Central Kansas Library System

Intellectually precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater escapes the boredom of daily life by re-reading a series of beloved fantasy novels set in an enchanted land called Fillory. Like everybody else, he assumes that magic isn't real -- until he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. But something is missing. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he thought...

On a beautiful June day in 1965, a dozen girls-classmates at a picturesque Blue Ridge women's college-launched their homemade raft (inspired by Huck Finn's) on a trip down the Mississippi. It's Girls A-Go-Go Down the Mississippi read the headline in the Paducah, Kentucky, paper. Thirty-five years later, four of those "girls" reunite to cruise the river again. This time it's on the luxury steamboat, The Belle of Natchez, and there's no publicity....

George Anders explains the remarkable power of a liberal arts education, and the ways it can open the door to cutting-edge jobs. The curiosity, creativity, and empathy that are hallmarks of a liberal arts education aren't unruly traits that must be reined in. You can be yourself, as an English major, and thrive in sales. You can segue from anthropology into the booming new field of user research; from classics into management consulting, and from...

"From the bestselling author of College Unbound comes a hopeful, inspiring blueprint to help alleviate parents' anxiety and prepare their college-educated child to successfully land a good job after graduation. Saddled with thousands of dollars of debt, today's college students are graduating into an uncertain job market that is leaving them financially dependent on their parents for years to come--a reality that has left moms and dads wondering:...

Once again, the author takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, she has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure. The narrator of the story is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless...

"Class paints an intimate and heartbreaking portrait of motherhood as it converges and often conflicts with personal desire and professional ambition. Who has the right to create art? Who has the right to go to college? And what kind of work is valued inour culture? In clear, candid, and moving prose, Class grapples with these questions, offering a searing indictment of America's educational system and an inspiring testimony of a mother's triumph...

Whether employed or not upon completing their college degree, most people experience a significant “culture shock” while transitioning from student to professional life. In Life After College: Ten Steps to Build a Life You Love, authors Tori Randolph Terhune and Betsy A. Hays show recent, and not so recent, college graduates what they can do to successfully transition into this new stage of their lives. Terhune, a recent college graduate, and...

"A romantic, vivid novel that takes place in the tender time of a young woman's life: Heather has graduated from college and is traveling around Europe with her two best friends. She's left school responsibility behind and adult responsibility is looming, but this is her one, ONE last summer to be free. Heather doesn't expect to even meet Jack, let alone fall in love with him. Jack is an enigmatic Vermonter a few years older than she is, who is following...