THIS WINTER'S EVE... is a delightful tale of a young boy's life as summer passes and Christmas nears. Meet his family and friends and explore his neighborhood as a new school year begins. Watch as summer eases into autumn, trees shed their leaves and blustery winter arrives. Excitement ensues as new Christmas catalogs appear in the mail. Shortly, the small town readies for the approaching season. Decorations go up on streetlamps and in the festive shops that line Main Street. Experience the child's thrill of going with his father to get a tree, his joy assembling the family's raggedy old Nativity set, and gaining a small part in the church Christmas play.Frigid conditions make for father's ingenuity to save the family's baby chicks.But, wonder and disappointment mark the boy's days as Santa's visit nears. THIS WINTER'S EVE... is small town Christmas at its finest.

Winters in Bern are long and cold and deep. On winter nights, when the snow is falling, Pippa goes to sleep knowing she'll wake up to tracks in front of her farmhouse. The tracks are small, and they come from the woods-those same woods that her mother says are full of witches and elves and trolls, and her father says are full of wolves and bears and demons. But these tracks are the Tompte's, and he is a friendly creature. Or at least that's what Pippa hopes. . . The Tompte borrows and mends things, he takes and he sometimes leaves things, and such is life on a farm at the edge of the realm. Her mother calls it tradition. Her father calls it a curse. And when things start going missing and trouble comes their way, Pippa's not sure what to believe. Soon enough, she'll have no choice but to go into the woods to find out. . . Winter comes and north wind blows, And with it comes the winter snow. Through the pines, he leaves his track, Over hill and here and back.The Tompte he looks after land, With quiet feet and silent hand. He comes from woods, alone and weary, On winter nights, dark and dreary.Through the farm, he peeks about, Checking in, and on and out. Taking gifts and leaving tokens, Mending bits that have been broken. His beard is long, his feet are small, He's like a child, about as tall, But Tompte is old and wise as well, And deep in forest is his dell.So, on winter nights when you're asleep, Along comes Tompte in silence deep, On quiet feet, with food to share, With quiet hands, and traded fare. Winters come and Autumns go, And with it comes the Tompte through snow.Always watching, never seenLeaving tracks of where he's be

Some wallflowers bloom at night… Violet is a quiet girl. She speaks six languages, but seldom raises her voice. The gentlemen aren’t beating down her door. Until the night of the Spindle Cove Christmas ball, when a mysterious stranger crashes into the ballroom and collapses at Violet’s feet. He’s wet, chilled, bleeding, and speaking in an unfamiliar tongue. Only Violet understands him. And she knows he’s not what he seems. She has one night to draw forth the secrets of this dangerously handsome rogue. Is he a smuggler? A fugitive? An enemy spy? She needs answers by sunrise, but her captive would rather seduce than confess. To learn his secrets, Violet must reveal hers—and open herself to adventure, passion, and the unthinkable… Love.

After brilliantly reimagining the worlds of Oz, Wonderland, Dickensian London, and the Nutcracker, the New York Times bestselling author of Wicked turns his unconventional genius to Hans Christian Andersen's "The Wild Swans," transforming this classic tale into an Italian-American girl's poignant coming-of-age story, set amid the magic of Christmas in 1960s New York. Following her brother's death and her mother's emotional breakdown, Laura now lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in a lonely townhouse she shares with her old-world, strict, often querulous grandparents. But the arrangement may be temporary. The quiet, awkward teenager has been getting into trouble at home and has been expelled from her high school for throwing a record album at a popular girl who bullied her. When Christmas is over and the new year begins, Laura may find herself at boarding school in Montreal. Nearly unmoored from reality through her panic and submerged grief, Laura is startled when a handsome swan boy with only one wing lands on her roof. Hiding him from her ever-bickering grandparents, Laura tries to build the swan boy a wing so he can fly home. But the task is too difficult to accomplish herself. Little does Laura know that her struggle to find help for her new friend parallels that of her grandparents, who are desperate for a distant relative’s financial aid to save the family store. As he explores themes of class, isolation, family, and the dangerous yearning to be saved by a power greater than ourselves, Gregory Maguire conjures a haunting, beautiful tale of magical realism that illuminates one young woman’s heartbreak and hope as she begins the inevitable journey to adulthood.

