| The God of Animals: A Novel |
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Company: Scribner
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ISBN: 1416533257
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List Price: $14.00
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Amazon Price: $6.75
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Used Price: $4.95
 | The Significant Seven Spotlight Title, March 2007: Aryn Kyle's haunting coming-of-age novel is the kind of book that you want to share with everyone you know. Twelve-year-old Alice Winston is growing up fast on her father's run-down horse ranch--coping with the death of a classmate and the absence of her older sister (who ran off with a rodeo cowboy), trying to understand her depressed and bedridden mother, and attempting to earn the love and admiration of her reticent, weary father. Lyrical, powerful, and unforgettable, The God of Animals is our must-read, must-own, must-share book for March. --Daphne Durham Amazon.com With the sure hand of a seasoned writer, Aryn Kyle has crafted a brilliant debut with her novel, The God of Animals. Alice Winston, living on the family horse ranch, a marginal enterprise in Desert Valley, Colorado, is a 12-year-old girl with more than she can handle and no one to help her cope. Polly, a classmate of hers, drowned in the nearby canal and was carried out by Alice's father, Joe, a member of the volunteer posse. Her older sister, 16-year-old Nona, eloped with a rodeo cowboy. Her mother never leaves her bedroom, a case of clinical depression. "My mother had spent nearly my whole life in her bedroom... Nona said that one day, while I was still a baby, our mother had handed me to her, said she was tired, and gone upstairs to rest. She never came back down." Joe has little time for Alice, other than counting on her to muck out the stalls and be polite to the paying customers. He doesn't even notice that she has outgrown her clothes. What Kyle does with this scenario is never predictable or clichéd. She writes beautifully of landscapes, interior and exterior, ravaged by extremes: the hottest summer in years, followed by a deluge; a lonely, isolated girl reaching out to a teacher, Mr. Delmar, equally alienated. Alice starts telling lies, weaving bits and pieces of other people's lives into the tales she tells the teacher. What we eventually find out about her family is more poignant and tragic than anything she can make up. Horse lore is a large part of what explains each of the people in the novel: separating mares from their foals, the way a stud is treated, breaking a horse, ordinary everyday contact. This bond is explored in depth and each person: Alice, Nona, Joe, Joe's father, Alice's mother, is affected by this closeness in a different, unique way, revelatory of each individual's character. Much more than a coming-of-age tale, Kyle told a story of compromises and dreams that will never come true. --Valerie Ryan 10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Aryn Kyle Q: In 2004, your short story "Foaling Season," the first chapter of The God of Animals, won a National Magazine Award for Fiction for The Atlantic Monthly. Did you have the idea for your book at the time you wrote the short story, or did the novel develop over time? A: Three years passed between the time that I finished the short story and the time I returned to expand it into a novel. I was always interested in the characters and in the town which the story takes place, but after the story was published, I assumed I was done with them. In the aftermath of graduate school and a failed attempt at another novel, I found myself living back in my hometown of Grand Junction, Colorado, the town that Desert Valley is loosely based upon. More and more, I caught myself thinking about Alice again. I was interested in how the town had changed over the years, in the way that a tide of money and commercial culture was displacing the old families and the old ways. But mostly, I was interested in Alice's family, and in Alice's struggle to make a place for herself in a world that seems to have no place for her. The short story ended before she could really make any headway. I became curious as to where she might go and who she might become if the events of the story continued into the wider space of a novel. The story of The God of Animals starts with Chapter One, but I've always felt that the novel really starts with the second chapter. Q: How much of your adolescence and personal experience are incorporated into your novel? Like Alice, did you ride horses growing up in Colorado? A: Lots? None? This is a tricky question to answer. As far as lifestyle and experience, my own adolescence could not have been more different from Alice's. I didn't grow up on a ranch; didn't have a sister; my mother got out of bed and went to work every day. But adolescence is adolescence. Like Alice, I certainly know about loneliness, about longing, about regret, and about the confusion of trying to live in the world without really understanding it. Though, if I were going to be perfectly honest, I would have to admit that these are all things I found myself working through in my twenties, rather than in my teens. I did take riding lessons when I was about Alice's age, and I competed in a few local horse shows. It