Clarion Review JUVENILE FICTION Essie's Kids and the Rolling Calf---3 Luke Brown CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 978-1-4565-7696-7 Mystery stories for kids have changed dramatically in the last few decades. Characters like Encyclopedia Brown and The Boxcar Children have been replaced by wizards, vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Innocent sleuthing of creepy houses has been replaced by elaborate battles with powerful supernatural figures. That's what makes a ghost series like Essie's Kids & The Rolling Calf stand apart from other children's series. Husband and wife authors Luke Brown and Berthalicia Fonseca-Brown have created a collection of books that lets kids be ... well ... kids facing ghostly circumstances. In this, the third installment, Essie's children-Gena, Betty, Myrtle, Junior, Leonard, and Karl-are enjoying a wonderful vacation and making friends with neighboring kids in the countryside around Clear Mount, Jamaica. But behind the idyllic background, a ghost roams the land-something called a "rolling calf," an unnerving, clanking ghost with red eyes. Karl can't shake the feeling that the rolling calf is after him in particular. After a terrible nightmare, he knows nothing will change until he faces that ghost himself. Essie's Kids is refreshing in that it has a spooky premise, but feels more like The Hardy Boys than Harry Potter. Even while Karl knows he must face an unknown and possibly dangerous adversary, he is surrounded by a family that cares for him. This is a world where kids go five miles to the perfect place to swim or girls spend the day jumping rope. When the adventure does get going, the characters never lose the camaraderie of friends, the touchstone of solid parents, or the importance of a lesson learned. Karl's world is such a pleasant one that many readers may long to see more. While we read about squeaky floors as Karl walks and girls playing hopscotch on squares drawn in dirt roads, the Browns do not provide enough description of the setting. Essie's Kids has many opportunities to show us Jamaica from a child's eyes-the homey bungalow where the family stays, the green and rolling countryside, or the clear, sun-freckled waters of the nearby river. These opportunities to give readers vivid images are longingly missed. The lack of description may be by design. The text is laid out with no illustrations and includes an area at the back for children to cultivate their imagination by drawing their own images. It's a nice touch in a book that's written with a simplicity that will appeal to younger readers, but that has the length to attract older kids. Essie's Kids is personal and heartfelt, and each book in the series contains a moral. In this installment, Essie tells her kids to be positive in the face of adversity. This kind of message shows that it doesn't matter if you're facing down a rolling calf, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, or a bully in a school yard. Being positive is a universal lesson that can improve the lives of children-and maybe even that of some adults. Katerie Prior

He (Karl) had heard many stories about various rolling calf encounters, but he personally had never seen one before, well at least not until now. A "rolling calf" is a ghost that often appears in the form of an animal. Most people who had close encounters reported that they first heard or detected the rolling calves by their loud chiming and rather unnerving clanking noise. This familiar sound was made by the long chain that they dragged along behind them. They have large red eyes like a dragon's. Some even said that they could breathe fire through their mouths. Some said that the rolling calves were the spirits of evil butchers who had been cruel and mean when they were alive. The best way, they said, to get away from these monstrous beasts was to drop various things on the ground. This storybook was written in an exciting island-style manner. It is about Essie's kids on the island of Jamaica and their unusual encounter with a rolling calf. This is the first of a ten part series. Finally, these books also end uniquely always with a strong moral story.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Big Sea" by Langston Hughes. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

A collection of essays on America by the author of London Fields, Money and Yellow Dog. At the age of ten, when Martin Amis spent a year in Princeton, New Jersey, he was excited and frightened by America. As an adult he has approached that confusing country from many arresting angles, and interviewed its literati, filmmakers, thinkers, opinion-makers, leaders and crackpots with characteristic discernment and wit. Included in a gallery of Great American Novelists are Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Joseph Heller, William Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, Paul Theroux, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. Amis also takes us to Dallas, where presidential candidate Ronald Reagan is attempting to liaise with born-again Christians. We glimpse the beau monde of Palm Beach, where each couple tries to out-Gatsby the other, and examine the case of Claus von Bulow. Steven Spielberg gets a visit, as does Brian de Palma, whom Amis asks why his films make no sense, and Hugh Hefner's sybaritic fortress and sanitized image are penetrated. There can be little that escapes the eye of Martin Amis when his curiosity leads him to a subject, and America has found in him a superlative chronicler.

The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Now with photos and new material. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans. John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same. Marley grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, and stole women's undergarments. Obedience school did no good -- Marley was expelled. But just as Marley joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley remained a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms. Marley & Me is John Grogan's funny, unforgettable tribute to this wonderful, wildly neurotic Lab and the meaning he brought to their lives.

100 traditional yet surprisingly modern recipes from the far northern corners of Russia, featuring ingredients and dishes that young Russians are rediscovering as part of their heritage. IACP AWARD FINALIST • LONGLISTED FOR THE ART OF EATING PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND FORBES “A necessary resource for food writers and for eaters, a fascinating read and good excuse to make fermented oatmeal.”—Bon Appétit Russian cookbooks tend to focus on the food that was imported from France in the nineteenth century or the impoverished food of the Soviet era. Beyond the North Wind explores the true heart of Russian food, a cuisine that celebrates whole grains, preserved and fermented foods, and straightforward but robust flavors. Recipes for a dazzling array of pickles and preserves, infused vodkas, homemade dairy products such as farmers cheese and cultured butter, puff pastry hand pies stuffed with mushrooms and fish, and seasonal vegetable soups showcase Russian foods that are organic and honest--many of them old dishes that feel new again in their elegant minimalism. Despite the country's harsh climate, this surprisingly sophisticated cuisine has an incredible depth of flavor to offer in dishes like Braised Cod with Horseradish, Roast Lamb with Kasha, Black Currant Cheesecake, and so many more. This home-style cookbook with a strong sense of place and evocative storytelling brings to life a rarely seen portrait of Russia, its people, and its palate—with 100 recipes, gorgeous photography, and essays on the little-known culinary history of this fascinating and wild part of the world.