Central Kansas Library System

"The author describes how she endured as the only child of an unstable poet for a mother and a beloved but largely absent father and explores the consequences of a psychologically harrowing childhood as she seeks refuge from the past and recovers what was lost, "--NoveList.

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from...

The charming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa. The story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat, starts in the worst possible way. Only a few weeks old, on the coldest night of the year, he was stuffed into the book return slot at the Spencer, Iowa, Public Library. He was found the next morning by library director, Vicki Myron, a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast...

As a kid in suburban Chicago, Gary Sinise was more interested in sports and rock 'n' roll than reading or schoolwork. But when he impulsively auditioned for a school production of West Side Story, he found his purpose -- or so it seemed. Within a few years, Gary and a handful of friends created what became one of the most exciting and important new theater companies in America. From its humble beginnings in a suburban Chicago church basement and eventual...

A German woman recounts her youth during World War II under Hitler's regime in this "richly texture memoir" (Publishers Weekly). Growing up in the beautiful mountains of Berchtesgaden-just steps from Adolf Hitler's alpine retreat-Irmgard Hunt had a seemingly happy, simple childhood. In her powerful, illuminating, and sometimes frightening memoir, Hunt recounts a youth lived under an evil but persuasive leader. As she grew older, the harsh reality...

He was Sam Clemens, steamboat pilot, before he was Mark Twain, famous author. His better-known name originated with the lingo of navigation, and much of his writing was informed by his shipboard adventures on one of the world's great rivers. In this book, Twain offered recollections ranging from his salad days as a novice pilot to views from the passenger decks in the twilight of the river culture's heyday. Under the tutelage of the most celebrated...

"During his three combat-filled tours of duty in Afghanistan, former college sports star and skilled paratrooper U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills never once backed down from the hardest challenges that came his way. The big, likable guy literally woke up every morning proudly singing the 82nd Airborne song to encourage and motivate the men he led. But late one afternoon in April 2012 while Travis and his men were on a routine mission near a remote...