When sixth-grader Gene Tucks moves south, she dreads being the new kid at school and almost everything else about her life as a “nobody.” But what she dreads most is the hundred-day journal-writing assignment her teacher has given the class. His brilliant idea is to have the journals locked in the town museum’s vault for forty years so that future grade-sixers can read them. At first, Gene has trouble writing to someone who isn’t even born yet. But little by little, Dear Nobody becomes Dear Somebody, who evolves into Dear Toni. And bit by bit, Toni, a good listener, becomes a best friend to whom Gene tells everything. And, there’s lots to tell. Gene’s family is in transition to say the least. Her dad is looking for work, they are moving — again, her brother is the bane of her existence, and, more than anything else in the world, Gene wants something she can’t have — a dog. Toni is the first to learn that Gene is moving to a rent-free empty apartment at the back of a gas station, so her dad can manage it. And wonder of wonders, the owner’s dog needs looking after. Not just any dog; a St. Bernard who happens to have three pups. Through Gene’s one hundred entries the whole story unwinds and in the end, just like Toni does forty years later, we have come to know one of the freshest, funniest characters to grace the pages of a book in a very long time. Decorated with doodles by the author, Dear Toni has the look and feel of a journal, but the heart of a special 12 year old. In reprinting Dear Toni by Cyndi Sand-Eveland, we applied the incorrect award designation to its cover. Although the book was on the short list, it was not the winner of the 2009-2010 Hackmatack Award. The winning English Fiction title was Dog Lost by Ingrid Lee (Scholastic). We regret the error and apologize to all concerned.

FEATURED ON THE COVER OF TIME MAGAZINE AS A 2021 NEXT GENERATION LEADER “A once-in-a-generation voice.” – Vulture “One of our greatest living writers.” – Shondaland A full-throated and provocative memoir in letters from the New York Times bestselling author, “a dazzling literary talent whose works cut to the quick of the spiritual self” (Esquire) In three critically acclaimed novels, Akwaeke Emezi has introduced readers to a landscape marked by familial tensions, Igbo belief systems, and a boundless search for what it means to be free. Now, in this extraordinary memoir, the bestselling author of The Death of Vivek Oji reveals the harrowing yet resolute truths of their own life. Through candid, intimate correspondence with friends, lovers, and family, Emezi traces the unfolding of a self and the unforgettable journey of a creative spirit stepping into power in the human world. Their story weaves through transformative decisions about their gender and body, their precipitous path to success as a writer, and the turmoil of relationships on an emotional, romantic, and spiritual plane, culminating in a book that is as tender as it is brutal. Electrifying and inspiring, animated by the same voracious intelligence that distinguishes Emezi's fiction, Dear Senthuran is a revelatory account of storytelling, self, and survival.

Vowing never to marry, Toni Schmidt returns to Rockdale to help kids who face the same problems she encountered in her youth. But she's unprepared for her growing attraction to her mentor's brother, David Trent. David is doing his best to raise two children alone. Toni seems to be everything he wants in a wife, but she's holding a great deal of bitterness and anger about the past. Can David prove to Toni that true love overcomes every obstacle? Can Toni let go of the vow she clings to so carefully - the vow she believes will protect her from further pain?

Cathy Braithwaite seems to have it all; good looks, money and a thriving accounting practice. But below the surface of this successful career woman is a void that just can’t seem to be filled. Toni, Cathy’s best friend and employee, is desperate to fill that void. She’s fallen for her boss hook, line and sinker and will do anything to be with her, maybe even stretch the truth. Lisa, freshly broken up from a cheating partner, is not looking for love. Indeed, she tells anyone who’ll listen she is “through with women.” Follow the tale of three women as they navigate their way through old love, new love and unrequited love.

What does a middle-aged daughter, Adele, do when her aging, ill mother asks for help in dying, especially when daughter and mother have been edgy antagonists for years? Confronting a frightening death as her lungs fill, the mother, Elizabeth, insists on her right to choose when to die. Adele turns for help to her sister, who rejects euthanasia on religious grounds, and her brother, who tries to get pills, but is trapped in a snowstorm. Adele's daughter, Toni, becomes involved when she asks her grandmother's help with research into heroin smuggling perhaps carried on by people her grandparents knew.

"Celebrating 20 years of Agatha Raisin - brand-new bonus story included!"--Cover.

Two unforeseen moments in time— One brings them together, the other is a danger so real it could tear them apart. Antoinette &‘Toni' Grimaldi prefers to keep out of the spotlight, blend in with the crowd and experience life the same as the bulk of the population. Being a mining magnate's daughter is a difficult persona for her to uphold. She just doesn't fit in with high society standards, always managing to say something inappropriate or trip over her own feet at the worst possible moment, resulting in that look of disappointment and embarrassment her parents inevitably wear whenever she's around. Meeting a handsome stranger who comes to her rescue and asks her out on a date is so much more than Toni could have ever hoped for on her dream holiday—one she is surprised her parents have even permitted her to take alone. Her fairy-tale moment is short-lived, though, when Toni discovers the stranger has been hired by her family to follow her every move—under the guise of keeping her safe. Jason finds he is drawn to Antoinette. She is nothing at all like the socialite he was expecting to shadow around London's nightclubs. After an awkward first meeting, he convinces Toni that there is more to his interest in her than just as her bodyguard. To his surprise, his attraction for the soft-spoken, thoughtful woman grows, despite his usual reluctance to commit to any kind of relationship. Then a disaster at one of the family-owned mines and a string of death threats force Toni to return home, and her need for a bodyguard becomes a life and death reality.