9 results for "History"

Gentlemen of the road

Chabon, Michael
Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, sprang from an early passion for the derring-do and larger-than-life heroes of classic comic books. Now, once more mining the rich past, Chabon summons the rollicking spirit of legendary adventures–from The Arabian Nights to Alexandre Dumas to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories–in a wonderful new novel brimming with breathless action, raucous humor, cliff-hanging suspense, and a cast of colorful characters worthy of Scheherazade’s most tantalizing tales. They’re an odd pair, to be sure: pale, rail-thin, black-clad Zelikman, a moody, itinerant physician fond of jaunty headgear, and ex-soldier Amram, a gray-haired giant of a man as quick with a razor-tongued witticism as he is with a sharpened battle-ax. Brothers under the skin, comrades in arms, they make their rootless way through the Caucasus Mountains, circa A.D. 950, living as they please and surviving however they can–as blades and thieves for hire and as practiced bamboozlers, cheerfully separating the gullible from their money. No strangers to tight scrapes and close shaves, they’ve left many a fist shaking in their dust, tasted their share of enemy steel, and made good any number of hasty exits under hostile circumstances. None of which has necessarily prepared them to be dragooned into service as escorts and defenders to a prince of the Khazar Empire. Usurped by his brutal uncle, the callow and decidedly ill-tempered young royal burns to reclaim his rightful throne. But doing so will demand wicked cunning, outrageous daring, and foolhardy bravado . . . not to mention an army. Zelikman and Amram can at least supply the former. But are these gentlemen of the road prepared to become generals in a full-scale revolution? The only certainty is that getting there–along a path paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of–will be much more than half the fun.
Del Rey/Ballantine Books 2007-10-30 204 pages

Encounter

Jane Yolen
When Christopher Columbus landed on the island of San Salvador in 1492, what he discovered were the Taino Indians. Told from a young Taino boy's point of view, this is a story of how the boy tried to warn his people against welcoming the strangers, who seemed more interested in golden ornaments than friendship. Years later the boy, now an old man, looks back at the destruction of his people and their culture by the colonizers.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 1996 32 pages

The Mystery of the Missing Everything

Ben H. Winters
There has been a shocking crime at Mary Todd Lincoln Middle School. In a glass case in the front hall, a trophy— the trophy, the first trophy ever won in the school's lackluster competitive history—has been stolen. Even more horrifying, an outraged Principal Van Vreeland has threatened to cancel the eighth graders' long-awaited, once-in-a-lifetime field trip to Taproot Valley unless the trophy is returned. Self-appointed sleuth extraordinaire Bethesda Fielding is confident she'll be able to track down the culprit and save her class trip. But the clock is ticking, and unless she can solve this baffling mystery, the eighth graders will be doomed to a Week of a Thousand Quizzes instead. . . .
HarperCollins 2012-09-18 272 pages

Benjamin Franklin: Huge Pain in my... (Benjamin Franklin, Book 1)

Adam Mansbach,Alan Zweibel
Dear Mr. Franklin, First of all, let me just say that this Assignment is Stupid. You are Dead. Why am I writing a letter to Some dead guy I've never even met? This is the start to a most unlikely pen pal relationship between thirteen-year-old Franklin Isaac Saturday (Ike) and Benjamin Franklin. Before the fateful extra credit assignment that started it all, Ike's life was pretty normal. He was avoiding the popularity contests of middle school, crushing hard on Clare Wanzandae and trying not roll his eyes at his stepfather, Dirk-the-Jerk's, lame jokes. But all that changes when, in a successful effort to make Claire Wanzandae laugh, Ike mails his homework assignment to Ben Franklin?and he writes back. Soon, things go awry. After Ike has an embarrassing moment of epic proportions in front of Claire involving a playground, non-alcoholic beer, and a lot of kettle corn, Ike decides he needs to find a way to win Claire back. With some help from his new friend, B-Freezy, can Ike get the girl and make his mark in history? Praise for Benjamin Franklin: Huge Pain in my... "Famously funny, this book flies like Ben Franklin's kite, but into a nuclear reactor. Forget the lightning; kids' stuff!" -Ridley Pearson, New York Times best-selling author of The Kingdom Keepers series and Peter and the Starcatchers "This is absolutely the funniest book about time-traveling mail and Benjamin Franklin that I have ever read. And I have read them all." -Dave Barry, New York Times Best-Selling author of The Worst Class Trip Ever
Disney-Hyperion 2017-05-23 224 pages

It's All Your Fault

Paul Rudnick
One last chance. One wild weekend. Flat out the funniest book of the year. "Paul Rudnick makes me lie hysterical on the floor, screeching with laughter and sobbing with fury that I can't write the way he does." -- E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks Up until forty-eight hours ago, Caitlin had never: Tasted alcohol, kissed a boy, sang in public at the top of her lungs, kidnapped anyone or --- WHAT? STOLEN A CONVERTIBLE? Now she's in jail and has no idea what to tell: The police, her parents, the mayor, all of those camera crews and everyone on Twitter. She has just noticed that: Her nose is pierced and -- WAIT? IS THAT A TATTOO? She blames one person for the entire insane weekend: Her famous cousin.Who is also her former best friend.Who she has HATED for the past four years.Who she also might miss like crazy. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, HELLER HARRIGAN!!!!
Scholastic, Incorporated 2017-01-31 304 pages

Stark

Elton, Ben
Stark is a secret consortium with more money than God, and the social conscience of a dog on a croquet lawn. What's more, it knows the Earth is dying. Deep in Western Australia where the Aboriginals used to milk the trees, a planet-sized plot is taking shape. Some green freaks pick up the scent: a pommie poseur; a brain-fried Vietnam vet; Aboriginals who have lost their land not much against a conspiracy that controls society. But EcoAction isnt in society: it just lives in the same place, along with the cockroaches. If you're facing the richest and most disgusting scheme in history, you have to do more than stick up two fingers and say peace.
Black Swan 2006 496 pages

30 guys in 30 days

Ostow, Micol
Practice makes not-quite-perfect Claudia Clarkson just cut the cord from her high school love-you-forever boyfriend. Sure, she misses Drew. But with so many eligibles on her new college campus, why study ancient history? Problem is, Claudia's lived in la-la-loveland for so long that she's completely forgotten how to meet boys -- and how to flirt. Then her roommate proposes a solution: Meet one new guy every day for thirty days. Consider it "target practice" for when Mr. Perfect comes along. Claudia's game, but she definetely hasn't got game. In fact, Flirting 101 could be her toughest course to pass...
Simon Pulse 2005-05-31 285 pages