20 results for "Novel"

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Judy Blume
Now a major motion picture starring Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates! A Time Best YA Book of All Time Margaret shares her secrets and her spirituality in this iconic Judy Blume novel, beloved by millions. Margaret Simon, almost twelve, likes long hair, tuna fish, the smell of rain, and things that are pink. She’s just moved from New York City to Farbook, New Jersey, and is anxious to fit in with her new friends—Nancy, Gretchen, and Janie. When they form a secret club to talk about private subjects like boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret is happy to belong. But none of them can believe Margaret doesn’t have religion, and that she isn’t going to the Y or the Jewish Community Center. What they don’t know is Margaret has her own very special relationship with God. She can talk to God about everything—family, friends, even Moose Freed, her secret crush. Margaret is funny and real. As you read her story, you’ll know why this book has been the favorite of millions of readers. It’s as if Margaret is talking right to you, sharing her secrets with a friend.
Simon and Schuster 2023-02-28 176 pages

The princess bride: S. Morgenstern's classic tale of true love and high adventure

Goldman, William
Presents the timeless love story between a farm boy named Westley and the beautiful Princess Buttercup, along with the author's comments on life and art as he attempts to edit the children's classic. A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts. William Goldman's modern fantasy classic is a simple, exceptional story about quests--for riches, revenge, power, and, of course, true love--that's thrilling and timeless. Anyone who lived through the 1980s may find it impossible--inconceivable, even--to equate "The Princess Bride" with anything other than the sweet, celluloid romance of Westley and Buttercup, but the film is only a fraction of the ingenious storytelling you'll find in these pages. Rich in character and satire, the novel is set in 1941 and framed cleverly as an "abridged" retelling of a centuries-old tale set in the fabled country of Florin that's home to "Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions."
Harvest Books 2007 414 pages

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

Don't stop the carnival: a novel

Wouk, Herman
The "compulsively and clock-racingly readable" novel ( New York Times Book Review ) that captures the comedy and tragedy of island life and inspired a Jimmy Buffett musical. It's every parrothead's dream: to leave behind the rat race of the workaday world and start life all over again amidst the cool breezes, sun-drenched colors, and rum-laced drinks of a tropical paradise. It's the story of Norman Paperman, a New York City press agent who, facing the onset of middle age, runs away to a Caribbean island to reinvent himself as a hotel keeper. (Hilarity and disaster -- of a sort peculiar to the tropics -- ensue.) It's the novel in which the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of such acclaimed and bestselling novels as The Caine Mutiny and War and Remembrance draws on his own experience (Wouk and his family lived for seven years on an island in the sun) to tell a story at once brilliantly comic and deeply moving.
Little, Brown and Co 1992-05-15 395 pages

Ship Out of Luck

Neal Shusterman
Companion toThe Schwa Was Here! In honor of Old Man Crawley's eightieth birthday, the Bonano family has been invited to celebrate with a weeklong cruise to the Caribbean aboard the world's largest, grandest ship. But whether on land or at sea, Antsy can't manage to stay out of trouble- He quickly finds himself the accomplice of stowaway and thief Tilde, whose self-made mission it is to smuggle onto the ship and across the U.S. border illegal immigrants from her native Mexico. When Antsy steps in to take the fall for Tilde, he becomes the focus of a major international incident and the poster child for questionable decisions. Equal parts clever and riotous, Ship Out of Luck brings back the beloved cast of characters from Neal Shusterman's acclaimed The Schwa Was Here and Antsy Does Time. Awards for the Antsy Bonano novels- The Schwa Was Here Winner of the 2005 Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Fiction An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An ALA Notable Book o Winner of the 2007-08 California Young Reader Medal Award An IRA Young Adult Choice Award selection 21 state lists; 2 starred reviews- BCCB, SLJ Antsy Does Time 2009 ALA Best Young Adult List 2008 Junior Library Guild Selection 2009 Pennsylvania School Library Association Young Adult Top 40 selection 5 state lists; 4 starred reviews- Booklist, Kirkus, SLJ, VOYA
Penguin Young Readers Group 2014-06-12 292 pages