Tranquil woodland lives are turned topsy-turvy when Jowls, a malicious canine, is taken in at a nearby farm. The dog's violent upbringing plagues him making him the bane of farm and forest creatures. Encounters between Sebastian Rabbit and Jowls are hostile and trouble for the rabbit ensues. It's a tale of flight and fright. The story's climactic ending threatens animals and humans alike. Meet such memorable characters as the rabbits, Sebastian and Mari, callous Jowls, the mouse and squirrel families, Mole, Toad and conniving Snake in this stirring page-turner of a tale written an audience of both young and old! The Rabbit's Tale demonstrates how vastly different adversaries can rally together to the well being of all.

The celebrated annotator of "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has now prepared a sumptuous new edition of the Dickens classic.

Charles Westover grew up in a small midwestern town, learning guitar at an early age. After graduating high school, he joined the Army, married and shipped off to Europe where he honed his singing and guitar skills. Back home, Westover joined a local band while working at a carpet store.Soon he co-wrote, ""Runaway,"" one of the great rock and roll songs of the era and took on the stage name Del Shannon. Shannon went on to record many more hits and became a superb interpreter of the songs of other. He was the first American recording artist to cover a Beatles' tune, wrote Peter and Gordon's ""I Go to Pieces,"" and produced hit records for Brian Hyland and and the rock group, Smith. At a time when his career seemed to be on the upswing, Shannon's live ended tragically at his Southern California home. A rock legend himself, he would eventually be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you appreciate the great rock singers of the past, you will want to read The Music of Del Shannon.

Navy service school buddies ship off to Vietnam and find themselves temporarily abandoned upon their arrival. It's an ominous welcome to Da Nang. The young men are eventually assigned to a security police unit protecting Navy interests within the city. A tight knit group in the beginning, as time passes personalities clash and tension increases. Frequent rocket attacks and grueling shifts keep the men on edge. Personal differences cause dissension within the group.Financial opportunities within the country's thriving black-market prove tempting for some. An out of country visit only increases a risky involvement in the Southeast Asian underworld and an encounter with U.S. military and Vietnamese law enforcement authorities. Unforeseen events lead to a series of misfortunes and a sudden, unexpected conclusion. Outlast the Rain is a gripping, authentic tale of military life overseas; camaraderie and friendship, replete with greed, crime and betrayal in the exotic Far East during the Vietnam War era.

The 4 Seasons & Frankie Valli, rank among the top American vocal acts of all time. Collectively, they amassed seven #1 hits, 18 Top Ten, and an incredible 61 singles in the Hot 100. They also placed 32 LPS on the top albums charts. Their hit making years spanned more than a half-century. Their hits include: Sherry, Big Girls DonÕt Cry, Walk Like a Man, Rag Doll, Working My Way Back to You, CanÕt Take My Eyes Off of You, My Eyes Adored You, December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night), GreaseÉ Their stardom was no overnight success, as they struggled through lean years and recorded many flops while searching for that elusive hit record. The rag-to-riches story has been told via an award-winning Broadway musical & a Clint Eastwood produced motion picture. Learn about the hits, misses, obscure album tracks and B-sides as they sang their way from delinquents to esteemed members of the R&R Hall of Fame. The book examines the music they made famous and tells of all the glorious years that passed between.

Luck was with Bobby Goldsboro when Roy Orbison came through the area on tour. Orbison took on Goldsboro's band and Bobby stuck with him for the next three years. Bobby went solo and soon scored a modest hit with "Molly," a song that he despised. A short while later, however, he scored a top ten song with his own "See the Funny Little Clown." Other hits followed but his superb "Broomstick Cowboy" was mistakenly seen by many radio stations as a Vietnam War protest songs and they refused to play it. Going against the grain, a Detroit station did air it and it became #1 in that area. His "Honey" was the top record for 1968 reaching #1 on every chart. "Watching Scotty Grow" was also a big hit. The early 70s saw the excellent "Summer (The First Time)" make waves. England voted it the best summer song ever. Bobby hosted a top-rated TV variety program, The Bobby Goldsboro Show, wrote and produced an Easter special for Disney and took up oil painting, of which his art is highly regarded.