Cleveland & Ohio

Readers of Kate DiCamillo and Sheila Turnage will love Moonpenny Island, a middle grade novel of friendship and secrets by the beloved and acclaimed Tricia Springstubb.

Moonpenny is a tiny island in a great lake. When the summer people leave and the ferries stop running, just the tried-and-true islanders are left behind. Flor and her best, her perfect friend, Sylvie, are the only eleven-year-olds for miles and miles--and Flor couldn't be happier. But come the end of summer, unthinkable things begin to happen. Sylvie is suddenly, mysteriously, whisked away to school on the mainland. Flor's mother leaves to take care of Flor's sick grandmother and doesn't come back. Her big sister has a secret, and Flor fears it's a dangerous one.

Meanwhile, a geologist and his peculiar daughter arrive to excavate prehistoric trilobites, one of the first creatures to develop sight. Soon Flor is helping them. As her own ability to see her life on this little lump of limestone evolves, she faces truths about those she loves--and about herself--she never imagined.

The bone-chilling graphic novel that inspired the major motion picture starring Ross Lynch as Jeffrey Dahmer.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
2013 ALA/YALSA Alex Award
2014 Revelation Award at Angoulême
2015 ALA/YALSA Alex Award (Excellence in Narrative Nonfiction)

Named a BEST OF 2012 by Time, The Village Voice, A.V. Club, comiXology, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, MTV Geek, and more!

You only think you know this story. In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer--the most notorious serial killer since Jack the Ripper--seared himself into the American consciousness. To the public, Dahmer was a monster who committed unthinkable atrocities. To Derf Backderf, "Jeff" was a much more complex figure: a high school friend with whom he had shared classrooms, hallways, and car rides. In My Friend Dahmer, a haunting and original graphic novel, writer-artist Backderf creates a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a disturbed young man struggling against the morbid urges emanating from the deep recesses of his psyche--a shy kid, a teenage alcoholic, and a goofball who never quite fit in with his classmates. With profound insight, what emerges is a Jeffrey Dahmer that few ever really knew, and one readers will never forget.

Also available by Derf Backderf, Trashed.

Find teaching guides for My Friend Dahmer and other titles at abramsbooks.com/resources.

In the second book of the popular Seaside Café Mysteries, No Good Tea Goes Unpunished, Everly Swan caters a high-profile beach wedding where the groom doesn't make it to the altar before the wedding bells ring.

Hitting All the sweet-tea spots, this series is:

A delightful Tea Shop and Café Culinary Mystery

The ideal cozy beach read

Perfect for fans of Laura Childs and Kate Carlisle

Catering her childhood friend's beachfront wedding was a dream come true for Sun, Sand and Tea Shop and Café owner Everly Swan--and the hundreds of guests in attendance would be great exposure for her new business. But when the well-to-do groom is found floating facedown in the surf, the coastal vibes of a beach wedding disappear and the locals of Charm, North Carolina turn their suspicions to his new bride. Could she have been so desperate to lay her hands on his fortune that she arranged for his murder before they even set off on their honeymoon?

Everly knows her love-struck friend couldn't be behind the murder, but with clues pointing in several directions, she can't decide which wedding guest is the most likely culprit. Meanwhile, the frustratingly handsome Detective Hays has made it clear that Everly should stay out of the investigation altogether. But with a killer on the loose and a feeling that someone is watching her café very closely, Everly knows that if she can't solve this murder soon, her cake might be iced for good. This new addition to Bree Baker's cozy mysteries will keep you coming back for more!

