Time: Now. Place: A town in the United States of America where Winter is cold. Winter Break has just begun. Alternately hilarious and touching, the play follows nineteen teenagers, some who know each other, some who don’t, as they wrestle with friendships, breakups, loss, graduation, and their place in the world. WINTER BREAK is the 2020 Educational Theatre Association commission.

"I'm straight, but when I see Stanley..." Nerdy Ben's freshman dorm life is never boring when muscle jock Stanley is around. Stanley cheers up everybody's day. "Maybe I'm handsome, but I need love." Stanley is tired of guys who think a handsome muscle jock can only be a sex object. Winter break leaves Ben and Stanley alone in the college dorm, discovering first-time love. Between the snow, the pizza, and the Christmas carols -- things happen, discoveries arise, and love might just happen. Winter Break is a standalone straight-to-gay/gay-for-you Christmas college romance with two very curious freshmen and a feel-good HEA.

I knew it wasn't true. It couldn't be. . . . And yet, I couldn't help staring at him, wondering. However fleeting, there was the slightest hint of doubt in my mind. Didi Randall doesn't think her life can get much worse than public humiliation when her boyfriend is the subject of a vicious rumor on campus. Despite their four-year relationship, the rumor puts a wedge between her and Drake, but Didi is hopeful that they can reconnect on the winter break cruise. She, Drake, and a handful of Lan-U students will be sailing the high seas of the Caribbean just before the start of the New Year and new semester. The cruise turns out to anything but happy and carefree when ugly secrets and grudges between friends are revealed. But Didi's troubles go beyond simple public humiliation when she wakes up on deck early in the morning, disoriented, and then learns that Drake is missing. It quickly becomes clear that he must have gone overboard. But was it an accident—or was it murder?

In deep enough snow, nobody can hear you scream. After a semester of college, Miranda is free of her parents: mom’s obnoxious helicoptering and dad’s sometimes-violent alcohol problem. They've got a solution for the separation, though: This winter break, they've rented an isolated cottage for the family to reconnect. For Miranda, it's the opposite of a vacation. The timing is terrible. her boyfriend has been ghosting her, and her best friend thinks he's cheating. A coming blizzard means that once she arrives, she can't leave. Some creep's been texting her disturbing photos she doesn’t understand. and worst of all, her folks are acting strange. They're hiding something, and Miranda has no idea what it is. What Miranda discovers at the cabin will leave her gasping for breath, giving "surviving winter break" a whole new meaning. Winter Break is the a new young adult suspense novel by Johnny B. Truant, the bestselling author of Fat Vampire, adapted by SyFy as the TV show Reginald the Vampire. His other books include Pretty Killer, Pattern Black, Invasion, The Beam, Dead City, and over 100 other titles across many genres.

Pregnant Harper sees danger everywhere in the chilling third Harper Jennings mystery, but can she keep herself and her baby safe when no one believes her? Surely Harper Jennings can survive a visit from her mother and her new boyfriend while Hank’s on his first business trip since his accident? But she has more on her mind when she glimpses a nude young man being dragged into the woods near her house. Everyone – police included – concludes it was either kids playing around . . . or Harper’s hormones talking. But Harper can’t let it go; suspecting that her mother’s boyfriend might be hiding something, soon even her own home no longer seems a place of safety . . .

Now a major motion picture streaming on Hulu, starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize “Eileen is a remarkable piece of writing, always dark and surprising, sometimes ugly and occasionally hilarious. Its first-person narrator is one of the strangest, most messed-up, most pathetic—and yet, in her own inimitable way, endearing—misfits I’ve encountered in fiction. Trust me, you have never read anything remotely like Eileen.” —Washington Post So here we are. My name was Eileen Dunlop. Now you know me. I was twenty-four years old then, and had a job that paid fifty-seven dollars a week as a kind of secretary at a private juvenile correctional facility for teenage boys. I think of it now as what it really was for all intents and purposes—a prison for boys. I will call it Moorehead. Delvin Moorehead was a terrible landlord I had years later, and so to use his name for such a place feels appropriate. In a week, I would run away from home and never go back. This is the story of how I disappeared. The Christmas season offers little cheer for Eileen Dunlop, an unassuming yet disturbed young woman trapped between her role as her alcoholic father’s caretaker in a home whose squalor is the talk of the neighborhood and a day job as a secretary at the boys’ prison, filled with its own quotidian horrors. Consumed by resentment and self-loathing, Eileen tempers her dreary days with perverse fantasies and dreams of escaping to the big city. In the meantime, she fills her nights and weekends with shoplifting, stalking a buff prison guard named Randy, and cleaning up her increasingly deranged father’s messes. When the bright, beautiful, and cheery Rebecca Saint John arrives on the scene as the new counselor at Moorehead, Eileen is enchanted and proves unable to resist what appears at first to be a miraculously budding friendship. In a Hitchcockian twist, her affection for Rebecca ultimately pulls her into complicity in a crime that surpasses her wildest imaginings. Played out against the snowy landscape of coastal New England in the days leading up to Christmas, young Eileen’s story is told from the gimlet-eyed perspective of the now much older narrator. Creepy, mesmerizing, and sublimely funny, in the tradition of Shirley Jackson and early Vladimir Nabokov, this powerful debut novel enthralls and shocks, and introduces one of the most original new voices in contemporary literature. Ottessa Moshfegh is also the author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Homesick for Another World: Stories, and McGlue.