was such a different world from the one I'd grown up in, and though I gave it up when I started high school, I guess it made a pretty big impression on me. Q: How did you think of the title? A: The title didn't come to me until I'd finished the book. I was starting to panic a bit, figuring that no one would be too interested in publishing a book called Novel, which is what I'd named the file on my computer. So I did the only thing I could think of--I frantically thumbed through the pages of the draft waiting for something to pop out at me. I reread the scene between Alice and Mr. Delmar where they discuss God and spirituality. Something about that scene seemed to encapsulate some of the greater themes of the novel, the uncertainty Alice has about the world, her desire to believe in something larger than herself, her fears regarding isolation and loneliness. Q: Do you have another novel in the works? A: Lately, I've been working mainly on short stories. It's kind of hard for me to spend so much time working on one project, then dive into another. I've needed the time to get Alice's voice out of my head before I commit to another novel. But I do have a second novel underway--I'm superstitious, though, and it seems like bad luck to talk about something while its still in the works. Mostly, my writing starts with the characters, with understanding their flaws and their desires. Plot, for me, seems to come later, after I know what my characters want, and what they're willing to sacrifice to get it. Aryn Kyle's Favorite Coming-of-Age Novels Housekeeping That Night Thumbsucker Ghostworld Atonement See all 10 of Aryn Kyle's favorite coming-of-age novels (with commentary)
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| The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3) |
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Company: Miramax
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ISBN: 1423101456
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List Price: $17.95
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Amazon Price: $3.96
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Used Price: $4.25
| When the goddess Artemis goes missing, she is believed to have been kidnapped.And now it's up to Percy and his friends to find out what happened. Who is powerful enough to kidnap a goddess? They must find Artemis before the winter solstice, when her influence on the Olympian Council could swing an important vote on the war with the titans. Not only that, but first Percy will have to solve the mystery of a rare monster that Artemis was hunting when she disappeared -- a monster rumored to be so powerful it could destroy Olympus forever.
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| Old Turtle |
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Company: Scholastic Press
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ISBN: 0439309085
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List Price: $17.95
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Amazon Price: $7.08
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Used Price: $2.00
| When all of creation--trees, stones, ants, the sky, fish—-begins arguing over who or what God is, quiet Old Turtle is the only one who has the wisdom and ability to see beyond herself to capture the essence. The debate escalates until Old Turtle finally speaks: "STOP!" She accepts and incorporates the beliefs of all the creatures: "God is indeed deep," she says to the fish in the sea, "and much higher than high," she tells the mountains. "God is gentle and powerful. Above all things and within all things... God IS." Old Turtle, after silencing the crowds with her understanding, makes a prediction about the appearance of a new "family of beings" in the world. These beings, human beings, do appear, and soon are fighting among themselves over the nature of God. It is only when people start listening to the mountains and winds and stones and stars that they actually begin to hear--and to heal the earth. A graceful fable, with elegant, dreamlike watercolors by illustrator Cheng-Khee Chee, Douglas Wood's modern-day classic makes a hushed but strong environmental statement, as well as a plea for universal acceptance. (Ages 5 and older) --Emilie Coulter
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| The Realms of the Gods (Immortals, Book) |
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Company: Simon Pulse
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ISBN: 141690817X
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List Price: $6.99
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Amazon Price: $3.28
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Used Price: $3.27
| During a dire battle against the fearsome Skinners, Daine and her mage teacher Numair are swept into the Divine Realms. Though happy to be alive, they are not where they want to be. They are desperately needed back home, where their old enemy, Ozorne, and his army of strange creatures are waging war against Tortall. Trapped in the mystical realms Daine discovers her mysterious parentage. And as these secrets of her past are revealed so is the treacherous way back to Tortall. So they embark on an extraordinary journey home, where the fate of all Tortall rests with Daine and her wild magic.
