The Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning classic about a boy who decides to hit the road to find his father—from Christopher Paul Curtis, author of The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963, a Newbery and Coretta Scott King Honoree. It’s 1936, in Flint Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him: 1. He has his own suitcase full of special things. 2. He’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!! Bud’s got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father. Once he decides to hit the road to find this mystery man, nothing can stop him—not hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even Herman E. Calloway himself. AN ALA BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS AN ALA NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOK AN IRA CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD WINNER NAMED TO 14 STATE AWARD LISTS “The book is a gem, of value to all ages, not just the young people to whom it is aimed.” —The Christian Science Monitor “Will keep readers engrossed from first page to last.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred “Curtis writes with a razor-sharp intelligence that grabs the reader by the heart and never lets go. . . . This highly recommended title [is] at the top of the list of books to be read again and again.” —Voice of Youth Advocates, Starred From the Hardcover edition.

Two teenagers, in love and insane, journey across the United States in this Bonnie and Clyde–like adventure, pursuing a warped American dream, where Elvis is still king and the corn dog is the “backbone of this great country.” “There is a typo on page 14. Other than that, this book is perfect.” —Bill Callahan “He told her he was a one-woman man and she was it for him. Teal said that was good because he was it for her. It and It. Both of them were It.” Kody Rawlee Green is stuck in juvie. Tella “Teal Cartwheels” Carticelli is packing her bags for Rome--on the orders of her parents, who want her as far from Kody as possible. But teenage love is too strong a force for the obstacles of reality. And the highway beckons. Leaving their abusive pasts behind them in Jersey, Kody and Teal set off on a cross-country road trip equal parts self-destruction and self-discovery, making their way, one stolen car at a time, toward bigger, wider, bluer skies. Along the road, of course, there’s time to stop at Graceland, classic diners, a fairgrounds that smells of “pony shit and kettle corn," and time for run-ins with outsize personalities like the reincarnated Grand Canyon tour guide Dead Bob and the spurious Montana rancher Bill Gold. On their heels, all the while, is Teal’s brother, Neil Carticelli, who’s abandoned his post in the navy to rescue the sister he left behind. But does she really need saving? These all too American tropes find new expression in Bud Smith’s own freewheeling prose—and in Rae Buleri’s original illustrations—filling Teenager with humor, poetry, and a joy that’s palpable in every unforgettable sentence. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL

WORK is a portrait of Bud Smith's years working construction. It's about his hilarious blue-collar family. It's about growing up in a campground in NJ, skipping college, and moving to NYC on a drunken whim. It's about making art even if that means writing a novel during 1000 consecutive lunch breaks.

A New York Times bestseller Foreword by Doris Kearns Goodwin The longtime Commissioner of Major League Baseball provides an unprecedented look inside professional baseball today, focusing on how he helped bring the game into the modern age and revealing his interactions with players, managers, fellow owners, and fans nationwide. More than a century old, the game of baseball is resistant to change—owners, managers, players, and fans all hate it. Yet, now more than ever, baseball needs to evolve—to compete with other professional sports, stay relevant, and remain America’s Pastime it must adapt. Perhaps no one knows this better than Bud Selig who, as the head of MLB for more than twenty years, ushered in some of the most important, and controversial, changes in the game’s history—modernizing a sport that had remained unchanged since the 1960s. In this enlightening and surprising book, Selig goes inside the most difficult decisions and moments of his career, looking at how he worked to balance baseball’s storied history with the pressures of the twenty-first century to ensure its future. Part baseball story, part business saga, and part memoir, For the Good of the Game chronicles Selig’s career, takes fans inside locker rooms and board rooms, and offers an intimate, fascinating account of the frequently messy process involved in transforming an American institution. Featuring an all-star lineup of the biggest names from the last forty years of baseball, Selig recalls the vital games, private moments, and tense conversations he’s shared with Hall of Fame players and managers and the contentious calls he’s made. He also speaks candidly about hot-button issues the steroid scandal that threatened to destroy the game, telling his side of the story in full and for the first time. As he looks back and forward, Selig outlines the stakes for baseball’s continued transformation—and why the changes he helped usher in must only be the beginning. Illustrated with sixteen pages of photographs.

