A Mystery At Lili Villa

Cousins Arj, Tam, and Mira are spending their summer vacation in Elathoor, a little village in Kerala when their family home, Lili Villa, is broken into and some jewelry is stolen. The Terrific Three set out to solve the mystery but soon discover that there is no shortage of suspects. Is it Pinching Kodavis or Dumdumchecchi, the milking lady? Is it the mean fisherwoman who starves the cat or the retired nurse who owns a luxury car? Or is it Mani with his upside-down Russian secret? Who could the thief possibly be? In a throwback to unscheduled summer vacations, this cozy mystery set in India will charm young readers with plenty of sibling sparring, some intrepid sleuthing, and an endless parade of mouth-watering snacks.

Cousins Arj, Tam, and Mira are spending their summer vacation in Elathoor, a little village in Kerala when their family home, Lili Villa, is broken into and some jewelry is stolen. The Terrific Three set out to solve the mystery but soon discover that there is no shortage of suspects. Is it Pinching Kodavis or Dumdumchecchi, the milking lady? Is it the mean fisherwoman who starves the cat or the retired nurse who owns a luxury car? Or is it Mani with his upside-down Russian secret? Who could the thief possibly be? In a throwback to unscheduled summer vacations, this cozy mystery set in India will charm young readers with plenty of sibling sparring, some intrepid sleuthing, and an endless parade of mouth-watering snacks.

Lily Bilbury has problems. Her beloved is off in the jungles filming a movie with a sexy co-star while she is left in limbo to manage the strange affairs at Villa Buschi. The ex-owner of the villa left behind more than a few secrets when he died, the most pressing being the mentioning of a mysterious heir to his estate.While trying to manage her children, obtain a divorce from her ex, and striving for a life of normalcy, Lily has to contend with strange happenings at the villa. Looking for answers, Lily recruits her best friend, animal rescuer Rupa Brunetti, as well as Francesca di Campo, self-proclaimed psychic. While hoping for a happy ending to all of the mysteries, Lily learns that sometimes life doesn't come with tidy endings.

Kesar’s baby sister Kamal will not sleep. Their entire village in the Great Rann of Kutch is kept awake by the infant’s cries and her parents are exhausted. When Kesar and Kamal’s ba comes to visit, her stories give Kesar a wonderful idea. Perhaps what Kesar needs to put her baby sister to sleep is a little bit of desert magic! A vibrant celebration of traditional artisans from India, this picture book is a sweet sibling bedtime story at heart, featuring a big sister who figures out how to care for her baby sister with some help from her grandmother’s lovingly made gifts. "Set in the Kutch region of India, the bright colors, intricate patterns, and delicate details of Indian attire and architecture are standout features." -- Foreword Reviews (Starred)

Seamlessly blending history with myth, HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS follows a Pakistani-American teen's ruthless quest to find her missing sibling, even if the truth would reveal her grandfather's devastating secret and tear her family apart.

Despite her chronic illness, the French composer Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) was able to overcome great obstacles and to achieve an unusual degree of both artistic success and public acclaim during her very short lifetime. This phenomenon is the more remarkable in that her chosen field is one in which, even today, women find it difficult to be evaluated solely on artistic merits. At the age of nineteen she was the first woman to win the prestigious Premier Grand Prix de Rome in composition, an award carrying with it extended residence at the famous Villa Medici in Rome. Even before this recognition was accorded her, some of her compositions had been performed by outstanding artists of the day and had received critical praise. This first full-length study of the life and works of Lili Boulanger is based almost entirely on sources that have hitherto been unavailable, such as family photographs, records, and documents in the possession of her only surviving relative, the eminent music pedagogue Mlle Nadia Boulanger, as well as on personal reminiscences both of Nadia Boulanger and of friends of the Boulanger family. Further information was secured from newly discovered library and archival sources in addition to the young composer's personal memorabilia, correspondence, and manuscript scores, which have never before been made available for study. In order to describe accurately the ambience of the places visited by Lili Boulanger during her life, the author not only undertook the necessary archival research, but also personally retraced the travels of the composer through six European countries, using the same means of transportation that the young composer had used. Born into a family with a long tradition of artistic accomplishment, surrounded during her twenty-four years by a devoted family and friends, Lili Boulanger became a creative, productive human being. The best of her works--especially those she wrote after winning the Prix de Rome in 1913--display firmness, delicacy, strength, and mastery of compositional technique. Lili Boulanger's musical style ranges from impressionism, to a Wagnerian vocabulary, to post-impressionism and growing chromaticism in her last compositions. As Debussy observed, her music "undulates with grace." The author's analysis of the 91 musical examples from the oeuvre of Lili Boulanger, and the 53 illustrations, many drawn from among old family photographs and other privately held manuscript sources, provide two of the many highlights of this superior biography.

On Sundays, Varun has his karate lesson, and his sister Varsha heads to dance school with their grandfather. One weekend, Varun reluctantly accompanies his sister to her lesson. Bored of waiting, he peeks into the classroom, and almost immediately, he is fascinated by the rhythm and grace of bharatanatyam, a dance from India that Varsha is learning to perfect. Varun tries a few moves at home in secret because...well, boys don’t dance, do they? His grandfather is not so sure. Will Thatha be able to convince Varun to dance in his footsteps? A heartwarming picture book about a multigenerational Indian-American family discovering a shared love for bharatanatyam, an ancient classical dance that continues to fascinate dancers worldwide.

What happens when you realize you have kissed the wrong frog? Do you stop kissing, find another frog or learn how to live without one? Leaving Home with Half a Fridge is a heart-warming tale of one woman's journey - about how she handled the dissolution of her marriage and her subsequent life as a singleton. The book follows the breakdbreakdown of the marriage, her decision to get a divorce, the trauma of doing so, depression and finally overcoming it all to become a stronger, happier person. Written with much wit, wisdom and warmth, here is a memoir which anybody who has loved and lost will relate to.