The Sharaf family is the picture of success. Prosperous, rich, happy. They came to this country as refugees with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. And now, after years of hard work, they live in the most exclusive neighborhood, their growing family attending the most prestigious schools. Zorah, the eldest daughter, is the apple of her father’s eye.
When an unthinkable tragedy strikes, everyone is left reeling and the family is thrust into the court of public opinion. There is talk that behind closed doors the Sharafs’ happy household was anything but. Did the Sharaf family achieve the American dream? Or was the image of the model immigrant family just a façade?
It’s Greg’s birthday—and you’re invited to the chaos. In Partypooper, the 20th book in Jeff Kinney’s global smash-hit Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Greg Heffley is planning the ultimate party—for himself.
But when the guest list grows, the decorations flop, and the surprises backfire, this birthday bash turns into a total blowout—just not the kind Greg had in mind.
After being fired for taking an uncharacteristic risk at her commodities trading job, Bea Macon sublets her New York apartment and books a one-way ticket to stay with her mother, Christy, a free spirit who has been living in Salt Lake City on Bea’s dime.
Usually the responsible one, Bea isn’t about to admit exactly why she’s suddenly decided to visit, but she isn’t the only one keeping secrets: Christy has a man. She has a map. She has . . . a username on a forum devoted to unearthing $1 million in buried treasure hidden somewhere in the western US?
Bea is convinced this is just another one of her mother’s wild larks. But Christy believes she’s onto something—and she’s arranged a rendezvous in a rural town called Mercy with the guy she’s been obsessively trading theories with online to prove it. Out in the desert that one woman believes to be a promised land, the other a wasteland, Bea and Christy find themselves embroiled in a more high-stakes, transformative escapade than either could have imagined.
an unexpected inheritance gives Greg Heffley’s family a chance to make big changes to their house. But they soon find that home improvement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Once the walls come down, all sorts of problems start to crop up. Rotten wood, toxic mold, unwelcome critters, and something even more sinister all make Greg and his family wonder if the renovations are worth the trouble.
When the dust finally settles, will the Heffleys be able to stay . . . or will they need to get out of town?
it’s summer vacation, the weather’s great, and all the kids are having fun outside. So where’s Greg Heffley?
Greg's inside his house, playing video games with the shades drawn. . .
Greg, a self-confessed “indoor person,” is living out his ultimate summer fantasy: no responsibilities and no rules. But Greg’s mom has a different vision for an ideal summer—one packed with outdoor activities and “family togetherness.”
Whose vision will win out? Or will a new addition to the Heffley family change everything?
Not for the first time, Jill “Doll” Blaine finds herself hurtling toward earth, reconstituting as she falls, right down to her favorite black pumps. She plummets towards her newest charge, yet another soul she must usher into the afterlife, and lands headfirst in the circular drive of his ornate mansion.
She has performed this sacred duty 343 times since her own death. Her charges, as a rule, have been greatly comforted in their final moments. But this charge, she soon discovers, isn’t like the others. The powerful K. J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold, epic life, and the world is better for it. Isn’t it?
Greg Heffley will never change his wimpy ways―no matter how hard his dad tries. In The Last Straw, Greg’s father wants him to toughen up with sports, chores, and all kinds of character-building activities. Greg? He’d rather not.
But when the threat of military school looms, Greg realizes he might need to shape up…or ship out.
Some secrets are meant to stay buried—too bad Greg records everything in his diary. In Rodrick Rules, the second book in Jeff Kinney’s #1 international bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Greg Heffley is trying to keep one embarrassing incident under wraps. But Rodrick—his older brother and expert tormentor—knows everything.
With Rodrick’s band, Löded Diper, making noise (literally), and Greg’s secret hanging on by a thread, it’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out—and turns Greg’s life upside down.
Congo is rich. Swaths of the war-torn African country lack basic infrastructure, and, after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, tungsten, and other treasures. Recently, this veritable periodic table of resources has become extremely valuable because these metals are essential for the global “energy transition”—the plan for wealthy nations to wean themselves off fossil fuels by shifting to sustainable forms of energy, such as solar and wind. The race to electrify the world’s economy has begun, and China has a considerable head start. From Indonesia to South America to Central Africa, Beijing has invested in mines and infrastructure for decades. But the U.S. has begun fighting back with massive investments of its own, as well as sanctions and disruptive tariffs.
In this rush for green energy, the world has become utterly reliant on resources unearthed far away and willfully blind to the terrible political, environmental, and social consequences of their extraction. If the Democratic Republic of the Congo possesses such riches, why are its children routinely descending deep into treacherous mines to dig with the most rudimentary of tools, or in some cases their bare hands? Why are Indonesia’s seas and skies being polluted in a rush for battery metals? Why is the Western Sahara, a source for phosphates, still being treated like a colony? Who must pay the price for progress?
Honey Bunny Funnybunny LOVES baseball, but is too little to play. So big brother P.J. teaches her T-ball! From warming up to throwing and catching to hitting the ball and running the bases, P.J. and Honey Bunny work side-by-side until she is ready for her first game—where she hits a home run! But is winning what Honey Bunny is MOST thankful for? Or could it be . . . P.J.?