The story of an almost-vanished town, its history, and the author's family, this unforgettable book offers a rich and luminous portrait of mid-twentieth-century small-town life in eastern Kentucky. 10 photos.

It's bad enough that PD's husband left her a childless widow at 42, but when she heads west to the Oregon coast to remake her life with a new name, a new look and a new determination to become a professional musician, things keep going wrong. Her cabin has problems. The landlord is missing. Her first gig is a disaster. And the tsunami is coming.

National Book Award Winner The red words painted on the trailer caused quite a buzz around town and before an hour was up, half of Antler was standing in line with two dollars clutched in hand to see the fattest boy in the world. Toby Wilson is having the toughest summer of his life. It's the summer his mother leaves for good; the summer his best friend's brother returns from Vietnam in a coffin. And the summer that Zachary Beaver, the fattest boy in the world, arrives in their sleepy Texas town. While it's a summer filled with heartache of every kind, it's also a summer of new friendships gained and old friendships renewed. And it's Zachary Beaver who turns the town of Antler upside down and leaves everyone, especially Toby, changed forever. With understated elegance, Kimberly Willis Holt tells a compelling coming-of-age story about a thirteen-year-old boy struggling to find himself in an imperfect world. At turns passionate and humorous, this extraordinary novel deals sensitively and candidly with obesity, war, and the true power of friendship. When Zachary Beaver Came to Town is the winner of the 1999 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. This title has Common Core connections.

*A Boston Globe Bestseller!* *An Outside Magazine Book Club Pick!* *Winner of the International Ski Association's Ullr Book Award!* "A sparkling account."—Wall Street Journal An electrifying adventure into the rich history of skiing and the modern heart of ski-bum culture, from one of America's most preeminent ski journalists The story of skiing is, in many ways, the story of America itself. Blossoming from the Tenth Mountain Division in World War II, the sport took hold across the country, driven by adventurers seeking the rush of freedom that only cold mountain air could provide. As skiing gained in popularity, mom-and-pop backcountry hills gave way to groomed trails and eventually the megaresorts of today. Along the way, the pioneers and diehards—the ski bums—remained the beating heart of the scene. Veteran ski journalist and former ski bum Heather Hansman takes readers on an exhilarating journey into the hidden history of American skiing, offering a glimpse into an underexplored subculture from the perspective of a true insider. Hopping from Vermont to Colorado, Montana to West Virginia, Hansman profiles the people who have built their lives around a cold-weather obsession. Along the way she reckons with skiing's problematic elements and investigates how the sport is evolving in the face of the existential threat of climate change.

This book celebrates the colorful history of the Verde Valley from its prehistoric settlements to the Arizona State Centennial Celebration in 2012. Located in the heart of Arizona, between the Sonoran Desert and the mountain highlands of the Colorado Plateau, the Verde Valley has been a pleasant refuge for man and beast for thousands of years. In a land known for its lack of water, the Verde River and its tributaries--Clear Creek, Beaver Creek, Oak Creek, and Sycamore Creek--have attracted prehistoric people and American pioneers alike. This book will illustrate the history of the "Verde" from the ruins of the lost civilization to the first Anglo farming efforts along Clear Creek and the military presence at Camp Verde. It will illustrate the settlements at Middle Verde and along Beaver Creek, Rimrock, Oak Creek, Cornville, and Sedona. Finally, it will visit the settlement near the Cottonwoods, the exploitation of the Billion Dollar Copper Camp at Jerome, the smoke-belching furnaces of the smelters, and the elegant architecture of the planned company town of Clarkdale.

The Inside Out Prison is the true story of a bold, low-cost "correctional experiment" begun in 1961 to make Canadians safer. Beaver Creek Correctional Camp, housed in a former Commonwealth air training base with no fences or weapons, would grow into Beaver Creek Institution, a minimum-security prison housing more than 200 inmates, 30 percent of whom would be lifers. The most important part of this history is how the staff, the community residents, and volunteers gave inmates an opportunity to change their lives. This symbiotic relationship between Corrections Canada and Muskoka epitomized the best of Canadian corrections, in the opinion of the author, who was the last indeterminate warden of this minimum-security prison facility. Charles Stickel captures the colourful dynamics between the staff and inmates and residents of the Gravenhurst area. His book is full of stories peppered with humour, which illustrate how a small number of staff effectively controlled a large number of inmates in a caring, practical, and meaningful way. It is a must read for those contemplating a career in corrections; plus an easy, enjoyable and funny read for the public, offering amazing insights into the valuable role a minimum-security institution can play in returning offenders successfully to the community. --Oliver Doyle, Professor, Sir Sandford Fleming College Detailed and thorough, The Inside Out Prison brings to light an often-forgotten period of correctional innovation, when minimum security camps like Beaver Creek were opened far removed from the old, walled penitentiaries that typify prisons to most Canadians. Little has been written about these institutions, so this well-researched book is an important step in broadening our collective understanding. It is refreshing to read a book about a prison that focuses not on notoriety, escapes, and violence but on the difficult work, perseverance, trust, and community support that made Beaver Creek unique. --Cameron Willis, Researcher and Operations Supervisor, Canada's Penitentiary Museum Charles Stickel has written a very readable book that provides a rare look at corrections history at Beaver Creek, likely unfamiliar to most. Having had hundreds of civilian-escorted inmates at our church services in the past, I read this book with great interest. --Peter Ryttersgaard, Pastor

From the man who catapulted the Covenant with Black America to number one on the New York Times bestseller list comes a searing memoir of poverty, ambition, pain and atonment. Tavis Smiley grew up in a family of thirteen in rural Indian, where money was scarce and the sight of other black faces even scarcer. Always an outsider because of his race, economic background, and Pentecostal religious beliefs, he was sustained by his family’s love. But one day his world was shattered when his father brutally beat him, sending him to the hospital and then into foster care for a period of time. In What I Know for Sure, Smiley recounts how he overcame his painful history and became one of America’s most popular media figures.

A 1984 Newbery Honor Book Although he faces responsibility bravely, thirteen-year-old Matt is more than a little apprehensive when his father leaves him alone to guard their new cabin in the wilderness. When a renegade white stranger steals his gun, Matt realizes he has no way to shoot game or to protect himself. When Matt meets Attean, a boy in the Beaver clan, he begins to better understand their way of life and their growing problem in adapting to the white man and the changing frontier. Elizabeth George Speare’s Newbery Honor-winning survival story is filled with wonderful detail about living in the wilderness and the relationships that formed between settlers and natives in the 1700s. Now with an introduction by Joseph Bruchac.