Nicholas and his family are going on a ski trip! What could go wrong? Nicholas is so excited for his family's ski trip that he's had his backpack, long johns, and snowboard boots on for three days already. But before they leave, Nicholas has a whole list of things to do: take the cat to a neighbour's house, shovel the driveway, round up the ski gear, pack up the car . . . will this vacation ever start? Everyone else is excited for all the mountain climbing, snowshoeing, and skiing ahead -- but by the time the car is packed and the family is on their way, all Nicholas wants to do on his vacation is get a little rest!

Five animals enjoy summer in the forest after running away from the masters who planned to eat them, but only Bull thinks of the approaching winter.

From bestselling author Chelsea Sedoti comes a comedic young adult mystery with "one of the most relatable characters in recent young adult literature" (Book Page), perfect for fans of John Green and Jandy Nelson. Hawthorn Creely's not one to get involved in other people's business. But a missing person's investigation? That's another matter... Hawthorn wasn't trying to insert herself into a missing person's investigation. Or maybe she was. But that's only because Lizzie Lovett's disappearance is the one fascinating mystery their sleepy town has ever had. Bad things don't happen to popular girls like Lizzie Lovett, and Hawthorn is convinced she'll turn up at any moment—which means the time for speculation is now. So Hawthorn comes up with her own theory for Lizzie's disappearance. A theory way too absurd to take seriously...at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie's life? Like getting a job at the diner where Lizzie worked and hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend. After all, it's not as if he killed her—or did he? Told with a unique voice that is both hilarious and heart-wrenching, Hawthorn's quest for proof may uncover the greatest truth is within herself. Perfect for buyers looking for: funny books for teens character-driven coming-of-age stories the young adult books best sellers 2017 Also by Chelsea Sedoti: It Came from the Sky As You Wish Praise for The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett: "A dark, comedic mystery about a girl's quest for proof that ultimately helps her discover some truths about herself. We officially love Hawthorn. [O]ffbeat, smart and awesome."—Justine Magazine "Sedoti's debut offers an enlightening look at the dangers of relying on outward appearances to judge someone's character, and Hawthorn's first-person narrative, filled with obsessive thoughts and, eventually, meaningful reflection, is a lively, engaging vehicle for the story... Fans of character-driven novels will appreciate this."—Booklist "Hawthorn and Lizzie both emerge as surprising, intricate characters whose stories are resonant and memorable."—Publishers Weekly "Hawthorn is an engaging young woman with a vivid imagination...With an interesting and diverse supporting cast, this novel is full of topics that are relevant to teens: bullying, self-esteem, family dynamics, and suicide. Highly recommended."—Shelf Awarenes

A Guardian / Sunday Times / Irish Times / Herald Scotland / Mail on Sunday Book of the Year Winner of the Bord Gáis Novel of the Year ‘Midwinter Break is a work of extraordinary emotional precision and sympathy, about coming to terms – to an honest reckoning – with love and the loss of love, with memory and pain...this is a novel of great ambition by an artist at the height of his powers’ Colm Tóibín A retired couple, Gerry and Stella Gilmore, fly to Amsterdam for a midwinter break. A holiday to refresh the senses, to see the sights and to generally take stock of what remains of their lives. But amongst the wintry streets and icy canals we see their relationship fracturing beneath the surface. And when memories re-emerge of a troubled time in their native Ireland things begin to fall apart. As their midwinter break comes to an end, we understand how far apart they are – and can only watch as they struggle to save themselves.