Showing results by narrator "Gail Shalan" in All Categories

Historical fact-based fiction about the famous spy who played a key role in Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign. This narrative takes place between July 1861 and July 1862 and is the first in a series about the Confederate Secret Service and the women who were its most effective agents. Belle Boyd was the first woman in American History to be formally commissioned an army officer.

Patty Gayle and the Legend of Kingsley is a fantasy set in Kingsley Lake, Florida, in 1960. It's the journey of Patty Gayle, a twelve-year-old awkward girl, who doesn't think she has much purpose in life until she is given a key that unlocks possibilities of which she could only dream. The key leads her on an adventure to a magical land that she thought only existed in her grandmother's stories.

Fall in love all over again. Seventeen-year-old Taylor Lawton has a crush on Timothy Cooper, a boy at her school, and as crushes go, things are normal. He ignores her. She doesn't speak to him. Until their English teacher, Mrs. Walker puts them on a project together. A turn of fate then throws them both for a loop. For an entire week, they will stay beneath the same roof. Will this be too much togetherness? What will Taylor do with Timothy's painful secret? A light audiobook with a touching storyline, this tale is enjoyable for both young adults and grown-ups alike.

In Privilege Lost, Jessi Streib traces the lives of over 100 youth born into the upper-middle-class. Following them for over 10 years as they transition from teens to young adults, Streib examines who falls from the upper-middle-class, how, and why don't they see it coming. In doing so, she reveals the patterned ways that individuals' resources and identities push them onto mobility paths - and the complicated choices youth make between staying true to themselves and staying in their class position.

In the second of the Hometown trilogy, ex-Afghanistan vet paramedic Frankie McGill and resident deputy Gabe Zantos are caught up in a case of arson. A house at the end of a country road has stood vacant for years; it's occupants mice and the stray raccoon or two. When the derelict house catches fire, the only reason the Hawkesford Fire Department responds is because of the danger to the dry wheat fields surrounding it. But then not only a gunshot victim, but a charred body is found inside the house, along with evidence of a meth cooking operation. Accident, or murder?

Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in Karachi, Pakistan, with grandparents she’s never met. Secretly, she wishes to find her long-absent father, and plans to write to him in her beautiful new journal. The cook's daughter, Sakina, still hasn't told her parents that she'll be accepted to school only if she can improve her English test score - but then, how could her family possibly afford to lose the money she earns working with her Abba in a rich family's kitchen?

Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit is a beautifully written novel in verse loosely based on author Colby Cedar Smith’s maternal grandmother. The story follows Mary as she and her family emigrate from Greece to Detroit in the 1930s, creating a historically accurate portrayal of life as an immigrant during the Great Depression, hunger strikes, and violent riots. Mary lives in a tiny apartment with her immigrant parents, her brothers, and her twin sister, and she questions why her parents ever came to America.

I’m the crazy fun one. Pedal to the floor, balls to the wall, party all weekend guy. The guy everybody calls for laughs and a good time. And I always deliver. So, when Ainsley Winslow and I made a pact for a summer fling, I was all in. What hot-blooded college male doesn’t jump at the chance for a no-strings-attached relationship? Not this one. Then summer drew to a close, and I found myself wanting time to move slower. Ainsley Winslow is a girl of her word. When fall inevitably came, she vanished.

Noe Wiley couldn’t be more excited to move. After the slumber party sleepwalking incident of last year, she’s ready to make some new friends. But Noe didn’t expect the sullen, strange girls who live on her new street. And she certainly didn’t expect the strange warning they give her - to stay out of her basement, no matter what. Noe’s not going to let these girls boss her around. She’ll go in her own basement whenever she wants. So she does. And there he is. And now there’s no going back.

Half-siren Elvira Vance doesn’t trust outsiders. Especially not the human detective who’s been hired to investigate the disappearances of a chupacabra and the crown for the Marfa Monster Festival. While humans are convinced the monster skipped town with the crown, Elvira knows there’s more to the story. As the daughter of Vince Vance—founder of Vince Vance’s Vintage Trailer Park Inn for Monsters—Elvira cares too much about her home to let this mystery go unsolved.