INCLUDES DELICIOUS FOOD AND DRINK RECIPES

One of Goodreads' Best Books of the Month (May 2017)
One of BuzzFeed's 31 Incredible New Books You Need to Read This Spring
One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of the Year

A HUMOROUS AND TENDER MULTIGENERATIONAL NOVEL ABOUT IMMIGRANTS AND OUTSIDERS--THOSE TRYING TO FIND THEIR PLACE IN AMERICAN SOCIETY AND WITHIN THEIR OWN FAMILIES

In a suburb outside Cleveland, a community of Indian Americans has settled into lives that straddle the divide between Eastern and Western cultures. For some, America is a bewildering and alienating place where coworkers can't pronounce your name but will eagerly repeat the Sanskrit phrases from their yoga class. Harit, a lonely Indian immigrant in his mid forties, lives with his mother who can no longer function after the death of Harit's sister, Swati. In a misguided attempt to keep both himself and his mother sane, Harit has taken to dressing up in a sari every night to pass himself off as his sister. Meanwhile, Ranjana, also an Indian immigrant in her mid forties, has just seen her only child, Prashant, off to college. Worried that her husband has begun an affair, she seeks solace by writing paranormal romances in secret. When Harit and Ranjana's paths cross, they begin a strange yet necessary friendship that brings to light their own passions and fears.

Rakesh Satyal's No One Can Pronounce My Name is a distinctive, funny, and insightful look into the lives of people who must reconcile the strictures of their culture and traditions with their own dreams and desires.

"Several years in the life of the author, a former headmaster at the University School in Ohio, reflections on mortality, incidents in his personal life and marriage, with an account of his activities as lecturer and writer on education. Told in diary form."--Provided by publisher.

THIS COLORING BOOK HAS BEEN CREATED WITH YOU IN MIND. THE GOAL IS FOR YOU TO DISCOVER OR RE-DISCOVER YOUR CREATIVE SELF WHILE YOU COLOR YOURSELF CALM. DOODLING RELAXES YOUR MIND AND MOVES US ALL INTO A NON-FRENZIED STATE AND HELPS EVERYONE LEARN TO FOCUS. NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION WAS FIRST USED BY THE PREHISTORIC CAVEMEN AND CAVEWOMEN. ART IS ABOUT HAVING FUN. LEARN HOW TO PLAY, AGAIN, IF YOU ARE AN ADULT! INDULGE YOUR SENSITIVITIES AND YOUR INSTINCTS FOR COLOR, SHAPE AND DESIGN. I GREW UP AS A BALLET DANCER AND WORKED AS A WRITER AND DANCER IN HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA FOR MANY YEARS. I EARNED MY Ph. D. AND AFTER WORKING IN THE FIELD OF MENTAL HEALTH FOR 15 YEARS, I ENTERED THE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART AND DESIGN AS A PAINTING MAJOR. LET YOURSELF BE....AND HAVE FUN! ENJOY YOURSELF. WARMLY, MIMI

Don Robertson was a true Clevelander. He was born and raised in Cleveland, and after stints in the Army and one year at Harvard, he returned to Cleveland and attended Case Western Reserve University for one year. He then became a reporter and columnist for The Plain Dealer (1950-1955 and 1963-1966), The Cleveland News (1957–1959), and The Cleveland Press (1968–1982). He wrote 18 published novels, most of which took place in Cleveland and the fictional town of Paradise Falls, Ohio. Robertson is probably best known for his trio of novels featuring Morris Bird III: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread (1965), The Sum and Total of Now (1966), and The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened (1970).

Paradise Falls, written between the second and third of the Morris Bird III books, “began as a 945-page flashback." Robertson kept a copy of his huge 1968 novel of small-town life on his desk “as a basic reference work." [Dennis Dooley, 1966 Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature essay: http://www.clevelandartsprize.org/awardees/don_robertson.html]

Signed first edition; dust jacket in protective cover; edges chipped and worn; dark blue cloth with gilt and blue lettering on spine and cover; cover faded in spots; spine rubbed; text clean and bright. G+/G

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A beautiful portrait of being in Paris in the glittering 1920s--as a wife and as one's own woman."--Entertainment Weekly

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures the love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People - Chicago Tribune - NPR - The Philadelphia Inquirer - Kirkus Reviews - The Toronto Sun - BookPage

Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness--until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group--the fabled "Lost Generation"--that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage--a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they've fought so hard for.

