayenu” - a mindset of thankfulness, a reminder to be aware of the blessings in each moment. At Nana's, there's matzo ball soup, chicken, coconut macaroons, and of course, the hidden afikomen.

Children can celebrate the special teacher in their life with this collection of short poems that sings the praises of the excellent educator they know and love. From their kindness working with their students to their ability to make the most complicated of topics make sense, this is the perfect gift book for any teacher.

Ever since that snowy Russian winter's night when she was born, Molly has longed to know the secret behind each of her 35 names. When Molly unearths a pair of time-worn spectacles in her garden, she is drawn into a mysterious realm of vivid, magical discoveries. Who are these women she is named for and what have they gifted her? What are those fantastic colors swirling around the people she sees and the young man she meets on her wedding day?

A Holocaust historian, archivist, and history blogger adds a new dimension to the story of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II, shining a long overdue spotlight on five young, Polish Jewish women—champions who helped lead the resistance, sabotage the Nazis, and aid Jews in hiding across occupied Poland and Eastern Europe.

In 1939, on a remote Pacific island, botanical researcher Irene Greer plunges off a waterfall to her death, convinced the spirits of her dead husband and daughter had joined the nightmarchers—ghosts of ancient warriors that rise from their burial sites on moonless nights. But was it suicide, or did a strange young missionary girl, Agnes, play a role in Irene's deteriorating state of mind?

Passover is one of the most celebrated Jewish holidays. Families all over the world gather around the dining table to recite the story of the Exodus from Egypt, honor the freedom of the Jewish people, and look toward the future. The Rock ‘N’ Roll Haggadah shares the traditional biblical stories and rituals of a standard Haggadah, but it also includes a rich tapestry of anecdotes that speak to the influence of Judaism on artists and their music, and its culinary, historical, and anthropological impact.

At Raven House, teenage girls who have found themselves in the family way are partnered with suburban families to hide out and help out until their due date. Once their babies are given up for adoption, they agree to never speak to their host families again. Fifteen-year-old Betsy Ann Eubanks had no idea that what she was doing could lead to a baby. Thankfully Mrs Berg – a perfect housewife and loving mother to a seventeen-month-old with another on the way – is happy to welcome her into her family and teach her about her body and how a woman is supposed to behave.

Clara loves rules. Rules are what have kept her and her sister, Molly, alive—or, rather, undead—for over a century. Work their historic movie theater by day. Shift into an owl under the cover of night. Feed on men in secret. And never fall in love. Molly is in love. And she’s tired of keeping her girlfriend, Anat, a secret. If Clara won’t agree to bend their rules a little, then she will bend them herself. Boaz is cursed. He can’t walk two city blocks without being cornered by something undead. At least at work at the theater, he gets to flirt with Clara, wishing she would like him back.

It’s another scorching summer in Chicago, and fifteen-year-old Margarita is spending her vacation as usual, under the not-so-watchful eyes of her aging maternal grandparents. All told, the plucky teen would much rather be at home in Germany, exploring Berlin with her best friend, Anna, or with Avi, her doting Israeli father, a cantor at their local synagogue with whom she has shared a special bond ever since her mother, Marsha, abandoned the family. Instead, she’s stuck halfway around the world, homesick and tortured by the sound of her grandparents’ chewing.