Gloria Forman and Xia Harper go to the same high school in a small South Carolina town, but they couldn’t be more different. While Gloria is part of the popular, Christian crowd, Xia sleeps through class, antagonizes anyone who dares talk to her, and buries herself in books that help her pretend she’s somewhere else—anywhere that being lesbian wouldn’t be a waking nightmare. When the two form an accidental friendship, they begin noticing each other in ways they promised themselves they'd avoid.

Six months ago, Kate’s twelve-year-old daughter Melanie disappeared. It’s been six long months since Kate identified her battered, lifeless body. Kate is only just beginning to come to terms with her daughter's murder when a sinister message appears on her computer screen: WHY DID YOU LET HIM HURT ME, MUMMY? More horrifying messages follow. Only one person could be doing this to Kate—Melanie’s murderer.

The Argonauts are the greatest heroes in Greek mythology—brave, forthright, and selfless! Or ARE they? Dive into this funny, action-packed adventure and discover the real heroes: the monsters. From Joshua Pruett, Emmy Award-winning writer on Disney’s Phineas and Ferb and coauthor of the New York Times bestselling The Last Comics on Earth comes Gyro and the Argonauts! AKA The Best Book Ever Written* *About a Kid Named After a Sandwich.​

Nick Sixsmith has spent her whole life on the road. The daughter of a traveling arborist, she moves from town to town with her mother, caring for the ironwood groves that people rely upon for survival. When a dangerous blight threatens these magical trees, the Sixsmiths must journey to the city of Mistwood for answers.

In 1847, the Donner party resorted to eating human flesh to survive entrapment at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They became infamous almost instantly, with hundreds of books, stories, and interviews exploring their misery. None of them tell the extraordinary story from the first-person point of view of the female survivors. Until now. Three women yearned to make better lives in California: Nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Gravesset out west with her family in search of a home that would be free of disease like the ague that had afflicted her mother and sisters for years.

Through heartfelt words, I Like You So Much! highlights the individuality and wonderful qualities of every child, reminding listeners ages 4–8 that they are lovable and worthy just the way they are. Prompt kids to grow into their identity and be kind to themselves as they mark all the things they love: their face, their mind, the way they love! From unique features to incomparable talents to the way they think, feel, and sound, this book reassures children that who they are is amazing and truly enough.

When Ellie accidentally overhears that her family deli is most likely going to close, she does the only thing she can think of. She makes a wish on matzo ball soup. Eleven-year-old Ellie is feisty, determined, and a little bit anxious. She considers Lukshen Deli part of the family—after all, it’s been around for four generations, ever since her great-grandmother opened it.

It’s 1940, and Jody is moving with her military family yet again—this time to a small naval base in Pearl Harbor. She’s always created a “top ten” list for each new home to help her adjust, and with Hawaii being so beautiful and her loyal dog Happy by her side, it’s easy to find things to add. But Jody’s mom is convinced the island is dangerous and starts constantly practicing first aid. Jody also learns that Happy is getting older and beginning to slow down.

Grace Deming didn't want to uproot her family to care for her difficult mother-in-law, but she's determined to make the best of it for the sake of her daughter Shyla's future. Their new home is enormous; the neighborhood, prestigious. If the worst of it is that Althea dislikes her, she can cope. After all, Althea Deming is a sweetheart. Everyone says so—her husband, the neighbors. And soon, so does Shyla, the once vibrant and happy child now a shadow of her former self. What's wrong with Grace that she can't trust her? But all her instincts are screaming at her that Althea is dangerous.

Periods. Every person who menstruates has a different relationship with their Aunt Flow: some good, and some...not so good. This guide embraces all the icky, all the sticky, and all the confusing aspects of the monthly cycle, acknowledging that there's no cookie cutter way to manage the physical and emotional mayhem.