The liar

Fry, Stephen
Adrian Healey loves to lie. He lies all the time. Every minute, every moment. Worse, he does it wonderfully, imaginatively, brilliantly. He lies to buck the System, to express his contempt for convention, but mostly because he just plain likes to. It's fun, and so much more challenging. It is high camp. One creates when one prevaricates. "Doesn't everyone think the way I think?" says Adrian of his various inventions. Like the pornographic novel by Charles Dickens, his career as a Piccadilly "rent-boy" hireable by the hour, his stressful work as a drug "mule" smuggling illegal substances. He has (as his Cambridge tutor observed) "a fine brain, but a dreadful mind." Already in his public school career, marked by privilege and pederasty, he had lost the ability to differentiate between simple truth and his elaborate fictions. The Liar is as wicked and witty, as unspeakably (and unquotably) funny as its protagonist narrator - and as irresistible as its multi-talented author, Stephen Fry. Mr. Fry's credits grow daily. He is the star of a film entitled Peter's Friends, and of Masterpiece Theater's television series Jeeves and Wooster. He is half of the Fry and Laurie comedy team, he has written a play called Latin and the book for the musical Me and My Girl, and he is a weekly columnist for the London Daily Telgraph. He is also now the author of the #1 English bestseller, The Liar, which spent several months at the very top position on the British charts. In the literary firmament it has been identified as somewhere between Oscar Wilde and Saki.
Soho 1993 277 pages

Paperweight

Fry, Stephen
A hilarious collection of the many articles written by Stephen Fry for magazines, newspapers and radio. It includes selected wireless essays of Donald Trefusis, the ageing professor of philology brought to life in Fry's novel The Liar , and the best of Fry's weekly column for the Daily Telegraph . Perfect to dip into but just as enjoyable to read cover to cover, this book, perhaps more than any other, shows the breadth of Fry's interests and the depth of his insight. He remains a hilarious writer on whatever topic he puts his mind to.
Arrow Books 2004 469 pages

My Life as a Fifth-Grade Comedian

Elizabeth Levy
Bobby is the class clown. He can always be counted on to crack up his friends and sometimes even the teachers. But he can't always be counted on to stay out of trouble'and that's no joke when you're in danger of being shipped off to a special school for kids with ‘behavioral problems.' Bobby's got one last chance to prove to his teachers, his principal, and his parents'especially his super-sarcastic dad'that he can be taken seriously. His assignment: to put on a school-wide laugh-off. It's teachers vs. students'and may the best comic win. It's also a chance for Bobby to show his dad that mean jokes aren't just kidding around. Packed with kid-tested jokes and riddles, this funny novel is also a thoughtful exploration of the power of laughter to hurt'and to heal. 2000-2001 Georgia's Picture Storybook Award & Georgia's Children's Book Award Masterlist
Harper Collins 1998-07-11 192 pages

Twelve Impossible Things Before Breakfast Stories

Jane Yolen
Features the Nebula Award-winning novella "Lost Girls." In these modern myths and tales for the young and the young at hear, Jane Yolen transforms the impossible into the familiar and real. Among the outlandish wonders are an Alice grown tough in Wonderland, a dear--but dead--mother's homecoming, a bridge that longs for a goat-eating troll, and a mutiny among Peter Pan's troops.
Magic Carpet Books 2001 175 pages

Bringing Down the Mouse

Ben Mezrich
Charlie Lewis goes on a roller coaster ride of risk, math, and gaming in this middle grade novel that parallels the New York Times bestselling Bringing Down the House , which inspired the movie 21 . Charlie Lewis is a nerd. All he’s ever been good at is math—and he’s really good at math. So good that he’s recruited by a group of kids determined to game the system at the biggest theme park in the world—and win the grand prize. Soon Charlie is caught up in the excitement and thrill of using his math skills for awesomeness…but what’s at stake may be more than he’s willing to risk. How far will Charlie go for a chance at the ultimate reward?
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 2015-06-30 352 pages

Fantasy Baseball

Alan M. Gratz
The Wizard of Oz meets America's favorite pastime! Alex Metcalf must be dreaming. What else would explain why he's playing baseball for the Oz Cyclones, with Dorothy as his captain, in the Ever After Baseball Tournament? But Alex isn't dreaming; he's just from the real world. And winning the tournament might be his only chance to get back there, because the champions get a wish granted by the Wizard. Too bad Ever After's most notorious criminal, the Big Bad Wolf, is also after the wishes. And anyone who gets in his way gets eaten! From beloved baseball author Alan Gratz comes a novel in which classic literary characters are baseball crazy, and one real-world boy must face his fears and discover the surprising truth about himself.
Penguin Young Readers Group 2012-02-16 336 pages

BobLand

Matt Lucas,Unknown Author
Dive in to this funny and heart-warming adventure from star of stage and screen, Matt Lucas. Perfect for young readers of 8-12! What's better than the best theme park in the world...? The best theme park in the world - IN YOUR OWN GARDEN!! Bob Grubb and his family live on a ramshackle smallholding backing on to the world-renowned theme park, Happey World, run by Arthur Happey and his dreadful granddaughter, Maisie. When Bob accidentally gets into Maisie's bad books, he is banned from Happey World - FOR EVER. What is an entrepreneurial boy to do? Build his own theme park in his back garden, of course! With the help of friends and family, BOBLAND is go! But with Arthur and Maisie doing everything in their power to derail Bob's plans, will they make it to the Grand Opening in one piece, where they are due to meet the king himself? And what is the big family secret that lurks beneath it all? Discover even more laughs, thrills and candyfloss with Matt Lucas' newest wonderful children's novel!
Farshore 2025-11-06 240 pages

