Central Kansas Library System

Oscar Starling never wanted to come to Chicago. But then Oscar finds himself not just in the heart of the big city but in the middle of a terrible fire! No one knows exactly how it began, but one thing is clear: Chicago is like a giant powder keg about to explode. An army of firemen is trying to help, but this fire is a ferocious beast that wants to devour everything in its path, including Oscar! Will Oscar survive one of the most famous and devastating...

Chicago celebrity, Charles James can't shake the nightmare that wakes him each night. He sees himself walking down a long, broken highway the sides of which are lit in flames. Where is he going? Why is he walking? What is the wailing he hears around him? By day, he wonders why he's so haunted and unhappy when he has all he ever wanted-fame, fans and fortune and the lavish lifestyle it affords him. Coming from a childhood of poverty and pain, this...

Sara's terrified. She's falling in love with a famous man. In the witness protection program, her safety depends on staying invisible -- and loving Adam could get her killed. Hidden away in the witness protection program, she's falling in love with former pro football player Adam Black. FBI agent Dave Richman has his hands full keeping her safe from her sister's killer. When events bring Sara face-to-face with terror, will she rely on God for protection....

A twelve-year-old street urchin and the son of Chicago's most important jeweler strike up an unlikely friendship in the days before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and both are nearly trapped when the city goes up in flames.

"It's December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless -- unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social...

Snow is falling all across Minnesota as Mr. and Mrs. James Sparrow awaken in their modest Minneapolis apartment. She adores Christmas; he loathes it. Bound for Christmas in Hawaii, Mr. Sparrow is abruptly summoned home to North Dakota. He arrives just in time to be trapped there by a blizzard. During his stay, he reaches an epiphany worthy of the season and resolves to simplify his life.

"William Golding's unforgettable classic of boyhood adventure and the savagery of humanity comes to Penguin Classics in a stunning Graphic Deluxe Edition with a new foreword by Lois Lowry As provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, Lord of the Flies continues to ignite passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary boys marooned on a coral island...

Launching an investigation of his own when his instincts tell him that more is behind a political shooting on Chicago's west side, SOS Detective Billy Harney uncovers a spate of murders connected to his troubled past. "To Detective Billy Harney, the newest member of Chicago PD's elite strike force--Special Operations Section-- getting shot in the head, stalked by a state's attorney, and accused of murder by his fellow cops is all part of breaking...

Tris must escape with Four and go beyond the wall enclosing Chicago. For the first time ever, they will leave the only city and family they have ever known. Once outside, old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless with the revelation of shocking new truths. Tris and Four must quickly decide who they can trust as a ruthless battle ignites beyond the walls of Chicago which threatens all of humanity. In order to survive, Tris will be forced to...

A young Amish girl tells her "silent friend," her diary, about all the wondrous experiences she has on her first trip to a city, Chicago.