When Bella boards a train west to reunite with her Buffalo soldier sweetheart, she encounters the most colorful and lively characters ever to roam the Western plains. Bullets and fists will fly, heads and hearts will break, but—blessed with a big heart, and a voluptuous figure—Bella will breeze on through it all.

What's a black girl from sunny Southern California to do? White people are blowing up black girls in Birmingham churches. Black people are shouting "Black is beautiful" while straightening their hair and coveting light skin. Viveca Stanton's answer: Slap on a bubbly smile and be as white as you can be! In a humorous and pointed coming-of-age story spanning the sixties through the nineties, Viveca blithely sails through the confusing worlds of racism, sexism and Broadway showbiz until she's forced to face the devastating effect self-denial has had on her life.

Sometimes being true to yourself is the most bewitching magic of all! This young middle-grade series is hilarious, enchanting, and filled with mischief! Perfect for fans of The Worst Witch! Bella Broomstick is a terrible witch. She doesn't have nose hair or warts. Her magic wand never does what she wants it to do. And she's obsessed with things no good witch would ever need...like toothbrushes, fluffy slippers, and a pink flamingo pen. So it's really not a surprise when Bella fails the Creepy Castle School entrance exam. Aunt Hemlock sends her to live with a nice family and warns her that magic is forbidden! It turns out that living with non-magical parents means all kinds of fun new things--like eating ice cream instead of frog spawn porridge and taking hot bubble baths instead of washing in a swamp. Bella can totally give up magic to live here . . . unless there's a really good reason to try a spell. This hilarious series starter features a reluctant witch, a lost kitten, and a fun look at our world through the eyes of an outsider. When Bella follows her heart, making magic is easy!

Bella, an Italian from New Jersey whose family moved to Texas, must battle her feelings for a deejay and learn how to run the family's wedding planning business after she books a country and western theme wedding.

Newly arrived in New York City in 1910, Bella is desperate to send money home to her family in Italy, and becomes one of the hundreds of workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. But one fateful March night, a spark ignites some cloth in the factory, resulting in a fire that will become one of the worst workplace disasters in history.

LIES AND OTHER TALL TALES These tales are so tall they touch the sky! From Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers and Zora Neale Hurston. While traveling in the Gulf States in the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston collected and recorded some real whoppers told by folks from all walks of life. Not "dog ate my homework" kind of lies, but tales so wild you didn't ever want to hear the truth. And now today's picture–book readers can enjoy these far–fetched fibs, with Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers's spirited adaption and bold, expressive collages.

One of Alasdair Gray's most brilliant creations, Poor Things is a postmodern revision of Frankenstein that replaces the traditional monster with Bella Baxter--a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of Bella, but his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for Baxter's creation.The hilarious tale of love and scandal that ensues would be "the whole story" in the hands of a lesser author (which in fact it is, for this account is actually written by Dr. McCandless). For Gray, though, this is only half the story, after which Bella (a.k.a. Victoria McCandless) has her own say in the matter.Satirizing the classic Victorian novel, Poor Things is a hilarious political allegory and a thought-provoking duel between the desires of men and the independence of women, from one of Scotland's most accomplished authors.