To outsiders, Rikki Kasnett is a model student; co-dance head for the upcoming school production; a fun-loving friend. But on the inside, Rikki and her older sister Daniella are struggling to cope with their desperate home situation, which they must keep hidden at all costs. When their mother's mental illness reaches new depths, the facade that the two sisters have worked so hard to build is shattered. The girls valiantly attempt to keep their lives afloat, guarding their horrifying secrets from well-meaning friends and teachers who want to help. They're worn out by the deception, but can't imagine any other solution. Will Rikki and Daniella be able to transcend the secrecy that has ruled their lives and find the help they need to recover?

'The funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest man I ever knew.' This is how W.C. Fields described Bert Williams, the highest-paid entertainer in America in his heyday and someone who counted the King of England and Buster Keaton among his fans. Born in the Bahamas, he moved to California with his family. Too poor to attend Stanford University, he took to life on the stage with his friend George Walker. Together they played lumber camps and mining towns until they eventually made the agonising decision to 'play the coon'. Off-stage, Williams was a tall, light-skinned man with marked poise and dignity; on-stage he now became a shuffling, inept 'nigger' who wore blackface make-up. As the new century dawned they were headlining on Broadway. But the mask was beginning to overwhelm Williams and he sank into bouts of melancholia and heavy drinking, unable to escape the blackface his public demanded.

He tossed her into the air as if she were weightless, and just for a moment she seemed suspended there, defying gravity. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I knew what she was feeling. It was in every movement of every limb. Here was a power I had never seen before, a kind of haunting loveliness I had never imagined. Seeing it made me long for something, I didn't know what . . . Ditty was born to dance, but she was also born Jewish. When her strictly religious parents won't let her take ballet lessons, Ditty starts to dance in secret. But for how long can she keep her two worlds apart? And at what cost? A dramatic and moving story about a girl who follows her dream, and finds herself questioning everything she believes in.

The authors offer an insightful analysis of the symbiotic relationship between the popular entertainment industry and America's youth, suggest principles for evaluating popular art and entertainment, and propose strategies for rebuilding strong local cultures in the face of global media giants.

EMMY"One bronze, oval button. One push. One ding, one dong.And it will all be real."I never thought it would be easy. And, yet, nothing could have prepared me for this. For them. For him.The second the black walls of the Matthews House swallow me whole, I know it's a dangerous game I'm playing. One that threatens to consume me. Taunt me. Cut, burn, and bleed me dry. Until there's nothing left to take. In the end, I will find the dark in a way I never expected.In the end . . . I will question everything.ADAM"Ash and dust. Death and murder. When you have no soul, there's no fear of losing it. And without fear . . . you're limitless."She's supposed to be a pawn. A gift. Some kind of fucked up way to screw with my head.Another doll, another day.But no one, not even my brothers, know the secrets of my past. None of us could know what the girl's presence here really means. For them. For her. Or what secrets of her own she has buried deep behind those deceptively innocent eyes.But no secret stays buried forever.And not even I can pull the strings when we're dancing in the dark.*PLEASE BE ADVISED: this book contains triggers. Dark themes, characters with questionable morals, questionable sexual situations, violence, murder, abuse (including minors), sex, and profanity.

New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark turns up the heat in a drop-dead frightening novel about an idyllic beach community turned killer's hunting ground Trying to mix business with pleasure, KEY News correspondent Diane Mayfield has brought her children and her sister to the New Jersey shore town of Ocean Grove to investigate a story on "girls who cry wolf" for the season premiere of Hourglass, television's highly rated news magazine. Diane lands an exclusive interview with a troubled young woman whose tale of being abducted and held against her will for three terrifying days had been disbelieved by the authorities. No sooner does Diane finish taping the interview, though, than a second victim disappears. The small community, already in the grip of a record heat wave, is now wracked by fear and terror—no one knows who could be next. With only the first victim as eyewitness, Diane and the police turn to her for clues. But it may be too late to save Diane and her loved ones from the mortal danger that lurks in Ocean Grove. Full of twists, turns, and terrifyingly real danger, Dancing in the Dark is Mary Jane Clark's most suspenseful thriller yet.