LETRAS

In 1822, a secret family moves into a secret cabin some thirty miles northeast of Baltimore, to farm, to hide, and to bear ten children over the course of the next sixteen years. Junius Booth—breadwinner, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and master of the house in more ways than one—is at once a mesmerizing talent and a man of terrifying instability. One by one the children arrive, as year by year, the country draws frighteningly closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war. As the tenor of the world shifts, the Booths emerge from their hidden lives to cement their place as one of the country’s leading theatrical families. But behind the curtains of the many stages they have graced, multiple scandals, family triumphs, and criminal disasters begin to take their toll, and the solemn siblings of John Wilkes Booth are left to reckon with the truth behind the destructively specious promise of an early prophecy.

Reese Annesley was hiding in the bathroom hallway of a restaurant leaving a message for her best friend to save her from her awful date, when a gorgeous stranger overhears and offers her some dating advice. She proceeds to tell him to mind his own damn business his own tall, handsome, full-of-himself damn business and goes back to her miserable date, though she can't help but sneak hidden glances at the condescending jerk on the other side of the room. Of course, he catches her―and winks. When Chase Parker and his equally hot date suddenly appear at Reese's table, she's sure he's going to rat her out. But instead, he pretends he and Reese are old friends and joins them, telling elaborate, embarrassing stories about their fake childhood. And her date suddenly goes from boring to bizarrely exciting.

In this entertaining young readers edition of the environmental studies classic, Michael Pollan demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a reciprocal relationship. He links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, energy, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, coffee, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also helped them to thrive.