NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • Buzzfeed • Kirkus Reviews • Publishers Weekly • Chicago Public Library “Redefines friendship as something that must be protected, sacrificed for, and tended to with wisdom, patience, and love.” —Ocean Vuong, New York Times bestselling author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous A poignant coming-of-age novel about two best friends whose friendship is tested when they get the opportunity to leave their impoverished small town for an elite prep school. For fans of Looking for Alaska. Life in a small Appalachian town is not easy. Cash lost his mother to an opioid addiction and his Papaw is dying slowly from emphysema. Dodging drug dealers and watching out for his best friend, Delaney, is second nature. He's been spending his summer mowing lawns while she works at Dairy Queen. But when Delaney manages to secure both of them full rides to an elite prep school in Connecticut, Cash will have to grapple with his need to protect and love Delaney, and his love for the grandparents who saved him and the town he has to leave behind. Jeff Zentner's new novel is a beautiful examination of grief, found family, and young love.

You spend your whole time on an island looking out to sea. Perhaps what you are facing is yourself. Sixteen-year-old Stephanie West has been dragged from Sydney to remote Maatsuyker Island off the coast of Tasmania by her parents, hoping to recapture a childhood idyll and come to terms with their grief over the death of Steph's twin brother. Cut off from friends and the comforts of home, exiled to a lonely fortress and a lighthouse that bears the brunt of savage storms, the months ahead look to be filled with ghosts of the past. Steph's saviour is Tom Forrest, a 19-year-old deckhand aboard a crayfishing boat. When the weather allows, Tom visits the island, and he and Steph soon form an attraction. But Tom must conceal at all costs the illegal fishing he takes part in, orchestrated by his tyrannical brother. And he dare not dwell on his fear of the sea or his deep-worn premonition that the ocean will one day take him. Wildlight is an exquisite, vividly detailed exploration of the wayward journey of adolescence, and how the intense experience of a place can change the course of even the most well-planned life.

View our feature on Marjorie Liu’s A Wild Light.For too long Maxine Kiss has felt an inexplicable darkness inside her-a force she channels into hunting the demons bent on destroying the human race. But when she finds herself covered in blood and crouched beside her grandfather's dead body with no memory of what happened, Maxine begins to fear that the darkness has finally consumed her.

With over 70 original illustrations, printmaker Angela Harding invites you to look at how the light changes the world around us, and how that changes us in its turn. "I, like many other people, find great inspiration in the way mornings, evenings or bright midday light changes the way we see the things around us. The bouncing light of a cloud-filled storm sky can change a seascape through a palette of blues, greys, and turquoises. The cool summer moonlight that crosses my back garden sends long shadows that change the mood of the garden from homely to unfamiliar. And whether it's the low light of an English February afternoon or the sharp, bright mid-morning light of the Cornish seaside, the light and dark we experience affects our moods. "But life is busy, and I am guilty as anyone of being too preoccupied by daily life to just stop and look. This book is a collection of illustrations from those moments when I have stopped and looked; when a particular encounter with nature has been highlighted by the time of day or the time of night, becoming a strong image long remembered and one that I wish to illustrate. "I hope you enjoy this journey through 24 hours of my collected memories of the nature that surrounds me."

The National Geographic Traveler guidebooks are in tune with the growing trend toward experiential travel. Each book provides inspiring photography, insider tips, and expert advice for a more authentic, enriching experience of the destination. These books serve a readership of active, discerning travelers, and supply information, historical context, and cultural interpretation not available online. The spectacular variety of landscapes that make Australia a unique continent attracts a growing number of visitors every year. With the invaluable experience of Roff Smith, award-winning journalist and writer, they can enjoy the most significant and authentic experiences. His profound knowledge of the Australian Outback makes him the ideal guide to accompany the reader from Sydney's famous Bondi Beach to Ayer's Rock, through the desert hinterland all the way to Western Australia and toward the colorful underwater scenery of the Great Barrier Reef. With its 175 photos and 30 detailed maps, the guide provides all the necessary tools to plan a trip to such a unique destination on the other side of the world. It takes readers to every corner of the country with information on Australia's history, food, and culture. Smith relies on the suggestions of local experts who recommend hotels and restaurants in all parts of the country and for all budgets. This guide offers all the information a traveler needs to have an unforgettable trip with unique experiences like dolphin watching off the western coast, hiking in the Outback desert, and scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Dirk, found in the forest as a young child, is treated as something feral and wild by other members of the bush settlement in Victoria in 1840. At seventeen, when he finds a cache of sovereigns inside a log he is splitting, Dirk realises he has been given his independence. With the sovereigns tied around his waist, he sets out to discover what the world holds, who he is and what he wants to do with his life. Dirk travels to the frontiers of the new and strange land and comes to understand himself in the process. This is an evocative, exciting story on a broad, sweeping canvas. Peopled with vivid characters, Wildlight is set against a backdrop of burgeoning settlement in Victoria.

An illustrated travel guide to Australia with full-color photographs, detailed maps, and information on accommodations, restaurants, walking and driving tours, history, culture, and tourist sites.

Who knew that the morepork, our forest-dwelling owl, can turn its head 270 degrees? Or that the eastern bar-tailed godwit doubles its body weight before undertaking an epic and continuous migration of 11,000 kilometres? Or that the tui has a specially placed voicebox, enabling it to duet with itself, sometimes producing sounds too high-frequency for humans to hear? Zany, off-kilter, wondrous and wild, The Brilliance of Birds gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives of some of New Zealand's feathered friends.