A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

Praise for The Paris Wife

"McLain smartly explores Hadley's ambivalence about her role as supportive wife to a budding genius.... Women and book groups are going to eat up this novel." --USA Today

"

Written much in the style of Nancy Horan's Loving Frank ... Paula McLain's fictional account of Hemingway's first marriage beautifully captures the sense of despair and faint hope that pervaded the era and their marriage." --Associated Press

"Lyrical and exhilarating . . . McLain offers a raw and fresh look at the prolific Hemingway. In this mesmerizing and helluva-good-time novel, McLain inhabits Richardson's voice and guides us from Chicago--Richardson and Hemingway's initial stomping ground--to the place where their life together really begins: Paris." --Elle

In Upper Arlington, Ohio, an affluent suburb just outside of Columbus, the state capital of Ohio, a young man becomes a "certified personal trainer." He begins to provide service in an Upper Arlington club called FitAgain, part of a nationwide chain of so-called health clubs all across the United States and in several countries. A slightly older but young mother comes under his care and receives his services. In the process, the services he delivers to her are substandard and the young mother's fate is sealed. The personal trainer is then confronted by the legal system to address the harm he has caused. He faces two, perhaps even three trials and along the way he is exposed to the courtroom drama brought to bear on his case by judges, bailiffs, lawyers, witnesses and jurors. Flaws in the fitness industry and in the legal system are exposed and revealed in this new legal thriller. At the end, one righteous man is left to mete out justice when all else seemingly fails.

A brash and dazzling celebration of the instruments that created the sounds of rock and roll from the 1940s to the present day

Play It Loud celebrates the musical instruments that gave rock and roll its signature sound--from Louis Jordan's alto saxophone and John Lennon's Rickenbacker to the drum set owned by Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Lady Gaga's keytar, and beyond. Seven engrossing essays by veteran music journalists and scholars discuss the technical developments that fostered rock's seductive riffs and driving rhythms, the thrilling innovations musicians have devised to achieve unique effects, and the visual impact their instruments have had. Abundant photographs depict rock's most iconic instruments--including Jerry Lee Lewis's baby grand piano, Chuck Berry's Gibson ES-350T guitar, Bootsy Collins's star-shaped bass, Keith Moon's drum set, and the white Stratocaster Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock--as works of art in their own right. Produced in collaboration with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, this astounding book goes behind the music to offer a rare and in-depth look at the instruments that inspired the musicians and made possible the songs we know and love.

Don Robertson was a true Clevelander. He was born and raised in Cleveland, and after stints in the Army and one year at Harvard, he returned to Cleveland and attended Case Western Reserve University for one year. He then became a reporter and columnist for The Plain Dealer (1950-1955 and 1963-1966), The Cleveland News (1957–1959), and The Cleveland Press (1968–1982). He wrote 18 published novels, most of which took place in Cleveland and the fictional town of Paradise Falls, Ohio. Robertson is probably best known for his trio of novels featuring Morris Bird III: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread (1965), The Sum and Total of Now (1966), and The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened (1970).

In Praise the Human Season, 74-year-old Howard Amberson discovers that his wife is dying from cancer, and he decides that they should take a trip and keep a journal of their past and present experiences.

Signed, first edition. VG/VG

For over a century the Boy Scouts of America has provided millions of American boys with the outdoor adventures of Scouting. At Scout camps across the nation, from early encampments to well-established Scout Reservations, summer camp has been the highlight building character while creating life-long memories. As America evolved so did the Boy Scouts and when the nation was at its best so was Scouting. Primitive Paradise is the story of Scout Camping, its evolution in the United States and impact on society as it unfolded in one community, Cleveland, Ohio. How out of the dreams of men and adventuring of boys a primitive paradise, Beaumont Scout Reservation came to be. How the powers of strong community built it and divided society facilitated its demise.

Michael Ruhlman's groundbreaking New York Times bestseller takes us to the very "truth" of cooking: it is not about recipes but rather about basic ratios and fundamental techniques that makes all food come together, simply.

When you know a culinary ratio, it's not like knowing a single recipe, it's instantly knowing a thousand.

