Photographic Essay of the John Muir Trail in California's Sierra Nevada Range; history of the trail's construction.

A stunning, multigenerational story about two teenagers: Victoria, who joins the circus in 1965, and her granddaughter, Callie, who leaves the circus fifty years later. Perfect for fans of This is Us. In 1965 seventeen-year-old Victoria, having just escaped an unstable home, flees to the ultimate place for dreamers and runaways--the circus. Specifically, the VanDrexel Family Circus where, among the lion tamers, roustabouts, and trapeze artists, Victoria hopes to start a better life. Fifty years later, Victoria's sixteen-year-old granddaughter Callie is thriving. A gifted and focused tightrope walker with dreams of being a VanDrexel high wire legend just like her grandmother, Callie can't imagine herself anywhere but the circus. But when Callie's mother accepts her dream job at an animal sanctuary in Florida just months after Victoria's death, Callie is forced to leave her lifelong home behind. Feeling unmoored and out of her element, Callie pores over memorabilia from her family's days on the road, including a box that belonged to Victoria when she was Callie's age. In the box, Callie finds notes that Victoria wrote to herself with tips and tricks for navigating her new world. Inspired by this piece of her grandmother's life, Callie decides to use Victoria's circus prowess to navigate the uncharted waters of public high school. Across generations, Victoria and Callie embrace the challenges of starting over, letting go, and finding new families in unexpected places.

Award winning, Walks the Sky, the first novel from promising new writer Ron Habeck, delivers the powerful story of Captain Thomas Edwards, a seasoned veteran of the Florida Seminole War, who reports to Fort Newnan in northern Georgia to assist in the removal of the Cherokee Nation to the Indian Lands west of the Mississippi. Fooled into believing the Cherokees are leaving voluntarily, Edwards imagines an easy assignment that will bolster his military credentials and jumpstart his political ambitions. Thomas is soon confronted with a ghost from his past when he discovers his childhood sweetheart, Catherine Sevenstar, living in deplorable conditions among the Cherokees being held at Fort Newnan. In defiance of orders, he embarks on a path that puts him in direct conflict with the fort's mentally deteriorating commander, Colonel Jeremiah Morse, and his psychopath henchman, Elias Watkins. With Catherine's help, Thomas devises a system to smuggle willing captives towards freedom. After several successful escapes, Thomas's plans collapse when Elias captures Catherine who is aiding a getaway. The stakes grow ever higher as Captain Edwards is forced to choose between his career, his future plans, and the woman he still loves. "Walks the Sky" receives five stars from The Historical Fiction Company and the "Highly Recommended" award of excellence: "A time in American history that no one talks about... this book is a poignant reminder of the painful journey of the Cherokee Indians as they are forced from their homes on the Trail of Tears to the Indian territory in Oklahoma. And not only a slice of history, but a beautiful love story stretching through time between star-crossed lovers ripped apart by prejudicial people and brought together again to save the lives of others. There are so many images which spring to mind throughout this story, and I feel that anyone who loved "Dances With Wolves" or "Lonesome Dove", will find a heartfelt connection to this story which is rich with well-developed characters and enlightening history. This is a gritty story of pain, loss, and injustice, and the author does a remarkable job in embedding a reader into the narrative. Enough said, you won't regret reading this heart-wrenching tale."

Fiction and non-fiction on South Asians living in the U.S. In Anu Murgai's A Marriage Proposal, a woman reprimands her future daughter-in-law for not appearing shy, in Zinab Ali's Daddy, a daughter reproaches her father for taking a second wife.

Billie Tommie, a ten-year-old Seminole Indian, lives with his family in a chickee on a mangrove island in the Florida Everglades. Billie is the first in his family to attend school. Now he walks in two worlds--the traditonal world of his ancestors and the modern world of teachers, tourists, and schoolmates. Billie's grandfather, Abraham, tells him the legends, stories, and rituals that are important to the Seminole people. Abraham says that an honest man who leads a good life will walk the path to the city in the sky when he dies. But Billie wants to learn more about the white man's ways. Caught between two cultures, which path will Billie take?

