Wendy has long heard the family legend -- madness strikes the Darling women at a certain age, traditionally after romance visits in the form of an overgrown boy. The Darling girl will fall in love, the boy will desert, and the girl is left on her heels, heartbroken and flirting ever after with lunacy's lure. Wendy knows she should be grateful for her childhood adventure, but instead she finds herself adrift; resenting the heartache-turned-eccentricity of her mother; envious of the oddball antics of her Great-Nana; and consumed by the mystery of her grandmother Jane, whose disappearance following her own youthful romance remains unsolved. When Wendy falls in love with Freeman, an exuberant and irreverent man-child himself, she finds herself perpetuating the pattern she thought she had missed. And then along comes her daughter, Berry, the precocious but sullen child with the eyes of a sage. When it is Berry's time to go off to The Neverland, Wendy, like so many mothers before her, questions who she has become. Is she "barking mad"? Is Berry? Wendy's journey to self-realization takes flight from the themes suggested in the classic novel Peter Pan. Fox's dazzling prose and elegant insights into love and loss make this story universal; the characters and their heartache make this novel deeply personal. The Lost Girls contemplates the contradictory human yearnings for freedom and safety, flight and stability in a moving and ultimately uplifting story of motherhood, love, and reenchantment that speaks to women of all ages.

"I was born into a mentally ill family. My sister was the officially crazy one, but really we were all nuts." So begins My Sister from the Black Lagoon, Laurie Fox's incandescent novel of growing up absurd. Lorna Person's tale is wrested from the shadows cast by her sister, Lonnie, whose rages command the full attention of her parents. Their San Fernando Valley household is off-key and out of kilter, a place where Lonnie sees evil in the morning toast and runs into the Burbank hills to join the animals that seem more like her kin. Lorna, on the other hand, is an acutely sensitive girl who can't relate to Barbie. "Could Barbie feel sorrow? Could Barbie understand what it's like to be plump, lonely, Jewish?" My Sister from the Black Lagoon is a wisecracked bell jar, a heartbreaking study of sane and crazy. Laurie Fox's delightful voice is knowing yet wide-eyed, lyrical, and witty.

Young car buffs can learn the names of all the working parts of a variety of automobiles--car, truck, fire engine, ambulance--with a spiral-bound book that features clear acetate pages that reveal each vehicle's innards.

This book offers a comprehensive, self-contained introduction to one of the oldest known recorded languages—Hieroglyphic Egyptian. Unlike other approaches, it is geared toward learning to read one of the masterpieces of Middle Egyptian literature, the story “Shipwrecked Sailor,” written around 2200 bce. The text’s eighteen lessons–organized around such topics as the body, flora, fauna, titles, administration, religion, sexuality, and warfare—cover all the basic grammar and syntax of Middle Egyptian. The book includes exercises for each chapter, sign lists, Egyptian/English and English/Egyptian dictionaries defining all the words and phrases used in the lessons, and a new edition of the tale “Shipwrecked Sailor” with facing commentary. Although the overall approach is literary, Hieroglyphic Egyptian can also be used as an introduction to reading other material, such as biographical inscriptions, religious texts, historical annals, and mathematical or medical papyri. The text is suitable for classroom use, as well as for those who want to learn independently.

1st - Chicago - Since the dawn of time, women have shared their stories. They share their ambitions and passions, their sorrows and worries, their dreams and their joys.They do this to learn, to teach, to encourage, and to grow. There is freedom in confession.In her travels around the world as a professional oriental (belly) dancer, Raksanna has met women in all stages of life and from all backgrounds. She has collected the confessions of women who all have one thing in common...the dance.Join women from around the world who have experienced first-hand the life changing, transformational power of the ancient art of belly dance. Share their laughter and tears...and who knows, perhaps you too will feel the longing to confess.(Special Commemorative Edition)

Inspired by New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson, some of today's leading writers, thinkers, and visionaries have come together in this anthology of stories, set in the near future, that reignites the iconic and optimistic visions of the golden age of science fiction Born of an initiative at the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, this remarkable collection unites a diverse group of celebrated authors, prominent scientists, and creative visionaries—among them Cory Doctorow, Gregory Benford, Charlie Jane Anders, David Brin, and Neal Stephenson—who contributed works of "techno-optimism" that challenge us to imagine fully, think broadly, and do Big Stuff. Inside this volume you will find marvels of imagination and possibility, including a steel tower so tall that the stratosphere is just an elevator ride away . . . a drone-powered Internet . . . crowdfunded robots descending on the moon . . . cities that work like a single cell of algae powered entirely by the sun . . . and much more. Engaging, mind-bending, provocative, and imaginative, Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future offers a forward-thinking approach to the intersection of art and technology that has the power to change our world.