Why spend time sorting through the millions of cookie recipes available in books, magazines, and on the Internet? Isn't it easier just to remember 1-2-3? That's the ratio of ingredients that always make a basic, delicious cookie dough: 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, and 3 parts flour. From there, add anything you want--chocolate, lemon and orange zest, nuts, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, almond extract, or peanut butter, to name a few favorite additions. Replace white sugar with brown for a darker, chewier cookie. Add baking powder and/or eggs for a lighter, airier texture.

Ratios are the starting point from which a thousand variations begin.

Ratios are the simple proportions of one ingredient to another. Biscuit dough is 3:1:2--or 3 parts flour, 1 part fat, and 2 parts liquid. This ratio is the beginning of many variations, and because the biscuit takes sweet and savory flavors with equal grace, you can top it with whipped cream and strawberries or sausage gravy. Vinaigrette is 3:1, or 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, and is one of the most useful sauces imaginable, giving everything from grilled meats and fish to steamed vegetables or lettuces intense flavor.

Cooking with ratios will unchain you from recipes and set you free. With thirty-three ratios and suggestions for enticing variations, Ratio is the truth of cooking: basic preparations that teach us how the fundamental ingredients of the kitchen--water, flour, butter and oils, milk and cream, and eggs--work. Change the ratio and bread dough becomes pasta dough, cakes become muffins become popovers become crepes.

As the culinary world fills up with overly complicated recipes and never-ending ingredient lists, Michael Ruhlman blasts through the surplus of information and delivers this innovative, straightforward book that cuts to the core of cooking. Ratio provides one of the greatest kitchen lessons there is--and it makes the cooking easier and more satisfying than ever.

"A fascinating look into a world many of us never see, and a powerful story about one woman's journey to find her own strength, with a clear message of the importance of books and information for all." --Booklist (American Library Association), starred review

Shortlisted for the 2020 Social Justice & Advocacy Book Award by In the Margins Book Awards.

In December 2008, twentysomething Jill Grunenwald graduated with her master's degree in library science, ready to start living her dream of becoming a librarian. But the economy had a different idea. As the Great Recession reared its ugly head, jobs were scarce. After some searching, however, Jill was lucky enough to snag one of the few librarian gigs left in her home state of Ohio. The catch? The job was behind bars as the prison librarian at a men's minimum-security prison. Talk about baptism by fire.

As an untested twentysomething woman, to say that the job was out of Jill's comfort zone was an understatement. She was forced to adapt on the spot, speedily learning to take the metal detectors, hulking security guards, and colorful inmates in stride. Over the course of a little less than two years, Jill came to see past the bleak surroundings and the orange jumpsuits and recognize the humanity of the men stuck behind bars. They were just like every other library patron--persons who simply wanted to read, to be educated and entertained through the written word. By helping these inmates, Jill simultaneously began to recognize the humanity in everyone and to discover inner strength that she never knew she had.

At turns poignant and hilarious, Reading behind Bars is a perfect read for fans of Orange is the New Black and Shakespeare Saved My Life.

Fran Belkin's collection of t-shirts wound up in boxes in the attic, until one day she realized these mementos chronicling over thirty years of Cleveland rock and roll history could illustrate the incredible story of a most unusual family business: Belkin Productions.The shirts and swag paint a picture of the times, the music, the bands and the concert promotion company her husband Jules and his brother Mike built into a powerhouse on the national music scene. In Rock This Town!, Fran's collection is artfully woven together with vintage snapshots, concert photography and intimate stories shared by the Belkin Productions crew who lived them. This book is for those of us who were out front, standing drenched in a World Series of Rock downpour, singing along to every word of our favorite song, Bic lighters in the air, screaming for another encore. This is a love letter to every fan of rock and roll.

Elements of Tara Westover's Educated... The mill comes to represent something holy to [Eliese] because it is made not of steel but of people.
--New York Times Book Review

One woman's story of working in the backbreaking steel industry to rebuild her life

--but what she uncovers in the mill is much more than molten metal and grueling working conditions. Under the mill's orange flame she finds hope for the unity of America.

