Shortlisted for the SYRCA 2013 Diamond Willow Award, selected as an American Library Association 2012 Notable Children's Book, a Booklist Editors' Choice, nominated for the OLA Golden Oak Tree Award, and a finalist for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards: Young Adult/Middle Reader Award, the Governor General's Literary Awards: Children's Text and the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award There's not much that upsets young Valli. Even though her days are spent picking coal and fighting with her cousins, life in the coal town of Jharia, India, is the only life she knows. The only sight that fills her with terror are the monsters who live on the other side of the train tracks -- the lepers. Valli and the other children throw stones at them. No matter how hard her life is, she tells herself, at least she will never be one of them. Then she discovers that she is not living with family after all, that her "aunt" was a stranger who was paid money to take Valli off her own family's hands. She decides to leave Jharia ... and so begins a series of adventures that takes her to Kolkata, the city of the gods. It's not so bad. Valli finds that she really doesn't need much to live. She can "borrow" the things she needs and then pass them on to people who need them more than she does. It helps that though her bare feet become raw wounds as she makes her way around the city, she somehow feels no pain. But when she happens to meet a doctor on the ghats by the river, Valli learns that she has leprosy. Despite being given a chance to receive medical care, she cannot bear the thought that she is one of those monsters she has always feared, and she flees, to an uncertain life on the street. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3 Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Every day can hold so much tenderness and wonder when seen with fresh eyes and a grateful heart. This book illuminates your world in practical waysand helps you to see beyond the ordinary to everything thats quietly miraculous. Featuring small exercises for mindfulness, stress relief, gratitude, and forgiveness'and all can be done in five minutes or less'you can shift your perspective, create new patterns, and feel connected to the extraordinary things that are around you and in you.

"With a flatbed scanner and a rich library of found images, Maggie Taylor creates breathtaking, thought-provoking digital art. In these vibrant montages, often called fabricated photography, there are as many layers of symbolism and meaning as there are pieces of visual information. This retrospective of Taylor's work covers 1998-2012, showcasing 120 full-color images and including an essay by noted photography critic A. D. Coleman."--Publisher's description.

The memoir Ordinary Days by the scholar and critic Leo Ou-fan Lee and his wife Esther Lee Yuk Ying brings to this Hong Kong series an intensely personal touch, consciously echoing the great sentimental memoir of the eighteenth century, Shen Fu's Six Chapters of a Floating Life. With disarming candour, Leo and Esther lay bare their hearts to share with us their story of love and suffering, charting in a series of memorable chapters their shared spiritual quest. Set partly against the recent backdrop of some of Hong Kong's most turbulent years, partly in the far-flung diaspora of the Chinese intelligentsia, this is a revealing record of the inner life of a highly cultivated modern Chinese couple.

This book was written while in motion.....campground...tent...5th Wheel trailer...basement...my mother's house....fleas...ghosts...melancholy...my record collection....small town libraries....animals...typewriters...tiny post offices....this is a book about rage...and gentleness....it is about privacy and other archaic concepts.....this is a book about staying human...it is sacred and stupid, I hope.

Marooned in a quicksand of skepticism, drowning into a cauldron of emotion, a sixteen year old goes rabbiting around for answers. Her mind rakes a volley of questions. Her mind questions the absurdity of the dogmatic system around her. Her mind plunders into the unknown terrain of why and how. Her mind dabbles with the idea of transgressing boundaries. Her mind ponders over the festering wounds unattended. Her mind wonders if there is peace at the end of the tunnel. The heart quietens the mind, douses the rage and teaches her to love. Afterall life is all about love.