Being human is a disadvantage in post-apocalyptic America... Now that the Feeding Plague has swept through human and zombie societies, it seems like everyone is an "ex" these days. Ex-human. Ex- zombie. Except for Amy, that is. She's the only human survivor from her town-a frail. And if the feral dogs, the flesh-eating exes, and the elements don't get her, she just may discover how this all began. Because in this America, life is what you make it...

From the author of Bough Down, a found, collaged and lovingly amended inquiry into how women disappear Artist and writer Karen Green's second book originated in a search for a woman who had vanished: her Aunt Constance whom Green knew only from a few family photos and keepsakes. In her absence, Green has constructed an elliptical arrangement of artifacts from an untold life. In this rescued history, Green imagines for her aunt a childhood in which she is bold, reckless, perspicacious, mischievous; an adolescence ripe with desire and scarred by violation and loss; and an adulthood in which she strives to sing above the incessant din of violence. Constance--one half of a sister duo put to work performing as musical prodigies in the dirt-poor town of Oil City, Pennsylvania. during the Great Depression--escapes as a teenager to the USO and tours a ravaged Italy during World War II. Soon after she returns to an unsparing life in New York City, she disappears. Green traces her dissolution in a deftly composed trove of letters Constance writes to her beloved sister and those she receives from dozens of men smitten by her stage persona, along with her drawings, collages and altered photographs. Though told mostly from Constance's point of view, Frail Sister is also haunted by the voices of the transient, the absent and the dead. The letters (a few real, many invented) expose not only the quotidian reality of war but also the ubiquitous brutality it throws into relief. Nimble, darkly funny and poignant, Frail Sister is possessed by the disappeared, giving voice to the voiceless, bringing into a focus a life disintegrating at every edge.

This work presents the first serious attempt to impose rigor on the definition and measurement of quality of life among the elderly. The book uses a conference to develop background but goes well beyond the meeting in terms of depth of reviews of the literature and of integration among the chapters. This book is intended for use by researchers in the many disciplines which focus on the mental and physical well-being of the elderly, including those in medicine, nursing, psychiatry, psychology, rehabilitation, sociology and social work, among others. In addition, this book provides important background information for professionals and policy makers interested in ensuring quality of life in the later years.

Sixteen-year-old drummer Stella, guitarist Jacob and bassist Miles need a wild singer for their old-school rock band. When they discover nerdy Tamara Donnelly, who nails the national anthem at a baseball game, Stella is not convinced Tamara’s sound is right for the band. Stella wants to turn Tamara into a rock goddess, but Tamara proves to be a confident performer who has her own ideas about music and what it means to be epic cool.
   When their band, the Frail Days, starts to build a local following, Stella and Tamara clash over the direction the band should take, forcing them to consider what true musical collaboration means.

Jessica Fisher s Frail-Craft is winner of the 2006 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition and judge Louise Glèuck s fourth selection for the series. The book and the dream are the poet s primary objects of investigation here. Through deft, quietly authoritative lyrics, Fisher meditates on the problems and possibilities the frail craft of perception for the reader, the dreamer, maintaining that if the eye can love and it can, it does then I held you and was held. In her foreword to the book, Louise Glèuck writes that Fisher s poetry is haunting, elusive, luminous, its greatest mystery how plain-spoken it is. Sensory impressions, which usually serve as emblems of or connections to emotion, seem suddenly in this work a language of mind, their function neither metonymic nor dramatic. They are like the dye with which a scientist injects his specimen, to track some response or behavior. Fisher uses the sense this way, to observe how being is converted into thinking.

Exercise for Frail Elders, Second Edition, emphasizes balance and features over 150 photos illustrating the design and implementation of a safe and effective exercise program to improve range of motion, strength, and aerobic endurance for frail elders and older adults with special needs.

Oral healthcare is an integral part of overall health and well-being, and it is a significant and increasing challenge as people grow frail. Incidence of caries and gingivitis among residents of long-term care facilities are on the rise, and daily oral hygiene is often difficult for patients who are frail or in need of assistance. Oral Healthcare and the Frail Elder: A Clinical Perspective provides dentists, dental hygienists, and other healthcare professionals with comprehensive, practical instruction on managing the multifaceted oral healthcare needs of frail elders. By discussing background information and relevant literature, the book provides a holistic approach to clinical issues such as oral pain, dry mouth, and periodontal disease. Edited by experts in the field, Oral Healthcare and the Frail Elder enhances clinical application with thorough reviews of pertinent social and ethical issues, access to care issues, and the practicalities for overcoming these in order to provide high-quality oral healthcare to an aging population.