Showing results by narrator "Julia Farhat" in All Categories

Erin Wrenn and her friend David are in big trouble because they refuse to go on a field trip to the Glitter Tent Circus. They wrote a report on the sad lives of circus animals, and discovered that the Glitter Tent Circus is one of the worst animal abusers of all. Mrs. Dawson is determined to give her students the happy circus experience she remembers from her childhood; she won't let Erin and David share their report or pass around a petition asking for a different field trip.

Many have tried to silence her, but Mozhdah Jamalzadah remains the most powerful female voice of her generation in Afghanistan, boldly speaking out about women’s rights. Voice of Rebellion charts her incredible journey, including arriving in Canada as a child refugee, setting her father’s protest poem to music (and making it a number one hit), performing that song for Michelle and Barack Obama, and, finally, being invited to host her own show in Afghanistan.

When a young drifter is found murdered in the desert outside of Palm Springs, the police start their investigation - but it's crime reporter Sam Perry who gets to the bottom of the story. Working her way backward to piece together the victim's mysterious life, Sam gets drawn into the seedier side of the glamorous resort town, a world of strip clubs, blackmail, and betrayal. All suspicions point toward former A-list actress and now mayoral candidate Ellen Konrad, a woman that Sam can't quite figure out.

Pamela Olson, a small town girl from eastern Oklahoma, had what she always wanted: a physics degree from Stanford University. But instead of feeling excited for what came next, she felt consumed by dread and confusion. This irresistible memoir chronicles her journey from aimless ex-bartender to Ramallah-based journalist and foreign press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate.

The year is 1995 and the NYPD has just graduated a promising new patrol officer named Karen Vail. The rookie's first day on the job is anything but easy when she finds herself at the crime scene of a young woman murdered in an unusual manner. Vail is unsure of what she's looking at or what it means - but it's a case that will weigh on her mind for nearly 20 years.

Fifteen-year-old Nawra lives in Darfur, Sudan, in a camp for refugees displaced by the Janjaweed’s trail of murder and destruction. Nawra cannot read or write, but when a nonprofit organization called Save the Girls pairs her with an American donor, Nawra dictates her thank-you letters. Putting her experiences into words begins to free her from her devastating past - and to brighten the path to her future. K. C. is an American teenager from Richmond, Virginia, who hates reading and writing - or anything that smacks of school.

Nakam tells the story of “the Avengers” (Nokmim), a group of young Holocaust survivors led by poet and resistance fighter Abba Kovner, who undertook a mission of revenge against Germany following the crimes of the Holocaust. Motivated by both the atrocities they had endured and the realization that murderous antisemitic attacks on survivors continued long after the Nazi surrender, these fifty young men and women sought retaliation at a level commensurate with the devastation caused by the Holocaust, making clear to the world that Jewish blood would no longer be shed with impunity.

With her black hair, red lips, and lily-white skin, Summer is as beautiful as her father's garden. And her life in the mountains of West Virginia seems like a fairy tale; her parents sing and dance with her, Cousin Nancy dotes on her, and she is about to get a new baby brother. But when the baby dies soon after he's born, taking Summer's mama with him, Summer's fairy-tale life turns grim. Things get even worse when her father marries a woman who brings poisons and magical mirrors into Summer's world. Stepmama puts up a pretty face, but Summer suspects she's up to no good....

Lhind has been on the run all her life. Stealing what she needs, using magic for disguise, she never stays anywhere long. Lhind even has secrets from herself, for she has few memories, and those are troubling. But life is good until she gets caught by Rajanas the warrior-prince, Thianra the bard, and Hlanan the scribe. And that’s when adventure begins, because someone very powerful wants them all dead. As they evade pursuit and work to uncover their enemies, Lhind struggles with the invisible bonds of friendship and trust, while Hlanan begins uncovering her secrets one by one.

Ballads are the kinds of songs that Kara McNaughton likes best. Not the cliche ones where a diva hits her dramatic high note or a rock band tones it down a couple of notches for the ladies, but the true ballads: the punk rocker or the country crooner reminding their listeners of the numerous ways to screw things up.

Ree Reyes’s life was easier when all she had to worry about was scraping together tips from her gig as a barista and comic shop slave to pursue her ambitions as a screenwriter. When a scruffy-looking guy storms into the shop looking for a comic like his life depends on it, Ree writes it off as just another day in the land of the geeks. Until a gigantic “BOOM!” echoes from the alley a minute later, and Ree follows the rabbit hole down into her town’s magical flip-side.

When two children are kidnapped from her village, Alana Woodsinger uses her powerful connection to the village's Great Tree to help find them. But soon the rescuers must sacrifice everything to save children who, in a bizarre twist of circumstances, do not wish to be saved.

Join Zora O’Neill for a grand tour through the Middle East, to laugh with her in Egypt, delight in the stories she passes on from the Gulf region, and find yourself transformed by her experiences in Lebanon and Morocco. She’s packed her dictionaries, her unsinkable sense of humor, and her talent for making fast friends of strangers. From quiet, bougainvillea-lined streets to the lively buzz of crowded medinas, from families’ homes to local hot spots, she brings a part of the world that is often flattened by news headlines into real and colorful relief.

When the Vet Volunteers find some abandoned ducklings, they know there's no time to lose. Without a mother, the ducklings must learn to swim on their own. But where did they come from? When Brenna and the rest of the Volunteers learn that the ducklings are abandoned Easter pets, they hatch a...

The summer I graduated from high school, I raced out of my small Virginian town to seek my culinary dreams in the big city. I couldn't afford New York City, though, so I settled in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love wasn't The Big Apple, but it had its charms and pockets of culinary splendor. I hadn't minded because it was only temporary. After culinary school, I planned to do as I'd been dying to do since I was a little girl and roam the earth and splurge on its fruits. More than five years later, I was still in Philly.

Everyone in Yorktide, Maine, knows 16-year-old Sarah Bauer. She's a good student and a dutiful daughter, as well as a beloved best friend to Cordelia Kane. So it's a surprise to all when sensible Sarah reveals that she is pregnant. Though shocked, Sarah's family is supportive. But while Sarah reconciles herself to a new and different future, the consequences ripple in all directions.

Set in New York in the 1980s, this story of two ballet dancers (one American, one Russian) recounts the unforgettable night they spend in the city, and celebrates the friendship they form despite their cultural and political differences.

Kit Sidell, Texas' most eligible bachelor, has an insatiable sweet tooth. But when the challenge of a wager brings him to the kitchen of Birdie Delwin, Kit finds himself tempted by much more than her dessert menu.

Did you know that the Sentinelese people of the Indian Ocean’s North Sentinel Island are the most isolated people in the world, or that Kentucky Bend is a section of Kentucky that is totally cut off from the rest of the state? And what about pirate radio broadcaster Major Paddy Roy Bates, who occupied a British sea fort and eventually declared its sovereignty? Even if you think you have a handle on all things trivia, you're guaranteed a big surprise with Now I Know: Geography. This special collection from the Now I Know archives will challenge your knowledge of the fascinating stories behind the world's greatest facts.

An Amish girl, Esther feels like "one black bird against the sky" in her plain clothes. So when she's forced to attend public school she's terrified. She fears the new world she must enter, fears the way she sticks out next to other kids, and--most of all--fears she may do what her brother did: Run away and join the sinful but great wide world she's only just discovering.