Big Apple Diaries

In Big Apple Diaries, a heartfelt diary-style graphic memoir by Alyssa Bermudez, a young New Yorker doodles her way through middle school—until the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack leaves her wondering if she can ever be a kid again. It’s the year 2000 in New York City. For 12-year old Alyssa, a biracial Puerto Rican girl, this means all kinds of new challenges: splitting time between her dad's apartment in Manhattan and her mom's new place in Queens, navigating the ups and downs of middle school, harboring an epic crush on a new classmate, and figuring out how to be a "real" Puerto Rican. The only way to make sense of it all is to write and draw her thoughts and worries into her diary. Then life abruptly changes on September 11, 2001. After the Twin Towers fall and so many lives are lost, her concerns about gossip, crushes, and fashion feel distant and insignificant. Alyssa must find a new sense of self and purpose amidst all of the chaos, and find strength to move forward with hope. This moving graphic memoir is based on Alyssa Bermudez's own middle school diaries.

Phillip Samuel Pfurst, owner and CEO, of Pfurst Enterprises WorldWide (PEWW), sat behind his over-sized mahogany desk in the library of his Binghamton mansion. His six-year-old granddaughter Philless was perched on his desk, facing him. “Sweetie,” he said. “There’s something I want you to tell you. It might be difficult to understand right now, but in time you’ll come to realize that God created American businesses so all the poor people will have jobs. And God created the Pfurst family to run all those businesses. That’s why we sing God Bless America.” Years later, Phillip Samuel Pfurst (the “P” in his last name is silent) was crippled in a plane crash while campaigning for the presidency of the United States. Convinced that her grandfather’s ‘accident’ was the work of terrorists, Philless turns to her twin brother, Phillip the younger, to fulfill the old man’s dream of a TeraCorp headed by a Supreme Executive Officer (SEXO). Young Phillip puts aside his dream of becoming a rock’n’roll impresario and enters the world of politics. Problems arise when a number of diaries surface, questioning the Pfurst family’s history and threatening young Phillip’s run for the presidency. The Pfurst Family Diaries is a wacky, irreverent look at America’s growing political-financial complex run amok, and of Philless Pfurst-Steen’s efforts to change it into a super-efficient TeraCorp headed by a SEXO, while at the same time directing her brother’s presidential election campaign. The book gives new meaning to the old adage-a woman’s work is never done.

Fay Jacobs returns with more wise and witty recollections about life in Rehoboth Beach. For Frying Out Loud is a collection of Fay s latest columns plus some new, never published material. It's provocative, political, occasionally heartwarming and reliably hilarious. Jacobs' utterly unique voice will keep you laughing, smiling and relating page after page.

Funny, poignant and astoundingly honest, BITING THE BIG APPLE is for everyone who ever took a risk - or wishes they had. Bella knew there must be more to life than casual jobs and sitting at home, dreaming about the bright lights. An actor by trade, she bought a one-way ticket to the Big Apple and enrolled against all odds in the prestigious Lee Strasberg Institute. Soon she was falling in love with her own 'Mr Big', meeting the locals and coming to grips with the vagaries of life in that glittering town. What New York City would offer her, Bella could never has predicted - sometimes scary, mostly cash-strapped, but always exhilerating. She proves that with a little determination and a lot of Down Under pizzazz, even the wildest dreams can come true.

Take funny music seriously! Though often dismissed as silly or derivative, funny music, Lily E. Hirsch argues, is incredibly creative and dynamic, serving multiple aims from the celebratory to the rebellious, the entertaining to the mentally uplifting. Music can be a rich site for humor, with so many opportunities that are ripe for a comedic left turn. Taking Funny Music Seriously includes original interviews with some of the best musical humorists, such as Tom Lehrer, "the J. D. Salinger of musical satire"; Peter Schickele, who performed as the invented composer P. D. Q. Bach, the supposed lost son of the great J. S. Bach; Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome of the funny music duo Garfunkel and Oates; comedic film composer Theodore Shapiro; Too Slim of the country group Riders in the Sky; and musical comedian Jessica McKenna, from the podcast Off Book, part of a long line of "funny girls." With their help, Taking Funny Music Seriously examines comedy from a variety of genres and musical contexts--from bad singing to rap, classical music to country, Broadway music to film music, and even love songs and songs about death. In its coverage of comedic musical media, Taking Funny Music Seriously is an accessible and lively look at funny music. It offers us a chance to appreciate more fully the joke in music and the benefits of getting that joke--especially in times of crisis--including comfort, catharsis, and connection.

Just when Portia thinks life will never change in her small town, a mysterious new girl named Misty Longfellow enters the halls of Palmville Middle School. When Misty approaches Portia for help, Portia embarks on a new case that seriously tests her friendship skills. She suddenly finds herself unexpectedly making a new friend while trying hard to hold on to an old one.

Shy 11-year old Golden Key Protection Agency cadet Meadow Lotus Seaborn is on a top-secret mission to Rosecliff City, Eastbarrrow, where her Grandma Mabel lives. With a golden key logger and audio recorder device in her tote bag, she hurriedly leaves "The Big Apple" after an army of rival secret agents invades Manhattan. Meadow misses the big city, but once in Eastbarrow she finds herself quickly befriending Meriweather, Bella, Akime, and McKenna at the prestigious Pacific Bell Academy. Then things really get interesting when she meets her no nonsense English teacher Mr. Chanthavong. All she knows is that there's something very strange going on. Nine-year old Ella J. Gilbert loves reading and creative writing, plays piano and violin, and of course, enjoys living in Animal Jam's world of Jamaa. She lives with her parents and two sisters in Silver Spring, MD. Agent M and The Trip to Eastbarrow Mountains is her first book.