Steel is the only thing that shines in the belly of the mill...

To ArcelorMittal Steel Eliese is known as #6691: Utility Worker, but this was never her dream. Fresh out of college, eager to leave behind her conservative hometown and come to terms with her Christian roots, Eliese found herself applying for a job at the local steel mill. The mill is everything she was trying to escape, but it's also her only shot at financial security in an economically devastated and forgotten part of America.

In Rust, Eliese brings the reader inside the belly of the mill and the middle American upbringing that brought her there in the first place. She takes a long and intimate look at her Rust Belt childhood and struggles to reconcile her desire to leave without turning her back on the people she's come to love. The people she sees as the unsung backbone of our nation.

Faced with the financial promise of a steelworker's paycheck, and the very real danger of working in an environment where a steel coil could crush you at any moment or a vat of molten iron could explode because of a single drop of water, Eliese finds unexpected warmth and camaraderie among the gruff men she labors beside each day.

Appealing to readers of Hillbilly Elegy and Educated, Rust is a story of the humanity Eliese discovers in the most unlikely and hellish of places, and the hope that therefore begins to grow.

The performance art of burlesque, once a faded form, has made a comeback in the twenty-first century, and it has shimmied back to life with a vengeance in Cleveland. Thanks to fans and entrepreneurs, neo-burlesque has taken the stage--and it's more inclusive, less seedy, and emphatically fun.

Rust Belt Burlesque traces the history of burlesque in Cleveland from the mid-1800s to the present day, while also telling the story of Bella Sin, a Mexican immigrant who largely drove Northeast Ohio's neo-burlesque comeback. The historical center of Cleveland burlesque was the iconic Roxy Theater on East Ninth Street. Here, in its twentieth-century heyday, famed dancers like Blaze Starr and comics like Red Skelton and Abbott and Costello entertained both regulars and celebrity guests.

Erin O'Brien's lively storytelling and Bob Perkoski's color photos give readers a peek into the raucous Ohio Burlesque Festival that packs the house at the Beachland Ballroom every year. Today's burlies come in all shapes, ethnicities, and orientations, drawing a legion of adoring fans. This is a show you won't want to miss.

Persephone Alcmedi, a modern-day witch with a werewolf boyfriend, is caught in a love triangle in the sixth book in this sexy urban fantasy series.

JUST YOUR AVERAGE MEGA-WITCH. . . .

It's tough being a modern woman, but Persephone Alcmedi has it worse than most. Being the prophesied Lustrata has kicked her career as a witch into high gear, and juggling a wærewolf boyfriend who is about to become king of his kind and a seductive vampire who bears her magical Mark isn't easy either.

Still, Seph's beloved foster daughter, Beverley, is causing more trouble than these two men put together. The young girl's been playing with a magical artifact that's far more dangerous than she realizes. Now Seph must summon help from a mystical being so potent that even vampires fear him . . . and the cost of his aid may be more than she's willing to pay. Seph, Johnny, and Menessos face threats from all sides--and a few from within. Will the forces of destiny cement their tenuous supernatural union, or shatter it forever?

In So You Want to Publish a Book?, Anne Trubek, founder of Belt Publishing, demystifies the publishing process.

This insightful guide offers concrete, witty advice and information to authors, prospective authors, and those curious about the inner workings of the industry. Learn the differences between Big Five and independent presses, and how advances and royalties really work. Discover the surprising methods that actually move books off the shelves. Develop the lingo to make editors swoon, and challenge yourself to find the errors intentionally embedded in the text!

Armed with a more transparent understanding of how books are made and sold, readers will be better prepared to publish, promote, and purchase them wisely and successfully.