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| God Gave Us Heaven |
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Company: WaterBrook Press
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ISBN: 1400074460
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List Price: $10.99
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Amazon Price: $6.29
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Used Price: $6.29
| As the sun rises on her snow-covered world, Little Cub wonders aloud…“What is heaven like?”With tender words, her Papa describes a wonderful place, free of sadness and tears, where God warmly welcomes his loved ones after their life on earth is over. Little Cub and Papa spend the day wandering their beautiful, invigorating arctic world while she asks all about God’s home: How do we get to heaven? Will we eat there? Will I get to see you in heaven? Papa patiently answers each question, assuring her that…“Heaven will be full of everything good.”This gentle story provides satisfying answers for a young child’s most difficult questions about what happens after this life, inviting “little cubs” to find comfort in knowing that God Gave Us Heaven.Also available:God Gave Us YouGod Gave Us TwoGod Gave Us Christmas
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| The Berenstain Bears in the Dark (First Time Books(R)) |
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Company: Random House Books for Young Readers
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ISBN: 0394854438
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List Price: $3.99
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Amazon Price: $0.70
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Used Price: $0.01
| After a scary bedtime story, Sister Bear is too frightened of the dark to shut her eyes. "Sound psychological advice and a night light help Sister conquer her fears. Children will empathize with Sister Bear in this well-written story."--School Library Journal.
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| The Lord God Made Them All |
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Company: St. Martin's Griffin
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ISBN: 0312335326
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List Price: $15.95
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Amazon Price: $6.99
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Used Price: $5.84
| The triumphant conclusion to the legendary seriesWith each book more engaging than the last, James Herriot once again brings us the magical beauty of Yorkshire through his uplifting experiences as a country veterinarian. These stories provide a grand finale to the wonderful books that began with All Creatures Great and Small and continued in All Things Bright and Beautiful and All Things Wise and Wonderful.It is just after World War II, and James has returned from the Royal Air Force to do battle with the diseases and injuries that befall the farm animals and pets of Skeldale and the surrounding moors. Four-year-old Jimmy Herriot, Humphrey Cobb and his little beagle Myrtle, Norman the book-loving veterinary assistant, and many more new faces join old favorites among the green hills of Yorkshire, as James takes an unforgettable voyage to Russia on a freighter with 383 pedigreed sheep. Touching our hearts with laughter and wisdom, lifting our spirits with compassion and goodness, James Herriot never fails to delight.
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| God's Messengers: What Animals Teach Us About the Divine |
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Company: New World Library
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ISBN: 1577312465
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List Price: $14.95
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Amazon Price: $5.00
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Used Price: $2.79
| Combining spiritual questions with heartwarming animal tales, God’s Messengers will appeal to anyone who seeks the mystical in the everyday. The authors have gathered these accounts from a wide variety of people and divided them into four sections: Love, Wisdom, Courage, and Comfort. Each story answers a question, for example: Is there a God? Are prayers answered? and Is there a heaven? Throughout, wild and domesticated creatures teach humans about health, compassion, and unconditional love — birds, coyotes, dolphins, and iguanas, as well as cats, dogs, and horses. Readers will learn about a ferret who helped an autistic boy play baseball, a dolphin who was saved by a concerned community, and a dog who pulled hair from her tail in sympathy with a chemo patient. 50 black-and-white photographs accompany these amazing stories.
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| Help, Lord! I'm Having a Senior Moment: Notes to God on Growing Older |
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Company: Vine Books
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ISBN: 0830734406
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List Price: $12.99
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Amazon Price: $0.98
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| While growing older certainly has plusses, its downside poses big challenges. Physical decline, loss of spouses, relatives and friends, memory lapses, feelings of inadequacy or uselessness-such things can give us those "senior moments" that sidetrack us with fear and worry. This book brings encouragement to people in their golden years, prompting them to reflect, laugh, play and to take both burdens and joys to the Lord who cares for them. Each of the 90 short pieces contains a note to God about a topic of special interest to seniors, a word from God in Scripture, a prayer and a place for the reader to write her or his note to God.
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| All God's Creatures Go To Heaven |
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Company: Noel Studio
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ISBN: 0965253104
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List Price: $19.95
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Amazon Price: $59.99
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Used Price: $13.04
| The angel paintings of artist Nancy Noel beautifully portray Amy Nolfo-Wheeler's story of Jacob, a child angel on a journey of discovery. This keepsake book, in heavenly color, features a glow-in-the-dark cover. An inspiring message of hope and joy for children and other youthful spirits.
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