From award-winning author McCall Hoyle comes a new young adult novel, Meet the Sky, a story of love, letting go, and the unstoppable power of nature. It all started with the accident. The one that caused Sophie’s dad to walk out of her life. The one that left Sophie’s older sister, Meredith, barely able to walk at all. With nothing but pain in her past, all Sophie wants is to plan for the future—keep the family business running, get accepted to veterinary school, and protect her mom and sister from another disaster. But when a hurricane forms off the coast of North Carolina’s Outer Banks and heads right toward their island, Sophie realizes nature is one thing she can’t control. After she gets separated from her family during the evacuation, Sophie finds herself trapped on the island with the last person she’d have chosen—the reckless and wild Finn Sanders, who broke her heart freshman year. As they struggle to find safety, Sophie learns that Finn has suffered his own heartbreak; but instead of playing it safe, Finn’s become the kind of guy who goes surfing in the eye of the hurricane. He may be the perfect person to remind Sophie how to embrace life again, but only if their newfound friendship can survive the storm. Praise for McCall Hoyle’s debut novel, The Thing with Feathers: “Beautiful, touching, and bursting with hope.” Pintip Dunn, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author “Heartfelt and affecting. Hoyle tells a familiar story, but does so in a voice that is rarely heard, and that makes all the difference.” Leah Thomas, William C. Morris Award finalist and author of Because You’ll Never Meet Me and Nowhere Near You “The inspiring story of one girl’s struggle not to be defined by her illness, The Thing with Feathers soars as it explores what it means to live—and love—without fear.” Kathryn Holmes, author of How It Feels to Fly “A refreshing, quality debut—meaningfully woven and beautifully engaging, from the first page to the last.” YA Books Central (5 stars)

One moment Joseph Schwartz is a happily retired tailor in Chicago, 1949. The next he's a helpless stranger on Earth during the heyday of the first Galactic Empire. Earth, as he soon learns, is a backwater, just a pebble in the sky, despised by all the other 200 million planets of the Empire because its people dare to claim it's the original home of man. And Earth is poor, with great areas of radioactivity ruining much of its soil--so poor that everyone is sentenced to death at the age of sixty. Joseph Schwartz is sixty-two. This is young Isaac Asimov's first novel, full of wonders and ideas, the book that launched the novels of the Galactic Empire, culminating in the Foundation series. This is Golden Age SF at its finest. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Sky’s small town turns absolutely claustrophobic when his secret promposal plans get leaked to the entire school in this witty, heartfelt, and ultimately hopeful debut novel for fans of What if it’s Us? and I Wish You All the Best. Sky Baker may be openly gay, but in his small, insular town, making sure he was invisible has always been easier than being himself. Determined not to let anything ruin his senior year, Sky decides to make a splash at his high school’s annual beach bum party by asking his crush, Ali, to prom—and he has thirty days to do it. What better way to start living loud and proud than by pulling off the gayest promposal Rock Ledge, Michigan, has ever seen? Then, Sky’s plans are leaked by an anonymous hacker in a deeply homophobic e-blast that quickly goes viral. He’s fully prepared to drop out and skip town altogether—until his classmates give him a reason to fight back by turning his thirty-day promposal countdown into a school-wide hunt to expose the e-blast perpetrator. But what happens at the end of the thirty days? Will Sky get to keep his hard-won visibility? Or will his small-town blues stop him from being his true self?

Originally published in 1954, this is a magnificent book about the greatest adventure of our age: humanity’s exploration of the skies and space. One of the classics of aviation and scientific literature, written by wartime flier Guy Murchie, this book will fascinate even non-pilots and non-science oriented readers.

High school students enter a time gate to an unknown planet for a survival test, but something goes wrong and they have to learn to survive by their own resourcefulness.