Ksenia and the World of Inspiration is the first book in the Bird with Blue Blood series and is based on the author’s real-life journey into the world of inspiration in a dream several years ago, after he was compelled to bring it to the real world. Each book is the product of a dream followed by years of thought, pain, discovery, and travel that has morphed into a story with tangible characters and art with definite colors and shapes. The city of Alyssum is a place plagued by fear and sadness, living in the shadow of a House of Agony until, one day, the music of a flute inherited by a girl named Ksenia brings joy and happiness to all that hear it. As much as she loves to play it, Ksenia soon discovers that the flute carries with it a myriad of secrets and the key to a whole new world outside her reality. Based on the life-changing vision of the author and placed uniquely where art meets literature, Ksenia and the World of Inspiration is the story of one girl’s foray into mystery, fantasy, and breathtaking beauty in pursuit of one thing—the enigmatic bird with blue blood.

In the thrilling second instalment of the ‘Bird with Blue Blood' series, the city of Alyssum is recovering from the Days of Agony when the people receive the news that famed actor Elbrecht Alyssum will be returning to his namesake to perform a new play. Following a cryptic mission and the gift of a half-feather from his grandfather, Andre Ellison understands his story and Elbrecht Alyssum's are inextricably linked, and they must work together and unite the two halves of the bird with blue blood’s feather to summon the World of Inspiration and unlock their common greatest desire—being reunited with their lost loved ones. Read on to experience the magic, the mystery, and the horrifying truth behind the tree with seven faces that holds the key to the past...

Misunderstood and overmedicated, twelve-year-old Lilith Bloom finds the prospect of a grand family reunion decidedly dull... That is, until she discovers that the rose garden surrounding her grandfather's Berlin mansion is, well, completely and utterly carnivorous. Armed with Panther, her talking pet whippet, and the help of the mute boy next door, Lilith must unravel the secrets behind the mysterious estate, all while her family remains gloriously unaware that they are about to be devoured.

Ksenia Rychtycka's debut collection Crossing the Border illuminates moments of tragedy and triumph, personal discovery and disillusionment, spotlighting characters who, in one form or another, learn to move forward with their lives. Stymied by the lack of progress and change in post-communist Ukraine, Valeriy the artist finds he is unable to paint. Anna is a lonely woman who attends strangers' weddings to offer a curious gift. The arrival of a wayward parakeet during the 2004 Orange Revolution forces an elderly woman into action. These nine stories-set in Ukraine, the United States and Greece-highlight universal conflicts and dilemmas, along with the uncertainties and complexities of change, and introduce a strong new voice in storytelling.

Residents of a thriving port town in Russia's Far East are shaped by regional history and lore throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, from a local woman who considers an Italian footballer's proposition to a former Soviet boss' memories about a thorny friendship.

Blue Sparrow was born on Twitter. It's a compilation of my daily ramblings as a first time novelist encouraging myself and other writers to bite the bullet and do it despite the fear of blank paper, the insecurities, the angst every writer faces when left alone with the story and trying to bleed it out. My Twitter followers asked me to make it. They said they want to carry it around in their pockets and take it out each time they felt stuck, scared, or simply need to smile. Because people tell me my tweets are funny. You be the judge.

On a rainy September morning 16-year-old Ailen Bright flees her abusive father by jumping off the Seattle Aurora Bridge. Instead of a true death, in the water she finds several silver-skinned sirens who convert her to one of their own. As a newborn siren she is dead, supernaturally strong, and hungry for her new sustenance--human souls. Ailen refuses to kill...at first. With time she must face the agony that comes with starvation, while being relentlessly pursued by a siren hunter. An enthralling and dark look into the mind and heart of a suicidal teenager, this urban fantasy follows Ailen's struggle to figure out the meaning of life, her confusing feelings for her best friend Hunter, and her desperate battle for her father's love.

The ultimate guide to self-empowerment from motivational speaker and digital entrepreneur Xenia Tchoumi, offering tips and techniques for staying fiercely independent in a world of social conditioning, making the internet work for you (instead of against you) and living your best, most powerful life. Xenia Tchoumi is passionate about self-empowerment and independent thinking. A fashion influencer, motivational speaker and self-made digital entrepreneur, she wrote this book to share the techniques and tools that have made her so successful, and to encourage her readers to resist media manipulation, stand up for who they really are, and live their best, most powerful lives. Xenia takes readers on a practical, no-nonsense journey to self-empowerment, covering topics such as taking responsibility, using your pain and your failures to push yourself further, and learning digital dominance instead of letting yourself be digitally dependent. She offers a wealth of tips for creating productive habits, setting goals, protecting your mental health and resisting society's pressures to confirm. She shares her stories of struggling against prejudice as the child of recent immigrants, battling the restrictive structures of the fashion industry, making her mark in the digital space and ultimately making herself into an ultra successful brand. Questioning exactly what empowerment looks like today, she also offers the inspiring stories of empowered people she has met all over the world and shows that, while empowerment can seem very different in different cultures, there are certain key traits that empowered people share – habits that anyone can learn and use to become a success in life.

A new way of thinking about data science and data ethics that is informed by the ideas of intersectional feminism. Today, data science is a form of power. It has been used to expose injustice, improve health outcomes, and topple governments. But it has also been used to discriminate, police, and surveil. This potential for good, on the one hand, and harm, on the other, makes it essential to ask: Data science by whom? Data science for whom? Data science with whose interests in mind? The narratives around big data and data science are overwhelmingly white, male, and techno-heroic. In Data Feminism, Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein present a new way of thinking about data science and data ethics—one that is informed by intersectional feminist thought. Illustrating data feminism in action, D'Ignazio and Klein show how challenges to the male/female binary can help challenge other hierarchical (and empirically wrong) classification systems. They explain how, for example, an understanding of emotion can expand our ideas about effective data visualization, and how the concept of invisible labor can expose the significant human efforts required by our automated systems. And they show why the data never, ever “speak for themselves.” Data Feminism offers strategies for data scientists seeking to learn how feminism can help them work toward justice, and for feminists who want to focus their efforts on the growing field of data science. But Data Feminism is about much more than gender. It is about power, about who has it and who doesn't, and about how those differentials of power can be challenged and changed.

A delightful, delicious middle grade debut by New York Times bestselling author Sheryl Berk and her cupcake-obsessed daughter, Carrie. Cupcake Club is the first book in the Peace, Love and Cupcakes series. This is The Babysitter's Club for a generation raised on Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes and is slated to be a sweet success! Meet Kylie Carson. She's a fourth grader with a big problem. How will she make friends at her new school? Should she tell her classmates she loves monster movies? Forget it. Play the part of a turnip in the school play? Disaster! Then Kylie comes up with a delicious idea: What if she starts a cupcake club? Soon Kylie's club is spinning out tasty treats with the help of her fellow bakers and new friends. But when Meredith tries to sabotage the girls' big cupcake party, will it be the end of the Cupcake Club? Includes recipes and tips to try at home! "Kids and cupcakes are the perfect recipe!"—Sophie and Katerine, stars of TLC's DC Cupcakes Cupcake Club is the perfect... cupcake book for kids who love to bake, with bonus recipes included! mother daughter book club pick preteen gift for girls book for middle school girls who are reluctant readers