A New York Times Notable Book, Winner of the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, A Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperback Book Club Selection, and Winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature

Tamara Anderson was in third grade when she found out most people stay in the same house for more than a year. Until then she thought everyone picked up and moved on a regular basis, crossing the country, leaving behind people and bedrooms and belongings. Now she's turning fifteen, and she wants to stay in Mayville, New York. At first glance, there isn't much to stick around for. In the tarpaper house across the road there are the Murphys, the Baptist family who upset Tamara's atheist parents by inviting her to church. In the pasture there's Edith the cow. And up in the attic there's the ghost of the boy who used to live here, or at least that's what Tamara suspects. But this time Tamara is putting her foot down, and planting it...

Taking us into the heart and mind of an unforgettable young girl, and a unique corner of a rural 1950s America, Sarah Willis presents a "heartfelt first novel [in which] the characters are so vivid and rounded they produce a reflected happiness in the reader." (The Miami Herald)

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
The Washington Post - San Francisco Chronicle

Before the critically acclaimed novels Await Your Reply and You Remind Me of Me, Dan Chaon made a name for himself as a renowned writer of dazzling short stories. Now, in Stay Awake, Chaon returns to that form for the first time since his masterly Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award.

In these haunting, suspenseful stories, lost, fragile, searching characters wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection--and find themselves in unexpected, dire, and sometimes unfathomable situations.

A father's life is upended by his son's night terrors--and disturbing memories of the first wife and child he abandoned; a foster child receives a call from the past and begins to remember his birth mother, whose actions were unthinkable; a divorced woman experiences her own dark version of "empty-nest syndrome"; a young widower is unnerved by the sudden, inexplicable appearances of messages and notes--on dollar bills, inside a magazine, stapled to the side of a tree; and a college dropout begins to suspect that there's something off, something sinister, in his late parents' house.

Dan Chaon's stories feature scattered families, unfulfilled dreamers, anxious souls. They exist in a twilight realm--in a place by the window late at night when the streets are empty and the world appears to be quiet. But you are up, unable to sleep. So you stay awake.

Praise for Stay Awake

"Eerily beautiful . . . [Chaon] is the modern day John Cheever."--Boston Sunday Globe

"Powerful and disturbing . . . The shocks in this collection are many."--The Washington Post

"Chaon is able to create fully realized characters in mere pages. . . . This collection is further proof that Chaon is one of the best fiction writers working right now."--Omaha World-Herald

"There are not many fiction writers who can do what Dan Chaon can do. . . . [He is] a literary force."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Intense and suspenseful . . . a highly recommended work, not to be missed."--Library Journal (starred review)

"Mesmerizing . . . gripping, masterful fiction."--The Plain Dealer

"Superbly disquieting."--The New York Times Book Review

Don't miss the exclusive conversation between Dan Chaon and Emma Straub at the back of the book.

From the critically beloved, bestselling author of The World We Found and The Space Between Us, whom the New York Times Book Review calls a "perceptive and . . . piercing writer," comes a profound, heartbreakingly honest novel about friendship, family, secrets, forgiveness, and second chances.

An experienced psychologist, Maggie carefully maintains emotional distance from her patients. But when she meets a young Indian woman who tried to kill herself, her professional detachment disintegrates. Cut off from her family in India, Lakshmi is desperately lonely and trapped in a loveless marriage to a domineering man who limits her world to their small restaurant and grocery store.

Moved by her plight, Maggie treats Lakshmi in her home office for free, quickly realizing that the despondent woman doesn't need a shrink; she needs a friend. Determined to empower Lakshmi as a woman who feels valued in her own right, Maggie abandons protocol, and soon doctor and patient have become close friends.

But while their relationship is deeply affectionate, it is also warped by conflicting expectations. When Maggie and Lakshmi open up and share long-buried secrets, the revelations will jeopardize their close bond, shake their faith in each other, and force them to confront painful choices.

Don Robertson was a true Clevelander. He was born and raised in Cleveland, and after stints in the Army and one year at Harvard, he returned to Cleveland and attended Case Western Reserve University for one year. He then became a reporter and columnist for The Plain Dealer (1950-1955 and 1963-1966), The Cleveland News (1957–1959), and The Cleveland Press (1968–1982). He wrote 18 published novels, most of which took place in Cleveland and the fictional town of Paradise Falls, Ohio. Robertson is probably best known for his trio of novels featuring Morris Bird III: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread (1965), The Sum and Total of Now (1966), and The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened (1970). Set in Cleveland between 1944 and 1953, each of the three novels revolves around a major event in the city’s history: the East Ohio Gas explosion, the Indians winning the pennant, and the Korean War. Reviewers compared the trilogy to the works of Mark Twain, Booth Tarkington and J. D. Salinger.

