Boy In The Blue Hammock

In a time of isolation and scarcity, a regressive regime rules with absolute power, turning neighbour against neighbour, and crushing dissidence with deadly force. A microcosm of this monstrous time: the tiny Pacific Northwest town of Gilder. In a house on the fringes of the decimated hamlet, Kasper—fifteen, intellectually disabled, limited ability to speak—has miraculously survived the slaying of his family. But alone, he is a fleeting miracle. Alone, he is on borrowed time. Alone, his yellow headphones, brown blanket and beloved copy of The Gingerbread Man are scant consolation. Alone, he is destined to die within the folds of the blue hammock hanging from his bedroom ceiling. Kasper is not alone. Tao—failed service dog turned family pet—has also survived the attack. And with the discovery of Boy, Tao understands he has a duty: guide the last living member of his pack out of the house and through the ravaged streets of Gilder to safety. The destination? The one refuge he can conceive of in a world gone mad. Boy in the Blue Hammock is an epic tale of loss and loyalty, of dissent and destruction, of assumption and ableism. With a unique premise, powerful narrative and evocative prose, the novel might be the best kept literary secret of 2022.

Hammock camping--one of the most comfortable ways to enjoy a long-distance thru-hike, a weekend backpacking trip, or just an overnight in the woods. With more than 200 illustrations to guide you, this book helps you get off the ground to discover the freedom, comfort, and convenience of hammock camping. Learn how to set up and use a hammock to stay dry, warm, and bug free in a Leave No Trace-friendly way. This book covers hammock camping basics such as how to get a perfect hang and how to stay dry, warm, and bug free. Plus, it illustrates techniques and tips to get the most out of a hammock shelter, whether you have purchased an all-in-one kit or you've assembled your own customized system.

Twins Justine and Perry have left their home in Australia and embarked on the road trip of a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest. It's been a year since their dad lost his battle with cancer and Justine became the sole caregiver for her autistic brother, Perry. Now Perry has been accepted into an assisted-living residence in their hometown, Brisbane, Australia, but before he takes up residence, they're seeking to create the perfect memory. For Perry, the trip is a glorious celebration of some of his favorite things: Ogopogo, Jackie Chan movies and earthquakes. For Justine, it's an opportunity to learn how to let go—of Perry, of her boyfriend, Marc—and to offer their mother the chance to atone for past wrongs. But the instability that has shaped their lives will not subside, and the seismic event that Perry forewarned threatens to reduce their worlds to rubble...

Munro is caught in the small cruel space between loss and letting go.

Kindling is a compelling story of heartbreak, healing and heroism. It is a story about nurturing the spark that resides within us all and fighting the flames that life sets in our path. Ten-year-old Kieran Monk is autistic. He doesn't like questions, is afraid to look people in the eye, and his best friend is a plastic Mr Incredible bobblehead that never leaves his hand. Nate Monk is Kieran's father. He's a single parent of a 'differently wired' child, a talented musician who once stood on the cusp of success, and a man resigned to a pragmatic life of responsibility over opportunity. Both share the scarred aftermath of the Infernal Day. On a perfect autumn April noon five-and-a-half years before, wife and mother Felicity died saving her only child from a raging house fire. Although Kieran's inadvertent hand was complicit in the tragedy, Nate refused to apportion blame. The tragic circumstances of the blaze, however, constituted a secret that a fearful father dared not share with his 'different' son.. But now, as the burning forests of nearby Pendarra Hill fill the sky with smoke and the television screen with concern, Kieran will discover the devastating truth. And driven by a desire to make amends for the 'stupid little kid' of half a decade before, he will disappear into the night.

In 1983, the BC provincial government announced plans to close Tranquille, a large residential institution for persons with intellectual disabilities located outside Kamloops. The announcement was made with no community placement plans for residents. The nearly six hundred employees of Tranquille, members of the BC Government Employees Union and the Union of Psychiatric Nurses, were alarmed by the lack of any Ministry of Human Resources planning for the future of the residents and the ministry’s stated intention to use newly tabled legislation to terminate Tranquille employees without cause and avoid any other collective agreement obligations to employees. Consequently, BCGEU members decided to sit-in and occupy the institution by expelling management, running the institution themselves and publicly advocating for quality community care for people with intellectual disabilities. They did so for nearly a month. Tranquility Lost chronicles the political and public policy conditions leading up to the occupation, the day-to-day activities of the occupation itself, the challenges faced by the workers and negotiations leading to an agreement. Steeves’s account profiles the courage of Tranquille employees and their unprecedented use of collective bargaining as a tool to address conditions faced by government clients as well as government employees themselves.

The hilarious and razor-sharp story of how one girl went from geek to patriarchy-smashing criminal mastermind in two short years, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud. * National Book Award finalist * * Printz Honor * Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14: Debate Club. Her father's "bunny rabbit." A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school. Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15: A knockout figure. A sharp tongue. A chip on her shoulder. And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston. Frankie Landau-Banks. No longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer. Especially when "no" means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society. Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them. When she knows Matthew's lying to her. And when there are so many pranks to be done. Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16: Possibly a criminal mastermind. This is the story of how she got that way.

At the age of twelve, Ishmael Beah fled attacking rebels in Sierra Leone and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to heal. This is an extraordinary and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.