In Turning Two, Bud Harrelson delivers a team memoir as he takes fans through the early seasons, sudden success, lean years, and return to glory. Only one man, Harrelson, can say he was in uniform for both New York Mets world championships: as the shortstop who anchored the infield of the 1969 "Miracle Mets" and then as the third-base coach for the storied 1986 team. Born on D-day 1944, the Alameda County, California, native made his Major League debut with the Mets in 1965. At 147 pounds he was the team's Everyman--a Gold Glove, All-Star shortstop who won the hearts of fans with his sparkling defensive skills and trademark brand of gritty, scrappy baseball. Harrelson recalls how the gentle yet firm guidance of manager Gil Hodges shaped a stunning success story in ‘69. Bud remembers the game's legends he played with and against, including Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson (against whom he compiled a .333 career batting average), and his idol, Willie Mays--Harrelson's teammate on the 1973 "Ya Gotta Believe" team. Harrelson writes of his famous fight with Pete Rose in the playoffs that autumn as the Mets upset the Cincinnati Reds to win the National League pennant and squared off against the mighty Oakland A's in a dramatic seven-game World Series. After retiring as a player, Bud returned to Shea Stadium as Davey Johnson's third-base coach in 1985 and waved Ray Knight home for the winning run in the unforgettable Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Harrelson takes us in the dugout and on the field as he tells thrilling tales from his career and speaks candidly of the state of the game today. Turning Two is the ideal souvenir from the first half-century of the New York Mets--and from the pre-steroid era when players played the game the right way and did the little things to help their teams win. Bud Harrelson in Turning Two On Gil Hodges "Hodges accomplished his goal with compassion and a gentle hand and attained discipline simply by being such an imposing physical specimen. He rarely lost his temper, but on the few occasions that he did, you can bet he got our attention." On Battling at the Plate "I have always said I'll take God to three-and-two and take my chances. I might foul two off before He gave me ball four." On 1969 "Torre hit a smash to me at short and I'm thinking, Don't screw up the throw; don't rush it. I knew I could catch it. I just wanted to be sure to make a good, firm throw right at the chest of Al Weis at second base. I tossed it to Weis and he turned it over to Clendenon at first for the double play and we had won the Mets' first title. We were the first champions of the National League East." On Playing with Willie Mays "I reached up to catch the ball and as I did, I stepped on Willie's foot. Oh, no! ‘Hey, Pee Wee, what are you doing out here?' he squealed. ‘I didn't hear anything,' I said. ‘I don't call for the ball,' he said. ‘Well,' I said, ‘if you don't want to get stepped on again, you better start calling for it.' The next time he was in center field and there was a pop fly, he called for it." On Tom Seaver to M. Donald Grant "Mr. Grant, you know why we're doing so well? See that little guy in the corner over there"--and he was pointing right at me--"that guy whose salary you cut? He's the reason we're winning." On Game 6 "I leaned over to Mitchell and reminded him to be alert and be ready to take off if Stanley threw one in the dirt."

According to Forbes magazine,* marijuana is “Canada’s most valuable agricultural product — bigger than wheat, cattle or timber.” Bud Inc. gives us an inside look at this thriving homegrown industry. Although the cultivation and selling of marijuana remains illegal in Canada, it is already big business, especially in British Columbia. Law enforcement officials estimate that the annual wholesale value of B.C. marijuana is now $6 billion, about 5% of the province’s total economy. If these stats are correct, it is B.C.’s largest export. Ontario and Quebec are not far behind. Vancouver journalist Ian Mulgrew has been following the rise of this underground economy for some time, and knows all the key players, political and entrepreneurial. Comparisons to the rum-runners of the Prohibition era are not unfounded. These so-called “pot barons” are all savvy businessmen who have built their empires using tried and true business models. Cash-strapped governments, pharmaceutical companies and other big businesses are well aware of the potential profits, and Canada has been at the forefront of the global movement to legalize medical marijuana and decriminalize the recreational use of the drug. Estimates vary, but it’s thought that nearly a million people in Canada could benefit from medicinal marijuana, yet only about a thousand are currently legally authorized to use it. Many feel that marijuana should be grown, regulated and taxed like any other commodity. Following the evolution of the marijuana trade from rich kids smuggling it in their luggage, to trans-oceanic operations involving tons of dope, to today’s thriving multi-billion-dollar domestic industry, Bud Inc. is a fascinating study of real-life supply-and-demand economics. *November 2003

In 1909 5-year-old Temple and his 9-year-old, Bud, rode from Frederick, Oklahoma to Santa Fe, New Mexico...Alone. And that was only the beginning -- Book jacket.

"We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful" is the motto of Deza Malone's family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. But it's 1936 and the Great Depression has hit Gary hard, and there are no jobs for black men. When her beloved father leaves to find work, Deza, Mother, and her older brother, Jimmie, go in search of him, and end up in a Hooverville outside Flint, Michigan. Jimmie's beautiful voice inspires him to leave the camp to be a performer, while Deza and Mother find a new home, and cling to the hope that they will find Father. The twists and turns of their story reveal the devastation of the Depression and prove that Deza truly is the Mighty Miss Malone.

A man finds a seashell and it tells him to do things, some bad, some good ... An adjunct professor decides he doesn't want to teach at the community college anymore, he begins a journey into the underworld, his dog at his side ... A giant eagle egg is found lying on the lawn, it shakes and continues to grow larger, and larger ... Let's out go on a date with someone who has little tiny tigers in their blood ... Let's make love to a severed head ... A man is crushed with a car and asks a personal favor of the driver, he wants to run some errands around town before he dies--cash this check at the bank, pick up stamps at the post office, go with you on your job interview ... Double Bird. Vivd. Odd. Hurtful. Unloved. Wet with dew. Out of its mind with joy.

Biography of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, one of the greatest comedy teams of all time.