The Sum and Total of Now continues the story of Morris Bird III. It is the summer of 1948. Thirteen-year-old Morris Bird III lives in Cleveland with his parents and little sister. His mother aggravates him, his sister is a pain, and his father’s radio personality ego is out of control—as is Morris’s own body when in the presence of girls. But over in Columbus, his grandmother, Alice Anna Bird, is dying. She is the greatest influence on his life and cancer is stealing her away from him.
 
As his parents and aunts and uncles bicker over his grandmother’s belongings, young Morris distracts himself with the Cleveland Indians’ race for the pennant, Philip Marlowe stories, and the common daydreams of a teenage boy. But in the end, Morris must find courage and strength within to face the harsh reality around him—and the choices he must make . . . because he’s the only one who can.  Stephen King, who was a big fan of Don Robertson's novels, called this one "brilliant."

Signed first edition; dust jacket in protective cover; top and bottom of spine lightly chipped; blue cloth with image of bed embossed on front; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/VG

For three middle-aged women in the suburbs of Cleveland, the issues seemed compelling but relatively conventional: sending a child off to college, dealing with a marriage gone stale, feeling "invisible." But changes were coming . . . and not the predictable ones. Because Margie, Katherine, and Abra are feeling a new kind of power inside of them - literally. Of all the things they thought they might have to contend with as they got older, not one of them considered they'd be exploding a few gender roles by becoming superheroes.At once a delightful and surprising adventure and a thoughtful examination of a woman's changing role through life's passages, THE SUPER LADIES is larger-than-life fiction at its very best. PRAISE FOR SUSAN PETRONE'S THROW LIKE A WOMAN: "While, on the surface, this is a novel about a woman battling to make her way in the man's world of professional baseball, debut author Petrone presents a stirring and humorous story of a woman doing considerably more than that--trying to rediscover herself, provide for her family, and perhaps find a little love along the way." - Booklist "Throw Like a Woman is that rare baseball novel, both a paean to the game and a deeper exploration of character. Susan Petrone has a fan's heart and a scout's eye. Read it now. Don't wait for the movie." - Stewart O'Nan, co-author of Faithful and A Face in the Crowd "For baseball fans who yearn for a female Jackie Robinson, reading Susan Petrone's fun and absorbing novel Throw Like a Woman becomes a kind of prayer. 'Please, Lord! Give talent a chance. Let this dream come true!'" - Mary Doria Russell, author of The Sparrow "Someday there will be a woman who plays Major League Baseball. And when it happens, I suspect it will be an awful lot like Susan Petrone's fun Throw Like a Woman. Susan knows baseball and so the novel - and her hero Brenda Haversham - crackles with authenticity. You can hear the pop of the ball hitting the catcher's mitt." - Joe Posnanski, author of The Soul of Baseball, NBC Sports National Columnist "Petrone's storytelling is first-rate, and she weaves a credible baseball tale with well-defined characters throughout." - The Wave

Lydia Lymkin is inspired to learn about the Declaration of Independence while watching an Independence Day parade in her hometown. Lydia's father explains the reasons for and the importance of this historic document that launched the founding of the United States of America.

"The Adventures of Jill, Jake, and Stimlin" is a children's book series that is based on true stories of the Lubinger family when Jill, and her four-legged brothers, Jake, and Stimlin were all young. They share the unconditional love that dogs bring to a family.

Book one "Jill Gets A Brother", is how Jill met and fell in love with a shelter puppy she named "Jake" and was hoping to convince her dad to adopt a puppy to make their family more loving, bigger, and better. Would she be able to talk "Dad" into expanding her family?