The Boy Who Could Do What He Liked

David Baddiel
A fabulously entertaining and touching novella from David Baddiel, author of the bestselling THE PARENT AGENCY and THE PERSON CONTROLLER. Illustrated by the hugely talented Jim Field, winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Billy has a routine. To be honest, he has a lot of routines. There's the waking-up routine, the getting-dressed routine, the cleaning-his-teeth-in-the-morning routine, the getting-his-school-bag-ready-routine ... and that's all before 8:30am. But then one day Billy's usual babysitter is unavailable, and Billy's parents get Mrs Stokes instead. Mrs Stokes doesn't do routines. Instead, she just tells Billy to do what he likes. Over and over again. Eventually, Billy decides to take her at her word. And that's when things start to go weird. Does everything get out of control and Billy learns his lesson and realises that routines are really quite important to stick to after all? Nah. This isn't that kind of story ...
HarperCollins Publishers Limited 2016-02-22 128 pages

The magic kingdom

Elkin, Stanley
-- Brimming with Elkin's comic brilliance and singular wordplay, The Magic Kingdom tells the story of Eddy Bale, who, determined to learn from the ghastly experience of his son's long, drawn-out death, decides to raise enough money to take seven terminally ill children to Disney World in order to give them a dream vacation before they die. -- Stanley Elkin, a two-timer winner of the National Book Critics Award and three-time nominee for the National Book Award, is widely considered to be one of the most important writers of the contemporary period. Author of over a dozen novels and short story collections, his works include The Franchiser, George Mills, and Mrs. Ted Bliss. -- First published by Dutton (1985), most recent paperback by Thunder's Mouth (1991).
Dalkey Archive Press 2000 317 pages

Curse of the Missing Puppet Head A Novel

Kinky Friedman
At the most outrageously inopportune moment, the little Negro puppethead - Kinky Friedman's keyholder, talisman and surrogate Pinocchio-like son - goes missing, and the Curse of the Missing Puppethead takes effect. In a desperate effort to find the missing puppethead, Kinky mounts his most intense and entertaining investigation ever. Anyone and everyone is a suspect in Yorick's disappearance, even the Village Irregulars. When Lexie, a beautiful and exotic escapee from Winnie Katz's Lesbian Dance Class, enters Kinky's life, the curse takes a dramatic and hilarious turn for the worse. Kinky discovers that, until he find his big puppethead, his little puppethead will also be missing in action. As Kinky's personal and professional lives begin to spiral downward, he leaves no rock unturned and no clue unpursued in a furious effort to recover the puppethead. Just when it appears that he may have found the first real clue to Yorick's whereabouts the Curse of the Missing Puppethead shifts into high gear, and Kinky's college friend, Nick "Chinga" Chavin, is falsely charged with the hit-and-run murder of a child. And not just any child, but the young son of Big Jim Gravotta, the Butcher of Staten Island. Curse of the Missing Puppethead is crime solving, mystery writing, romantic encounters, friendship and a unique philosophy of life bundled into a wildly entertaining novel by an original and unique talent.
Vandam Press 2003 227 pages

Spin cycle

Margolis, Sue
Her husband left her for another man. Her boyfriend may be cheating. Her mother's got a secret. Is everyone having great sex but Rachel? Lately, stand-up comic Rachel Katz's life has begun to resemble a not-so-funny comedy routine -- the kind where nobody laughs and everybody inches toward the door. It began when her husband cheated ... with another man. Now she's raising a ten-year-old son who's fixated on Barbra Streisand and wondering if her dentist boyfriend -- who won't stop flossing long enough to make love to her -- is having an affair. Enter Matt Clapton, a wickedly sexy washing machine repairman who likes Rachel's jokes and makes her feel like a woman for the first time in ages -- maybe in her entire life. With her mother busy planning a wedding Rachel isn't sure she wants, her son dead set on inviting Barbra to the reception, and the groom-to-be in South Africa, working on someone else's oral hygiene, the question is: What's she going to do about it? Especially when fame and fortune beckon in a comedy contest that could put her on the map ... and change her life forever. Spin Cycle tells a wickedly funny, shamelessly erotic story of lovers and liars, exes and children, parents and other strangers. This hip and hilarious new novel by the acclaimed author of Neurotica introduces a heroine who never loses her sense of humor and who discovers, somewhere between the rinse and spin cycles, that love -- and laughter -- can truly conquer all.
Dell 2001 276 pages