Little River is a coming of age story about a young boy called Bean and his little brother Jack. It takes place in the sixties in a small rural community, set among the gleaming white cotton fields of northeast Arkansas. The story begins with the two young lads’ obvious isolation from the world outside, as they learn to create their own adventures in the only place they really know, their farm. The boys’ desire to have a close relationship with their dad is hindered by his demanding job of overseeing the sharecroppers. The patient Mom is a comforting force, taking care of the family, while being trapped in her own isolated world. When family tensions mount as the surrounding farms begin to fail, the father takes a downward spiral path of turning to alcohol. Losing his job and with the family to the breaking point, they move close by to Little River with hope of a new start in town. There, Bean discovers a whole new world with new friends. Forming an adventurous band of misfits, they build a magnificent treehouse, while the family's struggles worsen. As a bright future begins to fade, the dusty trail of failure slowly catches up. Doubts, rumors and unbearable tragedy ensues, but the strong bonds of family, love and friendship give them the means to survive. They become a shining example of overcoming life’s most arduous hardships.

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp. In this volume, meet young Zech MacIvey, who learns to ride like the wind through the Florida scrub on Ishmael, his marshtackie horse, his dogs, Nip and Tuck, at this side. His parents, Tobias and Emma, scratch a living from the land, gathering wild cows from the swamp and herding them across the state to market. Zech learns the ways of the land from the Seminoles, with whom his life becomes entwined as he grows into manhood. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series

PART ONE ---New York City Without a word, Nathan handed the cablegram to his son. Roy took it and walked away a few steps. He opened the envelope as he walked, dreading with every step, what he believed the cable would say; the Baron had died. The others watched quietly as he read, hardly breathing. The cable fell to the ground; Roys shoulders sagged, and he began to sob mightily. After a few minutes, he straightened his shoulders, shook himself like a wet dog, then turned to the others. All right gentlemen, I assume you all read what grandfather said; Tell Roy to stay the course, and that is exactly what were going to do. Michael, where do we go from here? Offhand, Roy, Id say Kentucky, but its your decision; except I dont think you ought to be the one to go. How about you, Uncle Nathan? I think youre right; Roy needs to stay right here and look after MacTavish Enterprises like hes supposed to. I had planned to go wherever we went, if Roy did, but since hell staying here, I reckon Ill go on to Virginia and rest a while. I guess that leaves you, Oliver. Uncle Robert felt I owed him something, Oliver said, if I intended to take my rightful place in the clan; so he asked me to be the head of this new MacTavish division in this country. Hed been told there was a lot of open land and few settlers out west, and thats where I should go. Also, Id be able to pay for land with gold without too many questions. I agreed with that, and said Id do it. David is all eager to go, so I guess thats what well do. PART TWO --- THE OLSENS It was late in the day, August Twenty-first, eighteen fifty-six, and a perfect evening for fishing. A nice cool breeze barely ruffled the leaves on the trees providing shade for a man sitting beneath them in a strange looking chair; ostensibly, trying to catch his supper. Oliver Olsen, once a sailor, now an adventurer; a banker; a farmer; a trader of livestock; a buyer of land; a builder; an entrepreneur extraordinaire; a man who wore many hats; was a man lost in retrospect. He found this happening more often lately, and if someone asked him why, would most likely answer, Im trying to figure out how it all came about. Suddenly, he was aware someone was jerking on his arm. He looked around and saw it was his two year old grandson, David Junior. His mother, Penny, was standing right behind the boy. Grandpa, Penny said. I dont see any fish; youve been sleeping again, havent you? I suppose you could say that, he replied, either that, or someones been standing beside me telling that same old story again. It dont get any better with the telling. Id sure like to hear something from David, wouldnt you? Its been three months since we heard from him and the boys.

A river is a thread, embroidering our world. This non-fiction picture book brings attention to the rivers that stitch and thread our world together.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

A man must confront a terrifying evil in this captivating horror novel that's "as much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz."* Haunted by memories of the Great War, failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate--the Savoyard Plantation--and the horrors that occurred there. At first their new life seems to be everything they wanted. But under the facade of summer socials and small-town charm, there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice. It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of the Savoyard Plantation still stand. Where a long-smoldering debt of blood has never been forgotten. Where it has been waiting for Frank Nichols....

The Man Who Knew Too Much and other stories includes twelve G. K. Chesterton mysteries, the first eight of which are about 'The Man Who Knew Too Much, ' while the final four are individual stories featuring separate heroes and detectives