Did you know manatees swim using farts? Or that herrings communicate by passing gas? Butts are used for breathing, eating, swimming, talking, and even killing in the animal kingdom. Focusing on ten different animals and their derrières, and offering fun facts about their origin, habitat, and "posterior power," this hilarious book captures the wonder of our ecosystem. Which animal has the coolest butt power? That's up to you to decide! An MASL Dogwood Reader's Award Title Towner Award Winner 2024 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List Selection

“Spectacular cake creations [that] are positively bursting with beauty, color, flavor, and fun . . . this book will ignite the baking passion within you!” —Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, #1 New York Times–bestselling author Grandbaby Cakes is the debut cookbook from sensational food writer, Jocelyn Delk Adams. Since founding her popular recipe blog, Grandbaby Cakes, in 2012, Adams has been putting fresh twists on old favorites. She has earned praise from critics and the adoration of bakers both young and old for her easygoing advice, rich photography, and the heartwarming memories she shares of her grandmother, affectionately nicknamed Big Mama, who baked and developed delicious, melt-in-your-mouth desserts. Grandbaby Cakes pairs charming stories of Big Mama’s kitchen with recipes ranging from classic standbys to exciting adventures—helpfully marked by degree of difficulty—that will inspire your own family for years to come. Adams creates sophisticated flavor combinations based on Big Mama’s gorgeous centerpiece cakes, giving each recipe something familiar mixed with something new. Not only will home bakers be able to make staples like yellow cake and icebox cake exactly how their grandmothers did, but they’ll also be preparing impressive innovations, like the Pineapple Upside-Down Hummingbird Pound Cake and the Fig-Brown Sugar Cake. From pound cakes and layer cakes to sheet cakes and “baby” cakes (cupcakes and cakelettes), Grandbaby Cakes delivers fun, hip recipes perfect for any celebration. “[Adams] offers up her greatest hits alongside sweet stories of her family’s generations-old baking traditions.” —People.com “There is a heritage of love and tradition steeped in her recipes . . . A trip down memory lane that ends with delicious treats on your table.” —Carla Hall, TV chef and author of Carla Hall’s Soul Food

“A badass debut by any measure—nimble, knowing, and electrifying.” —Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Nickel Boys and Harlem Shuffle "...'My Monticello' is, quite simply, an extraordinary debut from a gifted writer with an unflinching view of history and what may come of it." — The Washington Post Winner of the Weatherford Award in Fiction A winner of 2022 Lillian Smith Book Awards A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her neighborhood by a white militia. A university professor studying racism by conducting a secret social experiment on his own son. A single mother desperate to buy her first home even as the world hurtles toward catastrophe. Each fighting to survive in America. Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, “My Monticello,” tells of a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors fleeing violent white supremacists. Led by Da’Naisha, a young Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, they seek refuge in Jefferson’s historic plantation home in a desperate attempt to outlive the long-foretold racial and environmental unravelling within the nation. In “Control Negro,” hailed by Roxane Gay as “one hell of story,” a university professor devotes himself to the study of racism and the development of ACMs (average American Caucasian males) by clinically observing his own son from birth in order to “painstakingly mark the route of this Black child too, one whom I could prove was so strikingly decent and true that America could not find fault in him unless we as a nation had projected it there.” Johnson’s characters all seek out home as a place and an internal state, whether in the form of a Nigerian widower who immigrates to a meager existence in the city of Alexandria, finding himself adrift; a young mixed-race woman who adopts a new tongue and name to escape the landscapes of rural Virginia and her family; or a single mother who seeks salvation through “Buying a House Ahead of the Apocalypse.” United by these characters’ relentless struggles against reality and fate, My Monticello is a formidable book that bears witness to this country’s legacies and announces the arrival of a wildly original new voice in American fiction.

Elizabeths oldest daughter, Jocelyn, was diagnosed with a rare, debilitating neurological disorder known as Rett syndrome. Since that instant, Elizabeth has been on the front lines of a battle to find a cure. Without the deep pockets of big pharmaceutical companies, she has orchestrated a grassroots fundraising army that is poised to beat the odds and cure her daughter and thousands of others. Jocelyns Journey exposes the devastating struggles a special-needs family experiences: physical struggles of an ill child, marital struggles, struggles to fit in with society, and struggles with questioning faith. Jocelyns Journey tells of how Elizabeth and her family have overcome hurdles and found faith in adversity. It will leave you with an overwhelming hope for their future and yours.

The second book in Isabelle Steiger's epic fantasy series, which weaves together the lives of the haves and the have-nots—both desperately fighting to reassemble the remains of a fallen empire. The Rightful Queen returns readers to the territories of Lantistyne. Imperator Elgar has brought war to the continent once again, and the rogues of the Dragon’s Head, once forced into his service, are scattered to the winds, wracked by tragedy and struggling to reunite. While a cornered King Kelken grows increasingly desperate, Arianrod Margraine, the brilliant but outmanned marquise of Esthrades, devises a plan to stretch Elgar’s forces thin and turn the tide of battle in their favor. But when the sheltered queen of Issamira is driven from her throne by a long-simmering plot and the use of forbidden magic, Arianrod faces an even more pressing crisis. Adora Avestri is more than the rightful queen of Issamira, more even than the key to defeating Elgar on the field—she has drawn the attention of beings older than Lantistyne itself, who possess hidden knowledge Arianrod has long desired. But if the queen and the marquise hope to survive long enough to learn it, Adora must find the strength to claim her birthright once and for all, and Arianrod must match wits and magic with a foe she has never before encountered: an equal. The Rightful Queen is another example of Isabelle Steiger's powerful writing, full of intricate characters and complex world-building.

This 120-page Jocelyn Journal features: 120 wide-ruled lined pages 6 x 9 inches in size - big enough for your daily writings and also small enough to take with you smooth white-color paper, perfect for ink, gel pens, pencils or even colored pencils a black matte-finish cover for an elegant, professional look and feel This (Jocelyn Knows Best) journal can be used for writing poetry, jotting down your brilliant ideas, recording your accomplishments and much more. Use it as a diary or gratitude journal, a travel journal or to record your food intake or progress toward your fitness and life goals. The simple lined pages allow you to use it however you wish. Our journals to write in offer a wide variety of journals, so keep one by your bedside as a dream journal, one in your car to record mileage and expenses, one by your computer for login names and passwords, and one in your purse or backpack to jot down random thoughts and inspirations throughout the day. Paper journals never need to be charged and of course no batteries are required! You only need your thoughts and dreams and something to write with. This Jocelyn journal makes a wonderful present, so put a smile on someone's face today!