"The Chronicles of Hair Follicles is a very informative, yet inspirational read that highlights Dameka Woods' decades of experience being in the hair industry and the different clients she's encountered regarding their relationship with hair & their various hair conditions. This book also gives great historical information of the different types of hair, shattering myths of different cultural hair types, the DIY crew, and the way the entire body affects the hair when dealing with different health conditions and disorders. She ties in how the different mental and emotional health of an individual can also affect their hair care journey. Finally, there are some great tips and suggestions for those in their hair journey to identify and assist with obtaining healthy hair. This is definitely worth the read."

Don Robertson was a true Clevelander. He was born and raised in Cleveland, and after stints in the Army and one year at Harvard, he returned to Cleveland and attended Case Western Reserve University for one year. He then became a reporter and columnist for The Plain Dealer (1950-1955 and 1963-1966), The Cleveland News (1957–1959), and The Cleveland Press (1968–1982). He wrote 18 published novels, most of which took place in Cleveland and the fictional town of Paradise Falls, Ohio. Robertson is probably best known for his trio of novels featuring Morris Bird III: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread (1965), The Sum and Total of Now (1966), and The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened (1970).

Stephen King was a big fan of Don Robertson, and he acknowledged that Robertson was one of his influences. In 1987, King published Robertson's novel The Ideal, Genuine Man through his Philtrum Press. In this later novel, Robertson tells the story of Herman Marshall, a retired truck driver who tries to cope with his wife's cancer and his own feelings of growing old.

1st edition; inscribed by author; dust jacket suffers some minor scrapes. VG/VG

On November 10, 1898, a mob of 400 rampages through the streets of Wilmington, North Carolina, killing as many as 60 citizens, burning down the newspaper office, overthrowing the newly elected leaders, and installing a new white supremacist government. The Wilmington Race Riots--also known as the Wilmington Insurrection and the Wilmington Massacre, is the only coup d'etat on American soil. The violence was prompted by the increasing political powers African Americans in the town were gaining during Reconstruction. The Marrow of Tradition is a fictionalized account of this important, under-studied event. Charles W. Chesnutt, an African American writer from North Carolina who lived in Cleveland as an adult and was the first black professional writer in the nation, narrates the story of "Wellington" North Carolina through William Miller, a black doctor, and his wife, Janet, who is both black and the unclaimed daughter of a prominent white businessman. Along with dozens of other characters, including a black domestic servant whose speech is rendered in vernacular dialect, they create a composite of Reconstruction and the violent racial politics created in backlash. The novel is also a masterful work of art that stands on its own: gripping, nuanced, and wholly original.

The Severances: An American Odyssey, from Puritan Massachusetts to Ohio's Western Reserve, and Beyond reveals how John and Abigail Severans and a line of their descendants fared on these shores. Biographies seldom look back more than a few generations. The Severances spans nearly the entirety of America history and touches on almost every geographical section of the country. The book describes in remarkable detail how each successive generation of a family whose arrival here predated the nation's founding met the challenges of its time and place, took advantage of the opportunities presented by a country undergoing the process of self-invention, built on the sacrifices and gains of forebears, chose to enjoy mounting success, implanted family traditions and beliefs, and endeavored to give something back to society. Drawing on insights contained in these previously unmined materials and information uncovered in archives from Philadelphia to Pasadena, author Diana Tittle has created a richly textured portrait of ten generations of Anglo-Saxon strivers compelled by necessity and nurturance to be community builders. A series of questions animate the narrative. Why was the branch of the family on which The Severances focuses still scratching out a living as subsistence farmers two centuries after John and Abigail landed in Boston harbor? What caused members of the seventh generation to leave behind their family's hard-won security in western Massachusetts for the frontier outpost of Cleveland? How did the son of a penniless newcomer to Ohio build one of nineteenth-century America's impressive fortunes? What compelled him to spend millions on foreign missionary work? Finding answers rooted in the "profoundly religious culture" of New England, The Severances is a fascinating saga that will command readers' attention while deepening their general understanding of the forging of our nation and national character.