Growing up on the cul de sac will insert you into the stories of people in the suburb as you uncover their lives while they grow, recalling your own existence. Some of the reading will invoke nostalgia, some will evoke laughter as you recall your youth and some will touch you in ways that are heart warming. Essdale takes you onto the path of a boy and girl who must cope with the problems of youth, adjust to a world that no one can describe accurately and struggle to overcome the obstacles that we all meet on the road of life. It is also about parenting, coping with conflict and problem solving.

Jason Birchall can't wait for Valentine's Day. His parents are going away for the weekend, and Grandma is coming! Jason has big plans. Will he be able to sneak some of his mother's yummy valentine chocolates? Can he trick Grandma into allowing him to change his bedtime?Strange things happen in the Cul-de-sac when Jason pigs out on gooey chocolates and stays up late for a scary show!

Told against the backdrop of the American landscape of the late '80s to the mid-'90s, Growing Up Dead is the story of Peter Conners's journey from straight-laced suburban kid to touring Deadhead. Peter discovered the Grateful Dead in 1985, at the age of 15, through friends who exchanged bootleg tapes of live Grateful Dead concerts. A teenager living in the suburbs of Rochester, New York, he became exposed to an entirely new way of life, and friends who were enjoying more freedom and less parental guidance. At the age of 16, he attended his first Grateful Dead concert on June 30, 1987 - he was hooked. Between 1987 and 1995, Conners would attend Dead 'shows' all over the United States. He traveled with a makeshift 'family' of other Deadheads in a Volkswagen camper, selling drugs and whatever else would provide gas money to the next concert. His hair was a wild, unkempt bush and baths were infrequent. In short, he had progressed from suburban kid, to Grateful Dead fan, to full-blown Deadhead. Chronicling this progression, which culminates with the 1995 death of Jerry Garcia, Conners reveals the truth behind Deadhead culture and history. The result is a riveting insight into the obsessive fandom that made The Grateful Dead the most successful touring band of all time, as well as a cultural phenomenon.

A shooting lays bare the secrets harbored by five families in a sleepy suburban cul-de-sac in this riveting psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of All the Wrong Places. “Cul-de-sac proves once again that Joy Fielding is an ingenious master of domestic suspense.”—Samantha M. Bailey, USA Today and #1 national bestselling author of Woman on the Edge Someone on this quiet, unassuming cul-de-sac will be shot dead in the middle of a sultry July night. Will it be Maggie, the perfectionist wife, or Craig, the husband who can’t quite live up to her expectations? They’ve packed up their two children and fled their life in California, hoping for a fresh start in Florida, only to find the demons of the past hovering on their doorstep. Maybe it will be Nick, a highly respected oncologist, or his wife, Dani, a successful dentist, both with well-kept secrets of their own. Or perhaps the victim will be Julia, an elderly widow, whose troubled grandson has recently moved in with her, introducing unsavory habits and even more unsavory acquaintances into her formerly quiet existence. Then there’s Olivia and her husband, Sean. Having lost his job at a prestigious advertising agency, Sean is depressed, resentful of his working wife, and drinking heavily. He is also prone to increasingly violent fantasies. And what of the newlyweds, Aiden and Heidi, whose marriage is already on the rocks, due to Aiden’s reluctance to stand up to his intrusive mother? Matters aren’t helped when Heidi befriends Julia’s grandson, setting the stage for a major blowup. A diverse group of neighbors, to be sure. Yet all harbor secrets. All bear scars. And all have access to guns. Not all will survive the night.

Homages to Richard Thompson and his newspaper strip Cul de sac.

Growing Up Doughnut is more than a coming of age tale. It is a story of simpler times in a small town that could be anywhere USA. A time when kids played until the street lights came on and parents watched out for everyone's kids. The story is funny, poignant, revealing, thought provoking and, at times, heartbreaking. Although somewhat autobiographical in nature, the story is a work of creative non-fiction with characters and theme that are universal.

In this bawdy, raucous, and unabashedly frank novel, youth is certainly not wasted on the young Hailed as "one of the most hilarious and well-observed accounts of teenage debauchery you are ever likely to read" by the trendsetting British lifestyle magazine Dazed & Confused, Ben Brooks's Grow Up is a shocking, stylish, and very modern coming-of-age story. As Jasper J. Wolf careens through high school, his list of to-dos includes: get high with friends, seduce the hottest girl in school, and, last but not least, expose his stepfather as a murderer. But as growing up soon teaches him, what he wants and what he gets are often wildly different—and decidedly unexpected.

From Design Mom blogger Gabrielle Blair and her husband, Ben Blair, a unique guide that subverts the concept of "perfect parenting" by embracing uncertainty. Gabrielle and Ben Blair have been raising kids for over two decades. Through the years, they’ve charted their own unconventional path: working from home before remote work was a thing; uprooting their kids four, five, six times – including a move to France where they enrolled in local schools without knowing the language. It’s been a unique parenting journey characterized by experimentation, trial and error, decisions prompted by financial or psychological necessity, varying levels of anxiety and tension, despair, and hope. This unique path turned out to be fertile soil for growing independent, resilient, and creative kids, and a family that is genuinely close and truly enjoys each other’s company. With this book they share how they did it, and how we can too: by letting go of tired expectations of what it means to be a good parent (focus less on grades and more on seeing your kid for who they are); by accepting that the old rules won’t necessarily apply in the future (changes in higher ed and career-building are evolving at a rapid pace) and instead focus on making your time with your kids one of connection, adventure, shared projects, creativity and joy. And it doesn’t require moving to France!

Richard Thompson is renowned among cartoonists as an "artist's" cartoonist. Little known to all but those close to him is the extent of his art talent. This is the book that will enlighten the rest of us and delight us with the sheer beauty of his work. Divided into six sections, each beginning with an introductory conversation between Thompson and six well-known peers, including Bill Watterson, the book will present Thompson's illustration work, caricatures, and his creation, Richard's Poor Almanack. Each section is highly illustrated, many works in color, most of them large and printed one-to-a-page. The diversity of work will help cast a wider net, well beyond Cul de Sac fans.