The film Casablanca opens with the words, “With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas.” Leslie Epstein’s Hill of Beans is the story of how one nation, one industry, and in particular one man responded to that desperate hope. That man is Jack Warner. His impossible goal is to make world events—most importantly, the invasion of North Africa by British and American forces in 1942—coincide with the release of his new film about a group of refugees marooned in Morocco. Arrayed against him are Stalin and Hitler, as well as Josef Goebbels, Franklin Roosevelt, a powerful gossip columnist, and above all a beautiful young woman with a terrible secret. His only weapons are his hutzpah and his heroism as he struggles to bring cinema and city, conflict and conference together in an epic command performance. Hill of Beans is the novel that Leslie Epstein—the son and nephew of Philip and Julius Epstein, the screenwriters of Casablanca—was born to write.

A memooir of grwoing up in rural North Carolina dauring the Depression.

Have you ever been bullied, molested, or told “You don’t have the sense you were born with,” “You are going out of the world backward,” “You are a knucklehead,” “You are mentally slow,” “You are too small to play a game,” “You are not strong enough,” “You are a quitter,” “You will never fi nish anything,” “People like you should not go to college,” “You are stupid,” “You were meant to be a laborer,” “You are ugly,” or “YOU WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO A HILL OF BEANS?” This autobiography of my life story is for all of the people who have been put-down or discouraged by family, friends, classmates, or society at large. I hope that it will help you to not give up on your hopes and dreams. May it strengthen your faith in God, yourself, and your fellowmen.

Do we make too much of our day-to-day problems? In the big scheme of things how important can they be? Award-winning storyteller Valerie Schultz answers these questions through deeply touching—and sometimes provocative—personal accounts of family, career, addiction, alienation, romance, aging, and loss. With compassion and honesty Schultz retraces the passages of ordinary life, finding grace and the presence of God in those she loves and those she struggles to love.

Johnstone Country. Come and Get It. Mac is back. Framed for a murder he didn’t commit, Dewey “Mac” Mackenzie is a wanted man on a cattle drive heading west—as a chuckwagon cook. Though he’s never even boiled an egg, Mackenzie has a natural gift for cobbling together good trail drive grub. Now, with two trail drives under his belt, Mackenzie has proven to be more than a good chuckwagon cook. He’s good at serving up justice, too—with a side of hot lead . . . A HILL OF BEANS Mac Mackenzie has enough problems on his plate. He’s got bounty hunters on his tail, no one on his side, and no place to hide. Just when he thinks it can’t get any worse, he hears the rumbling of a cattle stampede—heading straight for his camp. Mac’s got two choices: Get trampled like a weed or saddle up and help get the herd under control. At first, the traildrivers ain’t too pleased to have a stranger help them out. But once they realize Mac’s not a rustler, they ask him to join the team. Mac takes them up on the offer—especially after he meets the cowgirl Colleen—and quickly impresses everyone with his cooking skills. There’s just a few more problems: Mac’s new employers might be the real rustlers. And Mac’s stepped out of the frying pan into the fire . . .

Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award Five Starred Reviews! A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, 2016 Grown-ups lie. That’s one truth Beans knows for sure. He and his gang know how to spot a whopper a mile away, because they are the savviest bunch of barefoot conchs (that means “locals”) in all of Key West. Not that Beans really minds; it’s 1934, the middle of the Great Depression. With no jobs on the island, and no money anywhere, who can really blame the grown-ups for telling a few tales? Besides, Beans isn’t anyone’s fool. In fact, he has plans. Big plans. And the consequences might surprise even Beans himself. Return to the wonderful world of Newbery Honor Book Turtle in Paradise through the eyes of Turtle’s cousin Beans! "A surprising coming-of-age story with a remarkably honest message." —The New York Times "[Holm] captures this colorful slice of Depression history with her usual vivacious wit. . . . Children will love Beans." —Shelf Awareness, Starred "A novel as entertaining as the motion pictures [Beans] loves to see."—The Horn Book Magazine, Starred “Inspired by actual events, Holm’s talent for writing historical fiction is on full display. . . . Interesting family and small-town dynamics further enrich this fascinating account of a young boy’s life in Florida’s ‘Recovery Key.’” —Booklist, Starred "Filled with humor, heart, and warmth." —Kirkus Review, Starred "Entertaining and illuminating historical fiction." —Publishers Weekly, Starred

"Rare is the poet who can create living breathing images, bringing a place and a people fully to life, as William S. Tribell has magnificently accomplished in A Duke's Mixture and a Hill of Beans. "That Day Over to the Belva Straight Creek Mine" and "The Old Walnut Tree" are two of his many Kentucky gems. But the farseeing rebel poet departs from Kentucky and wanders on to foreign lands. Read William S. Tribell's new masterpiece to find out where he goes. And, believe me, he goes." Ron Whitehead poet writer editor publisher scholar activist

Leslie Epstein's Hill of Beans is the story of how one nation, one industry, and in particular one man responded to the desperate hope of freedom in the Second World War.

The author tells about his life history of inventing and adventures while growing up in a small town. The seriousness and laughter from his many stories will keep you glued to the book following the memoirs of his life and the well connected people he met along the way. As a high school dropout with a scientific mind, they said that he would never amount to a OHill of BeansO. Harry never paid much attention to the colloquial remarks people made about his unorthodox activities. He does admit that he was somewhat of a gypsy in his early years. From the Outer Lab in the Laurel Mountains of Pennsylvania he describes in dramatic narratives the mystic technology of his practical inventiveness and adventurous journeys around the world. The adventures began in the cold arctic and take you into the secret world of Cape Canaveral and onward to other parts of the globe. You will enter periods of his business life that leads to prosperity from the millions of dollars he earned from his inventions.