Thomas the Terrible Tomcat has a tough life and a bad reputation. Small animals fear him and bigger ones beat him up and blinded his one eye. He lives near a garbage can behind Sully’s Sammies, a small eatery. Whenever Sully sees Thomas, he brings out tasty leftover treats from his restaurant. Sully even names Thomas “the Terrible Tomcat” in the hopes that the bigger cats will leave him alone. Sadly, Thomas is friendless and lonely. He wants a friend to have fun with, but that’s hard to do since he has to act as fierce as he can so other cats will stop picking on him. One day a discouraged Thomas leaves his home and heads far into the forest to be alone. He rests behind a log when along comes Fiona, a friendly and feisty fox who keeps nudging Thomas. Fiona wants to play, and this enthusiastic fox unexpectedly befriends the lonely tomcat. She eventually introduces Thomas to other forest friends who aren’t deterred by outward appearances like the cats back by Sully’s. Thomas has spent so much of his life being picked on, laughed at, and judged solely because of the way he looks, so this is a pleasant surprise. However, when danger strikes, will newly found friendships hold tight?

Bunky and the Walms: The Christmas Story is a novel about the power of friendship, courage, loyalty, and nobility! What will happen if one slightly grumpy and complaining Bunky suddenly has to become a brave Christmas Hero, repair Santa Claus' sleigh, and deliver gifts all over the world? And what will happen if the literary world about which Bunky is dreaming while writing his novel enters his reality? Decidedly, this year's Christmas will be Bunky's greatest adventure, yet on this adventure he will not be alone: there will be his best friends, cousin Rodney and a little Wolf Plum, as well as the entire family of Walms, the Elves, the Reindeer, and even Santa Claus himself! From the magical Walmland, through the charming Faroe Islands, and to the very heart of the fantasy world of Bunkyland, Bunky's quest to save Christmas will take him on a memorable journey through different places, but also a journey into his own heart!

A photographic look into the world of vinyl record collectors—including Questlove—in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. Compelling photographic essays from photographer Eilon Paz are paired with in-depth and insightful interviews to illustrate what motivates these collectors to keep digging for more records. The reader gets an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions, including Gilles Peterson and King Britt, as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. Driven by his love for vinyl records, Paz takes us on a five-year journey unearthing the very soul of the vinyl community.

A beautifully packaged edition of one of García Márquez's most beloved novels, with never-before-seen color illustrations by the Chilean artist Luisa Rivera and an interior design created by the author's son, Gonzalo García Barcha. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs—yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

One of America's foremost historians brilliantly brings to life the fierce struggle - both public and, ultimately, bitterly personal - between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton - two rivals whose opposing visions of what the United States should be continue to shape our country to this day.

Meet all of the engines in this Thomas & Friends board book with a padded cover! Train-loving boys and girls ages 2 to 5 will love to discover fascinating facts about Thomas, Nia, Bertie, Harold, and all their favorite Thomas & Friends characters in this sturdy board book with padded cover. In the early 1940s, a loving father crafted a small blue wooden train engine for his son, Christopher. The stories that this father, the Reverend W Awdry, made up to accompany the wonderful toy were first published in 1945 and became the basis for the Railway Series, a collection of books about Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends--and the rest is history. Thomas & Friends(TM) are now a big extended family of engines and others on the Island of Sodor. They appear not only in books but also in television shows and movies, and as a wide variety of beautifully made toys. The adventures of Thomas and his friends, which are always, ultimately, about friendship, have delighted generations of train-loving boys and girls for more than 70 years and will continue to do so for generations to come.

The “brilliant” story of July, a slave girl living on a sugar plantation in 1830s Jamaica just as emancipation is coming into action (Reader’s Digest). Told in the irresistibly willful and intimate voice of Miss July, with some editorial assistance from her son, Thomas, The Long Song is at once defiant, funny, and shocking. The child of a field slave on the Amity sugar plantation in Jamaica, July lives with her mother until Mrs. Caroline Mortimer, a recently transplanted English widow, decides to move her into the great house and rename her “Marguerite.” Together they live through the bloody Baptist War and the violent and chaotic end of slavery. An extraordinarily powerful story, “The Long Song leaves its reader with a newly burnished appreciation for life, love, and the pursuit of both” (The Boston Globe). Finalist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize The New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year

In a strange land where magic is found everywhere, peace and balance prevail until a king and a queen become corrupted by their thirst for power and begin to threaten it all. This leads a young boy to a quest.

From the New York Times columnist, a portrait of a family and the cycles of joy and grief that mark the natural world: “Has the makings of an American classic.” —Ann Patchett Growing up in Alabama, Margaret Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents—her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father—and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver. And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds—the natural one and our own—“the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.” Gorgeously illustrated by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations is an assured and memorable debut. “Magnificent . . . Readers will savor each page and the many gems of wisdom they contain.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

In the tradition of celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene, Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell. The recipient of extraordinary acclaim from critics and the bookselling community, Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell and has garnered comparisons to celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. Set during the tumult of World War II, on the lush Malayan island of Penang, The Gift of Rain tells a riveting and poignant tale about a young man caught in the tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits. In 1939, sixteen-year-old Philip Hutton-the half-Chinese, half-English youngest child of the head of one of Penang's great trading families-feels alienated from both the Chinese and British communities. He at last discovers a sense of belonging in his unexpected friendship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat. Philip proudly shows his new friend around his adored island, and in return Endo teaches him about Japanese language and culture and trains him in the art and discipline of aikido. But such knowledge comes at a terrible price. When the Japanese savagely invade Malaya, Philip realizes that his mentor and sensei-to whom he owes absolute loyalty-is a Japanese spy. Young Philip has been an unwitting traitor, and must now work in secret to save as many lives as possible, even as his own family is brought to its knees.